A San Francisco company has built its entire business around the popularity of a single sweatshirt.

The zip-up hoodie, made by San Francisco startup American Giant, costs $89. As we have previously reported, it had been on the market for 10 months when a December 2012 Slate article declared it "the greatest hoodie ever made" and sales exploded.

Back-order waits grew to as long as four months and the company expanded from a single factory in Brisbane, Calif. to four additional factories. 

We decided to take a closer look at how the hoodie is manufactured.

1. First, American Giant hired pattern designer Steve Mootoo to design the sweatshirt. Mootoo gave the hood a double lining and added ribbed panels at the shoulders to improve fit and allow for more flexibility, among other details.

The designs were turned into a tech pack, which is similar to an architectural blueprint for an item of clothing. The hoodie's tech pack, provided by American Giant, is shown below.

2. Once the design was finalized, early prototypes were created, tested and analyzed. The sweatshirt was fitted to human models, "to ensure it hit every part of the body correctly," the company says. Once the samples were approved, production began.

3. The production process begins at the farms in North Carolina and South Carolina where the company sources its cotton.

4. Gins remove the seeds, twigs and other natural elements from the cotton.

5. The material then goes to the cotton exchange, where workers grate, bale and sell it.

6. Finally, the cotton is turned into yarn and knitted into fabric.

7. Next, the fabric is dyed, napped and washed.

"The fabric is 100% cotton with a tightly-knit exterior face for wind blocking," the company says. "It has a dry-hand feel to it, with a napped, soft back."8. Sewers cut, assemble and stitch the pieces into a sweatshirt.

"American Giant’s sweatshirts have 69 different pieces, all cut by hand," the company says. "The fabric comes in rolls laid out flat onto cutting tables 30-40 layers deep. Each part is cut out by skilled tradesmen and then assembled (again, with the help of hands) on the production floor. This process is expensive and takes a lot of time."

9. The hardware is added and the sweatshirt is pre-washed and shrunk to fit. Here's a look at some of the workers inside one of American Giant's three factories in North Carolina.

10. Finally, the sweatshirts are shipped to American Giant’s fulfillment center in Kentucky, where they are packaged and shipped to consumers.

SEE ALSO: This $500 Machine Could Change How You Do Laundry

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Washington (AFP) - To recline or not to recline? Airplane "legroom wars" are prompting growing rage in the United States, with two recent seat battles sparking a heated debate about the knee-bumping practice. 

Amid the furor, one thing everyone seems to agree on is that space on passenger planes is getting scarcer and scarcer.

The question of reclining etiquette "has been a topic of discussion for many years," said Sarah Schlichter, editor in chief of IndependentTraveler.com.

"But the current uproar seems to be a sign that people are simply not happy fliers anymore."

Within just a few days, two aircraft were re-routed because of passengers fighting over a seat recline. 

On a United Airlines flight between Newark, New Jersey and Denver, Colorado -- which was detoured to Chicago -- one passenger even used a "Knee Defender" to hold his position.

The $22 gadget consists of two clips that attach to tray table arms to block the seat in front of them from leaning back.

Sales of the gadget "in the past two and a half years have been increasing on a continuous angle," its inventor, Ira Goldman, told AFP, without giving precise figures.

"People are travelling more, on more crowded planes, the space is smaller and the airlines still provides seats that recline," added the six-foot-three (1.92-meter) entrepreneur who says he flies 100,000 miles (150,000 kilometers) a year.

- Recliners versus legroomers -

For the past week, commentary, often tongue-in-cheek, has abounded, denouncing the cramped seats and taking sides in the undeclared war between the too-tall versus the -- generally inadvertent -- strikes of the knee crushers in the next row.

"The war between recliners and legroomers is escalating," joked website Gawker.com on Friday.

Slate.com's Dan Kois was unafraid to take sides, saying "tilting your seat back on an airplane is pure evil."

He described a cross-country flight with "the deceptively nice-seeming schoolteacher's seatback so close to my chin that to watch TV I must nearly cross my eyes."

But in The New York Times, Josh Barro defended the recliners. 

"I fly a lot. When I fly, I recline. I don't feel guilty about it," he wrote.

The "Knee Defender" inventor, who created his gadget more than a decade ago, however, is ready to move on. 

"I would be gratified if the airline industry would solve the problem that they have been ignoring for so many years," he said.

In fact, a Wall Street Journal study in October 2013 found that airlines were reducing space for economy class passengers in order to make more room for first and business class passengers, who pay far higher ticket prices.

The norm for long flights has gone from around 18 inches (46 centimeters) in the 1970s and 1980s, briefly up to 18.5 inches before shrinking down to just 17 inches in recent years, the newspaper reported. 

In comparison, legroom on a typical US train is more like 20 inches.

To stop the legroom battles, some low-cost carriers, like easyJet and Ryanair, have removed the reclining option on short flights.

"Baggage restrictions and fees, the loss of meal services, tighter seating and more for-fee upgrades that reduce the basic experience, all contribute to more aggravation for fliers," said Schlichter.

- Slowly does it -

Etiquette experts say leaning back is every passenger's right -- but beware about pushing too hard to exercise it. 

"You purchase that as part of your ticket price, and no other passenger has the right to prevent you from reclining your seat," said Anna Post, one of the directors of a famous school of etiquette, the Emily Post Institute. 

"We may be right, but trying to pursue being right may cause more trouble that it's worth," she said, advising passengers to lean back slowly "so you don't slam into someone."

"Sometimes just a little bit is enough to be more comfortable."

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Livegreen Toronto is rolling out an advertising campaign that has everyone talking right now. They're trying to stop people from littering on the streets.

The thing is, they're being really abrasive about it.

Check out the images, posted on Imgur, they're using to stop people from throwing trash all over the streets.

 So far the campaign seems to be going over pretty well with many folks in Toronto:

I'm actually quite proud of my city for this anti littering campaign, it made me chuckle http://t.co/pPLFd0VD5c#toronto

— Dave Throop (@David_Throop) August 26, 2014

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Brussels (AFP) - European Union leaders on Sunday gave Russia a week to reverse course in Ukraine or face a new round of sanctions as Kiev warned it was on the brink of "full-scale war" with Moscow.

Fears are growing that the confrontation on the EU's eastern borders could engulf the whole continent after Russia sent troops to back a new offensive by pro-Kremlin rebels in southeastern Ukraine.

EU President Herman Van Rompuy said the 28 leaders meeting in Brussels agreed to take "further significant steps" if Moscow did not back down.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has been ordered to produce options for new sanctions within a week, he said.

"Everybody is fully aware that we have to act quickly given the evolution on the ground and the tragic loss of life of the last days," Van Rompuy told a news conference.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the new sanctions would build on existing measures against Russia which mainly cover financial services, armaments and energy.

- Near point of no return -

The sanctions plan came after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko visited Brussels to urge the EU to take tougher steps against Russia which he accused of "military aggression and terror."

"We are very close to the point of no return, the point of no return is full-scale war, which is already happening in the territories controlled by the separatists," he told a news conference.

"Today we are talking about the fate of Ukraine, tomorrow it could be for all Europe."

Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite, whose Baltic nation is wary of a resurgent Russia on its own borders, gave a similar warning as she urged the EU to send military equipment to Kiev.

"Russia is practically in a state of war against Europe," she said.

The EU delivered a further riposte to Russia on Saturday when it appointed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a vocal Kremlin critic, to replace Van Rompuy as its next president.

The EU and the United States have already slapped tough sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis, including Moscow's annexation of Crimea in March.

Moscow has denied any troop presence in its western neighbour, despite the capture of paratroopers by Kiev and reports of secret military funerals being held in Russia.

But NATO said Thursday that Russia had sent at least 1,000 troops to fight alongside the insurgents, as well as air defence systems, artillery, tanks and armoured vehicles, and had massed 20,000 troops near the border.

- Fresh rebel offensive, gains -

The fresh rebel offensive has raised fears the Kremlin could be seeking to create a corridor between Russia and the strategic Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. 

Ukraine has openly asked the EU for military help, and on Friday Kiev announced that it would also seek membership of the NATO alliance, a move sure to further enrage the Kremlin.

Poroshenko will travel to the NATO summit in Wales next week to meet US President Barack Obama and seek practical help from the Western alliance.

The sudden surge in tensions came only days after Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks which failed to achieve any breakthrough.

Poroshenko said Saturday that fresh peace talks grouping representatives of Kiev, Moscow and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would take place in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on Monday.

But on the ground there was no sign of a let up in the fighting, as the rebels vowed to launch a new military push.

Alexander Zakharchenko, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, told Russian media on Saturday that rebels were "preparing a second large-scale offensive."

Kiev said Saturday that another airforce plane has been shot down in the east, blaming it on a "Russian anti-aircraft system". 

Faced with the reinvigorated insurgent push that has dramatically turned the tide of the conflict, Ukrainian forces have been trapped in a string of towns in the southeast.

Kiev's contingents began a withdrawal from besieged positions near the transport hub of Ilovaysk, which lies east of the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk, after holding ground without reinforcements for 10 days.

In the Azov Sea port city of Mariupol to the south of Donetsk, citizens dug trenches as they geared up to defend the city from a feared rebel offensive from the east.

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The military plane of the future is not likely to have anyone actually inside the aircraft, and a new video released from Boeing gives us a glimpse into what that could look like.

Boeing and the U.S. Air Force have been working on converting old F-16 fighter jets into unmanned aerial targets called QF-16s so pilots can get much more realistic practice, and with a live missile test carried out earlier this week in New Mexico, they've gotten even closer.

From Boeing's news release:

“The QF-16’s mission is really to act as a target and validate weapons systems. So, we do have a scoring system on the airplane and its job is to tell us basically how close the missile came and its trajectory.”

The ground control station sets the coordinates for the missile. Then, using its on board system, the QF-16 validates that the missile hit those coordinates, and detects the distance and speed of the missile. If all the data matches up, the mission is considered a “kill.”

While its first remote flight was back in Sep. 2013, this was the first time they tried shooting a missile at it.

The test was successful, and the aircraft — remotely-piloted with GoPro cameras around the cockpit — returned back to base. According to FlightGlobal, the plan is to get around 210 QF-16s operational as aerial targets in the future.

As we've seen with the rapid rise of drone technology amid its use in Iraq and Afghanistan, the next step in weaponizing and using QF-16s or similar over the battlefield is likely not that far off. While the military hasn't yet published a requirement for the QF-16s to do such a task, FlightGlobal reports that "Boeing has anticipated an interest in performing that work" and is studying whether it could work alongside the MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper drones already flying overseas.

The idea makes sense. Removing a pilot from the cockpit removes the risk of a casualty while still preserving the ability to provide air cover, and drones aren't really affected by high G-force maneuvers that would make a human being pass out. Of course, the ethics of such a move are another matter worthy of debate.

Regardless, the remotely-piloted aircraft isn't going away. Instead, it will only gain ground, as two former military pilots recently told Business Insider they expect the F-35 Lightning will likely be the last manned fighter jet in the U.S. arsenal.

Here's the video from the test:

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Golan Heights (Syria) (AFP) - Thirty-two Filipino United Nations peacekeepers have been evacuated after being caught up in heavy fighting on the Golan Heights while others remain under fire, the UN has confirmed.

The group was part of a 72-member contingent situated in two different locations in the area.

Those remaining are currently still under fire, preventing them from being moved out, the UN said in a statement issued from its New York headquarters.

"The UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) reports that, early this morning, UN Position 69 was fired upon by armed elements," the UN said in a statement issued from its New York headquarters.

"The Mission's Force Reaction Group has been deployed to the position and all 32 Filipino personnel from this position have been extricated and are now safe."

The statement said another position was also attacked by "armed elements" with mortar and heavy machine gun fire and that the peacekeepers returned fire and prevented the attackers from entering.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attack on UN peacekeepers, by non-state actors he said included the Al-Nusra Front, Ban's spokesperson said.

Ban called for the immediate release of peacekeepers who had been detained, a call echoed later Saturday by a Security Council resolution.

However, "we are still working towards the safe release of the detained 44 Fijian peacekeepers," it added.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, UN soldiers said earlier that part of the encircled Filipino contingent had been brought out and that others were no longer in rebel hands but awaiting better security conditions so they could enter the Israeli-controlled part of the plateau.

In Manila, Philippines Defense Minister Voltaire Gazmin said UN peacekeepers had clashed with Syrian rebels.

Gazmin said in a statement to reporters that the Filipino troops had been "extricated" from one of their two positions but added that another group of Filipino soldiers "is now under attack."

The peacekeepers were besieged by rebels Thursday but defied demands that they give up their weapons.

An AFP photographer heard intense small arms and missile fire in the buffer zone separating the Israeli-occupied part of the strategic plateau and the Syrian part, where the blue helmets are being held.

Irish soldiers with UNDOF, which is responsible for ensuring the maintenance of the armistice line between Israel and Syria, took part in the evacuation of the UN troops, the Irish military said. 

"Irish personnel secured a route, provided security as UNDOF troops withdrew from a UN position and escorted them to the Force Headquarters in Camp Faouar" on the Syrian side of the armistice line, the Irish statement said.

The Israeli military has cordoned off the area and reinforced its troop presence, an AFP photographer said.

Rebels, including some linked to Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, also took hostage 44 Fijian peacekeepers, the UN has said.

A UN statement on Friday said the world body "has received assurances from credible sources" that the Fijians "are safe and in good health" although their mission has had no contact with them.

But a senior Fijian military official told reporters in Suva on Saturday that their location was unknown.

"Their whereabouts at this stage, unfortunately, I cannot confirm," Brigadier Mosese Tikoitoga said after speaking to the head of the UN team negotiating for their release. 

"They confirmed that our men are safe and they are all well. (But) they have been moved to a location out of the bombardment range of any security forces or the Syrian security forces.

There are currently 1,200 peacekeepers serving in UNDOF from the Philippines, Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal and the Netherlands.

UNDOF has been tasked with monitoring a ceasefire between Syria and Israel since 1974.

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The 27th annual Burning Man — a crazy, weeklong festival in the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada — is well underway.

In honor of the Labor Day weekend festival, a new book "Burning Man: Art of Fire" details the elaborate art structures displayed throughout the past years of the event.

The book, by author Jennifer Raiser with photography by Scott London and Sidney Erthal, is the only authorized collection of the best of Burning Man art with incredible photography.

The book contains more than 200 striking photos and interviews with the artists about their inspiration and how they transport such large structures to the middle of the desert.

With permission from Race Point Publishing, we have 12 of the stunning images here.

Every August, over 50,000 people gather to celebrate artistic expression and social freedom in Nevada's barren Black Rock Desert. In extreme elements, over 200 works of art are created and intended to delight, provoke, involve, or amaze.

New book "Burning Man: Art of Fire" details the many art pieces in the desert, like this piece titled "Evolution Man," which was made entirely of irregularly shaped wooden triangles intended to represent the chaos at the heart of life.

There is ritual surrounding every aspect of the Man’s creation and destruction. He is traditionally 40 feet tall, standing on a tall wooden base that participants can enter and climb. The blueprints for his construction are a closely guarded secret, provided only to the carefully selected crew, largely volunteers, who gather at Burning Man’s Nevada work ranch in June for the process of carefully cutting, assembling, joining, and sanding of the Man with a level of craftsmanship befitting an antique piece of fine furniture.

(Photo: Courtesy Race Point Publishing/Sidney Erthal and Scott London Photography)

Artist Marco Cochrane's "Truth is Beauty" 2013 structure of the female body was held up with steel and mesh.

Cochrane credits the open-minded culture of Burning Man for inspiring the sculptures. He says: “I’m trying to demystify nudity. I see how free women are on the playa, how they can possess a playful energy here that they cannot do in real life.”

(Photo: Courtesy Race Point Publishing/Sidney Erthal and Scott London Photography)

The Hershey Company unveiled a new logo on Friday to give the choco-corporate powerhouse a more modern look. 

The new logo isn't a huge change from the old one, which featured a three-dimensional Hershey's kiss in front of "Hershey's" lettering. The new one has gone flat — like many other brands that have dropped shadowing and embossing — and it will be incorporated throughout the company in its stores, offices, and websites, the Wall Street Journal reports.

"Our updated company brand and refreshed visual identity is an expression of our progression to a modern, innovative company that positively impacts our local communities as we continue to grow globally," said Mike Wege, a senior marketing officer at the company, in a statement.

Behold. Here it is:

For comparison, here's the old logo on the left, and the new logos on different backgrounds to the right:

SEE ALSO: The 10 Best Corporate Logo Changes Of 2013

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Burnley (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Louis Van Gaal admitted Manchester United are playing well below the standards he demands after his spluttering side were held to a 0-0 draw by Burnley on Saturday.

Van Gaal heads into the international break still waiting for the first victory of his United reign after two draws and a defeat in the Premier League, as well as a humiliating loss at third-tier Milton Keynes Dons in the League Cup.

Managers often complain about the first international break, resenting the intrusion that interrupts their schedule and momentum before it has barely had a chance to pick up speed.

But van Gaal could be forgiven for relishing the opportunity to refine his plans for United over the next two weeks following their latest lacklustre effort against a Burnley team, who cost just £5 million ($8.3m) to assemble, at Turf Moor on Saturday.

The former Netherlands boss had already warned it will take several months at least to fix the fallen giants following the ill-fated reign of David Moyes and he offered a distinctly unimpressed review of United's current status after they failed to break down newly-promoted Burnley.

Van Gaal, whose team will be stuck on two points -- their worst start since 2007 -- until they face promoted Queens Park Rangers on September 14, admitted: "We don't look world-class at the moment.

"We shall have to wait and believe it will happen. We shall see where we are in a month or so."

- Expensive overhaul -

However, having scanned the fixture list to reveal games against Leicester City and West Ham United before the end of September, the Dutchman will expect his team to have hoisted themselves towards the right end of the table sooner rather than later.

By then he should have been joined by compatriot Daley Blind, the 24-year-old Ajax star who was a key part of van Gaal's Netherlands team at the World Cup and is expected to sign imminently for around £14 million.

Blind's arrival will continue van Gaal's £150 million overhaul of the United squad following the debut of Angel Di Maria on Saturday.

The Argentina midfielder, who cost a British record £59.7 million from Real Madrid, lasted 69 minutes before making way for Anderson after taking a kick to his calf.

Di Maria showed one or two nice touches at Turf Moor, but van Gaal said: "He was not the world-class player we have seen in Madrid.

"He needs to adapt to English culture and the English way of playing. And his teammates need to adapt as well."

At least there was no further defeat for van Gaal to face.

United were spared that when David Jones, the Burnley midfielder who began his career at Old Trafford and captained the team that won the FA Youth Cup in 2003, sent his third-minute free-kick against David De Gea's crossbar with the goalkeeper beaten.

Tom Heaton, Burnley's other United old boy in the home goal, found Robin van Persie and a subdued Rooney a less intimidating strike force than he might have expected, though he did well to parry at close range when van Persie collected Di Maria's perfect pass.

Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager who would have settled for taking a point from Van Gaal's team after back to back defeats, insisted: "You don't get anything other than a test from Manchester United. You don't ever have an easy ride."

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Washington (AFP) - The United States has launched a social media offensive against the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, setting out to win the war of ideas by ridiculing the militants with a mixture of blunt language and sarcasm.

Diplomats and experts are the first to admit that the digital blitz being waged on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube will never be a panacea to combat the jihadists.

But US officials see social media as an increasingly crucial battlefield as they aim to turn young minds in the Muslim world against groups like IS and Al-Qaeda.

For the past 18 months, US officials have targeted dozens of social network accounts linked to Islamic radicals, posting comments, photos and videos and often engaging in tit-for-tat exchanges with those which challenge America.

At the US State Department, employees at the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC), created in 2011, manage an Arabic-language Twitter account set up in 2012 (https://twitter.com/DSDOTAR), an English-language equivalent (https://twitter.com/ThinkAgain_DOS) and a Facebook page, launched this week, (https://www.facebook.com/ThinkAgainTurnAway).

- 'Many skirmishes, few battles' -

A senior US State Department official described the strategy as a kind of cyber guerrilla campaign.

"It is not a panacea, it is not a silver bullet," the official explained. "People exaggerate, people think this is worthless or they think it a magic thing that will make the extremists surrender. It is neither one of those. It is slow, steady, daily engagement pushing back on a daily basis. 

"It is a war of thousands of skirmishes, but no big battles. America likes big battles but it is not -- it is like guerrilla warfare," said the official.

The murder of US journalist James Foley, whose execution by Islamic State militants on August 19 was released in a video on the Internet, jolted the new breed of US cyber-warriors into a frenzy.

Since Foley's murder, the CSCC has ramped up its Twitter campaign, posting tributes to the slain reporter, opinion pieces and analyses on radical Islam from across the international media, along with cartoons and graphic photos.

The State Department last week tweeted about the death in Syria of Islamic State members, one of whom, Abu Moussa, had recently declared that the group would one day "raise the flag of Allah in the White House." 

Another tweet congratulated militant Yazidis who claimed to have killed 22 Islamic State fighters in Iraq.

Another post was more in keeping with the sober diplomatic tone Washington is used to, a photo-montage showing Syria's leader Bashar Al-Assad alongside Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in front of a city in ruins.

"Baghdadi and Assad in a race to destroy Syria - don't make it worse," reads a message.

- Historic parallels -

The US-managed Twitter accounts are also not squeamish about reproducing images distributed by jihadists depicting mass executions, drawing historic parallels between Islamic State militants and the Nazis.

One post showed armed Islamic State fighters standing over a ditch filled with executed people, alongside another almost identical image of Nazis killing people in similar circumstances.

"Then & Now: Nazis – like ISIS – murdered out of intolerance, hatred, zeal," read a comment alongside the two images.

Satire is also used to undermine militants, with one re-tweeted cartoon referring to the "ISIS bucket challenge" featuring a participant named as "the civilized world" being drenched by a bucket of blood.

The US officials say the social media offensive is an attempt to "contest space" on social networks which had previously been dominated by Islamist radicals.

"This is an area, a field, where before we came along the adversaries had this space to themselves," the official explained.

"You had English language extremists that could say any kind of poison and there will be very low push-back against them," he added. The ultimate aim is to make youths in the West or Muslim nations think twice before embarking on a journey to Syria or Iraq to join Islamic State fighters.

US officials are also mindful of striking the right tone as they troll Islamists.

"Twitter is unfortunately or fortunately a platform which is suitable for what we call snark, sarcasm, for insulting people," the official said. "This is something also we are trying to do, we try to attack. 

"We are respectful about things, the loss of human life of innocent people, victims of AQ or victims of ISIS, that is not something for sarcasm. 

"But when you are mocking them, it is effective to draw the comparison between what they say and what they do. The hypocrisy of this group is a weakness."

William Braniff, executive director of National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland, said the US online strategy was a step in the right direction but would take a while to yield results.

"For a decade the government is criticized for not engaging in the world of ideas online," Braniff said.

"The department of State eventually created this program in part to address that criticism.

"This is a just a drop in a bucket -- there is so much extremist propaganda online and so many formats for extremists to dialogue that this is really just spitting into the wind.

"We have to give these sort of programs time to build momentum."

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The White House is pushing back on a report in the Sunday Times earlier this week that said Obama "took too long" to authorize the mission to rescue James Foley and other American hostages held by ISIS militants, a decision that journalist Toby Harnden reported made the mission impossible.

The report, which offers a broad overview of the failed July 4 mission to rescue Foley, had two paragraphs which were very interesting:

Pentagon sources said Foley and the others might well have been rescued but Obama, concerned about the ramifications of US troops being killed or captured in Syria, took too long to authorise the mission.

Anthony Shaffer, a former lieutenant-colonel in US military intelligence who worked on covert operations, said: “I’m told it was almost a 30-day delay from when they said they wanted to go to when he finally gave the green light. They were ready to go in June to grab the guy [Foley] and they weren’t permitted.”

For what it's worth, Harnden, who has been a journalist for 20 years, uses the word sources — so while they are anonymous we know there are at least two — and his follow-up statement from Anthony Shaffer lends some credibility, as it comes from an ex-Army officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency. (He also wrote a book which the Pentagon bought up just so it could destroy all the copies since it reportedly contained intelligence secrets, according to The New York Times).

In a later tweet that was widely circulated, Harnden said a senior Pentagon official confirmed to him "that 'hesitation' by President Obama" delayed the mission. The account of the National Security Council immediately pushed back:

.@tobyharnden Not true. US forces conducted op as soon as the President & nat sec team were confident it could be carried out successfully.

— @NSCPress (@NSCPress) August 29, 2014

That didn't exactly satisfy Harnden, who called it a "non-denial denial," which NSC also pushed back on:

.@tobyharnden No, it's an actual denial. Your unnamed source is wrong. Welcome to use on record from Caitlin Hayden, NSC Spokesperson.

— @NSCPress (@NSCPress) August 29, 2014

 Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby also jumped in:

.@PentagonPresSec No one I have spoken to forgets courage of those who conducted the mission - quite the opposite.

— Toby Harnden (@tobyharnden) August 29, 2014

So it seems the timeline of the rescue mission is in dispute, but the Times is holding firm.

In a statement to The Hill, Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco said: "The President authorized action at this time because it was the national security team’s assessment that these hostages were in danger with each passing day in [ISIS] custody."

What is not really in dispute is that the operation was large, involving "several dozen" U.S. special operations troops in helicopters that were supported by an AC-130 gunship near Raqqah, Syria. The troops landed and found a prison with no hostages, but around 100 ISIS militants fighting them. Roughly 15 militants were killed before special ops left the scene.

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Oslo (AFP) - Ministers in Norway -- a major and rich oil-producing country -- are under increasing public pressure to reduce perks and tax breaks for booming electric car sales.

"It's become a problem," said Erik Haugstad, a bus driver in the Oslo region who complains about the numerous electric cars clogging bus lanes, which they have the right to use in Norway.

The cars are also exempt from urban toll payments or fees at public parking spaces, where they can recharge batteries without cost.

But above all, they are exempt from Norway's sky high sales taxes and VAT.

Norway brought in the generous incentives to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions from traffic, which accounts for 10 percent of total emissions in the Nordic nation.

The policy has been so successful that 32,000 electric cars are now on the road -- by far the highest rate per capita in the world, in a country with a 5.1 million population.

"I'm a bus driver and I want to transport my passengers as quickly as possible. So, I'd like electric cars to leave the bus lanes, where they're getting in my way," Haugstad said.

"These delays have a cost for society. Time lost by thousands of our passengers in traffic is far greater than that gained by a few dozen electric car drivers."

He said the cars can create a vicious circle -- tired of being stuck in traffic, bus users could be tempted to buy an electric car themselves, worsening the congestion problem.

- 13 percent of sales -

Electric cars already represent 85 percent of traffic in bus lanes during rush hour, according to a study by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration on a busy stretch of road outside Oslo.

"It's a subject we discuss very often with colleagues during lunch break. Many of them are far more aggressive and don't measure their words as much as me," Haugstad said.

No decision has been made so far, but it looks increasingly likely that authorities will take action to unclog congested areas -- especially during rush hour.

In the meantime, electric car sales keep growing. From the popular Leaf by Japan's Nissan to high-end US-made Tesla S, they have accounted for 13 percent of new car sales since the beginning of 2014, far ahead of the rest of the world.

In March, the Tesla became the highest selling car in a single month in Norway's history, despite its relatively high price.

Although a basic model costs about 60,000 euros ($79,000), it still sounds like a bargain considering that a price including taxes would be roughly double.

The popularity of electric cars has caught the authorities off guard, as they expected to keep the incentives in place until 2017, or until they number 50,000.

At the current pace, that figure could be reached in the beginning of 2015, forcing the government to rethink its costly policy.

The tax exemptions alone account for up to 4 billion kroner (500 million euros, $650 million), according to the state's own estimates.

"We might make lowering adjustments in the future," Prime Minister Erna Solberg recently told Norwegian newspaper VG.

"But I can promise drivers that there will still be fiscal advantages to driving an electric car."

The commitment is important, because 48 percent of electric car owners say their main reason for buying them was to save money.

According to a survey by the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association, only 27 percent said it was for environmental reasons and 12 percent to gain time in their rides.

"It's too early to remove the fiscal incentives. The market isn't competitive enough yet" compared to that of fossil-fuel-driven cars, said Christina Bu, general secretary of the association.

"If the tax and VAT exemption ends, the market could collapse and it would be hard for Norway to reach its climate goals. We must increase the number of electric cars, not reduce it."

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Shanghai (AFP) - Chinese authorities have formally arrested six employees from a unit of US food supplier OSI Group, the parent company and the government said, over a scandal involving expired meat sold to fast food giants.

Authorities have previously announced the detention by police of six officials of Shanghai Husi Food Co., a subsidiary of OSI which operated a factory shut down by the city in July for mixing out-of-date meat with fresh product.

OSI's clients in China previously included McDonald's and KFC.

"OSI Group confirms that 6 employees of Shanghai Husi have now been arrested following detention by authorities," the company said in a statement provided to media.

"OSI Group will continue to cooperate fully and in good faith with the authorities," it said, but did not identify the six.

Shanghai's prosecutor's office said the employees were suspected of producing and selling "fake and inferior" products, according to a separate statement posted on its website.

The scandal, which came to light after an investigative report by a Shanghai television station, caused shock waves because Western chain restaurants are widely viewed as upholding higher quality standards in a country hit by repeated food safety problems.

The OSI Shanghai factory's customers in China also included Pizza Hut, coffee chain Starbucks, Burger King, 7-Eleven convenience stores and Papa John's Pizza.

McDonald's restaurants in Japan and Hong Kong were also affected.

McDonald's has severed its relationship with OSI in China, but the change in suppliers caused widespread shortages of its menu items in the mainland, including Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets, for more than two weeks.

The Chinese government is now investigating OSI, while the US company is also conducting its own internal probe after shaking up its management in China.

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Tokyo (AFP) - When Japan announced it was ready to supply a new drug to help combat the deadly Ebola virus, one unusual detail emerged -- it would be made by Fujifilm.

The company synonymous with cameras and photobooths said it could start producing Avigan, which has been approved in Japan to treat the flu but which scientists think also could crimp the vicious illness.

Fujifilm's expansion from pictures to pills through its healthcare subsidiary, Toyama Chemical, is a business move being echoed by other giants of Japanese manufacturing, including Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba.

Fierce competition from lower-cost rivals, a shrinking domestic market and products that no longer immediately dominate the world is nudging them into new spheres.

"We are currently developing our medical activity to create a comprehensive service that covers everything, from diagnostic prevention to treatment," said Shigetaka Komori, CEO of Fujifilm, in a presentation on the firm's website.

It's not all about fighting disease, however -- Fujifilm also makes anti-ageing face creams under the brand Astalift, which is found alongside traditional names in the business.

"We are adding a variety of medicines, dietary supplements and cosmetics to the radiography film and equipment and mammography apparatus already in our collection," said Komori.

Fellow high-tech titan Sony has also leveraged its expertise to meet demand in medical science, incorporating technology usually found in Blu-Ray disk readers into the design of a new cell analysis device used in cancer and stemcell research.

The switch in focus is part of an effort by company president, Kazuo Hirai, to "make medicine a central part of the group's development" as he looks to stem losses that have left Sony in the red for five of the last six years.

Rival Panasonic, whose profits are making a wobbly recovery from combined losses topping $15 billion in the previous two fiscal years, has also tried its hand at medical machinery.

One of its brainchildren is a robot named "HOSPI" which transports medicine from one place to another at a hospital in Osaka.

Meanwhile, Toshiba has gone one step further by opening its own hospital in central Tokyo that is kitted out almost entirely with its own-brand machinery and equipment.

- Cigarettes and alcohol -

Japan's rapidly ageing population makes the sector a smart bet for companies in search of growth, said Hiroshi Nakamura, a professor at Keio Business School in Tokyo.

"The pharmaceutical industry in Japan is one of the few industries in which its domestic market is expected to expand for years, despite the declining population in Japan," he said.

Barriers to entry that might stymie other players -- such as technology and regulation -- can often work in favour of electronics companies, which are accustomed to doing rigorous research, said Nakamura.

And the fact that many of their original product lines are in trouble adds a certain sense of urgency.  

"Fujifilm is one of the few companies which has managed to enter the market, thanks to, for example, technologies developed under its film business, a strong sense of crisis (because there is) no hope for the film business, and a clear policy for differentiation against the existing big pharmaceutical companies," he said.

But it is not only electronics companies who have decided to dabble in the medical market. The sector has also attracted companies more usually associated with products that are frowned upon by doctors.

Beer maker Kirin produces a range of medicine used to treat cancer, kidney disease and high blood pressure through a sister company.

And while Japan Tobacco churns out millions of packets of Winston, Benson and Hedges, and Camel cigarettes, it also runs a medical research laboratory, and is now marketing its own anti-HIV compounds and treatments for melanoma skin cancer.

Although pharmaceutical pursuits only account for 2.7 percent of Japan Tobacco's revenue, it is keen to derive further healthy profits from its medical side-project.

"We strive to strengthen the profit base through value maximisation of each product and research and development promotion for the next generation of strategic compounds," Japan Tobacco's Associate General Manager Dmitry Krivtsov told AFP.

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Tokyo (AFP) - A group of Japanese porn actresses raised tens of thousands of dollars at the weekend by having their breasts squeezed by fans at a "Boob Aid" charity event for AIDS prevention.

The nine adult movie stars, sporting yellow campaign T-shirts rolled up to reveal their breasts, flashed a big smile as punters came to them at an event that opened Saturday.

Having sprayed their hands with disinfectant, many of them were seen fondling the breasts quite discreetly.

A man was seen pressing his palms together in the style of a Buddhist prayer before and after he softly touched the breasts of each of the nine girls.

Women were occasionally spotted in the mostly male crowd, prompting one of the girls to say in rapture: "Wow, I'm happy. I want her to touch my breasts!"

Boob Aid is part of the 24-hour "Stop! AIDS" campaign event in Tokyo, which was also televised live on a Japanese adult cable channel.

The breast-squeezing resumed Sunday morning after an overnight break. 

More than 2,300 pairs of hands groped for a total of eight hours until early Sunday afternoon, organisers said.

The figure suggests some $23,000 has already been collected as each participant was expected to donate 1,000 yen (about $10) or more.

The final money count will be announced after the event closes at around 8pm (1100 GMT) on Sunday. 

The event is the 12th since its launch in 2003. It is backed by the Japan Foundation for AIDS Prevention.

"I'm really looking forward to lots of people fondling my boobs," Rina Serina told the Tokyo Sports newspaper before the event. "But I would be very happy if you would please be delicate."

The event comes after sexist heckling of a Tokyo assemblywoman hit the headlines, highlighting old-fashioned views towards women that still permeate Japanese society.

"I never thought my boobs could contribute to society," added the ponytailed Serina, apparently unaware of any contradiction.

Fellow porn actress Iku Sakuragi had no qualms about being groped by hundreds of pairs of hands.

"It's for charity," said the 21-year-old. "Squeeze them, donate money -- let's be happy."

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London (AFP) - Competitors from around the world gathered in the rural Scottish village of Birnam this weekend for the World Haggis Eating Championship as part of the 150th anniversary Birnam Highland Games.

Strongmen dressed in kilts competed in traditional challenges such as "throwing the hammer" and "tossing the caber", a large wooden log, in the green landscape of Perthshire.

Martin Bristow was crowned the winner of the haggis contest, eating a pound of the sheep innards pudding in one minute and 47 seconds, according to Heart Scotland News.

Amid the fun and games the debate over the September referendum on independence for Scotland was never far away, with both "Yes" and "No" sides campaigning at the event.

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Bobigny (France) (AFP) - Six people were killed when an explosion ripped through an apartment building outside Paris, reducing half a residential block to rubble, emergency services said.

Among the victims were a 10-year-old boy and a mother and two children aged 14-18.

The bodies of a 45-year-old woman and another adult were also recovered from the remains of the four-storey building in the northeastern suburb of Rosny-sous-Bois.

Firefighters were combing the wreckage for two other missing people, Mayor Claude Capillon said. 

"There's still hope," said Capillon, stressing that the search and rescue operation would continue throughout the night.

Neighbours said the blast, which happened at around 7:00 am (0500 GMT), was strong enough to shake buildings some 100 metres (yards) away.

Early indications were that it was an accidental gas explosion.

"Our house moved, we were trembling from fear," said Pauline, a neighbour, adding that the explosion was so loud that "our ears were ringing".

Ghislaine Poletto, 55, who lives about 50 metres away from the collapsed building, said she "jumped into her trousers" and rushed to the site, where together with neighbours "we managed to pull two children out".

One of the children was "protected by a mattress and a board above his head, which saved his life," she said.

Firefighters said 11 people were injured in the explosion, four of them seriously. Two of the injured were children aged 10 and 13.

Gaetan de Raucourt, head of the Paris firefighting department, said there was still hope that occupants had found "pockets of air" amid the wood and dusty concrete rubble, which was piled a storey high and fanned out into the street.

"People might be sheltering there. We still have hope of finding survivors," he said.

Emergency crew chief Bernard Tourneur said the search would continue for at least 24 hours with care, since the remainder of the building left standing "is threatening to cave in". 

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who visited the scene, and police initially pointed to a gas leak as a likely cause of the blast.

A fire service commander, Gabriel Plus, said gas and electricity works had been ongoing at the site, but would not confirm their link to the disaster.

GRDF, the company in charge of delivering gas to homes, told AFP that "no leaks had been reported previously" in the area.

Neighbour Maryline Yyvon suggested the explosion was indeed the result of a gas leak. "They'd been digging under the sidewalk just in front of the building," she told AFP.

"Given the force of explosion, it wasn't just a gas canister, that's for sure," she said. 

Deputy Mayor Serge Deneulin said the building dates from the 1970s and was "in perfect shape".

City officials set up a makeshift shelter in a nearby school with an on-site medical team for families hit by the blast.

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The weekend is over, in Asia at least, and stocks are mostly down.

MSCI's Asia Pacific Index fell 0.1% in early Monday trading. New Zealand’s NZX 50 fell 0.2%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was up as much as 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei opened 0.2% higher. U.S. futures were down about a point.

Stay tuned for Chinese PMI tonight. State data will be released at 9 p.m. Eastern, while HSBC's measure is due at 9:45 p.m. 

Despite the short week we have a ton of data coming out — click here for the weekly preview from BI's Sam Ro »

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London (AFP) - Brendan Rodgers warned Liverpool's title rivals that his team are back in the groove after they marked Mario Balotelli's debut with a scintillating 3-0 win at Tottenham.

Balotelli was supposed to steal the spotlight on his return to the Premier League, but the flamboyant Italy striker had to play second fiddle to new team-mates Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson on Sunday.

Sterling scored Liverpool's opening goal early in the first half and delivered a sparkling display at the top of the midfield diamond formation Rodgers employed to overwhelm Tottenham's fragile defence.

Balotelli's strike partner Sturridge was a constant menace, while Henderson covered almost every blade of grass in midfield in a typically energetic showing.

Second half goals from Steven Gerrard and Alberto Moreno sealed the rout, capping the kind of vibrant performance that became Liverpool's hallmark as they went within touching distance of winning the Premier League last season before Steven Gerrard's crucial slip against Chelsea gifted the title to Manchester City.

Now, despite the departure of star striker Luis Suarez to Barcelona, Rodgers' team look to have got over last season's title race meltdown and the Reds boss believes they will be among the main contenders to win the English crown once again.

"I thought we were excellent. It was an outstanding performance," Rodgers said.

"We have risen to every challenge since I've been here. It was the same last year when people wondered if we could keep it up. The beauty of this group is they are very humble.

"We clicked back to where we were last season. That was good to see, I think people will enjoy watching us this season."

- Vast talent -

Balotelli offered glimpses of his vast talent with some neat combinations with Sterling and Sturridge during his 61-minute debut, but Rodgers knows the former AC Milan forward has much more to offer once he gets comfortable at Anfield.

He impressed Rodgers with his willingness to tackle the defensive side of the game, even marking at a corner for the first time in his career according to the Reds boss.

But the temperamental Balotelli's current place in the Liverpool hierarchy was underlined when the Reds were awarded a second half penalty.

Balotelli -- something of spot-kick expert -- might have hoped to be given the chance to score his first goal, but captain Steven Gerrard is Rodgers'a preferred penalty taker and he swept his shot past Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris before exchanging a joke with his new striker.

"He's scored 26 and only missed one, so he's got every right to be asking about taking penalties. But Steven Gerrard is an excellent penalty taker and he showed great composure again," Rodgers said.

"Mario's a good guy. If you take away some of the circus that surrounds him and treat him like an adult, it'll bring the best out of him.

"He's now at an age where he has to show maturity and I'm giving him responsibility."

While Rodgers was keen to accentuate the positive with Balotelli, he reserved special praise for 19-year-old England midfielder Sterling.

"We've tried to develop Raheem into a player that can start inside and also play wide. You've seen the flexibility from him today," Rodgers said.

"It's important for me they have that intelligence to play in a number of systems. For a kid of 19, he is excellent."

Ironically, Sterling fluffed his chance to score an early contender for goal of the season when his dribble past four defenders ended with a woeful finish, prompting Rodgers to joke: "Raheem ran into the box like (Tottenham legend) Ricky Villa and finished it like (comedian) Ricky Gervais".

Tottenham's new manager Mauricio Pochettino, frustrated by the first defeat of his reign, said: "We are very disappointed with the result.

"We competed well in the first half, then in the second half we conceded a very soft penalty at a key moment."

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China's official manufacturing PMI for August came in a bit light at 51.1.

The latest release from China's National Bureau of Statistics came in just below expectations, which were for a reading of 51.2.

August's reading is down from 51.7 in July, which marked a 27-month high for the index, according to Barclays.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the economy, while a reading under 50 would indicate contraction. 

Nomura's Aman Mohunta expected the report to come in a 51.0, writing that, "Despite targeted policy easing it seems that [China's economy] has recently lost some growth momentum, as the property market correction continues."

At 9:45 pm ET, we'll also get HSBC's final manufacturing PMI, which is expected to come in at 50.3, unchanged from the flash number reported earlier this month.

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