WhatsApp Passes One Billion Users Milestone

Messaging application WhatsApp is being used by one billion people, the company behind it has said.

The California-based firm announced the milestone just six years after it was founded by ex-Yahoo! employees Brian Acton and Jan Koum.

The app's popularity has stemmed from its allowing groups of people to stay in touch simultaneously without having to enter contact details.

As well as text messages, users can also share photos, videos and other media.

It also offers a similar secure messaging service to the BlackBerry and has become more popular as the Canadian phone maker has seen its handsets fall in popularity compared to those made by other smart phone makers.

It has also proved popular in the US where mobile phone customers often have to pay for text messages.

More than half of its subscribers have been added in the last 21 months, according to Forbes.

A message on the app's blog section said: "One billion people are using WhatsApp. That's nearly one in seven people on Earth.

"We are proud of this milestone, and we're humbled by the extraordinary ways all of you have used WhatsApp.

"WhatsApp began as a simple idea: ensuring that anyone could stay in touch with family and friends anywhere on the planet, without costs or gimmicks standing in the way.

"So even as we celebrate this achievement, our focus remains the same.

"Every day, our team continues to work to improve WhatsApp's speed, reliability, security and simplicity. We're excited to see how far we've come. But now, it's back to work – because we still have another 6 billion people to get on WhatsApp."

WhatsApp was bought by Facebook in February 2014 for $19bn (£12bn).

It is popular in India, which has the largest number of users for a country, but faces competition in Asia from other messaging services like WeChat and Viber.

YouTube Stars Lose 300,000 Subscribers Over Row

One of YouTube's biggest channels has lost almost 300,000 subscribers in two days after its creators announced plans to trademark a popular video format.

Brothers Benny and Rafi Fine make "reaction videos" in which people are shown clips or presented with objects and respond.

They had accumulated more than 14 million subscribers.

But this week they ran into trouble after announcing a licensing scheme called React World, which would force other users to share ad revenue in return for using the "react" title, and assets like graphics and music.

They filed an application to trademark terms including "Kids React", "Adults React", and "Celebrities React", as well as the word "react" itself.

The filing said this would cover "programmes and webisodes via the internet in the field of observing and interviewing various groups of people".

The plan sparked a backlash which led to their subscriber numbers dropping suddenly.

As a result, the pair performed a dramatic U-turn on Tuesday morning, rescinding all "react" trademarks and applications.

They said in a blog post that their intentions were "pure" but acknowledged that viewers had valid concerns.

It read: "We realise we built a system that could easily be used for wrong. We are fixing that.

"The reality that trademarks like these could be used to theoretically give companies (including ours) the power to police and control online video is a valid concern, and though we can assert our intentions are pure, there’s no way to prove them."

The brothers have previously had videos that copy their format removed from YouTube.

The post added that "it makes perfect sense for people to distrust our motives here" but said they will regain their viewers' trust.

Sexually Transmitted Zika Virus Case In US

A Texas county has reported a sexually transmitted case of Zika virus, raising fresh fears about the mosquito-borne infection which has been linked to birth defects.

Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) said the Dallas patient acquired the virus from sexual contact with an ill individual who had returned from a country where Zika is present.

Health officials said last week that 31 people in the US have been diagnosed with the Zika infection in the past year.

But those infections are thought to have originated through travel to Latin America.

International health officials have been investigating the possibility that the virus can also spread through sex.

Zachary Thompson, DCHHS director, said: "Now that we know Zika virus can be transmitted through sex, this increases our awareness campaign in educating the public about protecting themselves and others.

"Next to abstinence, condoms are the best prevention method against any sexually-transmitted infections."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a US government agency, has confirmed the Dallas case. 

The virus has previously been found in a man's semen in Tahiti.

There was also a report that a Colorado researcher caught Zika overseas and transmitted it to his wife back home in 2008.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned last week the virus is "spreading explosively" in the Americas.

Zika has been linked to a steep increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly, which causes abnormally small heads and brains.

Cases have so far been reported in 35 countries and territories, with Brazil among the worst affected.

Health officials have advised pregnant women to avoid travel to affected areas.

In several of the affected areas, including El Salvador and Colombia, women have been advised not to get pregnant altogether.

With the exception of the risks for unborn babies, Zika is not considered dangerous.

But there are no known vaccines, specific treatments or rapid diagnostic tests for the virus, something the WHO has highlighted as a particular concern.

Common symptoms can last up to a week and include fever, rashes, joint pain and conjunctivitis.

Brazil is due to host the Olympics this summer and pregnant women have been urged not to attend due to the risk of foetal brain damage.

Hillary Clinton's Celebrats Slim Iowa Win

Even before the results of Monday night’s Iowa caucuses were made official, Hillary Clinton touched down in New Hampshire declaring victory.

"I am so thrilled that I am coming to New Hampshire after winning Iowa,” she said, fresh off a red-eye from Iowa, at a campaign rally in Nashua. “I've won and I lost there. And it's a lot better to win."

Her battle with Bernie Sanders was so close -- just two-tenths of 1 percent separated the two rivals -- that the Associated Press did not declare Clinton the winner until Tuesday afternoon.

However, the Clinton campaign released a statement early Tuesday morning saying “there is no uncertainty” she won Iowa. Her speech last night had all the appearances of a victory speech.

A new Algerian law came into effect this week punishing violence against women and sexual harassment, in a victory for feminist groups that had fought for years for the legislation.

The law, effective from Monday, had been blocked by the Senate for eight months amid resistance from conservative Muslims who view it as interference in family affairs.

It's the fruit of a long struggle by feminist organizations in the North African country that have been fighting against a spike in attacks against women in recent years.

The article has the potential to be extremely robust in handing down heavy penalties for acts of domestic violence and also for harassment of women in the streets. It is aimed specifically at "the spouse."

If a domestic attack prevents the woman from working for over 15 days, the perpetrator faces two to five years in prison.

If a woman is mutilated, or the violence causes loss of eyesight or a limb, or any sort of permanent damage, the law says the attackers could face from 10 to 20 years' incarceration.

Officials say the 7,500 cases of violence against women reported in 2015 represent only 20 percent of the real number, since women prefer to stay silent rather than bring shame to their family.

Arizona Man Arrested in Nevada for Allegedly Killing Eagles

A 30-year-old Arizona man has been arrested in Nevada on charges accusing him of killing two federally protected golden eagles and illegally possessing more than 120 individual eagle and hawk feathers that he reportedly told authorities he kept for religious ceremonies.

Dana McIvor faces six counts of unlawful possession of raptor and raptor parts, and one count of unlawful kill of an eagle, Nevada Department of Wildlife spokesman Joe Doucette said Tuesday.

McIvor is a Native American who is a member of the Ojibwe tribe in Canada and listed his address as the Navajo reservation in Red Mesa, Arizona, Doucette said. He could face additional federal charges on top of the seven current state misdemeanor counts, each of which is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

"The investigation is continuing. More than likely there will be federal charges or possibly other states filing charges," Doucette told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

McIvor was arrested in Elko, Nevada, on Sunday after local authorities searched his car following reports of a reckless driver on U.S. Interstate 80.

Police and sheriff's deputies seized a .17-caliber bolt-action rifle, spent cartridges, two dead eagles, a dead hawk, two complete wings from recently killed hawks, and 124 separate eagle and hawk feathers. They said the seized raptors and their parts could be worth as much as $10,000.

"McIvor admitted to keeping the raptor parts for religious celebrations," said Quinn Hesterlee, a game warden for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

Another person was with McIvor at the time of his arrest but has not been charged, Doucette said.

Elko County Undersheriff Clair Morris told the Elko Daily Free Press that McIvor allegedly admitted to killing at least one of the birds in Nevada. He was released from the Elko County Jail on Monday after posting $5,370 bail.

McIvor could not be reached immediately for comment. There's no record of him having hired an attorney, a jail spokesman said Tuesday. His arraignment on state charges is pending.

Nevada Department of Wildlife Game Warden Quinn Hesterlee said eagle feathers often are sold and traded illegally to be used in Native American celebrations, as well as sold for profit in international markets. Individuals must obtain a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to legally possess raptors or raptor parts, he said.

The federal agency provides such feathers to tribes legally through the National Eagle Repository. Nevada is among states that annually transfer killed and euthanized raptors to the repository, Hesterlee said.

"It's unfortunate that these amazing birds get killed each year for religious celebrations when there are perfectly legal ways to obtain them," he said.

North Korea Announces Satellite Launch Despite International Skepticism

North Korea has announced plans to launch an observational satellite this month, two United Nations agencies said Tuesday.

The international community has dismissed similar claims in the past as smokescreens for North Korean tests of ballistic-missile technology, which the country is banned from developing under U.N. regulations.

Two specialized U.N. agencies — the International Telecommunication Union and the International Maritime Organization — told NBC News by email Tuesday that they had been notified by North Korea of an upcoming launch.

The U.S. State Department called on the U.N. Security Council to impose new sanctions on North Korea, which earlier this month claimed it had tested a hydrogen bomb.

"We're not asking for some sort of preemptive resolution, here, to a launch that hasn't occurred. But the announcement of it, itself, is just all the more indication that the international community needs to get behind tougher action against them," State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

Pyongyang said the latest satellite in the "Kwangmyongsong" program was set to be fired into orbit between February 8 and 25, according to the IMO.

However, the ITU said the information provided by North Korea was incomplete and that it would be asking for the missing information before it formally published the country's notification.

Two years ago, North Korea failed to supply the ITU with the necessary information for what it said was another planned satellite launch, according to the agency. This meant the object could not be registered in the international satellite database known as the Master International Frequency Register.

Pyongyang last conducted it a long-range rocket test in December 2012. It said that launch was an observational satellite, but the U.S., U.N. and others condemned it as an illicit attempt to develop ballistic missiles.