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2018-05-04

Happy Friday! And welcome to Overnight Health Care, sponsored by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.  For next week, we’re putting together the clues to figure out what President TrumpDonald John TrumpFacebook releases audit on conservative bias claims Harry Reid: 'Decriminalizing border crossings is not something that should be at the top of the list' Recessions happen when presidents overlook key problems MORE’s drug policy speech will entail. An array of opioid bills are set for mark-up before the full House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the panel’s investigative subcommittee will put pharmaceutical distributors in the hot seat. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar will speak to hospitals and a House committee will put a spotlight on changes to veterans health care. But first, ICYMI on Friday:  *** Sponsored content - Pharmaceutical Care Management Association Where PBM tools are used, a new report shows net spending – including the combined impact of drug prices, generic vs. brand drug use, and the overall number of prescriptions – declined by 2.1% last year. Spending increased in 2017 through channels not managed by PBMs. Learn how PBMs are part of the solution to reducing Rx costs at DrugBenefitSolutions.com. *** Big week on drug prices President Trump’s big speech on actions on drug pricing is finally expected next week. It was originally slated for Tuesday, though now there are rumors it could be pushed until later in the week. No one seems to know exactly what will be proposed, but here are some possibilities we’re hearing: Next week: Bye recess, hello Congress. Opioids: Cities, counties, tribes and other health-care stakeholders have filed hundreds of lawsuits against pharmaceutical distributors, alleging they didn’t report suspicious quantities of opioids, sometimes shipped in large volumes to small, rural areas. On Tuesday, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will get the chance to grill executives from the top distributors in a hearing billed as examining concerns about distribution and diversion. The panel has been investigating the issue for about a year. Key quote: “Through their testimony, we hope to gain a more complete picture of the crisis that unfolded in West Virginia and across our nation. As we work to develop solutions to combat the opioid crisis, we must fully understand the root causes of it,” Rep. Gregg HarperGregory (Gregg) Livingston HarperCongress sends bill overhauling sexual harassment policy to Trump's desk Dems cry foul in undecided N.C. race Mississippi New Members 2019 MORE (R-Miss.), the subcommittee chairman, said in a video previewing the hearing. ALSO: The full House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled mark ups for over 50 opioid bills, the first of which will be Wednesday. The final committee mark up is slated for May 17, as the panel’s chairman, Rep. Greg WaldenGregory (Greg) Paul WaldenLawmakers call on Trump to keep tech legal shield out of trade talks House passes anti-robocall bill Lawmakers deride FTC settlement as weak on Facebook MORE (R-Ore.), aims to put legislation to the House floor by Memorial Day weekend. Democrats balked at the timeline during a health subcommittee mark up last week, saying many of the bills were still in draft form and awaiting technical assistance.   VA health changes get scrutiny. It’s been somewhat lost in the high-profile controversy over Ronny Jackson, but the Veterans Choice Program is running out of money. The House Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday will mark up a bill that, among other things, would provide $5.2 billion to keep the Choice program funded. The Choice program was meant to be temporary. It was created in the wake of the 2014 wait-time scandal. It allows some veterans to see private doctors, but only in cases where they have to wait more than 30 days for an appointment or drive more than 40 miles to a facility. The issue: Reauthorizing Choice shouldn’t be a problem, but the legislation under consideration aims to create an entirely new program to allow veterans access to private-sector care paid for by the VA. It would eliminate the current waiting period and distance requirements and allow veterans to seek community care outside the VA if veterans and their providers agree it’s the best method of treatment. Will there be fireworks? According to Committee Chairman Phil RoeDavid (Phil) Phillip RoeWant to solve surprise medical bills? Listen to patients House conservative's procedural protest met with bipartisan gripes This Memorial Day, I challenge everyone to find a way to honor our nation's fallen MORE (R-Tenn.), the bill broadly includes the Senate’s language on community care and caregivers. It’s backed by all major veterans groups, included the Koch-backed Concerned Veterans for America. But a version of the legislation was supposed to be included in the recently passed omnibus spending package, and House Democrats blocked it because they were worried it would go too far towards privatizing the VA. *** Sponsored content - Pharmaceutical Care Management Association Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have outlined several policy solutions to ensure patients receive opioid prescriptions when safe and medically appropriate. One important solution would be requiring e-prescribing of controlled substances in Medicare (S. 2460 / H.R. 3528, the Every Prescription Conveyed Securely Act). A new study by the Opioid Safety Alliance finds this could save taxpayers $13 billion over 10 years. *** Other things we’re watching: What we’re reading The U.S. can't keep up with demand for health aides, nurses and doctors (CNN Money) ‘Pharma Bro’ Shkreli Is In Prison, But Daraprim’s Price Is Still High (Kaiser Health News) Gottlieb pushes back against criticism of ‘breakthrough’ designation (Stat News) State by state    States Aren’t Meeting Residents’ Mental Health Needs, Study Finds (US News and World Report) Here's what Iowa women are saying about the 'fetal heartbeat' abortion ban (Des Moines Register) New Hampshire House approves funds for DCYF, mental health services (The Concord Monitor) View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2016-12-19

* Upbeat speech by Fed’s Yellen pushes stocks higher * Turkish lira, Russian rouble fall on killing of Russian ambassador * Safe-haven yen, U.S. Treasury prices retrace earlier gains (Updates bullet points and prices) By Dion Rabouin NEW YORK, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Global stock markets added to gains on Monday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen sounded an optimistic tone about the U.S. labor market, weighing on safe-haven assets like the Japanese yen and U.S. Treasuries that had risen after the shooting death of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey. U.S. stocks initially slipped after the release of Yellen’s prepared speech to graduates of the University of Baltimore, but then added to earlier gains. Wall Street hit record highs last week as investors piled on bets that the anticipated fiscal boost from the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump would support riskier assets. That trend continued Monday with U.S. equities driven higher by Yellen’s rosy outlook and a rise in technology and telecom stocks in a low-volume environment analysts said was typical of the last full trading week of the year. “Traditionally, as you head into the week before Christmas, you see volumes slow down and a somewhat trendless market as people begin to position their portfolios for next year,” said Matt Jones, U.S. head of equity strategy at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in New York. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 44.89 points, or 0.23 percent, to 19,888.3, the S&P 500 gained 4.5 points, or nearly 0.2 percent, to 2,262.57 and the Nasdaq Composite added 22.78 points, or 0.42 percent, to 5,459.94. The dollar edged back into positive territory after the release of Yellen’s remarks, eyeing a 14-year high against a basket of currencies touched last week. The Turkish lira and Russian rouble fell to session lows against the greenback on news the Russian ambassador to Turkey was killed in a gun attack at an art gallery in the Turkish capital of Ankara. The lira was last down about 0.6 percent at 3.525 per dollar while the rouble hit a session low of 62.045 per dollar before retracing to 61.854, according to Reuters data. The safe-haven Japanese yen added to gains after the report of the ambassador being shot, rising more than 1 percent against the dollar. However, it retraced much of those gains after Yellen’s remarks. “It seems like she is acknowledging the continued improvement in the jobs market. That’s pretty consistent with what she and other policymakers have been saying,” said Eric Viloria, currency strategist at Wells Fargo Securities in New York. U.S. Treasury prices pared gains after surging higher following the news from Turkey. The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries, which moves inversely to the note’s price, was last 2.55 percent, pushing up from the day’s lows. Europe’s index of 300 leading shares retreated from Friday’s 11-month high and fell 0.07 percent. Germany’s DAX index rose 0.2 percent while France’s CAC slipped 0.22 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.08 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock index, which has benefited from the yen’s sharp fall against the dollar, snapped its nine-day winning streak, edging down from Friday’s one-year high. MSCI’s all-country world index that tracks stock markets around the globe rose 0.04 percent. Oil prices were mixed but held around $55 per barrel, with little news to influence the market. Brent futures fell 0.45 percent to $54.96 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5 percent to $52.17. Reporting by Dion Rabouin; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli

2016-03-18

March 18 (Reuters) - Orchestra Premaman SA : * Signs confidentiality agreement with Destination Maternity Corporation * Information will be used for evaluation of possible tie-up between the companies * Destination Maternity Corporation will provide confidential information concerning company Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom)

2016-05-26

(The following statement was released by the rating agency) NEW YORK, May 26 (Fitch) Delinquencies and losses fell again for both U.S. prime and subprime auto ABS last month, though losses are still higher year-over-year, according to Fitch Ratings in its latest monthly index. In the prime sector, 60+ days delinquencies were unchanged in April over March at 0.34%, but were 21% above April 2015. ANL recorded a 29% decline down to 0.45% in April versus 0.63% in March. April's loss rate was comfortably below the ten-year average of 0.80%, but 17% higher year-over-year (YOY). Subprime delinquencies declined 11% MOM to 3.70% in April, but were 15% higher versus a year earlier. ANL were at 7.41% last month, 14% improved over April but 33% above the same month in 2015. Tax refunds appear to be flat year-over-year (YOY) but continue to support improved auto ABS performance, as is typical for this time of the year. That said, monthly improvements last month slowed relative to the prior three years. Overall, this is a sign that the strong performance from late 2010 through early 2015 is behind us. Used vehicle values continue to show signs of softening in 2016 but still are healthy on a historical basis. The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index (MUUVI) was at 122.8 in April, virtually unchanged versus March. Vehicle values were slightly down on a yearly basis by 1.1%. The index ranged from a low of 123.8-125.7 in 2015 and averaged 124.7, so April's figure is marginally lower. Low oil prices are boosting the demand and sales of larger trucks and SUVs, and are also helping to bolster wholesale vehicle prices over the past year. According to ADESA Analytical Services, wholesale truck values were nearly 6% stronger in April on an annual basis, led by mid and full-size SUV/CUVs up 8.5% follow by full-size vans and minivans. Smaller vehicle classes remain down by 3.6% on an annual basis, as consumers shy away from this segment due to the low gas price environment. Despite the gradual increase in losses over the past year, Fitch continues to issue positive rating actions in 2016. Through mid-May, Fitch issued 34 upgrades which was in line with the first five months of 2015. Fitch's auto ABS indices track the performance of $92.3 billion of outstanding collateral, of which 60% is backed by prime collateral and the remaining 40% subprime. The indices include transactions rated by Fitch as well as non-rated issuer platforms. Contact: Hylton Heard Senior Director +1-212-908-0214 33 Whitehall Street, New York, NY 10004 Timothy McNally Associate Director +1-212-908-0870 Media Relations: Sandro Scenga, New York, Tel: +1 212-908-0278, Email: [email protected]. Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: here. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE.

2020-02-06 00:00:00

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.) * Futures up: Dow 0.46%, S&P 0.41%, Nasdaq 0.54% By Medha Singh Feb 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday as China’s plan to halve additional tariffs on some American goods helped allay fears over the financial fallout of the coronavirus epidemic. Beijing said it would lower extra levies imposed last year against 1,717 U.S. products, weeks after the signing of a Phase 1 trade deal. The tariff cut follows hefty monetary stimulus by China’s central bank earlier this week and is expected to lift investor sentiment, which has been impacted by shutdowns in the world’s second largest economy due to the virus outbreak. A string of positive U.S. economic data too have helped mitigate worries, fueling a three-day rally on Wall Street. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit record highs in the previous session, with the benchmark index on pace for its best week in eight months after last week’s steep pullback. However, the impact of the health emergency in China continued to show up in corporate reports. Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc flagged a potential threat to the mobile phone industry from the outbreak, with a possible impact on manufacturing and sales. Its shares fell 2.2% in premarket trading. At 7:09 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 135 points, or 0.46%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 13.75 points, or 0.41% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 50.75 points, or 0.54%. The fourth-quarter earnings season is more than half done with nearly 70% of S&P 500 companies exceeding their earnings estimates, according to IBES data form Refinitiv. Quarterly profit is expected to have risen 1.6% for the S&P firms. Tesla Inc slipped 1.3%, falling for the second day after a stunning six-day rally. Twitter Inc gained about 6% after the micro-blogging platform touched $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever, beating analysts’ estimates. As the week draws to a close, investor attention will shift to the U.S. jobs report on Friday. (Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru Editing by Arun Koyyur)

2019-11-08 16:26:00

Charlize Theron‘s nearly identical transformation into Megyn Kelly for the upcoming movie Bombshell took a lot more than just slipping into a costume. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 44-year-old actress, who stars in the Jay Roach-directed Fox News drama, attributed her impeccable change in appearance to “very intricate work.” Theron told the outlet she worked with “the greatest [special effects makeup artist], Kazu Hiro,” an Academy Award winner for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Darkest Hour and nominee for his work on Norbit and Click. “It’s really hard to get him to do new stuff,” she explained. “But I did a lot of begging and he came on and designed eight [prosthetic] pieces for me,” Theron said, adding that two of them “basically covered my entire eyelids.” She continued that Hiro’s work was especially “intricate,” adding it was the kind of “intricate work where you still need to be able to do what you need to do, like blink.” Theron became nearly unidentifiable under her Kelly disguise — so much so, that even her co-star Nicole Kidman, who plays former anchor Gretchen Carlson, didn’t recognize her on set. “She walked by me at one point and I thought she was mad at me,” Theron told Entertainment Tonight last month. “I thought, ‘Oh god! What did I do? Did I mess something up in her trailer? Did I not say hi nicely?’” “She just came up to me and she was like ‘Charlize?’ and then I said, ‘Yes are you mad at me?’” Theron added. “She said, ‘No I just didn’t know that was you!” Bombshell — which stars Theron as Kelly, Kidman ⁠as Carlson, and Margot Robbie as a new Fox News worker — tells the story of the women who claim they were sexually harassed by former Roger Ailes, played by John Lithgow. Kelly and Carlson, both former employees of the network, claimed sexual harassment from Ailes during their careers. The film was screened for the first time in Los Angeles on Oct. 13 and critics are already praising the film and its famous leading ladies. “BOMBSHELL will make a convincing case for the VICE slot in the Best Picture race,” Kyle Buchanan of The New York Times wrote on Twitter, later adding, “Margot Robbie should see supporting-actress heat for BOMBSHELL, which gives her a meaty arc from true-believer to potential whistleblower. But the film may also catch heat for the character, since she’s a fictional composite handed the film’s most significant sex-harassment scene.” Even more called on nominations for Theron and her “uncanny” performance of Kelly, which left some viewers “awestruck.” “Charlize Theron is remarkable as Megyn Kelly. She disappears into the part, owns the movie,” Sasha Stone of Awards Daily News wrote. “The cast of characters are hilariously Fox. Like Game Change and Recount ish. #bombshell” Bombshell hits theaters December 20.

2018-07-01

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Saturday that Ronald Vitiello will serve as the new acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the agency grapples with fresh criticism from lawmakers and activists.  Vitiello is the current acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and has served as a senior Border Patrol agent for several years. He will replace acting ICE Director Thomas Homan, who announced his retirement earlier this year.  "Deputy Commissioner Vitiello brings to ICE the vision and leadership needed to continue the exceptional work the agency is doing to accomplish its crucial national security and public safety missions," DHS Secretary Kirstjen NielsenKirstjen Michele NielsenTop immigration aide experienced 'jolt of electricity to my soul' when Trump announced campaign Trump casts uncertainty over top intelligence role Juan Williams: Trump, his allies and the betrayal of America MORE said in a statement. Homan announced in April that he planned to retire at the end of June, citing "family and personal considerations." Vitiello will take over as ICE is front and center in the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. The agency has faced scrutiny in recent weeks for its role in the administration's "zero tolerance" policy, which led to the separation of thousands of migrant children from their parents. Protests have broken out near ICE facilities in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Ore., in recent days, prompting the agency to put up barriers near entrances or after immigration hearings. A growing number of Democrats have in recent days called for ICE to be abolished, and for a new agency to be started from scratch. Other lawmakers have expressed skepticism, saying some agency needs to fulfill ICE's function. President TrumpDonald John TrumpFacebook releases audit on conservative bias claims Harry Reid: 'Decriminalizing border crossings is not something that should be at the top of the list' Recessions happen when presidents overlook key problems MORE has fiercely defended the agency, claiming protesters want "anarchy," and are endangering ICE agents. He has slammed Democrats repeatedly for their views on immigration. View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2017-07-26

Citigroup investors don't need to be concerned about trade under President Donald Trump, CEO Michael Corbat told CNBC on Wednesday. In part of a "Mad Money" interview airing in its entirety Wednesday evening, CNBC's Jim Cramer asked Corbat if he needs to worry about Trump's tough talk on trade. Corbat responded, by saying: "Trade is not dead. Trade is secular, not cyclical." "When we look at growth rates, sure, the whole world slowed. But the relationship between the developed and developing markets [is] very much intact. Emerging markets [are] still growing at nearly two times the pace of developed markets," Corbat said. On Tuesday, Citigroup outlined an ambitious plan to grow profit and return at least $60 billion to shareholders. In its first major investor conference in more than nine years, management described the blueprint as a sign Citi has finally regained its footing after the 2008 financial crisis when it needed three bailouts to survive. Earlier this month, Citigroup reported better-than-expected second-quarter results. But the bank mentioned a slowdown in stock trading results. Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Citigroup.

2019-06-19

(Updates throughout, moves dateline from SINGAPORE) LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Copper prices held near three-week highs on Wednesday on hopes that renewed talks between China and the United States will defuse a trade dispute that investors fear will damage economic growth and metals demand. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.2% at $5,935 a tonne at 0900 GMT after jumping 1.8% in the previous session. Worsening confrontation between Washington and Beijing had helped drive copper prices from a high of $6,608.50 in April to a low of $5,740 on June 7. News that talks will be revived ahead of a meeting next week between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping "helped bring copper back from the brink," Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said. But prices were unlikely to recover strongly without real progress in the talks, he said. FED/MARKETS: Copper was also helped by expectations that the United States and the euro zone may deliver interest rate cuts as early as July. Investors wagered the Federal Reserve would follow the lead of the European Central Bank and open the door to future rate cuts at its policy meeting later on Wednesday. CONFIDENCE: In a sign of the influence of the U.S.-China trade war, confidence among Asian companies in the June quarter fell to its lowest since the 2008-09 financial crisis, a Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey found. YUAN: China's central bank said it would sell 30 billion yuan ($4.35 billion) worth of yuan-denominated bills in Hong Kong on June 26, a move expected to support the currency. A sharp weakening of the yuan since April has made metals more expensive for buyers there. CHILE: Chilean miner Codelco sweetened its contract offer to workers after miners striking at its giant Chuquicamata copper mine were involved in clashes with police. TREATMENT CHARGES: Disruption at Chuquicamata could further tighten the copper concentrate market after Chinese treatment charges fell by around a third this year, pointing to short supply, analysts at ING said. DEFICIT: The roughly 24 million tonne a year copper market will see a deficit of 362,000 tonnes this year, according to Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. A deficit should support prices. LEAD STOCKS: On-warrant lead stocks in LME-registered warehouses fell to 49,175 tonnes after 15,025 tonnes of fresh cancellations, sending levels back towards 10-year lows of just over 40,000 tonnes seen in January. <MPBSTX-TOTAL> PRICES: LME lead was down 0.3% at $1,914 a tonne, aluminium was 0.1% lower at $1,778.50, zinc fell 0.9% to $2,489, tin lost 1.2% to $18,940 and nickel gained 0.3% to $11,980. (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Jan Harvey)

2017-10-17 00:00:00

Oct 18 (Reuters) - BWX Ltd: * Requests trading halt pending announcement ‍in relation to a potential transaction​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

2017-10-31

(Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) says it has discovered and reported to U.S. authorities certain inaccuracies in past declarations to the State Department over the sale of defense goods and services under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). ITAR is the official name for a 40-year-old set of rules governing the export of defense goods and data perceived to have implications for U.S. national security. The rules were conceived in the Cold War mainly to prevent sensitive U.S. arms technology being sold or re-exported to countries deemed to be a risk, or covered by arms embargoes. Countries currently on the ITAR blacklist include Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela. A further set of countries including Afghanistan and Iraq generally face restrictions, but may have ITAR-friendly export licenses issued on a case-by-case basis. Aside from this main function, the ITAR rules impose secondary requirements for transparency and disclosure. Companies dealing in ITAR-controlled goods must declare the use of sales agents or the payment of political contributions over $5,000 or commissions over $100,000 to the State Dept’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC). These are set out in Part 130 of the ITAR regulations, the section of the rules that Airbus says it may have breached. Civil penalties for breaking the ITAR rules - usually as the result of an error - can reach $500,000 per violation but are typically relatively small and rarely make headlines, said Reid Whitten, managing partner and expert on international trade controls at the London office of U.S. law firm Sheppard Mullin. There are bigger penalties for criminal or wilful violations of the ITAR rules. Criminal penalties can involve fines up to $1 million or up to 20 years’ imprisonment, or both, for each violation. But experts say sanctions in cases that do not involve a breach of national security were unlikely to be nearly as severe. Violations can also lead to a company being debarred from all export from the United States of goods covered by ITAR, usually for at least three years. For a foreign company like Airbus this could cause significant disruption to its business, because it would deprive it of access to U.S.-supplied parts for a range of platforms. Unlike France’s Dassault Aviation, which avoids key U.S. technology to market its warplanes as “ITAR-free”, Airbus uses sensitive U.S. components across its non-civil business from small transport planes to helicopters, fighters and satellites. “The penalty that a company like Airbus would be most concerned about would be the possibility of debarment,” Whitten said. Airbus said it had brought the ITAR issue to the attention of the State Dept. ITAR rules say the State Dept may consider a voluntary disclosure as a “mitigating factor” in determining the administrative penalties, if any, that should be imposed. An Airbus spokesman said the company submitted its initial notification of potential issues in November 2016.   An internal review led to a formal voluntary disclosure and results of Airbus’s investigation at the end of July 2017. The anti-corruption portion of the ITAR regulations differ from the main U.S. anti-bribery legislation, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, in the consequences. Aside from maximum penalties, which are broadly similar, the FCPA allows for the “disgorgement” of past profits related to corruption, which can significantly raise the financial burden. In 2008, Siemens agreed to pay $350 million in disgorgement and a $450 million fine to settle U.S. bribery charges. By contrast, large-scale enforcement of the Part 130 rules under ITAR is relatively rare, Whitten said. Reporting by Tim Hepher

2017-03-07

NEW YORK (Reuters) - PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP [PWC.UL] pinned blame for MF Global Holdings Ltd’s collapse squarely on the commodity brokerage and its former chief executive officer, Jon Corzine, as a trial over the auditor’s own responsibility got under way on Tuesday. Jurors in Manhattan federal court are considering whether PwC should pay roughly $3 billion for its alleged negligence in causing MF Global’s October 2011 bankruptcy. MF Global’s bankruptcy plan administrator blamed the collapse on PwC’s “egregious” accounting advice on Corzine’s risky $6.3 billion European sovereign debt wager, and on so-called deferred tax assets. But PwC said the administrator is trying to pass blame for decisions by Corzine, the former New Jersey governor and senator and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) co-chairman, and the brokerage’s own accountants. “MF Global was a sophisticated financial company,” and “Mr. Corzine was the mastermind and the driver” behind the European debt strategy, James Cusick, a lawyer representing PwC, told a standing-room-only courtroom in his opening statement. “Pricewaterhouse did not commit negligence,” and “is not at all to blame, not one bit, for the bankruptcy,” he added. Daniel Fetterman, a lawyer representing the administrator, told jurors that PwC’s failures led to a “crisis of confidence” for investors and counterparties, who fled MF Global upon learning its true financial condition. “PwC had a job, one job,” Fetterman said. “It was a job to properly audit MF Global’s financial statements. PwC botched its job. It failed.” MF Global plunged into Chapter 11 in less than a week, battered by news about the European debt, an unexpected large quarterly loss, credit rating downgrades and margin calls. A resulting panic caused an estimated $1.6 billion shortfall in customer funds that were supposed to remain segregated. That money was later recovered. The expected five-week trial is the last major piece of litigation to recover money for MF Global creditors. PwC in April 2015 reached a separate $65 million settlement with MF Global investors, but denied wrongdoing. Corzine has not been accused of intentional misconduct, but in January reached a $5 million civil settlement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He is expected to testify later this week. Lynn Turner, a former chief accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the administrator’s first witness, testified that PwC made an “incorrect certification” of MF Global’s financials by treating the European debt and tax matters improperly. “Did PwC do their job?” Steven Thomas, a lawyer for the administrator, asked him. “No, I don’t believe so,” Turner answered. The case is MF Global Holdings Ltd as Plan Administrator v PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-02197. Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker

2018-12-03 00:00:00

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Valora Holding AG: * AIMS TO INCREASE ITS CONSIDERABLE IMPACT IN FOODVENIENCE BUSINESS * ORGANISATION IS BASED ON TWO MARKET AND CUSTOMER-ORIENTED DIVISIONS, RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICE, WITH DECENTRALISED INTEGRATED SALES FORMATS AND GROUP-WIDE SHARED SERVICES * ROGER VOGT TAKES OVER LEADERSHIP OF RETAIL DIVISION AND BECOMES A NEW MEMBER OF GROUP EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT * CEO MICHAEL MUELLER WILL BE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR DIGITAL * REORGANISATION ALSO SUPPORTS REALISATION OF EXPECTED SYNERGIES FROM BACKWERK ACQUISITION * ABOVE MEASURES WILL LEAD TO REDUCTION OF AT LEAST 30 JOB POSITIONS ACROSS GROUP BY END OF 2019 Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Reporting by Berlin Speed Desk)

2017-10-10

For once, Republican Party operatives are feeling grateful to The New York Times. Thanks to the paper of record’s blockbuster report on Harvey Weinstein’s long alleged history of sexual predation, Republicans are seeking to brand the Hollywood producer—a longtime donor to Democrats and liberal causes—as the smarmy face of rich liberal privilege. The Democrats, after all, claim to be champions of women’s rights—so taking money from a repulsive figure like Weinstein seems like obvious hypocrisy. “During three-decades worth of sexual harassment allegations, Harvey Weinstein lined the pockets of Democrats to the tune of three quarters of a million dollars,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel gloated in a press statement. “If Democrats and the DNC truly stand up for women like they say they do, then returning this dirty money should be a no brainer.” Of course, political hypocrisy is often in the eye of the beholder. Democrats, in turn, are quick to point out that McDaniel is drawing her own paycheck from the party that’s launched Donald “Grab Them by the Pussy” Trump into the highest summit of power. But beyond the familiar, sententious sport of Washington hypocrisy-spotting, it’s pointless to deny that McDaniel is right: Weinstein’s “dirty money” should be repudiated. Weinstein himself continues to supply the best argument for this course of action every time he opens his mouth. On Friday, the Hollywood producer released a cringe-inducing statement showcasing his own m.o.: He intends to keep using his liberal activism to defend himself—and to distract attention—from serious allegations of sexual assault. “I am going to need a place to channel [my] anger so I’ve decided that I’m going to give the NRA my full attention,” Weinstein wrote. “I hope Wayne LaPierre will enjoy his retirement party. I’m going to do it at the same place I had my Bar Mitzvah. I’m making a movie about our President, perhaps we can make it a joint retirement party. One year ago, I began organizing a $5 million foundation to give scholarships to women directors at USC.” The subtext here couldn’t be clearer: Love me, I’m a liberal. Don’t think of me as a man who coerces sex from female underlings, but rather as a progressive Santa Claus dedicated to fighting the NRA and Trump. But Weinstein isn’t acting like Santa Claus so much as a liberal Roger Ailes, and he’s tendering a sordid Faustian bargain that Democrats—and liberals in general— should reject. To their evident credit, they’re so far doing just that. As Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo notes, there has been a rapid move, in liberal circles and beyond, to disavow Weinstein: “Weinstein was immediately forced to take a leave from his company. A parade of Democrats ostentatiously coughed up his campaign contributions. His legal team abandoned him. Yesterday he was fired from his eponymous company. Various Hollywood luminaries have denounced him. I’m at least not aware of anyone in that world who is publicly sticking up for him.” But why stop here? What we might call the Weinstein rule—dirty money deserves political rebuke—shouldn’t just apply in Weinstein’s case. Weinstein’s sexual predations are repellent, but they’re also far from the only immoral byproduct of big-donor politics. Even in the age of Donald Trump, it’s a hard-won consensus in American politics that Nazism and open avowals of white nationalism are bad, and should be denied public legitimacy. Trump himself defied this consensus after white nationalists and Nazis staged violent protests in Charlottesville that killed a protester in Charlottesville, saying there were “very fine people” participating in the white nationalist march. And as a result of his remarks, he faced a backlash among many in his own party. Given this consensus, it stands to reason, then, that a big donor who supported the mainstreaming of Nazism and white nationalism would be a prime example of “dirty money” in politics. And Joseph Bernstein’s own recent blockbuster report for BuzzFeed shows beyond question that the Mercer family, who donated more than $25 million to the GOP last year, has gone to great lengths to finance and normalize racist extremism. Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah are the major patrons of Steve Bannon and the far-right media empire that encompasses Breitbart News and the provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. Drawing on a trove of leaked emails, Bernstein makes clear that Yiannopoulos has deep intellectual and personal ties to the racist far right, including figures like Andrew “Weev” Auernheimer of the fascist website The Daily Stormer and Devin Saucier of American Renaissance. During his tenure at Breitbart, Yiannopoulos drew heavily on the counsel from such figures, even soliciting their help in editing and composing a major article he wrote for Breitbart on the alt-right. Yiannopolous’s affinity for white nationalism can be seen even in something as mundane as his passwords. Per Bernstein’s report: In an April 6 email, [Yiannopoulos’s assistant] Allum Bokhari mentioned having had access to an account of Yiannopoulos’s with “a password that began with the word Kristall.” Kristallnacht, an infamous 1938 riot against German Jews carried out by the SA — the paramilitary organization that helped Hitler rise to power — is sometimes considered the beginning of the Holocaust. In a June 2016 email to an assistant, Yiannopoulos shared the password to his email, which began “LongKnives1290.” The Night of the Long Knives was the Nazi purge of the leadership of the SA. The purge famously included Ernst Röhm, the SA’s gay leader. 1290 is the year King Edward I expelled the Jews from England. In other words, Breitbart and Yiannopoulos were engaged in an intellectual laundering operation. They took the dirty racist memes favored among actual Nazis and transformed them into linen that could be displayed in polite company. All this was made possible by the largess of the Mercers. If the “dirty money” of Harvey Weinstein has corrupted Democratic politics, the same can be said for the dirty money of the Mercers. There should be a loud public call for a complete repudiation of the Mercers. In this sense, and in this sense alone, we should be grateful to Harvey Weinstein—for helping to set a new standard when it comes to donations. As recently as last month, Hillary Clinton was still flogging the old talking point that the source of donations doesn’t matter when it comes to political advocacy and policy making. Now, however, it seems as though our political norms are shifting away from Clinton’s lassitude. If the cry is now that “dirty money” is unacceptable, we need to scrutinize every big donor. Jeet Heer is a contributing editor at the The New Republic.

2016-09-30

Sept 30 (Reuters) - Callidus Capital Corp * Extends substantial issuer bid and announces board of directors’ intention to engage external advisors to explore privatization of the company * Says is extending offer to 5:00 p.m. On October 31, 2016, as may be further extended or withdrawn by corporation Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

2016-01-15

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court upheld the right of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use a report written by an advisory committee that concluded menthol cigarettes pose a greater public health risk than non-menthol cigarettes. The court’s ruling overturned an order by District Court Judge Richard Leon’s that the report be barred from use. In 2014, Leon had ruled in favor of the tobacco companies Lorillard Inc and Reynolds American Inc who had argued that three members of the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee were conflicted because they had acted as expert witnesses in lawsuits against tobacco manufacturers or consulted for drug companies making smoking-cessation drugs. The tobacco companies had argued that the FDA’s appointment of those panel members increased the risk that the FDA would regulate menthol tobacco products in a way that would hurt their interests. They also argued that the committee members would have access to confidential company information that they could use against them; and that they could shape the menthol report to generate more expert witness business. Judge Leon ordered the FDA to reconstitute the committee to exclude the allegedly conflicted members and barred the agency from using the report for regulatory purposes. The report found that while menthol cigarettes, which account for about a quarter of all cigarettes sold in the United States, are no more or less toxic than regular cigarettes, menthol’s cooling and anesthetic properties reduce the harshness of cigarette smoke, increasing their appeal to new smokers. Judge Stephen Williams, writing on behalf of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, said the plaintiffs lack standing because they must show an injury that is “actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical” and that all three of their cited injuries did not meet that test. “We conclude that all three are too remote and uncertain, or, to put the same thing another way, insufficiently imminent,” he wrote. FDA officials were not immediately available to comment. Editing by Alistair Bell

2020-01-02 21:22:00

&aposBoob Lights&apos have become a common sight in standard American homes.Despite it&aposs widespread use, it&aposs the cheapest option for may new home buildersIt&aposs origins come from lightbulb innovation, but they will soon become an antique of the past.Visit Insider.com for more stories. The following is a transcript of the video.Narrator: Yeah, you recognize this. Do you have one in your home? Do you have more than one? I have four in my one-bedroom apartment, including this one that&aposs now home to a dead roach.If I can be honest, I hate them. Call it Freudian if you want, but they just collect dust, they&aposre an insect graveyard, and they&aposre just ugly. So I&aposm gonna start replacing them, and along the way, I&aposm going to find out, why boob lights are on the ceilings of so many homes. Why are they everywhere? Why are they designed like that? And with all of your options when it comes to how to light your home, why? Just, why? I don&apost get it.All right, let&aposs be fair. We&aposre gonna call it by its G-rated term which is a flush mount dome light fixture. but speak to any lighting designer or a contractor, and then they&aposre gonna call it exactly what you think.In pursuit of answers, I spoke with Charles Brill, co-founder of designer lighting manufacturer Rich Brilliant Willing.Charles Brill: &aposThe boob light&apos, it has a really simple construction It&aposs usually a plastic or opaline glass sphere with a little threaded nut in the middle that kinda holds the glass in place and allows you to easily re-lamp the light fixture. That style of fixture, a sphere, a dome, with a perimeter metal is basically the bare-bones construction method of a flush mount.Narrator: The term for materials like these is builder grade, an inexpensive construction solution, as long as you&aposre not the one living with it. Flush-mount fixtures are super-popular in construction because then you don&apost have to deal with hanging chandeliers or worrying about how low lights are gonna hang in a room. There are thousands of flush-mount designs from hundreds of companies.The lighting industry, in general, is booming, reaching $43 million in revenue in 2019, and boob lights are some of the cheapest, especially if you&aposre buying in bulk. Look, I can get a pack of six for $40. But frugality can&apost be the only answer, can it? Who designed this and decided this looks great on a ceiling? To find out, we have to go back in time......or to your local craft bar. You recognize these, though: Edison bulbs! They&aposre the trendiest thing now, but before 1904, they were the only name in the light-bulb game, and they kinda sucked. They were powered by a carbon filament that wasn&apost very bright but burned hot. Not a great thing to enclose in a diffuser and shove in the ceiling. Fire inspectors would not have approved. Builders usually hung them from ceilings but kept them low, in pendant lights.Then as cities grew, builders looked for ways to light smaller rooms with shorter ceilings, and their prayers were answered by the improvement and mass-production of the incandescent light bulb, in the early 1900s. Invented in Britain and developed by William Coolidge, these bulbs swapped the hot, dim carbon filaments with a tungsten filament. The new bulbs burned much cooler and were bright enough to be installed right next to the ceiling. Builders also loved installing flat-mount light fixtures newfangled concrete-based homes because they didn&apost have to install hardware in the concrete ceiling. Designers like Virden, Beller, even Sears and Roebuck created fixtures in this new style. Early flush mounts played around with the design, often relying on screws around the edge to keep the diffuser in place.Finally, around 1930, perhaps as a result of some new technology making hardware smaller, an anonymous light-fixture designer discovered that the finial could be placed at the center of the dome. This secured it in place, making it easier to swap out bulbs, and changed history forever. After that, it was game on for the boob light. The growth of the suburbs during the &apos50s saw a surge of construction and secured the light&aposs position on hardware store shelves. Through the decades, styles came and went, but one thing stayed the same: This was the cheapest option. If you were building a house on the cheap, your ceiling had a boob light."So what", you may be thinking - and you&aposre right. Besides being distracting, there&aposs nothing wrong with relying on a boob light. The targeted lighting for a 100-square-foot living space is 2,000 lumens, which a flush-mount will do fine, but it&aposs one source. From a lighting-design perspective, they&aposre kind of basic.Charles: When you start with a room with only a flush-mount, the ambient light is created through the flush-mount. To really define a space, you want to be able to wash the walls, to define the perimeter of the space. Work with floor lamps or other track lighting that have a focal light to feature textiles on your sofa or an area rug.Narrator: At the end of the day, it&aposs not that I have anything against boob lights, it&aposs that lighting, like everything, is an art form. It should serve as both form and function, and it&aposs fine to design a light that stands out or blends in, but this does neither, which just makes it so much more confounding that they&aposre everywhere.It&aposs impossible to talk about lighting in 2020 without mentioning LEDs. They&aposve been changing the game since the early 2000s. As of 2018, LEDs own 76% of the lighting market. As more new homes are built, the slim, barely-there profile of low-power LEDs will inevitably push out the bulky boob light as the default ceiling light in newer homes.If you live with boob lights and you like them, you do you. But don&apost be afraid to consider alternatives. See what your local lighting shop has in stock. If the wiring is intimidating, there are even diffusers and shades that can fit easily over the existing fixture. But if you&aposre feeling HGTV vibes, swap it out, even if you&aposre in a rental. Just remember to turn off the breaker. It does wonders to individualize your living space.Just store the boob somewhere safe and swap it back in if you do end up moving. Chances are, you&aposll probably be swapping out a boob light again real soon.

2018-10-22 00:00:00

Check out the companies making headlines after the bell: Cadence Design Systems shares soared more than 8 percent during after-hours trading Monday after the electronic software company beat analysts' estimates in its third quarter earnings. The company reported earnings of 49 cents a share adjusted for one time items, according to Dow Jones. Analysts were expecting earnings per share of 41 cents.  Zions Bancorp shares rose 2 percent during after-hours trading upon the announcement that the company increased its net earnings in the third quarter from last year's third quarter. The Salt Lake City, Utah-based bank reported net earnings of $215 million, or $1.04 a share, according to Reuters. This beat analysts' estimates of 96 cents a share. SS&C Technologies shares rose more than 6 percent after-hours upon the release of the company's preliminary third quarter earnings. The software company expects its third quarter revenue to be in the range of $990 million to $992 million, up about 137 percent from 2017's third quarter revenue of $418 million. Adjusted net income is also expected to be between $196.9 million to $199.8 million, up from the company's guidance from the second quarter of 2018 of $162 million to $168 million.

2017-08-20 00:00:00

President Trump will address the nation on his Afghanistan war strategy tomorrow at 9 p.m. from Fort Myer in Arlington, VA. It's one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency, and it comes after Trump met with his national security team on Friday at Camp David . Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Sunday, per Reuters: "I am very comfortable that the strategic process was sufficiently rigorous and did not go in with a pre-set position."The stakes: Should Trump order a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, advisers believe he'd all but ensure the Taliban completes its takeover of the country. Al-Qaeda and ISIS would be allowed to flourish, and you'd have a terrorist launching pad similar to, or potentially worse than, before 9/11.Trump's decision hasn't leaked; but I can illuminate some of the private conversations leading up to it, from senior administration sources and former officials close to the Pentagon:Trump's top national security advisers all agree the only way they'll win their missions in Afghanistan is to modestly increase troop levels, keep training the Afghan military, and keep a strong CIA and special forces presence to run aggressive counter-terrorism operations.Two missions:"Operation Resolute Support": While the Trump administration is explicitly repudiating both the idea and the phrase "nation building," ORS is a train, advise and assist mission to help the Afghan army fight the Taliban, an official tells me. It's meant to help keep the government from collapsing while reversing Taliban gains.Counter-terrorism mission — primarily to eradicate Al-Qaeda, ISIS-K and other terrorist groups from Afghanistan.Inside Mattis' thinking: The Defense Secretary has been using this line in meetings: "Mr. President, we haven't fought a 16-year war so much as we have fought a one-year war, 16 times."What Mattis means by that: Trump has already given Mattis the authority to increase troop levels in Afghanistan, but the Defense Secretary has refused to exercise that authority, believing that doing so without an agreed-upon strategy would be continuing the failures of previous administrations. Trump officials condemn the Obama administration for falling into a habit of asking each winter "what do we need to do this year to prevent total collapse?"Trump's team presented him with other scenarios — which everyone on the team agreed would lead to disaster. They included a gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan (a continuation of what Obama was doing), and counter-terrorism-only options.What Steve Bannon wanted: Mattis and co. never took the idea seriously, but Bannon and Blackwater founder Erik Prince had been pushing for Trump to gradually withdraw the U.S. military from Afghanistan and replace it with private paramilitary forces to hunt terrorists.I'm told the Bannon strategy has never been part of the NSC paperwork, though the former chief strategist circumvented the official process and took his arguments directly to the president.Trump's instincts: The president has been blunt, telling his team that while he thinks the war in Afghanistan has been a disaster, and the U.S. is losing, he thinks total withdrawal would be bad. Trump saw what happened when Obama withdrew from Iraq and believes that doing so precipitously in Afghanistan would allow the Taliban to take over, and Al-Qaeda would be resurgent. You'd have bad guys in Afghanistan in league with bad guys in Pakistan who want to overthrow the country.Trump has told his advisers he's been shown the maps of Afghanistan, with the red on the map signifying the Taliban's presence in the country. He says that advisers show him the map in 2014 and there's a little bit of red. Look at the 2017 map and half the country's red, therefore "we're losing."The generals' response to Trump: You're right. But we're losing because the strategy has been terrible. We can turn this around. Bottom line: Trump has been reluctantly open to the generals' opinion and I'm told he doesn't want to be the president who loses the country to the terrorists.

2019-05-06 00:00:00

Android Auto is getting a little refresh, as Google announced a new version of its smartphone-powered infotainment system ahead of the company’s I/O developer conference this week. Due out this summer, it’s supposed to be more intuitive, actionable, and should require fewer taps to get things done — and it’s also going to sport a new default dark mode theme. The highlight of the Android Auto design refresh is a new, more dynamic persistent navigation bar at the bottom of the user interface. Instead of just static white buttons on a black background, the new version allows some apps to essentially take over a section of the navigation bar, allowing for more granular control without requiring the driver to switch to the full app in question. For example, if you’re using Google Maps to navigate to a destination, but don’t have the full app open on the screen, the new navigation bar will show the next step in the turn-by-turn directions. Or if you have the full map view open, but there’s music playing in the background, the navigation bar will surface play / pause / skip controls for apps like Spotify. (Google says “all media apps” will be able to take advantage of this out of the gate as long as they’re already approved for Android Auto.) The newer navigation bar also features one-tap access to Google Assistant, and it moves the home button all the way to the left (instead of in the middle) so it’s a little less of a reach. Notifications in the notification center now have more available actions, and the app launcher’s design has been tidied up as well. The point of this refresh, according to Android Auto product manager Rod Lopez, is to “help you get on the road faster, show more useful information at a glance and simplify common tasks while driving.” So in addition to the design changes noted above, Google says the updated Android Auto can now automatically continue to play media and will also open up “your navigation app of choice” as soon as you plug your phone into the car.

2016-10-21 00:00:00

Microsoft's Surface deal with the NFL made the news for all the wrong reasons again earlier this week, after Patriots coach Bill Belichick revealed his thoughts on Microsoft's tablets. Belichick ranted that he was "done with the tablets" during a five-minute-long expression of pure frustration at the Surface tablets and the technology surrounding them. "I'm going to stick with pictures, which several of our other coaches do, as well, because there just isn't enough consistency in the performance of the tablets. I just can't take it anymore," said Belichick, weeks after smashing a Surface tablet on the sidelines. Microsoft responded to Belichick's concerns with a brief statement earlier this week, but now the company is going even further to defend its Surface tablets. In a blog post, Microsoft's Windows and devices corporate vice president, Yusuf Mehdi, defends the company's NFL deal at length. The post contains a variety of quotes from NFL players, coaches, and spokespeople backing up Microsoft's tablets. "We love the NFL. We love the game, the players, the coaches, and the fans," explains Mehdi. "We have deep respect for the teams -€” and the IT Pro's who work tirelessly behind the scenes to help them succeed." Behind the scenes technology seems to be responsibile for issues It's this behind the scenes technology that appears to be at the heart of some issues that have surfaced during the NFL's use of Microsoft's tablets. Back in January, the Patriots lost to the Broncos in the AFC championship game, and Microsoft was quick to blame "network issues," noting that "not a single issue" had been reported with the Surface tablets themselves. While Microsoft stops short of directly blaming the NFL's IT infrastructure this time, it's clear that a stadium environment is challenging. A team of NFL IT staff is responsible for rolling out the equipment and Surface tablets, alongside ensuring network connectivity is solid. Microsoft details some of these steps, noting that the company will "continue to work with the NFL to address this complex environment and help the teams take advantage of cutting edge technology." Mehdi's blog post defends the Surface tablets, but it fails to truly address the issues the Patriots have been experiencing. Microsoft's Surface tablets are part of a complex environment, and the company is simply admitting that it's a challenge that it needs to keep working on. That challenge will last until around 2018 at least, after Microsoft struck a five-year $400 million deal with the NFL back in 2013. That gives Microsoft enough time to figure out the IT issues behind these frustrations, and to ensure that its NFL marketing deal wasn't the ultimate fumble for its Surface tablets.

2020-01-30 00:00:00

SEOUL, Jan 31 (Reuters) - South Korea’s SK Hynix , a chip supplier to Apple Inc and Huawei , said on Friday its fourth-quarter operating profit slumped 95%, missing analysts’ estimates, as chip prices were hit by oversupply and a demand slowdown. SK Hynix, the world’s No. 2 memory chip maker after Samsung Electronics, said its operating profit was 236 billion won in the December quarter, below a 433 billion won average forecast drawn from 19 analysts, according to Refinitiv data. That compared with an operating profit of 4.4 trillion won a year earlier. It also swung to a net loss of 118 billion won. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Chris Reese)

2017-10-17

Washington (CNN)Republican Sen. Bob Corker said he "loved" a speech given by Sen. John McCain that was widely seen as a sharp critique of policies espoused by President Donald Trump. "Well the pieces that I saw, I loved, and I gave him a big hug on the floor," Corker told reporters when asked about the remarks. "It's a great speech." McCain was honored Monday night with the Liberty Medal by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. In his speech, he cautioned against abandoning "the ideals we have advanced around the globe" in exchange for "some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems." RELATED: John McCain just delivered a total and complete takedown of Trumpism While McCain did not name the President or his advisers, McCain targeted the "America First" principles that Trump has used throughout this candidacy and presidency. For his part, Corker has become the Senate's latest outspoken Republican critic of Trump and his policies. In recent weeks, the senator from Tennessee has called the White House an "adult day care center," argued that Trump was paving the path to "World War III," and declared that a trio of Trump's senior administration officials and Cabinet members were responsible for preventing the country from collapsing into "chaos." Trump, responding to McCain's speech Tuesday morning, said in a radio interview that "people have to be careful because at some point I fight back." "I'm being very nice," Trump added. "I'm being very, very nice. But at some point I fight back and it won't be pretty." Asked Tuesday on Capitol Hill if McCain was referring to the President in his speech, the longtime senator said, "No, I was referring to the whole atmosphere and environment." RELATED: In invoking 'America First,' Trump stirs memories of pre-WWII isolationist movement McCain added that he was referring to those who advocated the theme of "America First." "There are a whole lot of people besides the President who say America First," he said. CNN's Manu Raju, Sophie Tatum, and Dan Merica contributed to this report.

2017-03-23

WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Thursday he believed the House of Representatives was still on track to hold a vote on Thursday night on healthcare legislation backed by President Donald Trump. Spicer, at his daily news briefing, said Trump’s meeting with House Republican conservatives who make up the “Freedom Caucus” was a “very positive step” and that Trump continues to build support for the legislation. “I expect it to climb hour by hour,” Spicer said of support for the Republican healthcare effort. He said drawing conservative support while not alienating moderate lawmakers remained part of a “balancing act.” Reporting By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; Editing by Dan Grebler

2018-05-08

PARIS (Reuters) - French judges have summoned Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud as part of an investigation into suspected financial misdemeanors by a state body she headed, a source close to the minister said on Tuesday. Prosecutors launched a probe last year into the way a party promoting France at a consumer electronics fair in Las Vegas in 2016 was organized. President Emmanuel Macron was present at the party in his then-role as economy minister. Penicaud will be questioned under caution on May 22, the source said, confirming a report by satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine. The procedure does not mean she will be put under formal investigation. Macron has said any minister placed under formal investigation by magistrates must resign, although such investigations do not automatically lead to trial. There was no open tender to organize the party for Business France, the body Penicaud led at the time. The job was performed by the Havas public relations agency. Havas has said it had an 18-month contract with the state agency which allowed it to do the job without a public tender. Penicaud said last year that she was the one who raised the alarm when an audit exposed a potential problem. Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; writing by Sybille de La Hamaide; editing by Andrew Roche

2016-06-29

June 29 (Reuters) - Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels Development Co Ltd * Says its plan to acquire stakes in China’s Vienna Hotels Group gets approval from China’s anti-monopoly bureau Source text in Chinese: bit.ly/294zxju Further company coverage: (Reporting By Hong Kong newsroom)

2019-03-25 16:10:00

These two little royals know how to charm the crowds! Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco hosted Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at the Palace on Sunday. During the welcoming ceremony in the courtyard, 4-year-old Prince Jacques made sure he wasn’t left out of the fun. The prince, perfectly outfitted in a pair of reflective sunglasses, spied on the proceedings from a palace window above. Princess Charlene caught her son in the act, prompting a laugh before she waved and blew kisses to him. The scene-stealing moment is similar to when Prince George had to stay inside to watch a special flypast to mark the 100th birthday celebrations of the Royal Air Force last July. While his parents, Prince William and Kate Middleton, joined the Queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, George stayed behind the scenes to enjoy the festivities with his own little party from the palace windows (under the watchful eye of trusty nanny Maria Turrion Borrallo!). While Prince George was joined by little sister Prince Charlotte, 3, for their headline-making moment looking out the window, Jacques’ twin sister Princess Gabriella wasn’t by his side for the sweet moment. Just like Prince George and Princess Charlotte, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella can always be counted on for a cute moment. In November, they joined their parents on the palace balcony for Monaco’s National Day celebrations – but had trouble holding onto their toys. Dressed in a red robe, Gabriella danced and rocked along to the music. She waved to the crowds and ate cookies. Until the moment her father descended the palace stairs to review the troops, when the small orange balloon she had been entertaining herself with all morning slipped from her hand and fell to the courtyard below. Gabriella’s expression as the balloon sailed downward, a mix of surprise and concern, captured on camera, earned its deserved replay. Then a close-up, another replay and eventually its own replay in slow motion. The balloon, in fact, won internet celebrity until it was finally brought under control by a minister of state. Her brother, occupied with toy action figure of a knight in armor, seemed not to notice. However, Prince Jacques enthusiastically banged his knight on the balcony in time to the cheers as National Day ended with its tradition of crowds advancing towards the palace with rounds of “hip hip hooray.” Jacques’ toy slipped from his hand and fell to the crowd below. His look of dismay moved his mother to offer a reassuring cuddle. After several long moments, both the youngsters returned assumed to the railing offering waves and kisses to the crowds.

2016-03-17 18:20:00

When crowds flock to a Bushwick warehouse, odds are it's for techno, not Handel. But LoftOpera, a visionary young opera company, is packing audiences into an abandoned bus depot off the Jefferson Stop to swill Brooklyn Lager throughout a world-class production of Puccini’s Tosca. Now in its fourth season, LoftOpera made a name for itself by scrapping the pomp and circumstance traditionally associated with the artform in favor of cheap tickets, solid musicianship, and plentiful booze in the wilds of industrial Brooklyn. It's a formula that has earned the company a devoted following of die-hard aficionados and opera newbies alike. “We choose venues that aren’t too hard to find, but there’s always an element of, ‘Am I going to get mugged?’” Brianna Maury, LoftOpera’s general manager, tells The Creators Project. “You start the whole night on an adventure. And then you come in, and it’s dark, and there’s loud music playing, so immediately the experience is totally unexpected.” Behavior that is verboten at the Metropolitan Opera is par for the course at LoftOpera. Beer bottles spill mid-aria, and it is okay for audience members to shun sub-par seats to sit on the concrete warehouse floor. But in stripping away the artifice, LoftOpera lets performances shine. Tosca features a 32-piece orchestra and a cast of classically-trained rising stars in the opera community. Though the environment is edgy, the music is pristine. LoftOpera is less concerned with opera’s cool factor and more invested in making quality classical music for the masses. “Something we said from the beginning is we’re not trying to be avant-garde opera, we’re populist opera. And populist opera means that we tell the story in a way that is honest and easy to understand,” Maury says. “We didn’t really realize how accessible opera was until we started making it. The stories are so accessible, so when you strip away all the bullshit traditions, then it actually becomes really fun.” Maury, along with her co-founders Daniel Ellis-Ferris and Dean Buck, runs LoftOpera less like an arts collective and more like a startup. The company leverages Weebly for web hosting, Square for transactions, JustWorks for HR, and rents space at WeWork. But where LoftOpera skimps on expensive venues and elaborate sets, it invests in artists, paying everyone a competitive rate and providing paid opportunities for performers when lucrative gigs are rare. In addition to financial support, LoftOpera nurtures talented artists on their way up but outside the opera establishment. It casts young performers in meaty roles they may not get to tackle otherwise and puts the audience in close physical proximity with singers and orchestra members. The resulting power and noise is incredible and something LoftOpera believes everyone deserves to witness. “Opera tells timeless stories. It tells stories about the human condition, stories about struggle. Art is supposed to reveal something new about the human condition, and opera does that in spades,” Maury says. “I think the appetite for art today is as strong as it has ever been, so if we can share really beautiful music with people, it’s our duty, and we love doing it.” LoftOpera’s production of Puccini’s Tosca runs March 17, 18, and 19, and tickets are $30. Related: "Hyper-Opera" Programs the Drama of Performance Online Karen O in Stop the Virgens The Polygamy Opera Hits Vancouver

2016-01-28 00:00:00

Jan 28 (Reuters) - Alstom Sa * Say completed buy back offer, repurchased 91.5 millions of shares representing around 29.5 percent of share capital * Says board approved the cancellation of the shares repurchased for an amount of approximately 3.2 billion euros. * Says Alstom’s number of shares now approximately 220 million and its market capitalisation at 5.4 billion euros. * Says at the end of the buy-back operation, Bouygues owns 28.3 percent of Alstom’s capital. Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Reporting by Paris Newsroom)

2016-09-29

YEREVAN, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Armenia’s government on Thursday approved a 2017 budget draft which forecasts gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 3.2 percent. The government meeting was broadcast live on television. Finance Minister Vardan Aramyan also said he expected economic growth in 2016 to be 2.4 percent, up from 2.2 percent projected in this year’s budget. (Reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan; writing by Margarita Antidze; editing by Dmitry Solovyov)

2017-10-03 00:00:00

AMSTERDAM/LONDON (Reuters) - Dutch start-up messaging company MessageBird has landed $60 million in first-round funding, the largest ever early-stage venture capital investment into a European software company. MessageBird helps 15,000 organizations send messages or communicate with customers via chat, voice or video. Clients range from companies such as Uber, SAP and Heineken, to governments and semi-public organizations that use it for emergency messages and medical appointment notifications. The Amsterdam-based firm competes in the fast-growing cloud-based messaging market with more than a dozen firms, including Twilio, Blackberry, Nexmo and Urban Airship. The unusually large first round fundraising is due to the company having had almost no outside investment since it was founded in 2011, which forced it to be profitable from the start. It expects to generate revenue of $100 million in 2017. “We have been growing about 100 percent a year for a couple of years now,” Robert Vis, MessageBird’s 33-year-old founder and chief executive, said in an interview. “We are always looking at how to sustain that”. The so-called “Series A” funding round of $60 million was led by Accel Partners of Silicon Valley and joined by Atomico, a top European venture firm, along with seed stage investor Y-Combinator. Messaging software makers face mounting competition including from broad-based cloud services providers such as Microsoft, Cisco, and Amazon, which earlier this year introduced its Connect embedded telephone services at prices one analyst estimated at about 40 percent lower than Twilio’s. What sets MessageBird apart is that it has forged deals and built interfaces with 220 telecom carriers worldwide, making it the only similar platform running on telecoms carrier-grade infrastructure rather than over the internet. This allows it to speed delivery and guarantee quality of messages at lower costs. “Until MessageBird, no one in the space had successfully built the relationships and technology at scale to directly (connect into) telecommunications carriers around the world,” said Atomico Partner Hiro Tamura, who will join the company’s board. Its services can reach billions of mobile phones, it said. MessageBird said it planned to use the funding to accelerate hiring and target new customers and small acquisitions in the United States, Europe and Asia. With 75 employees, up from 25 in 2015, MessageBird generates more than $1 million in revenue per employee, “something of a magic number for us,” Vis said. Vis said the funding would also raise its profile and bolster its balance sheet, both of which will reassure high-value potential customers such as banks of its staying power. Despite having many of the business and financial metrics that have led rivals such as Twilio to stock market flotations, Vis said he has no intention to seek an IPO “for years to come.” Reporting by Eric Auchard and Toby Sterling; Editing by Mark Potter

2018-12-19 00:00:00

BEIJING (Reuters) - China confirmed on Wednesday the first African swine fever outbreak in southern Guangdong province, as the highly contagious disease continues to spread through the world’s largest hog herd. The outbreak in Zhuhai city in Guangdong province killed 11 animals in a slaughterhouse, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on its website. Guangdong is a major pork consuming region and heavily relies on supplies from other provinces. The first outbreak of the disease reported there will likely further push up prices in the region, analysts said. Hog prices in Guangdong province were around 16 yuan ($2.32) per kg on Wednesday, up 10 percent since early August, when the country reported its first African swine fever outbreak, according to data provided by consultancy China-America Commodity Data Analytics, due to a ban on live hog transport. “Supplies in Guangdong have been quite tight already and prices are expected to jump in the long term in the region following the new outbreak,” said Yao Guiling, an analyst with the consultancy. “In the very short term, prices might drop, as more farmers might rush to send their pigs to slaughter following the outbreak,” said Yao. Zhuhai is about 3,000 km from Shenyang in Liaoning province, where the country’s first outbreak of the disease was found. China has reported some 90 cases since then. (For graphic on Swine fever in China, click tmsnrt.rs/2QMhmzL) Beijing banned transport of live pigs from regions found with outbreaks and neighbouring provinces, in an effort to contain spread of the disease. The disease is deadly for pigs but does not harm humans. The table below shows the number of cases by province, according to data reported by the ministry. Reporting by Hallie Gu and Tom Daly; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and David Evans

2018-09-13

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki HaleyNimrata (Nikki) HaleyThe Hill's Morning Report - Trump on defense over economic jitters Haley: 'Threats of China on full display' in Hong Kong Juan Williams: Trump's trouble with women MORE is hitting back at Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, calling it "unbelievable" that the Myanmar leader  defended the jailing of two Reuters journalists. "First in denial about the abuse the Burmese military placed on the Rohingya, now justifying the imprisonment of the two Reuters reporters who reported on the ethnic cleansing," Haley tweeted in response to a post Suu Kyi. "Unbelievable."  First in denial about the abuse the Burmese military placed on the Rohingya, now justifying the imprisonment of the two Reuters reporters who reported on the ethnic cleansing. Unbelievable. https://t.co/ThqGgczEkf Suu Kyi on Thursday drew shark rebukes from U.S. officials after she insisted the jailing of the two journalists did not violate freedom of speech. "They were not jailed because they were journalists, they were jailed because ... the court has decided that they have broken the Official Secrets Act,” Suu Kyi said at a conference of the World Economic Forum in Hanoi, Reuters reported.  "I wonder whether very many people have actually read the summary of the judgment which had nothing to do with freedom of expression at all, it had to do with an Official Secrets Act,” she said. The U.S. has come out in support of the journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were arrested under a colonial-era law while reporting on Myanmar's persecution of Rohingya Muslims. Reuters has reported that the journalists were arrested as part of a sting operation by police in Myanmar. "We continue to believe that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo did not violate Myanmar’s espionage law, and at no point in time were they engaged in activity to hurt their country," Reuters said in a statement following Suu Kyi's comments.  Vice President Pence is so far the most senior U.S. official to throw his weight behind the journalists, who were convicted at the beginning of September for breaking the law by obtaining confidential documents about the military's actions. Pence at the beginning of the month tweeted that "Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo shd be commended—not imprisoned—for their work exposing human rights violations & mass killings."  Haley has previously denounced the Myanmar convictions, calling them "another terrible stain" on the country.  Though U.S. lawmakers once broadly backed Suii Kyi, they have increasingly come out against the Nobel Prize winner over her inaction as Myanmar's military rulers have committed atrocities against the Rohingya, an ethnic minority group in Myanmar. Rep.Ro KhannaRohit (Ro) KhannaKing incites furor with abortion, rape and incest remarks San Jose mayor proposes mandatory liability insurance for gun owners Democrats give cold shoulder to Warren wealth tax MORE (D-Calif.) has called for revoking Suu Kyi’s Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’s highest civilian honor. “For Aung San Suu Kyi to not speak out and to talk about a proportionate response to terrorism is a total abdication of any morality,” Khanna said. “We should revoke the congressional medal, and beyond that she should be investigated as part of the U.N.’s [war crimes] tribunal.” The United Nations recently determined the brutal violence against the Rohingya amounts to a genocide. View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2016-11-17 00:00:00

(CNN)A middle school teacher in Baltimore was fired after telling a group of eighth graders that they should focus on their education instead of wanting to "be like a punk ass n----- who's going to get shot." Harlem Park Elementary/Middle School said in a statement on Thursday the science teacher was no longer employed after engaging in "verbally abusive behavior" and having "made racially charged comments directed at students." The video, shot by a student on Tuesday, shows the unidentified teacher removing a student from the class before returning to class, where she says the N-word. The video shows the stunned reaction of one of the students, while others can be heard shouting "racist." At one point, she called the students "idiots." The teacher is white; most of the students in the classroom are black. Millions of views "I was floored, I was utterly disgusted," Erica Gales Deminds, who has three children at the school, told CNN of her reaction when she first saw the video. Her son had been put out of class by the science teacher before she used the word. The video clip only shows 50 seconds preceding the use of the N-word and cuts off shortly after its use. "The students were being rowdy, they were being disruptive, they were being teenagers pretty much," Deminds said. "The teacher was a really good teacher, she was one of my son's favorite teachers. I had met her a few times and she was always very pleasant," adding, "she just must have reached breaking point." After her son showed her the video, Deminds shared the video on Facebook, where it was viewed more than 1 million times in just over 12 hours. The parent went to the school to complain and was told of the teacher's dismissal.

2017-12-14 18:30:16

Merriam-Webster chose “feminism.” Dictionary.com went “complicit,” while Cambridge Dictionary anointed “populism.” Now, Oxford Dictionaries is announcing that its international Word of the Year for 2017 is … “youthquake”? “Youthquake” — defined as a “significant cultural, political or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people” — triumphed over a politically pointed shortlist that included “Antifa,” “broflake,” “kompromat,” “white fragility” and “Milkshake Duck.” Katherine Connor Martin, the head of Oxford’s new words program, acknowledged that it was an unusual choice. The former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland apparently coined “youthquake” in the 1960s, to describe the youth culture of Swinging London, and it maintained a modest if somewhat retro currency in conversations about style. But in the past year its frequency increased by about 400 percent, according to analysis of the Oxford English Corpus, which collects roughly 150 million words of spoken and written English from various sources each month. It surged first in coverage of the British parliamentary elections in June, when a spike in voting by young people helped deal a blow to the Conservative Party, before spreading to political commentary in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and elsewhere. “It has a very neat symmetry,” Ms. Martin said. “It originally referred to changes in fashion caused by baby boomers coming of age. Now, we’re seeing it emerge in an electoral politics context, as millennials displace the baby boomers.” Some dictionary companies’ choices are based on frequency of look-ups. Oxford’s Word of the Year, Ms. Martin said, reflects not just social and political issues, but is also intended to highlight the ways language changes over time. (Its choice last year was “post-truth.”) Some words on this year’s shortlist, like “kompromat” and “Antifa,” are foreign loan words that suddenly became part of common English vocabulary, thanks to current events. Others are coinages that reflect intersecting, long-developing language trends. Take “broflake,” a derogatory term for a conservative man who is easily offended by progressive attitudes (even as he mocks progressives as overly sensitive “snowflakes”). It reflects the tendency, especially in online discourse, to reappropriate insults in highly ironic, self-referential ways. It also reflects the way portmanteau coinages incorporating “bro-” and “man-” — “portmanbros,” if you will — have increasingly taken on a critical edge, in keeping with shifts in conversations around gender. “How we get from relatively genial terms like ‘bromance’ or ‘man cave’ to more critical terms like ‘broflake’ or ‘manspreading’ is interesting,” Ms. Martin said. “It speaks to the way people are increasingly interested in questioning what they see as male privilege.” Dictionaries are supposed to provide objective information about how words are used, Ms. Martin emphasized, not to weigh in on contemporary issues. But Oxford, in its announcement, did allow that “youthquake” is the rare emerging political term that sounds a “hopeful note.” Of course, the fact that the dreaded millennials are taking over the language may not seem like good news to everyone. Ms. Martin, for the record, identified herself as a “Xennial,” as members of the micro-generation just behind Gen X are sometimes known. “We considered ‘Xennial’ for the shortlist,” she said, “but it didn’t make the cut.”

2018-03-27 00:00:00

March 27 (Reuters) - Nibec Co Ltd : * Says it lowered conversion price of 5th series convertible bonds to 10,249 won/share from 10,566 won/share, effective March 26 Source text in Korean: goo.gl/z8D1YZ Further company coverage: (Beijing Headline News)

2016-07-19

Goldman Sachs topped earnings expectations with earnings per share of $3.72 and revenue of $7.93 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $3 a share on revenue of $7.58 billion, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus. For the same quarter a year ago, Goldman reported $1.98 a share on $9.07 billion in revenue. For most major Wall Street banks, the ongoing earnings season has represented a bit of a rebound. JPMorgan Chase earnings last Thursday easily beat estimates. Wells Fargo matched earnings expectations Friday and Citigroup posted a beat as well. To start this week, Bank of America posted a top- and bottom-line beat Monday. "Despite the uncertainty created by Brexit, we achieved solid results by continuing to serve our clients across our diversified franchise and by managing our business efficiently," said Lloyd C. Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs stock is down more than 9 percent so far in 2016. Goldman shares traded down nearly 1 percent heading into the open Tuesday morning. Goldman's investment banking business brought in $1.79 billion, representing a decrease compared to the same quarter a year ago and an uptick compared to the first quarter of 2016. But the bank's outlook for its investment banking business was not optimistic. "The firm's investment banking transaction backlog decreased compared with both the end of the first quarter of 2016 and the end of the second quarter of 2015," the bank said in its earnings announcement. The bank said it reduced overall staffing by 5 percent in the second quarter. Also, compensation fell 13 percent compared to the second quarter of 2015, which Goldman attributed to a decrease in net revenue. The bank's revenue from its fixed income, currency and commodities trading unit was $1.93 billion, 20 percent higher than in the second quarter a year ago and also up compared to the first quarter of this year. Goldman and other big Wall Street banks suffered under-performance in their FICC businesses in the first quarter of this year, which impacted its revenue.

2017-12-01

Dec 1 (Reuters) - Wins Finance Holdings Inc: * WINS FINANCE HOLDINGS INC - ‍EXPECTS THAT ITS ORDINARY SHARES WILL RESUME TRADING ON NASDAQ STOCK MARKET ON DECEMBER 4, 2017​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

2017-09-10

The epic leak of the Golden Master version of iOS 11 on Saturday continues to deliver surprises, and the latest offers more insight into how Apple's new Face ID system may work.  A Brazil-based iOS developer posted several screenshots and videos on Twitter not long after the initial leak, and the posts appear to show the process for setting up the iPhone's new Face ID authentication.  We get to see what appear to be the preference and settings screen for Face ID (a name indicated by earlier leaks on Saturday), which allows you to select whether you'd like to use Face ID for iPhone Unlocking, Safari Autofill, the App Store, or iTunes.  Preferences screen for Face ID. There's still some lorem ipsum in there 😝 pic.twitter.com/cMlaQ0lpy5 — Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) September 9, 2017 And in the video, we also get to see what may be the Face ID authentication screen as it looks when you position your face in front of the camera for first time registration.  Face ID enrollment process (with layout issues on first page) pic.twitter.com/KczOHEy9ir — Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) September 9, 2017 Of course, none of this is confirmed, but the demonstrations and settings screens, when paired with the leak information from Saturday, are pretty convincing.  Authenticating with FaceID looks like this (timing not correct because it's just the UI, not actual auth) pic.twitter.com/kvNUARDQBJ — Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) September 9, 2017 We'll know for sure in just a couple of days, when Apple CEO Tim Cook takes to the stage of the new Steve Jobs theater to reveal all.

2020-03-22 13:30:00

Arie Kruglanski is a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland.He delves into the ways the coronavirus is affecting human motivation and our psyches, as an unprecedented global situation that most people alive today haven't ever experienced before.Beyond the tragedy of lives lost, COVID-19 is also having long-term consequences on economic security and community mental health.Kruglanski explains that the coronavirus is affecting three key things: how we think, how we relate to others, and what we value.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. For most Americans, the coronavirus pandemic represents a completely unprecedented circumstance, as novel as it is life-changing. No event in recent history has affected us as profoundly and pervasively.Not only does it remind us of our physical fragility, it undermines economic security, throws daily routines topsy-turvy, wreaks havoc on plans, and isolates us from friends and neighbors.I am a psychologist who studies human motivation and its impact on what we feel, how we think, and what we do. I see that little by little, the stressful external forces this pandemic unleashed are exerting a deep internal effect. Little by little, they are changing who we are, and how we relate to people and the world.The pandemic affects our psyches three ways: It influences how we think, how we relate to others, and what we value. 1. Changed sense of security This crisis has induced wide reaching uncertainty. We do not know what to think, or how to make heads or tails of these completely unfamiliar circumstances.Who will be affected? Will our loved ones? How quickly? Will tests be available? Will we survive? How long will this last? What about our work? Our income?The combination of uncertainty and danger is a recipe for severe angst. It feeds an intense desire for certainty, better known to psychologists as the need for cognitive closure.Once aroused, the need for closure fosters the craving for reliable information, the acute desire to dispel the paralyzing ambiguity that engulfs us. We long for clarity and guidance, a "light at the end of the tunnel" — a tunnel that at this moment appears without end.Glued to our TV sets, we become breaking news junkies, hoping against hope that the next cycle will finally provide the enlightenment that keeps eluding us.Research on the need for closure tells us much more: Under conditions of diffuse uncertainty, people are drawn, as if by a magnet, to simplistic solutions and black-and-white reasoning.Some gravitate to the pole of denial that nothing is wrong at all, others to that of utter panic, the belief that the worst is sure to come, and that the end is near. Rumors are circulated widely and seized upon uncritically.This is the time where steady, reassuring leadership is desperately needed. It is the time, too, when authoritative, confident direction is much preferred over flexible, laissez-faire guidance.We need to be told what to do, plain and simple. This is no time for complex deliberations. 2. Changed needs When their need for closure rises, people become "group-centric," which means they yearn for cohesion and unity.Patriotism is elevated but so, often, is nationalism, the idea that our nation is superior to others, better at handling the crisis that foreigners have propagated to begin with.The coronavirus pandemic is scary. Everyone can be infected. No one is exempt. No matter what your station in life, your status, power or popularity, the virus still can get you.This possibility evokes an overriding sense of fragility and vulnerability. Ample research attests that with one's feelings of control and personal agency at an ebb — such as in infancy, in sickness or old age — one's dependence on others rises.This prompts putting social relations at a premium, strengthening one's attachment to others, boosting the appreciation of one's loved ones, family, and friends.One consequence of our helplessness in face of the pandemic is our greater sociability, a yearning for warmth and succor, the realization that we need others, that we cannot hack it alone. 3. Changed values Along with the growing attachment to others comes a subtle shift in our morals.Communal values of cooperation, consideration, and caring are prioritized, whereas individualistic ones of prestige, popularity, and power lose some of their cachet.Our cultural ideals morph accordingly. In times of crisis, we celebrate and accord major significance to persons who serve communitarian values, extend a helping hand to others, sacrifice their self-interests for the common good, exhibit empathy, and model humanity.Fascination with fame and riches is diminished; it takes a back seat to admiration for simple acts of kindness.The coronavirus pandemic alters who we are, affecting diverse facets of our psyche.We may approve of some of the changes — toward stronger communal bonds and humanitarian values — and disapprove of others — closed-mindedness, black-and-white thinking. Whether we like it or not, the immense crisis we are facing brings out the best in us, but also the worst in us. Read the original article on The Conversation. Copyright 2020. Follow The Conversation on Twitter. 11 tips for managing your anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a therapist who specializes in anxiety window._taboola = window._taboola || []; window._taboola = window._taboola || [];

2020-02-04 00:00:00

FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) - Finland’s Kone (KNEBV.HE) and private equity firms are battling to buy ThyssenKrupp’s (TKAG.DE) prized elevator division worth more than 15 billion euros ($16.6 billion), a deal which would be Europe’s biggest private equity deal in 13 years. Thyssenkrupp says it will either list the business, sell either a stake or the business in its entirety as the company aims to cut 12.4 billion euros ($13.7 billion) in debt and pension liabilities. The deadline for binding bids for the whole business is mid-February. Suitors are: * Kone has submitted a 17 billion euro non-binding bid, including a roughly 3-billion break fee, beating three private equity consortia whose offers were between 15-16 billion. Union sources say that may not be enough to compensate for antitrust risks. Analysts at Jefferies said that a price tag of 15.6 billion euros after tax would be enough “to negate net debt and pension liabilities, saving about 1.1 billion in outflows per year”. The rival private equity consortia are: * Blackstone (BX.N), Carlyle (CG.O) and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board * A group comprising Advent, Cinven [CINV.UL], the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Germany’s RAG foundation * Canada’s Brookfield (BAMa.TO) and Singapore’s Temasek [TEM.UL] A buyout group victory would be Europe’s biggest private equity deal since KKR’s (KKR.N) $21.4 billion acquisition of Britain’s Alliance Boots Plc in 2007, according to Refinitiv data. While being the safest option in terms of execution, a flotation is seen as unlikely at this stage as it wouldn’t bring in enough cash. That’s why a sale to private equity looks like the easiest option as it would face little or no antitrust scrutiny and could be completed in months. A sale to Kone runs the risk of a lengthy regulatory review, even when taking into account a plan to sell Thyssenkrupp’s elevator assets in Europe, where overlap is biggest, to CVC [CVC.UL] to try to resolve antitrust risks. Danske Bank reckons that the combined market share of Thyssen and Kone stands at 43% in North America, which is also expected to lead to a deepened probe. It took Linde (LINI.DE) and Praxair nearly 17 months to get U.S. antitrust approval for a merger, and only following far-reaching remedy sales to CVC and Messer. Still reeling from Brussels’ veto of a planned steel tie-up with India’s Tata Steel (TISC.NS), Thyssenkrupp’s appetite for that is considered to be limited. Bidders are courting representatives of IG Metall, Germany’s most powerful union which can make or break any deal and will fight to protect jobs and secure sites. The elevator business employs more than 53,000, a third of Thyssenkrupp’s total staff. Labour representatives also control half of Thyssenkrupp’s 20-member supervisory board, which will have to approve an agreement. Workers fear that a sale to Kone carries a higher risk of job cuts than a sale to private equity. While cost savings are a key for all bidders, Kone needs synergies to justify its higher price tag. Labour leaders also remain sceptical about Kone’s plan to sell Thyssenkrupp’s European assets to CVC, as it is uncertain what would happen to workers at the 2.1 billion euro business. Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Tom Kaeckenhoff, Arno Schuetze and Edward Taylor; Editing by Josephine Mason

2017-11-23 11:22:00

An Ohio woman who duct-taped her 11-year-old son to a chair while she took her other child swimming was sentenced Tuesday to up to nine months in state prison, according to multiple reports. Susan Malysa, 33, pleaded guilty in September to one count of felony child endangering, according to WKBN. Prosecutors agreed to drop two other counts of felony child endangering against her. A police report for Malysa’s June arrest obtained by PEOPLE stated she taped the boy’s mouth shut, and also taped his legs to the chair and his hands to each other. According to the report, a relative who suspected Malysa might be mistreating the boy checked on him after Malysa allegedly told her she was bringing her other child to the local YMCA to swim, but that the 11-year-old wouldn’t be accompanying them. Officers arrived to find the boy cold and shaking, according to the report. The tape left red marks on his skin, and police noticed the boy had bruises on his face and neck. Malysa was arrested at the YMCA, the report states. • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. In video of the sentencing viewed by PEOPLE, Malysa tearfully addressed Mahoning County Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, saying, “I just want to apologize to my son with all my heart, and my daughter.” She added, “There’s nothing I can do that will make up for everything that I did, and … I will not do anything like that ever again.” Krichbaum, addressing Malysa, said, “You tell me you love this little boy. Well, I don’t have to believe you. That’s not love.” Krichbaum said he will give Malysa an opportunity for judicial release after she serves 30 days of her sentence. Prosecutors had recommended Malysa spend 60 days in county jail, according to WFMJ. But Krichbaum ignored the recommendation by sentencing her to state prison. “This is conduct that will not be tolerated in our society, and I do wish to make an example of you, in that regard,” he said. It was not immediately clear if Malysa plans to appeal her sentence.

2018-06-28 00:00:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz’s investment fund has invested $20 million in a blockchain-based virtual reality platform called High Fidelity, the project’s chief executive officer and co-founder Philip Rosedale announced on Thursday. High Fidelity raised $35 million in its latest funding, with Novogratz’s Galaxy EOS Ecosystem Fund investing $20 million. Blockchain Capital, a venture capital firm focused on the blockchain space also invested in the virtual reality start-up along with existing investors such as including Breyer Capital, IDG Capital Partners and Vulcan Capital. Rosedale said High Fidelity has raised more than $70 million so far. Blockchain, the technology that underpins bitcoin and other digital currencies, is a digital ledger that provides a secure way of making and recording transactions. “The High Fidelity platform is currently in beta, so it has been partly launched,” Rosedale told Reuters in an interview. “The headsets that will really take us into the big consumer market are not available just yet. A lot of our early focus is on location-based facilities,” he added. Rosedale is the founder of Second Life, an online virtual world launched in 2003, which has produced more than $4 billion globally in virtual transactions. High Fidelity will use the funds raised to expand research and development, accelerate hiring and open a new office in Seattle. “Virtual reality may be the first killer app for blockchain,” said Sam Englebardt, head of strategic partnerships at Galaxy Digital, in a statement. He joins High Fidelity’s board. “It’s a global phenomenon that fundamentally requires a trustless consensus mechanism for currency, property and identity.” High Fidelity will create a token called High Fidelity Coin that will be needed to use the VR platform, but Rosedale said the digital currency will be designed to be stable against the dollar. “It is not something that people would want to buy as an investment,” Rosedale said. Over the coming decade, High Fidelity sees VR growing into an internet-scale phenomenon, reaching 1 billion people and generating a $1 trillion economy of virtual goods and services. “To reach this scale and to deliver safely on such a promise, VR must be decentralized, including deeply using blockchain technology,” said Rosedale. Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

2018-03-13 19:09:56

Kevin Krim knew something was wrong when his flight from the West Coast landed at Kennedy Airport and his telephone blew up with messages from friends, asking if he was all right. Then the captain announced that the police needed to take someone off the plane. A flight attendant tapped his arm and asked to him to come forward to a galley. His telephone rang. It was his brother-in-law, saying something had happened to his children. “I sat down in the galley,” he recalled as he testified at his former nanny’s murder trial on Tuesday. “It’s the worst thing imaginable. I was hoping this is just a nightmare and it wasn’t.” Two police officers escorted Mr. Krim off the plane and drove him to what was then known as St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, saying nothing. At the hospital, a doctor informed him that two of his children, Leo, 2, and Lucia, 6, were dead. “I was crying, kind of flailing around,” he said. “I was asking: ‘What happened? What happened?’” That was when someone told him that Yoselyn Ortega, a woman he and his wife had employed for two years as a nanny and had taken pains to help financially, had killed his children. Until Tuesday, Mr. Krim had not seen Ms. Ortega since that day — Oct. 25, 2012. Asked to identify her, he raised his eyes and pointed at her sitting at the defense table in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, his jaw tight and his mouth curved down. She did not return his gaze. Ms. Ortega, 55, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and faces life in prison if convicted. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and her trial has turned largely on questions about her mental health. That evening, she was found in the bathroom of the Krim family’s apartment on West 75th Street. Lucia and Leo lay dead in a bloody tub, stabbed repeatedly. A kitchen knife was in the sink. Ms. Ortega had plunged a second knife into her own throat in a suicide attempt. Mr. Krim, 42, a media executive, said he and his wife, Marina, had decided to hire a nanny in 2010 when she was pregnant with Leo, their third child. He pushed for it, he said. He was working 12-hour days and his wife was overloaded. They first heard about Ms. Ortega when her sister Celia Ortega approached Ms. Krim, visibly pregnant, during Lucia’s ballet class at the Jewish Community Center. She said Ms. Ortega was an experienced nanny. That turned out to be untrue, Mr. Krim said. But Ms. Ortega provided the Krims with a phony reference, a woman who vouched for Ms. Ortega in an emailed letter, giving glowing answers to a long list of questions from the Krims. “The answers we got back were all a lie,” Mr. Krim said. “Every single one.” Mr. Krim, who has two family members with schizophrenia, said he never saw any signs Ms. Ortega had a mental illness. “Absolutely not, never,” he said. But Mr. Krim said he knew Ms. Ortega was under financial strain. She had rented a new apartment and had moved her teenage son from the Dominican Republic to New York City, placing him in an expensive private school. He and his wife offered her extra hours cleaning their apartment. They paid for her to take at least two trips to the Dominican Republic to deal with family emergencies, treating the cost as a bonus of sorts. They employed her son for odd jobs, like walking the dog, and sometimes employed her sister Daisy. They even recommended her to some friends who needed a nanny for a month while they were out of town. “We knew there was financial pressure and we wanted to find her more ways to make money,” he said. “There was always this theme that I was pushing hard on: ‘Let’s make sure she’s happy, that she wants to keep working for us.’” Mr. Krim said that Ms. Ortega was generally a reliable employee and that he did not want to lose her because it would disrupt his children’s lives. “She did her job well,” he said on cross-examination. Yet he testified that he noticed nothing in Ms. Ortega’s behavior that would have predicted what happened on Oct. 25, 2012. That night, at the hospital, he recalled that he was led into a room where his wife, wrung out from weeping, fell into his arms. She had returned home about 5:30 p.m., carrying her middle child, Nessie, after Ms. Ortega failed to show up with Lucia for a dance class and found her children dead. “I hugged her and she said ‘Kevin, we are not going to get divorced over this,’” he recalled. “‘Oprah always said people get divorced after they lose kids.’” Mr. Krim said he told doctors he wanted to see his children. He and his wife entered a tiny examination room, the two children on gurneys. Nurses had quickly cleaned their bodies and wrapped them in sheets up to their chins, he said. “And they were beautiful and strange,” he said. “They were the wrong color. They didn’t have any blood left in them so they were bluish. But they had this perfect skin and their long eyelashes. They had this, like, sandy brown hair. You could see they tried really hard to wash the blood out but it still had kind of an auburn tint to it that I remember to this day.” “I got down on my knees and I said I’m sorry,” Mr. Krim said. “I said I love you and kissed them and said goodbye.” “It’s worst thing you can imagine,” he added. Then he dabbed his eyes.

2016-10-18

NEW YORK/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday extradited to Mexico a businessman accused of working with drug cartels after $205 million in cash was found at his Mexico City home, ending a years-long legal battle. Zhenli Ye Gon, who was arrested in the United States in July 2007 after the discovery of the cash, faces charges of organized crime, drug trafficking, firearms and money laundering in Mexico, a spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. “The United States government recognized Mexico’s strong interest in prosecuting its own citizen,” said spokesman Peter Carr. Ye Gon’s extradition came after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his final appeal. Ye Gon was the former owner of the defunct Mexican pharmaceutical wholesaler Unimed Pharm Chem, which imported chemicals that U.S. and Mexican prosecutors alleged were used to manufacture the illegal drug methamphetamine. Ye Gon’s attorney, Gregory Smith, has said his client was a legitimate businessman. “The Mexican people should understand that Mr. Ye Gon has not yet received any trial, or been convicted of anything,” said Smith, adding that Ye Gon had already spent nearly a decade in jail in the United States. U.S. prosecutors brought charges against Ye Gon after his arrest, but their case against him collapsed in 2009 after key witnesses recanted or refused to testify. Ye Gon, who remained in custody, had since been fighting his extradition to Mexico, arguing he could face torture or even death if sent back. U.S. courts rejected those arguments and the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition addressed to Justice Sonia Sotomayor to temporarily halt the extradition, clearing the way for Ye Gon’s return. “We were able to refute all the arguments put forward by the defendant and his defense,” Salvador Sandoval, an assistant attorney for international affairs in Mexico’s attorney general’s office, said in a statement. An arrest warrant issued against Ye Gon in the State of Mexico is still in force, the statement said. The cash seizure at Ye Gon’s mansion, said by authorities to be the largest ever at the time, played a role in U.S. money-laundering investigations at the British banking giant HSBC and the Las Vegas Sands Corp casino company. [L8N1B65BM] Ye Gon’s attorney said his client was unable to dispute Mexico’s charges during the extradition hearings since the focus was on the treaty between the United States and Mexico. “But those asserted facts now can (and will) be disputed in Mexico,” Smith said. Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York and Natalie Schachar in Mexico City; Editing by Peter Cooney

2019-08-15

CAIRO, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Egypt’s top cigarette maker, Eastern Tobacco Company, said on Thursday it had raised prices of some of its cigarettes by 4.5% to 6%, citing higher labour costs. The retail price for its Mondial cigarettes will rise to 17.50 Egyptian pounds ($1.06) from 16.50 pounds, it said in a statement. Managing Director Hany Aman told Reuters that the increase in prices is due to higher labour and production costs. The company has a market share of about 70% and foreign companies hold the remainder. $1 = 16.5300 Egyptian pounds Reporting by Ehab Farouk; writing by Eman Kharosha; editing by Jason Neely

2016-04-26

Spain's King Felipe is meeting with the country's political parties Tuesday in a last-ditch bid to end a political impasse that has left Spain without a government since December. Since an inconclusive election four months ago which resulted in a hung parliament, Spain has been left in political limbo with the main parties, the conservative People's Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), unable and unwilling to form a coalition government. Spain's traditional political establishment was largely fractured by the rise in popularity of three smaller parties including the anti-austerity Podemos, centrist Cuidadanos and Communist Party-led United Left. King Felipe is due to meet with leaders of all the parties, excluding the United Left (whose leader the king met on Monday), in his third attempt to unblock the situation, Reuters reported. He will then meet caretaker Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who heads the PP, later in the day. The talks are widely seen as the last chance to form a government before a May 2 deadline but analysts think new elections on June 26 are now the most likely scenario. "The king's last round of consultations with political parties will not lead to a government formation deal," Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of risk advisory Teneo Intelligence, said in a note on Monday. "Once the meetings conclude, (King Felipe VI) will probably confirm that new elections will have to be held on 26 June, as parties are not expected to make any last-minute efforts to form a government," he said. Not boding well for any forthcoming election, opinion polls currently suggest a "very similar picture to the one that emerged after the 20 December elections, with the PP dominating the new vote and, crucially, an equally fragmented parliament," Piccoli noted. "Whether the results of the new vote will substantially differ from those of the last election will depend on: a) how parties manage to tag each other with the blame for the failure to form a government; b) the ability of Podemos to cut a deal with the United Left and; c) potential internal turmoil within the main parties." Further political stalemate is the last thing that Spain's recovering economy needs with unemployment still high at 20.4 percent in February, according to Eurostat, although the rate is steadily improving. So far, however, the economy has shown "surprisingly few signs that Spain's political uncertainty has dented economic activity," Pantheon Macroeconomics' Chief euro zone economist Claus Vistesen said in a note on Monday. "Real gross domestic product (GDP) likely rose 0.7 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter, down only slightly from 0.8 percent in Q4, and still far stronger than the other major euro zone economies," he noted. Another election was Pantheon's base-case scenario and that "an increase in Spanish bond yields is a good bet in the coming months." Over the last week, Spanish 10-year bond yields have risen from 1.535 percent to 1.645 percent, showing market nerves over the drawn-out talks. Vistesen said that that growth risks were also "tilted to the downside" this year. "Significant fiscal tightening is inevitably, even with signs that the European Union is moving towards a more flexible stance on austerity." In particular, Spain's ability to reach European Commission budget deficit targets will be a challenge, he said. "Spain's budget deficit was 5 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) last year, higher than the objective of 4.2 percent. We doubt that the (European) Commission will push for a reduction to the original target, below 3 percent in 2015," he said. "A recent statement from the interim finance minister, Luis de Guindos, indicates that Spain will aim for 3.6 percent. But the EU will try to push for a lower number, and tough negotiations with the Commission will be the first big test for the new Spanish government," Vistesen said. Follow CNBC International on and Facebook.

2016-04-26 06:42:31

LONDON — More than a quarter century ago, 96 Liverpool soccer fans were crushed and trampled to death at an English soccer match, a tragedy that convulsed Britain and shocked the world, even as police and safety officials blamed victims for causing their own deaths. On Tuesday, a jury found that the fans who died during the match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, had been “unlawfully killed” and the victims of what proved to be fatal police mistakes, a verdict that represented a long-sought victory for family members who had fought for a full accounting. The jury answered yes to the crucial questions of whether there were errors or omissions by the police in planning and executing security for the match on April 15, 1989, and it specifically cited the actions of commanding officers. The victims suffocated as they entered an F.A. Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest after the police opened an exit gate in an effort to relieve congestion outside the stadium before the game. In the chaos that ensued, some victims were crushed against steel fencing. Others were trampled, and more than 700 people were injured. The victims were ages 10 to 67 and included 37 teenagers. The jury was given 14 yes-or-no questions in deciding how the 96 people died, and it said no to only one: whether the fans were responsible for the deaths. Together, the findings amounted to an unambiguous rejection of a narrative pushed for many years by the police and some in the news media that portrayed the fans as drunk and out of control. After the verdict was announced, family members clasped hands outside the coroner’s court in Warrington, England, east of Liverpool, and sang the Rodgers and Hammerstein song “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” the tune that Liverpool fans belt out at every game. Some held photographs of their dead relatives. Others sobbed. An 11-page statement on behalf of the families of 22 victims said the verdict “vindicated the long, long journey of the 96 families who have striven tirelessly for 27 years to obtain the truth, obtain justice and make those responsible for the Hillsborough disaster accountable.” “The story of Hillsborough,” the statement said, “is a story of human tragedy, but it is also a story of deceit and lies, of institutional defensiveness defeating truth and justice.” Senior police and safety officials had initially blamed the victims for causing their own deaths, which an independent inquiry later called “the most serious tragedy in U.K. sporting history.” The events on that day changed how the game is watched: Standing-only sections at stadiums that were vulnerable to overcrowding have been replaced by seating areas at most venues in Britain, and fences around the field were removed. “I want them 96 to rest in peace now, because they have suffered for these 27 years seeing the families suffer,” said Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son, James, died in the crush and who leads the Hillsborough Family Support Group. “They done nothing wrong that day,” she told Granada Reports, a regional news program for North West England. “They were the heroes.” Prime Minister David Cameron said the verdict had delivered justice that was long overdue. David Duckenfield, the South Yorkshire police officer who was in charge of security for the game, later falsely claimed that spectators had opened the gate. The inquest was not a criminal trial, and it does not confer civil damages or penalties; rather, it is a finding of fact. After the verdict, however, the Crown Prosecution Service said it was evaluating whether to press charges in light of the findings, and legal experts said that such a case would most likely focus on Mr. Duckenfield. During the inquest, Mr. Duckenfield described how he “froze” during the vital moments when police officers responded to the overcrowding threat and did not foresee that his failure to close a tunnel leading to crowded pens after a large exit gate was opened would prove fatal. In the days after the deaths, efforts by the police to assign responsibility to soccer fans culminated in a story in the British newspaper The Sun under the headline “The Truth.” It blamed Liverpool fans for bad behavior and said they had attacked rescue workers, urinated on police officers and picked victims’ pockets. The Sun’s editor at the time, Kelvin MacKenzie, apologized more than 23 years later. In 1996, a former spokesman for Margaret Thatcher, who had been prime minister at the time of the stadium deaths, wrote a letter to Graham Skinner, a Liverpool fan whose friend had died in the crush, blaming the fans. “I believe that there would have been no Hillsborough disaster if tanked-up yobs had not turned up in very large numbers to try to force their way into the ground,” wrote the spokesman, Bernard Ingham. Mr. Duckenfield, who is now 71, left the police force at the age of 46 and retired to the south coast, where, according to the British news media, he largely disappeared from public view. Chief Constable David Crompton of the South Yorkshire Police told reporters on Tuesday that he unequivocally accepted the verdict of “unlawful killing.” He apologized to the families of the victims, saying that the force had handled events at Hillsborough “catastrophically wrong.” The verdict, which capped the longest case heard by a jury in British legal history, comes more than two years after the inquest began, on April 1, 2014. During the inquest, the jurors — six women and three men — were asked to answer the 14 questions related to how and when the victims had died, and they concluded that the fans’ behavior did not cause or contribute to the disaster. The jurors working through the questions had unanimously agreed on answers to all of them, save for the matter of whether the victims were unlawfully killed. The jury voted seven to two on that question. A new inquest into the disaster was ordered after an independent panel concluded in September 2012 that there had been a vast cover-up in which senior police officers sought to dissemble blame by making scapegoats of victims and survivors. In December of that year, a high court in London overturned the original inquest verdicts of accidental death. The independent panel’s report, citing post-mortem examinations, said the coroner had assigned an arbitrary time of death for 41 victims, even as their hearts and lungs continued to function. Some members of the victims’ families fainted when they read the report. When the 2012 report was published, Mr. Cameron issued a government apology to the families of the victims, saying that they had suffered a double injustice. “The injustice of the appalling events, the failure of the state to protect their loved ones and the indefensible wait to get to the truth,” and “the injustice of the denigration of the deceased — that they were somehow at fault for their own deaths.” The Hillsborough tragedy culminated a dark decade for English soccer. Fifty-six people were killed when a fire raced through the stands during a Bradford City soccer match on May 11, 1985. Less than three weeks later, 39 people were crushed to death at Heysel Stadium in Brussels before the start of the European Cup final between Liverpool and the Italian club Juventus. Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to David Duckenfield. He was the South Yorkshire officer in charge of security for the match in 1989, not the chief of police.

2016-05-31 20:29:32

UNITED NATIONS — Alarmed at the spread of a Palestinian campaign to boycott Israel and particularly its resonance on college campuses, the Israeli Mission to the United Nations and World Jewish Congress held a conference on Tuesday aimed at galvanizing support for an effective countermessage. Precisely what that countermessage will be, and how it can successfully be conveyed, were among the goals discussed at the conference, titled “Build Bridges, Not Boycotts,” held at the United Nations headquarters. Many of the speakers and guests, who included Jewish students, educators and policy experts, agreed that the Palestinian campaign, known as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or B.D.S., had made popular inroads that Israel advocates had failed to stop. A range of speakers, including Danny Danon, Israel’s United Nations ambassador, and Ronald S. Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, described B.D.S. as a dishonest effort to delegitimize and destroy Israel. Mr. Danon called B.D.S. “the 21st-century incarnation of an old disease: anti-Semitism.” Mr. Lauder described B.D.S. activists as hypocrites who should be exposed “through every means possible.” At the same time, there was an acknowledgment at the conference that the B.D.S. movement is not monolithic and is supported by some who also may support Israel’s right to exist. B.D.S. backers include some church groups as well as Jews who are sympathetic to Palestinian aspirations for statehood and are strongly critical of Israeli government policies. “Not every Jew who supports B.D.S. is an ignorant, self-hating Jew,” David M. Sable, the global chief executive of Y & R Advertising Inc., said during a panel about the B.D.S. message on campuses and how to respond. Mr. Sable, a strong opponent of B.D.S., bluntly criticized the approaches taken so far to present Israel’s side of the story, which he said were not working. “B.D.S. is driving the conversation, and the anti-B.D.S. side is reactionary,” he said. “Ours is a negative message, just not that inviting. We look like a corporate brochure. So we have a problem, my friends.” Frank Luntz, a Republican political consultant and public opinion specialist, told the conference that his own data suggested that the B.D.S. effort to ostracize Israel was winning more sympathy in the United States. “This is the Palestinian narrative,” Mr. Luntz said. “This is what happens if you remain silent.” The conference was held against the backdrop of a prolonged deadlock in the process for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as a hawkish political shift in the Israeli government, already dominated by right-wing parties. Mr. Danon said in a telephone interview before the conference that he had been motivated to organize it partly because of what he described as a B.D.S. expansion at the United Nations. He pointed to a measure passed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva a few months ago to establish a database identifying companies doing business in Israeli settlements. The database, which some Israel officials have described as a blacklist, was viewed as a victory by the B.D.S. movement. The conference, Mr. Danon said, was meant “to send a clear message that we have to fight.” Riyad H. Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said in a telephone interview that he was paying little attention to the conference, which he described as a futile effort by Mr. Danon and his associates. “He is trying to convince the international community to promote occupation, and the international community is saying this Israeli occupation has to end,” Mr. Mansour said. Naomi Dann, a spokeswoman for the Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that supports B.D.S., said the high level of planning for the conference was “a sign of the growing power of the B.D.S. movement.”

2017-06-25

LONDON (Reuters) - The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, called on Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday to set up a cross-party commission to “draw much of the poison” from the debate over Britain’s decision to exit the European Union. In an article written for the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Welby, spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion of millions of Christians globally, said Britons remain deeply divided over Brexit after negotiations got under way last week. May is struggling to repair her authority after losing the Conservatives’ parliamentary majority in the June 8 election. She faces pressure from inside and outside her party to temper her plans for a clean break with the EU, with some politicians pushing for Britain to stay in the bloc’s customs union or even its broader single market. “We must develop a forum or commission or some political tool which can hold the ring for the differences to be fought out, so that a commonly agreed negotiating aim is achieved,” Welby wrote. “It could not bind parliament, but well-structured it could draw much of the poison from the debate.” He said Britain needed unity at a time when it was dealing with the after-effects of a devastating fire in a London apartment block and Islamist militant attacks in the capital and Manchester. “A country united after Brexit is essential if we want a country that is resilient under the threats we face, capable of ensuring that the victims of Grenfell Tower are cared for and its lessons learned, and courageous in making our way in the post-Brexit world,” he wrote. “The decisions we make over the next two years will have an impact for generations to come.” Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Mark Heinrich

2016-07-16 13:00:00

In real life, our phones contain so much information that they arguably hold our whole lives. In Replica, this phone is this kid's whole world. The phone contains multiple apps, nested folders and subfolders, web searches history, and it will tell me everything I need to know if I have the gall to ask it. My Homeland Security handler insists that I ask it. So, I do. Replica is a puzzle game where the puzzle is cracking someone else's passwords to invade their privacy. Some of the puzzles are really clever. Trying to break the phone's lock-screen password, my mind wanders over listicles about the most common passwords used by thousands of users who can't be bothered with good cyber security. I type 1-2-3-4 and 0-0-0-0 and birthdays and pets' names and "FUCK" and "TITS." Mostly, though, Replica's passwords to specific apps or folders are found through references elsewhere in the phone. Cracking a password and logging into a new app gives access to new materials that might be referenced for other passwords, and rolling that snowball down the hill is genuinely pleasing. The trouble is, cracking these passwords sends a pile of new information to my Homeland Security handler, who is only too happy to yammer about how wonderfully crooked the whole thing is. Unfortunately, this is where Replica gets wobbly. In Replica, the government has enacted expansive police powers and stripped even the appearance of digital privacy and limited surveillance. They're looking for anything that could be evidence of terrorism, even the presence of apps the government can't spy on. Clicking on a fictional version of Gmail flags it for my handler. Yep, this teenager isn't using the government-approved email app. Definitely a terrorist. The political nuances here are poorly handled and distinctly lacking in shades of gray. On one occasion, I try to click on a collection of phone pictures labeled "private" and secured with a second password. My handler squeals with glee: an extra password proves he's guilty! There's no reason anyone would use passwords except to hide their terrorism, obviously. I feel like any thinking adult would assume that a password-protected folder on a teenager's phone will be full of pictures of his dick. That my handler never considered that possibility breaks the illusion for me—and I had that illusion broken over and over again by flat character writing. Still, cracking passwords is damn good fun. Replica's finest results came when I forgot about my dumb caricature of a handler and focused on the overlapping, spiraling layers of social data that form a good puzzle: Let's see… Here's a picture of my dad. First, I should turn on location services. Done. Now I'll check the metadata on that picture. Yep, it's geo-tagged with an address. That's probably this kid's home address. Perfect. I flag that information and get a happy green checkmark, a major chord, and a smooth hit of dopamine on solving a puzzle. Only afterward do I think that this kid was refusing to give out his address, and I've just given the location of his family home to this Homeland Security guy. I feel a little ill when I think about how happily other thoughtful, conscientious people might help government agents hurt other citizens. Replica makes me think, even a bit, about the tense dynamics of privacy, surveillance, and security, and that's damn impressive for a $3 game. The game also has multiple endings, each one branching away from moments when you, the player, might choose to disobey your handler and protect the owner of the phone. Each action affects the story and the ending, and though none of them are wonderfully written, many of them are worth exploring. All of them are worth thinking about. Replica is out now on Steam and Itchio.

2018-01-18 15:32:56

PARIS — The journalist who started France’s equivalent of the #MeToo social media campaign against sexual harassment is being sued for defamation by the man she had accused of making salacious and disrespectful comments about her. Sandra Muller, a French journalist working in New York, started the hashtag BalanceTonPorc, or ExposeYourPig, in October with a series of posts on Twitter that encouraged women to speak out against sexual harassment and that accused a former television executive of having made humiliating advances toward her. The former executive, Eric Brion, has not denied the advances but argued that she was wrong to characterize them as sexual harassment. Tens of thousands of women in France adopted Ms. Muller’s hashtag to recount their own experiences, spurring a debate on gender relations and sexual norms. Most recently, a letter signed by the actress Catherine Deneuve and scores of other women to denounce the #MeToo and #BalanceTonPorc movements set off a strong backlash. But unlike many of the women who took to social media with their stories, Ms. Muller named the man — Mr. Brion, a media consultant and former executive at the public broadcaster France Télévisions and the horse-racing channel Equidia. “You have big breasts. You are my type of woman. I will make you orgasm all night,” she quoted him as having said, at what she later described as a social event during a television festival in Cannes, on the French Riviera. Ms. Muller said in a statement published on Facebook on Wednesday that Mr. Brion was now suing her for defamation and was asking for 50,000 euros in damages (about $61,200), as well as €10,000 in legal fees (about $12,200) and the publication in media outlets, at her expense, of the court’s ruling. “I will go to the end of this fight with the help of my lawyer and I hope that this trial will be an opportunity to have a real debate on ways of fighting against sexual harassment,” wrote Ms. Muller, who in December was included by Time magazine as one of the “silence breakers” it named person of the year for 2017. A lawyer for Mr. Brion confirmed the suit but declined to comment further. In an interview published on Thursday in the newsweekly Le Point, Mr. Brion said his life had been upended by the accusations. He said that some media outlets incorrectly referred to him as a former boss of Ms. Muller, that he was targeted by demeaning social media posts and that he lost multiple job opportunities. “I am surrounded by good people, I was lucky enough to go abroad to take a step back, but are we thinking about the effect that this kind of outpouring can have on a fragile personality?” Mr. Brion said. In his interview with Le Point, and in an op-ed published in December in Le Monde, Mr. Brion acknowledged he had made the crude comments. “Nevertheless, what does my conduct have to do with the case of Harvey Weinstein, who is accused of rape and sexual assault by several women?” Mr. Brion wrote in Le Monde, stressing that the comments were made only once, under the influence of alcohol, that he did not work with Ms. Muller, and that he had apologized soon after. But Alexis Guedj, Ms. Muller’s lawyer, said in a phone interview that his client worked in a field where a wide range of settings could be considered akin to a workplace, even though Mr. Brion was neither a colleague nor a superior of Ms. Muller. “There has to be a debate on this issue: Is a professional relationship the same in all professions?” said Mr. Guedj, who argued that social events like cocktail parties could be considered in some fields, like the media, as professional settings because deals are struck and hiring decisions are made. He noted Ms. Muller’s publication had written about Equidia and Mr. Brion on several occasions. The case is not expected to go to court for several months.

2018-07-17 00:00:00

(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc named David Solomon as its next chief executive officer on Tuesday, replacing Lloyd Blankfein who will step down on Sept. 30. Blankfein will step down as chairman at the end of the year and will accept the title of senior chairman after his retirement, the bank said. Reporting By Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty

2017-09-11 00:00:00

If Gigi Hadid loses a high heel while working a Fashion Week runway, but keeps going like she still has it on ... did she really lose it? The answer is yes, but Gigi did a helluva job Monday in NYC of covering up during the Anna Sui show. It's unclear how, or why, but she lost the shoe just as she headed down the cat walk. This could've spelled disaster -- remember the spill her sister Bella took? But you'd never know there was a problem if you weren't looking at Gigi's feet. She gets an A for the save. Whoever strapped on her shoe does not.

2017-06-26

President Trump wants the United States to use its energy as a geopolitical tool for influence and leadership, Energy Secretary Rick PerryJames (Rick) Richard PerryThe credible case for Texas and its clean energy solutions Oversight: Trump confidant Tom Barrack pushed for Saudi nuclear plant construction Amazon taps Trump ally to lobby amid Pentagon cloud-computing contract fight MORE said. Perry spoke with reporters Monday about how he, Trump and the administration see their stated goal of “energy dominance,” in which the U.S. goes beyond energy independence and starts actively competing on multiple global stages through self-sufficiency and exports of natural gas, oil, coal and other forms of energy. Perry’s briefing at the White House came at the beginning of the Trump administration’s self-proclaimed “Energy Week,” in which officials are trying to highlight the president’s energy agenda thus far and his plans for the future. Like Infrastructure Week and Technology Week before it, the attempt to focus on what the administration sees as positive policy accomplishments comes while national headlines are dominated by other stories. The Congressional Budget Office reported Monday that the Senate’s healthcare reform bill, which Trump supports and is set for a vote later this week, would leave 22 million more people uninsured over the next decade. Nonetheless, through a series of events this week, the Trump administration wants the focus to be on energy. “President Trump wants America to achieve energy dominance, utilizing our abundant domestic energy resources for good, both here at home and abroad,” Perry said. “An energy-dominant America means a self-reliant, a secure nation, free from geopolitical turmoil of other nations who seek to use energy as an economic weapon. An energy-dominant America will export to markets around the world, increasing our global leadership and influence.” The main focus thus far toward the energy dominance goal has been to roll back regulations and other policies, largely written by the Obama administration, that the administration thinks stand in the way of the production and use of domestic fossil fuels. Across the administration, that’s included rules on oil and natural gas drilling, restrictions on coal mining on federal land, limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and exiting the Paris climate change agreement. “For years, we have over-regulated that sector, mostly by Washington politicians and bureaucrats who knew they knew best,” Perry said. “The lecturing is over. It is now time to listen.” Increasing liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports is a key piece of the agenda. Only one facility in the lower 48 states — Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabina Pass facility on the Texas-Louisiana border — is exporting LNG, but the administration wants to get more exporting facilities online. Trump said Monday after meeting with Indian President Narendra Modi that he wants to export LNG to India as well. “We’re also looking forward to exporting more American energy to India as your economy grows, including major long-term contracts to purchase American natural gas, which are right now being negotiated, and we will sign them. Trying to get the price up a little bit,” he said. But Perry cautioned that, despite the fossil fuel focus and Trump’s Paris withdrawal, the administration still prioritizes clean energy. “The binary choice between being pro-economy and pro-environment that was perpetuated by the Obama administration, it set up a false argument. We can do good for both, and we will,” he said. He said the fact that the U.S. has been a world leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions — mostly due to cheap natural gas replacing coal for electricity — shows that the country can cut emissions without Paris or similar policies. “Instead of preaching about clean energy, this administration will act upon it,” he said. Perry will speak about Trump’s energy agenda Tuesday at an Energy Information Administration event. He will also participate in a panel with Trump and other top administration officials on “Energy Dominance” at the Energy Department’s headquarters Thursday, but it will be closed to the public. On Wednesday, Trump will host governors and leaders of American Indian tribes to talk about local and state involvement in energy policy. View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

2018-10-25

LONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - A disputes tribunal underpinned by new regulation is needed to protect small companies after their “scandalous” treatment by banks, a panel of British lawmakers said on Friday. Lawmakers said they want to apply lessons from the experience of businesses who suffered “untold misery” in their dealings with RBS’ Global Restructuring Group in the aftermath of the financial crisis. In a 64-page report on SME Finance, parliament’s Treasury Select Committee said a Financial Services Tribunal should be set up to hear complex disputes between small firms and their banks. The Financial Conduct Authority was unable to punish bankers at RBS because commercial loans are unregulated, and the report calls on the finance ministry and the FCA to introduce a regulatory regime that protects small and medium sized firms. “Waiting for another high-profile misconduct scandal before pursuing it would be irresponsible,” it said. A finance ministry spokesman said the ministry is now carefully considering the findings of the parliamentary report and work by other bodies like the FCA. The report rejects an industry-commissioned proposal made earlier in the week to beef up the free-for-complainants Financial Services Ombudsman. The proposal argued this would be cheaper and faster, and not require legislation at a time when parliament is clogged up with Brexit. “The committee does not accept this. Parliament must always make time for initiatives of such discernible importance,” the report said. The FCA has already approved an expansion of the FOS’ remit from next April to deal with a wider range of small companies, but this would still leave a big gap for larger and more complex disputes, the report said. “Given the Committee’s concerns about the FOS’ capability, broadening its remit beyond the FCA’s proposals would be unwise and potentially damaging,” the report said. “The Committee believes, therefore, that a Financial Services Tribunal (FST) is required to handle more complex disputes.” The lawmakers said that tougher capital requirements under European Union law on loans to smaller companies remain a big hurdle for newer banks trying to break into the market. “Whilst Brexit should in no way herald a new era of laxity in capital regulation, there is an opportunity to consider how the regime can better support competition without compromising safety and soundness,” the report said. “The government should provide its assessment of how this could be achieved.” Lending is dominated by the Big Four banks, RBS, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC, despite over 50 new firms being granted banking licences since 2008, the report said. Loans to SMEs remains below financial crisis levels, a source of concern for lawmakers. (Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)

2019-08-06 00:00:00

Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)For a long time, big gaming notebooks were just that: thick, heavy, and more powerful versions of standard laptops, even laptops as ridiculous as the Acer Predator 21X from back in 2017. But more recently, gaming notebook makers have been experimenting with more far-out designs like what we’ve seen from the Asus ROG Mothership—which looks like what you’d get if a Microsoft Surface and a Star Destroyer had a baby— and now this: the Acer Predator Triton 900.Laptops & TabletsGaming LaptopsLaptops & TabletsGaming LaptopsAcer Predator Triton 900Laptops & TabletsGaming LaptopsAcer Predator Triton 900Acer Predator Triton 900What is it?A giant convertible 17-inch gaming laptopPriceStarts at around $3,800LikeAdjustable design, lots of ports, blazing performance, gorgeous display, slick GPU windowDon't LikeCramped keyboard, small touchpad, heavy, short battery life, really expensiveBefore you even open it, the Triton 900 appears more cut and chiseled compared to something like MSI’s GT75. Its exterior panels are made from machined aluminum, and despite weighing in at just under 10 pounds (9.92 to be exact), the Triton 900's body feels rock solid and doesn’t suffer from even a hint of flex.But open up the Triton 900 and you’ll reveal its secret weapon: a 17.3-inch 4K touchscreen that can rotate almost a full 180 degrees inside its innovative frame. This means you can use transform the notebook into 4 modes. There’s traditional laptop mode, a sort of gaming mode enabled by tilting the display and pulling it forward, a presentation mode where the screen points in the complete opposite direction, and something that’s almost a full-blown tablet mode, but not quite.The first position is self-explanatory, while the second one is a great option for gamers who sit like Overwatch pro Dafran, with their noses 6 inches or so away from the screen. But my favorite transformation is something I’ve nicknamed battleship mode, as it basically allows the Triton 900 to become a high-powered mobile all-in-one. By fully rotating the screen into presentation mode and then positioning the laptop so that its deck and guts sit behind the screen, you can attach an external keyboard and mouse and get a better gaming experience than a lot of custom gaming desktops. The Triton 900 has a plethora of ports including two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, dedicated headphone and mic jacks, and Ethernet, not to mention full-size connectors for both HDMI and DisplayPort.The only thing that really takes away from battleship mode is the placements of the Triton 900's power port, which is smack dab in the middle of the laptops backside. It sticks out and prevents you from pushing a keyboard closer to the screen. And if you’re thinking of gaming without being plugged into an outlet, you might want to reconsider. On our video rundown test, the Triton 900 lasted just two hours and five minutes on a single charge. That means getting through even one round of Apex Legends on battery power alone could be real dicey, though that shouldn’t really be a surprise on a laptop like this.Battleship mode engaged. It’s like a gaming all-in-one that you can take to LAN parties. Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)The only mode that comes up short is tablet mode, because the Triton 900's hinge frame comes with two small tabs that prevents the display from rotating a full 180-degrees. That means the Triton 900's screen still has a slight tilt when laid flat, which makes it closer to something like the easel mode you get with a Microsoft Surface. Of course, all this comes with a price, both practically and financially. The Triton 900 starts at around $3,800 for an Intel Core i7-9750H CPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and an Nvidia RTX 2080 GPU. And if you opt for one with a Core i9 processor similar to what we have in our review model, the price jumps up to just shy of $5,000. Yikes.It’s not a huge deal, but I wish that power cord stuck out somewhere else. Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)That said, the Triton 900's biggest burden may not even be an economic one. Owning a laptop this big and powerful isn’t like deciding what color shirt to wear, it’s a lifestyle. You have to go to the gym so you can properly carry the Triton 900 from one place to another without feeling sore the next day. The laptop alone weighs just under 10 pounds, while its power brick adds another three and half pounds. The only real concession to portability Acer makes on the Triton 900 is not having to lug around dual power bricks, which sometimes happens on monsters like the MSI GT75.You may also need to get a new bag, because the Triton 900 doesn’t even come close to fitting in my everyday carry messenger bag. In fact, there are some backpacks that can’t even accommodate the Triton 900's dimensions, not to mention any other gamer gear you might want to lug around like headphones, mouse, and keyboard.The Triton 900's screen can be positioned so that it’s almost completely flat. Those tiny tabs on the display’s frame prevents the Triton 900 from going full tablet. The Triton 900's window lets you see the laptop’s GPU and cooling system. Neat. 1 / 9Speaking of mice, while most self-respecting PC gamers wouldn’t dream of playing even casual titles with a laptop’s built-in touchpad, it’s an especially bad idea on the Triton 900. In order to make room for the lights and glass window that lets you see inside the Triton 900's case, Acer had to shift the laptop’s touchpad to the right of the keyboard, which didn’t leave the Triton 900 with a lot of space. The touchpad is seriously skinny, and while it does have discrete buttons for left and right clicks, it still feels cramped.I do like that Acer included a touch button that lets the touchpad transform into a number pad—just a quick double-tap and a virtual numpad instantly appears. So even though it’s small, the touchpad is useful, and also potentially less annoying that the Triton 900's keyboard. That’s because while the keyboard sports attractive per key RGB lighting and clicky mechanical switches, the keyboard’s layout is a bit of a mess.To make room for everything, Acer shrunk the Right Shift key, misplaced the forward slash key, and moved a bunch of other keys to unusual locations. Like anything, you can get used to them given enough time, but the way Acer shifted things around means you’re looking at a longer than normal adjustment period, and if you’re someone like me who uses Right Shift as a push-to-talk key in Discord, you may have to completely rebind certain functions.Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)The last big effect of owning a Triton 900 is that it could turn you into a graphics snob. Even at its native 4K resolution (3841 x 2160) on ultra graphics settings, the Triton 900 averaged 55 fps in Far Cry 5. And because the Triton 900 has a G-sync display, even when you do dip below 60 fps, games continue to look smooth. Oh, those results were only with the Triton’s overclocking settings turned on Fast instead of Fastest. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 4K and the highest graphics settings, the Triton wasn’t quite as impressive as it pumped out an average of 44 fps, but considering all the graphical effects like ray tracing available in that game, that’s still pretty solid. The one thing you won’t get though is support for even higher framerates, as the Triton 900's screen is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate. If you like seeing how all of a game’s graphical bells and whistles look on a colorful 4K screen, the Triton 900 is here for you. The dongle in the picture is just the placeholder that comes with the laptop because I didn’t have an Xbox One wireless adapter handy, and my PS4 dongle didn’t fit. Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)The Triton 900 even comes with a handy feature for gamers who prefer using a controller instead of mouse and keyboard. On the left side of the system, there’s fold-out USB port reserved for connecting an Xbox One USB dongle. Once you plug it in, you can fold the USB port back into the laptop and go on about your gaming without any unsightly protrusions sticking out of the system. For those who prefer using a PS4 controller, you’re sadly out of luck, as the PS4 wireless adapter is too long to fit within the port’s cubby hole. All told, Acer’s Predator Triton 900 is a bold attempt at expanding the boundaries of what a gaming laptop can be. It’s got class-leading specs combined with clever bonuses that make gaming on a laptop (even one that’s not all that portable) both easy and rewarding. But at the same time, to get the most out of Triton, you have to commit hard. With a starting price of $3,800, the Triton 900 is the exact opposite of an impulse purchase.Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)You’ll have to spend time getting used to quirks like its touchpad and keyboard, and spend energy supporting it by carrying around additional accessories like gamepads, heavy power bricks, and other peripherals. And with a price this high, I really would have liked to see a screen option with a 120Hz refresh rate. Still, the Triton 900 is undeniably a finely crafted premium machine, and it’s certainly earned its place as the flagship of Acer’s gaming laptop lineup. READMEThe Triton 900 has beastly performance and an equally beastly price tag that starts at $3,800.Acer’s hinge and rotating display allow the Triton 900 to become a giant gaming convertible of sorts.Along with a bunch of ports and a hidden place to hook up a wireless Xbox One controller adapter, the Triton 900 comes with important features like Killer networking and 2.5Gbps Ethernet.The Triton 900's battery life is abysmal, but you already knew that.This thing comes standard with a gorgeous 4K touchscreen, but sadly there’s no upgrade to a display with a 120Hz or higher refresh rate.

2016-12-20 20:46:15

A retired police officer has been charged with four counts of murder in what the authorities called the “gangland-style” killings in April of four men in a Hudson Valley bar in connection with a cocaine-distribution conspiracy. The retired officer, Nicholas Tartaglione, 49, who worked for the Briarcliff Manor department in Westchester County, N.Y., was arrested on Monday and charged in the four killings, the federal authorities announced in a news release. “While all murders tear at the fabric of our communities, when the alleged perpetrator of a gangland-style, quadruple homicide is a former police officer, that strikes at the heart of civilized society,” Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. Beyond saying that the four men — Hector Gutierrez, Martin Luna, Miguel Luna and Urbano Santiago — had been killed “in and around” the Likquid Lounge in Chester, N.Y., in April, the authorities released few other details about the murders. It was unclear what role, if any, they had in the cocaine-distribution ring that Mr. Tartaglione is accused of participating in. Some of the men, according to the news release, were in “the wrong place at the wrong time.” Mr. Tartaglione, who is also charged with conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, was arrested after a joint investigation by the federal, state and local authorities, the news release said. The federal murder charges carry the possibility of the death penalty. Mark DeMarco, a lawyer for Mr. Tartaglione, declined to comment on the case. Mr. Tartaglione, of Otisville, N.Y., was hired by the Briarcliff Manor Police Department in 1996 after working as an officer in Yonkers, Mount Vernon and Pawling, according The Journal News. He was fired by the department on a disciplinary matter in 2001 after being accused of perjury related to the drunken-driving case of someone he had charged, but was reinstated after four years, according to the newspaper. He retired in 2008. Clay Tiffany, a local gadfly, accused Mr. Tartaglione of beating him, according to The Journal News. Mr. Tiffany, who died in 2015, settled a lawsuit with Briarcliff Manor and Mr. Tartaglione for $1.1 million, the newspaper reported. A person who answered the phone at Likquid Lounge on Tuesday identified himself as a manager but declined to give his name after saying that he feared that he or his workers would be associated with the killings. He said that the bar’s owners had bought it in July and knew nothing about the events that led to the charges against Mr. Tartaglione. “We don’t have anything to do with that,” the man said. “If we knew that happened, we wouldn’t have gotten it.” He said that he had been talking to police officers and agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the past few days. “I’m still waiting for the F.B.I. to tell me what happened,” he said. “I have no idea what’s going on.”

2020-03-05 00:00:00

Charlie Munger "constantly" quotes his long-time friend and Berkshire Hathaway business partner Warren Buffett, he told CNBC in 2016. And recently, Munger shared Buffett's "favorite saying": "Always take the high road. It's less crowded," Munger said at the Daily Journal shareholders meeting in February. "Of course, that's a smart thing to do." For example, Munger said in taking the "high road" in business, he decided to be transparent and ethical in what he sells to people, "instead of [selling] stuff that tricks them." "I would choose that approach even if I made less money," Munger said at the meeting, but "in fact, I think you make more."  Indeed, Munger is worth $1.9 billion, according to Forbes. (Buffett is worth $84.3 billion. Berkshire Hathaway currently has a market cap of over $500 billion.) "You've got a huge advantage on the high road," Munger told CNBC in 2016. "There aren't too many competitors." Munger refers to taking the high road as one of his "life tricks." And "if you could learn some of our tricks," he said at the February meeting, referring to him and Buffett, "you can get more success out of life than you deserve" too. "That's what happened to me," he said.  Another of Munger's "life tricks" is being "rational and sane" when making decisions and analyzing situations, both professionally and personally.

2016-07-14 00:00:00

Robin Oakley was political editor and columnist for The Times newspaper in London from 1986 to 1992, the BBC's political editor from 1992 to 2000, and CNN's European political editor between 2000 and 2008. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely his. (CNN)Theresa May came to 10 Downing Street with the reputation of being a reserved and cautious politician. Within hours she had blown up that image with one of the most comprehensive Cabinet reshuffles in living memory. Brutally she blazoned the difference between her administration and that of David Cameron by sacking Cameron's longtime finance minister (Chancellor of the Exchequer) George Osborne. Ruthlessly she signaled her belief in loyalty by dumping her former leadership rival Michael Gove after he had aided both the downfall of Cameron -- by backing the "Leave" campaign -- and the (temporary) one of his "Leave" ally Boris Johnson, whom he belatedly declined to support for the prime ministership. That was two "big beasts" dispatched to the backbenches where they could prove a menace if her leadership falters. But the truly spectacular risk May took was in appointing Johnson as her foreign secretary. On first hearing the news, many parliamentarians declared: "It's a joke: You can't be serious." Foreign dignitaries' jaws dropped visibly. And the media that had been writing Johnson's political obituary just days before, as I had done, had to refashion the thoughts into a new résumé. Having seen her predecessor come unstuck so spectacularly after risking his career on the European Union referendum, why has a politician as constitutionally cautious as May gone for such a big gamble? That Johnson is a politician who can schmooze like few others, write like an angel and warm up any room with his wit and charm is without doubt. He is a true entertainer in an age when most politicians are condemned as anonymity in a suit. But he comes with huge risks attached. As a journalist he was dropped from one paper for making up quotes. As a politician he has frequently had to apologize for gaffes. And as a foreign secretary he arrives with a sackful of embarrassments he will have to explain away. In an article he described Hillary Clinton, for example, as looking like a "sadistic nurse in a mental hospital." After Barack Obama urged that Britain should stay in the EU, Johnson referred to the President's "part Kenyan" ancestry and suggested that Obama was anti-British, fired by anti-colonialism. He even compared the growth of the EU to the rise of Nazi Germany. The French foreign minister has already greeted his appointment by declaring that Johnson had told lies in that "Leave" campaign. (That public admonition, according to Johnson, came after a warm note from Jean-Marc Ayrault welcoming him to his post and looking forward to working with him. Another world, diplomacy.) In fact there are internal and external reasons for the surprise appointment. May voted "Remain" but has promised "Brexit means Brexit" and has to convince skeptics she will deliver on that. She has not only appointed Johnson to the Foreign Office, she has hauled two old right-wing war horses, both former Conservative leadership candidates, off the backbenches and made David Davis Brexit minister and Liam Fox the secretary of state for international trade. We have to see them as a triangle: Three of the most prominent Brexiteers have been handed the job of extricating Britain from the EU: "This is what you guys wanted, now you deliver all the advantages you said would come with it." Not only does that leave May free to get on with the rest of her agenda, it means that if uncomfortable compromises have to be conceded, it will be Brexiteers who have to carry the can for them. The other side of all this is that the Brexit debate has been surrounded with gloom. Boris Johnson is an anti-gloom politician, a force for positivism. He is known around the world, having hosted the London Olympics as the city's mayor, in a way that few other British politicians are. He helped to sell London to companies around the world; now he will have to help sell post-Brexit Britain to the world. The new home secretary, Amber Rudd, said recently that Johnson was a guy everybody would want to have at a party, the only problem was you wouldn't want him driving you home afterward. To develop the analogy -- as foreign secretary he can get the diplomatic party going, and there will be plenty of others to drive him home, hopefully before he makes one remark too many. The appointment of Boris Johnson to be foreign secretary is undoubtedly a bold move. It is certainly a risky one, and there will be a few frosty encounters along the way with those he has insulted in the past. But it could just pay off. Robin Oakley was political editor and columnist for The Times newspaper in London from 1986 to 1992, the BBC's political editor from 1992 to 2000, and CNN's European political editor between 2000 and 2008. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely his.

2019-11-20 14:34:42

It’s pretty clear how we can reduce and eventually eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from some sectors of the economy. Electricity, transportation, and buildings, three of the biggest emitters, have a pathway to zero. It won’t be easy, and progress is too slow, but we have a handle on what to do. But there are still big chunks of the economy that don’t have a clear line of sight to zero. They don’t yet have the tools they need at competitive prices. They are still waiting on innovation. Many of them, including cement and steel, rely on large amounts of continuous high-temperature heat, and as I described in this post, there are very few viable low-carbon sources of such heat. Collectively, these industrial processes represent around 20 percent of global carbon emissions. It is one of the thorniest dilemmas in climate policy. It’s not often that I write about a carbon policy dilemma only to have a clever new solution arrive in my inbox mere days later, but that’s what happened. A new company called Heliogen, which came out of stealth mode on Tuesday, has developed a brand new, zero-carbon way of generating high-temperature heat. It’s backed by an experienced team, boasts Bill Gates as an investor, and seems to have pulled off the rare trick of creating something new in the cleantech world. Let’s take a look at how they do it. Heliogen’s technology is based on concentrating solar power (CSP). That’s where hundreds of mirrors in a field are all angled to reflect sunlight onto a tower, inside of which is a steam turbine. The heat from the sunlight turns fluid (usually water) to steam, which runs the turbine, which generates power. Visually, it’s probably the most striking and beautiful of all power generation technologies. Here’s a CSP plant in Seville, Spain: CSP is a good idea, and it works well, but it stalled out in the 2010s, for the simple reason that solar photovoltaic (PV) panels won. PV got so cheap, so fast, that it undercut CSP. Now CSP is something of a niche product. (Except in Spain, where it’s big.) Among the CSP startups that didn’t make it was eSolar, a company founded by entrepreneur Bill Gross and his well-known incubator Idealab. (I wrote about eSolar way back in 2008.) Rather than assembling large, complicated, curved heliostats (mirrors) on site, eSolar used small, flat, prefabricated heliostats of only about a square meter. They were cheaper, faster and easier to set up, more modular, and easier to replace. Gross’s key insight was that he could replace a lot of the material and labor involved in CSP with computing power. (Or, he could replace stuff with intelligence.) Rather than make bigger, more complicated mirrors, he made small, simple ones and controlled them with software, so they stayed aligned more precisely and produced more power. As Gross realized, material and labor generally get more expensive over time, while computing power is always getting cheaper. Anything that substitutes the latter for the former saves money. eSolar ultimately couldn’t overcome PV’s price advantage, but Gross’s insight remains useful. And with the launch of his new company Heliogen, it seems the technology could make a comeback. What Gross and his team of scientists and engineers at Heliogen have developed, in a nutshell, is a way to use even more computing power to keep the mirrors even more precisely aligned, thus generating even more heat. The team had to figure out how to monitor the mirrors in real time, to keep them all aimed at the exact same spot, Gross told me. It’s not enough to calibrate them once, as most CSP plants do. The ground subsides, the wind blows, the mirrors warp, and things slowly drift out of alignment. It may only be by centimeters, but those centimeters add up. Obviously, a camera can’t be pointed directly at the mirror from the spot where the light is supposed to hit. The camera would melt. Heliogen solved this problem by perching four super-powerful cameras around the top of the tower. Rather than directly measuring the intensity of light coming off a given mirror, they focus on four points equidistant around it. If the halo of light coming off the mirror is equally intense in each of the four quadrants, then the mirror is precisely aligned. (I find this delightfully resourceful.) The four cameras are watching all the mirrors all the time, and the exact proper alignment of each mirror is being calculated all the time. As the image-analysis software calculates, it sends constant signals to the mirrors, which result in constant micromovements as the mirrors keep themselves perfectly focused on a single point, about 50 centimeters across. It’s a “closed loop” system that monitors and adjusts itself, and it requires enormous computing power — more, Gross says, than was available even five years ago. What is the point of this precise concentrating of light? Heat! Conventional CSP towers can only get to about 560 degrees Celsius — enough to boil fluid and run a turbine, but not much else. Heliogen’s towers have reached just over 1,000° C and the company believes with further improvements it can hit 1,500° C. That would be a whole new ball game. There are lots of industrial processes that can use 1,000° C heat, like steam reforming of methane. And as that heat creeps higher, it becomes useful for more and more processes, from cement to steel. When the temperature hits 1,500° C, it opens up something of a holy grail: direct, thermochemical generation of liquid fuels that can substitute for any hydrocarbon fuel. Huh? Let me explain, as this is a relatively new engineering development, being perfected by Swedish researchers as we speak. It goes like this: a new, state-of-the-art material called ceria (CeO2) is heated to about 1,500° C, at which point it releases a pure stream of oxygen. Then, at about 1,000° C, water and carbon dioxide are introduced. The ceria wants its oxygen back, so it breaks the water and carbon dioxide up into hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and oxygen, and absorbs the oxygen. What’s left is a mix of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, otherwise known as “syngas.” Basically, you start with H2O + CO2 and you end up with a mix of H + CO. As it happens, every hydrocarbon (fossil) fuel in the world, from kerosene to gasoline, from boat fuel to jet fuel, is built around some combination of H and CO, which means synfuel can be refined into any fuel, for any purpose. If the CO2 that feeds into the process is drawn from the ambient air via direct air capture (DAC), which is still a big if for now, then the resulting fuels can be said to be carbon-neutral, a huge improvement on the carbon-intensive fuels now in use. Cumulatively, these markets for carbon-free industrial heat — steam reforming of methane, cement, steel, synthetic liquid fuels, and more — are enormous, up to a trillion dollars globally, and represent around a fifth of global GHG emissions. They include almost all the most difficult-to-decarbonize sectors. Obviously, Heliogen’s technology can’t work with every industrial facility. For one thing, Gross estimates that only about half of them worldwide have the land necessary to build a solar-heat facility on site. Facilities would have to integrate what is effectively an airborne oven into their process flow. And every facility would still need backup sources of heat, since the sun is only out for about eight hours a day. Until the technology is proven in a commercial setting, it’s difficult to say much about the real-world performance and costs, so there’s no way to know whether or how much Heliogen may succeed. Though it is stocked with talent and well-funded — Bill Gates said he is “pleased to be an early backer” of what he called “a promising development in the quest to one day replace fossil fuel” — it faces the same difficult hurdles as any startup. Most of them die. Still, whatever its fate, Heliogen is something fairly rare in the world of technology: a genuine innovation. And it’s a great application of Gross’s insight, for which I have become something of an evangelist, namely that the clean-energy transition is going to proceed in large part by substituting computing power for material and labor, i.e., intelligence for stuff. The ongoing explosion in computing power — AI, machine learning, ubiquitous real-time sensing, and all the rest of it — is going to enable innovations in energy that we can’t begin to predict. It will make our renewable energy technologies more responsive to real-time variations in sun and wind, more able to continuously adapt. It will make our cars and buildings smarter, more able to exchange energy. It will enable the electricity system to decentralize and maximize local resources. And the computing power we have today will look primitive by 2030. That’s one reason the clean-energy transition is going to happen faster than energy transitions of the past: It will be aided and accelerated by computing power, an extension of our imaginations and inventive powers that is new in all of history.

2017-11-30 09:34:28

“Wonder Wheel,” Woody Allen’s latest movie, is one of his more unfortunate contributions to cinema. It tells the story of a desperately, unhappily married woman whose affair with a local Romeo is derailed when he takes notice of her stepdaughter, whose breasts have been lit to glow like Vermeer peaches. The heart wants what it wants, as Mr. Allen once said by way of explaining his affair with his now wife, Soon-Yi, the daughter of his longtime ex, Mia Farrow. I tend to think it’s a bad idea to put a movie on the couch, but what if it climbs on the couch and then starts winking? “Wonder Wheel” returns Mr. Allen to Coney Island, the childhood home of his alter ego Alvy Singer, the narrator of “Annie Hall” who claims to have grown up under the amusement park’s roller coaster. (“I have some trouble between fantasy and reality,” Alvy says.) In “Wonder Wheel,” the sad wife, Ginny (Kate Winslet), lives in an apartment that looks directly onto the park’s looming Ferris wheel. The attraction obscures her view of the ocean, literalizing already narrow horizons, and casts deep, expressionistic blue and red light on the apartment’s dilapidated interior and its equally worn inhabitants. Ginny isn’t all used up, despite the insistently unflattering way she is often presented. She winces and frowns a lot, and the camera conspires with the lighting and makeup to catch every twitch of distress, and the sweaty, oily sheen she never seems able to blot away. It’s no surprise that she’s worried. She works in a clam house on the boardwalk, scrambling for hoi polloi, while back at home she has to juggle her loud, loutish husband, Humpty (Jim Belushi), and her son, Richie (Jack Gore). Like the young Alvy in “Annie Hall,” Richie is a redhead. But while Alvy is depressed about the universe, Richie seems largely troubled by his home life, specifically his demonstrably miserable mother. So, when Mickey (Justin Timberlake, too modern a presence), a lifeguard and self-described romantic, gives Ginny the once over, she gratefully falls into his arms. “Wonder Wheel” more or less becomes Ginny’s story, but she doesn’t get to own it. The movie is narrated by Mickey, who pops in and out and looks directly into the camera. He has literary ambitions, as he likes to remind us, as well as a pad in Greenwich Village. For a while, Mickey offers Ginny a respite from her everyday grind, at least until the arrival of Carolina (a fine Juno Temple), Humpty’s daughter from an earlier marriage. She’s on the run from her gangster husband. “I know where all the bodies are buried,” Carolina says. Somewhat of a cultural magpie, Mr. Allen has often folded bits and pieces — and at times entire conceits — from other work into his movies. Mickey mentions Eugene O’Neill, a reference that suggests we’re meant to see something of that playwright in Ginny and Humpty at their most raw and boozily fraught. Mr. Allen’s often blunt, overwrought dialogue, however, also alternately brings to mind Budd Schulberg (“I coulda been a contender”) and imitation Clifford Odets. In some scenes, you almost expect Mr. Belushi, who’s playing his heart out, to start bellowing about someone named Lefty. Much like its gaudy title attraction, “Wonder Wheel” keeps on turning, even while going nowhere. This is Mr. Allen’s second movie with the cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who seems to have enjoyed taking the color wheel and camera out for a spin. He gives the story visual flow, even when the characters are in claustrophobic lockdown. And Mr. Storaro keeps your pupils dancing with the light and dark hues. Some of the establishing shots of Coney Island recall the softer side of Technicolor, whereas the violently saturated scenes suggest the vibrancy of the Blue Rider palette. The more extreme colors — including an unlovely orange light that floods Ginny — pushes the whole thing into expressionism even as the movie fluctuates between kitchen-sink realism and hothouse melodrama. Mr. Allen certainly keeps you busy with all these colors, tones, influences, complications, stereotypes and histrionics, but to little end. As has always been the case with his movies, the actors seem to have delivered the performances they came to the set with, so the strong — in this case, the invaluable Ms. Winslet — are strong while the rest of the cast members do what they can with varying degrees of success. Ginny, who yearns for something better than clam houses and brutality — and who is mercilessly punished for her yearning — could easily have become a monstrous, one-note cliché. But Ms. Winslet fills this shabby character with feverish life. She conveys far more with a single, quietly stunned look than any of Mr. Allen’s speeches or Mr. Storaro’s color changes. At one point, after Ginny has turned into Blanche DuBois, she announces, “When it comes to love we often turn out to be our own worst enemy.” And not for the first time you wonder what Mr. Allen, who has long blurred fact and fiction, thinks he’s doing here. He couldn’t have anticipated that his name would be in the news because of the allegations of sexual abuse upending the entertainment industry. Yet how could we not think of him? In 1993, he was accused of molesting his daughter, Dylan Farrow. He maintained his innocence and was never prosecuted, yet the allegations as well as discomfort about his marriage to Soon-Yi have hovered over him like a malignant cloud. Critics have often uneasily ignored his history, but he himself seems perversely intent on invoking it.

2019-07-18

EBay CEO Devin Wenig told CNBC on Thursday that the online marketplace's backing of the proposed Libra digital coin is a risky move, but the potential payoff is well worth it. "Will Libra work? I think it is speculative," Wenig said on "Squawk on the Street." "We all know that. But it is promising, and it's worth a try." Last month, Facebook announced an ambitious effort to create the Libra digital currency, with launch plans in early 2020. A nonprofit association, not Facebook, will run Libra, which will be supported by a range of companies and organizations, including eBay, as well as Visa, PayPal, Lyft, Uber and Spotify. "We are sponsors of this, in part, because crypto and blockchain in particular have great promise," said Wenig. "A well-run public blockchain that the marketplaces adopt could do immense good." The goal of blockchain — the online ledger technology underlying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including Libra — is to make it as easy to send money across the world as it is to send a photo. Libra differs from the decentralized nature of bitcoin, which can be highly volatile in price and derives value from factors including its ability to enable instantaneous, anonymous, global payments and as an investment. Libra will be pegged to a basket of government-backed money and assets, with the aim of making it stable. However, Libra has faced scrutiny from several high-profile lawmakers and politicians, including President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. This week, David Marcus — head of Facebook's Calibra digital wallet, which will be used to store Libra — was grilled on Capitol Hill. "Legitimate questions have been raised by regulators," Wenig said. "We'll let Facebook respond to those." Wenig appeared Thursday on CNBC as eBay shares were moving solidly higher after the company late Wednesday raised its profit outlook and reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

2019-08-19 00:00:00

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese companies broadly support Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s tough trade stance against South Korea, a Reuters poll found. Three-quarters of companies in the monthly Reuters Corporate Survey approved of Abe’s explanations for curbing exports to South Korea of materials used to make computer chips. More than nine in 10 predicted Japan would win if Seoul takes its complaints to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The acrimonious trade dispute between the Japan and South Korea, two U.S. allies, grew out of a row over wartime forced labor. Abe last month tightened curbs on exports to South Korea of three high-tech materials needed to make memory chips and display panels. The government this month canceled South Korea’s fast-track trade status. Removing South Korea from a “white-list” of favored export destinations means some Japanese exporters face more paperwork and on-site inspections before they can win permits, which could slow Korea-bound exports for a wide range of goods. In the survey, companies were split on whether the trade curbs will affect the Japanese economy. Some companies said they won’t be affected as they don’t directly engage in business with South Korea. Those seeing an impact from the export curbs expressed concerns including the global slowdown and spreading trade frictions, worsening Japan-South Korea ties, weaker corporate profits and long-term competitiveness of their firms. “As we stand on the brink of a recession amid U.S.-China trade frictions, it’s undesirable to take such steps that could accelerate the downtrend,” a manager at a wholesale firm wrote in a survey response. Others disagreed. “It’s obvious that the Moon (Jae-in) administration is putting its utmost priority on reconciliation with North Korea at a time when North Korea proceeds with nuclear development,” wrote a manger at an electric machinery maker. “It’s only natural to deprive South Korea of most-favored-nation status.” In opinion polls last month, the liberal Asahi newspaper found 56% of the public felt Abe’s trade moves were “reasonable”, while the conservative Yomiuri found 71% supported the measures. Seoul sees the export curbs as retaliation over a dispute about wartime forced labor, while Tokyo cited unspecified security reasons. Asked how they evaluate Japanese government’s explanation for its export curbs against South Korea, about three-quarters of companies in the Reuters poll said it has been explained fully or to a degree. The survey, conducted July 31-Aug. 14 for Reuters by Nikkei Research, canvassed 504 midsize and large Japanese manufacturers and non-manufacturers. Managers respond to the survey on condition of anonymity to voice their opinions more freely. A fresh dispute over wartime forced labor was triggered last year when a South Korean court ordered Japanese firms to compensate some of their former laborers. The dispute brought bilateral ties to their lowest point in decades. Japan argues the issue was settled by a 1965 treaty normalizing bilateral ties. South Korean President Moon said on Friday that Seoul would be open to dialogue with Tokyo as needed, in a carefully choreographed message at his address marking Korea’s independence from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. If South Korea brings its complaints against Japan’s export curbs to the WTO, an overwhelming 94% of companies in the Reuters poll said Japan would win. “Japan’s argument stands to reason. No other country including the United States is siding with South Korea,” one manager wrote. “Still, Japan needs to lobby hard to win the backing of other countries,” the manager said, given that South Korea in April won the bulk of its appeal in a dispute at the WTO over import bans and testing requirements it imposed on Japanese seafood. Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by William Mallard and Richard Borsuk

2018-03-21 00:00:00

STOCKHOLM, March 21 (Reuters) - Swedish medical technology group Getinge said on Wednesday it would book a 350 million crown ($42.6 million) provision in the first quarter related mainly to a fraud probe in Brazil. Brazilian authorities are investigating two of Getinge’s subsidiaries in the country for alleged fraud in bidding proceedings from 2004-2015. The company has said it is cooperating with the investigation. “Negotiations will continue with relevant authorities and are expected to be finalised during 2018. It cannot be excluded that settlements with relevant authorities will have additional significant effect on the result and financial position of Getinge,” the company said in a statement. Getinge’s shares, which tumbled as much as 9.6 percent in early Wednesday trade before almost fully recovering, fell again after the statement, and were down 5.8 percent at 1517 GMT. Getinge, which sells products used in areas such as surgery, intensive-care, infection control and sterilisation, last year made a 69 million crown provision for costs related to the probe. $1 = 8.2076 Swedish crowns Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Niklas Pollard and Mark Potter

2019-08-02

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) on Friday reported a 21% drop in quarterly profit, its third period in a row of weaker year-over-year results, as sharply higher oil production was offset by weaker refining and chemicals business. Shares slipped 1.6 percent to $71.34 in early trading even though its 73 cents a share profit topped analysts’ recently-lowered estimates. Analysts had reduced estimates to 66 cents per share after Exxon last month guided to lower year-over-year profit. Exxon’s weaker earnings mirrored those at rivals Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), Equinor (EQNR.OL) and Total SA (TOTF.PA). Shell posted its smallest profit in 30 months on weaker margins in chemicals, a loss in refining and tumbling natural gas prices. Total also cited weaker natural gas and refining operations for earnings that fell 19% from a year ago, while Equinor’s profit fell 27% on weaker oil and gas prices. A bright spot for Exxon was oil and gas production rising 7% to 3.9 million barrels per day. Output in the top U.S. shale field, the Permian Basin, rose to 274,000 barrels of oil and gas per day, up 90% from a year ago. “Three of our businesses were at lows in their cycles,” said Neil Chapman, an Exxon senior vice president, adding the company historically invests during downturns for long-term returns. The largest U.S. oil producer’s net income fell to $3.13 billion, or 73 cents per share, in the second quarter, from $3.95 billion, or 92 cents per share, last year. “Pretty weak quarter from them once again,” said Jennifer Rowland, analyst with Edward Jones. After capital spending and dividends, Exxon had a free cash flow shortfall of $2.7 billion, similar to last quarter, Rowland added. Exxon has made “limited progress on asset sales,” though, analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co said in a note to clients. Exxon’s Chapman said the company remains committed to selling $15 billion worth of assets through 2021. The sales are needed to finance shareholder returns and major projects, but Exxon reported just $33 million in asset sales for the period, the lowest in at least 12 quarters. That follows proceeds from sales of $107 million in the first quarter. Exxon’s chemicals business fell to a loss in the United States for the first time in at least three years. Lower margins and downtime drove refining profits down 88 percent over last year. Exxon had been investing in major projects to boost production at a time when investors have been pressing oil companies to cut back on spending and increase returns to shareholders. The company said it has its best portfolio since the merger of Exxon and Mobil and does not “have to do anything” in terms of adding assets, Chapman said. But in the Permian Basin, where the company holds 1.6 million acres and plans to use its size and scale as a competitive advantage, Chapman said it remains, “eyes wide open” about mergers and acquisitions. Exxon boosted its estimated recoverable reserves in its offshore Guyana project to more than 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent, from 5.5 billion barrels. Reporting by Jennifer Hiller, Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr, Nick Zieminski and Bernadette Baum

2019-07-17 21:25:00

It all comes out in the wash — or should we say, off in the wash. Miranda Lambert shared a saucy video to Instagram on Wednesday to promote her upcoming single, complete with footage of her new husband, Brendan McLoughlin, doing laundry sans a shirt. “Come on, really?” McLoughlin says as he realizes Lambert is videotaping him, but not before the musician zooms in on the NYPD officer’s six-pack. Lambert, 35, cheekily captioned the photo with the name of her new single, adding a reference to her husband’s impressive washboard abs. “It All Comes Out In the Wash (board)’. Tomorrow 6am ET#putthatsuckeronspin 💙😂🙋‍♀️👏😜” she said. “house husband shirtless promo vol 1. #NYPD #ihadto #hotcop #NEWSONG #yourewelcome” she added. Lambert wed McLoughlin in secret and announced the news earlier this year in February. “In honor of Valentine’s Day I wanted to share some news. I met the love of my life. And we got hitched!” the “Gunpowder and Lead” singer wrote in an Instagram post announcing her nuptials. She was previously married to fellow country artist Blake Shelton from 2011-2015. “My heart is full. Thank you Brendan McLoughlin for loving me for…. me,” she added. A friend of Lambert’s told PEOPLE after the wedding news broke that she “truly is happier than ever.” The country superstar recently joked to Chicago radio station US99 that her team won’t be letting her take another long break any time soon. “They’re not going to let me have eight months off ever again because I get married and do weird s—,” she said, adding that the time off was “the longest break I’ve ever had in 17 years.” But the downtime seems to have paid off: not only is she releasing new music, but Lambert is also getting ready to head across the country on a new tour in September. The Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour features an all-female slate of opening acts and special guests, including Maren Morris, Elle King, Lambert’s own trio the Pistol Annies (with pals Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley), Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes and Caylee Hammack. Lambert’s tour kicks off on Sept. 13 in Uncasville, Connecticut.

2017-07-19 13:20:00

Welcome to Money Diaries, where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. We're asking millennials how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we're tracking every last dollar. Today for Money Diaries Month: a marketing project manager who makes $57,000 per year and spends some of it on hair glitter and dog training. Occupation: Marketing Project ManagerIndustry: TechAge: 30Location: Seattle, WASalary: $57,000 salary, plus a biannual bonus (varies).Babysitting & Freelancing: ~ $5,000Paycheck (2x/month): $1,663 Monthly ExpensesHousing: $1,664 for a 450-square-foot studio in Belltown. This includes $25 pet rent.Loans: None. Thanks to the Tennessee HOPE scholarship, my college education was free. All Other Monthly Expenses: Utilities: $60-80Health Insurance/Dental: $68 every paycheck for an HSA (company matched).Internet/Cable: $100. Phone Bill: $0. The $80 is currently covered by my parents. I stopped using a company-paid phone when I was laid off six months ago, and they'd paid for it since.Savings: $0. I'm working on paying off credit cards.Transportation: $150. I don't own a car. I usually set aside about $150 for my Orca card, which I can use on the bus, light rail, ferry, and for car or ride sharing services.Hulu & Netflix: $15Amazon Subscribe & Save: $50Credit Cards: $200 - 500. I have about $10,000 in credit card debt. I've been laid off four times since I graduated in 2009. (Hi Recession!) I hope to knock this out in the next year or so.

2016-01-21

(Adds quote, details) CAPE TOWN, Jan 21 (Reuters) - U.S. oil major Chevron said on Thursday it plans to sell 75 percent of its South African business unit which includes a 110,000 barrel a day refinery in Cape Town. Chevron is a leading refiner and marketer of petroleum products in South Africa, the most industrialised economy in Africa, where it has had a presence for more than a century. Chevron said its call for expression of interest was in line with a three-year asset sales programme it announced in 2014. “This demonstrates Chevron’s continuing focus on balancing our global portfolio with our long-term business priorities, and it is aligned with our previously announced $15 billion divestment program,” said Mark Nelson, the company’s president for international products, in a statement. Besides the Cape Town refinery, Chevron also has interests in a lubricants plant in Durban on the east coast. Its network of Caltex service stations makes it one of South Africa’s top five petroleum brands, according to its website. Chevron has already disposed of several assets in Africa’s top crude exporter Nigeria, as oil majors globally looked to cut costs and streamline business models in an over-supplied oil market and plunging prices. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by James Macharia)

2016-07-28 00:00:00

(CNN)"The last time I saw him, he was broken." The sister of Dylan Voller spoke to CNN about the impact of her brother's experience while in custody of an Australian youth detention system that is at the center of an abuse scandal. "He couldn't look me in the eyes, he couldn't be honest with me, he couldn't smile," Kirra Voller says. "I felt like I'd lost my brother for a while." The teenage boy was shown in a white hood, shackled at the neck, with his arms strapped to a chair by staff at a detention center in Alice Springs, in a documentary aired this week by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Four Corners" program. He was 17 when the 2015 video was recorded. "When I saw that footage, it really broke me," Kirra Voller says. "I couldn't bear to watch it, I really wanted to turn it off within the first two seconds of that film." The documentary also showed footage of other boys as young as 10 being tear-gassed, stripped naked, and thrown around their prison cells in juvenile detention centers across the Northern Territory, including the Don Dale center in Darwin. Dylan Voller also had been at the Darwin center and was one of six teens who the ABC report said were tear-gassed there in 2014. Australian leaders promise investigation The revelations prompted Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to call for an official inquiry. Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles also says police have formed a special task force to look into the allegations. But experts have criticized what they say is a lack of action on an issue they raised a long time ago. Howard Bath, a former Northern Territory Children's Commissioner, says he showed some recordings of alleged abuse to officials back in 2014. "It's hard to know why nothing happened," Bath tells CNN. "I presume it is related to the culture of the department, and the fact that for many years there hadn't been very clear external accountability." Bath says measures like banning the use of the hoods or restraining chairs will not be enough to end the abuse. "We need to look at the culture of the systems that allow these sort of practices to develop," Bath says. The current Northern Territory Children's Commissioner, Colleen Gwynne, also issued a report on the problem in August 2015. "It is disappointing that so many of these recommendations still have not been implemented, when an urgent response would have been more appropriate," Colleen Gwynne said in a statement to CNN. "I would hope we might now see a coordinated, professional, high-level response to the issues raised," she said. 'This is child torture' Australian politicians and public figures responded with horror after the original footage was aired, with one federal politician describing it as "child torture." "Those responsible must be held to account for these crimes," Liberal MP Sarah Henderson tweeted on the night. Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs told CNN affiliate 7 News said if regular people were found to have treated children this way, they would be charged with a criminal offense. In a statement released after the documentary aired Monday, Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles said he had removed John Elferink as minister of the territory's correctional services portfolio. After the footage in the documentary was filmed, Dylan Voller was moved to an adult jail when he turned 18 -- a move that his sister says has changed his life. "When he calls me, he sounds happy," she says. "He sounds like he has hope again." CNN's Vivian Kam, Yazhou Sun and Sandi Sidhu contributed to this report

2020-03-04 00:00:00

Remember that whole segment John Oliver did last year, where he filmed with two giant Japanese otter mascots, Chiijohn and Shinjo-kun? The end result was an undeniable cinematic masterpiece, but it turns out the filming process wasn't exactly smooth sailing. "So they don't speak English, but they also won't speak at all," Oliver explains to Seth Meyers in the clip above. "They had a translator so I could speak to them, but then they would not respond out of character at all. They basically went full Daniel Day Lewis." Oliver says he was with the mascots for two whole days, and they didn't say a single word. "During breaks they were still in character, kind of grabbing each others' tail while everyone else was eating." Oliver explains that it was charming at first, but less so when he looked through the eye grills of the mascots and saw the silhouettes of the silent strangers inside. Still, the end result was glorious. Tom Holland gets asked awkward questions by precocious little kids 'The President of the United States is undermining public health': Seth Meyers slams Trump's coronavirus response Stephen Colbert on Elizabeth Warren's 'classic campaign mistake': Not having a penis James Corden and Usher breaking bad news to people with songs is hilariously ridiculous

2016-11-26

MILAN, Nov 26 (Reuters) - The Chinese consortium seeking to buy Italian soccer club AC Milan is committed to signing the deal soon, it said on Saturday after the club’s owner Silvio Berlusconi hinted at a further delay to the long-awaited acquisition. The group of investors, backed by Haixia Capital and entrepreneur Yonghong Li, signed a deal in August with former Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi to gain full control of the Serie A club through investment vehicle Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing (SES). Last week, SES said the deal would likely be sealed on Dec. 13. In a TV interview with Italy’s SKY TG24 on Saturday, Berlusconi said SES had assured him it had the money to buy the club, but the approvals the investors needed from the Chinese government could further delay the closing. If the approvals do not come in time, Berlusconi said he was prepared to postpone the closing for a limited time, up to a maximum of a month and a half. “SES thanks Chairman Berlusconi for his words and confirms its strong commitment to close the negotiations as soon as possible,” the investment vehicle said. The deal values the club at 740 million euros ($784 million), including 220 million euros of debt. The investors have already paid 100 million euros, in two separate tranches, to Berlusconi’s Fininvest family holding company and are due to put the remaining 420 million in at the closing of the deal. $1 = 0.9443 euros Reporting by Francesca Landini; editing by David Clarke

2018-02-08 00:00:00

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet members of North Korea’s Olympics delegation on Saturday, including North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, the Blue House said on Thursday. Moon will also hold a lunch with the North Korean delegation, his spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom, told a media briefing. The location has yet to be confirmed, according to a Blue House official who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. (This version of the story corrects to clarify location has not been confirmed) Reporting by Christine Kim and Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Nick Macfie

2016-05-11

May 11 (Reuters) - Arsan Tekstil Ticaret ve Sanayi AS : * Proposes not to pay FY 2015 dividend Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom)

2018-12-20 16:00:00

After leaving treatment, Selena Gomez returned home from her snowy vacation with friends for some more nature activities. On Wednesday, the singer, 26, was photographed for the first time in more than two months during a hike in Malibu, California, with friends. Dressed in a white sports bra, black leggings and color coordinated cap, Gomez, who sought treatment in October after suffering an emotional breakdown while in the hospital, was seen smiling and laughing during her workout. She later stepped out for dinner that night. “Selena looks amazing. Since finishing her treatment, she is surrounding herself with friends,” an insider tells PEOPLE. “She seems very happy.” Gomez’s reemergence comes a day after fans got the first glimpse of the Disney Channel alum following her treatment. On Tuesday, her friends Connar Franklin and actress Bailee Madison posted a series of photos from a snowy vacation in Big Bear, California, featuring Gomez looking happy and healthy. “Selena’s feeling much better and looking forward to getting back to normalcy,” a source told PEOPLE exclusively. “She’s spending time with friends and family.” The actress was hospitalized twice in October, both times for a low white blood cell count, which can be a side effect for kidney transplant patients. During her second visit, Gomez suffered a panic attack and subsequently headed to a treatment center on the East Coast. “She has had a tough few weeks and the panic attack in the hospital was the tipping point,” the source previously told PEOPLE. Gomez chose to undergo dialectical behavior therapy, a therapy method designed to help try to identify, and then change, negative thinking and behavioral patterns. The therapy came following news that Gomez underwent a kidney transplant last year because of her ongoing battle with lupus. Gomez has been open about her battle with lupus for several years, and first revealed in 2015 that she’d undergone chemotherapy to treat the disease. Lupus causes the immune system to attack its own organs and tissues and can affect the whole body. She has also been candid about struggling with depression and anxiety and revealed earlier this year she is continuing to focus on her mental and physical health.

2018-12-01 20:56:44

Alabama 35, Georgia 28 ATLANTA — In sports, there is bizarre, there is really bizarre and then there is just plain eerie, like top-ranked Alabama’s 35-28 victory over fourth-ranked Georgia on Saturday, which confirmed the Crimson Tide’s spot in the College Football Playoff, whose four-team bracket will be released Sunday. [College Football Playoff: Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Oklahoma are in.] The Southeastern Conference title game was nearly a mirror image of the national title game 11 months ago, also between these two teams, also in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In last January’s game, Alabama Coach Nick Saban benched his two-year starting quarterback, Jalen Hurts, who struggled mightily in the first half against Georgia, for the freshman backup Tua Tagovailoa, who led the Crimson Tide to a victory in overtime. Tagovailoa has put together a Heisman Trophy-worthy season this year. But on Saturday, it was Tagovailoa’s turn to struggle, and Hurts’s turn to bail Alabama out. In the fourth quarter, with Alabama trailing by 7 but being outplayed worse than that, Tagovailoa exited with an injury. (Saban later said Tagovailoa had played with a sprained ankle since the first half and had his foot stepped on in the fourth quarter.) Hurts, a junior, had spent the prime moments of Alabama’s perfect season sitting on the bench. But he came in and promptly led the Tide down the field, completing a 69-yard drive with a third-down scramble to the right that let him find receiver Jerry Jeudy streaking in the back of the end zone to tie the game, 28-28, with under six minutes left. “It shows the type of character,” the Alabama offensive coordinator, Michael Locksley, said afterward. “Jalen had to always prepare himself so that when this opportunity came, he showed up and made the plays we needed.” Added Saban, winner of six national titles: “I’ve probably never been more proud of a player than Jalen.” The crowd, which until that time had seemed to favor the home state Bulldogs, roared for Alabama when Hurts’s pass tied the score. On a later drive, Alabama stalled the Bulldogs offense, which had been so potent, at midfield. It got the ball there after a Georgia fake-punt play on fourth-and-11 failed. Following that, Hurts hit tight end Irv Smith Jr. for 19 yards on a third-and-7, and then receiver Jaylen Waddle for 16 to put Alabama at the 15-yard line. On the next play, Hurts — arguably a run-first quarterback, in contrast to the pass-first Tagovailoa — tucked the ball and ran it for a touchdown. It was Alabama’s first lead of the game, and, it turned out, the only one that would matter. Georgia’s final drive got as far as Alabama’s 39-yard line, from which a desperation pass fell incomplete as time ran out. Alabama improved to 13-0 and iced a spot in the playoff, in whose rankings it had been No. 1. The loss dropped Georgia to 11-2. The selection committee will primarily match its résumé against Oklahoma’s. The Sooners (12-1) entered Saturday ranked fifth to Georgia’s fourth, and in the Big 12 title game defeated Texas — 14th, according to the playoff committee, and the team Oklahoma lost to in October. Sixth-ranked Ohio State also improved to 12-1, with a 45-24 victory against Northwestern in the Big Ten title game. Georgia’s losses came at Louisiana State (9-3), 10th in the latest playoff rankings, in October, and of course Saturday to the top-ranked Tide. After the game, no less than Saban made the case for Georgia’s inclusion in the final four-team bracket: “Based on the teams that we’ve played this year, I think this team deserves to be in the playoff, as well. I sure as hell don’t want to play them again, but that’s the best compliment I can give you or give them.” Hurts finished the game 7-for-9 passing with 82 yards passing, one throwing touchdown and one rushing touchdown. Locksley said Alabama’s offense accommodates both quarterbacks during practice. “Jalen gets 50 percent of the reps when he’s healthy,” Locksley said. “We can run that whole offense — the same things we do with Tua, we do with Jalen.” Georgia led for most of the game, and it felt like it. This in itself was remarkable: Alabama entered the game approximately a two-touchdown favorite. Its average scoring margin before Saturday was above five touchdowns; its closest victory had been by 22 points. “Everyone wanted to know how we would respond when we got tested,” Locksley said, “and these guys stuck together.” Tagovailoa entered this game a Heisman front-runner, completing 70 percent of his passes for nearly 12 yards per attempt, with a stunning 36 touchdowns against two interceptions. But he was rattled on Alabama’s first drive — after a sack and an interception, he briefly entered Alabama’s sideline injury tent — and was far from himself for the rest of the game. Hurts took a couple of snaps in the first half as Alabama threw things at the wall to see what would stick. Georgia’s modest 21-14 halftime lead did not fully indicate how desperate the outlook was for the Crimson Tide. For one thing, the deficit might have been larger: Late in the second quarter, Alabama running back Josh Jacobs coughed up the ball at Georgia’s goal line, a seeming touchback for Georgia, until the replay revealed Jacobs had ever so briefly recovered his own fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. Midway through the third quarter, though, something seemed to click for Alabama. It held Georgia’s offense to a three-and-out. On the fourth play of the next drive, Tagovailoa hit Waddle, who took the ball 51 yards for a touchdown. Tagovailoa finished 10 of 25 for 164 yards. Georgia managed just one first down on the next drive, Alabama’s pass rushers finally harassing the sophomore quarterback Jake Fromm, who generally played superbly, finishing 25-for-39 passing with 301 yards and three touchdowns. Georgia’s last score came not three minutes into the second half, though a missed 30-yard field-goal attempt midway through the third quarter did not help. Still, Alabama appeared to be stalling again when Tagovailoa’s injury brought in Hurts full time. The rest was, truly, history.

2017-06-15 00:00:00

President Trump mocked the Washington Post's Wednesday report on Thursday, and called the notion that he's being investigated for obstruction of justice a "phony" story: Why this matters: The WaPo report marks the first time that Trump is being investigated for his handling of the Russia investigation, and comes just days after fired FBI Director James Comey detailed Trump's unconventional behavior.

2016-02-10

It's been a rocky few weeks for European banks, which have lost nearly one-quarter of their stock market value since the start of the year. Investors are worried about lenders' high debt piles and exposure to the struggling energy sector and to China, amid global market turmoil. The financial and economic crisis that rocked Europe from 2008 is still fresh in people's minds. Then banks got into serious trouble by overloading their balance sheets with risky private and government debt. As a result, once the economy hit recession, they found it difficult to raise funds and, in some cases, fill their cash machines. As a result of the crisis, European authorities have strived since then to improve how lenders are supervised and, should they fail, how they are either wound down or rescued. However, some of the plans are yet to be instituted, and there is fierce debate about how much power member countries should hand over to authorities in Brussels and whether supervision will hamper banks' profitability. CNBC takes a look at what measures the euro zone has in place to stop banking systems in its 19 member countries going to the wall. The Single Resolution Mechanism was established after the euro zone's debt and bank crisis with the aim that in the future, failing banks would be resolved (liquidated in an orderly way) at the lowest cost and impact to tax payers. All euro zone countries are required to participate but it is unknown whether it will be successful as it only became fully operation in January this year. Under the plan, bank resolution could include participation by unsecured depositors or junior creditors. There will also be a bailout fund that will be built up over eight years through contributions from the banking industry. The Single Supervisory Mechanism means the European Central Bank is now responsible for approximately 6,000 banks across the euro zone. The aim is to ensure that banks comply with Europe-wide banking rules and tackle problems early on. The central bank directly supervises the 129 largest banks — those like Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and ING that are viewed as linchpins to the entire euro zone financial system — and allows national supervisors to monitor smaller banks. The central bank cooperates with the European Banking Authority (EBA) in conducting "stress tests" on systemically important banks -- including those in European Union countries that do not use the euro. This year's test is expected to launch at the end of February and will assess banks' ability to meet required capital ratios in the event of an economic shock. It will include 53 banks in the European Union, amounting to around 70 percent of the area's banking sector. The EBA's last stress test took place in 2014 and was criticized by some for being insufficiently tough. Around 25 banks out of 123 failed, including the National Bank of Greece, Belgium's Dexia and Banco Popolare in Italy. European officials plan to introduce further measures to protect bank depositors. In November, a pan-euro zone scheme similar to that of the U.S.'s Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was proposed, with the aim of safeguarding bank deposits of up to 100,000 euros ($112,502). However, Germany has opposed the introduction of the scheme, saying it does not want its depositors to be liable for bank payouts in other countries until financial risks have been minimized across the area. There are also fears that such a fund would encourage banks to feel they can take greater risks than they would if there was no such safety net in place. "One wonders whether compromising the integrity of more robust banking systems by linking them together with weaker ones is the right way to go… such pooling of insurance — like any mutualisation of risks — creates a moral hazard problem," Diego Zuluaga, a research fellow at the U.K.'s Institute of Economic Affairs, said in a blog post after the scheme was announced. If and when the scheme comes to fruition, the scheme will be obligatory for euro zone countries and optional for countries like the U.K. that do not use the euro but are part of the European Union. Follow CNBC International on and Facebook.

2018-03-08 00:00:00

March 8 (Reuters) - YMAGIS SA: * ANNOUCED ON WEDNESDAY THAT CINEMANEXT OPENS NEW BRANCH IN DUBAI * ANNOUNCED THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF CINEMANEXT MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA (CINEMANEXT MEA) IN JEBEL ALI FREE ZONE * APPOINTS FRANCOIS INIZAN AS GENERAL MANAGER, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA Source text : bit.ly/2G8EGmM Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom)

2017-08-24 00:00:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, a unit of Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), was awarded a $547.9 million modification to an existing contract for 7,358 Hellfire II tactical missiles, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2020, the Pentagon said in a statement. Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Tim Ahmann

2019-03-04 21:51:19

Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and first lady who lost the White House to Donald J. Trump in 2016, said officially on Monday what has been unofficially clear for months: She is not running for president again in 2020. “I’m not running,” Mrs. Clinton told a New York City television station, News 12. “But I’m going to keep on working and speaking and standing up for what I believe.” Mrs. Clinton, the first woman to win a major-party nomination for president, remains a complicated figure for the Democratic Party as both a trailblazing female leader and also the candidate who was defeated by Mr. Trump. Ahead of the 2020 election, she has been holding private meetings with many of the current and potential presidential candidates, including Senator Kamala Harris and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., as they sought counsel from her even before she formally ruled out another run. [Who’s in, who’s out and who’s thinking about it. Check out our presidential candidate tracker.] Four female senators — Ms. Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren — and one congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, have already jumped into the Democratic primary campaign. The glut of female candidates is widely seen as an outgrowth of Mrs. Clinton’s own nomination in 2016. Mrs. Clinton, 71, is still younger than some Democratic candidates who are either running (such as Senator Bernie Sanders, who is 77) or considering runs (Mr. Biden, 76, and the former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, 77). But many in the crowded field of more than a dozen candidates are already pushing to install a younger generation of leadership for the party. In the television interview, Mrs. Clinton signaled that she planned to remain a presence on the political scene. “I want to be sure that people understand I’m going to keep speaking out,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere.” But she laughed off the idea of running for any other political office, such as New York governor or mayor, in the future. “Oh, I don’t think so,” she said.

2020-03-25

JAKARTA, March 25 (Reuters) - Indonesia’s central bank and the country’s financial regulator will limit currency market and stock trading hours next week as part of efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus. Bank Indonesia (BI) is changing its currency trading hours to 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (0200-0800 GMT) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. currently, according to a statement issued late on Tuesday. BI is also set to adjust the interbank transaction settlement and clearing system period. “BI will continue coordinating with the government and other related authorities in taking collective steps to monitor, assess, and to conduct prevention and mitigation against the spread of COVID-19,” BI spokesman Onny Widjanarko said in the statement. The change will come into effect on Monday, March 30 and run until May 29, the current end of the government’s emergency response period. Indonesia’s financial services authority (OJK) said in a separate statement late on Tuesday it will change trading hours at the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) starting on Monday until further notice to include a longer midday break and end trade an hour earlier. Trading will run from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. for the first session and 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the second session. IDX tightened its trading halt mechanism earlier this month to protect the market against volatility, triggering a 30-minute halt if the main index dropped more than 5%, from 10% previously. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy announced its biggest daily rise in coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of people infected to 686, with 55 deaths. (Reporting by Tabita Diela, Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Ed Davies and Jacqueline Wong)

2018-05-15 16:25:01

Times Insider delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how news, features and opinion come together at The New York Times. Pretty much since the day I became a journalist, I wanted to be an opinion editor at The Times. A spirits writer, not so much. Yet here I am. By day, I am the deputy Op-Ed editor, which makes me something like the manager of the paper’s daily Op-Ed report. In my spare time, I write about all things alcoholic — whiskey, primarily, but I’ve also covered everything from brandy to beer to baijiu. (I do this mostly for The Times’s Food section.) I’ve also written a book about American whiskey, and have another one, on scotch, due this fall. And I occasionally run tastings around the city. One upshot of this unlikely overlap is that the space under my desk doubles as a library, for books sent to me by aspiring Op-Ed writers, and a liquor cabinet, for samples sent to my work address. (Contrary to the old saw about the booze-soaked deadline, they stay under there, usually.) Another is the inevitable question: How exactly do you become a spirits writer, anyway? A great thing about being a journalist is getting paid to write about your passion. For me, the passion came first. In the early 2000s, long before I was writing about it, I was exploring the craft spirits scene, which was still in its geeky, below-the-radar infancy. I was also getting to know America’s whiskey heartland. My brother and I grew up in Nashville, and when we were back home we would take trips up into Kentucky, where our dad’s family has lived since before statehood, poking around the distilleries and whiskey bars of Bardstown and Lexington. A few years later I was doing some freelance writing for The Atlantic, mostly about politics and culture. One day my editor, Corby Kummer — who, in addition to helping run the magazine, is one of the country’s great food writers — got to talking about whiskey, and he encouraged me to contribute a few pieces about America’s emerging craft spirits scene. When I moved to The Times, I started to do the same for my editor here, Patrick Farrell. I got lucky. Here was a thing I loved, and the field was wide open to write about it. Especially early on (which, in these warp-speed days, means about a decade ago), hardly anyone was writing about spirits, and stories and subjects were just waiting for a reporter to notice them. It was a fun, freewheeling beat. Only the biggest companies had publicists; most craft distilleries were figuring it all out on their own. So was I. When I started I couldn’t have told you the difference between a column still and a Coffey still (turns out they’re the same thing). But I learned fast, and eagerly — and the joy of learning added to the joy of writing about an exciting, growing corner of this grand old industry. While the craft side of the spirits industry has since matured — these days even the smallest distilleries have sophisticated media strategies — I still enjoy it. Taken in moderation, alcohol is one of life’s great pleasures, and I get to interact with people who spend their entire careers trying to make it even better. The booze beat offers a respite from editing. After a day working on articles about fiscal and foreign policy, I can dash off to a whiskey tasting or go meet a distiller to talk about her latest products. But the jobs also intersect. Liquor is nothing if not political, and its history is entwined with America’s. Excise taxes on the whiskey industry once provided almost half the federal government’s revenues, and Prohibition remains the country’s grandest failed social experiment. The European Union has threatened retaliatory measures against bourbon exports if President Trump raises tariffs. Still, it’s not a job I’d recommend to everyone. It’s a bit like the premise of “Brewster’s Millions.” Brewster is a layabout obsessed with money. A newly discovered, and newly deceased, relative leaves him an enormous fortune, but to get all of it he has to spend a million dollars a day for a month. (While that’s hard to do now, it seemed even harder the last time the story was filmed — in 1985, with Richard Pryor as Brewster.) It’s a twist on the Midas myth: The thing he loves becomes the thing that, in its abundance, tortures him. Sometimes, especially the morning after a big scotch tasting, I feel the same way.

2017-11-16 00:00:00

BOSTON (Reuters) - The billionaire founder of drugmaker Insys Therapeutics Inc pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges that he participated in a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe a fentanyl-based spray to treat pain in cancer patients. John Kapoor, who stepped down as Insys’ chief executive officer and chairman in January but remains its majority shareholder, entered his plea in Boston federal court to charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering, mail fraud and wire fraud. Kapoor, 74, was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, on Oct. 26. In court papers filed ahead of the hearing, Kapoor’s lawyers called the allegations against him “thin.” “He doesn’t believe it’s a strong case,” Brian Kelly, Kapoor’s lawyer, said. “He wants to fight this case.” U.S. authorities have been fighting an opioid addiction epidemic that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked to more than 33,000 deaths in 2015, the latest year for which statistics are available. The case followed investigations centered on Chandler, Arizona-based Insys’ product Subsys, an under-the-tongue spray that contains fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Following Kapoor’s arrest, Insys on Oct. 29 announced he had resigned from its board and it had recorded $150 million as its best estimate for the minimum amount it would pay to settle the U.S. Department of Justice probe. Kapoor was charged in an indictment that added him as a defendant in a case against six former Insys executives and managers initially charged in December 2016, including ex-Chief Executive Michael Babich. The indictment said that, beginning in 2012, Kapoor, Babich and others devised a scheme to pay speaker fees and other bribes to medical practitioners to prescribe Subsys and to defraud insurers into approving payment. In court, Kelly urged U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal to lift a requirement that Kapoor wear an electronic GPS-monitoring bracelet while free on a $1 million bond. His lawyers said the device interfered with his daily jogging. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Yeager objected, saying prosecutors worried Kapoor could use his wealth to flee the country. He said prosecutors believe Kapoor has access to at least $2 billion. “The amount of money he has, we could never really secure his presence, and we’d have a very difficult time getting him back,” Yeager said. Kelly countered that Kapoor knew about the investigation since 2013 yet never fled. Boal did not immediately rule. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio and Bernadette Baum

2016-05-25 00:00:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose about 2 percent on Wednesday after the U.S. government reported a larger-than-expected drop in crude inventories, but profit-taking after the data kept prices below the $50 a barrel level that oil bulls had been hoping for. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude inventories fell 4.2 million barrels in the week to May 20. While the decline was steeper than the 2.5 million barrels forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll, it was not as much as the 5.1 million expected by trade group American Petroleum Institute. [EIA/S] [API/S] Crude futures fell briefly after the EIA data showed the steepest weekly drop in seven weeks, then consolidated and traded at the lower end of the day’s gains. Brent LCOc1 settled up $1.13, or 2.3 percent, at $49.74 a barrel. Prices climbed as high as $49.96 in post-settlement trading. U.S. crude’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 settled 94 cents higher at $49.56, after peaking at $49.62, a seven-month high. Profit taking heading into the U.S. Memorial Day weekend also pressured prices, traders said. Oil bulls have been hoping in recent weeks that crude would rise to $50 a barrel or more, after global crude flows declined nearly 4 million barrels per day due to wildfires in Canada’s oil sands region, a near economic meltdown in OPEC member Venezuela and a spate of violent attacks against the Libyan and Nigerian energy industries. “While we do feel the rally could go slightly further and test the psychological $50 level, we also think the rally has been priced in, especially with the impact expected from Canadian wildfires,” said Tariq Zahir, crude trader and portfolio manager at Tyche Capital Advisors in New York. “So, we wouldn’t be surprised to see more profit taking from the longs, especially since there was no immediate follow-through in buying after the data.” U.S. gasoline futures RBc1 fell nearly 1.5 percent to around $1.63 a gallon after the EIA reported that stockpiles of the motor fuel USOILG=ECI rose over 2 million barrels last week, confounding analysts’ expectations for a 1.1 million-barrel drop. “Gasoline looks to be the weakest horse right now and the momentum of the recent rally that started on May 10th now looks to be breaking down,” said David Thompson, executive vice-president at commodities broker Powerhouse in Washington. He said the picture could worsen for gasoline if futures for the motor fuel break below the $1.60 support. “The bears will be encouraged to increase their selling pressure.” Additional reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York, Amanda Cooper in LONDON, Osamu Tsukimori in TOKYO and Keith Wallis in SINGAPORE; Editing by David Gregorio and Alan Crosby

2018-01-31 17:05:00

Adrienne Bailon has never been afraid to keep it, well, real during the #GirlTalk segment of the talk show The Real, alongside co-hosts Tamera Mowry-Housley, Loni Love and Jeannie Mai. The television star recently confessed her baby-making plans and now, she’s getting personal about her life growing up. On Jan. 30, the host revealed the impact that her parents’ loveless marriage had on her, and what she learned from the experience. “I knew they weren’t happy,” she said. “I knew my mom was struggling with depression because she was in a very unhappy marriage… I knew there wasn’t that kind of love there and that sometimes can do just as much harm to a child as it can getting divorced because you’re showing a bad example of what a marriage should be.” Fans of the talk show agreed with Bailon. One person reponded, “I’m going through the exact same thing with my mom and my step dad, @adriennebailon. And you’re right, it does more harm. What relationships are we suppose to look up to? Because that sure isn’t showing me what a positive and healthy relationship should look like.” Another added, “@adriennebailon it’s very true my parents divorced after 30 years and I always saw the level of unhappy and functional disfunction it definitely shapes your view as you grow up and have your own relationships.” Fortunately this does not seem to apply to the marriage of the former Cheetah Girl, who’s ready to have children with husband Israel Houghton. “My wish for [2018] would be to start a family,” she told the audience of The Real last month. “That would be my biggest dream come true. I’ve always said I want to be a mom. So prayers up and we will see what happens.” In early January, The Real talk show was picked up by Fox TV for two more seasons.

2017-12-28 14:00:17

Asia and Australia Edition Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • Nearly a year into his presidency, President Trump has transformed the world’s view of the United States. His anger at NATO, awkwardness with allies and friendliness with autocrats have taken the U.S. from being an anchor of the international order to something more inward-looking and unpredictable. Here’s a detailed accounting of Mr. Trump’s unorthodox approach. Above, the first lady, Melania Trump, and Mr. Trump, in Beijing with President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, in November. _____ • The long-simmering conflicts in Afghanistan and Yemen took strikingly bloody turns this week. In Afghanistan, above, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at a Shiite cultural center in Kabul that killed at least 41 people. It was the latest in a series of mass-casualty attacks against Shiite targets. And in Yemen, airstrikes on a market and a farm killed at least 68 civilians, including eight children, the U.N. said. The two attacks occurred on Tuesday, making it one of the deadliest days for civilians so far in the country’s civil war. _____ • As Venezuela loses its regional allies and finds itself in need of money, it is drawing closer to China and Russia. The state-owned oil company, once a cash cow, is on the verge of collapse. And Venezuela’s leftist president, Nicolás Maduro, is increasingly regarded as a despot. With its oil, Venezuela is likely to be an attractive, if risky, long-term gamble for Beijing and Moscow. But Mr. Maduro, above center, is negotiating from a position of weakness, a former diplomat said. _____ • In much of the world, people are stressed about the potential job-destroying rise of automation. But not in Sweden, where robots are just another way to make companies more efficient. As employers prosper, Swedes have consistently gained a proportionate slice of the spoils — a stark contrast to the U.S. and Britain, where wages have stagnated even while corporate profits have soared. _____ • The latest installment of our Planet Fat series is a documentary exploring whether Australia, where the number of obese adults has tripled since 1990, can turn down the sweets. In sugar-producing places like Mackay, on the Queensland coast, sugar isn’t just part of the culture, it’s a source of pride. But health experts say it’s contributing to a national health crisis. _____ • In the U.S., Alabama certified Doug Jones’s Senate victory, brushing aside a legal challenge from Roy Moore. Mr. Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct against teenage girls, has refused to concede the race. We asked 615 men about how they conduct themselves at work. About a third said they had done something within the past year that would qualify as objectionable behavior or sexual harassment. _____ • China offered a tax break to U.S. businesses thinking of taking their profits out of the country. There’s a catch: To be eligible, foreign firms must invest in industries encouraged by Beijing. • The price of Bitcoin tumbled after South Korea announced that it would no longer let people buy or sell virtual currencies anonymously. • Let the hunt for loopholes begin. The tax bill signed last week by President Trump is likely to display the abundant creativity of U.S. businesses in interpreting the tax code. • Yesterday, we told you about all the ways technology failed over the past year. Here’s a look at what went right. • Most U.S. stocks were higher. Here’s a snapshot of global markets. • A Tibetan filmmaker made a “risky” escape from China to the United States. He had been jailed and was living under police surveillance. [The New York Times] • Prosecutors in Japan indicted the Mongolian-born former sumo grand champion Harumafuji for assaulting a junior wrestler. [Reuters] • In Liberia, George Weah, a former soccer player, won the presidential election, according to provisional results. [The New York Times] • A U.S. deal to provide antimissile systems to Japan was criticized by Russia as a violation of an arms-control treaty. [CNN] • A group of 50 Pulitzer Prize winners urged Myanmar to release two Reuters reporters arrested in Yangon earlier this month. [The Irrawaddy] • China denied reports that it is violating U.N. sanctions by secretly selling oil to North Korea. [South China Morning Post] • A yachting victory overturned: Comanche has been declared the winner of the Sydney to Hobart race after Wild Oats XI was penalized for breaking race rules. [ABC] Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life. • Here are five New Year’s resolutions to protect your technology. • And eight ways to have a better relationship in 2018. • Recipe of the day: Try something new on pasta night, like Bolognese without the tomatoes. • China’s passion for drones was on display at an air show in Wuhan last month, where jets and planes were upstaged by the unmanned flying machines. • In “The Lives They Lived,” our magazine remembers some of the artists, innovators and thinkers we lost in the past year. • In Pakistan, the city of Rabwah has become home to about 70,000 members of the Ahmadi sect. Its veneer of calm, even affluence, is at odds with the growing hatred against the group elsewhere in the country. Each year on New Year’s Eve, millions of people in the U.S. and around the world turn their attention to Times Square for the annual ball drop. It all began at a New York Times party on Dec. 31, 1904. The newspaper had just moved its headquarters from Lower Manhattan to a 24-story tower in Longacre Square, at the intersection of 42nd Street, Seventh Avenue and Broadway. Mayor George McClellan renamed it Times Square, and the publisher, Adolph S. Ochs, celebrated by putting on a New Year’s Eve party with a live band and fireworks. “No more beautiful picture was ever limned in fire on the curtain of midnight,” the newspaper reported on Jan. 1, 1905. The tradition lived on, but in 1907, the fireworks were replaced by a ball drop. The idea came from Western Union Telegraph Company in Lower Manhattan, which did a ball drop every day at noon. (Time balls had been used to tell time for decades.) The paper moved out of the building in 1913, but the ball drop continued, except for two years during World War II. A Times electrician, Thomas P. Ward, was in charge of it from 1907 to 1957. For more on the ritual, check out this article by our in-house historian, David Dunlap. Karen Zraick contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. Browse past briefings here. We have briefings timed for the Australian, Asian, European and American mornings. And our Australia bureau chief offers a weekly letter adding analysis and conversations with readers. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters here. What would you like to see here? Contact us at [email protected].

2019-08-07 00:00:00

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was considering commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, saying seven years was enough time in prison. "I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. "He's been in jail for a seven years over a phone call where nothing happens." Blagojevich, a Democrat, was impeached then removed from office in 2009 for corruption and was later indicted on multiple corruption charges. He was accused of trying to solicit personal favors and sell the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Barack Obama winning the presidency. During the case, a tapped phone conversation revealed Blagojevich saying: "I've got this thing, and it's fucking golden. I'm just not giving it up for fucking nothing." Trump dismissed the governor's comments from his phone call as "braggadocio" and insufficient for a conviction. "I would think that there have been many politicians — I'm not one of them by the way — that have said a lot worse over the phone," Trump said. Blagojevich — who was once a contestant on Trump's TV show "The Celebrity Apprentice" — was sentenced to 14 years in prison, though his family has unsuccessfully tried to appeal the decision multiple times. The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal last year. President Barack Obama also did not commute Blagojevich's sentence, to the frustration of the former governor's family. Patti Blagojevich has fought for her husband's release for years, and Trump praised her in his comments Wednesday. "His wife I think is fantastic, and I'm thinking about commuting his sentence very strongly," Trump said.

2016-04-23 14:02:00

Photo by Timothy Norris It's safe to say that Prince's death left everyone shocked, and confused. For a lot of musicians, the best way to work through emotions of his passing was to take part in honoring his music through covers, especially at this year's Coachella. To show tribute to the great one, LCD Soundsystem decided to cover one of Prince's biggest hits, "Controversy." The track blends in perfectly with LCD's own music, James Murphy and company getting to pull off some lovingly intricate falsettos. It stood as a grand celebration to Prince's work and life, showing how deep his influence ran into the musical consciousness of musicians working with any genre. Watch footage from the performance below, via Pitchfork. A video posted by Michele Manz (@michelemanz) on Apr 23, 2016 at 2:54am PDT

2017-05-11

May 11 (Reuters) - Interhides Pcl * Qtrly net profit 73.3 million baht versus 55.2 million baht Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

2017-03-31

Washington (CNN)The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security said this week that immigration agents will continue to make arrests at courthouses -- and encouraged cities to revoke their sanctuary policies if they object. The letter, released Friday but sent Wednesday, was a response to California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DHS Secretary John Kelly saying that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement "appear to be stalking undocumented immigrants in our courthouses to make arrests." The subject of ICE arrests at courthouses has been particularly sensitive in recent weeks between major cities and federal officials, as local jurisdictions have complained that arresting undocumented immigrants in courthouses has a chilling effect on their participation in prosecuting criminals as witnesses and reporting victims. Los Angeles has said reporting of crimes like sexual assault and domestic violence are down by one-quarter in immigrant communities. "Our courthouses serve as a vital forum for ensuring access to justice and protecting public safety," Cantil-Sakauye wrote in her letter earlier this month. "Courthouses should not be used as bait in the necessary enforcement of our country's immigration laws." But DHS has maintained that courthouses are not considered "sensitive locations" and that apprehending individuals in controlled environments is safer than doing so on the street. In their letter, Sessions and Kelly object to Cantil-Sakauye's use of the word "stalking," saying ICE is constitutionally and lawfully authorized to arrest anyone with probable cause. They also insist that arrests by ICE are targeted and not indiscriminate -- though advocacy groups have complained that ICE has arrested non-criminal undocumented immigrants in recent stepped-up enforcement. As the administration continues to pressure sanctuary cities, the attorney general and DHS secretary criticized California and its jurisdictions for having policies of non-cooperation with ICE -- blaming those policies for the courthouse arrests. "Some jurisdictions, including the State of California and many of its largest counties and cities, have enacted statutes and ordinances designed to specifically prohibit or hinder ICE from enforcing immigration law by prohibiting communication with ICE, and denying requests by ICE officers and agents to enter prisons and jails to make arrests," Sessions and Kelly wrote. "As a result, ICE officers and agents are required to locate and arrest these aliens in public places, rather than in secure jail facilities where the risk of injury to the public, the alien, and the officer is significantly increased because the alien can more readily access a weapon, resist arrest, or flee." Sessions and Kelly said that because courthouses require screening for entry, they are the safest places to make arrests of known targets.

2020-01-07 13:28:16

letters Readers react to an Op-Ed article by the novelist Richard Flanagan that faults the country’s politicians, among other things. To the Editor: Re “Australia Is Committing Climate Suicide,” by Richard Flanagan (Op-Ed, Jan. 4): Heartbroken and desperate Australians want Prime Minister Scott Morrison to stop trying to repair his damaged image by having photo shoots with shattered victims and giving platitudes when we need leadership and action. Mr. Flanagan is correct that our country is deeply affected by climate change, resulting in widespread drought and catastrophic bush fires through large swaths of the country. The Great Barrier Reef and our kelp forests, which extend across the bottom of Australia, are dying because of ocean warming, acidification and cattle station runoff. We have lost thousands of our native animals and birds, farmed animals and pets. Loss of human lives and homes is mounting daily. Mr. Flanagan’s suggestion is correct: Australia is looking very much like the “Chernobyl of climate crisis,” and summer has just begun. Actions against climate change are urgent in Australia and worldwide. Diane CorneliusPhil CorneliusSeacliff Park, Australia To the Editor: We woke recently to heavy smoke in the air. We live in Stanley, a small village in the Victorian High Country, a three-hour drive north of Melbourne. The fire authorities were suggesting that the three bush fires could join to form a mega-fire. We made the decision to evacuate. We loaded the car and joined the thousands of other Australians across the country who were evacuating their homes in regional areas. Richard Flanagan’s article was compelling reading and succinctly reflected the appalling leadership void the Australian community is facing. For many Australians, it seems as if we’ve entered some sort of “Back to the Future” parallel universe and somehow Biff is in charge. Robert CraigStanley, Australia To the Editor: Suicide is an individual action. Richard Flanagan seems to believe that Australia has some significant control over atmospheric carbon dioxide, and that by government action, wildfires and changes to the Great Barrier Reef potentially associated with climate change can somehow be mitigated. Australia is a country with under 25 million people. If all Australians stopped use of fossil fuels entirely, there would be no significant effect on any environmental consequence of carbon emission. Countries buying Australian coal and gas would get it somewhere else. Addressing the effects of fossil fuel combustion on climate is a global challenge that requires global participation. The most important contribution Australia can make to carbon dioxide emission reduction is to spearhead efforts to accelerate deployment of nuclear power in Western democracies, making use of their abundant uranium and thorium reserves. This would give competition to Russia’s efforts to dominate the world’s nuclear power industry and provide long-term opportunities for export and high-value jobs for Australians. Eric McFarlandSanta Barbara, Calif.The writer is a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

2016-09-13

ABUJA, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Arik Air, Nigeria’s largest airline, cancelled all of its flights on Tuesday in what it called a temporary disruption related to insurance renewal, it said in a statement on Tuesday. The company warned the disruption was likely to continue for the next few days as it awaited approve from national insurance commission NAICOM to renew its insurance with a new company. It did not say why it had changed insurance companies. Arik, which has services to London, New York and Johannesburg, said it was “working around the clock” to resume operations. “We are fully committed to returning to our normal operations and minimize any unfortunate inconvenience to our passengers,” Arik Chief Executive Michael Arumemi-Ikhide said in the statement. Nigerian airlines and international carriers operating within the country have struggled with a plunge in the local currency, the naira, that has made it difficult to get U.S. dollars to buy jet fuel and also to remain profitable as passengers pay in naira. Two other local carriers, Aero Contractors and First Nation, recently suspended operations, though the government said both would eventually reopen. International carriers United and Iberia stopped their services to Nigeria earlier this year, while others have begun refuelling abroad to avoid jet fuel shortages. International airlines have complained about the difficulty of repatriating millions of dollars worth of fares sold in local currency. (Reporting by Libby George; editing by Susan Thomas)

2017-10-16

Oct 16 (Reuters) - MCC Meili Cloud Computing Industry Investment Co Ltd : * Sees to swing to net profit at 3.3 million yuan to 3.8 million yuan in Q1~Q3 FY 2017 versus net loss at 66.8 million yuan year ago Source text in Chinese: 0x9.me/FZ6BV Further company coverage: (Beijing Headline News)

2016-01-01 00:00:00

D Colin Miller was assigned by the Bruins to AHL Providence on Thursday. In 28 games for Boston this season, he has two goals and 10 assists. C Alexander Khokhlachev was recalled by the Bruins from AHL Providence on Thursday. Khokhlachev was recalled by Boston on Dec. 16 and has skated in four games with the Bruins this season. In total, Khokhlachev has appeared in eight games for Boston from 2014 to 2015, including his NHL debut on April 13, 2014 against the Devils in New Jersey.

2016-10-24 00:00:00

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Many writers might give their right arm to be paid almost $1 million to deliver a lecture. But Bob Dylan’s silence since he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature might mean he never sees the award money. The American singer-songwriter, a cultural icon of dissent and protest from the 1960s onward, has said nothing about the award announced two weeks ago. But under Nobel rules, the winner must give one lecture on literature - or in Dylan’s case even a concert - within six months to receive the $900,000 prize money. Per Wastberg, a member of Swedish Academy that presents the award, has said that Dylan’s silence is “rude and arrogant”. The Nobel Foundation does not accept any rejections of the prize - Dylan’s name will be listed as the winner in 2016 whatever he says. But the award money is a different matter. As a condition, Dylan must give a lecture on a subject “relevant to the work for which the prize has been awarded” no later than 6 months after Dec. 10, the anniversary of dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel’s death. “That is what we ask for in return,” said Jonna Petterson, spokeswoman for the Nobel Foundation, adding Dylan could also opt to give a concert instead of a lecture. “Yes, we are trying to find an arrangement that suits the laureate (Dylan).” The lecture need not be delivered in Stockholm. When British novelist Doris Lessing was awarded the Nobel literature prize in 2007, she was too ill to travel. Instead, she composed a lecture and sent it to her Swedish publisher, who read it out at a ceremony in the Swedish capital. The Academy honored the 75-year-old Dylan for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. Dylan’s songs, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and “Like a Rolling Stone” captured the rebellious and anti-war spirit of the 1960s generation and moved many young people later as well. The Swedish Academy’s choice of Dylan drew some controversy with many questioning whether his work qualifies as literature, while others complained that the Academy missed an opportunity to bring attention to lesser-known artists. Over the years, only six laureates has declined the prize. One of them was French existentialist author Jean-Paul Sartre in 1964. After Sartre fell on hard times a few years later his lawyer wrote the Nobel foundation asking them to send Sartre the money. They refused. Reporting by Johan Sennero; editing by Alistair Scrutton and Mark Heinrich

2016-02-07 20:05:31

The infighting among lawyers for the plaintiffs suing General Motors over a flawed ignition switch intensified after one who helped uncover the defect sharpened his attacks against another who is heading the case. In a court filing on Friday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Lance Cooper, the lawyer who helped bring the switch defect to light, again urged the federal judge presiding over the case to remove a plaintiffs’ lawyer, Robert C. Hilliard of Corpus Christi, Tex., from a leadership position. Mr. Cooper also used the filing to bolster his claim that Mr. Hilliard had put his own financial interests ahead of those of the other lawyers and in doing so had weakened the case against G.M. “If he is permitted to continue in his role as a co-lead, it will only get worse,” Mr. Cooper wrote. Mr. Hilliard rejected the accusations and, on Sunday, he and the two other lawyers leading the case asked the presiding judge to strike Mr. Cooper’s filing, the latest salvo in an escalating dispute in the G.M. case. To streamline multiple claims in product liability lawsuits, cases are often consolidated into a so-called multidistrict litigation and assigned to a single federal court where a judge selects a small group of plaintiffs’ lawyers to lead the case. Those lawyers are bound to represent all claimants, not just their own. Some legal scholars have argued, however, that a cadre of plaintiffs’ lawyers have come to dominate these proceedings and, at times, put their own financial interests first. But while plaintiffs’ lawyers involved in multidistrict litigation have largely brushed aside such criticism, the fighting now underway in the G.M. lawsuit highlights the potential problems with these cases. In the G.M. case, the automaker has recalled 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other small cars since early 2014 because of a defect that allowed a vehicle’s ignition switch to shut off if jostled, cutting off engine power and steering, and disabling airbags. An independent compensation program funded by G.M. has approved claims citing the role of the defect in at least 124 deaths. Hundreds of other claims against the carmaker alleging deaths, injuries or economic loss related to the defect were consolidated in federal court in Manhattan before Judge Jesse M. Furman. And along with Mr. Hilliard, two other plaintiffs’ lawyers, Steve W. Berman of Seattle and Elizabeth J. Cabraser of San Francisco, were selected to lead the case. The dispute over their handling of the case erupted last month after the first “bellwether” case tried against the carmaker to test the strength of other claims ended abruptly. The trial was halted midway after G.M. lawyers showed that the plaintiff, a client of Mr. Hilliard’s, had altered a check and may have given misleading testimony. Soon afterward, Mr. Cooper filed a motion that asked Judge Furman to remove the three lawyers, saying that they had bungled the case. It was also disclosed that a potentially stronger lawsuit against G.M. was supposed to go to trial first but the lawyer who had filed the claim, Victor Pribanic of Pittsburgh, said his case was pushed back after he rebuffed Mr. Hilliard’s efforts to take part in it. The three lead lawyers fired back at Mr. Cooper, attacking him for not participating in the case’s management. And G.M., in a separate filing, asked the court to deny another request by Mr. Cooper to undo a $275 million settlement that it reached with Mr. Hilliard covering about 1,400 lawsuits, or about 60 percent of those pending against the carmaker. In his filing on Friday, Mr. Cooper withdrew his request to have Mr. Berman and Ms. Cabraser replaced, focusing his criticism on Mr. Hilliard. He said that, with the exception of Mr. Pribanic’s lawsuit, the remaining five bellwether trials against G.M. would be unsuccessful because they all involved weak claims brought by the Texas lawyer. G.M. lawyers selected three of those cases. Mr. Cooper said that Mr. Hilliard, as part of his settlement last fall with G.M., had entered into a financial arrangement with the carmaker that guaranteed him and his client a minimum payment if those cases were lost. Losses in bellwether cases, however, can lower the settlement value for other claims. “In other words, Mr. Hilliard became G.M.’s favorite lawyer,” Mr. Cooper wrote. Mr. Hilliard called Mr. Cooper’s claims outlandish. “The full commitment of the court’s appointed choices to lead this litigation has been marred by only one deserter to the pursuit of justice for the victims,” he said, referring to Mr. Cooper. Judge Furman is expected to rule on the motions in the coming days, or call for a hearing on them.

2016-02-08

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget will call for an 11 percent increase in funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission and a 32 percent increase for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a White House official said on Monday. Obama will propose that the SEC be given $1.8 billion and the CFTC $330 million in the budget, economic adviser Jeffrey Zients said in a blog post on the White House website. “Last year the Administration fought hard to keep Congressional Republicans from using must-pass budget legislation to roll back Wall Street Reform,” he wrote, referring to fiscal 2016. “We also fought to increase funding for financial regulators and to maintain their independence. But even these gains aren’t enough.” “And while the Administration is pushing for more funding for these regulators, we’ll also continue to oppose efforts to restrict the funding independence of the other financial regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” he wrote. The Republican-controlled Congress is likely to oppose these and many other proposals in Obama’s budget. In addition to the proposed increases from the previous fiscal year, the budget will offer support again for user fees to fund the CFTC in a similar way to other financial regulators, Zients said. “Fee funding would shift the costs of regulatory services provided by the CFTC from the taxpayer to the very firms that benefit from the CFTC’s oversight.  This is a commonsense change that is long overdue,” he said. The budget would also take steps to reduce risk in the financial sector by assessing a fee against large financial institutions based on their liabilities. “We learned the hard way in 2008 just how damaging risk and leverage in the financial system can be, and we’ve done a lot to curb excessive risk on Wall Street since,” Zients said, referring to the global financial crisis. “This fee is another way to further those reforms, ensuring that taxpayers aren’t on the hook for risky Wall Street gambles.” Federal fiscal 2017 begins on Oct. 1 of this year. Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Jonathan Oatis

2020-01-15 00:00:00

A coalition of eight environmental groups on Tuesday sued the Bureau of Land Management in Los Angeles federal court, challenging its conclusion that opening more than a million acres of California public lands and mineral estate to oil and gas development presents no health risks from fracking. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the coalition, which includes the Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres ForestWatch, allege the federal agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to assess fracking’s potential harm to public health and recreation in almost a half million acres of public land and more than a million acres of mineral estate. To read the full story on Westlaw Practitioner Insights, click here: bit.ly/2tbQPp0

2017-02-03

Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) sent a letter to Democratic National Committee (DNC) members on Friday, urging them to back Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) in the DNC chair race. Lewis touted Ellison as a powerful organizer with a deep background in protecting civil rights and the best candidate for the job of rebuilding a fractured Democratic Party. “Keith's long history as an organizer who can energize the grassroots makes him the best choice to lead our party during this critical time,” Lewis said in a statement. “He knows that sometimes you have to have good trouble. You have to get in the way and raise your voice. But protest must be channeled into electoral and legislative success,” he continued. “Keith’s record standing with the grassroots means he is a trusted partner to harness this protest energy into rebuilding Democratic Party.” Ellison was the first candidate to jump into the DNC race and earned early support from top party leaders, including Senate Democratic leader Charles SchumerCharles (Chuck) Ellis SchumerLewandowski on potential NH Senate run: If I run, 'I'm going to win' Appropriators warn White House against clawing back foreign aid Colorado candidates vying to take on Gardner warn Hickenlooper they won't back down MORE (N.Y.) and top labor unions like the AFL-CIO. He is locked in a tight race with former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who has gained traction in the race. Lewis had previously announced his support for Ellison and his letter comes a few days after Perez landed a high-profile endorsement from former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenEight Democratic presidential hopefuls to appear in CNN climate town hall Hill Reporter Rafael Bernal: Biden tries to salvage Latino Support Biden, Buttigieg bypassing Democratic delegate meeting: report MORE. Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersTop Sanders adviser: Warren isn't competing for 'same pool of voters' Eight Democratic presidential hopefuls to appear in CNN climate town hall Top aide Jeff Weaver lays out Sanders's path to victory MORE (I-Vt.), who’s backing Ellison, responded to Biden’s endorsement, saying that while he respects both the former vice president and Perez, they are part of the “failed status-quo approach.” Ellison was a loyal supporter of Sanders during the Democratic presidential primaries against eventual nominee Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonTop Sanders adviser: Warren isn't competing for 'same pool of voters' Anti-Trump vets join Steyer group in pressing Democrats to impeach Trump Republicans plot comeback in New Jersey MORE. The Vermont senator’s response angered Democratic Party officials, who accused Sanders of relitigating the bruising primary fight as the party seeks to move on and unite the different factions. The DNC’s 447 members will convene in Atlanta in late February to cast their votes for the next national party chairman. Lewis represents most of Atlanta and its suburbs and his Friday statement took a swipe at President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump pushes back on recent polling data, says internal numbers are 'strongest we've had so far' Illinois state lawmaker apologizes for photos depicting mock assassination of Trump Scaramucci assembling team of former Cabinet members to speak out against Trump MORE, who earlier this month tweeted that the congressman’s district is “crime infested” and “falling apart.” His tweet was in response to Lewis’s announcement that he was boycotting Trump’s inauguration. The Georgia Democrat lauded Ellison as the best candidate to take on the Trump administration. “I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting for the rights that are being viciously attacked by Donald Trump and his administration,” Lewis said. “As Democrats, we must seek a leader who has demonstrated the ability to continue the fight to protect all that we hold dear as a nation.” View the discussion thread. The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.