In an impromptu question-and-answer session late last month at the White House, President Trump was asked about the nation’s efforts to block Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications company, from doing business in the United States and with our allies around the globe.“Huawei is something that is very dangerous,” Mr. Trump said. Then, almost in the same breath, he added: “It’s possible that Huawei would be included in a trade deal. If we made a deal, I can imagine Huawei being included in some form or some part of a trade deal.”Over the weekend in Japan, Mr. Trump appeared to choose trade over national security, suspending the ban on United States companies’ supplying equipment to Huawei as he hopes to reach a trade deal with President Xi Jinping of China. Without providing any details, he declared that American companies could sell to Huawei without creating a “great, national emergency problem.”He said this even as own secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, spent the past several months traveling the world warning our allies that Huawei is a profoundly dangerous security threat and instructing them to freeze out the company.Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, used Twitter to call Mr. Trump’s reversal “a catastrophic mistake” that “will destroy the credibility of his administration’s warnings about the threat posed by the company, no one will ever again take them seriously.” (Mr. Trump followed the same playbook with ZTE earlier this year, banning it and then reversing the ban to placate the Chinese.)While Mr. Trump may view Huawei as both “dangerous” and a pawn in the trade war, the truth is it may be something else entirely.Huawei is the most significant long-term competitive threat to the United States’ dominance of the future of wireless technology. And the United States is woefully — even disgracefully — behind.No matter what the United States does to hobble Huawei — and Mr. Trump’s latest stance will only hasten its rise — it will not alter a fundamental problem that clouds the conversation: The United States needs a meaningful strategy to lead the world in next-generation wireless technology — a kind of Manhattan Project for the future of connectivity.Don’t take my word for it.In April, amid the frenzy over the report from Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian election interference, another alarming government report was issued — and largely overlooked.It was written by the Defense Innovation Board, a group of business leaders and academics that advises the Defense Department. And it was a scathing indictment of the country’s 5G efforts.“The leader of 5G stands to gain hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue over the next decade, with widespread job creation across the wireless technology sector,” wrote the board, a who’s-who of the tech world that includes the former Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt, the LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Walter Isaacson, the author and a former chief executive of the Aspen Institute.“The country that owns 5G will own many of these innovations and set the standards for the rest of the world,” the board wrote.It added in no uncertain terms: “That country is currently not likely to be the United States.”It is no wonder. No American company makes the devices that transmit high-speed wireless signals. Huawei is the clear leader in the field; the Swedish company Ericsson is a distant second; and the Finnish company Nokia is third.It is almost surprising that the Defense Department allowed the report to be published at all, given the board’s remarkably blunt assessment of the nation’s lack of innovation and what it said was one of the biggest impediments to rolling out 5G in the United States: the Pentagon itself.The board said the broadband spectrum needed to create a successful network was reserved not for commercial purposes but for the military.To work best, 5G needs what’s called low-band spectrum, because it allows signals to travel farther than high-band spectrum. The farther the signal can travel, the less infrastructure has to be deployed.In China and even in Europe, governments have reserved low-band spectrum for 5G, making it efficient and less costly to blanket their countries with high-speed wireless connectivity. In the United States, the low-band spectrum is reserved for the military.The difference this makes is stark. Google conducted an experiment for the board, placing 5G transmitters on 72,735 towers and rooftops. Using high-band spectrum, the transmitters covered only 11.6 percent of the United States population at a speed of 100 megabits per second and only 3.9 percent at 1 gigabit per second. If the same transmitters could use low-band spectrum, 57.4 percent of the population would be covered at 100 megabits per second and 21.2 percent at 1 gigabit per second.ImageA London sign advertising 5G, which works best using a part of the wireless spectrum that in the United States is reserved for the military.CreditSuzie Howell for The New York TimesIn other words, the spectrum that has been allotted in the United States for commercial 5G communications makes 5G significantly slower and more expensive to roll out than just about anywhere else.That is a commercial disincentive and puts the United States at a distinct disadvantage.The spectrum challenge creates a negative feedback loop for manufacturers, which may help explain why no major American technology company has jumped into the fray. But since President Trump issued an executive order that banned the purchase of equipment from companies posing a national security threat — which include Huawei — it threatens the ability of American companies to expand their 5G networks, particularly in rural areas.United States phone companies like AT&T and Verizon may end up seeking to manufacture their own transmitters given the dearth of options.Not winning the 5G contest comes with consequences. “If China leads the field in 5G infrastructure and systems, then the future 5G ecosystem will likely have Chinese components embedded throughout,” the Defense Innovation Board wrote. “This would pose a serious threat to the security of D.O.D. operations and networks going forward.”One of the board’s recommendations is that the Defense Department share its low-band spectrum to accelerate the commercial development of the technology in the United States.While sharing spectrum comes with its own security challenges, the board raised the prospect of some unique, surprising benefits: “Integration of government and civil use may provide a layer of security by allowing military traffic to ‘hide in plain sight’ as traffic becomes more difficult to see and isolate. Similarly, adversaries might be deterred from jamming this spectrum because they might be operating on the same bands.”None of this is meant to suggest that Huawei does not represent a national security threat if the Chinese government were to use it to spy on foreign adversaries in the future. (Though, it is worth saying, there is no evidence presented publicly by any American agency that the company’s hardware has been used that way — yet.)Nor should it be read as an apology for Huawei’s record of stealing intellectual property, which has been well chronicled.Sharing spectrum should be only the start, however. Policymakers must grasp that the “market” in the United States isn’t working the way it should, especially when state actors like China are supporting companies like Huawei.If the United States is going to lead the world, Washington needs to think hard about the incentives it provides companies — not only for research and development, where we are still leading, but also for manufacturing the technology that is in our national interest to control as well as what mergers it allows.One morning in late February, Mr. Trump typed out a message on Twitter: “I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies.”That is a worthy goal, and an achievable one. But it requires more than the Band-Aid solution that is a trade deal or a blacklist. It requires a new strategy.Maybe we’ll have one in time for 6G.

2019 年，被普遍认为是 5G 元年。从产业的角度出发，类似于从 2G 时代过渡到 3G 时代，以及从 3G 时代过渡到 4G 时代，在上一代移动通信技术完成落地商用落地的任务之后，包括运营商和硬件设备制造商在内，产业链上下游企业需要寻找新的增长点来推动整个行业继续向前发展，5G 的到来是顺理成章的事情。但这显然并非是将 2019 年这个时间节点作为 5G 元年的所有原因。如果按照通信行业的自然发展规律，或许也可能是 2020 年。在极客之选看来，5G 之所以没有让大家等太久，这其中人工智能起到了非常重要的催化作用。过去的几年里，人工智能迅速完成了由概念普及到产品落地的阶段性目标，与此同时，伴随人工智能大潮一起到来的，则是数据量的「爆炸式」增长。在这样的大前提下，4G 网络已经很难继续满足未来时代的需求。而传输速率更快、延迟更低的 5G 网络无疑是打破这一瓶颈的最好选择。如果把 4G 网络比作柏油马路，那么 5G 则相当于高速公路。有了 5G 的加持，人工智能的应用场景无疑将会更加广阔，人们距离真正的「万物互联」也将更进一步。在这样的大背景下，今天（7 月 26 日）华为于深圳坂田基地召开了一场以「连接未来」为主题的媒体沟通会，重点介绍了华为「智慧屏战略」以及旗下首款 5G 手机新品 Mate 20 X（5G），下面一起来了解下。过去很长一段时间，电视都是人们家庭娱乐的主要提供者。不过最近几年，它的角色正在变得越来越尴尬。其依旧会出现在大家电购物清单中，但可能更多只是作为客厅里的装饰品，尤其对于年轻人而言，亮屏的时间普遍很短。之前人工智能刚刚兴起的时候，不少人认为这将会为整个电视行业带来新的发展机遇，也有不少厂商尝试着将其打造为未来家庭的智慧控制中心。但在向智能物联网转变的进程上，传统电视厂商们确实走的太慢了，以致于原本占据优势的电视，甚至输给了此前没有太多存在感的智能音箱。那么，智能音箱是未来理想的家庭智慧控制中心吗？显然不是。经过「百箱大战」回归平静之后，事实证明，它很难进行大规模普及，将其作为智能设备管理中枢的想法也基本不可能实现。从用户认可度以及市场广度的角度出发，电视的优势依旧非常明显，围绕它来打造未来家庭智慧控制中心，至少目前看来，是最容易实现的一件事情，这大概也是华为提出智慧屏战略的重要原因。按照发布会上官方公布的信息，华为智慧屏将会从四个维度进行升级，包括交互能力升级、多屏协同升级、管控能力升级、以及智慧音画升级，让其成为用户与设备之间信息无缝互动的家庭智慧入口，承担智慧交互、跨屏体验、IoT 控制、影音娱乐合一的中心角色。反映到用户端，华为称它所带来的体验提升主要表现在四个方面。首先，华为智慧屏支持语音以及视觉交互方式，并且加了华为人体感知、光线传感等一系列传感功能，操控更加简单的同时，它还能够为你提供比较精准的消息推送；其次，它支持 Huawei Share 智慧跨屏功能，华为手机与智慧屏之间只需要一碰，就能够实现投屏功能，你能够很容易将手机上的内容投屏到智慧屏上，小屏与大屏设备之间的交互更加方便了；第三，其拥有远场拾音能力，你可以用语音对其它智能家居设备方便地进行控制，同时由于它的屏幕要比手机或者平板电脑大很多，能够更直观地显示一些重要的信息；最后一点，官方称其拥有很棒的音质以及画面显示效果，并且提供了丰富的音乐、视频和有声资源，可以为用户带来非常出色的影音体验。当然，想要实现以上我们提到的这些体验，也并不是一件容易的事情。硬件端，据华为消费者业务 CEO 余承东介绍，「华为此次开辟智慧屏新疆域，得益于其丰富的智慧屏技术储备与能力。麒麟 AI 芯片、鸿鹄智慧显示芯片、凌霄 Wi-Fi 芯片让全面智慧从『芯』开始，包括『天生快，一生快』的 EMUI 及 GPU Turbo 在内的 OS 智慧科技则让消费者体验非凡，畅享华为高品质；丰富的 HiAI 引擎赋能智慧交互，让消费者拥有更加智慧的互动体验。」智能家居方面，华为 HiLink 智能家居开放互联平台可以解决不同品牌厂家智能设备之间的互联互通问题，这也使得其它接入进来的设备能够很好地实现信息共享。至于影音娱乐上，它采用了 AI 画质引擎和 Huawei Sound 智慧音响，来保证画面显示效果和音效，另外由华为视频、华为音乐、酷喵、芒果 TV、极光 TV 等多家平台来提供视频以及音频资源支持，拥有超过 1000 万曲库以及 100 万无损音乐。有关华为智慧屏，以上是此次发布会现场华为对外公布的所有信息。由于这款产品现场并没有展出，今年 9 月份才会正式推出市场，其实际表现如何，目前我们无法给出比较客观评价，大家可以作为参考。华为 Mate 20 X（5G）采用了一块和 Mate 20 X 标准版相同的 7.2 英寸的「水滴屏」。核心硬件配置上，它不出意外地搭载了麒麟 980 平台，石墨烯+液冷散热系统，存储规格为 8GB+256GB。虽然距离首款搭载麒麟 980 的手机 Mate 20 系列发布已经过去了接近 10 个月，但即使放在现在，这颗采用 7 纳米工艺，A76 CPU 大核、Mali G76 GPU 和双核 NPU 的芯片依旧很有竞争力，是安卓阵营里的旗舰 SoC 之一。至于大家比较关注的 5G 方面，Mate 20 X（5G）采用的是华为自研的巴龙 5000 基带，这颗芯片采用了 7 纳米制程，支持 5G 的 NSA（非独立组网）和 SA（独立组网），向下兼容 2G、3G、4G。从规格上看，巴龙 5000 无疑是首批量产的 5G 基带里最全面的一个，同期的高通 X50 基带采用了 10 纳米制程，只支持 NSA。此外，得益于华为在 5G 核心技术技术上的深厚积累以及在 5G 基站等方面的领先地位，Mate 20 X（5G）的确在 5G 方面有着更好的表现。在 6 月 27 日中国移动发布的《2019 年智能硬件质量报告》中，搭载巴龙 5000 的华为 Mate 20 X（5G）在网络兼容性、总发射功率和吞吐量性能等方面都有这优秀的表现，拿到了中国移动终端公司颁发的「5G 突出表现奖」。极客之选也对华为 Mate 20 X（5G）做了非常详细的评测，感兴趣的朋友可以关注极客之选微信公众号（GeekChoice）。除了智慧屏和 Mate 20 X（5G），此次发布会上华为还带来了华为 nova 5i Pro 以及华为 5G CPE Pro 两款产品。华为 nova 5i Pro 采用了一块 6.26 英寸挖孔屏，分辨率为 2340 x 1080，412PPI。核心硬件配置上，其搭载了麒麟 810 平台，提供 6GB + 128GB、8GB + 128GB、8GB + 256GB 三种存储组合可选。大家比较关注的拍照部分，它的前置摄像头为 3200 万像素，F2.0 光圈，后置为 4800 万像素（主摄，F1.8 光圈）+800 万像素（超广角）+200 万像素（微距）+200 万像素（景深），排列方式和 Mate 20 系列一样，你很容易将其与 nova 5 系列其它产品进行区分。价格方面，华为 nova 5i Pro 6GB + 128GB、8GB + 128GB、8GB + 256GB 版本分别为 2199 元、2499 元和 2799 元。最后，华为 5G CPE Pro 搭载了巴龙 5000 芯片，是全球首款支持 SA/NSA 组网的 5G 路由器，官方称其 5G 峰值下载速度可以达到 1.85Gbps，售价为 2499 元，感兴趣的朋友可以了解下。

It’s a legitimate question. It’s true that Apple product releases aren’t the magical events they used to be. The blinding flashes of innovation–the “one more things”–have become rarer. We hear more these days about how much money Apple is raking in on services, vacuuming up the smartphone industry, saving in taxes, potentially spending on media companies, returning to shareholders, buying back in stock value, and on and on. Why Apple is worth $1 trillion pic.twitter.com/LuO4Tz5aKF — Sophia (@SophiaCannon) August 3, 2018Apple is a money machine these days, but that’s not the whole picture. The main part of the company’s DNA is about the creation of beautiful hardware and clean-and-simple user experiences, just as it’s always been. This can be traced back through its history.The company almost went out of business in the 1990s before Steve Jobs returned from exile to right the company. This 2015 quote from Apple design guru Jony Ive (unearthed today by Above Avalon analyst Neil Cybart) shows that even when Apple’s back was against the wall financially, it was still thinking more about products than cashflows.“There is business and there is commerce, but we are very clear about the hierarchies here. And so, we’ve been very clear that we expect those concerns to be consequences of us doing our job right. And so, our job isn’t to make money for Apple. Our job is to try and make the very best products that we can. Now we trust if they are good and we trust if we are competent and we do our jobs in trying to describe them. And if we are competent in making them they will be attractive and bought and they will be bought in volume and that we will eventually make money. “Now, I am aware of course that can sound incredibly simplistic. I am aware that that can sound . . . easy to say given our advantage point right now. But that’s actually what we said in ’98, when the company was struggling. You see we didn’t say that the goal was to turn [the company] around because if we’d said the goal back then in the late ’90s was to turn the company around, that’s all about money. You can turn a company around by spending less and trying to make a bit more money. What we said back in the ’90s was the goal was to stop making products that weren’t great. And the goal was to focus on trying to make a great consumer product. “That’s when Steve came back, that’s how he articulated what the goals of the company needed to be. And this wasn’t some subtle–this wasn’t an exercise . . . this was describing profoundly different attitudes and approaches to what the problem was at hand. It takes a tremendous courage when you are losing fabulously large amounts of money to say our goal isn’t to turn around, our goal is to make a great product. That’s not a natural sort of reflex to that situation.As I pointed out in a previous story, there’s still plenty of development going on behind the curtains in Cupertino. Apple has a lot of cash, and at the same time that it’s buying back stock and paying dividends to shareholders it’s also sinking a lot of money every quarter into research and development.“I see no evidence of Apple losing sight of its creative mission,” Cybart tells me on Friday. The company is moving quickly into wearables and ramping up investment in machine learning and autonomous systems.

“Pre-saving” albums and singles is an increasingly common part of the promotional process for big music releases – but many users do not realise they are paying for that access with their personal data, a report has warned.A pre-save is the streaming music equivalent of a pre-order: before a big release hits services such as Spotify or Apple Music, fans are encouraged to save the album to their library, ensuring it will be immediately available the second it is launched.Promoted through mailing lists, social media accounts and artist websites, a pre-save typically involves the fan clicking a link to “sign in with Spotify” to enable the record label to automatically save the album to their user account on the streaming service.But the access granted to the label goes far beyond simply adding tracks to a music library, industry publication Billboard has warned. To pre-save a new Little Mix single, for instance, users were asked to give Sony Music 17 permissions, including the continuous ability to view their entire library, what music they’re playing, and the device they’re playing it on, as well as their email address and who they follow on the device.Only one permission, to “add and remove items in Your Library”, is actually needed to pre-save an item.The benefits of a pre-save for the user are sometimes unclear, since it is just as easy to save an album once it is already out, and there is no risk of digital streaming services selling out of a release. But the benefits for the labels are clear: access to significant, ongoing information about the music tastes of fans, which could be used to shape future signings, personalise marketing, and keep an eye on upcoming trends.“Pre-save campaigns, which boost the first-week listening that can drive strong chart debuts, quickly became a music business marketing staple after Spotify added the feature as part of a 2017 update to its API, the software that allows online programs to share data,” Billboard reported. “But the feature has also become a way for major labels, and sometimes other rights holders, to get data on listeners.”Not every platform is ripe for this use. Apple Music limits the amount of information labels can get from the platform, and prevents them from reading users’ email addresses even with permission. Topics Music streaming Spotify Digital music and audio Internet news

What’s next for Brett Kavanaugh? The US supreme court nominee’s path to the bench has been stalled by accusations that he tried to rape a girl when they were both in high school; that girl, now a professor in her 50s, initially tried to tell her story anonymously, but put her name to the charges when it became clear she was going to be outed anyway. Senate Republicans faced a quandary on Monday: reopen the Kavanaugh hearings and allow the woman to testify, potentially torpedoing his nomination and convincing more moderate Republicans to vote against him; pull his nomination entirely and start over with someone new, running the risk that they lose the Senate to Democrats in the coming months and see any far-right nomination rendered impossible; or push Kavanaugh’s nomination forward and inevitably see significant blowback at the polls in November.The Republican party doesn’t have a lot of good options. But they did the right thing and announced on Monday that they will reopen the hearings so that Kavanaugh and his accuser can testify before the judiciary committee next Monday.Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who wrote the initial letter to her congresswoman and California senator Dianne Feinstein alleging Kavanaugh assaulted her when she was a teenager, says she is willing to testify about her experience. Kavanaugh has offered a full denial, saying: “I have never done anything like what the accuser describes – to her or to anyone.”It is in the best interests of this process to fully air the accusations, with both Ford and Kavanaugh under oath. He is, after all, vying for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land, and so far, his confirmation process has been remarkably opaque and disturbingly superficial. Unlike supreme court justice Elena Kagan, who worked for the Clinton administration and released all of her White House communications during her confirmation process, Kavanaugh has not allowed a full look into his time working in the Bush White House. He was appointed by a president who may yet be indicted himself and who continues to preside over the country under a cloud of suspicion, deception and criminality. And now, he stands accused of attempted rape.The Trump administration has already undermined American confidence in so many of our institutions, and they seem to be gunning for democracy itself. The Kavanaugh hearings are a crucial moment for members of both parties to put a stop to this administration’s habit of running roughshod over the very thing that makes our democracy admirable and functional (if occasionally maddening): fair, predictable and transparent processes.No one who has committed an act of violence against women should be in a position to make decisions about women’s lives – even if they were a reckless teenager when they attacked a woman; even if they’re very sorry; even if they are good people in myriad other ways. The promise of rehabilitation is always on the table, and people who do terrible things must always have the option of paying for their crimes, atoning fully and reintegrating into society.But Brett Kavanaugh isn’t a criminal who has done his time and simply wants to be able to support himself. He’s trying to sit on the highest court in the land. And it’s not asking too much to say that there should be a hard rule for judges: no rapists (or attempted rapists) allowed.As it stands, we of course don’t know if Kavanaugh is guilty of what Ford says he did. Testimony from both of them will not bring about perfect clarity either. And if this were a criminal case, Kavanaugh would almost certainly walk away being declared not guilty – if charges were brought at all. There simply isn’t much in the way of evidence beyond Ford’s word.But this isn’t a criminal case, and what’s at stake isn’t the deprivation of Kavanaugh’s life or liberty, but the privilege to hold one of the most important positions in the nation, for which good character and fair treatment of others is necessary. Kavanaugh has trotted out a slew of people attesting to his good character, making it clear that he and his Republican supporters believe who he is as a person is directly relevant to his fitness as a supreme court justice. Ford’s story, if true, would make him flat-out unfit to serve.Which is why it must be heard, and why senators who believe she’s credible will then have an obligation to vote against Kavanaugh. This is more akin to a very important job interview than a criminal case. Ford’s testimony does not have to prove Kavanaugh guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; it just has to be credible and convincing enough to sway lawmakers.That is precisely what terrifies Republicans. But they have a duty to do this the right way – their office demands it, voters demand it, and the American democratic process requires it. Topics Brett Kavanaugh Opinion Sexual harassment US supreme court Law (US) comment

“Dr. Ford’s testimony would reflect her personal knowledge and memory of events,” he said in a statement. “Nothing the F.B.I. or any other investigator does would have any bearing on what Dr. Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for any further delay.”Mr. Trump joined other Republicans in rejecting an F.B.I. investigation of the long-ago episode even before Dr. Blasey’s letter was sent on Tuesday evening. The bureau “said that they really don’t do that, that’s not what they do,” Mr. Trump said during a news conference. “And now they have done supposedly six background checks over the years as Judge Kavanaugh has gone beautifully up the ladder.”In the letter to the Judiciary Committee, Dr. Blasey’s lawyers said that she has been the target of “vicious harassment and even death threats” since her name was made public on Sunday in an interview published in The Washington Post. Her email has been hacked, she has been impersonated online and she and her family have been forced to relocate out of their home, according to the lawyers, Ms. Banks and her partner, Debra S. Katz.“While Dr. Ford’s life was being turned upside down, you and your staff scheduled a public hearing for her to testify at the same table as Judge Kavanaugh in front of two dozen U.S. Senators on national television to relive this traumatic and harrowing incident,” the lawyers wrote to Mr. Grassley. The hearing “would include interrogation by senators who appear to have made up their minds that she is ‘mistaken’ and ‘mixed up.’”Dr. Blasey, who is sometimes referred to by her married name, Ford, “wants to cooperate with the committee and with law enforcement officials” but believes that a “full investigation” by the F.B.I. would be necessary to form a nonpartisan assessment before any hearing, the lawyers wrote.Both Dr. Blasey, 51, and Judge Kavanaugh, 53, had said on Monday morning that they were willing to come before the committee. In response, Mr. Grassley postponed a vote on the judge’s confirmation and scheduled the hearing for next week. An aide to Mr. Grassley said that the committee never intended to seat the two witnesses together at one table or even on one panel.

Media player Media playback is unsupported on your device Video Brazil museum fire: Drone footage Drone footage shows the devastation caused by a huge blaze.The fire started on Sunday evening, after the National Museum closed for the day.

Google and Facebook Inc. have dominated the U.S. digital advertising market for years, earning them the title of “the digital duopoly” and leaving competitors scrambling for crumbs. But now there are signs that platforms like Amazon and Snapchat are chipping away at their market share.In its latest forecast, research company eMarketer predicts the combined U.S. digital ad market share of Alphabet Inc. ’s Google and Facebook will fall for the first time this year, shrinking to 56.8% from 58.5% last year. At the same time, overall digital ad spending in the country is likely to grow nearly 19% to $107 billion in 2018. To be sure, Google and Facebook are still increasing their total ad revenue significantly, and no other competitor even cracks 5% market share. But those smaller rivals are growing more quickly than expected and are seeking a larger share of the pie. Google’s U.S. revenue from digital advertising is expected to increase about 15% this year to $39.92 billion, while Facebook’s would jump 17% to $21 billion, according to eMarketer’s forecast.That would give Google command of 37.2% of the market, down from 38.6%. Facebook’s market share will likely be 19.6%, down from 19.9%, the first time eMarketer has projected such a decline for the social-media company. Google’s market share contracted for the first time in 2016.Google and Facebook declined to comment. Related Video ​Google handles 90% of the world's internet searches, and it increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions. Even subjective or unanswerable queries sometimes get seemingly definitive answers. Here's how the algorithms are -- and aren't -- working. Video/Photo Illustration: Heather Seidel/The Wall Street Journal Advertisers’ relationships with Google and Facebook have grown tense in recent years amid controversies over ads appearing next to inappropriate content, measurement discrepancies, and questions over the tech companies’ roles in Russia’s efforts to spread misinformation to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.EMarketer’s estimate for Google and Facebook’s combined share of the market in 2017 was revised down to 58.5% from a forecast in September of about 63%, because the overall market grew more than projected to $90.4 billion last year.In the same September forecast, eMarketer predicted that both companies would achieve a slight uptick in total market share in 2018. But the firm has since adjusted its estimates to account for other digital companies experiencing “faster-than-expected growth,” according to the report.While it is a relatively small player in the digital ad industry so far, Amazon.com Inc. is among the companies emerging as a potential rival to the duopoly. The retail giant is projected to bring in $2.89 billion in U.S. digital advertising this year, a 64% increase over 2017.Amazon, the fifth-largest digital ad player on eMarketer’s list, is likely to capture 2.7% of the U.S. market this year. But by 2020, the firm expects Amazon to jump to third place, surpassing Verizon Communication Inc.’s Oath and Microsoft Corp. , with $6.4 billion in digital ad sales in the U.S.“So far, it’s been conservative in its ad load. It remains an open question as to when Amazon will take advantage of its significant reach and dominance in shopper data to ramp up the placement of ads in other areas,” said eMarketer senior forecasting director Monica Peart in the report.Amazon didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Snap Inc., though still a small competitor, is forecast to grow its U.S. digital ad revenue by 82% to more than $1 billion in 2018 while increasing its share to 1%, according to eMarketer.Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook, is becoming an advertising powerhouse in its own right. Breaking out the estimates for just Instagram, the app is expected surpass 5% market share with $5.48 billion in U.S. digital ad revenue, eMarketer said.“Facebook’s user growth in the U.S. has slowed down and is now about the same as that of internet users, while News Feed ad prices may be reaching their limit,” Ms. Peart said. “Meanwhile, Instagram, with its rapidly increasing advertiser base, will quickly become the engine that drives growth for the whole.” Twitter faces more obstacles. The social-media company’s digital ad revenue in the U.S. is expected to decrease 4.9% to $1.12 billion in 2018. The company’s market share would ease to 1%. However, eMarketer expects Twitter to return to positive growth in 2019, with an expected 5.5% increase in revenue.

FILE PHOTO: Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido speaks to the media before a session of the Venezuela’s National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia RawlinsBRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s Vice President Hamilton Mourao said on Wednesday that Venezuela’s self-declared interim president Juan Guaido had asked Brazil for humanitarian assistance. Mourao, who earlier this week served as acting president while Jair Bolsonaro underwent planned surgery, added that Brazil was concerned by the case of two Chilean journalists who had been detained in Venezuela and not yet released. Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Though many protesters criticized the federal government, which funds the museum, Mr. Sá Leitão argued that mismanagement, rather than slashed budgets, was primarily what made it so vulnerable to a fire.Unlike many cultural institutions of its kind, the National Museum is not run directly by the federal government but by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The museum’s director, Alexander Kellner, told reporters that his staff has struggled to keep up the institution since its budget was first cut in 2014.“This is the genesis of your country, yours, yours, my country — do you understand?” Mr. Kellner, looking indignant, told reporters outside the museum on Monday morning. “We need society to help us. A part of our heritage was taken from us. Don’t let us lose our history, because it’s the history of Brazil. Of all of you.”Mr. Sá Leitão responded to the director’s outrage with scorn, suggesting he should quit. “Managers have to take responsibility,” the minister said.Founded in 1818 by King John VI of Portugal, the National Museum was Brazil’s oldest scientific institution and served as a backdrop to some of the turning points in the nation’s history. The palace that would become the museum’s main building was home to two emperors and a king. It was where Brazil’s independence decree was signed in 1822.

To perform the “saltur”, an Afghan wrestling term, a fighter spins behind their opponent, then lifts them a few inches off the floor and slams the victim backwards overhead and into a pin. It is a technique that coach Ghulam Abbas has taught students for more than 30 years, and one he dearly loves to see.“I forget my troubles when a student takes the opportunity,” says the 57-year-old coach of the Maiwand wrestling club in west Kabul. But he can no longer demonstrate the move. As he strolls among his 40 teenage students, grappling and grunting, his left sleeve hangs conspicuously loose over where his arm should be.Two months ago, Isis suicide bombers attacked the wrestling club. At around 6pm on 5 September, Abbas heard gunfire and a cry of “suicider!”. He charged to the door, slamming it shut onto the foot of the attacker, who promptly detonated a bomb held in a sports-bag. Another detonated a car-bomb just outside as help was arriving.It was only when Abbas regained consciousness in hospital that he realised his left arm had been severed in the explosion. In total, 30 people were killed and a further 50 wounded.“Before, I was very good at showing students the throws, but now I have to tell them to practise with other boys,” says Abbas. “That has been very hard for me.”At home, too, he has had to adapt. His wife helps him put on his left sock in the morning. “When she was washing the carpet, I used to like to wash it with her,” he says, “but now I cannot.”But Abbas never doubted he would return to the Maiwand wrestling club. While in hospital, hundreds of visitors showed up by his bedside, thanking the man who put their children on the right path – or, in the attack itself, saved their lives.Abbas paid for the repairs to the club building himself. A black scar still rings the wall where the entrance was. A patch of lighter paint marks the hole blown through it while yellow foam pokes through a patched up roof.He also kept fit waiting to come back: running, unsteadily at first, around the hospital grounds. Ten times in the morning, and ten at night, as soon as the wound stopped bleeding.His tenacity is paying off. Around half the usual 100 or so students are attending a free-practice session this Thursday, the beginning of the Afghan weekend, but the number, says Abbas, is growing.As students trickle in, a security guard frisks them lengthily at the gate of a newly-constructed entrance tunnel shielded by concrete bollards topped with barbed wire. One 23-year-old admits he was scared to return. But wrestling itself is a form of resistance. “The enemy wants us not to play,” says a defence ministry official, “but we are showing that we can come back and make things better.”Pausing from a batch of rapid squats, 16-year-old Sajid Omid says that on the day of the attack, a piece of shrapnel hit him in the chest and his wrestling partner was killed. “I am scared to come but my love of wrestling means I cannot not come,” he says quietly. He hopes to become the latest in a long line of champions trained by Abbas, but security concerns means nobody knows when the next match can be organised.“Those who lost limbs and can’t come back here are in an even worse situation,” says Bashir Ahmad Faizi, “I hear they want to die.”The attack on the Maiwand club was Isis’s fifth strike this year in the same area of west Kabul, a poor Hazara neighbourhood of low brick houses. Hazara pride is wrapped up in Afghanistan’s wrestling scene; champions in four weight-categories were killed in the assault.By targeting the 6-million strong, mainly Shia Muslim, minority Isis hopes to breed sectarian strife between it and the Sunni Pashtun majority. Fears of a collapse into the kind of blood-letting seen in Iraq have so far proven exaggerated, but Hazara resentment of the government is growing. Abbas founded this branch of the Maiwand wrestling club in 1980. Like so many Afghans, he has already recovered from more than most will suffer in a lifetime. During the 1990s civil war, a rocket killed his first wife. The small shop he owned was burned down, too.Outside the gym, he walks past a rolled-up wrestling mat that rests by a chain-link fence. He paid $700 for the mat – the finest available in Afghanistan. One day he will open it and see if it, too, can be re-used. For now he cannot bear to look. It is “full of blood and body parts”, he says.Inside the gym, the end of the session nears. Someone lets down a knotted rope, and one young man pulls himself up, legs swinging in the air. Topics Afghanistan The Upside Wrestling Islamic State South and Central Asia features

A fire has gutted the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, the oldest scientific institution in the country.Most of the 20 million items it contained, including the oldest human remains ever found in the Americas, are believed to have been destroyed. The cause of the blaze is not known. No injuries have been reported.The museum, located in a building that once served as the residence for the Portuguese royal family, celebrated its 200th anniversary this year.In pictures: Brazil national museum in flamesThe fire started on Sunday evening, after the facility had closed for the day. Aerial images broadcast on Brazilian television showed it spreading throughout the building.Brazil's President Michel Temer said in a tweet that it was a "sad day for all Brazilians" as "200 years of work, research and knowledge were lost".Roberto Robadey, a spokesman for the Rio fire department, is quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that the hydrants closest to the museum were not working and that firefighters had to get water from a nearby lake.By Monday morning the fire was under control and some of the museum's pieces had been rescued, he added.By Katy Watson, BBC South America correspondentThis isn't just Brazilian history that's gone up in flames. Many see this as a metaphor for the city - and the country as a whole. Rio de Janeiro is in crisis. Growing violence, a deep economic decline and political corruption have combined to make the city a shadow of what it once was. It was only in 2016 that it was hosting the Olympic Games - an event into which Brazil poured billions of dollars. But the hangover from the sporting event has hit Rio hard. Add to that the fact that federal spending has been slashed, and with violence on the rise, tourism numbers have also declined.This was a museum that many saw as long ignored and underfunded - now, with devastating consequences for Brazil's heritage.It was one of the largest museums of natural history and anthropology in the Americas.Its millions of artefacts included fossils, Brazil's largest meteorite, dinosaur bones and a 12,000-year-old skeleton of a woman known as "Luzia", the oldest ever discovered in the Americas.The building was also home to items covering the centuries from the arrival of the Portuguese in the 1500s to the declaration of a republic in 1889.The ethnology collection had unique pieces from the pre-Columbian era and artifacts from indigenous cultures.Pieces from Greco-Roman times and Egypt were also on display at the museum.Portugal's royal family transferred the court to the building in 1808, when the country faced with the threat of invasion from Napoleon.The museum was established in 1818, with the aim of promoting scientific research by making its collection available to specialists. Marcelo Moreira - a journalist with TV Globo in Rio - told the BBC: "It's very sad... This museum has a great history. It represents a lot for Brazilian history and Brazilian culture. It's really a big loss for Brazil."In an interview with Globo, the museum's director said it was a "cultural tragedy".One museum employee told the network that project managers had had "tremendous difficulty" trying to secure funding for "sufficient" resources for the palace. Another, librarian Edson Vargas da Silva, is quoted by local media describing the building, which he said had wooden floors and contained "a lot of things that burn very fast", such as paper documents. Employees had reportedly previously expressed concern about funding cuts and the dilapidated state of the premises.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Thousands of school teachers joined an 11th weekend of anti-government protests in Hong Kong on Saturday, as shops pulled down their shutters and braced for another restive summer night. Weeks of increasingly violent demonstrations have plunged the city into turmoil. Water-filled barricades fortify the airport and government offices. Posters showing bloody clashes are stuck on street corners and there is a protest nearly every night. The unrest began in June in opposition to a now-suspended extradition bill, and have since grown to include broader demands. Following an escalation in violence over the past few days, rallies on Saturday and Sunday are a test of whether the movement can retain the broad support it has appeared to enjoy. Saturday’s mostly peaceful protest suggested that it may - though thousands also attended a pro-police counter-rally, and a clearer picture is not likely to emerge until Sunday when a protest is scheduled that could draw tens of thousands. “The government has been ignoring us for months. We have to keep demonstrating,” said CS Chan, a maths teacher at a rally of teachers, which police said up to 8,300 people had attended, in heavy rain. Organisers said 22,000 were present. Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the “one country, two systems” arrangement that has enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong since China took it back from Britain in 1997. During the past week they have increasingly directed their frustration toward police, who have responded with fiercer determination to clear them from the streets. As storms cleared, anti-government demonstrators also marched through Kowloon - the main built-up area on the mainland side of Hong Kong harbour - while large pro-police crowds rallied in a harbourside park across the bay. “I’m heartbroken to see the city being split up like this,” a retired telecoms technician, Michael Law, 69, told Reuters at the pro-police rally. “What the violent protesters have been doing shows no respect for Hong Kong’s rule of law.” Organisers said 476,000 people attended the pro-police rally, while police said 108,000 attended. Reuters was not able to verify either estimate. Riot police walk past a shop as they chase anti-government protesters down Nathan Road in Mong Kok in Hong Kong, China August 17, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas PeterMany shops in Kowloon had shut early, even on big retail boulevards, in anticipation of clashes that have tended to turn nasty at night as front-line activists attack police. On Saturday, protesters who had surrounded a police station soon vanished when riot officers advanced with shields and batons. Some said they were saving their energy for Sunday, when the pro-democracy Civil Human Rights Front, which organised million-strong peaceful marches in June, has scheduled another protest. The increasingly violent confrontations have plunged one of Asia’s financial capitals into its worst crisis for decades. The unrest also presents one of the biggest challenges for Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, has warned activists not tip their home into an abyss. The European Union urged all sides to engage in dialogue, following other calls for restraint as Chinese paramilitary police have run drills close to the Hong Kong border. Police in Australia also warned supporters and opponents of the Hong Kong protest movement to behave after scuffles at a rally in Melbourne. [nL8N25D04J] Chinese officials have likened some actions by protesters to “terrorism” and Chinese state media outlets have urged Hong Kong police to respond more robustly. Protesters have used slingshots to fire marbles at police, shone lasers at them and at times thrown bricks and firebombs. Having fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the streets, and at one point in a subway station, police are warning that they could get tougher. Although their stations have been attacked scores of times during the crisis, they have so far refrained from deploying water cannon, armoured cars or the dog squad. They have made some 750 arrests, charging some protesters with rioting, which can attract a 10-year jail term. Slideshow (20 Images)But many remain on the side of the demonstrators. Yu, a secondary school music teacher in her 40s, said she was determined to show support for protesting students, even though she did not agree with all their actions: “I do appreciate their courage and caring about Hong Kong ... they are definitely braver than our government.” Reporting by Marius Zaharia, Felix Tam, Anne Marie Roantree, Julie Zhu, Donny Kwok and James Redmayne in Hong Kong. Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels. Writing by Tom Westbrook and Greg Torode; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Kevin LiffeyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

2015年1月，微软HoloLens横空出世。四年后，在2月25日的MWC 2019上，“HoloLens之父”Kipman登台宣布HoloLens 2 问世。受邀出席的雷锋网现场第一时间发回报道《时隔四年，HoloLens 2终于来了》。近几日网上关于HoloLens 2的话题颇多。Infinite Retina联合创始人，拥有40多万关注者的Robert Scoble发推写道，HoloLens 2一出，Magic Leap就没那么“Magical”了。这番言论似乎让Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz感到嫉妒，他回复说，等Magic Leap二代出来，你们就知道厉害了，游戏才刚刚开始。Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz在推特上的回复雷锋网也整理了HoloLens 2相关资料，并第一时间采访到业界多位AR行业资深人士针对HoloLens 2的解读，并从产品、技术及产业等层面剖析HoloLens 2的影响及特别之处。“视场角太小、穿戴不舒服、上手有难度”不少体验过HoloLens 1代的朋友都曾向雷锋网表达过类似感受。随着微软大幅升级的HoloLens 2出来，上述问题似乎都有所改善，当然除了高昂的价格。那么相比1代，HoloLens 2在参数上有哪些变化和升级？下面我们通过一张表格简单对比一下 ... HoloLens 1、2代主要参数对比（雷锋网整理）雷锋网整理发现，首先，HoloLens 2由此前英特尔处理器更换成了ARM架构的高通骁龙850，与此同时，微软专为HoloLens开发的HPU全息处理器也升级到2.0。原因有几点，首先，英特尔早在2017年8月就发布公告宣布将在10月停产Atom X5-Z8100P芯片，公告表示在截止日期交付完订单产品后，这款产品永久停产。不知是因为HoloLens价格高昂等原因导致出货量太少致使英特尔该款芯片订单太少，所以英特尔选择停产Atom X5。还是像外界猜测的那样，微软在寻求功耗更优的方案因而放弃了英特尔的方案。雷锋网曾多次体验HoloLens 1代产品，由于眼镜前端高度集成了处理器、多摄像头和光学元件等，在使用时需处理大量3D图像数据，导致发热较严重，加之并不友好的穿戴设计，造成其佩戴的体验一直都很差。毫无疑问，微软HoloLens 1 是一款划时代的计算设备，但在体验这一点上，HoloLens所遭受的指责足以与赞美持平。所以，微软不会不明白体验的重要性。HoloLens 1代视+AR联合创始人兼COO涂意接受雷锋网采访时认为，微软HoloLens 此次从英特尔切换到ARM应该是为了降低功耗，让设备待机时间更长和性能更优。他接着表示，苹果也在计划放弃英特尔，转而在其Mac系列电脑上使用ARM架构的自研芯片，由此看来在移动平台，英特尔可能将逐渐被边缘化。AR光学模组研发商珑璟光电联合创始人王鹏告诉雷锋网，高通本来就在移动端SoC相对较强，AR眼镜是与智能手机类似的终端，微软选择高通可能单纯是因为高通的芯片性能更强也更适合移动端。Kipman在回应HoloLens 2为何选择ARM芯片时表示，很简单，我们还没有看到哪款使用电池的移动设备不采用ARM芯片的。高通也是有备而来。随着智能手机市场趋于饱和，VR/AR浪潮兴起，高通很早就瞄准了这块颇具潜力的市场。不管是国内还是国外，许多移动端高端VR头显纷纷选择高通平台，去年5月高通针对VR/AR市场还推出专用芯片—骁龙XR1平台，还提供专门的VR SDK供开发者使用。小米VR、HTC Vive、爱奇艺VR、Meta均在其移动头显中使用高通处理器。其次，外界关注颇多的是视场角问题。关于吐槽HoloLens 1视场角太小的问题，加之其采用16：9的显示比例，曾有媒体形容使用HoloLens 1就像是“通过一道细缝来看全息画面”。果不其然，微软此次将视场角从34°提升至52°，同时采用了3：2的显示比例，效果就是增加了纵向显示区域，人眼不用像此前要上下移动来查看未被显示出来的虚拟画面

Local opinions clearly matter, too. In the Nigerian campaign, Mr. Abubakar’s team of Western and local consultants helped shop articles to local newspapers that reflected poorly on the incumbent president and eventual winner, Muhammadu Buhari.While working for Mr. Manafort for 10 years starting in 1985, Ms. Levinson had a roster of clients in need of cleaning up their reputations. He sent her to reel in Mohamed Siad Barre, a Somali dictator, but he did not employ the firm.Eventually, directors at Mr. Manafort’s firm went their own way, and so did Ms. Levinson.“I knew that a Paul Manafort unbound by structure and oversight would be dangerous,” she said. “I wanted no part of that.”She went on to help Ellen Johnson Sirleaf rise to power in Liberia, where she was president from 2006 to 2018. Ms. Levinson’s clients now include ministries in Liberia and in Ghana.Part of her mission in Nigeria, she said, was “to keep international and U.S. attention on Nigeria’s elections, to be free and fair.”Ms. Levinson’s public comments indicate mixed feelings about her old boss. In an editorial last year after Mr. Manafort’s legal troubles began, she called him a rule-bender who had little regard for lives lost and damaged by his actions, and was “all about the money.”

Enlarge this image A protester is led away by police after disrupting the second day of the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Win McNamee/Getty Images A protester is led away by police after disrupting the second day of the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill. Win McNamee/Getty Images It took less than two minutes for the first protester to be ejected from Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh's opening day of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Seconds later, a second demonstrator was thrown out of the hearing room, followed by another, followed by another."This is a mockery and a travesty of justice," yelled one protester this week. "Kavanaugh can't be trusted," shouted another. Some protesters wore shirts that read things like "I am what's at stake." Others arrived on Capitol Hill dressed as characters from The Handmaid's Tale, the story of a dystopian future in which women are treated as property of the state.At least 227 demonstrators were arrested between the start of the nomination hearings on Tuesday and the end of testimony on Friday, according to the U.S. Capitol Police. Most of those charged this week with disorderly conduct, crowding or obstructing paid fines of $35 or $50. Politics Kavanaugh Hearings, Day 3: Booker Has His 'Spartacus Moment'; A Mulligan On Mueller Such shows of protest are nothing new on Capitol Hill. Televised hearings are open to the public, and as such, the outbursts that roiled much of the judge's testimony have become a regular feature of similar high-profile hearings. But the degree of opposition on display in the hearing room underscored the level of anger among progressive activists over a pick that would cement the Supreme Court's conservative majority for years, if not decades, to come."Disrupting the hearings was a way for us to go directly into the homes of the American people to say, 'We will not be silenced and you need to be as outraged as we are,' " said Linda Sarsour, a co-chair of the Women's March and one of the organizers of this week's protests.Leaders from the Women's March were among a broad coalition of organizations, including abortion rights groups, labor unions and advocates for gun control, behind this week's activism. The Women's March partnered with the Center for Popular Democracy to help coordinate interruptions during the hearing and will assist demonstrators who are fined or arrested with legal and financial support, said Sarsour.Sarsour said she was the first person to shout out on Day 1 of the hearing. She was one of 70 people arrested that day. That included actress Piper Perabo, known for her role on the show Covert Affairs on the USA Network.Planned Parenthood and its political arm, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, also organized members from across the country, Dana Singiser, vice president for public policy and government affairs at Planned Parenthood, told CNN. Their efforts included sitting in the hearing room, participating in a nightly vigil on Capitol Hill, writing letters to senators, and setting up meetings between lawmakers and constituents.The disruptions throughout the hearing rankled senators on the Judiciary Committee. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., described the protests as "hysteria," and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said, "These people are so out of line they shouldn't even be allowed in the doggone room." Many of the outbursts came with several of Kavanaugh's closest friends and family in attendance, including his parents, wife, children and even former players for the youth basketball team he coached.In an interview with The Daily Caller on Tuesday, President Trump said, "I don't know why they don't take care of a situation like that because it's terrible ... I think it's embarrassing for the country to allow protesters, you don't even know which side the protesters were on." Analysis Kavanaugh's Confirmation Hearings: What's Wrong With This Picture? Despite such criticism, Sarsour said, "the women who have been arrested over the last few days" helped generate "political will for Senate Democrats to show some moral courage." She cited the move by New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker on Thursday to release a memo on racial profiling drafted by Kavanaugh but labeled "Committee Confidential," meaning senators could review it but not make it public. "We believe the movement helped encourage that," she said.But an aide to committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, noted that Booker's staff and other aides to Democrats who requested some of those documents be made public were informed before Thursday's session that the public release had been approved.At least some Democrats expressed frustration with the outbursts in this week's hearings."I think that the average independent voter — the labor family that voted for Trump last time but is now reconsidering — people like that don't think that screaming in a hearing room is a particularly effective strategy or a signal of a party that they much want to belong to," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., in an interview with NPR's Audie Cornish on Wednesday. "So I think it's been not helpful to any cause that I can see."With Republicans holding a slim 51 to 49 majority in the Senate, it appears unlikely that efforts to defeat the Kavanaugh nomination will succeed. Grassley said Tuesday that he planned a committee vote on the nomination in mid-September. The full Senate confirmation vote is expected to come at the end of the month, with the aim of having Kavanaugh seated when the Supreme Court opens its next term at the beginning of October.

American intelligence officials have so far characterized the Sri Lanka attacks as having been inspired by the Islamic State, as opposed to having been executed directly by the group. But analysts say there may be some middle ground.A video released by ISIS on Tuesday, showing members of National Thowheeth Jama’ath pledging fealty to Mr. al-Baghdadi, shows at the least that the group had a means of communicating with core ISIS operatives and was able to transmit video to them.“The fact that the attackers knew the right people in ISIS to send the video to so that it would be released through its official media channel, shows that it’s more than mere inspiration,” Amarnath Amarasingam, an expert at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said on Twitter on Wednesday. “That’s just one of many pieces of info emerging pointing to a more directed attack.”So far, there is no public evidence that ISIS played an active role in guiding or otherwise aiding the Sri Lanka attack.This gray area may be a fertile environment for the group’s future.The attack was among the deadliest ever carried out by Islamic State acolytes outside Iraq and Syria. That the group responsible for it existed so far below the radar of international intelligence agencies troubles counterterrorism officials, who wonder how many similar groups are active or operating surreptitiously in North Africa, South Asia and elsewhere.Current and former counterterrorism officials warned that the Sri Lanka bombings may be a harbinger for a new phase of ISIS attacks.“Former ISIS fighters and sympathizers are rebranding themselves ideologically with other terrorists,” said Christopher P. Costa, who was a senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council under the Trump administration. “It’s not just a question of the loss of a physical caliphate so much as considering exactly what ISIS will look like as it tries to reconstitute itself.”“We will see more of these kinds of attacks in the future,” he said.

“This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” Those were the words that appeared in a manifesto published shortly before the deadly shooting in El Paso on Saturday. More than half of so-called “alt-right killers” are motivated by the “white replacement” theory, which refers to the belief that white people will be systematically replaced by black and brown migrants. The killer in El Paso, who law enforcement believes authored the memo, is apparently no exception.The white replacement theory is actually made up of two sub-conspiracies: “the great replacement” theory, which originated in France, and “the white genocide theory”, which comes from the US. Together, the theories are among the most widespread ideologies in far-right spaces, and the primary catalysts of far-right mass violence.The great replacement can generally be understood as two core beliefs. The first is that “western” identity is under siege by massive waves of immigration from non-European/non-white countries, resulting in a replacement of white European individuals via demographics. The second is that replacement has been orchestrated by a shadowy group as part of their grand plan to rule the world – which they will do by creating a completely racially homogenous society. This group is often overtly identified as being Jews, but sometimes the antisemitism is more implicit.These beliefs have proliferated in mass killer texts for the past eight years. They are generally understood as having begun with Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass shooter whose 1,500-page manifesto expressed a fear of white ethnic replacement by migrants from the Middle East and North Africa. This same fear cropped up in the manifestos of several more mass killers in Europe, before making its way to the rambling screed published by the Christchurch shooter, which was titled The Great Replacement. The Christchurch manifesto begins with: “It’s the birthrates. It’s the birthrates. It’s the birthrates.” It was directly inspired by Breivik – and he, in turn, inspired the El Paso shooter.The El Paso shooter begins his text by writing: “In general, I support the Christchurch shooter and his manifesto. This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas. They are the instigators, not me. I am simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion.”Despite is recent proliferation, the great replacement theory was first popularized decades ago in the 1973 novel Le Camp des Saints (The Camp of the Saints) by Jean Raspail – a vastly influential book in contemporary white supremacist discourse.In this work of speculative fiction, Raspail paints an apocalyptic picture of the complete collapse of all western society and culture stemming from a “tidal wave” of immigration from the “third world”. Over the course of the 20th century, the theory proliferated in different white supremacist and ethno-exclusion spaces. It was in 2010, however, that the great replacement theory truly took flight.The white supremacist Renard Camus introduced the term in his book De l’Innocence, warning of the replacement of white Europeans by peoples coming from the Middle East and North Africa. This is the text that influences much of the white supremacist discourse that we see today, and fuels the growing “identitarian” movement around the world. Identitarians advocate for an ethnically and racially heterogeneous world; they believe that racial mixing (ie sex and reproduction between people of different races) weakens the fabric of our society and is an imminent threat to the stability of majority-white, western nations – as well as the world.This idea is echoed by the El Paso shooter, who writes that he is “against race mixing because it destroys genetic diversity and creates identity problems … Cultural diversity diminishes as stronger and/or more appealing cultures overtake weaker and/or desirable ones.” You may have heard about identitarians protesting against Muslim immigration in Berlin, or forcibly blocking asylum seekers from disembarking from boats in the Mediterranean. Identitarians point to the great replacement as both a direct threat and a key motivator.Though the idea began in Europe, it has certainly found fertile ground for xenophobia and racism in the United States. Popularized by far-right social media personalities who populate the darker corners of YouTube, Reddit, Gab and even Twitter (I won’t be naming or linking to them, so as to prevent amplification – you can read this report instead), the great replacement theory has taken root in the US.The US has its own identitarian movement now, the hate group Identity Evropa, and the great replacement theory has become immensely popular among a breadth of rightwing hate groups. The phrase “Jews will not replace us!”, chanted by neo-Nazis at Charlottesville, was in direct reference to the belief that white replacement is being orchestrated by a shadowy Jewish elite.One of the reasons that the great replacement theory was able to take hold so firmly in the US was because of the history of white replacement conspiracies here. The US has its own theory, called the “white genocide” conspiracy, which came about in the Reconstruction-era after the abolition of slavery and constitutes a belief that the US is on the brink of a “race war”, in which freed slaves would rise up and kill their former masters. This belief has cropped up again and again throughout the 20th century (perhaps you will remember it from the Manson family murders), and most recently has been expressed in the manifestos of white supremacist killers like Dylann Roof and Frazier Glenn Miller.The gap between the two theories, however, is closing. As white replacement theory propagates online (galvanized by anti-immigrant rhetoric from far-right populists the world over, from Trump to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán), so does the belief in an all-encompassing “white, European identity” in need of saving. This is not a purely US-based conspiracy, but rather a call to arms to protect what is seen as the white race on a transnational level.In the memo believed to have been written by the El Paso shooter, he wrote: “I can no longer bear the shame of inaction knowing that our founding fathers have endowed me with the rights needed to save our country from the brink of destruction. Our European comrades don’t have the gun rights needed to repel the millions of invaders that plaque [sic] their country. They have no choice but to sit by and watch their countries burn.”Though it is difficult to write about without giving platform to these mass shooters and their ideas, it is important to understand precisely what beliefs are galvanizing many of the mass shootings we are seeing today. It is important to understand that white replacement is a transnational idea and discourse, influencing killers from Germany, to New Zealand, to here in the US. It is a widespread fear of ethnic replacement, shifting to suit the context of the place in which is presents. In the US, that is a fear of ethnic replacement by migrants from South and Central America. It is also made much more deadly by the US’s epidemic of available guns – which has led to 251 mass shootings in 2019 alone.The great replacement is a deadly conspiracy – as well as one that is immensely popular on social media and among fearmongers like Tucker Carlson, whether it is overtly referred to or merely dog-whistled. It is vital that we understand the origins and implications of the theory, even as we strive to diminish its platform. The great replacement is spreading like a virus; we must find a way to inoculate against it. Rosa Schwartzburg is a writer and editor who has researched far-right conspiracy theories Topics Race Opinion Gun crime US crime comment

At least 33 people were killed and more than 100 wounded by an airstrike on a marketplace in northern Syria on Monday, as a Syrian and Russian bombing campaign against civilian sites in the rebel-held province intensified.Witnesses and monitoring groups reported widespread destruction across two residential blocks in the centre of Maarat al-Numan, with many people reportedly still buried under an apartment building as night fell.Rescue efforts were frequently stopped as jets circled the town in the south of Idlib province, the last corner of the country to remain in opposition hands after eight years of war. The past four months have taken an especially brutal toll across much of the province with the Russian-led bombing decimating civilian infrastructure.Hospitals, market places, schools and centres for the displaced have been systematically targeted in towns and cities that remain in opposition hands. UN agencies and NGOs say at least two dozen hospitals and medical clinics have been destroyed by airstrikes, some hit multiple times until treating patients became impossible.More than 3 million people are now crammed into Idlib province, many of them having fled fighting elsewhere in the country. Among them are extremist fighters and jihadists who have subverted the anti-Assad insurgency and lorded over civilian populations. The presence of jihadists has been used as a pretext by Russian and Syrian forces for the scale of the bombing in Idlib.An air campaign, launched on 29 April, was supposed to have been in support of a ground war in southern Idlib, led by the Syrian Army. However, since the offensive began, regime forces have made little progress, even with total air superiority.The stagnant battle lines have reportedly led to frustration in Moscow, whose support for the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, has remained resolute for the past five years, but has been tested as regime loyalists have failed to seize ground.The fate of Idlib is central to the outcome of the war, which had killed more than 500,000 people when monitoring groups stopped counting three years ago. Since then, a fight that started as a push to oust Assad has morphed into multiple conflicts, led to the displacement of more than half the country’s population, who now have nowhere left to run, and drawn in neighbouring and regional states, who all want to shape the war’s aftermath in their interests.Turkey, a significant backer of opposition groups in Idlib since the outbreak of anti-government clashes in mid-2011, has proposed a summit with Assad’s two main backers, Russia and Iran, in another attempt to douse the violence. Numerous multilateral peace initiatives have failed over recent years as one of modern history’s most intractable conflicts continued to ravage Syria and destabilise the region and beyond.Ankara’s interests have increasingly been defined by its fears of Kurdish groups in northern Syria, which are allied to Kurds fighting an insurgency in south-eastern Turkey. A Turkish military operation in the town of Afrin early last year pushed Kurdish groups away from the border and Ankara now eyes the town of Tel Rifaat, where a significant Kurdish presence is seen as an obstacle to its ambitions of safeguarding several hundred miles of its border with Syria.Splintered throughout much of the war and abandoned more recently by regional patrons, including Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, opposition groups can no longer win the war. Assad, though nominally in a winning position, owes his ascendancy to Moscow and Tehran, both of whom have been staking out their claims on postwar Syria as the war has slowly wound down.Iran, which provided proxy ground forces that were instrumental in the recapture of Aleppo in late 2016, has not committed substantial forces to the Idlib front, and is increasingly at odds with Moscow over how to deal with the province.Turkey, while acquiescing to a limited Russian-led operation in the south of Idlib province, has insisted it would not shoulder the burden of a massive inflow of refugees in the event of a coordinated ground push. Its calls for a fresh summit add weight to assessments in the region and Europe that the battlefront has reached a stalemate.“We say to Assad and his friends that their obvious attempts to obliterate civilian life have failed this far and will fail again,” said a senior Turkish official. “They have lost in Idlib, and will continue to lose. They cannot bomb their way into victory. Only infamy.” Topics Syria Bashar al-Assad Russia Turkey Kurds Iran Europe news

“Active drug users, people who live with or love drug users, and people on methadone or buprenorphine, who are often coming out of treatment and know people at high risk of overdose,” said Robert Childs, executive director of the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition in Wilmington, N.C. The surgeon general also listed patients who take high doses of prescribed opioids.People who are coming out of prison or detox programs should carry the drug, because detox lowers tolerance, Mr. Childs said. Those who work in places where there are public bathrooms or where drug users congregate, such as shopping center parking lots, should consider getting trained to use naloxone and keep it on hand.“It should be just like carrying a first aid kit,” Mr. Childs said.If someone has shortness of breath or is not breathing, is unresponsive or won’t wake up and has pale or discolored skin, they may be overdosing. Other signs include pinpoint pupils, confusion, vomiting and cold or clammy skin.Trainers will frequently instruct people to perform what is known as a sternum rub.“You make a fist and with your knuckles you go up and down the sternum as hard as you can,” said Mr. Childs. “It causes excruciating pain, so if someone does not respond to that, you know they are in a state worth responding to immediately.”If someone is awake, look at their eyes. “Mostly you see the iris, just a tiny black spot in the middle,” said Dr. Steven Daviss, senior medical adviser at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. “That’s a pretty good sign someone has overdosed on an opioid.”