Although Spotify is still the dominant streaming music service globally, Apple Music is reportedly on pace to become the number one service in the United States this year. Citing figures from record industry sources, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple’s U.S. subscriber base is growing about 5% each month, versus just 2% for Spotify. At those rates, Apple Music should overtake Spotify during the summer.Over at Stratechery, Ben Thompson argues that the ascent of Apple Music on iPhones will help Apple sell other hardware, including the HomePod speaker that launches on Friday. “In this view, Apple Music serves as a ‘bridge’ to translate iPhone market share into smart speaker share; services is a means, not an end, which is exactly what we should expect from a company with Apple’s vertical business model,” Thompson writes.One potential hitch: Amazon and Google sold an estimated 45 million smart speakers in the United States last quarter alone. While some of those users might switch to HomePod if they already subscribe to Apple Music, they can also easily switch to alternative music services like Spotify or Amazon Music Unlimited, which don’t require any additional hardware. Signing up for Apple Music on an iPhone is frictionless. Spending $350 on an external speaker to access that service? Not so much.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Organized labor activists led May Day rallies in several U.S. cities on Tuesday, though in smaller numbers than last year, decrying President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown as an assault on vulnerable workers in some of America’s lowest-paying jobs. The biggest gathering was in Los Angeles, where a boisterous but peaceful crowd of several hundred marched through downtown, carrying pro-union and pro-immigration banners while chanting, “Union power” and “This is what democracy looks like.” In New York City, several hundred May Day activists marched up Broadway to Wall Street while police in Seattle arrested a man suspected of throwing a rock during a rally there. Organizers sought to combine traditional May Day themes of protecting workers’ rights with a denunciation of Trump’s efforts to increase deportations and a call for voters to show up at the polls for the upcoming mid-term congressional elections. Protesters also took aim at Trump administration policies and rhetoric they viewed as hostile to the environment, racial and ethnic minorities, women and to members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Many railed at the administration’s decision to end temporary protected status for thousands of immigrants from several countries hurt by natural disasters or conflict, including Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, Sudan and Nepal. They also cited the uncertain status of an estimated 700,000 young immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children and now facing possible deportation after Trump moved to scrap an Obama-era program protecting them. Rally leaders sought to emphasize that such policies fell especially hard on undocumented workers toiling in low-wage, non-unionized sectors such as fast-food, hospitality, child care and agriculture. A demonstrator holds his fist in the air during a rally commemorating May Day at Union Square in New York, U.S., May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon StapletonThe marches in the United States capped a day of protests elsewhere in the world. In Paris, hundreds of masked and hooded anarchists smashed shop windows, torched cars and hurled cobblestones at riot police on Tuesday, hijacking a May Day rally by labor unions against President Emmanuel Macron’s economic reforms. Tuesday’s Los Angeles turnout under cloudy skies and a slight drizzle was considerably diminished from the thousands who took to the streets of America’s second-largest city in 2017, for the first May Day celebration after Trump took office. But the mood was festive and defiant, nevertheless. “No rain, no clouds, no hate, no division is going to keep workers from celebrating with immigrants, with refugees ... with the LGBT community, with the criminal justice reform community, with the environmental justice community,” union leader Laphonza Butler told the crowd, speaking from a flat-bed truck. Butler heads the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2015, representing some 380,000 long-term healthcare workers statewide, one of the largest collective bargaining units in the nation. But marchers represented a broad cross-section of organized labor and other constituencies, from the Teamsters union and nurses to street vendors and a group called the Clean Carwash Campaign. “May First is a celebration of workers, and a lot of workers in this city are immigrants,” said Karla Cativo, 36, a community organizer with the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund, which provides services to Central American immigrants. Slideshow (20 Images)Cativo, a Salvadoran native who entered the United States as an undocumented immigrant, said she gained U.S. citizenship with “a lot of work and because of a lot of people fighting for my rights.” Fellow protester Fabian Barcenas, 55, said he wanted to give voice to “millions of workers who pay taxes and support their families who don’t have the chance of having legal status here.” Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York, John Herskovitz in Austin, Texas, and Omar Younis in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST: Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is reportedly looking beyond whether President Trump's campaign colluded with Russia in last year's election. It's also looking at Trump's finances on projects like his Manhattan building Trump SoHo. One of the developers of Trump SoHo is a company called Bayrock, and one of the people at Bayrock was a man named Felix Sater. To know about him is to understand how Trump does business and who he does business with. For my podcast Embedded, NPR's Alina Selyukh, Jim Zarroli and I start with Felix Sater's background.JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: Sater was from the former Soviet Union, came here as a child living in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, which is home to a lot of Russian immigrants.MCEVERS: Felix Sater's father had a criminal history. He once pled guilty to extortion charges.DAVID BARRY: He wanted Felix to be an above-board businessman.ZARROLI: That's David Barry. He's a former AP reporter, and he's spent a lot of time covering organized crime. He actually ended up writing a memoir with a guy named Sal Lauria, who is very good friends with Sater.ALINA SELYUKH, BYLINE: And I should add here that we did try to talk to Felix Sater. He, through his lawyer, declined to talk to us. And so Felix Sater and this guy Sal Lauria grew up to be these high-flying brokers on Wall Street. And Felix Sater's trouble with the law starts at this party one night in 1991. Sal had just passed a broker's exam. It's very hard to pass. They're out celebrating.BARRY: And it was a nice night of celebration at a nice restaurant that specialized in margaritas.MCEVERS: David Barry says there's this other broker who's there at the time. Somehow a fight breaks out over a woman.BARRY: And Felix exploded and smashed this heavy margarita glass. You know, it was a goblet, not like a martini glass. And he just in half a second or more cut this guy's face open.MCEVERS: The New York Times reported the man suffered nerve damage and later needed 110 stitches in his face.SELYUKH: Felix Sater ends up going to prison.ZARROLI: And yet that really wasn't the end of Felix Sater's criminal career.MCEVERS: Court documents show Felix Sater and Sal Lauria then started what's known as a pump-and-dump scheme. They would buy up shares of stock through offshore accounts, which inflates the price, then sell these shares or dump them onto unknowing investors. The FBI said they were part of an operation that made $40 million this way. And court documents show they had help from the Italian Mafia.BARRY: To run something like that on a large scale, you need muscle.ZARROLI: David Barry says you can't just politely ask other brokers not to sell stock you're trying to pump or inflate.BARRY: But if you have two guys who are soldiers for the Gambino family and they show up at the brokerage, the brokers listen. They're not listening to Hutton at that point. They're listening to Dominic and Sonny.MCEVERS: In 1998, Felix Sater pleads guilty to one count of racketeering. And here's where things get even more interesting. Instead of being sentenced for his crime...ZARROLI: The charges against him were sealed and the case against him was basically frozen for years. And the reason was that he turned state's evidence. He started to become a cooperating witness for the government. And he became a really valuable witness over the next 10 years or so.MCEVERS: One thing Sater helped the U.S. government do was to try to get Stinger missiles - these are these shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles that had been used in Afghanistan - off the black market in Russia and out of the hands of terrorists. This is in that book by David Barry and Sal Lauria. And in return, the government promised to keep Sater from going to prison.ZARROLI: And then, as I said, Felix Sater's pump-and-dump case is sealed for years. And Felix Sater reinvents himself.SELYUKH: And the next thing that he moves on to is a new real estate investment company called the Bayrock Group.MCEVERS: One of the developers that would go on to build Trump SoHo.SELYUKH: So Bayrock was founded in 2001. They later get an office at Trump Tower.TIM O'BRIEN: Two floors beneath where the Trump family conducted their own business at the Trump Organization.ZARROLI: That's Tim O'Brien. He's with Bloomberg, and he's been reporting on Donald Trump for decades. So Bayrock and other developers come to Trump with this idea of Trump SoHo.SELYUKH: Here's the pitch - let's build this 46-story condo hotel and you put your name on it, but you don't have to invest any of your own money. We will raise the money and you'll get equity in the building. Plus you'll be paid some management fees.MCEVERS: It's called a licensing deal, and Trump has done a lot of these over the years around the world.ZARROLI: By this point Trump's businesses have been through several bankruptcies, and O'Brien says Trump can't get loans from major banks.O'BRIEN: From Trump's perspective, anybody who walked into Trump Tower and put a bag of money on his desk could do business with him.MCEVERS: That's according to O'Brien's sources. So Trump announces this new project on "The Apprentice."(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE APPRENTICE")PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Located in the center of Manhattan's chic artist enclave, the Trump International Hotel...MCEVERS: But there are now questions. Did Trump know about Felix Sater's felony conviction? Because if he did, it shows he's willing to do business with someone who's committed financial crimes. If he didn't, it means he doesn't fully vet who he does business with. Felix Sater's lawyer says he'd reformed by the time of Trump SoHo. Bayrock and Sater have since been sued in a case that alleges financial improprieties, allegations their lawyers deny.ZARROLI: Lawyers we talked to say that before 2007, Trump probably could have found out about Felix Sater's conviction. But after 2007, a lot of people knew about it. That's when The New York Times published an article about the margarita glass, the pump-and-dump scheme, and about Felix Sater's work for the government.MCEVERS: A lawyer named Richard Lerner picks up the story from there. He has internal Bayrock emails from that time. They were filed as part of a lawsuit.RICHARD LERNER: The New York Times article was published on December 17, 2007. Two days later, he was deposed.ZARROLI: Trump was deposed as part of a separate lawsuit.MCEVERS: In it, Trump says nobody knew anything about Felix Sater. And then he says he'll look into it. Again, here's Lerner.LERNER: Then on January 21, 2008, there are internal emails at Bayrock saying there's going to be a meeting. And Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric and Donald Trump Sr. are coming. Sater will be there.SELYUKH: We don't exactly know what that meeting was about, but remember; some weeks earlier, The New York Times had published that article about Felix Sater.LERNER: And in that email chain of January 21, 2008, I believe the very final email of the day is...MCEVERS: Donald is happy with me, Felix Sater writes. I'll explain when I see you.SELYUKH: As recently as 2010, Felix Sater had a business card, and it said senior adviser to Donald Trump. Then in 2013, Trump does this interview with the BBC's John Sweeney.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)JOHN SWEENEY: Why didn't you go to Felix Sater and say, you're connected with the Mafia, you're fired?TRUMP: Well, first of all, we were not the developer there. That was a licensing deal.SWEENEY: But your name was on it.TRUMP: A very simple licensing deal.SWEENEY: But your name's on it, Mr. Trump.TRUMP: Excuse me. But I don't know - you're telling me things that I don't even know about. I mean, you're telling me about Felix Sater. I know who he is.ZARROLI: After a few more exchanges, Trump ends the interview.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)TRUMP: And by the way, John, I hate to do this, but I do have that big group of people waiting. So I have to...SWEENEY: OK, now, hold on...MCEVERS: Later, Trump said he wouldn't know Felix Sater if they were sitting in the same room. And even later in 2015, as first reported by The New York Times, Felix Sater emails Trump's personal lawyer and says, quote, "our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this." The White House says that email is a non-story. No one from the Trump Organization would talk to us for this story.SELYUKH: As recently as last year, Felix Sater said he and Trump worked closely together over the Trump SoHo years.ZARROLI: Trump told the AP in 2015 that he wasn't that familiar with Sater.MCEVERS: And Bayrock does not currently do real estate deals.ZARROLI: I'm Jim Zarroli.SELYUKH: I'm Alina Selyukh.MCEVERS: I'm Kelly McEvers.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has endorsed Donald Trump’s immigration agenda on the eve of their first meeting at the White House, saying he supports a wall on the US-Mexico border and that most immigrants to the United States wish to do harm.Bolsonaro, a far-right congressman who rode to the presidency with a brash, anti-establishment campaign modeled on Trump’s 2016 run, has pledged a new era of pro-American policy in the southern hemisphere’s second-largest country.Boe Tuesday’s Oval Office meeting, Bolsonaro threw his weight behind Trump’s immigration agenda.“We do agree with President Trump’s decision or proposal on the wall,” Bolsonaro told Fox News. “The vast majority of potential immigrants do not have good intentions. They do not intend to do the best or do good to the US people.“I would very much like the US to uphold the current immigration policy, because to a large extent we owe our democracy in the southern hemisphere to the United States,” he said.Bolsonaro, a former army captain, rose to power praising the US-backed military government that ran Brazil for two decades before a return to democracy in 1985, echoing cold war rhetoric in his presidential campaign about the need to fight a continued communist threat.Bolsonaro pledged during his campaign to build closer ties with the US and has often expressed admiration for Trump. He sought to underscore his pro-America stance with a tweet upon his arrival on Sunday.“For the first time in a while, a pro-America Brazilian president arrives in DC,” he wrote. “It’s the beginning of a partnership focused on liberty and prosperity, something that all of us Brazilians have long wished for.”Bolsonaro continued that message in remarks to the US Chamber of Commerce Monday. “You have a president who is a friend of the United States who admires this beautiful country,” he said.In his Fox News interview, Although he did not get into specifics of his agenda in Washington, Bolsonaro said the presidents would discuss a deepening political and economic crisis in Venezuela.Bolsonaro said Brazil is the country most interested in seeing an end to the government of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, which he called a “drug trafficking dictatorship”.In addition to their shared political agenda, Bolsonaro spoke hopefully of a blossoming friendship with Trump.“I’m willing to open my heart up to him and do whatever is good, to the benefit of both the Brazilian and the American people,” he said. Topics Jair Bolsonaro Brazil Donald Trump US immigration Americas news

Twelve members of a Congolese militia group have been convicted of raping 37 toddlers and young girls in a landmark case that lawmakers hope will deter potential future perpetrators.Fighters from a group that christened itself Djeshi ya Yesu (The Army of Jesus), carried out the rapes in the belief they would give them supernatural powers on the battlefield, a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) heard.Ten of the accused were convicted of crimes against humanity. The convictions represent an historic milestone in the fight against impunity for sexual violence crimes, particularly as the mastermind behind the attacks, a member of parliament, was among those convicted.Between 2013 and 2016, nearly 50 children were abducted from their houses at night, raped, and left in fields or behind bushes near their homes in Kavumu, in eastern DRC.Some were so badly hurt that even Denis Mukwege, a doctor who has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel peace prize for his work treating thousands of rape survivors in nearby Bukavu, could not repair their internal organs.The group’s leader, provincial MP, Frederic Batumike, employed a traditional medicine practitioner who told the men that raping very young children would protect them from their enemies, the prosecution said in the trial.The convictions are particularly significant given the authorities’ initial attitude towards the Kavumu rapes, which was to ignore them or worse. When one mother discovered her daughter missing and raised the alarm, she was accused of giving her own daughter to the rapist, and was arrested along with two of her other children in an attempt to extort money from them.“It’s unprecedented, for who Batumike was: a very powerful provincial MP, with his group and his financial control,” said Karen Naimer of Physicians for Human Rights, a group that worked with doctors, investigators and lawyers to gather evidence of the rapes. “And the collaboration between civil society, doctors and the police will hopefully set precedents.”Naimer said that Batumike took steps to slow down and disrupt the trial, including claiming that two of the judges were unqualified to try the case, and refusing to answer any questions.Ten men were convicted of crimes against humanity, including murder and rape, and two for being members of an armed group. Of the 10, two were traditional medicine practitioners, and it is unclear whether they raped the children themselves as well as instructing others to do so.The prosecution dropped their case against six more defendants about a week before the verdict. Last year, the activist helping the families, Felix Mugisho Maroyi, told the Guardian that many of the militiamen were still living freely, and the girls’ mothers said that they could not sleep at night for fear that their daughters would be abducted again.The Kavumu rapes came at an inconvenient time for the Congolese government, which was trying to clean up its image as the “rape capital of the world,” as the UN’s Margot Wallström described the country in 2010. It had recently appointed Jeanine Mabunda, a poised special adviser on sexual violence to the president. But she used her platform to state repeatedly that the number of rapes had fallen by 50%, while those working with survivors said that in fact the numbers were rising.The trial, which was held in a mobile military court in Kavumu so that locals could attend and see justice done, lasted just over a month.It was not immediately clear how many of the children the militia members were convicted of raping: one source said 37, one 42, and another said all but one of the 47 girls in the case were awarded reparations.Family members gave evidence in court completely covered in long cloths and using voice distortion technology, in an attempt to hide their identities from the perpetrators and the public.The court initially asked the children to give evidence, but after one girl burst into tears as she listened to her mother’s testimony about what had happened to her, decided against it.As was first reported by Lauren Wolfe, journalist and founder of the Women Under Siege project, each girl raped was awarded $5,000 in reparations, while family members of men who were murdered were awarded $15,000, but as the court decided that the government would not pay, and is unlikely to obtain the money from the militiamen, the girls are likely to receive nothing.The Congolese government has only been ordered to pay reparations once before, in the 2003 Songo Mboyo case where former rebels being integrated into the army raped over 100 women and girls. But when the money was finally paid out, it was paid to the wrong people: a lawyer tricked the authorities into handing over the payments to 30 fake victims – and the real survivors have never received a penny.Kim Thuy Seelinger, the director of the sexual violence program at Berkeley school of law, said the convictions represented “a major legal victory that should give survivors a sense of justice.”She added: “The next, perhaps equally challenging, test is to ensure that the reparations promised in judgment are actually received. These legal victories are won in the name of, and on the backs of, survivors – but too often, we then fail when actually delivering reparations to make them whole.” Topics Democratic Republic of the Congo Sexual violence Rape and sexual assault Africa Denis Mukwege news

If you've ever complained about being forced to sleep in an airport after a delay, spare a thought for one Zimbabwean family who have finally left Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport where they've lived for the past three months.The family - four children under the age of 11 and four adults - first arrived in Bangkok in May. When they tried to leave in October for Spain, they didn't have the right visas. They couldn't legally re-enter Thailand as they'd overstayed their tourist visas and had to pay a fine. But they said they could not return to Zimbabwe because they faced persecution. The family's situation came to light when an employee at Suvarnabhumi airport posted a photo of himself with one of the children in December saying they were living there "because of the unsettled situation" at home. Officials at that time explained that they'd tried to help the family make arrangements with Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) to fly via Kiev to Dubai instead - and then on to a third country - bypassing European immigration.But according to a UIA spokesperson, the family cancelled their tickets for the final leg of their journey, leading them to be sent back from Dubai to Bangkok.The family asked for assistance from the UN, saying they feared persecution in Zimbabwe after the November unrest which saw the removal of long-term leader Robert Mugabe.The UN said at the time that it was "exploring options". Thailand does not provide legal status to refugees and asylum seekers.Meanwhile, the family stayed inside the departure area, being looked after by airport staff. According to a Thai immigration bureau spokesman, they finally left Bangkok on Monday afternoon.Pol Col Cherngron Rimphadee told the BBC's Thai Service that the family had departed for the Philippines. A UNHCR refugee camp is located there, but it was not clear whether it was their final destination. A UNHCR spokeswoman told the Coconuts website that the agency would not comment on individual cases.

Remember all that legal head-butting and posturing last year when the feds tried to force Apple to help it break into San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s iPhone? It ended with a whimper when the FBI found another way into the phone.Now law enforcement appears ready for Round Two.On Sunday November 5 Devin Kelley walked into a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and murdered 26 people. He was then shot dead by police. The FBI wants to get into Kelley’s iPhone to find out if he’s got links to militant groups or was just a lone wacko.The day after the shooting, Chris Combs of the FBI (which is helping the Texas Rangers in the investigation) was on TV complaining that consumer smartphones are just too darn secure to break into. He wouldn’t say what kind of smartphone Kelley owned, only that the FBI sent Kelley’s phone out to its forensics lab in Virginia, which would try to obtain its contents.Next, we hear that the Rangers have served Apple with a search warrant (dated November 9) demanding access to Kelley’s iPhone SE. Apparently the forensics lab scientists couldn’t break into it. The warrant requests the files on shooter Kelley’s iPhone SE and in his iCloud account (if one exists). According to reports, it also requests the files in a second phone used by Kelley–a cheap phone made by a completely different phone maker (LG)!There’s plenty of irony to go around here.First of all, law enforcement probably had the chance to unlock Kelley’s phone using the fingerprint off of Kelley’s cold, dead hand. They had 48 hours to do that before the phone would have required a passcode log-in. They might have known this had they bothered to call Apple for help.Turns out it was Apple that contacted the FBI immediately after it learned the agency was unable to access the contents of the phone. But the FBI never responded to Apple’s call.So, law enforcement is partially responsible for the situation it’s landed in—and it’s very likely that Apple will give the Rangers the same answer it gave the FBI in 2016 (in effect, hell no!).The FBI and the Department of Justice, after the San Bernardino shooting in 2015, decided to go to court to compel Apple to help it break into the iPhone of Syed Farook. In the past, federal law enforcement worked behind the scenes and on a case-by-case basis with Apple and other tech companies to get help gaining access to evidence on devices.The FBI and DOJ believed they’d found a highly sympathetic case with which to establish precedent for requiring tech companies to provide a “back door” to the encryption used to secure devices, which law enforcement could use to access data when they needed to. But to the feds’ surprise, much of the public sided with Apple.Had law enforcement stuck to its usual methods and talked to Apple behind closed doors, the company might have already flown some of its engineers out to FBI headquarters to break into Kelley’s phone. In the wake of the San Bernardino stand-off, that’s probably impossible now.That may be why, in the Texas case, the FBI and the Rangers didn’t even bother calling Apple, but rather went straight to court. Apple said during the San Bernardino dispute that if it were to create a hack to bypass the encryption of one iPhone, it would potentially endanger the security of all iPhones. Expect Apple to respond to the Ranger’s warrant with the same message this time around.

(Reuters) - A 24-year-old farm worker accused of killing an Iowa college student who vanished while jogging made a first court appearance on Wednesday as the case reignited a national debate over illegal immigration and crime. Cristhian Rivera, who was led into Poweshiek County Court handcuffed and dressed in black-and-white striped prison garb, was ordered by a judge held on $5 million bail on charges of murdering 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts. The judge rejected a request by Rivera’s attorneys to bar reporters and the public from court proceedings. The lawyers cited exhaustive media coverage centering in part on whether the suspect was an illegal immigrant, as prosecutors have said. President Donald Trump, whose pledge to build a wall on the border of Mexico was central to his successful run for office, has mentioned the case at least twice since Rivera’s arrest, most recently in a videotaped speech posted to Twitter on Wednesday. “Mollie Tibbetts, an incredible young woman, is now permanently separated from her family. A person came in from Mexico, illegally, and killed her. We need the wall. We need our immigration laws changed,” Trump said. Lawyers for Rivera cited Trump’s comments in a written motion seeking a gag order as well as a ruling that prosecutors could only refer to the defendant as a “documented resident.” In the court papers, attorney Allan Richards asserted that, contrary to what prosecutors had said, his client was in the country legally. “Former leader of Iowa’s educational system (The Iowa Board of Regents) Craig Lang has verified that Cristhian is in this jurisdiction legally,” Richards wrote. “Cristhian has complied with his documented status since arriving in the USA as a minor.” Lang is co-owner of the family dairy farm near Brooklyn, Iowa where Rivera worked until his arrest on Monday. The farm initially issued a statement saying that his legal status had been confirmed with the U.S. government’s E-Verify system. However Lang’s son, Dane, told reporters on Wednesday that Rivera had used another name when applying for work there four years ago and that managers did not use the E-Verify system. Representatives for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond on Wednesday to questions regarding Rivera’s immigration status. Slideshow (6 Images)Rivera was arrested on Monday after police said he was identified in security video taken from a camera outside the Brooklyn house near where Tibbetts was last seen running. A woman’s body was found on Tuesday in a cornfield about 10 miles from the Brooklyn home of Tibbetts’ boyfriend, where she was staying. No positive identification had been made on those remains as of Wednesday afternoon, said Mitch Mortvedt, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, by telephone. Reporting by Dan Whitcomb, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Cynthia OstermanOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A former college student is facing three years in state prison and eight years in jail for allegedly impersonating a doctor at several California hospitals and even diagnosing an unwitting patient, according to authorities. Ariya Ouskouian, 23, of Irvine, California, was charged Tuesday with a felony count of providing medical diagnosis while impersonating a doctor and eight misdemeanors of misrepresenting oneself as a licensed medical practitioner. On May 3, Ouskouian allegedly pretended to be a doctor when he diagnosed an unidentified patient for a growth on his neck at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), authorities said.(MORE: Cardiologists 'Shocked' That William Hamman Passed Himself Off as Doctor) Ouskouian, a former student at the University of California, Irvine, also allegedly impersonated a doctor "on at least seven different occasions" between April 23 and June 4 at Children's Hospital of Orange County, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said. On each of these occasions at the children's hospital, Ouskouian allegedly told security personnel that he'd lost his hospital badge and then requested a temporary badge to be issued, allowing him access to restricted floors, authorities said. "When hospital staff became suspicious of the defendant and requested verification of his doctor status, Ouskouian is accused of providing the name of a UCI personnel," the district attorney's office said.(MORE: Florida Teen Accused of Posing as Doctor Denies Diagnosing Patients) Ouskouian had convinced the UCI personnel of his doctor status and that personnel had verified him to the children's hospital, authorities said. The Orange County Police Department, which was contacted by the children's hospital, then began investigating the case. The police department directed any questions regarding the case to the district attorney's office. Ouskouian was arrested Tuesday and was released Wednesday after posting bond, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Children's Hospital of Orange County notified the state Department of Public Health and law enforcement agencies, as well as assisted in alerting area hospitals when it learned that an individual was trying to pose as a resident, the hospital said in a statement. "During limited time on our campus, we believe this individual did not interact with any of our patients," the hospital said. "The individual did not have any access to patient health information. Out of deference to the prosecution and defense of this matter, we will not provide any additional details." The University of California Irvine Medical Center had also cooperated with the Orange Police Department and the Orange County District Attorney's Office in this investigation, the school said.(MORE: Oregon Man Charged With Performing Surgery Without a License) "There is no indication the person impersonating a physician compromised UCI Health patient records or saw patients at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange or at UCI Health outpatient physician offices," the medical center said in a statement to ABC station KABC-TV. "This person was not affiliated in any way with UCI's school of medicine or residency program." Ouskouian was no longer a student at University of California Irvine, according to the university. "He was not affiliated in any way with UCI's medical school, residency program or medical center. Federal student privacy laws prohibit me from sharing additional details," the university said. "The university fully cooperated with the investigation conducted by the Orange Police Department and the Orange County District Attorney's Office. Mr. Ouskouian did not have access to any UCI Health patient records." Ouskouian hasn't entered a plea and will appear in court on Sept. 25. ABC News' Jenna Harrison and Crystal Muguerza contributed to this story.

今后可自由转网？不，远方是物联网 Apple Watch“扔”掉了SIM卡 eSIM国内首次商用 IT时报记者 吴雨欣 2018年3月7日，中国联通宣布正式在全国6座城市率先启动“eSIM一号双终端”业务的办理，苹果Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + 蜂窝网络)成为首款支持该业务的终端产品，可独立接入运营商移动蜂窝网络，支持电话、接收信息等通信功能 ... 可以远程或空中对设备进行SIM卡文件配置，是实现eSIM的关键。事实上，这样的能力国产手机已经具备，并应用于境外流量服务上。OPPO、vivo、三星、小米、联想、nubia、魅族、锤子等品牌的部分机型，无需实体SIM卡，通过App就可在全球范围内享受当地网络

Investment bankers may have spent last night watching online election trackers with the rest of us, but the morning after, they can fire up their spreadsheets and take a shot at telling us what it all means.JP Morgan Asset and Wealth Management’s Michael Cembalest took a look at the vote results (pdf). Adjusted for the strength of the economy, he says they represent the worst performance for a president’s party since 1918. He graced us with this chart:“There have been large midterm swings before, but usually when markets were bad, when the economy was bad, or both,” Cembalest writes. “The chart tells the story: midterm House seats lost since 1910 are shown alongside changes in inflation, employment, equity markets and home prices. Based on the hand the GOP started with, they should probably have been able to retain the House. Sometimes, however, money can’t buy you love.”Political scientists say that economic performance is an important factor for election results, with a strong economy generally protecting incumbents. In the chart above, you can see that in action—usually happy workers (strong labor markets) or happy investors (strong asset markets) will buoy the party in power. When things go south in one or both quadrants, they take big losses.You can also see in the chart that voters respond to more than simply economic fundamentals—see 1994 or 2006. But it’s surprising to see a loss of more than 30 seats at a time when economic indicators suggest boom times. It might also suggest that the indicators aren’t fully capturing the lived experience of many voters at a time of high economic inequality.For Democrats, this news is a mixed bag: It suggests how negatively Donald Trump is perceived by the public, also demonstrated in the party’s victory march through wealthier and better-educated suburbs. But it also shows how the economy protects the president, with high Republican turnout in states like Florida, Ohio and Missouri checking the potential of the Democratic wave.If the current good times continue into the 2020 election, the incumbent won’t be easy to beat.

作为美国最神秘的创业公司，Magic Leap 的一举一动都牵动人们的心。上周创始人 Rony Abovitz 在推特上「剧透」会给大家一些惊喜后，当地时间周一，美国知名音乐网站 Pitchfork 发布了一篇由 Marc Hogan 撰写的 Magic Leap 产品的最新体验文章。在 Magic Leap 的佛罗里达总部，Marc 体验了由冰岛知名乐队 Sigur Rós 打造的名为 Tónandi 的混合现实体验。这段十分钟左右的互动式体验给作者留下了深刻印象，而体验的缔造者 Sigur Rós 和 Magic Leap 创始人 Rony 则认为 MR 将对音乐体验产生极大影响。「让整个世界变成你的专辑封面。」Rony 如此阐释到。正如很多签了 NDA 协议才能体验到 Magic Leap 的人一样，Marc 的文章中不能提及任何硬件相关的信息，只能谈体验本身。从 Marc 的描述来看，Tónandi 这段体验延续了 Sigur Rós 乐队灵动的后摇风格，同时体验者还可以通过手部动作来影响音乐进程，最终的结果就是每个人最后的体验都不尽相同。在一阵有些神经质的哼唱声中，一群小精灵围绕在我眼前。这些水母形状的生物似乎随着音乐的声浪在不断变化。我伸手去搅乱这些精灵的队形，随着眼前精灵形状的变化，音乐也产生了变化。Marc 在文章中透露，Magic Leap 用来展示 Demo 的空间模仿我们的起居室环境，Tónandi 体验主要的发生位置在桌子区域。某些时刻，在桌边挥动手臂能「召唤」乐队主唱 Jónsi Birgisson 的标志性吉他声；而挥向另一角落的蓬松的「云雾」，则能释放不同音调的主唱的歌声。Mrac 强调，自己看到的影像并非是 2D 贴图，而是清楚身边的环境，所以看起来很真实。由于每个人对于如何互动有着自己的方式，所以 Tónandi 是一个「千人千面」的体验。当天和 Marc 一起去体验的还有 Sigur Rós 乐队的其他成员，后者也是第一次体验新版本的 Demo。体验结束后，Marc 和键盘兼鼓手 Orri Dýrason 讨论自己在 Demo 中听到的鼓声时，后者表示不可能，因为他根本没听到。最后，Magic Leap 团队告诉他们，体验中确实有鼓声，但是体验者需要自己找到它们。Marc 体验的这段 Demo 的名字 Tónandi，来自冰岛语「声音」（Sound）和「精灵」（Spirit）两个词的结合，毫无疑问这个「仙气」十足的名字来自 Sigur Rós 主唱 Jónsi。这个「声音精灵」的起源，最早可以追溯到 4 年之前。2013 年 10 月，Sigur Rós 来到迈阿密海滩举行演唱会。表演之后，乐队成员一同拜访了 Magic Leap 在佛州 Fort Lauderdale 的「车库」，在 Rony Abovitz 的介绍下体验了当时的原型机。当时那款代号「野兽」的原型机有冰箱大小，但结果宾主尽欢。据说，主唱 Jónsi 和 Rony 兴奋聊了个通宵，只给前者留了半个小时补觉。有了这次经历，Sigur Rós 开始和 Magic Leap 展开深度合作，最终创作了这样一个崭新的音乐形式。和传统电影和电视类似，音乐这种娱乐形式也深受互联网的冲击。但是和电影不同，音乐的不利在于「不像电影拥有 IMAX 格式」。而 Tónandi 所代表的混合现实音乐体验，则可能成为音乐的「IMAX」版本。「想想吧，要是全世界都是你的专辑封面会如何？」Rony Abovitz 说到。当然，正如一些 VR 电影作品引出了「主动参与」和「被动观看」的争论，Tónandi 的交互式体验，也会让人们怀疑自己是在「听」音乐还是在「玩」音乐。对此，作者 Marc 对于 Demo 的一段描述非常贴题：Tónandi 拥有自己的音乐类型，它并不是传统意义上的一首「歌」。虽然我能用手影响曲子，但它并不是需要演奏技巧的乐器，或者能随意摆弄发出噪音的玩具。我能操控视觉元素去寻找电脑制作的交互，但它不是电子游戏。它拥有影像和音乐，但并不是一部 MTV。正是这种难以命名的体验，才是混合现实的魅力，也是 Magic Leap 这家公司一直能够吸引大家的原因。创始人 Rony Abovitz 表示，接下来还会有「惊喜」。不过，究竟什么时候我们能体验上 Tónandi，还是个问号。图片来源：Magic Leap责任编辑：早优夫斯基

Google experienced a global outage affecting users as they try to log in to the company’s many applications, including Gmail and Google Docs and any site that allows access via a Google account.The problem lasted nearly two hours, beginning around 11pm BST. The company said it was investigating “an issue with OAuth login” and “an issue with Admin console” on Wednesday evening. The problem was resolved just before 1am BST.Users reported problems in the US, UK, India, Singapore, South Africa, Europe and in Australia.Many were greeted with an error page when they tried to login, citing error 502 and asking them to try again in 30 seconds.Google said they would conduct an internal investigation of the issue and make “appropriate improvements to our systems to help prevent or minimise recurrence”. Google was hit by an outage in March, with with users reporting issues with Gmail, Google Drive, Hangouts and Google Maps for several hours. Topics Google Alphabet news

ALQUEVA, Portugal (Reuters) - As wildfires scorched California yet again this summer, Jose Dariush Leal da Costa, a Bay Area native with Portuguese roots, was harvesting his first almonds in a sun-drenched, watery oasis in southern Portugal. The largest artificial lake in the European Union, the 250 square km (97 square miles) Alqueva, irrigates an area the size of Los Angeles, luring foreign investors at a time when climate change is fanning droughts from California to northern Europe. European fruit growers, Spanish olive oil makers, almond and berry farmers from California and Chile, and many others are moving in to rival local farmers on these irrigated lands, whose prices soared by 50 percent in the past five years. The 5 billion euro ($5.8 billion) irrigation project on the River Guadiana, begun two decades ago to revive a region at risk of desertification, is only now reaching its initial design capacity and there are plans to expand it further. It has also boosted income and jobs in the most disadvantaged region of Western Europe’s poorest country. “We have enough water to the point when I’m five years into a drought and not worried about water,” said Leal da Costa, noting that water scarcity was always a worry in California, the world’s largest almond producer, where farms compete for water resources with cities and industries. For a photo essay click on: reut.rs/2LE8mtb During a trip to the United States in June, Prime Minister Antonio Costa invited investors in California, which has a climate similar to Portugal, to set up shop around Alqueva in a pitch that played on concerns about global warming. “It was very effective. In California, land is very expensive and water is very scarce. If you have affordable land and tenable, affordable water, these are the incentives people need,” said Rusty Areias, a former California Assemblyman turned investor who met Costa during his visit. Areias has visited Alqueva and is talking to the government about water rights for potential U.S. investment, including his own, while encouraging farmers in parched Fresno county to diversify their business to Portugal, which is “uncongested and a lot like California was in the 1950s”. Seeking to boost economic growth after being hit by crisis in 2011, Portugal provides cheap loans and other incentives to investors ready to spend more than 500,000 euros and create jobs. The Alqueva project only this year reached the design goal of selling its water to 80 percent of the area it serves. State firm EDIA, which runs it, plans to expand irrigation coverage by over 40 percent to 170,000 hectares by 2022. An aerial view of a cereal intensive farm near Monsaraz, Portugal, August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante Other Portuguese regions want similar irrigation projects, but Alqueva is unlikely to face competition from new schemes as EU rules that require sufficient clean water supplies for human needs have largely halted damming for agriculture. Alqueva has faced environmental complaints, with green groups warning that the flooded areas would destroy wildlife habitats, while the intensive agriculture it encourages would pollute groundwater and soil. Areas irrigated by Alqueva now stretch almost from the Atlantic coast to the Spanish border, creating what EDIA chief Jose Salema calls “a green barrier to desertification”, a phenomenon that threatens swathes of southern and central Europe. Salema says water consumption per hectare at Alqueva is half of what it had been designed for, thanks to more efficient growing and watering methods such as drip irrigation. Still, California investor Areias said water rights in Portugal still need to be made clearer to convince more cautious investors, who need guarantees of water supply for over 20 years. EDIA estimates foreign investors already work on an estimated 25,000 hectares, a quarter of all Alqueva-irrigated lands in use, having put 250 million euros into crops and equipment. Olives remain the area’s main crop, with yields that are four times the operating cost. Alqueva boosted olive oil output in Portugal, the world’s fourth largest exporter, to a record 147 million liters last year, official figures show. “There are more jobs, new crops, which is always great for the region,” said small-scale local farmer Helder Martins, whose beekeeping business has improved since almond growers started hiring his hives to pollinate their trees. Unemployment in the wider Alentejo region around Alqueva fell more sharply than anywhere else in Portugal last year to below the average national level, dropping to 8.4 percent. Almond plantations in the area doubled in size last year to more than 5,500 hectares, with foreign investors dominating new plantings. Fruit plantations have also expanded strongly to more than 1,000 hectares, helped by investment from Spain, Germany, and Switzerland. “We have plantations in various European countries and we see that many types of fruit grow a lot faster here,” said Joao Serrano, CEO of the Portuguese unit of Swiss-based Fairfruit Group. Slideshow (24 Images)But nowhere may escape the impact of global warming for long. Portugal had its own deadly fires last year after a three-year drought, with a big blaze south of Alqueva this year. In a scenario of more frequent and longer droughts, an expanded Alqueva may no longer be sustainable by 2030-2040, requiring tough conservation efforts, said Prof. Ricardo Serralheiro of the University of Evora. Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Giles ElgoodOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Following new local regulations in 2016 that required Lyft and Uber to background check drivers in Austin, the two ride-hailing giants decided to pick up and leave the city rather than comply. In their absence, a crop of local companies materialized to take their place. One was RideAustin, which, in contrast to Uber and Lyft, took no commission and allowed its drivers to take home 100% of their earnings (a $2 booking fee offset company costs). It was a little more expensive, but absent Uber and Lyft, the company thrived, and locals valued it for its ethics and inherent Austin-ness. When Uber and Lyft returned to the city last year, though, it began to struggle in the face of the cheaper, more prolific companies, and has had to reduce staff and operations.[Photo: Flickr user Cindy Shebley]Without local regulations and oversight in place, they technically can be left anywhere–be it in the middle of a public sidewalk, or blocking the entrance to a curb cut whose clearance is necessary for people with disabilities. In response, cities that have seen an influx of dockless bikes have taken a variety of approaches to handling them.Washington, D.C., for instance, has allowed companies to apply for permits that would cap the number of bikes they distribute at 400, and require that they share data on usage with the city. The District Department of Transportation, says Kim Lucas, DDOT’s bicycle and pedestrian program specialist, oversees mechanical needs, repositions the bikes around the city as necessary to ensure they don’t disrupt public space, and conducts surveys about their impact on the city. Dallas, which welcomed companies including LimeBike and Ofo last year, is now cracking down and mandating that the companies work more closely with the city on maintenance and responding to 311 complaints about errant bikes–terms to which LimeBike recently agreed.In Florida, the cities of Miami and Key Biscayne got up in arms after LimeBike was launched in the latter in 2017. Early on, some bikes from Key Biscayne were left in Miami, outside of the designated pilot area, which required LimeBike agents to coordinate closely with the cities to ensure the bikes were returned and kept in bounds. The Florida cities began issuing fines to dockless companies whose bikes were left in the public right-of-way, and the Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works was beginning to look into building out a regulatory framework for how the dockless bikes could be managed, as more companies begin to eye the region to roll out their bikes. Part of what they were considering was inking an exclusive deal with one dockless company–Spin–to streamline operations and get a handle on how to effectively and non-disastrously roll out the bikes.But any progress on local regulation may soon be stopped in its tracks. The Florida legislature is currently in the process of attempting to pass a bill that would allow the state to preempt local control over dockless bike share companies, which, both the North American Bikeshare Association (NABSA) and various bike share companies have argued, would prove disastrous for the productive growth of this new technologies in cities (a similar bill is under consideration in Oklahoma).[Photo: Flickr user paul.wasneski]Jeff Branch, legislative advocate for the Florida League of Cities, says municipalities in the state are opposed to the preemption bill, because it would prevent them from taxing the companies, and it wouldn’t allow them adequate say in how the bikes use the public space, or in how many bikes they deploy. So if a bill is that unpopular at the local level, why is it being advanced? One answer: Ballard, a powerful lobbyist who’s frequently worked on behalf of major companies like Google and Honda, is being paid a tidy sum by Ofo, in the hopes of maximizing their revenue through sheer volume.Ofo and its competitors like Mobike are facing backlash in China, and it’s not a model for growth that should be replicated in other cities. Currently, Ofo has launched in South Miami, alongside a handful of other dockless companies operating in other cities in Miami-Dade county, and they hope to expand their reach both across the state and the country. But their tactics are prompting disapproval not only from city governments, but from other dockless companies as well.“If you think about it, it’s really the local departments of transportation who know their city’s right of way the best,” says Kyle Rowe, head of government partnerships at Spin, a dockless bike-share company based out of San Francisco and currently operating in over two dozen markets. Rowe previously worked for Seattle’s Department of Transportation, where he oversaw bike infrastructure and usage programming–including collaborations with bike-share companies. “When you think about preemption, what it means is basically the state saying, ‘sorry, Orlando,’ or ‘sorry, Seattle’–you know your community best, but you don’t get to choose how manage the bike parking or how to educate companies about which communities would benefit from better access to bicycles.”Spin’s approach–hence, Rowe’s title at the company–has always been one of not just communicating with the local governments in whose markets they operate, but actually partnering with them (Citi Bike, New York’s successful docked bike-share system, is set up as a public-private partnership between the bike-share company Motivate and the city). In a recent statement opposing the Florida legislation, Spin remarked that the company “believes that ensuring local communities have a say in how bike share operates within their borders and on its right-of-way is both needed and beneficial, for communities and industry alike.”By engaging with community and local DOT needs, dockless bike-share companies have an incredible opportunity to advance equity and access to biking. Docked systems like Citi Bike often fail to reach low-income communities, the rationale being that the more solid business plan necessitates starting at the center of the city, and slowly working its way outward. Dockless companies have the advantage of being neighborhood-agnostic. If someone wants or needs to ride a bike home, all they need to do is open the app, find one, and bring it to where they need to go–and leave it there. Rowe is optimistic that if dockless bike-share companies can productively share trip data with city governments, they can work together to figure out how to optimize dockless bike placement and distribution (often called rebalancing) around the city; the local DOTs can, for instance, deploy agents to strategically place bikes at transit stations to up the usage of cycling as a more sustainable, last-mile option to driving. And they can also work to ensure that lower-income neighborhoods without good access to other transit options get priority. The case of Washington, D.C., which is currently playing host to numerous dockless companies and has seen particularly strong usage among younger people of color, is a testament to this need.Local collaborations between cities and companies could also result in a payment system that could make the bikes more affordable for frequent users–currently, companies like Spin tend to charge around $1 per ride, which is affordable for a one-off, but could tally up to a $40 at the end of a month of two rides per day. With local government input, the dockless companies could begin to build out a membership program–not unlike Citi Bike’s $15-per-month membership, which also offers subsidies for lower-income users–that would help to integrate the bikes as a viable part of the city’s greater transportation network.With state preemption, cities would be unable to rebalance the dockless bikes in accordance with community need, they would have no jurisdiction over bike maintenance, safety standards, or data-sharing. In a letter of opposition to the Florida legislation, NABSA perhaps put it most clearly in spelling out the consequences of lack of local oversight for dockless bike shares: “Seattle and Dallas–two cities who have experimented with dockless bike share–have experienced bicycles left in the public right of way, inhibiting pedestrian and wheelchair passage, as well as thrown into heaps, placed in trees, or hung on the tops fences, and have experienced significant complaints regarding broken bikes. Seattle and Dallas are both cities that have determined that increased local regulation is necessary to combat these challenges.”

NEW YORK, 2018 - U.S. stocks joined a broad decline in global equity markets on Monday as traders turned cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week and amid continuing concerns about the threat of a global trade war. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., March 19, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas JacksonAt the same time, shares of Facebook Inc (FB.O) shed nearly 7 percent after reports that a political consultancy that worked on U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign gained inappropriate access to data on 50 million of the social network’s users. That decline dragged other technology stocks, which have led the market higher over the last two years. “If they start to decay, then it may leave investors wondering what’s left to become the new leader to resume the bulls’ advance,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell as much as 425 during the session and ended won 335.60 points, or 1.35 percent, at 24,610.91. The S&P 500 .SPX index lost 39.09 points, or 1.42 percent, to 2,712.92 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite .IXIC index dropped 155.07 points, or 1.8 percent, to 7,334.24. MSCI’s main 47-country world stock index fell 1.1 percent in afternoon trading after European stocks dipped and benchmark U.S. indexes declined. Global equities are on their worst run since November. The drop in European and U.S. indexes came as central banks appeared to be preparing for more rate hikes. A Reuters report that the European Central Bank expects a rate hike by mid-2019 started helping the euro recover from a difficult morning against the dollar. Wall Street is looking toward the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, which concludes on Wednesday, with 104 analysts polled by Reuters expecting the central bank will raise rates 25 basis points to a range of 1.50 percent to 1.75 percent. Yields in benchmark 10-year Treasuries held steady, reflecting investor rate hike expectations. After the meeting, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a his first press conference as the central bank’s new chief. Analysts at JPMorgan see a risk the Fed might not only add one more rate rise for this year but for 2019 as well. “The worst case is the ‘18 and ‘19 dots both move up - the Fed is currently guiding to five hikes in ‘18 and ‘19 combined, but under this scenario that would shift to seven hikes,” they warned in a note to clients. “Stocks would probably tolerate one net dot increase over ‘18 and ‘19, but a bump in both years could create problems.” The dollar index .DXY fell 0.4 percent, with the euro EUR= up 0.39 percent to $1.2335 Any nod to four hikes would normally be considered as bullish for the U.S. dollar, yet the currency has shown scant overall correlation to interest rates in recent months. Dealers cite concerns about the U.S. budget and current account deficits, chaos in the White House, better growth in overseas markets, particularly Europe, and the risk of a U.S.-led trade war. FILE PHOTO: The seal for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is on display in Washington, DC, U.S., June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File PhotoFears of a global trade war triggered by Trump’s imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports cast a cloud over a two-day G20 meeting in Buenos Aires this week. The prospect of higher U.S. interest rates weighed on non-yielding gold XAU=, which touched its lowest in more than two weeks but turned positive in later trade, up 0.3 percent at $1,317.49 per ounce by 1:33 p.m. EST (1733 GMT). Oil prices eased after ending last week with a solid bounce. U.S. crude CLcv1 fell 0.5 percent to settle at $62.06 per barrel and Brent LCOcv1 settled at $66.05, down 0.24 percent on the day. Reporting by David Randall; Editing by David Gregorio and Cynthia OstermanOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Good morning.(Want to get California Today by email? Here’s the sign-up.)The earthquake that struck eastern Los Angeles County on Tuesday caused little damage, but it was a reminder of the seismic volatility in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. Forty-seven years ago, a much more powerful earthquake struck Sylmar — about an hour’s drive from the epicenter of Tuesday’s earthquake — killing 65 people and severely damaging four hospital campuses.The consequences of that disaster are still being felt.A law passed in 1973 that ordered hospitals to strengthen their most vulnerable buildings has had unintended consequences across the state. To Nancy Skinner, a state senator in the East Bay, the seismic safety law has been used as an excuse for a vital acute-care hospital, the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, to shut down services at its Berkeley location. The hospital cites financial difficulty in funding the mandated retrofit, whose deadline has been pushed back several times and is now 2020. (There is also a 2030 deadline for buildings to be able to not only withstand an earthquake, but also remain operational.)Officials with Sutter Health, the hospital system that runs the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, have reassured locals that services will remain intact and that the center will relocate several miles south to Oakland. But Ms. Skinner said the move — which will result in some ambulances and patients having to use one of the most congested highways in America — would have an “extreme” impact on her constituency.The hospital controversy underscores a recurring problem in California: Residents want safer buildings, but they fear the more immediate consequences of costly renovations.“The magnitude of the earthquake that’s going to happen here is so significant that we really do need to have every critical facility in the best possible earthquake shape possible,” Ms. Skinner said.“But what we’re seeing is closures,” she added, “a consolidation of services.”More than 94 percent of general acute-care buildings at California hospitals currently meet the new 2020 deadline, state data shows.But in the last decade, at least 44 general acute-care hospitals across California have closed. In at least eight cases, hospital officials publicly cited expensive, often multimillion dollar seismic retrofitting costs as a significant factor in the decision to close.“There was no funding,” said Susan Neer, former chief administrator at Indian Valley Hospital, an acute-care hospital in Greenville which, amid a nursing shortage, closed at the end of 2006. “The state put all these mandates in, but they weren’t going to help.”California OnlineImageEducation Secretary Betsy DeVos, center.CreditEric Thayer for The New York Times(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)• Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is preparing new policies on campus sexual misconduct. They would bolster the rights of students accused of assault, reduce liability for universities and encourage schools to provide more support for victims. [The New York Times]• A bill that would have limited the ability of police officers to use deadly force has stalled in the State Senate. [The San Francisco Chronicle]• And while urban areas may grapple with complaints about use of force, California’s rural counties face a severe shortage of law enforcement officers. [The Sacramento Bee]Image“I am a retired patent attorney,” said Barbara Rae-Venter. “None of this is a planned event.”CreditBrian L. Frank for The New York Times• Meet the 70-year-old genetic genealogist who helped crack the Golden State Killer case. [The New York Times]• Ron Carlson, a writer and director of the postgraduate fiction program at University of California, Irvine, has resigned his position after a report said he had been accused of sexual misconduct at another school. [The New York Times]• A woman sleeping in a homeless encampment in Modesto was killed when she was hit by machinery being used to clean up the property. [The Modesto Bee]ImageRain Dove at a fashion event in New York in 2016.CreditKris Connor/Getty Images• The gender-nonconforming model Rain Dove Dubilewski said they turned potentially implicating text messages over to the police because they believed that Asia Argento was not being truthful. Ms. Argento has been accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old actor. [The New York Times]• The Anaheim City Council has voted to end agreements that offer the Disneyland Resort tax breaks. [The Los Angeles Times]• The Cleveland Browns have released linebacker Mychal Kendricks after he was charged with insider trading. Years ago, Mr. Kendricks was a standout at Hoover High School in Fresno. [The Fresno Bee]• City officials in Long Beach have outlined a plan to develop the entire waterfront and transform city skyline. [The Press Telegram]• Here’s how California can save the Amazon. [New York Times Opinion]A Special EventImageCreditThe New York TimesAn Evening With “The Daily” at the Theatre at Ace Hotel DTLA: Sept. 20Twenty minutes a day, five days a week, “The Daily” brings transparency to how the news is reported and explores topics of the day in depth. For its first live event in Los Angeles, the host Michael Barbaro joins the national immigration reporter Caitlin Dickerson — a California native and graduate of California State University, Long Beach — to discuss her groundbreaking reporting on deportation and family separations at the border.Buy tickets hereAnd Finally ...ImageGreggorio Casillas, middle, walks through school with his mother, Claudia Casillas, and Chief Michael Olivieri of the Pomona Police Department.CreditPomona Police DepartmentEarlier this year, a Pomona police officer, Greggory Casillas, was fatally shot during a confrontation with a man who opened fire on officers before barricading himself inside an apartment complex for hours.His son’s first day of school was Wednesday, and at first, he didn’t want go, The San Bernardino Sun reported.But then the motorcycles pulled up with their flashing lights.The officer’s son, Greggorio Casillas — or Little Gregg — was escorted to Citrus Elementary School in Upland by a half-dozen police motorcycles on Wednesday, and then greeted by more than 70 police officers when he arrived, The Sun reported.All of the encouragement apparently made his trepidation disappear. At one point during his ride in the sport utility vehicle that brought him to kindergarten, Little Gregg reportedly popped his head out of the rear window shouted to the chief: “I’m so excited!”California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: [email protected] Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.

Enlarge this image Judge Brett Kavanaugh arrives to testify during the second day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearings on Wednesday. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Judge Brett Kavanaugh arrives to testify during the second day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearings on Wednesday. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Friday, the Senate Judiciary Committee wrapped up four days of hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. The committee is likely to vote on Kavanaugh in about two weeks.And nothing in this week's often partisan-squabbling, protest-interrupted spectacle has changed the likely outcome: a party-line vote in favor of Kavanaugh's elevation to the high court.Here's a look back at some themes, issues and events of the past four days.1. "Women for Kavanaugh"If you got the sense from watching Kavanaugh this week that he was a friend to, and valued women, that's certainly the impression he was shooting for.The girls Catholic Youth Organization basketball team he coaches visited the hearing room Thursday for a photo-op. He mentioned the strong women in his life, starting with his mother, who he credited for showing him "the importance of women's equality." And he spoke of the number of women he's hired as law clerks while on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals — 25, of whom 21 have gone on to become clerks on the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh said — and he promised that, if confirmed, he'd continue his practice of hiring promising female lawyers to be his clerks.(Of his 48 law clerks, Kavanaugh has also hired 13 racial minorities, including five African-Americans, according to former law clerk Luke McCloud while testifying Friday; McCloud called those statistics "nearly unheard of among [Kavanaugh's] judicial peers.") Enlarge this image Wearing a "Women For Kavanaugh" T-shirt, Annabelle Rutledge watches with others as Kavanaugh testifies on Wednesday. Jacquelyn Martin/AP hide caption toggle caption Jacquelyn Martin/AP Wearing a "Women For Kavanaugh" T-shirt, Annabelle Rutledge watches with others as Kavanaugh testifies on Wednesday. Jacquelyn Martin/AP So it's not surprising that at least one spectator in the hearing room wore a T-shirt that proclaimed "Women for Kavanaugh."But if that T-shirt was symbolic of Kavanaugh's effort to show his support for women and their influence on his professional life, the many protesters at the hearings spoke to another reality regarding the Supreme Court nominee and women.The hearings began Tuesday with striking images of women protesters on Capitol Hill dressed as characters from television's The Handmaid's Tale. On Wednesday, at least one such demonstrator was dragged out of the hearing room, yelling "Stop Kavanaugh. Our bodies, our choice." And many other protesters throughout the hearings were women. Politics Kavanaugh Hearings, Day 1: Protesters Focus On Roe; Attempted Handshake Goes Viral Many women are deeply concerned about Kavanaugh's views on reproductive rights, an issue of extreme importance to them. And Kavanaugh's testimony that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, "was settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court," and that it had been reaffirmed by a subsequent high court decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey — which he said was "precedent on precedent" — didn't do much to allay those concerns.An email Kavanaugh authored in 2003 and reported on by the New York Times this week seemed to undermine Kavanaugh's stated view that Roe is settled law. Kavanaugh wrote that "I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court can always overrule its precedent," which is precisely what pro-abortion rights advocates fear most — and that Kavanaugh would be part of a conservative majority on the Supreme Court to do just that.Kavanaugh explained this week that in the email he was simply editing a proposed op-ed article and that the descriptive "all legal scholars" was overly broad.Abortion rights advocates also sounded alarm bells Thursday, when Kavanaugh referred to some forms of birth control "as abortion-inducing drugs." A tweet from NARAL called Kavanaugh's comment "not only an anti-science lie, it's an anti-choice extremest phrase."During testimony Friday, NYU Law School professor Melissa Murray, a former law clerk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said Kavanaugh will provide the "necessary fifth vote that would utterly eviscerate" Roe v. Wade.2. John Dean sounds alarm about Kavanaugh, presidential power Enlarge this image John Dean, former White House counsel to President Nixon, told the Senate panel if Kavanaugh is confirmed, the Supreme Court would become "the most presidential powers-friendly court in the modern era." Mark Wilson/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Mark Wilson/Getty Images John Dean, former White House counsel to President Nixon, told the Senate panel if Kavanaugh is confirmed, the Supreme Court would become "the most presidential powers-friendly court in the modern era." Mark Wilson/Getty Images Kavanaugh's did little to illuminate what critics say are his expansive views of executive power. He dodged questions about whether a president could pardon himself, or could be subject to a subpoena, although he did call the Supreme Court's 1974 decision that forced President Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes "one of the greatest moments in American judicial history." Politics Brett Kavanaugh Investigated A President, Then Voiced Concerns About Doing Just That Coincidentally, Nixon's White House counsel John Dean testified Friday. He told the committee if Kavanaugh is confirmed, the Supreme court would become "the most presidential powers-friendly court in the modern era." He added that "under Judge Kavanaugh's recommendation, if a president shot someone in cold blood on Fifth Avenue, that president could not be prosecuted while in office."3. "A skeptic of unauthorized regulation, of illegal regulation"One lesser-noted part of Kavanaugh's testimony this week pertained to his thoughts about the role of government regulations and the power of administrative agencies."I've heard it said that I'm a skeptic of regulation," he said. "I'm not a skeptic of regulation at all. I'm a skeptic of unauthorized regulation, of illegal regulation, of regulation that is outside the bounds of what the laws passed by Congress have said."Let's unpack that statement: Regulation "outside the bounds of what the laws passed by Congress have said" is contrary to a basic tenet of Republican and conservative principles about small government and limited governmental. But, it's also a basic tenet of a Supreme Court doctrine in administrative law known as Chevron deference. The Supreme court ruled in Chevron v. NRDC in 1984 that when a statute is ambiguous, courts should defer to reasonable interpretations of the statute by the federal agencies that apply the law.Chevron deference has been used to defend environmental, worker and consumer regulations. Not surprisingly, corporations tend not to be fans of it — arguing that it's led to regulatory overreach — and would like to see the Supreme Court narrow the scope of, or even do away with, the deference principle announced in the Chevron case.4. Spotlight on Booker and Harris Enlarge this image Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California both scored points with the progressive base during the Kavanaugh hearings. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Drew Angerer/Getty Images Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California both scored points with the progressive base during the Kavanaugh hearings. Drew Angerer/Getty Images For Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris, of California, and Cory Booker, of New Jersey, the week was a chance to grab some national attention and score some points with the progressive base — as many political observers wonder about their presidential aspirations in 2020. Politics Kavanaugh Hearings, Day 3: Booker Has His 'Spartacus Moment'; A Mulligan On Mueller Harris showed off her prosecutorial skills, cross-examining Kavanaugh on issues ranging from whether he had discussed special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation with anyone at a law firm founded by one of President Trump's personal attorneys to questioning the federal appeals court judge about reproductive rights."Can you think of any laws that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?," she asked. Kavanaugh struggled to find a response. "I'm not — I'm not thinking of any right now, Senator," he said. Politics Kavanaugh Hearings, Day 2: More Protests As Senators Press On Precedent Booker, meanwhile, dramatically challenged Republicans to expel him from the Senate, after they took umbrage over his release of "Committee Confidential" documents from Kavanaugh's time in the White House during the administration of George W. Bush. "Bring it," Booker challenged Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas., on Thursday. (But the apparent controversy over documents from Kavanaugh's past that set the Internet, social media and cable TV abuzz with talk of Booker's move may not have been a controversy at all.)5. The first Monday in OctoberAt the end of the week, it's almost certain that none of the drama changed any minds. Kavanaugh adroitly avoided any missteps that might have put his confirmation in jeopardy, and Republicans could be nothing but delighted with his largely headline-avoiding performance. Enlarge this image Kavanaugh looks over his notes while testifying on Thursday. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Kavanaugh looks over his notes while testifying on Thursday. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images In about two weeks, the committee will likely vote along party lines to favorably recommend Kavanaugh's confirmation, and the full Senate is likely to quickly follow suit, possibly in time enough for President Trump's second Supreme Court pick in as many years to take a seat on the high court's exclusive bench by the first Monday of October, when the new Supreme Court term begins.

The HomePod, Apple’s answer to Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Home smart speakers, was unveiled in June. Apple said it would be available in December, but the company announced today (Nov. 17) that it was now delaying the launch until 2018.“We can’t wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple’s breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it’s ready for our customers,” Apple told CNBC. “We’ll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018.” (Quartz has reached out to confirm.)It’s unusual for Apple, one of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world, which can literally make or break a supplier’s entire business by ordering parts en masse, to miss a deadline that it’s announced. It did have a similar issue with its AirPods wireless headphones last holiday season (paywall), which were originally supposed to be available in October 2016, and only started to become available closer to the end of the year. In both instances, Apple did not specify the reason for the delay, but both products revolve around audio and Siri, so it’s possible there’s a connection.It seems that Apple will be ceding the lucrative holiday shopping season to its rivals in the smart speaker market, which Amazon helped define in 2014. Whether the pull of a new Apple product will be enough to persuade consumers to hold off on buying an Echo or a Home (both of which start at $50, whereas the HomePod will cost $350) is unclear. But Apple’s device will only stream music from its own Apple Music service—couple that with the delay in releasing the product, and it’s possible that Apple will be facing an uphill battle with its speaker by the time it’s actually on the market.

A mounting number of citations on a popular disease-tracking website suggests that mosquitoes may be moving into new ecological niches with greater frequency.The website, ProMED mail, has carried more than a dozen such reports since June, all involving mosquito species known to transmit human diseases.Most reports have concerned the United States, where, for example, Aedes aegypti — the yellow fever mosquito, which also spreads Zika, dengue and chikungunya — has been turning up in counties in California and Nevada where it had never, or only rarely, been seen.Other reports have noted mosquito species found for the first time on certain South Pacific islands, or in parts of Europe where harsh winters previously kept them at bay.ProMED, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases, is overseen by the International Society for Infectious Diseases. Its moderators disseminate alerts coming in from members, news media, government releases and other sources, with notes that put these reports in context and separate the truly alarming from the merely alarmist.Over the years, the site has chronicled Public Health England’s hard-fought battle to keep a new invader, Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito, out of the “scepter’d isle” that Shakespeare in “Richard II” called “this fortress built by Nature for herself against infection.”Aedes albopictus established itself in Italy and southern France, where it has spread chikungunya — a painful fever known as “bending up disease.” British health authorities now have more than 30 surveillance stations at ports, airports and truck stops, on guard against the mosquito.In August, The Daily Express newspaper said officials had “blitzed a clutch of notorious tiger mosquitoes suspected to have smuggled their way into Britain through the Eurotunnel.”In 2014, ProMED noted, Public Health England debunked false alarms that the mosquito had landed. In 2016, officials acknowledged finding 37 Aedes albopictus eggs at a truck stop in Kent.Also in August, ProMED reported that Aedes albopictus appeared to have established itself in Gibraltar, a British territory on the southern edge of Spain.