While developers have had access to beta versions of the software updates since June, many were caught off guard by Apple'smuch shorter notice of the final releases. By comparison, Apple started accepting apps built for iOS 13 on September 10 last year, over one week before the software update was released on September 19. From a story yesterday: "I think a lot of developers won't be sleeping tonight or will instead just give up and opt to release [their app] when they want to, instead of alongside the new OS," said iOS developer Shihab Mehboob in a message. "Apple has seemingly out of the blue decided to surprise developers with no real warning or care." [...] "Without advance warning like this, nothing is ready," a developer at High Caffeine Content, Steve Troughton-Smith, told me. "Developers aren't ready, the App Store is't ready, and everybody is rushing to react instead of having the chance to finish their apps properly." Steve ran through the normal iOS release process with me. Apple usually gives third-party app developers a heads up of about a week before the official public release of a new iOS. The company puts out a "Golden Master" copy of the new iOS and Xcode developer tool before the latest operating system is officially released to the public. This gives iPhone app developers the time they need to make sure the apps they've been building for the beta releases of the new iOS actually work on the final version. Sometimes there are critical bugs that are only revealed or could only be fixed at this point in the process. The extra time can also be used to add new features for any new devices announced at the Apple Event. Apple's approval process for apps also takes some time, so developers have that week to make sure they submit in time to guarantee their work will be in the App Store for the iOS release. "Gone are the hopes of being on the store by the time users install the new iOS 14 and are looking for new apps. Gone is the chance to get some last-minute fixes into your existing apps to make sure they don't stop working outright by the time users get to upgrade their OS," explained Steve. "There are some developers who have spent all summer working on something new, using the latest technologies, hoping to be there on day one and participate in the excitement (and press coverage) of the new iOS," he continued. "For many of them, they'll be incredibly upset to have it end like this instead of a triumphant launch, and it can dramatically decrease the amount of coverage or sales they receive."

For months, public health experts have sounded the alarm that people in these under-resourced migrant encampments and shelters ... face disproportionate risks from Covid-19.

Enlarge this image Russian President Vladimir Putin hands President Trump a World Cup soccer ball during a joint news conference after their July 2018 summit in Helsinki. Chris McGrath/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Chris McGrath/Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin hands President Trump a World Cup soccer ball during a joint news conference after their July 2018 summit in Helsinki. Chris McGrath/Getty Images Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had no greater friend in the White House than him. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was the only European Union leader to endorse him for president in 2016. And Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he admires him greatly. President Trump has counted several world leaders as his fans, many of them authoritarians, nationalists or populists. But they might have trouble keeping their relationship with the United States as friendly and their growing authoritarian tendencies unchecked if Joe Biden wins the presidency.Besides the various torn-up international accords, the retreat of traditional American leadership from the global stage and the cementing of the "America First" doctrine, there has been perhaps no more glaring consequence of Trump's tenure than his embrace of strongmen who largely eschewed the Western-based human rights and rules of law agenda. By figuring out relatively early how to win favor with Trump, these leaders often leveraged their close relationship with him to cement their own power at home. Some borrowed his rhetoric such as decrying "fake news" to crack down on dissent, some appealed to his sense of pomp by throwing lavish ceremonies and others adopted his brazenly transactional approach to geopolitical dealmaking.None of these Trump "bromances," whether forged for pragmatic or ideological reasons, are likely to continue with the same fervor with Biden. The 77-year-old former vice president, who has made clear his distaste for Trump's embrace of strongmen, is nevertheless the product of a traditional Democratic establishment that has also tolerated unsavory rulers in the name of preserving U.S. strategic interests. Still, if Biden wins, we can expect he'll seek to bring human rights and the rule of law as important pillars of U.S. foreign policy.Over the last few weeks, our correspondents explored Trump's close relationships with some world leaders and how they might change under a Biden presidency.The relationship with Russia's Vladimir PutinAs candidate, Trump made clear his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. And throughout his presidency — the Robert Mueller investigation and the ongoing Russian attempts to interfere with the election notwithstanding — Trump has mostly refrained from severely criticizing Putin. (The Trump administration and Congress have called out Russia's aggressive behavior and have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.) World Trump Vs. Biden: How Russia Sees The U.S. Election Case in point: the Helsinki summit in 2018 in which Trump refused to unequivocally back his own intelligence agencies' assessment that Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. Putin, Trump said, was "extremely strong" in his denials. Fast-forward to 2020 and U.S. intelligence agencies believe Russia is still engaging in "malign foreign influence" — including the use of social media and propaganda — that, they say, primarily goes after Biden. (The Kremlin denies any interference in U.S. elections.) The drumbeat of interference assertions was a major reason U.S.-Russian relations never really had a chance to improve.How it might change under Biden"I think the very fact that Biden was Obama's vice president already makes him not a friendly figure in Russia," says Moscow-based political analyst Masha Lipman. Biden, who repeatedly highlights the importance of preserving NATO, is likely to adopt a tougher line against Russia.The only thing that helps the Kremlin, Lipman says, is more polarization and turmoil in the United States. "Turmoil means the United States [is] weakened," she says. "This is what the Kremlin can actually benefit from, not an improvement in relations."The relationship with China's Xi JinpingOn the campaign trail and throughout his presidency, Trump has railed against China but has also voiced admiration for Chinese leader Xi Jinping as he tried to secure trade deals beneficial to the United States. Who could forget his January tweet praising Xi over his handling of the novel coronavirus? As the virus ravaged the West, Trump changed course, using China as a punching bag and saying his relationship with Xi has since frayed. Putting aside the leaders' relationship, the two countries are probably experiencing the worst ties in years. The Trump administration has sanctioned Chinese officials, targeted Chinese tech companies, arrested alleged Chinese spies and regularly challenges the country's claims in the South China Sea.How it might change under BidenBiden regularly touts the tough line he took as vice president against Xi. Biden says he would force China to "play by the international rules." He frames the issue as bringing together democracies to counter "abusive economic practices." Tony Blinken, the Democrat's top foreign policy adviser, told NPR that Biden would focus on "our competitiveness, on revitalizing our democracy, on strengthening our alliances and partnerships, on reasserting our values. That's how you engage China from a position of strength." China, for its part, sees the U.S. as a declining power. In its recently revealed five-year plan, Beijing signaled it expects more American-led tariffs on its exports and more sanctions on its tech firms but that it's also confident to meet those challenges.The relationship with Israel's Netanyahu Enlarge this image Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Trump before the president's departure from Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv in May 2017. The visit was part of Trump's first Middle East trip after taking office. Kobi Gideon/Israel Government Press Office/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kobi Gideon/Israel Government Press Office/Getty Images Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Trump before the president's departure from Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv in May 2017. The visit was part of Trump's first Middle East trip after taking office. Kobi Gideon/Israel Government Press Office/Getty Images The Israeli prime minister is one of Trump's closest allies. Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the U.S. Embassy there — even though Palestinians seek part of the city for their future capital. He recognized Israeli claims to sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Netanyahu has touted his friendship with Trump in his campaigns. Trump has tweeted his support for Netanyahu and hosted him at the White House. Just a week ago, the Trump administration lifted a ban on U.S. taxpayer funding for Israeli scientific research carried out in Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territory. Netanyahu says, "Israel has never had a better friend."How it might change under BidenDanny Danon, who most recently served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, says Biden would also be "good with Israel." Nevertheless, Biden was vice president during Obama and Netanyahu's famously frosty relationship, and it's hard to see the two leaders sharing as close a relationship as Trump and Netanyahu.Mitchell Barak, a pollster in Jerusalem, says that a Biden administration would probably want to take a more evenhanded approach with Israel. Under Trump, ties with the Palestinian leadership broke down. "They're going to start to try and make it a little more evenhanded or to look more evenhanded. And the free lunches that we've been getting up until now — we're going to have to pay for some of those things," Barak says. "And then Netanyahu does not have the advantage because it's going to be more of an antagonistic relationship." The relationship with India's Narendra ModiThe two leaders have had each other's backs even as they've both faced criticism for discriminating against minorities. When he was pressed to question Prime Minister Narendra Modi about anti-Muslim riots in India, Trump gave him a pass. "And I will say that the prime minister was incredible on what he told me. He wants people to have religious freedom," Trump said during his visit to India earlier this year.How it might change under BidenA Biden-Harris administration is likely to voice stronger rhetoric on Modi's record on human rights, the environment and Kashmir. Still, India is seen as an important counterweight to China in the region, and Biden will not want to upset that."Since the George W. Bush administration, the United States has recognized India's potential as a natural balancer to China. It's been a proponent of the U.S.-India relationship due to India's strategic location, its potential as a market," says Akriti Vasudeva at the Stimson Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C.The relationship with Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador When he launched his campaign for president in 2015, Trump vilified Mexicans: "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." He also repeatedly threatened tariffs on Mexican exports. But over the years, and especially as he worked to secure the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, Trump and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's relationship has grown closer. Critics of López Obrador say that he caved in to Trump by adopting harsher policies toward Central American migrants. But analysts say the Mexican leader didn't have much choice, particularly as he faced Trump's threats of tariffs and forcing Mexico to pay for a border wall."It would be very costly for López Obrador to get in a fight with Donald Trump," says Carlos Bravo Regidor, a political analyst and professor at Mexico's Center for Research and Teaching in Economics.How it might change under Biden Enlarge this image Then-Vice President Joe Biden meets with then-Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador in March 2012 in Mexico City. Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images Then-Vice President Joe Biden meets with then-Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador in March 2012 in Mexico City. Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images Every president since Franklin Roosevelt has visited Mexico — except for Trump. In fact, Biden even visited then-candidate López Obrador in 2012. Biden made more trips just to Guatemala in his two terms as vice president than Trump has made to all of Latin America as president, and would likely look to work with López Obrador on immigration. As vice president, he promoted aid to Central American countries and pressured their leaders to curb corruption.The relationship with Brazil's Bolsonaro Enlarge this image Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rides a horse during a May demonstration in favor of his government amid the coronavirus pandemic in front of Planalto Palace in Brasilia. Andressa Anholete/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Andressa Anholete/Getty Images Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rides a horse during a May demonstration in favor of his government amid the coronavirus pandemic in front of Planalto Palace in Brasilia. Andressa Anholete/Getty Images It's no surprise that the "Trump of the Tropics," as Bolsonaro has come to be known, has a close relationship with the U.S. president. They're both brash nationalists who share similar views on the coronavirus pandemic — belittling the science, pooh-poohing the need for masks and saying the whole thing is just exaggerated. They both got COVID-19 and recovered. And they both believe shutting down the economy through lockdowns is more harmful than the virus. Bolsonaro's first international trip was to Washington, and he's since visited Trump three more times, including at Mar-a-Lago.How it might change under Biden"It would be a sort of earthquake," says Rubens Ricupero, a former Brazilian ambassador to the United States. Biden would likely pressure Bolsonaro on the erosion of human rights protections, including for Indigenous people, but it's the Brazilian leader's positions on the Amazon that would really be scrutinized. Biden wants to join forces with other counties to create a $20 billion fund for Brazil as part of an effort to press Bolsonaro to end rising deforestation. Still, Biden would need Brazil's cooperation on Venezuela and containing China, Brazil's biggest trading partner.The relationship with Turkey's Recep Tayyip ErdoganThe two leaders have had a bumpy relationship, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also understood the benefit of a good rapport with Trump and preying on his instincts — particularly one that has to do with Trump's anathema of having U.S. troops in the "endless wars." With one phone call last year, Erdogan got Trump to move U.S. troops in Syria out of the way so that Turkish soldiers could attack Kurdish forces, which were U.S. allies in the fight against ISIS. Still, though Trump has called Erdogan a "good friend," he also at one point threatened to "totally destroy and obliterate" the Turkish economy.How it might change under BidenFor one thing, it might become more predictable. Turkey might find it has to rein in the adventurous foreign policy it enjoyed under Trump.Biden would also most likely pressure Turkey on its human rights record — particularly its jailing of journalists and other critics. Significant issues also divide Ankara and Washington, including Turkey's purchase of Russian missiles.The relationship with the Saudi crown prince Enlarge this image Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (left) meets with Trump, who holds a chart displaying military hardware sales, in the Oval Office of the White House in March 2018. Kevin Dietsch/Pool via Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kevin Dietsch/Pool via Bloomberg via Getty Images Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (left) meets with Trump, who holds a chart displaying military hardware sales, in the Oval Office of the White House in March 2018. Kevin Dietsch/Pool via Bloomberg via Getty Images Breaking with decades of U.S. tradition, Trump chose Saudi Arabia as his first international trip as president. In Riyadh, the Saudi royal family lavished Trump and his family with an extravagant ceremony. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has since been reaping the rewards. The Trump administration has barely pressured him — over the kingdom's air campaign in Yemen, which has killed thousands of civilians, or his crackdown on dissent. And following the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump stood by the crown prince's side even as U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that the Saudi royal had approved the killing and as bipartisan lawmakers condemned him.How it might change under BidenThe former vice president has cast the kingdom as a "pariah" — making it clear Salman would likely have a tougher time making inroads with a potential Biden administration. Biden has also threatened to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia, a top buyer of U.S. weaponry."So there might be some cuts in terms of particular arms sales. There might be symbolic punishments. But the Biden administration is going to want a good relationship with Saudi Arabia despite the many problems," says Daniel Byman, a Middle East specialist at Georgetown University.The relationship with Hungary's OrbánEurope's populists, often shunned by Brussels, have found a natural ally in Trump, who shares their disdain for migrants, the media and dissent. But it's Hungary's prime minister, Orbán, who leads the pack. He was the only EU leader to endorse Trump in 2016. Four years and a White House visit later, Orbán calls Trump a friend and predicts he will win reelection. The populist leaders of Slovenia (Melania Trump's native country) and Serbia have also endorsed the president.Previous U.S. administrations shunned Hungary, and the EU is investigating Hungary and Poland, run by another Trump-friendly government, for rule of law violations. Ivan Krastev, a political scientist who leads the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria, says the two countries have used their alliance with Trump to make it clear "that they have an alternative" to Brussels.How it might change under BidenBiden mentioned Poland and Hungary when slamming Trump's foreign policy during a town hall last month, adding, "This president embraces all the thugs in the world." The remark angered Hungary's government, but Orbán is already casting Biden as part of the international liberal elite. "We know well American Democratic governments' diplomacy, built on moral imperialism," Orbán wrote in a recent essay in the pro-government newspaper Magyar Nemzet."He knows he has a lot to lose, so he's already positioned himself for the world without Trump," says Krastev, the political scientist.Lucian Kim, John Ruwitch, Emily Feng, Daniel Estrin, Lauren Frayer, Carrie Kahn, Philip Reeves, Peter Kenyon, Jackie Northam and Joanna Kakissis contributed to this report.

Apple Inc. became a $2 trillion company on Wednesday. The irony is this shows just how little it can afford to lose.On Wednesday morning, Apple’s share price topped the level needed to exceed a $2 trillion market capitalization. That level didn’t quite hold at the closing bell. But Apple has still enjoyed a strong run: The stock has averaged a weekly gain of 3.5% since the beginning of June, according to FactSet. Its business has proven surprisingly resilient to the pandemic. The company still generates more than 80% of its revenue by selling high-price devices made almost entirely in China, where the outbreak first occurred. Combined revenue from all those devices grew 10% year over year in Apple’s most recent fiscal quarter ended June 27. The stock has jumped more than 20% since those results were reported on July 30.But Apple is also now facing an unprecedented challenge to its App Store business, putting it in the crosshairs of lawmakers and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. The matter has escalated significantly over the past few days, as Epic Games sued both Apple and Google in federal court after the two companies removed its popular “Fortnite” videogame from their app marketplaces as Epic tried an end run around their respective payment systems. In a new twist Monday, Epic sought a restraining order against Apple to prevent the game’s removal and to keep Apple from ejecting Epic from its developer program.Since its launch in 2008, the App Store has grown into a crucial business for Apple. Based on regulatory filings, the App Store has been the largest contributor to the growth of Apple’s services segment in three of the past four fiscal years. The services segment is now Apple’s second-largest segment after the iPhone—and the one that has delivered the most steady growth over the past four years as the smartphone business has matured. Service gross margins are also key to Apple’s overall business model, coming in 34 percentage points higher than the company’s product gross margins for the nine-month period ended June 27.The ultimate outcome of the Epic lawsuit and regulatory probes is impossible to predict. But at $2 trillion, the market is valuing Apple as if nothing could go wrong. At that level, the stock trades at more than 32 times forward earnings—or 31 times excluding $81 billion in net cash on the company’s balance sheet. That is its highest multiple in more than a decade. It is also about double the multiple the shares fetched when Apple’s market value first crossed the $1 trillion mark in August 2018.

The market focus is shifting to how various nations are adapting to getting back to business, while striving to keep new COVID-19 cases in check.Japan lifted its state of emergency under what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday called a new lifestyle, with widespread wearing of masks and face shields.Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 2.2% in morning trading to 21,190.85. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.7% at 5,711.30. South Korea's Kospi gained 1.2% to 2,019.06. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.6% to 23,327.65, while the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.7% to 2,836.40.“As is the financial market’s wont these days ... even the slimmest of positive news on the COVID-19 front triggers a bullish immune response and another wave of the peak-virus trade," Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a commentary.U.S. markets were closed for Memorial Day on Monday, while European benchmarks ended higher, reflecting the global investor optimism. France’s CAC 40 jumped nearly 2.2% to end the day at 4,539.91. Germany’s DAX surged 2.9% to 11,391.28. Trading was closed in Britain for a bank holiday.Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief market economist with SMBC Nikko Securities, said global trade and production appeared to be bottoming out in May, though demand will likely recover gradually.Comments from China’s central bank governor on support for its slowing economy also lifted sentiment.Yi Gang, in an interview on the bank’s website, promised to push down borrowing costs for entrepreneurs and “support development of the real economy.”He said the People’s Bank of China will pursue “more flexible” monetary policy. He said that was in line with official goals announced Friday by Premier Li Keqiang of helping smaller and private companies survive the coronavirus pandemic.The interview was published as China's largely ceremonial National People's Congress holds its annual session, where other senior officials have stressed the need to push growth higher and create jobs, while steering clear of excess government spending.Investors are also awaiting U.S. consumer confidence data for May and home sales for April, indicators that might give further clues into the severity of the downturn brought on by the pandemic.Benchmark U.S. crude gained 78 cents to $34.03 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It closed at $33.25 on Friday, and markets were closed on Monday.Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 44 cents to $36.56 a barrel.———AP Business Writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed.———Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

MIAMI -- AT&T said Tuesday it will immediately ditch Venezuela's pay TV market as U.S. sanctions prohibit its DirecTV platform from broadcasting channels that it is required to carry by the socialist administration of Nicolás Maduro.The Dallas-based company's closing of its Venezuela unit is effective immediately.It follows a decision by the Trump administration not to renew a license it had granted AT&T to continue carrying Globovision, a private network, sanctioned by the U.S., owned by a businessman close to Maduro who is wanted on U.S. money laundering charges, three people familiar with the situation told the AP. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. government licensing activity.AT&T joins a number of other U.S. companies — General Motors, Kellogg Co. and Kimberly-Clark — that have abandoned Venezuela due to shrinking sales, government threats and the risk of U.S. sanctions. Around 700 Venezuelans depended on the unit for employment.“Because it is impossible for AT&T’s DIRECTV unit to comply with the legal requirements of both countries, AT&T was forced to close its pay TV operations in Venezuela, a decision that was made by the company’s U.S. leadership team without any involvement or prior knowledge of the DIRECTV Venezuela team,” the company said in a statement.At nighttime Tuesday, residents in Caracas started banging on pots and pans for nearly a half hour to spontaneously protest a decline in public services. Some yelled “I want my DirecTV” amid chants against Maduro.AT&T has a 44% share of the pay TV market and its departure is likely to hit hard working-class barrios of larger cities and the interior that depend on DirecTV for access to information and entertainment.An Associated Press investigation from January found that AT&T had been under increasing pressure from the Trump administration to stand up to Maduro's censors, who since 2017 have ordered the removal of some 10 channels, including CNN en Español, that had broadcast anti-government protests.Local regulators accuse the channels of violating the Law on Social Responsibility on Radio and Television, which seeks to guarantee socially responsible programming but that press freedom groups consider it a tool to muzzle critical coverage due to its ambiguous language and heavy penalties. DirecTV is also a major platform for the broadcast of state-run TV outlets criticized by the opposition as propaganda.A never-implemented plan promoted by the State Department would have forced AT&T to pull the plug on Globovision and the state-run channels while restoring some of the banned international news channels, according to five people familiar with the discussions cited in the earlier AP investigation.AT&T hasn't made money from its Venezuelan operations for years due to strict government controls that keep the price of its packages artificially low — a few pennies per month. The situation has become so dire that DirecTV in 2012 stopped importing set-top boxes, choking its growth. In 2015, it wrote down its assets in the country by $1.1 billion.But the company was reluctant to close down its operations in Venezuela because of its market share — the largest it has anywhere in the world — and its commitment to a satellite broadcast center from which DirecTV beams about a third of its programming to several parts of South America.An AT&T executive said that while its broadcast signal in Venezuela will stop working Tuesday, the company has enhanced other facilities in the region to ensure that service continues uninterrupted throughout South America. The executive spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.AT&T's departure deprives many Venezuelans of what had been a cheap form of entertainment in a nation ravaged by 2 million percent hyperinflation. Among them is Maduro himself, who at a recent press conference boasted that he's a fan of CNN's English language channel, even rattling off the channel — 706 — where it appears on DirecTV's platform.Socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello on Twitter said “no blockade will censure us" and invited his followers to watch his weekly TV program that is broadcast on state TV on a streaming platform.There was no immediate comment from the Trump administration.With AT&T’s announcement Tuesday, however, some DirecTV subscribers reported that their service immediately went dark, displaying the message: “Channel not available.”Pedro Zambrano, a taxi driver waiting on a client at a Caracas supermarket, said he has subscribed to DirecTV for years to watch his favorite series and tuned in nightly to the German government’s Deutsche Welle channel, which broadcast international news in Spanish.The 54-year-old said the loss of DirecTV amid the coronavirus pandemic, where he and others are forced to spend long stretches at home, is only likely to further erode a quality of life that has worsened in recent years by frequent power outages and shortages of water and gasoline for his car, which provides his living.“I don’t know how a person can live with dignity in a country like this,” Zambrano said. “Well, what can I tell you? We’re sunk.”—Smith reported from Caracas. AP Writer Fabiola Sanchez contributed to this report from Caracas, Venezuela.

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Monday called for undoing a provision in President Trump's tax-cut law disliked by many residents of high-tax states, ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries that include California.Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., is proposing removing the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction for households earning less than $400,000."Removing the SALT cap for families undoes Trump’s politically motivated tax increase and enables governors and mayors across the country to enact progressive tax policies," Buttigieg's campaign said in a news release.Republicans included the SALT deduction cap in their 2017 tax law in order to raise revenue to pay for tax cuts elsewhere in the bill, and to put a limit on the federal tax code subsidizing higher state taxes. They have noted that most taxpayers, even in high-tax states, are gettin a tax cut under the 2017 law.But the SALT deduction cap is unpopular among politicians in high-tax, Democratic-leaning states such as New York, New Jersey and California, who argue that it unfairly punishes their residents and makes it harder for states to provide robust public services. In California, one of a number of states holding their presidential primaries on March 3, Democrats won several GOP-held House districts in 2018 where taxpayers had previously relied on the SALT deduction.The SALT deduction issue has been more prominent in Congress than it has been on the campaign trail, where Democratic presidential candidates have spoken more about their plans to raise taxes on the rich and corporations. Democrats face challenges in repealing the SALT deduction cap because analysts have estimated that high-income taxpayers would benefit the most from repeal. Democratic presidential candidates have not all taken the same position on the SALT deduction cap, and some candidates' positions are not clear.Former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenJobs report adds to Biden momentum White House says bills are bipartisan even if GOP doesn't vote for them Trump calls for boycott of MLB for moving All-Star Game MORE has expressed support for repealing the SALT deduction cap, while former New York City Mayor Michael BloombergMichael BloombergBloomberg, former RNC chair Steele back Biden pick for civil rights division As Trump steps back in the spotlight, will Cuomo exit stage left? 'Lucky': How Warren took down Bloomberg MORE supports keeping the SALT deduction cap, according to news reports.Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) last year voted in the Senate to disapprove of regulations related to the SALT deduction cap, while Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were not present when the vote took place.Buttigieg also said that he wants to expand the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit — two tax credits that benefit low- and middle-income households. His proposed enhancements to the child tax credit include making the current $2,000 credit fully refundable and creating an additional $1,000 refundable credit for families with children under the age of 6.There is widespread support among Democrats in Congress and on the campaign trail to expand the earned income tax credit and child tax credit.The proposals Buttigieg floated Monday come on top of other tax proposals the candidate has offered to increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations, including a financial transaction tax and raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to its pre-GOP tax law level of 35 percent. Buttigieg's campaign said Monday that the candidate would tax U.S. companies' foreign earnings on a country-by-country basis at a rate of 28 to 35 percent.

Amid a surge of misinformation triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, Twitter has announced yet another update to its policies regarding conspiracy theories and fake news. Now, Covid-19 tweets that are considered misleading will get labels designed to offer more context about the information therein. Tweets making potentially harmful claims disputed by experts will now come with a more direct warning message.Twitter explained in a blog post that its new strategy for dealing with problematic tweets takes a three-pronged approach. The specific action taken will depend on whether the company deems the claims in a tweet as “misleading,” “disputed,” or “unverified.” Based on how severe the claims made in the tweet are, the company will apply either a label or a warning. Here’s a handy graphic for which types of content get a label versus a warning — or no action at all:Removal is obviously the most serious consequence outlined here. A warning is next-most serious. Content with disputed information that Twitter thinks carries a severe propensity for harm will get one of these warning messages. In this case, the entire tweet might be blocked off, with a note that the content shared “conflicts with guidance from public health experts.” Twitter said these changes will also be applied to tweets sent before today. For tweets deemed moderately harmful, Twitter will insert a link underneath the tweet directing users to reliable information. This strategy mimics the company’s approach to deepfakes, which was announced earlier this year. But it’s not quite clear how the note — “Get the facts about COVID-19” — will be interpreted since it doesn’t actually contradict anything said in a false tweet. Users must also click through the label to get redirected to a page with related fact-checked content. For example, here’s what you’ll see if you click on a label that’s been attached to a tweet about 5G and the coronavirus.Twitter’s new approach follows a similar one from Facebook involving its own third-party fact-checkers, which was announced in March. Currently, if you see a false post on Facebook that’s been flagged, you’ll be warned and directed to content from a professional fact-checking organization. Last month, Facebook announced that it would retroactively provide links to verified Covid-19 information to users who had previously “Liked,” reacted, or commented on “harmful misinformation” related to the pandemic. But this surge in a particular category of misinformation — and the threat it presents to public health in the middle of a pandemic — has forced the social media giants to reconsider their approach to content moderation. Twitter, specifically, has already expanded its definition of “harm” on the platform to include tweets that defy recommendations from public health authorities. The company has also taken down some, but not all, of tweets now deemed “harmful.” Rather than just labeling certain types of fake news, as previous policies had allowed, Facebook has been aggressively taking down a whole host of misleading posts and entire quarantine protest groups. Incorrect health information about the coronavirus threatens lives, which might explain why companies like Twitter and Facebook are now acting more aggressively. Still, questions about how fake news and conspiracy theories will continue to threaten the public well-being remain unresolved. Incremental policy updates are good, but they are no panacea. Millions turn to Vox to understand what’s happening in the news. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Help us keep our work free for all by making a financial contribution from as little as $3.

Apple Inc. on Wednesday became the first U.S. public company to eclipse $2 trillion in market value, a dizzying achievement that highlights the iPhone maker’s commanding role in the world economy. Shares of Apple rose as much as 1.4% to $468.65, eclipsing the $467.77 mark needed to reach the milestone. They ended the day up 0.1% at $462.83, putting the company’s market value just below $2 trillion.The stock has more than doubled from its March 23 low, boosted by steady demand for the company’s devices and better-than-feared results in its core iPhone business as millions of Americans work from home. Consumers’ increasing reliance on technology is driving growth for Apple and other large internet companies such as Amazon.com Inc. That has created a chasm between the tech industry and other sectors from energy to travel that have seen the coronavirus sap demand and fuel a wave of bankruptcies. The technology sector is one of the few industries expected to continue expanding in the years ahead, pushing investors large and small to pour money into the group.The milestone is the latest for Apple under Chief Executive Tim Cook, who succeeded late co-founder and product inventor Steve Jobs in 2011. Mr. Cook has expanded the company’s footprint in China and leaned on its services business—encompassing everything from its app store to Apple Music—to generate steady growth and dispel concerns that Apple is too reliant on the iPhone.

MIAMI (AP) — AT&T said Tuesday it will immediately ditch Venezuela’s pay TV market as U.S. sanctions prohibit its DirecTV platform from broadcasting channels that it is required to carry by the socialist administration of Nicolás Maduro. The Dallas-based company’s closing of its Venezuela unit is effective immediately. It follows a decision by the Trump administration not to renew a license it had granted AT&T to continue carrying Globovision, a private network, sanctioned by the U.S., owned by a businessman close to Maduro who is wanted on U.S. money laundering charges, three people familiar with the situation told the AP. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. government licensing activity.AT&T joins a number of other U.S. companies — General Motors, Kellogg Co. and Kimberly-Clark — that have abandoned Venezuela due to shrinking sales, government threats and the risk of U.S. sanctions. Around 700 Venezuelans depended on the unit for employment.“Because it is impossible for AT&T’s DIRECTV unit to comply with the legal requirements of both countries, AT&T was forced to close its pay TV operations in Venezuela, a decision that was made by the company’s U.S. leadership team without any involvement or prior knowledge of the DIRECTV Venezuela team,” the company said in a statement. ADVERTISEMENTAt nighttime Tuesday, residents in Caracas started banging on pots and pans for nearly a half hour to spontaneously protest a decline in public services. Some yelled “I want my DirecTV” amid chants against Maduro. AT&T has a 44% share of the pay TV market and its departure is likely to hit hard working-class barrios of larger cities and the interior that depend on DirecTV for access to information and entertainment. An Associated Press investigation from January found that AT&T had been under increasing pressure from the Trump administration to stand up to Maduro’s censors, who since 2017 have ordered the removal of some 10 channels, including CNN en Español, that had broadcast anti-government protests.Local regulators accuse the channels of violating the Law on Social Responsibility on Radio and Television, which seeks to guarantee socially responsible programming but that press freedom groups consider it a tool to muzzle critical coverage due to its ambiguous language and heavy penalties. DirecTV is also a major platform for the broadcast of state-run TV outlets criticized by the opposition as propaganda. A never-implemented plan promoted by the State Department would have forced AT&T to pull the plug on Globovision and the state-run channels while restoring some of the banned international news channels, according to five people familiar with the discussions cited in the earlier AP investigation.AT&T hasn’t made money from its Venezuelan operations for years due to strict government controls that keep the price of its packages artificially low — a few pennies per month. The situation has become so dire that DirecTV in 2012 stopped importing set-top boxes, choking its growth. In 2015, it wrote down its assets in the country by $1.1 billion.But the company was reluctant to close down its operations in Venezuela because of its market share — the largest it has anywhere in the world — and its commitment to a satellite broadcast center from which DirecTV beams about a third of its programming to several parts of South America.An AT&T executive said that while its broadcast signal in Venezuela will stop working Tuesday, the company has enhanced other facilities in the region to ensure that service continues uninterrupted throughout South America. The executive spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures. AT&T’s departure deprives many Venezuelans of what had been a cheap form of entertainment in a nation ravaged by 2 million percent hyperinflation. Among them is Maduro himself, who at a recent press conference boasted that he’s a fan of CNN’s English language channel, even rattling off the channel — 706 — where it appears on DirecTV’s platform.Socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello on Twitter said “no blockade will censure us” and invited his followers to watch his weekly TV program that is broadcast on state TV on a streaming platform. There was no immediate comment from the Trump administration.With AT&T’s announcement Tuesday, however, some DirecTV subscribers reported that their service immediately went dark, displaying the message: “Channel not available.”Pedro Zambrano, a taxi driver waiting on a client at a Caracas supermarket, said he has subscribed to DirecTV for years to watch his favorite series and tuned in nightly to the German government’s Deutsche Welle channel, which broadcast international news in Spanish.The 54-year-old said the loss of DirecTV amid the coronavirus pandemic, where he and others are forced to spend long stretches at home, is only likely to further erode a quality of life that has worsened in recent years by frequent power outages and shortages of water and gasoline for his car, which provides his living.“I don’t know how a person can live with dignity in a country like this,” Zambrano said. “Well, what can I tell you? We’re sunk.”—Smith reported from Caracas. AP Writer Fabiola Sanchez contributed to this report from Caracas, Venezuela.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma has reached a supposedly $8 billion settlement with the federal government in which it pleads guilty in a criminal investigation over its role in the opioid epidemic, the US Department of Justice announced Wednesday.As part of the settlement, Purdue will plead guilty to three counts related to its misleading marketing of opioid painkillers and faces a $3.5 billion criminal fine, $2 billion in criminal forfeitures, and a $2.8 billion civil settlement.Purdue admits it illegally and misleadingly marketed its opioids, including “to more than 100 health care providers whom the company had good reason to believe were diverting opioids” for misuse; illegally paid doctors to prescribe more opioids; and took part in other fraudulent and illegal practices. Purdue says it did all of this between 2007 and at least 2017 — after a separate guilty plea in 2007 forced the company to pay more than $600 million in fines.But no one — neither the company’s executives nor members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue — will go to jail or prison as a result of the settlement.Despite the settlement, it’s unclear how much Purdue will actually pay. The company is in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings, with claims from other people to whom it effectively owes money. The federal government is only one of many entities that Purdue’s holdings will likely be divvied up among.The Justice Department also threw its support behind a deal that would turn Purdue into a public benefit company overseen by new leadership, with proceeds from OxyContin and other drugs purportedly going to help victims of the opioid crisis. Purdue previously proposed the deal to settle thousands of lawsuits against it, including from local and state governments, over its role in the opioid crisis. Dozens of states have rejected that deal. They argue that it lets the Sacklers off the hook, since they’d remain very wealthy and out of prison, and that using revenue from OxyContin sales to fund efforts to stop the opioid crisis presents a conflict of interest. Some critics also claim that the Justice Department’s settlement is a political ploy before Election Day — to shore up President Donald Trump’s weak record on the opioid epidemic. “DOJ failed,” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said. “Justice in this case requires exposing the truth and holding the perpetrators accountable, not rushing a settlement to beat an election. I am not done with Purdue and the Sacklers, and I will never sell out the families who have been calling for justice for so long.”The Justice Department said the settlement with Purdue doesn’t release anyone, including the Sackler family, from criminal liability — meaning they could be prosecuted and incarcerated in the future. A criminal investigation into the Sacklers is ongoing, according to the Associated Press.It does, however, free Purdue and the Sacklers from the federal government’s civil claims. But states and others can continue pursuing civil litigation.Besides Purdue, other opioid makers and distributors currently face criminal investigations and civil lawsuits. Earlier this year, the founder and former CEO of opioid maker Insys, John Kapoor, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Other opioid businesses, including Rochester Drug Cooperative, also face criminal charges.Since 1999, nearly 500,000 people have died from opioid overdoses — either on painkillers themselves, or in many cases heroin or illicit fentanyl through a drug addiction that began with painkillers. Pharmaceutical companies were at the forefront of causing the crisis with aggressive marketing that pushed doctors to prescribe more painkillers. That put the drugs in the hands of not just patients but also friends and family of patients, teens who took the drugs from their parents’ medicine cabinets, and people who bought excess pills from the black market.Studies have linked marketing for opioids to more prescriptions and overdose deaths.With OxyContin, Purdue — and the Sacklers — led the charge on this kind of marketing. They claimed that their opioid painkiller, which first hit the market in 1996, was safe and effective, both claims which are now contradicted by the real-world and scientific evidence.Among Purdue’s alleged crimes, according to the Justice Department: “Purdue learned that one doctor was known by patients as ‘the Candyman’ and was prescribing ‘crazy dosing of OxyContin,’ yet Purdue had sales representatives meet with the doctor more than 300 times.” “The Named Sacklers then approved a new marketing program beginning in 2013 called ‘Evolve to Excellence,’ through which Purdue sales representatives intensified their marketing of OxyContin to extreme, high-volume prescribers who were already writing ‘25 times as many OxyContin scripts’ as their peers, causing health care providers to prescribe opioids for uses that were unsafe, ineffective, and medically unnecessary, and that often led to abuse and diversion.” “Between June 2009 and March 2017, Purdue made payments to two doctors through Purdue’s doctor speaker program to induce those doctors to write more prescriptions of Purdue’s opioid products. Similarly, from approximately April 2016 through December 2016, Purdue made payments to Practice Fusion Inc., an electronic health records company, in exchange for referring, recommending, and arranging for the ordering of Purdue’s extended release opioid products — OxyContin, Butrans, and Hysingla.” The Sacklers, for their part, continue to deny culpability for the opioid epidemic. The family claimed in a statement, “Members of the Sackler family who served on Purdue’s board of directors acted ethically and lawfully, and the upcoming release of company documents will prove that fact in detail. This history of Purdue will also demonstrate that all financial distributions were proper.”Of course, many people simply don’t believe this. They point to the evidence — not just in the federal government’s case but in the lawsuits filed by dozens of states — that indicates the Sacklers were heavily involved in Purdue’s marketing for OxyContin.Now some critics are calling not just for Purdue to face criminal culpability, but for the company’s executives and the Sacklers to as well. They argue that prison time is necessary, because fines that add up to a fraction of a company or family’s wealth aren’t enough to send a message.“If [the Sacklers] have the perception — and it’s the correct perception — that ‘people like us just don’t go to jail, we just don’t, so the worst that’s going to happen is you take some reputational stings and you’ll have to write a check,’ that seems like a recipe for nurturing criminality,” Stanford drug policy expert Keith Humphreys previously told me.For now, though, the Sacklers and other Purdue executives continue to escape that level of punishment.For more on the case for prosecuting opioid executives, read Vox’s full story. Millions turn to Vox to understand what’s happening in the news. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Help us keep our work free for all by making a financial contribution from as little as $3.

Sweden is banning Chinese tech companies Huawei and ZTE from building new high-speed wireless networks after a top security official called China one of the country’s biggest threats. The Swedish telecom regulator said Tuesday that four wireless carriers bidding for frequencies in an upcoming spectrum auction for the new 5G networks must not use equipment from Huawei or ZTE. Wireless carriers that plan to use existing telecommunications infrastructure for 5G networks must also rip out any existing gear from Huawei or ZTE, the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority said. ADVERTISEMENTThe agency said the conditions were based on assessments by the Swedish military and security service. Huawei said it was “surprised and disappointed” by the rules. Sweden is the latest country to prohibit Huawei from playing a role in building 5G networks and its decision is likely to add to tensions between the Chinese government and Western powers. U.S. officials have waged an intense lobbying campaign in Europe to persuade allies to shun the company, saying Huawei could be compelled by China’s communist rulers to facilitate cyberespionage. The company has consistently denied the accusations. The ban means more opportunities for Huawei’s main rivals, Swedish company Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia. New 5G networks, which are expected to usher in a wave of innovation such as smart factories and remote surgery, are considered critical infrastructure. Klas Friberg, the head of Sweden’s domestic security service, known as SAPO, said Tuesday that foreign powers have intensified their intelligence activity in recent years so 5G networks should be built in a secure way from the start. “China is one of the biggest threats to Sweden,” Friberg said. “The Chinese state is conducting cyber espionage to promote its own economic development and develop its military capabilities. This is done through extensive intelligence gathering and theft of technology, research and development. This is what we must consider when building the 5G network of the future.” Huawei denied it was a security risk.“Huawei has never caused even the slightest shred of threat to Swedish cyber security and never will,” it said. “Excluding Huawei will not make Swedish 5G networks any more secure. Rather, competition and innovation will be severely hindered.______

closeVideoFox News Flash top headlines for October 27Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.First lady Melania Trump tore into Joe Biden’s “socialist agenda” in her first solo campaign appearance of the year on Tuesday and even slammed Democrats for a “sham” impeachment. “Joe Biden attacked Trump’s decision to close travel from China. He called it 'xenophobic hysteria.' Now he suggests that he could have done a better job,” the first lady told a crowd of supporters in Atglen, Pa. “Well, the American people can look at Joe Biden’s 36 years in Congress and eight years in the V.P. and determine if he will be able to finally get something done for the American people,” Trump continued. The first lady's speech was similar to her husband’s campaign appearances, unlike her usual toned-down public appearances. The campaign event was moderated by former White House advisor Kellyanne Conway. “Joe Biden’s policy and socialist agenda will destroy America and all that has been built in the past four years,” Trump asserted. TRUMPS HOST HALLOWEEN CELEBRATION WITH COVID SAFETY TWEAKS The first lady slammed Democrats for putting their “own agenda” ahead of the country’s well-being, by focusing on Trump’s impeachment as coronavirus was beginning to seep into the nation. “Let us also not forget what the Dems chose to focus on when the pandemic entered our country. The Dems were wasting American taxpayer dollars in a sham impeachment. They cared more about removing our elected president,” Trump said.The first lady also addressed her husband’s frequent Twitter attacks, saying she doesn’t always agree with what he says.“For the first time in history, the citizens of this country hear directly from their president through social media,” Trump said.“I do not always agree with the way he says things,” she said as the crowd laughed. “But it is important to hear that he speaks directly to the people he serves.” MELANIA TRUMP BACK TO TRAVELING AFTER CORONAVIRUS DIAGNOSIS She complained of the media’s hyper-focus on “idle gossip and palace intrigue.”“When he decided to run for president as a Republican, the media created a different picture of my husband — one I didn’t recognize — and treated all his supporters with equal disdain," she said. "The media has chosen to focus on stories of idle gossip and palace intrigue by editorializing real events and policies with their own bias and agendas," she said.“What drives the news are the handpicked, angry, and often baseless claims from anonymous sources or angry ex-employees who are only trying to distract from the important work happening inside the White House,” she said.The first lady’s former close friend and advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff captured media attention last month when she released recordings of her conversations ahead of the publication of her tell-all book. The book is filled with unflattering allegations against the first lady, including that she renovated a White House bathroom to avoid using the same facilities as former first lady Michelle Obama, that she complained about having to decorate the White House for Christmas and appeared to be dismissive of children being separated at the U.S.-Mexico border after their parents crossed illegally.Trump said she’d rather the media focus on her Be Best initiative. “For instance, my initiative, Be Best, has one main goal: helping children. Yet the media have chosen to take the attention away from children and focus on only the negative,” she said.Pennsylvania is a must-win battleground state in the election. The Real Clear Politics average shows Trump trailing Democratic nominee Joe Biden with 44.5% of the vote to the former vice president’s 49.6% of the vote.

closeVideoFox News Flash top headlines for September 16Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.The White House on Wednesday called out Venezuela and almost two dozen other nations as “major drug transits” or “drug-producing countries," in an effort to tackle the ongoing drug trade in the U.S. – an issue Trump has attempted to curtail since he took office.The Justice Department in March already indicted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro for his alleged involvement in a decades-long narco-terrorism and international cocaine trafficking conspiracy scheme. A $15 million bounty has been placed on Maduro for information that could lead to the arrest of the socialist.The United States no longer accepts the validity of Maduro’s presidency, instead recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who declared himself the true president of Venezuela in 2019.“The most complicit kingpin in this Hemisphere is the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolas Maduro," The White House said in a statement. "He joined a multitude of other regime cronies who are either under U.S. indictment or were sanctioned for drug crimes by the Department of the Treasury.”Maduro, along with Venezuelan National Assembly member Diosdado Cabello Rondón, were accused of conspiring with Colombian rebels and military members "to flood the United States with cocaine" and use the drug trade as a "weapon against America," according to the DOJ indictment from March.Maduro responded to the March indictments by calling Trump a “racist cowboy,” and warned the U.S. against attempting any sort of invasion."Donald Trump, you are a miserable human being," Maduro said during a televised address."If one day the imperialists and Colombian oligarchy dare to touch even a single hair, they will face the Bolivarian fury of an entire nation that will wipe them all out,” he added.Maduro has not yet commented on the U.S.’s most recent attempts to target the socialist country but faces additional international challenges as United Nations' investigators accused the president and other top officials on Wednesday of crimes against humanity.The Human Rights Council found that the socialist government wasdirectly responsible for extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and illegal detentions of thousands of victims that opposed the regime.Venezuela is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which means the findings found in the U.N. report could be utilized by the ICC to prosecute Maduro and other senior leaders.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Maduro is already under increased pressure by the U.S., along with other nations who support Guaidó’s presidency, but with the recent findings they could expect to see increased international sanctions which have already crippled Venezuela’s economy.Maduro believes the U.S. is trying to overthrow him in order to exploit the massive oil reserves Venezuela contains.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

When Rana el Kaliouby was pitching investors in 2009 on her artificial-intelligence startup, Affectiva, she and her co-founder tried to steer clear of what she calls the “e-word”—emotion.They were both women, and though their startup was designed to detect emotion in technology, they were sensitive to how they would be perceived. They feared they might not be taken seriously because “emotion” wasn’t in the traditional lexicon of many companies and funders—and because it carried female connotations in a largely male industry.“We danced around it,” she says, adding that they called themselves a “sentiment” company instead. “Investors invest in what they know, and we were so different from what they were used to.”A decade later, that is changing. Though the field of artificial intelligence remains heavily male-dominated, female leaders have made noticeable inroads. Some say they want to build workplaces that are more inviting to diverse workforces, and help promote women in tech more broadly. Others say they want to try to address concerns with the technology, rooting out what they see as its potential biases against marginalized communities.“Technology won’t function well unless it is built by a diverse team,” says Dr. el Kaliouby, adding that the lack of gender diversity in Silicon Valley came as a contrast to what she had seen as a computer-science student in college in Egypt, where the gender breakdown was almost even. “My biggest concern in AI today isn’t that robots are going to take over, it’s that we’re unintentionally building bias into these systems.”

Pete Buttigieg, a former challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination and a member of Joe Biden’s transition team, believes his own marriage is under threat from Donald Trump’s supreme court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Buttigieg, who married his husband Chasten in 2018, indicated that the court’s 2015 decision that made same-sex marriage legal was among a number of rulings a strong conservative majority could look to overturn.Republicans are seeking to seat Barrett before the 3 November general election. The Senate judiciary committee will vote this week on forwarding the nomination to a full floor vote.“Right now as we speak the pre-existing condition [healthcare] coverage of millions of Americans might depend on what is about to happen in the Senate with regard to this justice,” Buttigieg said.“My marriage might depend on what is about to happen in the Senate with regard to this justice. So many issues are on the line.”The right to same-sex marriage were enshrined in Obergefell v Hodges, the culmination of a years-long fight incorporating challenges from several states and decided by the landmark 5-4 ruling.Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said Republicans pushing through Barrett’s nomination days before the election, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, sent the wrong message to voters.“It’s not in the spirit of our constitution, or our legal system, or political system for them to do this,” he said. “Most Americans believe that the American people ought to have a say. We’re not talking about an election that’s coming up, we’re in the middle of an election, millions of Americans are voting and want their voice to be heard.”He added: “There’s an enormous amount of frustration that this Senate can’t even bring itself, with Mitch McConnell, to vote through a Covid relief package. People are suffering, people are hurting, there’s no clear end in sight.“There’s been a bill we brought to them months ago coming out of the house, they won’t touch it, they won’t do anything but suddenly they have time to rush through a nomination that the American people don’t want.“Whatever specific word you use for it, wrong is the word I would use.”Buttigieg defended himself against a claim from Wallace that he had talked about expanding the court to 15 justices, so-called court packing.“My views haven’t changed,” he said. “Bipartisan reform with the purpose of reducing the politicisation of the supreme court is a really promising idea. Let’s also be clear that a president can’t just snap their fingers and do it.”

A battle for the control of more than $1.8bn worth of Venezuelan gold stored at the Bank of England has swung in favour of the government of Nicolás Maduro after an appeals court in London overturned an earlier high court ruling concerning whom the UK recognised as Venezuela’s president.The court of appeal granted an appeal by the Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) and set aside July’s high court judgment, which had found that Britain’s recognition of the opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the “constitutional interim president of Venezuela” meant the gold could not be released for the Maduro-backing bank.The BCV sued the Bank of England in May to recover control of the gold, which it has guaranteed it will sell purely to finance Venezuela’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.The Bank of England, claiming to act independently of the Foreign Office, had refused to release the gold. It cited a British government decision in early 2019 to join dozens of nations in backing Guaidó on the basis that Maduro’s election victory the previous year was rigged.A British commercial court will now be required to re-examine the issue.Monday’s judgment said it was necessary to determine whether “(1) the UK government recognises Mr Guaidó as president of Venezuela for all purposes and therefore does not recognise Mr Maduro as president for any purpose. Or (2) HMG [the UK government] recognises Mr Guaidó as entitled to be the president of Venezuela and thus entitled to exercise all the powers of the president but also recognises Mr Maduro as the person who does in fact exercise some or all of the powers of the president of Venezuela.”The appeal court suggested the Foreign Office now provide clarification on the issue, but added it was up to the Foreign Office to decide whether to do so.If the Foreign Office refuses to provide clarification, the appeal court said, it would be a matter for the commercial court on its own to decide if the British government recognises Maduro as de facto president.The UK maintains full consular and diplomatic relations with the Venezuela government, suggesting the British position is at best ambivalent.The Venezuelan central bank has said the proceeds from the sale of the gold would be transferred directly to the United Nations development programme to procure humanitarian aid, medicine and equipment to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.Venezuela’s opposition has alleged that Maduro wants to use the money to pay off his foreign allies, a claim his lawyers deny.Over the past two years Maduro’s government has taken 30 tonnes of gold from its local reserves to sell abroad for much-needed hard currency, according to people familiar with the operations and the bank’s own data.A memoir by Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton revealed that the UK Foreign Office agreed to block the release of the gold at the request of the US.Sarosh Zaiwalla, a senior partner at Zaiwalla & Co, representing BCV, said the ruling was an important point of international law since Guaidó was in reality a virtual prime minister with no real power inside the country.He had warned that if his client lost the case it would “present a further threat to the international perception of English institutions as being free from political interference, as well as the Bank of England’s reputation abroad as a safe repository for sovereign assets.”

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, has defended claims she repeatedly made to reporters in 2017 regarding Donald Trump’s firing of then FBI director James Comey – despite admitting to investigators for the special counsel Robert Mueller that they had no basis in fact.Sanders admitted in statements to the special counsel that her repeated claims that the president fired Comey because the rank-and-file of the FBI had lost confidence in him as FBI director were “a slip of the tongue” and “not founded on anything”, according to the redacted version of the Mueller report released on Thursday.The long-awaited report – the product of a two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election and the Trump campaign – exposed a culture of lying at the White House.The report included multiple examples of Trump’s current and former press secretaries making false claims to journalists, particularly in the days after Comey’s firing.Sanders told the special counsel’s office that a statement she made to journalists about how the White House had heard from “countless members” of the FBI that Comey lacked support within the agency, “was not founded on anything”.Yet on Friday, Sanders appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America and appeared to stand by the statement she had admitted was a lie.Asked by TV host George Stephanopoulos about her “deliberate false statement” she said: “They [FBI rank-and-file] continued to speak out and said that James Comey was a disgrace, a leaker. I stand by the fact, George.”Stephanopoulos, a former White House communications director under Bill Clinton, interrupted, saying: “[You admitted] those comments weren’t founded on anything, when you faced criminal penalty.”Sanders answered: “It was the heat of the moment, meaning that it wasn’t a scripted talking point. I’m sorry that I wasn’t a robot like the Democratic party.”Sanders’ claim on 10 May 2017, the day after Comey was fired, that “countless members of the FBI” opposed Comey was “a slip of the tongue”, Sanders told the special counsel’s office in an interview last year.Sanders repeated that “slip of the tongue” during a press briefing the following day, when skeptical White House reporters questioned her on her claim that Comey did not have support within the FBI’s rank-and-file. One reporter asked what basis the White House had for that conclusion, given that the FBI’s acting director had publicly said that Comey still had the support among the FBI’s agents.“I can speak to my own personal experience,” Sanders told the White House press. “I’ve heard from countless members of the FBI that are grateful and thankful for the president’s decision.” She went on: “I’ve certainly heard from a large number of individuals. And that’s just myself. And I don’t know that many people in the FBI.”“You personally have talked to countless officials, employees, since this happened?” another reporter asked later.“Correct,” Sanders said.“I mean, really?” the second reporter asked.“Between, like, email, text messages – absolutely,” Sanders said.“Fifty? Sixty? Seventy?” the reporter asked.“Look, we’re not going to get into a numbers game. I have heard from a large number of individuals that work at the FBI that said they’re very happy with the president’s decision. I don’t know what else I can say.”A year later, in interviews with the special counsel’s office, Sanders said “that her statement in a separate press interview that rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey was a comment she made ‘in the heat of the moment’ that was not founded on anything”.Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary at the time, also made a false claim to reporters about Comey’s firing, telling journalists the night Comey was fired that the decision to fire him “was all” Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general.Rosenstein said in an interview with the special counsel’s office that he had told other justice department officials that night that he would not participate in putting out a “false story” that Comey’s firing had been his idea.Sanders replaced Spicer as White House press secretary in July 2017.The White House’s public press briefings to journalists have become increasingly rare and increasingly brief, another issue of concern for the American press and White House transparency.

A former FBI acting director has alleged Donald Trump dismissed advice from his own security agencies on the threat posed by North Korea’s missiles, saying “I don’t care. I believe Putin.”Andrew McCabe made the claims in an interview with 60 Minutes, in which he discussed his tenure at the FBI after James Comey was fired by the president in 2017.McCabe said Trump made the comments in a meeting about the weapons capability of North Korea. McCabe was not in the meeting with Trump and said his FBI colleague told him about it later.“The president launched into several unrelated diatribes. One of those was commenting on the recent missile launches by the government of North Korea. And, essentially, the president said he did not believe that the North Koreans had the capability to hit us here with ballistic missiles in the United States. And he did not believe that because President Putin had told him they did not. President Putin had told him that the North Koreans don’t actually have those missiles,” said McCabe.“Intelligence officials in the briefing responded that that was not consistent with any of the intelligence our government possesses,” said McCabe in the interview. “To which the president replied, ‘I don’t care. I believe Putin.’”McCabe said he was shocked when he found about the president’s alleged comments. “It’s just an astounding thing to say,” said McCabe, who added he was surprised at the dismissal of the work of his intelligence community.“To be confronted with an absolute disbelief in those efforts and an unwillingness to learn the true state of affairs that he has to deal with every day was just shocking,” said McCabe.McCabe also alleged a “crime may have been committed” when Trump fired the head of the FBI and tried to publicly undermine an investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia.Trump responded furiously on Twitter after parts of the episode were trailed late last week.“Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a “poor little Angel” when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax - a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating,” he wrote on Twitter. “McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”Trump retweeted the tweets on Sunday night after the 60 Minutes episode was aired.McCabe also told 60 Minutes the FBI had good reason to open a counter-intelligence investigation into whether Trump was in league with Russia, and therefore a possible national security threat, following Comey’s dismissal in May 2017.“And the idea is, if the president committed obstruction of justice, fired the director of the of the FBI to negatively impact or to shut down our investigation of Russia’s malign activity and possibly in support of his campaign, as a counterintelligence investigator you have to ask yourself, ‘Why would a president of the United States do that?’” McCabe said.He added: “So all those same sorts of facts cause us to wonder is there an inappropriate relationship, a connection between this president and our most fearsome enemy, the government of Russia?”Asked whether deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein was onboard with the obstruction and counterintelligence investigations, McCabe replied: “Absolutely.”A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment Sunday night.McCabe also said that when Trump told Rosenstein to put in writing his concerns about Comey – a document the White House initially held up as justification for his firing – the president explicitly asked him to refer to Russia.Rosenstein did not want to, McCabe said, and the memo that was made public upon Comey’s dismissal did not mention Russia and focused instead on Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation.Those actions, including a separate request by Trump that the FBI end an investigation into his first national adviser, Michael Flynn, made the FBI concerned the president was illegally trying to obstruct the Russia investigation.“Put together, these circumstances were articulable facts that indicated that a crime may have been committed,” McCabe said. “The president may have been engaged in obstruction of justice in the firing of Jim Comey.”McCabe was fired in March 2018 by Jeff Sessions after McCabe released information to the media without authorisation, saying he had “lacked candour” when discussing it. His case was referred to the US attorney’s office for possible prosecution, but no charges have been brought. McCabe has denied having intentionally lied and said Sunday that he believes his firing was politically motivated.“I believe I was fired because I opened a case against the president of the United States,” he said.McCabe’s appearance on 60 Minutes was to promote his new book, “The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump.”Associated Press contributed to this report Topics FBI Donald Trump North Korea Vladimir Putin Russia Nuclear weapons Asia Pacific

Enlarge this image Andrew McCabe talked about his new memoir with NPR's Morning Edition. Amr Alfiky/NPR hide caption toggle caption Amr Alfiky/NPR Andrew McCabe talked about his new memoir with NPR's Morning Edition. Amr Alfiky/NPR Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe condemned what he called the "relentless attack" that President Trump has waged against the FBI even as it continues scrutinizing whether Americans in Trump's campaign may have conspired with the Russians who attacked the 2016 election."I don't know that we have ever seen in all of history an example of the number, the volume and the significance of the contacts between people in and around the president, his campaign, with our most serious, our existential international enemy: the government of Russia," McCabe told NPR's Morning Edition. "That's just remarkable to me."McCabe left the FBI after 21 years last March, when he was dismissed for an alleged "lack of candor" in a media leak probe unrelated to the special counsel investigation. While he declined to conclude that Trump or his advisers colluded with Russia, McCabe said the evidence special counsel Robert Mueller has made public to date — including new disclosures about an August 2016 meeting between former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, whom the FBI has linked to Russian intelligence — "is incredibly persuasive." National Security The Russia Investigations: What You Need To Know About Russian 'Active Measures' Trump goes back and forth about what he accepts about the Russian interference in the 2016 election but he denies that he or anyone on his campaign colluded with it.The president and the White House also have focused their attention on McCabe's firing and what critics call the conflict of interest involved with McCabe's wife's political campaign — she ran unsuccessfully for the Virginia legislature as a Democrat.The Putin presentationMcCabe's new book, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, describes the challenges and frustrations in interacting with the new president on sensitive national security matters. Book Reviews McCabe's 'The Threat' May Be Darkest Vision Of Trump Presidency Yet Exhibit A: an FBI briefing with Trump that had "gone completely off the rails from the very beginning."McCabe said the topic was supposed to be how Russian intelligence officers were using diplomatic compounds inside the U.S. to gather intelligence on American spy agencies. Those compounds were closed as part of the long diplomatic chill between the two countries."Instead the president kind of went off on a diatribe," McCabe told NPR, explaining that Trump changed the subject to his belief that North Korea had not actually launched any missiles because Russian President Vladimir Putin told him that the U.S. intelligence assessment was wrong and that "it was all a hoax."The president, in short, was taking the word of Putin over his own top advisers."How do we impart wisdom and knowledge and the best of our intelligence assessments to someone who chooses to believe our adversaries over our intelligence professionals?" McCabe asked.The investigationsMcCabe became the FBI's acting director after his former boss, former Director James Comey, was fired in the spring of 2017. He returned to the deputy director role after Director Christopher Wray was confirmed that autumn. National Security CBS: Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Feared Cover-Up Of Russia Probe McCabe confirmed that he opened counterintelligence and obstruction of justice investigations into Trump after Comey was fired but said he and Justice Department leaders ultimately rejected the idea of secretly recording the president. Politics The James Comey Saga, In Timeline Form FBI employees were crying in the hallways, McCabe writes in his book. No one knew whether Trump — whose campaign was being investigated about conspiring with Russia — might have been trying to decapitate the leaders of the investigation aimed at trying to find out what might be beneath it all.The atmosphere at the Justice Department was so panicked, McCabe said, that the new deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, proposed wearing a recording device to collect evidence about Trump's intent in dismissing Comey."I was taken aback by the offer," McCabe said in his NPR interview. "I told him that I would consider it, I would discuss it with the investigative team, and I'd let him know. I did talk to my attorneys back at FBI headquarters about it." National Security Rosenstein Denies That He Discussed Recording Trump, Invoking 25th Amendment When that story became public last year via a news report, Rosenstein was embarrassed and feared for his job. He also sought to make clear that he never actually went ahead with a secret recording — which is correct, McCabe said, because no one involved ever tried to attempt it."We all agreed it was a horrible idea and it was not something that we would pursue," McCabe said. "So while the deputy attorney general says he never authorized anyone to wear a wire, that is true — he never authorized it because we never asked him for that authorization."McCabe says he was wrongly firedOn his own firing, just 26 hours before his federal law enforcement pension was set to vest, McCabe said he intends to sue the Trump administration for wrongful termination and other issues. Law Grand Jury Looking Into Case Of Ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe A man who fell in love with the FBI is now the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation for alleged false statements. A grand jury has been impaneled in the case but it isn't clear whether prosecutors will bring criminal charges.McCabe refused to engage in his NPR interview over findings by the Justice Department's inspector general, calling that report a "selective presentation of evidence and conclusions designed to reach the result the president was clearly calling for."Since the publication of excerpts and interviews surrounding McCabe's book have emerged, Trump has been tweeting to attack McCabe's credibility. That's just more evidence, argued the former deputy FBI director, that he was singled out then and he's being singled out now.But that's not just bad for him, he argued."The thing that concerns me going forward is firing me 26 hours before my retirement sends an unbelievably chilling message to the rest of the men and women of the FBI," McCabe said."It sends a message that if you stand up for what you think is right, and you do the right thing, and you honor your obligations to this organization and the Constitution, that you too could be personally targeted and lose those things that you've been building towards your whole career." Law Attorney General William Barr Swears Oath Of Office After Senate Confirmation National Security Manafort Intentionally Lied To Special Counsel, Judge Says National Security All The Criminal Charges To Emerge So Far From Robert Mueller's Investigation