Pill Could Help People Who Can’t Exercise
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Month: May 2017
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Thursday to seek their support in pressing North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs.
Tillerson’s first meeting with all members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations will also address another pressing regional issue – China’s assertive pursuit of territory in the South China Sea, where several ASEAN members have competing claims.
Tillerson told reporters at the start of the Washington meeting that he and his counterparts would discuss North Korea.
Last week in the U.N. Security Council, Tillerson called on all U.N. members to fully implement U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang, which has ignored demands to abandon its weapons programs and is working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States.
He also called on countries to suspend or downgrade diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, saying it abuses diplomatic privileges to help fund the arms programs. Tillerson warned countries that if they did not do so, Washington would sanction foreign firms and people conducting business with North Korea.
All ASEAN members have diplomatic relations with North Korea and five have embassies there.
The Trump administration wants Southeast Asian countries to crack down on money laundering and smuggling involving North Korea and restrict legal business too, U.S. officials said.
The administration has been working to persuade China, North Korea’s neighbor and only major ally, to increase pressure on Pyongyang. U.S. officials say they are also asking China to use its influence with more China-friendly ASEAN members, such as Laos and Cambodia, to persuade them to do the same.
U.S. efforts have included a flurry of calls by President Donald Trump at the weekend to the leaders of the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.
Diplomats say U.S. pressure has caused some irritation in ASEAN, including Malaysia, which has maintained relations with Pyongyang in spite of the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half brother at Kuala Lumpur International airport on Feb. 13.
On the South China Sea, ASEAN has adopted a cautious approach recently toward China, with a weekend summit of its leaders avoiding references to Beijing’s building and arming of islands there.
Analysts say this reflects concerns among some in the region that former U.S. President Barack Obama’s “pivot” to Asia has been abandoned in favor of Trump’s “America First” agenda, leading to more countries being pulled into Beijing’s orbit.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX says it will begin launching Internet-providing satellites in 2019.
The move was announced Wednesday by SpaceX vice president of satellite and government affairs, Patricia Cooper, in testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
She said the company eventually plans to field 4,425 small satellites into low Earth orbit by 2024 using the company’s partially reusable Falcon 9 rockets.
“SpaceX intends to launch the system onboard our Falcon 9 rocket, leveraging significant launch cost savings afforded by the first stage reusability now demonstrated with the vehicle,” Cooper said, adding the company will field two prototype satellites by the end of 2017 and in early 2018.
Internet access via satellites can be slow, but Cooper said technological advances will make SpaceX able to offer speeds comparable to terrestrial providers.
The company says Internet speed in the U.S. lags behind other developed countries. Furthermore, rural areas are not served by standard broadband providers. The company’s “constellation” of satellites could deliver high speeds without cables.
Cooper added that space-based Internet avoids some of the pitfalls for terrestrial providers.
“In other words, the common challenges associated with sitting, digging trenches, laying fiber and dealing with property rights are materially alleviated through a space-based broadband network,” Cooper said.
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NASA has released stunning video taken by the Cassini space probe as it took the first of its “grand finale” dives between Saturn and its rings.
The images were taken April 26 as Cassini made a southerly pass over Saturn. It captures the vortex on the planet’s north pole and continues to the hexagonal jet stream.
“I was surprised to see so many sharp edges along the hexagon’s outer boundary and the eye-wall of the polar vortex,” said Kunio Sayanagi, an associate of the Cassini imaging team based at Hampton University in Virginia, who helped produce the new movie. “Something must be keeping different latitudes from mixing to maintain those edges,” he said.
During the plunge, Cassini dropped from 72,400 kilometers to 6,700 kilometers above the clouds.
The Cassini probe was launched in 1997 and arrived at Saturn in 2004. Some mission highlights include the possible discovery of an ocean and hydrothermal activity on the moon Enceladus as well as liquid methane seas on Titan, another icy Saturn moon.
Its mission is scheduled to end in September as the probe dives into Saturn’s thick atmosphere where it will burn up.
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The European Union’s competition watchdog says it accepts commitments made by online giant Amazon to change part of its e-book contracts to avoid fines for anti-competitive behavior.
Amazon has promised not to enforce any contract clause that might oblige other publishers to offer it similar terms and conditions as those offered to competitors.
The EU Commission said Thursday that it has made the commitments legally binding. Amazon could be fined 10 percent of annual turnover if it reneges over the next five years.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the “decision will open the way for publishers and competitors to develop innovative services for e-books, increasing choice and competition to the benefit of European consumers.”
The Commission says Europe’s e-books market is worth more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion).
A closely watched survey indicates that economic growth across the 19-country eurozone struck a 6-year high in April.
Financial information company IHS Markit says Thursday that its purchasing managers’ composite output index — a broad gauge of economic activity — rose to 56.8 in April from 56.4 the previous month. The reading was at its highest level since April 2011.
Anything above 50 indicates expansion.
Chris Williamson, the firm’s chief business economist, said the survey portrays “an economy that is growing at an encouragingly robust pace and that risks are moving from the downside to a more balanced situation.” He said it’s consistent with quarterly growth of 0.7 percent.
On Wednesday, figures showed the eurozone grew by 0.5 percent in the first quarter.
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President Donald Trump’s pick to marshal the government’s response to the opioid epidemic and assist people with mental illness doesn’t quite fit the mold of some of his other nominees.
Psychiatrist Elinore McCance-Katz isn’t an outsider bent on disrupting the system.
Instead, she’s an academic expert on addiction with extensive state government and federal experience, and a reputation for relying on science. She spent time at the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the agency she has been nominated to lead.
The strongest opposition to her nomination isn’t coming from Democrats and advocacy groups, but from a Republican who says she’s been part of the problem.
Helped draft action plan
McCance-Katz, 60, now serves as chief medical officer for the Rhode Island agency responsible for substance abuse and mental health services. She was on a task force that produced a nationally recognized opioid action plan for the state.
After a stint at SAMHSA during the Obama administration, McCance-Katz penned an article last year strongly critical of the federal agency, alleging “hostility toward psychiatric medicine” and failure to address the treatment needs of mentally ill people.
That may have caught the eye of the White House, along with a post-election piece that cast Trump’s victory as positive change for people with mental illness. Now the president wants to send McCance-Katz back to SAMHSA.
Coordinating 112 programs
Congress recently elevated the job of agency director to a new position with the higher rank of assistant health secretary, requiring Senate confirmation. Lawmakers want an executive to instill coherence and coordination among 112 federal programs for people with serious mental illness. Up to now, the main purpose of the roughly $4-billion agency has been to distribute grants.
Advocates for people dealing with mental illness and substance abuse see an opening. They were heartened that the White House invited advocacy groups to meet as officials were sifting candidates for SAMHSA.
“The early signs that we are seeing are that the importance of mental health is recognized,” said Ron Honberg, a senior policy adviser with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which is supporting McCance-Katz. “The administration has come out very strongly on the opioid issue.” The budget deal increased federal spending.
On Capitol Hill
In the Senate, the nomination of McCance-Katz goes to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a committee member active on mental health issues, called her a “qualified and experienced leader who will make mental health reform a reality.”
But in the House, Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., says he was “stunned.” The congressman earlier had led an investigation of SAMHSA that revealed poor coordination of mental health programs and gaps in the oversight of grants. Although McCance-Katz criticized the agency after she left, Murphy says she failed to say anything while she was there, serving as chief medical officer.
Advocates say the problems Murphy highlighted have been addressed, and McCance-Katz would find the agency in better shape than she left it.
Within the mental health community, there’s a longstanding tension between those who favor medical treatment for problems like addiction, and those who favor “peer support.” The latter involves approaches similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, while the treatment usually involves medication. McCance-Katz is seen as firmly in the treatment camp.
The Rhode Island plan McCance-Katz helped develop starts with steps to curtail prescriptions of highly addictive drugs, promotes the antidote naloxone as the standard of care for overdose rescue, provides medication-based treatment for criminal justice inmates, and expands peer support services.
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Modern agriculture is feeding more people more cheaply than ever, with large-scale farms that grow just one or a few crops. But there are risks in this way of feeding the world. A new book explores how large-scale agriculture invites large-scale attacks of pests and diseases. VOA’s Steve Baragona met the author, who is enlisting the public to try to stay ahead of the next crop plague.
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An unusual machine working in Baltimore, with more than 20,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter, has just celebrated its third birthday. Imaginatively named “Mr. Trash Wheel,” this hybrid-powered contraption is responsible for preventing the city’s trash from reaching its inner harbor. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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President Michel Temer’s proposal to reform Brazil’s costly social security system cleared a committee vote Wednesday, but the measure, deeply unpopular with voters, faces an uphill battle in the full Congress.
The committee voted 23-14 to approve the constitutional amendment, which would make Brazilians work longer and reduce pension benefits to plug a widening budget deficit at the root of the country’s worst recession.
Temer spokesman Alexandre Parola told reporters the vote numbers showed that “Brazilian society recognizes the urgent need for reforming the social security system.”
Presidential aides said, however, the government was not certain it had secured the two-thirds vote needed in the full chamber to approve a bill that is crucial to Temer’s efforts to recover investor confidence and restore investment and growth.
A vote in the full house planned for next week has been put back to allow the government coalition to muster the necessary 308 votes by swaying lawmakers worried about angering voters ahead of next year’s elections.
A generous system
Pension reform is a contentious issue in Brazil, which has one of the world’s most generous social security systems, allowing retirement on average at the age of 54 with almost full benefits, compared with 72 years in Mexico.
The bill sets a minimum retirement age for the first time in Brazil, at 65 for men and 62 for women.
Changes to the country’s labor laws and pension system triggered violent clashes between demonstrators and police in Brazil’s main cities Friday during the first national strike called by unions against Temer’s austerity agenda.
About 71 percent of Brazilians oppose the bill, according to a Datafolha survey Monday.
Concessions
Economists warn that the social security system is one of the main threats to Brazil’s government finances, with pension expenditures accounting for nearly half of its spending before debt payments.
Temer made concessions to ease passage of the proposal at the center of his austerity plan, raising doubts among investors about the watered-down bill’s ability to help narrow a bulging budget deficit that cost Brazil its investment-grade credit rating two years ago. Temer agreed to set a lower retirement age for women, police, teachers and rural workers and grant more generous transition rules for workers after allies balked at backing it.
Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles has said the changes will reduce the reform’s impact by 25 percent over 10 years, lowering fiscal savings to 600 billion reais ($190 billion).
Pension reform or taxes
Investors see pension reform as the only way for Brazil to shore up its finances without resorting to huge tax hikes. The Brazilian real would probably drop more than 10 percent if the scandal-plagued Congress fails to pass the bill, currency strategists estimated in a Reuters poll Wednesday.
Without the overhaul, Brazil’s aging population is expected to lift social security spending to 17.2 percent of gross domestic product by 2060, from 8.1 percent last year, according to government estimates.
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WhatsApp, a popular messaging service owned by Facebook Inc., suffered a widespread global outage Wednesday that lasted for several hours before being resolved, the company said.
“Earlier today, WhatsApp users in all parts of the world were unable to access WhatsApp for a few hours. We have now fixed the issue and apologize for the inconvenience,” WhatsApp said in an email late Wednesday afternoon.
WhatsApp was down in parts of India, Canada, the United States and Brazil, according to Reuters journalists. It affected people who use the service on Apple Inc’s iOS operating system, Alphabet Inc.’s Android and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows mobile OS.
WhatsApp is used by more than 1.2 billion people around the world and is a key tool for communications and commerce in many countries. The service was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion.
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Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin says his department is seeking to close perhaps more than 1,100 VA facilities nationwide as it develops plans to allow more veterans to receive medical care in the private sector.
At a House hearing Wednesday, Shulkin said the VA had identified more than 430 vacant buildings and 735 that he described as underutilized, costing the federal government $25 million a year.
He said the VA would work with Congress in prioritizing buildings for closure and was considering whether to follow a process the Pentagon had used in recent decades to decide which of its underused military bases to shutter, known as Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC.
“Whether BRAC is a model that we should take a look, we’re beginning that discussion with members of Congress,” Shulkin told a House appropriations subcommittee. “We want to stop supporting our use of maintenance of buildings we don’t need, and we want to reinvest that in buildings we know have capital needs.”
Aging buildings
In an internal agency document obtained by The Associated Press, the VA pointed to aging buildings it was reviewing for possible closure that would cost millions of dollars to replace. It noted that about 57 percent of all VA facilities were more than 50 years old. Of the 431 VA buildings it said were vacant, most were built 90 or more years ago, according to agency data. The VA document did not specify the locations.
While President Donald Trump’s budget blueprint calls for a 6 percent increase in VA funding, Shulkin has made clear the government’s second-largest agency with nearly 370,000 employees will have to operate more efficiently and that budget increases should not be considered a given in future years.
The department recently announced hiring restrictions on roughly 4,000 positions despite the lifting of the federal hiring freeze and also left open the possibility of “near-term” and “long-term workforce reductions.” Shulkin is also putting together a broader proposal by fall to expand the VA’s Choice program of private-sector care.
BRAC controversial
The Pentagon’s BRAC process often stirred controversy in the past as members of Congress expressed concern about the negative economic impact of shuttering military bases and vigorously opposed closures in their districts.
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., a vice chair of the appropriations panel, told Shulkin that Congress was looking forward to working with the VA “constructively” on the issue in part by determining how excess VA buildings could be put to good community use, such as for fire-fighting, security or landscape maintenance.
“Don’t ever use the term BRAC because it brings up a lot of bad memories,” Fortenberry cautioned. “You automatically set yourself up for a lot of controversy.”
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Alphabet Inc. warned its users to beware of emails from known contacts asking them to click on a link to Google Docs after a large number of people turned to social media to complain that their accounts had been hacked.
Google said Wednesday that it had taken steps to protect users from the attacks by disabling offending accounts and removing malicious pages.
The attack used a relatively novel approach to phishing, a hacking technique designed to trick users into giving away sensitive information, by gaining access to user accounts without needing to obtain their passwords. They did that by getting a logged-in user to grant access to a malicious application posing as Google Docs.
No malware needed
“This is the future of phishing,” said Aaron Higbee, chief technology officer at PhishMe Inc. “It gets attackers to their goal … without having to go through the pain of putting malware on a device.”
He said the hackers had also pointed some users to another site, since taken down, that sought to capture their passwords. Google said its abuse team “is working to prevent this kind of spoofing from happening again.”
Anybody who granted access to the malicious app unknowingly also gave hackers access to their Google account data including emails, contacts and online documents, according to security experts who reviewed the scheme.
Someone else controls your accounts
“This is a very serious situation for anybody who is infected because the victims have their accounts controlled by a malicious party,” said Justin Cappos, a cyber security professor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Cappos said he received seven of those malicious emails in three hours Wednesday afternoon, an indication that the hackers were using an automated system to perpetuate the attacks.
He said he did not know the objective, but noted that compromised accounts could be used to reset passwords for online banking accounts or provide access to sensitive financial and personal data.
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African-Americans and Hispanics, the largest racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, made positive strides economically and educationally during the past year but continue to lag behind whites, a civil rights group’s annual study contends.
“The theme of this year’s State of Black America report is ‘protecting our progress,’ ” National Urban League CEO Marc Morial said.
In its study, released Tuesday, the league found the standard of living for African-Americans was 72.3 percent of that of whites, on average. For Hispanics, the equality index was a bit higher, at 78.4 percent. The index measures quality of life for blacks and Hispanics in terms of economics, health, education, social justice and civic engagement.
Minority employment is at its highest level in almost a decade, but “any progress made towards racial equality is increasingly under threat.” Morial said. More minorities have health care at a time when efforts are underway to roll back expanding coverage, he added.
Improvements in education
The report indicated that African-Americans made gains in education, with a growing percentage of blacks staying in school and obtaining associate degrees.
According to the report, racial disparities plague minorities in terms of social justice equality. As examples, the report noted that more blacks are jailed after being arrested than is the case with whites, and that whites posted a greater decline than blacks in their likelihood of being victims of violent crime.
The study also found a troubling rise in hate crimes committed against members of religious and racial minorities. “A nation of a great mosaic that the United States of America represents cannot tolerate hateful incidents. It is corrosive, it is divisive and it is un-American,” Morial said.
The Trump administration has proposed major budget cuts to government programs that help low-income Americans, who are disproportionately black. The civil rights organization said it would press lawmakers and private groups to invest $4 trillion over the next 10 years in job training, enhanced education programs and infrastructure projects to revitalize minority communities.
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On a trip to India, the president of Portland State University reassured prospective students they’d be safe on his campus. Purdue University sent overseas applicants a note from two mayors touting Indiana’s “friendly smiles” and hospitality. And dozens of other schools produced online videos to welcome foreign students.
As U.S. colleges face new but significant declines in applications from abroad, many are rolling out marketing efforts to combat fears of harassment and concerns that President Donald Trump’s stance on immigration reflects a United States that is becoming less welcoming to foreigners.
“Students are telling us that they don’t feel safe here in the United States. That they’re concerned about discrimination, racism,” said Katharine Johnson Suski, admissions director at Iowa State University. “This year it was a little more important to make sure that they felt comfortable with their decision.”
Drop in overseas students expected
Colleges and universities have received a financial boost in recent years from international students, who are typically charged higher tuition rates than American peers who live in state. Some schools have come to rely on revenue from foreign students, whose enrollment has climbed sharply over much of the past decade, according to federal data.
But there is evidence enrollment figures at some schools could drop next fall. Nearly half the nation’s 25 largest public universities saw undergraduate applications from abroad fall or stagnate since last year, according to data colleges provided to The Associated Press in response to public records requests. Eight schools did not provide data, while six saw gains.
International applications to the University of Arizona are down 24 percent compared with this time last year; California State University, Northridge, is down 26 percent. The University of Houston has seen a 32 percent drop, although it’s still accepting applications and its numbers will likely rise.
The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately comment.
Temple posts a ‘you are welcome here’ video
Philadelphia’s Temple University sparked a chain reaction in November when it posted an online video featuring students and staff members saying “You are welcome here” in multiple languages, set to upbeat piano music. Since then, more than 100 other schools have made similar videos and circulated them abroad. Temple, a private university, also hosted seven overseas receptions for admitted students, more than in the past.
At Iowa State University, officials are ramping up their overseas mailings to sell students on the school’s Midwestern charm. The University of Minnesota is considering a phone campaign. The University of Florida has produced videos featuring “global Gators” and is offering online video chats.
“Given the current climate, it seems like this is something which is even more important,” said Joseph Glover, provost at Florida. “Obviously we are concerned about the situation, like every other public university in the United States.”
Safety concerns are nothing new among international students, but many schools say anxieties have grown since Trump was elected. Some students have said Trump’s “America first” rhetoric and his proposal to ban immigration from six majority-Muslim nations have given them pause. Some application deadlines fell before the election, but even Trump’s campaign rhetoric cast doubts, experts say.
Kansas shooting a common subject
Students in India have been particularly alarmed, especially after a gunman shot two Indian men at a Kansas bar in March, killing one, after allegedly saying “get out of my country.”
Portland State President Wim Wiewel was in India soon after the shooting to meet prospective students, and the discussion quickly turned to safety. Wiewel and his wife reassured families that Portland is friendly to foreign visitors.
“People in America recognize that even though there are a few crazies around, it’s not like it’s open season on Indians or Muslims,” Wiewel said. “Having us talk to them totally took away their fears. But the problem, of course, is we can’t talk to everyone.”
Some government officials are trying to tackle the problem, too. Several of the videos feature cameos from state governors or congressional members. A top official from America’s embassy in India penned a newspaper column last week stressing that “U.S. colleges and universities take pride in providing safe and welcoming environments.”
Along with India, fewer applications have been coming from China and Saudi Arabia, which previously sent large numbers to American colleges. Experts say factors at play include economic turmoil in China and India, but some have blamed the downturn on a “Trump effect.”
University officials offer assurances
Officials at the University of New England say Trump’s election has complicated plans to recruit Moroccan students. At a February open house in Tangier, the election was a frequent concern.
“Several students wearing hijabs wondered whether they would be welcome in the United States, given the election of Donald Trump and the rhetoric they were hearing,” said Anouar Majid, vice president for global affairs at the private school in Portland, Maine. “We assured them that the United States is very welcoming.”
When he applied to the University of New England, 17-year-old Aymane Lamharzi Alaoui was worried about discrimination, he said. Since then, he has spoken with family members in Boston and believes Americans are more welcoming than some of Trump’s comments suggest.
“I know there’s an increase in xenophobia and racism in the past couple of months in the U.S.,” he said in an interview. “I’m sure there are some places where I wouldn’t be very welcome, especially places in the southern United States, but I think most of the country is very tolerant.”
Loss of overseas students will hurt
For most colleges, it’s too early to know how many overseas students will enroll next fall. But many say any loss could be a blow.
At Iowa State, where applications are down 23 percent, international students bring valued diversity, said Suski, the admissions director. And there is also the revenue they provide.
“There will,” Suski said, “be a financial impact on our campus come this fall.”
In the wake of several Facebook videos depicting murder, suicide, rape and other violent acts, the social media giant says it is hiring 3,000 more people to review videos and remove those that violate its terms of service.
The company has been facing increased pressure to stop people from posting and sharing violent videos.
According to Facebook’s terms of service, violent videos are not allowed, but as recent events have shown, it can take the company some time to review and remove them.
The announcement to add staff to the already 4,500 who review videos was made Wednesday on Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page.
Facebook’s founder and CEO wrote, “Over the last few weeks, we have seen people hurting themselves and others on Facebook – either live or in video posted later. It is heartbreaking, and I have been reflecting on how we can do better for our community.”
“These reviewers will also help us get better at removing things we don’t allow on Facebook like hate speech and child exploitation, “ Zuckerberg wrote. “And we’ll keep working with local community groups and law enforcement who are in the best position to help someone if they need it – either because they’re about to harm themselves, or because they’re in danger from someone else.”
In addition to more staff, Zuckerberg said the company was going to enhance its software to keep violent videos off the site.
“We’re going to make it simpler to report problems to us, faster for our reviewers to determine which posts violate our standards and easier for them to contact law enforcement if someone needs help,” he wrote, adding the company had recently acted on a report of someone considering suicide on Facebook, preventing them from going through with it.
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Royal Caribbean International has announced it will resume weeklong cruises from New Orleans to the Bahamas and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
News outlets report Royal Caribbean said in a news release Monday that their 2,435-passenger Vision of the Seas cruise ship will relocate in December 2018 to the Port of New Orleans after a three-year hiatus. The company announced the move as part of an overview of its 2018-2019 fleet plans.
After a two-year agreement with the Port of New Orleans ended in 2014, the Miami-based company chose to end sailings from the city. The departure came despite several years of growth for the city as a cruise hub.
The 915-foot ship will sail from Miami to Los Angeles before setting sail for New Orleans.
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Apple Inc. reported a surprise fall in iPhone sales for its second quarter on Tuesday, indicating that customers may have held back purchases in anticipation of the 10th-anniversary edition of the company’s most important product later this year.
Under pressure from shareholders to hand over more of its $250 billion-plus hoard of cash and investments, Apple boosted its capital return program by $50 billion, increased its share repurchase authorization by $35 billion and raised its quarterly dividend by 10.5 percent.
Investors were unmoved, sending shares of the world’s most valuable listed company down 1.9 percent at $144.65 in after-hours trading.
Apple sold 50.76 million iPhones in its fiscal second quarter ended April 1, down from 51.19 million a year earlier.
Analysts on average had estimated iPhone sales of 52.27 million, according to financial data and analytics firm FactSet.
Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri argued the decline was not as bad as it looked, given the peculiarities of how phone sales are calculated.
The company reports what are called “sell-in” figures for the iPhone, a measure of how many units it sells to retailers, rather than “sell-through” figures, which measure how many phones are actually sold to consumers.
Maestri said the company reduced the volume of inventory going through its retail channel by about 1.2 million units in the quarter, meaning the company sold about 52 million phones to customers on a sell-through basis.
Despite the dip in unit sales, iPhone revenues rose 1.2 percent in the quarter, helped by a higher average selling price.
10th anniversary
Expectations are building ahead of Apple’s 10th-anniversary iPhone range this fall, with investors hoping that the launch would help bolster sales.
Apple typically launches its new iPhones in September.
A big jump in sales usually follows in the holiday quarter, before demand tapers over the next few quarters as customers hold back ahead of the next launch.
Apple’s 10th-anniversary iPhone range might sport features such as wireless charging, 3-D facial recognition and a curved display.
“There is a general softening in phone demand to contend with as well as expectations of a big upgrade, all of which softens the blow of this quarter’s miss,” said James McQuivey, a Forrester Research analyst. “If we see Apple downplaying expectations before the next upgrade cycle, it might mean that the company isn’t confident it will beat those expectations.”
The company forecast total revenue of between $43.5 billion and $45.5 billion for the current quarter, while analysts on average were expecting $45.60 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Analysts on average expect the company to sell 42.31 million iPhones in the current quarter, according to FactSet.
For the second quarter, the company’s net income rose to $11.03 billion, or $2.10 per share, compared with $10.52 billion, or $1.90 per share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected $2.02 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 4.6 percent to $52.90 billion in the quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $53.02 billion.
A 17.5 percent jump in the company’s services business – which includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud — to $7.04 billion, boosted revenue.
“We are particularly encouraged by the fact that service revenue is nowhere near as cyclical as product revenue,” Neil Saunders, Managing Director of GlobalData Retail, wrote in a note to clients.
Apple’s revenue from the Greater China region fell 14.1 percent to $10.73 billion in the quarter, as cheaper rivals in the region chipped away at sales.
Maestri said that sales of Macs and the company’s services were strong in China during the March quarter. “The performance we’re seeing in China should get better going forward this year,” he said.
Apple’s gross margin hit 38.9 percent, slightly ahead of analysts’ average expectation of 38.7 percent, despite higher prices for memory chips. The company said it expects gross margins next quarter between 37.5 percent and 38.5 percent, versus analysts’ expectation of 38.3 percent, according to FactSet.
“NAND and DRAM [memory chips] are under pressure right now in terms of some price pressure. We saw that in the March quarter and expect that to continue into the June quarter, but for all the other commodities, we see prices declining,” Maestri said.
Global health experts are striving to identify a mysterious illness in Liberia that has already killed 12 people.
Officials with the World Health Organization in Monrovia have already ruled out Ebola, yellow fever and a regional virus called Lassa.
They have sent samples to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further tests.
The illness causes fever, vomiting, diarrhea and headaches.
At least 21 cases have been confirmed so far and nearly all of the victims had attended the funeral of a religious leader last month in Sinoe County.
The health experts are looking for a link between the victims and food and drinks they may have consumed at the funeral.
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U.S. lawmakers have put the nation’s airlines on notice: Improve customer service or we will make you.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing for top airline executives to testify, and to determine how Congress might respond after a passenger was violently dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight.
“Seize this opportunity,” committee Chairman Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican, told United CEO Oscar Munoz and other airline executives at a hearing. Otherwise, “we’re going to act and you’re not going to like it,” he said, predicting a “one-size-fits-all” solution that may serve some airlines but not all.
Munoz apologized repeatedly for the removal of David Dao, 69, who last month refused to give up his seat to make room for airline employees. The video of airport police dragging Dao from his seat went viral.
“In that moment for our customers and our company we failed, and so as CEO, at the end of the day, that is on me,” Munoz said. “This has to be a turning point.”
Munoz was joined at the hearing by United President Scott Kirby and executives from American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
American Airlines experienced its own public relations fiasco last month when a passenger video went viral, showing a woman on a plane in tears holding a child in her arms and another at her side after an encounter with a flight attendant over a baby stroller.
United and other airlines have announced policy changes regarding overbooked flights. Airlines have said they routinely overbook flights because a small percentage of passengers do not show up.
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Greece reached a deal with its European lenders Tuesday for more reforms in exchange for a badly needed bailout installment so Athens could avoid possible bankruptcy.
After months of often tough talks, Greek officials agreed to more pension cuts and tax increases.
The European Commission and European Central Bank will bring the deal to their finance ministers at their May 22 meeting.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ leftist government says it is confident parliament will approve the new round of cuts.
Greece desperately needs about $8 billion to meet a debt payment in July or stare possible bankruptcy in the face.
International Monetary Fund official Poul Thomsen says while the IMF welcomes the deal between Greece and its eurozone lenders, the country needs debt relief and restructuring. Thomsen says the Greek debt of close to 180 percent of its gross domestic product is unsustainable.
The IMF has balked at taking part in the latest Greek bailout unless the debt is renegotiated.
Greece has been relying on international bailouts since 2010, when the outgoing conservative government badly underreported the country’s debt.
The harsh economic reforms, including cuts in social spending and tax hikes, have caused pain and chaos for many Greeks. But the bailouts have helped Greece fend off total collapse.
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Low-dose aspirin might help fend off breast cancer, according to a new study.
Researchers at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center noted an overall 16 percent reduction in breast-cancer risk among the 57,000 women who took an 81-milligram dose of aspirin three or more times a week.
The most striking finding, according to researchers, was the effect the aspirin had on the most common form of breast cancer, known as estrogen or progesterone receptor positive HER2-negative breast cancer. The risk of developing that subtype was reduced by 20 percent.
The participants, part of the California Teachers Study that began in 1995, filled out questionnaires that included their exercise, smoking and drinking habits, family history of cancer and medications they took, including hormone replacement therapy.
By 2013, almost 1,500 women reported having developed invasive breast cancer.
The reduction in breast cancer risk in the City of Hope study was seen in comparison to the results of other large studies investigating the possible benefits of higher-dose aspirin and other painkillers. The study’s findings were published online in the journal Breast Cancer Research.
Investigators did not see a breast-cancer risk reduction among women who took regular-strength aspirin or other types of painkillers. They said that may be because some women only took the aspirin occasionally, for pain relief.
Low-dose aspirin taken regularly has been linked to other health benefits, including reductions in the risk of heart disease and colon cancer.
Investigators in the latest study only found an association, not a causal link, between the use of baby aspirin and a reduced risk of breast cancer.
Researchers noted aspirin reduces inflammation, which plays a role in the initiation of disease. They also said the painkiller is a mild aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase inhibitors reduce the amount of the female hormone estrogen circulating in the bloodstream, which fuels breast tumors, so they are used to treat some forms of breast cancer in post-menopausal women.
At this point, researchers are not recommending that women start taking low-dose aspirin to protect themselves against breast cancer. They said more research is needed showing a definite link between baby aspirin and cancer prevention.
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A privacy group sued the New York Police Department on Tuesday to demand the release of documents related to its use of facial-recognition technology, which rights groups have criticized as discriminatory and lacking in proper oversight.
The lawsuit is the latest attempt to compel U.S. law enforcement agencies to disclose more about how they rely on searchable facial-recognition databases in criminal investigations.
NYPD has previously produced one document in response to a January 2016 freedom of information request, despite evidence it has frequently used an advanced face-recognition system for more than five years, according to the Center for Privacy & Technology at Georgetown University law school, which filed the suit in New York state court.
“The department’s claim that it cannot find any records about its use of the technology is deeply troubling,” said David Vladeck, the privacy group’s faculty director. He added that an absence of responsive documents, such as contract and purchasing documents, training materials or audits, would be an indication the police force did not possess controls governing its use of facial-recognition software.
NYPD could not be immediately reached for comment on the suit.
Facial-recognition databases are used by police to help identify possible criminal suspects. They typically work by conducting searches of vast troves of known images, such as mug shots, and algorithmically comparing them with other images, such as those taken form a store’s surveillance cameras, that capture an unidentified person believed to be committing a crime.
But the technology has come under increased scrutiny in recent years amid fears that it may lack accuracy, lead to false positives and perpetuate racial bias.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers expressed consternation at the secrecy surrounding facial-recognition technology during a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing in March.
The Center for Privacy & Technology released a report last year concluding half of America’s adults have their images stored in at least one searchable facial-recognition database used by local, state and federal authorities.
The study, titled “Perpetual Line-Up,” found that states rely on mug shots, driver’s license photos, or both in assembling their databases, and that images are often shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated last year that more than 400 million facial pictures of Americans were stored in databases kept by law enforcement agencies.
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President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to China said on Tuesday he would do everything possible to address what he called China’s “unfair and illegal” sales of underpriced steel in the world market.
“I want to do everything I can to make sure that we stop the unfair and illegal activities that we’ve seen from China in the steel industry,” the nominee, Iowa’s Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, said at his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing.
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