Cluster of GBA airports proposed to take effect by 2025 – Macau News

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Major airports within the Greater Bay Area (GBA) would achieve consolidation into a single airport cluster by 2025 under a proposal issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Officially, the GBA has nine cities and two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) by political categorisation.

The multi-jurisdiction area has three major airports in Guangzhou, capital of the Guangdong province, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. In 2019, the three airports handled nearly 198 million passengers combined.

In addition, the Macau International Airport focuses on regional passenger flights, while its neighbour, the Zhuhai Jinwan Airport, focuses on mainland passenger destinations.

The five airports have been competing for airspace, as they are so closely located.

Authorities within the Greater Bay Area have called for a comprehensive plan to make better use of the positioning of each airport. This would help to remove competition between them while fostering a degree of aviation specialisation.

The five airports are holding regular meetings to discuss various topics, with specialisation and competition among them.

The central proposal, which has now been released, has two goals, to be achieved in two phases.

Phase 1 will see the realisation of a Greater Bay Area airport conglomerate in 2025. Before which, in 2022, GBA airports should achieve greater interactions and dynamics between them.

Phase 2 will see infrastructure implemented by the conglomerate by 2035. The airports should be able to operate on a world-class level with safe, green, smart, human and synergetic qualities, according to the proposal.During the years outlined in the proposal, the central administration will further clarify the functions of each airport, in order to achieve their diversified goals.

For example, the Macao airport will focus on developing into a service-oriented airport. In addition, the mainland civil aviation authority has showed support for the opening of the civil aviation market in Macao.It also hinted that the Hong Kong airport will remain as the leader of global freight in the Greater Bay Area.

(Macau Daily Times/Macau News)

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Nuclear weapons testing hot topic 75 years after test – Las Vegas Sun

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Published Saturday, July 18, 2020 | 7 a.m.

Updated 14 hours, 45 minutes ago

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) On July 16, 1945, the U.S military detonated the worlds first atomic bomb in New Mexico, ushering in the nuclear age.

And now on the 75th anniversary of the test code-named Trinity, nuclear weapons continue to be a hot political topic, including in Utah. The Trump administration has talked about resuming nuclear bomb testing as politicians consider renewing compensation for those still suffering from dangerous radiation exposure during the years of nuclear tests.

Utahns, too, were repeatedly exposed to radiation from nuclear bomb tests at the Nevada Test Site near Las Vegas. The tests were conducted when wind patterns would blow radiation clouds away from Las Vegas and California but toward Utah, where people and livestock downwind were sickened from the fallout.

Calling Thursdays anniversary a solemn occasion, retired Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch said the day reminds people of the enormous consequences of nuclear testing, including the heavy human toll exacted on some of the most vulnerable communities.

Since 1945, thousands of downwinders the men and women who lived nearby the militarys nuclear testing facility have developed severe forms of cancer and respiratory illness as a result of radiation exposure. Many of them are still suffering to this day, he said.

Now more than ever, Congress must reauthorize the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act he passed in 1990 to help families who were victim to the federal governments neglect, Hatch said.

If lawmakers allow the law to expire, he said, hundreds of downwinders will be unable to pay their medical bills for issues directly related to radiation poisoning.

Updating this legislation is a moral imperative, Hatch said.

Nuclear weapons have become an issue in Utahs 4th Congressional District race between Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams and GOP challenger Burgess Owens because of President Donald Trumps talk of possibly renewing nuclear testing.

McAdams, the states only Democrat in Congress, is supporting legislation to stop further testing and succeeded in getting language in a House spending bill prohibiting the use of funds to conduct or make preparations for any explosive nuclear weapons tests.

Owens position is not as clear. The day before the June 30 primary election, he told a caller on K-TALK radio that he absolutely would support Trumps efforts to resume nuclear testing if elected, saying he believed in peace through strength as cited by President Ronald Reagan.

Yes, I will be supporting our president because he supports our country. He loves our country. He does it for free. He just needs to have some backbone in the House and Senate to make this thing happen really right, Owens said, adding after a break that we should be loyal, period to leaders he sees as behind God, family and country.

On Wednesday, Owens campaign issued a seemingly contradictory statement.

As recent discussions of nuclear testing have come up, Burgess Owens remains committed against the testing of nuclear options to happen in Utah. Burgess has expressed a desire to understand the presidents meaning of nuclear testing and has no reason to believe he has suggested anything similar to the testing done in the past, the statement said.

Owens was quoted as saying, I will be on the front line to stand against anyone who would do anything to endanger our beautiful state, its environment, or its citizens no matter their political affiliation.

Asked about the shift in Owens position, his campaign spokesman, Jesse Ranney, said because the caller on the radio referred to nuclear testing in Utah, Owens thought he was talking about something other than Trump considering conducting the countrys first nuclear weapons test since 1992.

Owens made that assumption because it seemed so erratic hed be asked if he supported bombs going off in Utah or close, Ranney said.

Burgess has no reason to believe the president had any desire to test nuclear weapons in Utah. On the subject of nuclear testing, Burgess welcomes scientists in safe environments like labs exploring the capabilities of nuclear energy, Ranney said, adding, hes against the testing of bombs in Nevada as well.

McAdams campaign manager, Andrew Roberts, said he still sees Owens as backing new testing.

I take Burgess Owens at his word. Owens said he absolutely supports nuclear weapons testing here in Utah. That his campaign subsequently realized his position is untenable and is trying to have it both ways doesnt change what Burgess said or believes.

Owens, a former NFL player who won the Republican nomination with nearly 44% of the vote in a four-way primary race, also backed the extension of the act compensating downwinders exposed to radiation from nuclear testing in Nevada.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress should work together on an extension, Owens said. We owe a debt to those impacted by nuclear testing in the past, and must own up to our responsibility to them.

McAdams is a co-sponsor of amendments that would increase compensation and expand the reach of the program.

A message from Trump on the Trinity test anniversary doesnt specifically mention starting nuclear testing again nor does it mention downwinders.

But the president said nuclear weapons continue to underwrite American national security and are the backstop of national defense.

In order to continue protecting Americas vital security interests, I have directed my administration to revitalize and modernize Americas nuclear security complex to preserve a credible deterrent, Trump said. We are investing in the capability to produce plutonium pits to support our stockpile needs and to improve the infrastructure of the weapons ecosystem.

The government continues to advance the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, the B-21 bomber, the Long Range Standoff Weapon and the Columbia-class submarine, all of which help ensure that we can deter aggression and preserve peace for future generations.

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No Canada: Blue Jays barred from playing games in Toronto – Las Vegas Sun

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Published Saturday, July 18, 2020 | 4:25 p.m.

Updated 5 hours, 21 minutes ago

TORONTO (AP) The Blue Jays won't play their home games in Toronto this year because Canada's government doesn't think it's safe for players to travel back and forth from the United States, one of the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.

Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said Saturday the federal government had denied the Blue Jays' request to play at Rogers Centre, confirming what an official familiar with the matter had told The Associated Press ahead of the announcement.

The team had been given clearance by city and provincial governments to play in its home stadium and was awaiting approval from Canadas federal government. The other 29 Major League Baseball teams plan to play in their home ballparks, without spectators, when the pandemic-shortened 60-game season begins on July 23.

Mendicino told The AP frequent travel to the U.S., where COVID-19 cases are surging, was the biggest issue.

There were serious risks if we proceeded with the regular-season proposal of the MLB and the Jays and therefore we concluded it was not in the national interest, Mendicino said. I get that some people will disappointed but this decision cant be taken as a fan. It is taken on behalf of the health and safety of Canadians.

The Blue Jays were informed via a phone call. The team's alternate sites for home games include its training facility in Dunedin, Florida, which is among the states that are virus hotspots, as well as Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York, which is home to Toronto's Triple-A affiliate and just across the Niagara River from Canada.

Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro said player health is a concern in Florida. He said the team has spent more time examining Buffalo in recent days but said the stadium has infrastructure challenges. A lack of space in the clubhouse makes social distancing difficult, but Shapiro said some players could have their lockers set up in suites. Sahlen Field also needs upgrades to its field lights and its training facilities, he said.

Dunedin is the only one that is 100% seamless right now and ready to go. That from a player health standpoint has some challenges," Shapiro said. "Buffalo is certainly one that weve spent an increasing amount of time on in the past few weeks. That is not done. There are some infrastructure and player-facility challenges to get that up to major league standards. And then we have other alternatives that are real that we continue to work through that may be better for us.

He declined to say what other sites they are considering. He said they would look to improve batting cages, weight rooms and training rooms in Buffalo if it is picked.

Buffalo is the place we've spent the most time on in the last 10 days, Shapiro said. There is a lot we have to do. Some of it might get done after we start playing but I'm confident Buffalo is a viable alternative. With the amount of resources that we would marshal if we focused solely on Buffalo we can make it what it needs to be for us in time to play games.

The Blue Jays are scheduled to start the season July 24 at Tampa Bay. Their home opener was set for five days later against Washington.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz have pushed for the team to relocate to the city.

Lets find a way to make them the Buffalo Blue Jays this year, Poloncarz wrote in a text to The AP.

Shapiro called Canada's decision disappointing but gave health officials credit for mitigating the spread of the virus.

Without any hesitation we respect the decision. Its not hard to think about how well managed and well led the virus has been throughout Toronto and Canada by public health and political leaders, Shapiro said.

We move forward with no excuses knowing that all of our alternatives are going to be somewhat imperfect.

Mendicino said the government is open to considering future restart plans for the postseason should the risk of virus transmission diminish.

We've committed to maintaining an open line of communication with both MLB and the Toronto Blue Jays and we will reassess in due course, he said.

MLB needed an exemption to a requirement that anyone entering Canada for nonessential reasons must self-isolate for 14 days. The U.S.-Canada border remains closed to nonessential travel until at least Aug. 21.

In Canada youve seen us flatten the curve. Youve seen that cases have decreased significantly and that is largely attributable to the sacrifices Canadians have made. We can ill afford a step back, Mendicino said.

We think this is the right call and it is backed by the evidence and advice of our health experts. And fans who still would like to see baseball will still be able to watch the broadcast, just from a different location.

The NHL has received an exemption for its restart to the season, but that was a far simpler case because the games are restricted to two hubs Edmonton and Toronto.

The Blue Jays received an exemption for summer camp, during which the players agreed to isolate in the hotel attached to Rogers Centre and create a quarantine environment. Players are not allowed to leave the stadium or hotel and violators face fines of up to $750,000 Canadian ($551,000 U.S.) and up to six months in jail.

Toronto Mayor John Tory had lobbied the federal government to approve the plan but said Saturday he understands the decision given the situation in the U.S.

Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network, said the city and province were wrong to push for games to be played in Canada.

Its very clear that having people coming from the U.S. repeatedly is not the right thing to do, Morris said. This should have been by a decision made in Toronto or by the province. Its a bit disappointing it had to be made in Ottawa.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Raiders news: Mike Mayock prepared to handle heat of Las Vegas – Silver And Black Pride

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A lot of talk has focused on the Raiders moving to a brand new city and playing in a brand new stadium, and rightfully so. But something was brought up that I hadnt really given much thought to yet. The weather.

As someone who has gone to Las Vegas my fair share of times during the summer, I can confirm that it gets very, very, very hot there. A lot hotter than Oakland in the summer.

Raiders General Manager Mike Mayock said him and his head coach Jon Gruden have been talking to others who have been in their shows before about how to beat the heat in Las Vegas.

Heres what Mayock had to say during an interview with ESPN Las Vegas.

Weve had some conversations with people who have coached [in Vegas] before, like Tony Sanchez who was at UNLV, and just asked about what time we have to be done practicing, or what can we do outside? The advantage we have, as opposed to UNLV, is that we have the grass fields outside, we have the indoor climate-controlled filed, and we have a stadium.

So, we really have three different places that we can rotate through, and based on what we heard, if were going to be outside, we probably have to be done by 10, 10:30 in the morning in July and August. I think we can figure that out because we have three different surfaces to practice on, but the harder part is we dont even know what the deal is with training camp and the acclimation period.

I guess the good thing is the fact they have multiple options and they have indoor options. However, you still have to respect them for being out there in those conditions.

Personally, I cant even imagine what it would be like tailgating for a Raiders game out there when its 90-100 degrees. But hey, with all the fun youd be having, who even cares.

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Police: Las Vegas woman reached 121 mph before crash that killed 1-year-old son – WITI FOX 6 Milwaukee

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LAS VEGAS Las Vegas police say a mom who was drunk was going 121 miles per hour moments before a collision that killed her 1-year-old son, according to a report.

Thecrash happened Sunday evening, July 12, and callers to police reporting the crash said the baby was thrown from the car and showed no signs of life, Fox 5 Las Vegasreported.

The station identified the baby as Royce Jones.

Mom LaurenPrescia, 23, of Las Vegas, was facing multiple charges including DUI resulting in death, felony reckless driving and abuse, neglect or endangerment of a child, according to the station.

Prescia was behind the wheel of a 2020 Hyundai Sonata when she struck a 2011 Nissan Sentra being driven by a 36-year-old woman who suffered minor injuries, police said in a news release. The Nissan was making a turn at the time.

Fox 5 reported that police said 2.5 seconds before the crash, Prescias vehicle reached a max speed of 121 mph.

Officers on scene said she had bloodshot eyes and smelled strongly of alcohol, according to the station citing the arrest report.

A man at the scene who said he was the babys father told police that before the crash Prescia said she would beat him home, then began speeding, the station reported.

He told police that after the crash he ran to his son who was still in his car seat.

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Police: Las Vegas woman reached 121 mph before crash that killed 1-year-old son - WITI FOX 6 Milwaukee

Trump’s trouble in suburbs key to suddenly competitive Ohio – Las Vegas Sun

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Published Saturday, July 18, 2020 | 8:45 a.m.

Updated 12 hours, 30 minutes ago

CINCINNATI (AP) During a background briefing with reporters in December, President Donald Trump's reelection campaign team gave only passing mention of Ohio. Certainly no one suggested a full-scale fall advertising strategy for the state he carried convincingly in 2016.

But less than four months until this November's election, Trump is facing an unexpectedly competitive landscape in Ohio because he has lost ground in metropolitan and suburban areas, threatening the overwhelming advantages he has in rural areas, state data show.

Trump's campaign has budgeted $18.4 million in television advertising in Ohio for this fall, second only to Florida, according to campaign advertising tracking data.

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has named Aaron Pickrell, a former top Ohio adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign, as a senior strategist, Biden campaign officials said. Four other campaign staff members in the state were announced Friday. But the Biden campaign has not gone so far as to book its own television advertising in Ohio, where 18 electoral votes are at stake. Trump won Ohio by 8 percentage points four years ago.

Still, Trump's heavy investment in Ohio and a series of midterm and municipal government gains by Democrats since 2016 suggest the president probably will have even more difficult terrain in other pivotal states in the industrial heartland Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that he won by much smaller margins.

These are all big, flashing warning signs, said former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod. If he were a patient, and you were a doctor, youd look at this and say, Youve got problems, buddy.

Republican presidential candidates have been steadily losing support in Ohio's once reliably GOP suburbs around Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. But Trump's fall was particularly sharp, according to state voting data and census records compiled by Mike Dawson, a public policy consultant and creator of ohioelectionresults.com.

For instance, in the affluent northern Columbus-area suburb of Upper Arlington, Republican George H. W. Bush won by 34 percentage points in 1992. Twenty years later, Republican Mitt Romney's winning margin there was 8 percentage points. In 2016, Trump lost Upper Arlington to Hillary Clinton by 16 percentage points.

A similar picture emerged in the 10 wealthiest suburbs outside Cleveland in Cuyahoga County. In Franklin County outside Columbus, Trump lost nine of the 10 most affluent suburbs, a sharp decline from other Republicans over the past 24 years.

The trend was worst in suburban Hamilton County outside Cincinnati, where Trump's losing margin in the 10 richest suburbs was at least 50% of Republicans' total decline since 1992.

College educated suburbanites in Ohio, particularly college educated women, were not as supportive of the president in 2016 as theyve traditionally been of Republican presidential nominees, and that will continue in 2020," said Karl Rove, senior adviser to President George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2004, when the Republican won election in part by narrowly carrying Ohio. Trump has a problem with them.

Andrea Granieri, 34, from the eastern Cincinnati suburb of Anderson Township, had been a lifelong Republican, until Trump.

I could not vote for Donald Trump. I just couldnt do it," Granieri said, noting the explanation she would owe her two children some day. I could not endorse the way he talks to people and how he talks about people."

Still, Rove said that Trump maintains a clear path to carrying Ohio: Its to repeat his 2016 performance in 2020."

That includes matching and, in some instances, exceeding his overwhelming margins in the GOP-heavy counties along the Indiana border and the struggling industrial Mahoning River Valley corridor and along the Ohio River to the south.

But Rove said Trump must also do what he did in 2016 in suburban Cincinnati, Dayton, Cleveland and Columbus."

History suggests that's going to be hard, some Ohio Republicans say.

Can the electoral leakage for Republicans in these first- and second-ring suburbs continue to be offset by running up the score along the Ohio River? said former state Republican Party Chair Kevin DeWine, a former state representative and second cousin to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. We have to be honest as Republicans and say we are dangerously close to that tipping point.

During an August 2018 special election, Danny O'Connor came within 1,700 votes out of more than 200,000 of becoming the first Democrat in 36 years to win Ohio's 12th Congressional District, which includes once solidly Republican Delaware County. Trump came to campaign for O'Connor's opponent, Rep. Troy Balderson, and helped pull him to victory.

Democrats continued making inroads in 2018, picking up six suburban state legislative seats.

That November, Erik Yassenoff, in losing his bid for a northern Columbus-area district, became the first Republican candidate for Ohio General Assembly to lose Upper Arlington.

I think youre seeing people in the suburbs align more with the urban populations," Yassenoff said.

Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper has watched as younger, educated and often more racially and ethnically diverse families have sought the top schools and other comforts of Ohio's booming suburbs since the mid-2000s.

The trend was especially clear last year as Democrats scored victories in local suburban elections.

"This is where the fundamental shift has happened, what used to be the base of the Republican Party, these larger, generally white-collar suburbs around Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland and Akron," Pepper said.

In Yassenoff's Upper Arlington, voters elected their first Democrats to its City Council. In nearby Hilliard, Democrats won their first seat on the City Council in three decades. There were similar Democratic municipal gains in Republican-leaning suburbs around Toledo and Dayton, as well as in communities outside Cleveland.

Perhaps most telling, southeast of Columbus in the old Republican suburb of Reynoldsburg, Democrats swept the municipal elections and elected three Black female council members, a first for the city.

What it tells us is that more people are becoming engaged and involved," said Meredith Lawson-Rowe, among the new Reynoldsburg council members.

Even as Trumps standing began to fall after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Ohio was not seen as a concern, campaign officials said. But polls in other states showing close races in Iowa, Georgia and even Texas have also now shaken the firm grip on Ohio.

Biden's team and national Democrats think they can compete at a minimum to force Trump to defend Ohio, perhaps with money that could be spent in its must-win regional neighbors.

Spokesman David Bergstein of the Democratic National Committee put it simply: Id say Trump is clearly facing headwinds in Ohio and hes being squeezed."

___

Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writer Jonathan Lemire in Washington contributed to this report.

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‘Unbelievable’ Las Vegas car crash that killed baby haunts those investigating – Las Vegas Sun

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Steve Marcus

Stuffed animals and flowers are shown at a makeshift memorial near the intersection of Rampart at Lake Mead boulevards Tuesday, July 14, 2020. One-year-old Royce Jones was killed in a traffic accident at the siteSunday.

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez (contact)

Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 2 a.m.

As night fell Tuesday, items that remained scattered around the heavily-damaged shopping center marquee near Rampart and Lake Mead boulevards illustrated the tragedy that ensued 48 hours before.

The punishing Las Vegas heat had wilted flowers and deflated Spider-Man balloons that swayed in the breeze at the impromptu memorial. Stuffed animals, still in good shape, surrounded them. A passerby with a trained eye might have seen charred brush, shattered glass, a broken wooden sign, and a bent exhaust pipe lying around.

Yellow lines painted by Metro Police investigators, veering from Rampart into the entrance of a shopping center, showed the turbulent path Lauren Loanna Prescias car took after it nicked another vehicle at 121 mph Sunday, subsequently smashing into the base of the marquee, which severed her car in two, instantly killing her 1-year-old son, Royce.

The posted speed limit on that road is 45 mph.

Prescia, 23, whom officers allege slurred her words and smelled of alcohol, walked away with minor injuries, according to her arrest report. Royce died strapped in his childs car seat in the back of his mothers unrecognizable 2020 Hyundai Sonata.

His father, Cameron Hubbard-Jones, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on a felony count of reckless driving causing the death of a juvenile.

Hubbard-Jones witnessed the crash from a separate vehicle, which had also accelerated to 100 mph in passing Prescias vehicle before the fatality.

In the womans arrest report, he told investigators that he was driving about 60 mph, noting Prescia must have been going 80 mph. They were on the phone, and he pleaded with her to slow down because their child was with her, he said.

Little is known about why they were speeding. The crash followed a custody exchange in which Prescia told Hubbard-Jones that she was going to beat him home.

It wasnt clear where they were heading.

Prescia told officers that she drank 24 ounces of an alcoholic seltzer beverage more than three hours before the crash, which occurred at 7:17 p.m. Shes out on a $50,000 bail, but is facing counts of DUI resulting in death, reckless driving and child abuse or neglect.

She is only allowed to go to work and medical appointments but isnt allowed to drive, court records show. She didnt have a listed attorney to speak on her behalf.

Had the motorist Prescia struck, who turned into her path on Rampart, made it to the lane she intended to turn into, she also would have likely died, Metro Sgt. Paul McCullough told the Sun Wednesday morning.

And had Prescia struck the marquee head-on, she couldve suffered her sons fate, McCullough said in calling her incredibly fortunate.

The boy didnt stand a chance of survival, McCullough added.

Driving drunk at 121 mph

McCullough arrived at the scene to find the car split in two.

The dynamics of the collision were disgusting, he said. Discovering that it was an infant child that was involved was quite upsetting, and it had an effect on everyone out there.

In his 23 years as a Las Vegas cop, he cant remember another victim who was that young.

The crash, the fourth fatality investigated by Metros traffic unit in seven days, remained under investigation. On Wednesday morning their priority was to track down dash-cam video that KLAS-TV had obtained and broadcast the previous night, which shows both vehicles speeding down the road before the crash. Hubbard-Jones Mercedes-Benz is seen driving ahead of Prescia.

McCullough, who described the crash as unbelievable, said investigators were still trying to determine the mechanics of it, such as seeing if Prescia applied the brakes.

Data from the car showed that Prescia had accelerated to maximum throttle five seconds prior to the crash, reaching 121 mph a couple seconds before, meaning she was traveling about 175 feet per second. After impact with the other vehicle, her car traveled more than 400 feet, spinning along the way, and hitting the marquee.

Hubbard-Jones said he saw Prescia walk away, while he tried to tend to his boy. The distraught father later told a second TV station he thought Royce was also OK, until he tried to lift his tiny head.

Bothered by the crash, McCullough laments many things, such as how apparently no one called 911 as the cars were speeding down Rampart, and how people with video went to the press instead of to police, or how these crashes keep happening.

Its so frustrating, he said, comparing their pleas to Las Vegas drivers to beating a dead horse.

We seem to have a portion of the community that just doesnt care. And whether it be drunk driving, reckless driving, racing, its just out of control, he added.

"Absolutely devastating"

Andrew Bennett, spokesman for Nevadas Office of Traffic Safety, became emotional when he saw the report early Monday. Any loss of life is devastating, especially when it involves such a young person ... someone who has so much life in front of them, he said.

He described it as absolutely devastating and selfish.

Bennett became a staunch advocate for public safety after his teenage sister was killed by a drunk driver more than a decade ago. He later found a career in that role.

Theres probably only a few times where Ive been moved by emotion, he said about reading about Royces death, even when hes read hundreds of traffic fatality reports. He equates it to the gut punch he felt when 8-year-old Levi Echenique died after an impaired driver hit his familys car as he was heading to school almost two years ago.

Bennett said Nevadas traffic safety office strives for accountability, responsibility and respect for life from drivers.

All three of those were clearly not demonstrated on Sunday evening. And, you know, this little boy was the one who was the victim and everybody else walked away, he said. Thats so unfair to him, its unfair to our community as a whole youll never know what this little boy could have accomplished in his life.

Bennett advised witnesses to reckless driving to immediately call 911 or *NHP (647) when on a highway.

Its Bennetts hope that public memorials like the one honoring Royce on Rampart arent again needed. Mourning an accident victim is painful. Its magnified when its a child.

Strangers are continuing to show up to the accident site to pay their respects. Some simply stare at the growing memorial.

A couple embraced after lighting candles, and another couple showed up to drop off a small stuffed bear and rose. Their kid was playing a soccer game nearby, and they just wanted to pay their respects to the child.

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NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson on going to the moon, Mars and leading the next generation – Space.com

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NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson is ready and excited for the future of space exploration.

Earlier this year (before the COVID-19 pandemic) Space.com met up with NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson, a veteran of three spaceflights who has logged more than 42 days in space, at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Long Island, New York.

Wilson, who is one of 17 NASA astronauts eligible to become the first woman to step foot on the moon in 2024 as part of NASA's Artemis program, shared her thoughts on the future of space exploration and her advice for new explorers dreaming of joining the Artemis generation.

With regard to her lunar prospects, Wilson said, "I am of course excited to be included among the group and look forward to whoever the first woman is and the women who follow as part of the Artemis program to continue our studies of the moon, continue to descend down to the surface in a lander and hopefully to build a lunar base there on the moon and continue our journey from the Gateway orbiting laboratory."

The "Gateway," Wilson refers to the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, a proposed NASA program that would orbit around the moon and allow astronauts to more easily travel back and forth from the lunar surface.

She added that the fact that Artemis explicitly includes women is "a wonderful testament to the progress that women have made" in human spaceflight since women were first allowed to apply to the astronaut corps in 1978.

Wilson elaborated, diving into the earlier days of her 24-year astronaut career and how life for women at NASA has changed over the years.

"I was very fortunate to have been able to study engineering and to find my way to NASA, to join the NASA astronaut class of 1996," Wilson said. "Over that period of my career, I have seen increased opportunities for women. We now have women working in the mission control center, working as flight directors."

As a role model for young people looking to grow up and become astronauts like her, Wilson shared a few pieces of advice.

For young women looking to follow in her footsteps, Wilson said, "there are many opportunities now for women in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math], so I encourage these young girls to study hard. If math and science is their interest then they can certainly find their way to NASA for a career," she said.

She added that astronaut hopefuls looking to go "the civilian route" (as opposed to astronauts who come from the military) have to have bachelor's degrees in STEM. "And as far as qualities or traits for the Artemis generation," she added, astronauts have to have what NASA calls "expeditionary skills."

"Very similar to the space station generation, we're looking for people that are adaptable, that are able to work well in a team," Wilson said. She added that astronauts have to be able to transition well between being leaders and followers and additionally "make good decisions quickly and efficiently in an emergency situation or in a situation where resources are limited." Astronauts have to be able "to lead themselves and their teams to a successful and safe outcome," she said.

So, why do people want to become astronauts? Why does our species want to explore the cosmos so badly?

According to Wilson, "being adventurous and being explorers is in our nature. It's in the history of how we've developed Earth and so that naturally continues to the space frontier."

"But," she added, "we also learn a great deal about ourselves, and we're able to bring that technology back to earth." She referenced all of the research that takes place on the International Space Station in fields including physical sciences, material sciences and medicine. Wilson added space-based research can greatly improve our lives as well as advance the technologies that we have here on Earth.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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The Journey Museum commemorates 50-year anniversary of Apollo 13 – Newscenter1.tv

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RAPID CITY, S.D. Many people from young generations may know of Apollo 13 from the 1995 film, others may recall that eventful week in 1970.

To commemorate the mission and the future of space exploration, the Journey Museum held an in-person and online forum for the public.

That Apollo mission was meant to be the third moon landing mission and the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo program.

Things took a turn, when almost 56 hours into the flight, the crew was forced to abandon the mission when an oxygen tank exploded. While in some regards, the mission was a failure, the ingenuity of NASA brought the crew home, making it ultimately a success.

Now, 50 years later, NASA is planning on returning to the moon with the Artemis mission.

All of that is being done to do what we didnt do in the Apollo days, and that is set up a lunar base so that the astronauts can stay longer which is what theyll need to do when we send that very first human mission to another planet, and that planet will be Mars, says Tom Durkin, the Deputy Director for the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium.

With this mission, NASA plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2024, with the very first female astronaut to set foot on the moon.

Space X also launched the crew Dragon capsule in May, making it the first time an American spacecraft sent American astronauts to the International Space Station in nine years.

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The Journey Museum commemorates 50-year anniversary of Apollo 13 - Newscenter1.tv

Airbus US Space & Defense, Inc., announces a new direction for its business – Geospatial World

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Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc., today announced a new direction for the business, unveiling a new leadership team and signaling its intent to expand its presence in the U.S. space and intelligence markets.

Airbus U.S. Space & Defense Chief Executive Officer, Chris Emerson, formerly the President of Airbus Helicopters Inc., intends to build on the companys known reputation for military aircraft and helicopters. His organization will offer capabilities in low-cost satellite design and manufacturing, space exploration, geospatial intelligence, space-based sensors and equipment, secure communications and High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite technology.

Operating under a Special Security Agreement with the U.S. government, Airbus U.S. Space & Defense is approved to deliver on highly sensitive national security and defense requirements. The company is currently executing multiple contracts with U.S. government entities, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and all of the service branches of the U.S. military.

Leveraging our decades of experience delivering Lakotas to the U.S. Army, we have reorganized our U.S. operations also to optimize our ability to support the growing U.S. space and intelligence markets, said Emerson. In addition to continuing our success with the Lakota program, we are building on the global Airbus portfolio of innovative technologies for the U.S., with reliability and commitment to our customers mission needs.

To meet these demands, Emerson has assembled an almost entirely new leadership team, including industry veterans and top picks from the U.S. Airbus executive community. These changes were prescient, coming at a time when the U.S. DoD is spearheading a transformation in national security space, and industry has been shifting to deliver the U.S. government vision.

The recent financing for OneWeb enables continued production of the OneWeb constellation in the high-volume, high-speed advanced satellite production facility operated by Airbus OneWeb Satellites in Florida, said Emerson. Airbus is thrilled to continue to leverage this low-cost capability in the U.S. to support the growing demand from U.S. customers for low-Earth orbit constellations.

We will position the new business to meet the growing demands of the U.S. space market, blending longstanding expertise in space systems and exploration with commercial investments and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Understanding the U.S. governments need for a resilient national security infrastructure, Emerson is also building up the companys U.S.-based geospatial intelligence capabilities. Airbus U.S. Space & Defense has readily-available, affordable, commercial imagery that can be delivered with the speed, precision and accuracy that the U.S. government requires.

Emerson has built a leadership team that he believes has customer service at the core. The new Board of Directors, Board of Advisors, and leadership team bring a diverse set of experiences,including strong backgrounds in the space, intelligence, defense and homeland security sectors.

Independent Directors:

Board of Advisors:

Parent company Airbus has been present in the U.S. for more than 50 years and currently supports over 275,000 jobs in more than 40 states. Airbus has contributed to over $48 billion in aircraft-related expenditures in the U.S. in the last three years and has over 450 suppliers and teammate relationships.

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Airbus US Space & Defense, Inc., announces a new direction for its business - Geospatial World

UK at forefront of space exploration with biomining experiment – Mirage News

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BioAsteroid, a biomining experiment, uses a collection of 12 automatic culturing devices fitted with a layer of material on which the bacteria will be grown in the KUBIK ISS incubator for 3 weeks.

This experimental apparatus, which flew to space station in 2019, is a miniature bioreactor which allows the scientists to study how microbes grow in space and what effect microgravity has on their growth.

The University of Edinburgh and Kayser Space have collaborated on the project which is the first European experiment to be fast-tracked to the International Space Station through the Bioreactor Express programme.

Libby Jackson, Human Exploration Programme Manager at the UK Space Agency, said:

This is another exciting step forward in the commercialisation of research and business in space.

Enterprises such as Bioreactor Express allow anybody who wishes to carry out research or manufacture on the ISS the opportunity to do so. There is great potential for UK businesses and entrepreneurs to utilise the programme, which will help further reduce the costs of exploration and open the opportunities of space to a broader audience.

David Zolesi, Kayser Space Managing Director, added:

Executing the entire BioAsteroid project within one year, the UK has positioned itself at the forefront of two activities that will define the future of the commercial exploitation of space: asteroid mining and fast-track access to microgravity.

The experiment utilises Sphingomonas desiccabilis and Penicillium simplicissimum two microbes that, when placed in a liquid, feed from the rock surface, extracting ions. This causes the rock to break down and either form soils or release economically attractive elements in biomining.

Prof. Charles Cockell, University of Edinburgh, said:

By studying biofilm formation of these organisms on the asteroidal material in microgravity, BioAsteroid will investigate how space conditions ultimately affect microbe-mineral interactions, addressing questions on the biochemistry of the organisms, biofilm morphology and structure, fungal attachment and the ability of the microbes to break down rock, a key process for the future use of microorganisms in space exploration, including the mining of asteroids.

The Science Verification Test for BioAsteroid will take place later this month in Edinburgh, where the microbes will be grown for the first time on the actual flight culturing hardware. The experiment is scheduled to be launched to the ISS with SpaceX in October 2020.

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UK at forefront of space exploration with biomining experiment - Mirage News

The Streaming Wars Could Become a Battle of Tech Giants. Heres Why. – Barron’s

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In 2020, media companies cant avoid streaming. Yet territorial battles mean that investors should expect ongoing conflict between platforms and programmers, says LightShed.

As cord-cutting accelerates, major media companies need to have direct-to-consumer (DTC) apps, analyst Richard Greenfield writes. But in many cases, theyve waited too long to do so, and now find that theyre pitted against far larger and more powerful tech companies.

That means that platforms including TV operating system and devices are facing off against apps, and this newly emerging battle is the single most important issue we are focused on in media today. For instance, while HBO Max launched in May, consumers still cant get it on Roku (ticker: ROKU) or Amazon.coms (AMZN) Fire TV platforms. Likewise, Peacockthe streaming division of Comcasts (CMCSA) NBCUniversal divisionis just days from its national launch, and will likely do so without Roku or Fire TV apps too.

The stakes couldnt be higher, argues Greenfield, as the company that has been able to claim the dominant operating system has historically reaped the lions share of the rewards, as Microsoft (MSFT) did with personal computing, and Apple (AAPL) and Alphabets (GOOGL) Google did with mobile computing. The failure of cable and satellite companies to adjust has left an opening, he argues, for some company to become the dominant global operating system for TVs globally.

If you control the TV OS platform, you can advantage your native apps relative to third-party competitors (think Roku Channel to Prime Video/Prime Music/IMDB.TV to Apple Music/Apple TV/Apple Arcade to YouTube/YouTube TV/Stadia) and leverage learnings from usage of competitive apps on the platform, he writes. You can also collect data and create an interdependent home ecosystem of products, enhanced by artificial intelligence. You quickly realize just how important it is to be a winner in the TV OS battle.

No wonder then, that big tech companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon are so eager to make their mark in the space, along with more media-focused rivals like Roku and Netflix (NFLX).

So who will win this prize? Its too early to tell, Greenfield says. Many times weve seen single-purpose companies win, which would point to contenders like Roku. However, much like cable TV, which bundled in broadband and phone to increase stickiness and reduce churn, we wonder if the ultimate TV OS winners will be large tech platforms that offer far more than streaming video. Time will tell, but this is a battle everyone should be watching keenly.

Write to Teresa Rivas at teresa.rivas@barrons.com

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The Streaming Wars Could Become a Battle of Tech Giants. Heres Why. - Barron's

Chinese tech giants have tens of billions at stake in India – TechNode

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As Chinese tech companies push abroad, India has been a land of opportunity. But rising tensions between the two countries are starting to raise questions about the future of Chinese tech in India.

In the past five years, firms including short-video giant Bytedance, e-commerce firm Alibaba, social media behemoth Tencent, and smartphone maker Xiaomi have participated in funding rounds for Indian startups totaling more than $12.3 billion, according to my analysis of public data. These investments have helped to scale Indian unicorns like Paytm, Snapdeal, Swiggy, and Ola.

Now, however, these Chinese companies could be caught in the crossfire of a geopolitical battle. On June 29, Indian officials banned 59 Chinese apps over national security concernsincluding apps made by companies that have been investing millions in the countrys startups.

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Chinese tech giants have tens of billions at stake in India - TechNode

American tech giants Google-Apple remove Palestine from world maps, replace with Israel – Daily Times

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In a recent development, tech giant Google removed Palestine off its world map.

The latest stint has been followed even by Apple maps which marked the end of Israeli annexation of Palestine by completely removing the later country off the world map.

Google maps and Apple maps have officially removed Palestine from worldwide maps.Palestine is no longer a place according to google Ethnic cleansing, murder, land theft & corporate conspiracy, all is being done in the name of israel.#FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/wnwJtnn3Sv

Mohammad Abass (@imerabass) July 16, 2020

The change comes at the heels of Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu pledging to establish West Bank annexations. However, they have already triggered global criticism with many countries calling it human rights violation but the years-long Israel-Palestine conflict has only spiraled. Not losing any time to weaken the Palestinian Authority, Netanyahus coalition government have moved ahead with plans.

In 2016, Google clarified that the label Palestine had never been present on its mapping service, which instead includes labels for the West Bank and Gaza, as well as their respective outlines on the map.

There has never been a Palestine label on Google Maps, however, we discovered a bug that removed the labels for West Bank and Gaza Strip. Were working quickly to bring these labels back to the area, Google said in 2016.

Earlier, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for dialogue to resolve tensions over the proposed annexation by Israel of parts of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Meanwhile, 11 European foreign ministers have written to the EU to ask for possible actions that the bloc could take to prevent the proposed annexation.

Ministers from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Finland asked EU Minister for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell to set out the legal consequences of the move, following an initial request made at a meeting in May.

The letter suggested that doing so could help members deter annexation by laying out to Israel the consequences of such action.

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American tech giants Google-Apple remove Palestine from world maps, replace with Israel - Daily Times

Kamala Harris blamed for EVERYTHING as Internet mocks news report ‘exposing’ her ties to tech giants – MEAWW

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Friday, July 17, evening saw Twitter filled with tweets blaming Senator Kamala Harris for almost everything that ever happened in the world. In case you were wondering what brought on this weird trend, then we got you covered. The tweets were in response to a Huffington Post storyon how a series of e-mails revealed the proximity the senator shared with some big tech companies.

The report slammed Harris for treating the tech giants as allies rather than a threat to the security and freedom of the United States. The piece accused the senator of prioritizing the interests of tech giants over key policy-making issues. "As a senator, Harris has been mostly quiet on policy-making issues that carry implications for Facebook and Google. She sat out the debate on a 2018 sex trafficking bill once her signature issue only entering her name as a co-sponsor after it was clear the bill would pass by a wide margin," cited the story.

When Internet users stumbled upon the story and saw how it accused Harris of hobnobbing with tech giants like Facebook and Google, they were left feeling amused.So, in response to the Huffington Post story, several people took to their Twitter to blame Kamala for almost everything they could possibly think of, from blaming her for the split of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston to letting Obama wear a tan suit. A user tweeted, "I can't believe Kamala Harris let Obama wear that tan suit. #huffpostHeadlines." Another user wrote, "Why didn't Kamala Harris stop me from marrying that guy in 2008? #huffpostHeadlines." "Why didn't Kamala Harris prosecute Big Red for assaulting Bird and dangling him out a window? #huffpostHeadlines," wondered another user.

"'Just In' Kamala Harris did indeed discover how the Pyramids were built, but she's selling the info to the highest bidder. So much for working 'For The Peoole'!! SMDH. #huffpostHeadlines," joked another user. "Kamala Harris could've prevented the death of Maya St Germain, but she chose to go out to dinner instead. #huffpostHeadlines," expressed a user.

"Why didnt Kamala Harris stop @HuffPostfrom letting @zachdcarter publish a hit piece that included ZERO on-the-record sources who criticized Harris' work as AG or bought into Carters opinion? #huffpostHeadlines She at least couldve made them label it as an opinion piece," wondered a user.

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Kamala Harris blamed for EVERYTHING as Internet mocks news report 'exposing' her ties to tech giants - MEAWW

Wall Street delivered the ‘kind of pullback I’ve been waiting for,’ Jim Cramer says – CNBC

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CNBC's Jim Cramer on Thursday advised that investors go hunting for companies that have strong fundamentals but whose stock prices are backtracking after Wall Street declined for the first time in multiple sessions.

"We needed a breather. The market can't go up every day without some sellers coming out of the woodwork," the "Mad Money" host said. "This is exactly, though, the kind of pullback I've been waiting for, so we have to use this moment to regroup and figure out the market's next move."

The market took a break from its upward climb as valuations on many stocks are nearing their limits, among other market-moving factors, he added.

"Review your portfolio. Understand that if you have a bunch of high-flying momentum stocks they're going to trade together and they're going to go down you might want to trim those positions, as we've been doing for my charitable trust," Cramer said.

The comments come after the Dow Jones dropped 135 points, or 0.50%, to 26,734.71 for the blue-chip index's first decline in four sessions and just the fourth down day this month. The S&P 500 slipped 0.34% to 3,215.57 and the Nasdaq Composite reversed 0.73% to 10,473.83.

The broad S&P index turned in its fourth decline in July and the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined for just the third time this month. The major averages are all up more or less 4% month to date.

Cramer offered viewers a playbook and handful of stocks he would keep an eye on to buy at attractive levels. While he did not contemplate how much further the market may decline, the host revealed what stocks he's keeping an eye on.

Those included Abbott Laboratories, PepsiCo, Morgan Stanleyand Johnson & Johnson. He also recommended tech giants of Facebook,Alphabet-subsidiary Google and Salesforce, all of who "have nothing to do with China and they're doing great."

In a speech earlier that day in Michigan, U.S. Attorney General William Barr chided Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, Cisco and Hollywood for their dealings with China, claiming the entities are "all too willing to collaborate with the Chinese Communist Party. All of the aforementioned tech names, minus Facebook, saw their shares slip in Thursday's session.

Cramer also put Amazon on his watch list.

"The stock's now down more than 10% from its highs, though it did find a slew of buyers late today coming in off its lowest levels," he said. "That's exactly what should happen."

Regardless of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the ongoing pandemic, Cramer said opportunities exist to put more money to work in the market. The sell-off was shaped largely by profit-taking.

"Don't panic. Look for the stocks of high-quality companies that are going lower even though they deserve to go higher," he said. "And if that's too much work for you, you've got my blessing to gradually leg into a low-cost index fund on the way down."

Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Labs, Salesforce and PepsiCo.

Disclaimer

Questions for Cramer?Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC

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Wall Street delivered the 'kind of pullback I've been waiting for,' Jim Cramer says - CNBC

How Huawei landed at the center of global tech tussle – Chicago Daily Herald

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China's biggest tech firm, Huawei Technologies, has risen to global prominence as a leader in 5G, the much ballyhooed, next-generation wireless technology. It's also become a major target for the U.S., which has been trying to convince its allies to ban Huawei equipment from their national networks on spying concerns. In a major reversal, the U.K. decided in July to join the boycott, signaling fresh momentum for the American effort. Underlying the wrangling is the question of which country will take the lead in the nascent, "everything-connected" era, and who gets left behind.

U.S. government officials say Huawei is dangerous in part because it could use its growing share of the telecom equipment market to spy for the Chinese government. Already in 2012, a report by the U.S. House Intelligence Committee tagged Huawei and ZTE as potential security threats; the Federal Communications Commission designated them as such this year, a step toward driving them from the U.S. market. Concerns about Huawei drove the 2018 decision by President Donald Trump to block a hostile takeover bid from Broadcom, based at the time in Singapore, for the U.S. chipmaker Communal. The deal could have curtailed American investments in chip and wireless technologies and handed global leadership to Huawei. Such concerns have grown as carriers begin to spend billions of dollars on new 5G networks, which will collect data and enable services on an unparalleled scale.

In just over three decades it's grown from an electronics reseller into one of the world's biggest private companies, with leading positions in telecommunications gear, smartphones, cloud computing and cybersecurity, and substantial operations in Asia, Europe and Africa. Huawei generated 850 billion yuan ($122 billion) in sales in 2019 -- more than Boeing. It's plowed billions of dollars into 5G and broken into the top 10 recipients of U.S. patents last year. It has helped build 5G networks in more than 10 countries and expects to do the same in another 20 in 2020. U.S. sanctions spooked some Huawei customers and suppliers globally, while Chinese consumers and carriers rallied to its side.

The U.S. government -- like the Chinese and others -- is wary of employing foreign technology in vital communications for fear that manufacturers could install hidden "backdoors" for spies to access sensitive data, or that the companies themselves would hand it over to their home governments. U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has said the U.S. might hold back intelligence-sharing with NATO allies if they use Huawei equipment, a threat met with some skepticism. The 5G networks are of particular concern because they will go beyond making smartphone downloads faster. They also will enable new technologies like self-driving cars and the Internet of Things. U.K.-based carrier Vodafone was said to have found and fixed backdoors on Huawei equipment used in its Italian business in 2011 and 2012. While it's hard to know if those vulnerabilities were nefarious or accidental, the revelation dealt a blow to Huawei's reputation.

Japan and Australia are among a handful of places that have joined the U.S. boycott. The U.K. will prohibit its telecom operators from buying Huawei equipment starting next year, and equipment currently installed must be removed by 2027. Countries such as India and Vietnam are considered unlikely to use Huawei. But the company has won 5G customers in Russia, the Middle East and Asia, including the Philippines and Thailand. Its equipment tends to be less expensive than alternatives from Nokia and Ericsson and is often higher quality. In Malaysia, the prime minister has said his country will use "as much as possible."

Norway decided against a ban, leaving the choice to individual companies; so far two have gone with Ericsson. Huawei lost two big contracts in Singapore this year but still has a foothold in the market. In the European Union, there are signs of a coordinated balancing act. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is grappling with a potential revolt by lawmakers who want to effectively ban Huawei equipment. China's ambassador to Germany threatened Berlin with retaliation if such a ban were adopted, citing the millions of vehicles German carmakers sell in China. Brazil has said it isn't excluding anyone from bidding.

The U.S. has moved to curb Huawei's ability to sell equipment in the U.S. and, more significantly, to buy parts from U.S. suppliers, by adding Huawei to a Commerce Department blacklist in 2019. Accusing the company of seeking to "undermine" those export controls, the department on May 15 imposed further restrictions on chipmakers using American gear in designing or producing semiconductors, meaning suppliers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will have to cut off Huawei unless they get a waiver from Washington -- or potentially face penalties. The FCC prohibited the use of federal subsidies to buy equipment made by Huawei and ZTE and said it would consider requiring carriers now using the products to remove them.

7. What's going on in Canada?

In December 2018, at the request of the U.S., Canadian authorities arrested Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who's also the daughter of the company's founder, Ren Zhengfei. The U.S. is seeking her extradition as part of a criminal case alleging that she conspired to defraud banks into unwittingly clearing transactions linked to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. Both Meng, who is also deputy chairwoman, and the company have denied wrongdoing. Canada is still deciding whether to allow Huawei to play a bigger role in developing 5G.

In 2003, Cisco Systems sued Huawei for allegedly infringing on its patents and illegally copying source code used in routers and switches. Huawei removed the contested code, manuals and command-line interfaces and the case was dropped. Motorola sued in 2010 for allegedly conspiring with former employees to steal trade secrets. That lawsuit was later settled. In 2017 a jury found Huawei liable for stealing robotic technology from T-Mobile, and on Jan. 28, 2019, the Justice Department indicted Huawei for theft of trade secrets related to that case. The same month Poland, a staunch U.S. ally, arrested a Huawei employee on suspicion of spying for the Chinese government. Huawei fired the employee and denied any involvement in his alleged actions.

That U.S. restrictions are not about cybersecurity but are really designed to safeguard American dominance of global tech. It has repeatedly denied that it helps Beijing spy on other governments or companies. But bracing for continued pressure, it outlined plans to shake up its management ranks as revenue growth slowed. The company, which says it's owned by Ren as well as its employees through a union, has in recent years begun releasing financial results, spent more on marketing and engaged with foreign media in an effort to boost transparency. Ren has become more outspoken as he fights to save his company. While he said he was proud of his military career and Communist Party membership, he rejected suggestions he was doing Beijing's bidding or that Huawei handed over customer information. In March 2019, Huawei went on the offensive, filing a lawsuit in federal court against a statute that blocks U.S. government agencies from using its equipment.

Yes. In October, the Trump administration placed eight other Chinese tech giants on its blacklist, accusing them of being implicated in human rights violations against minority Muslims in the country's Xinjiang region. They included Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Zhejiang Dahua Technology, which by some accounts control as much as a third of the global market for video surveillance; SenseTime Group, the world's most valuable artificial intelligence startup; and fellow AI giant Megvii Technology. ZTE almost collapsed after the U.S. Commerce Department banned it for three months in 2018 from buying American technology. The U.S. Justice Department has charged state-owned Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit, its Taiwanese partner and three individuals with conspiring to steal trade secrets from Micron Technology.

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How Huawei landed at the center of global tech tussle - Chicago Daily Herald

The Twitter Hacks Have to Stop – The Atlantic

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Read: The staggering vulnerability of global elites

Internet communications platformssuch as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTubeare crucial in todays society. Theyre how we communicate with one another. Theyre how our elected leaders communicate with us. They are essential infrastructure. Yet they are run by for-profit companies with little government oversight. This is simply no longer sustainable. Twitter and companies like it are essential to our national dialogue, to our economy, and to our democracy. We need to start treating them that way, and that means both requiring them to do a better job on security and breaking them up.

In the Twitter case this week, the hackers tactics werent particularly sophisticated. We will almost certainly learn about security lapses at Twitter that enabled the hack, possibly including a SIM-swapping attack that targeted an employees cellular service provider, or maybe even a bribed insider. The FBI is investigating.

This kind of attack is known as a class break. Class breaks are endemic to computerized systems, and theyre not something that we as users can defend against with better personal security. It didnt matter whether individual accounts had a complicated and hard-to-remember password, or two-factor authentication. It didnt matter whether the accounts were normally accessed via a Mac or a PC. There was literally nothing any user could do to protect against it.

Class breaks are security vulnerabilities that break not just one system, but an entire class of systems. They might exploit a vulnerability in a particular operating system that allows an attacker to take remote control of every computer that runs on that systems software. Or a vulnerability in internet-enabled digital video recorders and webcams that allows an attacker to recruit those devices into a massive botnet. Or a single vulnerability in the Twitter network that allows an attacker to take over every account.

For Twitter users, this attack was a double whammy. Many people rely on Twitters authentication systems to know that someone who purports to be a certain celebrity, politician, or journalist is really that person. When those accounts were hijacked, trust in that system took a beating. And then, after the attack was discovered and Twitter temporarily shut down all verified accounts, the public lost a vital source of information.

Read: Why Twitter may be ruinous for the left

There are many security technologies companies like Twitter can implement to better protect themselves and their users; thats not the issue. The problem is economic, and fixing it requires doing two things. One is regulating these companies, and requiring them to spend more money on security. The second is reducing their monopoly power.

The security regulations for banks are complex and detailed. If a low-level banking employee were caught messing around with peoples accounts, or if she mistakenly gave her log-in credentials to someone else, the bank would be severely fined. Depending on the details of the incident, senior banking executives could be held personally liable. The threat of these actions helps keep our money safe. Yes, it costs banks money; sometimes it severely cuts into their profits. But the banks have no choice.

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The Twitter Hacks Have to Stop - The Atlantic

Tech giants this country needs YOU! Do your moral duty and stop avoiding tax to help save our economy – The Sun

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THE BRITISH economy is out of intensive care, but the return of the patient to full health is painfully slow.

This weeks official figures revealed that growth in May was just 1.8 per cent, much lower than most economists predicted.

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The anaemic recovery adds to the pressure for further action from the Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who has already lavished a fortune on support programmes.

His recent mini-Budget added another 30billion of public money to the colossal 280billion he had previously promised to prevent economic meltdown.

Nothing on this scale has ever been seen in peace time and public finances have taken an unprecedented battering.

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As Government borrowing soars and the national debt swells, there is a real threat that the Chancellor will have to put up taxes to restore some stability.

But it would be profoundly unfair if ordinary British citizens were now to be hammered, when too many wealthy companies, particularly the hi-tech giants, avoid their financial responsibilities to the rest of us.

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Brimming with self-righteousness, these firms love to trumpet their social concern, their commitment to equality and their desire to protect the environment, but they are never so quick to pay their financial dues to our nation.

For all their fashionable eco prattle, they are keener on reducing their tax bills than carbon emissions.

The best way to fulfil all their trendy language about supporting communities and campaigning for fairness would be to pay more to the Treasury.

If they paid a proper amount in taxation, then there would not be such a fiscal crisis at present.

But that is precisely what these politically correct global corporations fail to do.

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Only last week it was revealed that, through sophisticated accounting manoeuvres, Apple paid just 6.2million in tax last year in the UK, despite enjoying British sales of no less than 1.37billion.

If they paid a proper amount in taxation, then there would not be such a fiscal crisis at present.

Those sums are a profound insult to millions of hard-working taxpayers, including successful employees who have to hand over to the Government 40 per cent of anything that they earn above 50,000.

As Richard Palmer, the executive director of the group Tax Justice UK said, People are fed up of big companies like Apple using clever tricks to slash their tax bills.

Apple is hardly unique.

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Its rival Microsoft reported in June that its UK revenues increased to 2.85billion in 2019, up from 2.1billion the previous year.

Yet Microsoft paid just 34million in UK taxes, marginally up from 28million in 2018.

The same story can be found at the mighty Google empire.

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In April, the company reported UK revenues of 1.6billion for the year to June 2019, up by almost 200million on the previous year, yet its corporation tax payment to HM Revenue and Customs was a measly 44.3million, down from 65.6million a year earlier.

Indeed, Google dished out ten times more in bonuses - 441million than it paid in corporation tax.

This prompted Paul Monaghan of Fair Tax Mark to complain, Once again, it seems like Google are writing their own rules in the UK. Income tax is up but corporation tax charges are down.

The hi-tech tax avoiders like to justify their actions by claiming that they abide by British law.

But this is not a question of legal compliance.

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No one is accusing them of breaking the law.

It is a question of moral duty.

At a time when the entire economy is struggling because of the fallout from Covid-19, they are acting disgracefully in making such a meagre contribution to the states depleted coffers.

Who do they think pays for the roads or the health service or the education system used by their staff?

No one is accusing them of breaking the law. It is a question of moral duty.

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Just as insultingly, with many of these hi-tech giants such as Facebook, the social networking site, it is the public that provides the data on which their commercial success is built.

The most valuable product is the users information rather than anything created by the company.

Yet that reality does not appear to inspire any sense of obligation to the public.

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And the tech corporations refusal to fulfil their moral duty makes a mockery of all their fine talk about their ethical values.

They pose as champions of compassion, but act like the most hard-hearted capitalists.

And the tech corporations refusal to fulfil their moral duty makes a mockery of all their fine talk about their ethical values.

That is certainly the spirt of Amazon, run by the worlds richest person, Jeff Bezos.

Last September, it was revealed that Amazon paid just 220million in direct taxes in the UK in the previous year, despite total revenues in this country of 10.9billion.

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Similarly, Facebook in 2018 paid just 28million in corporation tax last year despite record British sales of 1.6billion and a rise in pre-tax profits of 50 per cent.

The hugely popular streaming service Netflix even received a 57,000 tax rebate from the Government in 2018, even though it made an estimated 700million from British subscribers.

HMRC has been far too weak in allowing the giants almost to dictate their own terms.

But the companies themselves have been ruthless in exploiting their own financial muscle, with sorry consequences for us all.

As Alex Cobham, the chief executive of the Tax Justice Network, puts it, When multi-national corporations abuse their responsibilities to society, they weaken the supports that our economies need to work well and create wealth.

For all the frequent talk of government crackdowns, the culture of avoidance remains deeply embedded.

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One study in December 2018 asserted that a fifth of the biggest enterprises pay no corporation at all, highlighting the case of the oil company BP which made a 5.6billion profit the year before, yet received tax credits worth 134million.

In the same vein, the Standard Chartered Bank made a 1.8 billion profit, yet was handed a 12 million.

The Tax Justice Network argues that 35 to 90 billion in taxes goes uncollected every year, while 164 billion is spent on relief that is poorly targeted.

The selfish behaviour of the avoiders like Google and Amazon stands in stark contrast to the more ethical companies who have shown a real social conscience during the Coronavirus crisis.

With a sense of respect for the public purse, several firms have decided to pay back the furlough money they were given by the Treasury to protect the jobs of their employees.

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Better trading performances than they expected meant that they did not need the cash, so they honourably returned it.

Among such companies are Ikea, Scottish Sea Farms, Games Workshop, the Spectator magazine, and the housebuilders Taylor Wimpey and Redrow.

With the same patriotic outlook, some employers have refused to accept the 1000 bonus offered by the Government as set out in Rishi Sunaks mini-Budget - for each furloughed staff member they take back.

Several firms have decided to pay back the furlough money they were given by the Treasury to protect the jobs of their employees... among such companies are Ikea, Scottish Sea Farms, Games Workshop, the Spectator magazine, and the housebuilders Taylor Wimpey and Redrow.

With enough cash coming in, they do not require another round of subsidies. Those doing the right thing include Barratt homes, the betting giant William Hill and retailers John Lewis and Primark.

That is exactly the approach that the hi-tech firms should demonstrate towards taxation.

Those doing the right thing include Barratt homes, the betting giant William Hill and retailers John Lewis and Primark.

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They are fond of pushing all the politically correct buttons about social justice.

We stand in solidarity with the black community boasts Amazon, while Netflix trumpets its freedom and responsibility culture and Microsoft aims to drive progress on diversity and inclusion.

But those words would have more meaning if their authors were not depriving our Government of so much cash.

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Tech giants this country needs YOU! Do your moral duty and stop avoiding tax to help save our economy - The Sun

Apple expands coding partnership with Black schools as tech firms grapple with lack of diversity – USA TODAY

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Apple is expanding its coding partnership with historically black colleges and universities as big tech firms faceincreased scrutiny surrounding diversity and inclusion.

The iPhone giantsaid Thursday that it's adding 10 more HBCUsto its year-old community education programmeant to create opportunities for people seeking to learn coding skills. The announcement comes a month after the company launched a racial equality initiative aimed at communities of color.

Under the expansion into more HBCUs, Apple will give an increasing number of people of color"the building blocks of coding," the company said in a press release. Coding is the infrastructure that makes digital technologies operate, andmore Black programmers put more Black people in the running forin-demand, high-paying jobs tech jobs.

Morehouse College in Georgia,Tougaloo College in Mississippi, Dillard University in Louisiana and Prairie View A&M University in Texas are among Apple's roster of partnership schools.

Apples Community Education Initiative extends to 12 HBCUs across the US.(Photo: Apple)

Of the 24 locations listed in Apple's Community Education initiative, 12 are HBCUs, which were generally established in the 1800s to serve the needs of the Black community toward the end ofslavery for the decades that followed.

'Keep this energy up': Black-owned businesses see surge of interest amid racism protests

'Things must change': Apple launches $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative

Later in July, educators from 10 HBCUs will take part in a virtual academy to learn the building blocks of coding with Swift, Apples coding language.(Photo: Apple)

It's clear that tech giants, including Apple, have a diversity problem.

Many companies, including Facebook and Google, have faced increasing backlash over lackluster minority representation, especially at a time when many firms are declaring to be allies in the Black Lives Matter movement.

While Black people make up roughly 13% of the population, representation at tech firms is minuscule.

From 2013 to 2018, Facebook failed to meaningfully increase the number of employees from underrepresented groups in its U.S. workforce, aUSA TODAY analysis shows.The number of Black employees rose from 1% toroughly 3.7%.

In 2012 at Google, African Americansmade up roughly1.5% of U.S. employees. In 2018, the most recent figures available for Google parent company Alphabet, its workforce was 2.6%Black.

Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that said his company "must do more" to fight racism and promote diversity.

In aletter on Apple's website, Cook vowed to bring more technology to underserved school systems and addressinclusion and diversity within its ranks.

"To create change, we have to reexamine our own views and actions in light of a pain that is deeply felt but too often ignored," Cook wrote. "Issues of human dignity will not abide standing on the sidelines. To the Black community we see you. You matter and your lives matter."

Follow Dalvin Brown on Twitter: @Dalvin_Brown.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/07/16/apple-expands-hbcu-partnership-tech-grapples-lack-diversity/5449823002/

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Apple expands coding partnership with Black schools as tech firms grapple with lack of diversity - USA TODAY