Month: April 2019

Madonna to Perform at Eurovision Song Contest in Israel

Posted on 04/09/2019 by Corts

Pop superstar Madonna will make a guest appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel next month, her representatives said on Monday.

Concert promoters Live Nation Israel and the singer’s U.S. representatives confirmed reports in Israeli media that Madonna will perform two songs in Tel Aviv during the three-day Eurovision competition in May, which features musicians from more than 40 nations.

Israel was chosen to host the contest after local singer Netta Barzilai won last year in Portugal with “Toy,” propelling her to international stardom. The winning country customarily hosts the following year.

The Israeli venue has already prompted calls for a boycott by pro-Palestinian activists who are campaigning for companies, performers and governments to disengage from Israel.

In January some 50 British celebrities, including singers Roger Waters and Peter Gabriel, wrote a letter calling on the BBC to press for the 2019 Eurovision contest to be relocated.

Madonna took her world tours to Israel in 2009 and 2012 and has been a follower of the mystical form of Judaism called Kabbalah.

She has been working on an untitled new album for the last several months.
…

Deadly Australian Spider Gives Hope to Stroke Patients

Posted on 04/09/2019 by Cosc

Venom from a dangerous spider could give stroke patients a better chance of survival, according to Australian biochemists.

A bite from the Fraser Island funnel-web spider can kill a person in 15 minutes, but its venom could be used to develop a drug to prevent brain damage. Scientists say the toxins can shut off a pathway in the brain that triggers the widespread death of cells after a stroke.

Researchers at the University of Queensland believe it’s a breakthrough that could protect stroke patients while they are being taken to hospital. Doctors talk about a four-and-a-half-hour window to give proper care and drugs to stroke patients, meaning those who live far from a hospital can miss that window.

The research team believes a drug developed from spider venom could be administered immediately by paramedics, protecting patients from further brain damage following a stroke.

“The brain becomes acidic, and it turns out there is this little ion channel sitting on your neurons called acid sensing ion channel, which senses this decrease in PH,” said lead scientist Professor Glenn King. “It turns on and it sets off a cell death pathway for reasons we do not understand and your neurons begin to die, and so what we found in the venom of the Fraser Island funnel-web spider is the best known inhibitor of that channel, and if you inhibit that channel you prevent the neurons dying. So we cannot stop neurons that have already died, but we have shown that you can give this drug up to eight hours after the stroke and still get really massive protection of the brain.”

The Fraser Island funnel-web spider is unique to the Australian state of Queensland. It lives in burrows beneath soil and sand.

Clinical trials are some way off, but the team says that experiments with rodents have been successful.

The World Health Organization says that stroke is the second leading cause of death globally, and the third leading cause of disability.

In Australia, it is estimated that 56,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
…

Deadly Australian Spider Gives Hope to Stroke Patients

Posted on 04/09/2019 by Cosc

Venom from a dangerous spider could give stroke patients a better chance of survival, according to Australian biochemists.

A bite from the Fraser Island funnel-web spider can kill a person in 15 minutes, but its venom could be used to develop a drug to prevent brain damage. Scientists say the toxins can shut off a pathway in the brain that triggers the widespread death of cells after a stroke.

Researchers at the University of Queensland believe it’s a breakthrough that could protect stroke patients while they are being taken to hospital. Doctors talk about a four-and-a-half-hour window to give proper care and drugs to stroke patients, meaning those who live far from a hospital can miss that window.

The research team believes a drug developed from spider venom could be administered immediately by paramedics, protecting patients from further brain damage following a stroke.

“The brain becomes acidic, and it turns out there is this little ion channel sitting on your neurons called acid sensing ion channel, which senses this decrease in PH,” said lead scientist Professor Glenn King. “It turns on and it sets off a cell death pathway for reasons we do not understand and your neurons begin to die, and so what we found in the venom of the Fraser Island funnel-web spider is the best known inhibitor of that channel, and if you inhibit that channel you prevent the neurons dying. So we cannot stop neurons that have already died, but we have shown that you can give this drug up to eight hours after the stroke and still get really massive protection of the brain.”

The Fraser Island funnel-web spider is unique to the Australian state of Queensland. It lives in burrows beneath soil and sand.

Clinical trials are some way off, but the team says that experiments with rodents have been successful.

The World Health Organization says that stroke is the second leading cause of death globally, and the third leading cause of disability.

In Australia, it is estimated that 56,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
…

US ‘Not Satisfied Yet’ in China Trade Talks, White House Official Says

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Coeco

U.S. officials are “not satisfied yet” about all the issues standing in the way of a deal to end the U.S.-China trade war but made progress in talks with China last week, a top White House official said on Monday.

The United States and China have been embroiled in a tit-for-tat tariff battle since July 2018, roiling global financial markets and supply chains and costing both of the world’s two largest economies billions of dollars.

U.S. officials are pressing China to make changes to address longstanding concerns over industrial subsidies, technology transfer and intellectual property rights.

The two sides wrapped up the latest round of talks in Washington late last week and will be resuming discussions this week remotely.

“We’re making progress on a range of things, and there’s some stuff where we’re not satisfied yet,” Clete Willems, a top White House trade official, told Reuters on the sidelines of a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event on Monday.

He declined to get into specifics on which issues remained unsettled. Last week, President Donald Trump said a deal could be reached in about four weeks.

Willems also declined to specify a timeline for the pact, noting: “It should be a good sign for people that we’re not rushing into this we want to get it right and we need to nail down specifics.”

Willems said that the two sides were still trying to settle on how to handle existing tariffs. The United States has slapped tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods, and the Trump administration sees those as leverage to ensure Beijing keeps any promises made in the deal. Chinese officials want the levies removed.

The United States and China have agreed on an enforcement structure that would give Washington the right to retaliate if Beijing was not honoring the terms of the agreement, Willems said.

European Union leaders did not take issues with Chinese trade policy as seriously as they should have in the past, but the United States and the EU are now “working hand in hand” at the World Trade Organization on China’s non-market economic policies, Willems said earlier in remarks at the Chamber of Commerce.

The United States and the EU want to work together on joint projects that provide market-based alternatives to state-led initiatives “that can come with strings attached,” he said.

This month China is hosting its second summit for its Belt and Road initiative, which envisions connecting China with Asia, Europe and beyond with massive infrastructure spending, but the United States will not be sending high-level officials to the event.

Washington views Beijing as a major strategic rival. The United States has said it views the initiative as a way of spreading Chinese influence overseas and saddling low-income countries with unsustainable debt using opaque projects.

Willems, who has been a key figure in negotiations with China, said last month he will be leaving the White House in the coming weeks to spend more time with his family after the birth of a new baby.
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US Blocks Deal for Major League Baseball to Sign Cuban Players

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Corts

The Trump administration on Monday blocked a historic agreement between Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation that would have allowed Cuban players to sign with U.S. teams without needing to defect.

The existing deal will not be allowed to go forward because it was based on an erroneous interpretation by the former Obama administration that the Cuban Baseball Federation was not part of Cuba’s communist government, a senior U.S. official said.

The move essentially overturns an agreement reached between MLB and the Cuban federation in December following three years of negotiation under which Cuban players would have been able to sign with major league teams. In the past, some Cuban stars have been smuggled off the island in speedboats.

The U.S. decision was the latest step by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to reverse rapprochement with Havana, America’s old Cold War foe, that was spearheaded by his Democratic predecessor, former President Barack Obama.

“The agreement with #MLB seeks to stop the trafficking of human beings, encourage cooperation and raise the level of baseball,” the Cuban Baseball Federation said in a message on Twitter. “Any contrary idea is false news. Attacks with political motivation against the agreement achieved harm the athletes, their families and the fans.”

The senior Trump administration official suggested that the agreement would have subjected the players to “human trafficking” by the Cuban government and made them “pawns of the Cuba dictatorship.”

The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration would be willing to work with MLB to seek an arrangement consistent with U.S. law.

The U.S. Treasury Department essentially reversed its earlier decision that had laid the groundwork for negotiation of the baseball deal.

The announcement came just days after the Cuban federation released a list of players authorized to sign contracts directly with MLB organizations.

MLB teams would have paid the Cuban Baseball Federation a release fee for each player to be signed from Cuba, providing a windfall for Cuban baseball, which has suffered from dwindling budgets and the defection of its best players.

Cuban MLB players who had defected include Yasiel Puig of the Cincinnati Reds, Yoenis Cespedes of the New York Mets and Jose Dariel Abreu of the Chicago White Sox — all of whom have signed multi-year, multimillion-dollar contracts.
…

US Blocks Deal for Major League Baseball to Sign Cuban Players

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Corts

The Trump administration on Monday blocked a historic agreement between Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation that would have allowed Cuban players to sign with U.S. teams without needing to defect.

The existing deal will not be allowed to go forward because it was based on an erroneous interpretation by the former Obama administration that the Cuban Baseball Federation was not part of Cuba’s communist government, a senior U.S. official said.

The move essentially overturns an agreement reached between MLB and the Cuban federation in December following three years of negotiation under which Cuban players would have been able to sign with major league teams. In the past, some Cuban stars have been smuggled off the island in speedboats.

The U.S. decision was the latest step by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to reverse rapprochement with Havana, America’s old Cold War foe, that was spearheaded by his Democratic predecessor, former President Barack Obama.

“The agreement with #MLB seeks to stop the trafficking of human beings, encourage cooperation and raise the level of baseball,” the Cuban Baseball Federation said in a message on Twitter. “Any contrary idea is false news. Attacks with political motivation against the agreement achieved harm the athletes, their families and the fans.”

The senior Trump administration official suggested that the agreement would have subjected the players to “human trafficking” by the Cuban government and made them “pawns of the Cuba dictatorship.”

The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration would be willing to work with MLB to seek an arrangement consistent with U.S. law.

The U.S. Treasury Department essentially reversed its earlier decision that had laid the groundwork for negotiation of the baseball deal.

The announcement came just days after the Cuban federation released a list of players authorized to sign contracts directly with MLB organizations.

MLB teams would have paid the Cuban Baseball Federation a release fee for each player to be signed from Cuba, providing a windfall for Cuban baseball, which has suffered from dwindling budgets and the defection of its best players.

Cuban MLB players who had defected include Yasiel Puig of the Cincinnati Reds, Yoenis Cespedes of the New York Mets and Jose Dariel Abreu of the Chicago White Sox — all of whom have signed multi-year, multimillion-dollar contracts.
…

Big Tech Feels the Heat as US Moves to Protect Consumer Data

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Cobiz

Momentum is gaining in Washington for a privacy law that could sharply rein in the ability of the largest technology companies to collect and distribute people’s personal data.

A national law, the first of its kind in the U.S., could allow people to see or prohibit the use of their data. Companies would need permission to release such information. If it takes effect, a law would also likely shrink Big Tech’s profits from its lucrative business of making personal data available to advertisers so they can pinpoint specific consumers to target.

Behind the drive for a law is rising concern over private data being compromised or distributed by Facebook, Google and other tech giants that have earned riches from collecting and distributing consumer information. The industry traditionally has been lightly regulated and has resisted closer oversight as a threat to its culture of free-wheeling innovation.

Support for a privacy law is part of a broader effort by regulators and lawmakers to lessen the domination of companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon. Some, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, have called for the tech giants to be split up.

The Trump White House has said in the past that it could endorse a broad data privacy law.

The big tech companies have been nervously eyeing a tough privacy law taking effect next year in California. That measure will allow Californians to see the personal data being collected on them and where it’s being distributed and to forbid the sale of it. With some exceptions, consumers could also request that their personal information be deleted entirely.

Whatever federal privacy law eventually emerges is expected to be less stringent than the California measure and to supersede it. As a result, the tech industry is trying to help shape any national restrictions.

“This is the first time ever that the industry wants legislation,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group. “The industry is terrified.”

On Tuesday, a House committee will press Google and Facebook executives about another urgent concern involving Big Tech: Whether they’re doing enough to curb the spread of hate crimes and white nationalism through online platforms. The Judiciary Committee hearing follows a series of violent incidents fueled in part by online communication.

Zuckerberg: New rules needed

Facebook, used by 2-billion-plus people including over 200 million in the U.S., has been a particular lightning rod for industry critics. Having had its reputation tarnished over data privacy lapses, a tide of hate speech and a spread of disinformation that allowed Russian agents to target propaganda campaigns, Facebook appears ready to embrace a national privacy law.

Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, published a column last month in the Washington Post calling for tighter regulations to protect consumer data, control harmful content and ensure election integrity and data portability.

“The internet,” Zuckerberg wrote, “needs new rules.”

Amazon says it has built its business on protecting people’s information, “and we have been working with policymakers on how best to do that.”

“There is real momentum to develop baseline rules of the road for data protection,” Google’s chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, has said in a policy paper. “Google welcomes this and supports comprehensive, baseline privacy regulation.”

A sweeping “privacy shield” law in the European Union, covering how tech companies handle personal data in the 28-country bloc, should be a model, Zuckerberg wrote. EU regulators recently fined Google $1.7 billion for freezing out rivals in the online ad business — their third penalty against the search giant in two years. The EU watchdogs have also ordered Apple and Amazon to pay back taxes and fined Facebook for providing misleading information in its acquisition of WhatsApp.

Advertising revenue

On Monday, Britain unveiled plans to vastly increase government oversight of social media companies, with a watchdog that could fine executives or even ban companies that fail to block such content as terrorist propaganda and images of child abuse.

The entire debate cuts to the heart of Big Tech’s hugely profitable commerce in online users’ personal data. The companies gather vast data on what users read and like and leverage it to help advertisers target their messages to the individuals they want to reach. Facebook drew 99% of its revenue from advertising last year. For Google’s parent Alphabet, it was 85%, according to Scott Kessler of the research firm CFRA.

Amazon, too, doesn’t just sell products online; it provides ad space, too. The company doesn’t say how much but has said that the “other” revenue in its financial reports is mainly from ads. Its “other” revenue topped $10 billion last year, more than double what it was in 2017.

The tech giants’ problematic relationship with advertisers was spotlighted by action regulators took last month. The Department of Housing and Urban Development filed civil charges against Facebook, accusing it of allowing landlords and real estate brokers to exclude certain racial or ethnic groups from seeing ads for houses and apartments. Facebook could face penalties.

The company has separately agreed to overhaul its ad targeting system and end some of the practices noted by HUD to prevent discrimination in housing listings as well as credit and employment ads. That move was part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and other activists.

Besides crafting a bipartisan data-privacy measure in Congress, lawmakers are considering restoring Obama-era rules that formerly barred internet providers — like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast — from discriminating against certain technologies and services.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has proposed fines and jail time for executives of companies guilty of data breaches.

Allegations of bias

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, representing CEOs of major companies, have presented their own proposals to curb privacy abuses. At the same time, President Donald Trump has echoed complaints from some conservative lawmakers and commentators that the big tech platforms are politically tilted against them.

“Facebook, Twitter and Google are so biased toward the Dems it is ridiculous!” he has tweeted. And he told a rally crowd, “We’re not going to let them control what we can and cannot see, read and learn from.”

Tech executives and many Democrats have rejected those assertions as themselves politically biased. Still, Trump has threatened to push regulators to investigate whether Google has abused its role as an internet gateway to stifle competition. And referring to Amazon, Facebook and Google, Trump told Bloomberg News, “Many people think it is a very antitrust situation, the three of them.”

Among the tech giants that are trying to shape any final restrictions is the chipmaker Intel, which has developed its own legislative proposal.

“I think it’s likely we are going to pass a national privacy law by the end of 2020,” David Hoffman, Intel’s associate general counsel and global privacy officer, said in an interview.

By then, the privacy measure emerging in California will have taken effect.

“The California bill is responsible for 90% of the lobbying and political pressure to pass a national law,” said Robert Atkinson of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, whose board includes tech executives.

Four senators — Republicans Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Jerry Moran of Kansas and Democrats Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Brian Schatz of Hawaii — are working on a national measure. They say it would protect consumers from the abuse of their data and provide legal certainty to ensure that tech companies continue to hire and innovate.

“It would be nice,” said Wicker, who leads the key Senate Commerce Committee, “to have it on the president’s desk this year.”
…

Big Tech Feels the Heat as US Moves to Protect Consumer Data

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Cobiz

Momentum is gaining in Washington for a privacy law that could sharply rein in the ability of the largest technology companies to collect and distribute people’s personal data.

A national law, the first of its kind in the U.S., could allow people to see or prohibit the use of their data. Companies would need permission to release such information. If it takes effect, a law would also likely shrink Big Tech’s profits from its lucrative business of making personal data available to advertisers so they can pinpoint specific consumers to target.

Behind the drive for a law is rising concern over private data being compromised or distributed by Facebook, Google and other tech giants that have earned riches from collecting and distributing consumer information. The industry traditionally has been lightly regulated and has resisted closer oversight as a threat to its culture of free-wheeling innovation.

Support for a privacy law is part of a broader effort by regulators and lawmakers to lessen the domination of companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon. Some, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, have called for the tech giants to be split up.

The Trump White House has said in the past that it could endorse a broad data privacy law.

The big tech companies have been nervously eyeing a tough privacy law taking effect next year in California. That measure will allow Californians to see the personal data being collected on them and where it’s being distributed and to forbid the sale of it. With some exceptions, consumers could also request that their personal information be deleted entirely.

Whatever federal privacy law eventually emerges is expected to be less stringent than the California measure and to supersede it. As a result, the tech industry is trying to help shape any national restrictions.

“This is the first time ever that the industry wants legislation,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group. “The industry is terrified.”

On Tuesday, a House committee will press Google and Facebook executives about another urgent concern involving Big Tech: Whether they’re doing enough to curb the spread of hate crimes and white nationalism through online platforms. The Judiciary Committee hearing follows a series of violent incidents fueled in part by online communication.

Zuckerberg: New rules needed

Facebook, used by 2-billion-plus people including over 200 million in the U.S., has been a particular lightning rod for industry critics. Having had its reputation tarnished over data privacy lapses, a tide of hate speech and a spread of disinformation that allowed Russian agents to target propaganda campaigns, Facebook appears ready to embrace a national privacy law.

Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, published a column last month in the Washington Post calling for tighter regulations to protect consumer data, control harmful content and ensure election integrity and data portability.

“The internet,” Zuckerberg wrote, “needs new rules.”

Amazon says it has built its business on protecting people’s information, “and we have been working with policymakers on how best to do that.”

“There is real momentum to develop baseline rules of the road for data protection,” Google’s chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, has said in a policy paper. “Google welcomes this and supports comprehensive, baseline privacy regulation.”

A sweeping “privacy shield” law in the European Union, covering how tech companies handle personal data in the 28-country bloc, should be a model, Zuckerberg wrote. EU regulators recently fined Google $1.7 billion for freezing out rivals in the online ad business — their third penalty against the search giant in two years. The EU watchdogs have also ordered Apple and Amazon to pay back taxes and fined Facebook for providing misleading information in its acquisition of WhatsApp.

Advertising revenue

On Monday, Britain unveiled plans to vastly increase government oversight of social media companies, with a watchdog that could fine executives or even ban companies that fail to block such content as terrorist propaganda and images of child abuse.

The entire debate cuts to the heart of Big Tech’s hugely profitable commerce in online users’ personal data. The companies gather vast data on what users read and like and leverage it to help advertisers target their messages to the individuals they want to reach. Facebook drew 99% of its revenue from advertising last year. For Google’s parent Alphabet, it was 85%, according to Scott Kessler of the research firm CFRA.

Amazon, too, doesn’t just sell products online; it provides ad space, too. The company doesn’t say how much but has said that the “other” revenue in its financial reports is mainly from ads. Its “other” revenue topped $10 billion last year, more than double what it was in 2017.

The tech giants’ problematic relationship with advertisers was spotlighted by action regulators took last month. The Department of Housing and Urban Development filed civil charges against Facebook, accusing it of allowing landlords and real estate brokers to exclude certain racial or ethnic groups from seeing ads for houses and apartments. Facebook could face penalties.

The company has separately agreed to overhaul its ad targeting system and end some of the practices noted by HUD to prevent discrimination in housing listings as well as credit and employment ads. That move was part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and other activists.

Besides crafting a bipartisan data-privacy measure in Congress, lawmakers are considering restoring Obama-era rules that formerly barred internet providers — like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast — from discriminating against certain technologies and services.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has proposed fines and jail time for executives of companies guilty of data breaches.

Allegations of bias

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, representing CEOs of major companies, have presented their own proposals to curb privacy abuses. At the same time, President Donald Trump has echoed complaints from some conservative lawmakers and commentators that the big tech platforms are politically tilted against them.

“Facebook, Twitter and Google are so biased toward the Dems it is ridiculous!” he has tweeted. And he told a rally crowd, “We’re not going to let them control what we can and cannot see, read and learn from.”

Tech executives and many Democrats have rejected those assertions as themselves politically biased. Still, Trump has threatened to push regulators to investigate whether Google has abused its role as an internet gateway to stifle competition. And referring to Amazon, Facebook and Google, Trump told Bloomberg News, “Many people think it is a very antitrust situation, the three of them.”

Among the tech giants that are trying to shape any final restrictions is the chipmaker Intel, which has developed its own legislative proposal.

“I think it’s likely we are going to pass a national privacy law by the end of 2020,” David Hoffman, Intel’s associate general counsel and global privacy officer, said in an interview.

By then, the privacy measure emerging in California will have taken effect.

“The California bill is responsible for 90% of the lobbying and political pressure to pass a national law,” said Robert Atkinson of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, whose board includes tech executives.

Four senators — Republicans Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Jerry Moran of Kansas and Democrats Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Brian Schatz of Hawaii — are working on a national measure. They say it would protect consumers from the abuse of their data and provide legal certainty to ensure that tech companies continue to hire and innovate.

“It would be nice,” said Wicker, who leads the key Senate Commerce Committee, “to have it on the president’s desk this year.”
…

Commissioner: SEC Steps on Tesla ‘Reasonable’ to Prevent Problems

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Coeco

The U.S. securities watchdog’s request that a federal judge hold Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk in contempt over the billionaire entrepreneur’s use of Twitter was “reasonable,” said a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission official on Monday.

SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson, a Democrat, told reporters at a conference in Washington that the SEC was reasonable in suggesting greater oversight of Musk’s communications, including the threat of new fines if he backslides.

“The idea (is) that we would have future oversight to prevent future problems from recurring,” Jackson said.

The SEC had asked U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan to hold Musk in contempt over a Feb. 19 tweet in which the agency said he had improperly posted material information about Tesla’s vehicle production outlook without seeking approval from its lawyers.

In a Friday order, the judge gave both sides until April 18 to reach a resolution. If they do not, the judge said she would decide whether to hold Musk in contempt. If he is held in contempt, the judge would allow discussions on possible sanctions.

“I understand those who are skeptical and who feel that it’s innovative relief … to me it was important relief and I thought enforcement took very reasonable steps, both to the nature of the relief and our oversight of that relief,” added Jackson of the judge’s order.

The SEC, which had sued Tesla, asked the company in September to consider removing Musk. The CEO agreed to step down as Tesla’s chairman in an agreement that also required pre-approval of Musk’s written communications that could be material to the company, such as volumes of cars produced or other information likely to change the value of its securities.

In a statement by Tesla on Thursday, Musk said “the tweet in question was true, immaterial to shareholders, and in no way a violation of my agreement.”

The SEC said the first of the Feb. 19 tweets conflicted with Tesla’s Jan. 30 outlook, when it targeted annualized Model 3 production exceeding 500,000 as soon as the fourth quarter, and projected 360,000 to 400,000 vehicle deliveries this year.

At the time the SEC also said Musk had violated their agreement by sending a tweet that had not been vetted by Tesla’s lawyers and he should be held in contempt. It did not say what penalties it wanted imposed, raising the question of whether it would again seek his removal or propose less drastic measures.
…

Russia Signals OPEC and Allies Could Raise Oil Output From June

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Coeco

One of the key Russian officials to foster a supply pact with OPEC, Kirill Dmitriev, signaled on Monday that Russia wanted to raise oil output when it meets with OPEC in June because of improving market conditions and falling stockpiles.

Dmitriev, head of Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIF, was the first Russian official to predict a deal with OPEC in 2016 and since then has become a key defender of the pact despite pressure from domestic oil firms to drop the agreement.

Dmitriev, an envoy for Moscow in the Middle East in general and Saudi Arabia in particular, had in recent months said it was still too early to terminate output cuts, echoing the position of OPEC’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia.

But in an apparent change of position, Dmitriev said on Monday supply cuts may not be required after June.

“It is quite possible that given the improving market situation and falling stocks, [OPEC and its allies] could decide in June this year to abandon supply cuts and subsequently increase output,” Dmitriev told a conference in Moscow.

“This decision will not mean the end of the deal, but a confirmation that participants continue their coordinating efforts when it is important not only to cut but to increase output depending on market conditions,” he told the conference.

Speaking to reporters on Monday evening, Dmitriev added that it could be appropriate for Russia to increase output by 228,000 barrels per day, by which it had previously cut production, “and maybe even further.”

“It is possible that as part of the June [meeting] a decision may be taken, subject to market conditions at that time, that it is necessary to remove these reductions,” he said.

Dmitriev and energy minister Alexander Novak have come under increased pressure over the past year from firms such as Rosneft , whose boss Igor Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has said Russia should abandon output cuts.

Sechin is arguing that Russia is losing market share to the United States, which is not participating in production cuts and has hence been boosting output to record levels of some 12 million barrels per day.

Russia and Saudi Arabia produce around 11 million and 10 million barrels respectively, but could raise output fairly quickly if needed.

In January, Dmitriev said Russia should not unleash an oil price war against the United States but rather stick with output cuts even at the cost of losing market share in the medium term.

Saudi Energy Khalid al-Falih has also said it was important to extend oil cuts until the end of the year.

But on Monday he said the market was moving towards balance and added that the picture would become clearer in May.

Global oil markets have tightened despite booming U.S. production after Washington imposed new sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, reducing their output and exports and effectively grabbing their market share.

OPEC and its allies had to cancel their meeting in April and will now convene on June 25-26 as officials said they needed to see first what new sanctions Washington will impose on Iran in early May.
…

US Measles Tally Hits 465, With Most Illnesses in Kids

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Cosc

U.S. measles cases are continuing to jump, and most of the reported illnesses are in children.

Health officials say 465 measles cases have been reported this year, as of last week. That’s up from 387 the week before.

The numbers are preliminary. The 2019 tally is already the most since 2014, when 667 were reported. The most before that was 963 cases in 1994.

Outbreaks have hit several states, including California, Michigan and New Jersey. New York City accounted for about two-thirds of the U.S. cases reported last week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the numbers Monday. Roughly 80% of the cases are age 19 or younger.

The CDC recommends that all children get two doses of measles vaccine. It says the vaccine is 97% effective.
…

US Measles Tally Hits 465, With Most Illnesses in Kids

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Cosc

U.S. measles cases are continuing to jump, and most of the reported illnesses are in children.

Health officials say 465 measles cases have been reported this year, as of last week. That’s up from 387 the week before.

The numbers are preliminary. The 2019 tally is already the most since 2014, when 667 were reported. The most before that was 963 cases in 1994.

Outbreaks have hit several states, including California, Michigan and New Jersey. New York City accounted for about two-thirds of the U.S. cases reported last week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the numbers Monday. Roughly 80% of the cases are age 19 or younger.

The CDC recommends that all children get two doses of measles vaccine. It says the vaccine is 97% effective.
…

TV, Film Star Tom Selleck Writing Memoir

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Corts

Tom Selleck is working on a memoir, and it won’t just be about acting.

The “Magnum P.I.” star has a deal with Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. The book, announced Monday, is currently untitled and does not yet have a release date.

Selleck, 74, said in a statement he would share stories about his career, but also about life “away from the camera.”

Besides “Magnum P.I.,” Selleck is known for such films as “Three Men and a Baby” and for his Jesse Stone TV movies. According to Dey Street, his book will illuminate a half century of Hollywood “and of America.”

The actor revealed last summer that he had started the memoir, saying people had been asking him for years to write one.
…

TV, Film Star Tom Selleck Writing Memoir

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Corts

Tom Selleck is working on a memoir, and it won’t just be about acting.

The “Magnum P.I.” star has a deal with Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. The book, announced Monday, is currently untitled and does not yet have a release date.

Selleck, 74, said in a statement he would share stories about his career, but also about life “away from the camera.”

Besides “Magnum P.I.,” Selleck is known for such films as “Three Men and a Baby” and for his Jesse Stone TV movies. According to Dey Street, his book will illuminate a half century of Hollywood “and of America.”

The actor revealed last summer that he had started the memoir, saying people had been asking him for years to write one.
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Brain Zaps Boost Memory in People Over 60, Study Finds

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Cosc

Zapping the brains of people over 60 with a mild electrical current improved a form of memory enough that they performed like people in their 20s, a new study found.

Someday, people might visit clinics to boost that ability, which declines both in normal aging and in dementias like Alzheimer’s disease, said researcher Robert Reinhart of Boston University.

The treatment is aimed at “working memory,” the ability to hold information in mind for a matter of seconds as you perform a task, such as doing math in your head. Sometimes called the workbench or scratchpad of the mind, it’s crucial for things like taking medications, paying bills, buying groceries or planning, Reinhart said.

“It’s where your consciousness lives … where you’re working on information,” he said.

The new study is not the first to show that stimulating the brain can boost working memory. But Reinhart, who reported the work Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, said it’s notable for showing success in older people and because the memory boost persisted for nearly an hour minimum after the brain stimulation ended.

One scientist who has previously reported boosting working memory with electrical stimulation noted that the decline in this ability with normal aging is not huge. But “they removed the effects of age from these people,” said Dr. Barry Gordon, a professor of neurology and cognitive science at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.

“It’s a superb first step” toward demonstrating a way to improve mental performance, said Gordon, who was not involved in the new study.

Reinhart agreed that more research is needed before it can be formally tested as a treatment.

The electrical current was administered through a tight-fitting cap that also monitored each subject’s brainwaves. For study participants, that current felt like a slight tingling, itching or poking sensation under the electrodes for about 30 seconds, Reinhart said. After that, the skin got used to the current and it was imperceptible.

The researchers’ idea was to improve communication between the brain’s prefrontal cortex in the front and the temporal cortex on the left side, because the rhythms of activity in those two regions had fallen out of sync with each other.

So the researchers applied the current to those two regions to nudge the activity cycles back into a matching pattern. The results provided new evidence that a breakdown in that communication causes the loss of working memory with age, Reinhart said.

Part of the study included 42 participants in their 20s, plus 42 others aged 60 to 76. First they were tested on a measure of working memory. It involved viewing an image such as a harmonica or broken egg on a computer screen, then a blank screen for three seconds, and then a second image that was either identical to the first or slightly modified. The subjects had to judge whether it was the same image or not.

During a sham stimulation, the older group was less accurate than the younger participants. But during and after 25 minutes of real brain stimulation, they did as well. The improvement lasted for at least another 50 minutes after the stimulation ended, at which point the researchers stopped testing. It’s not clear how long the benefit reached beyond that, Reinhart said, but previous research suggests it might go for five hours or more after stimulation stops.

Researchers got the same result with a second group of 28 subjects over age 62.
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Brain Zaps Boost Memory in People Over 60, Study Finds

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Cosc

Zapping the brains of people over 60 with a mild electrical current improved a form of memory enough that they performed like people in their 20s, a new study found.

Someday, people might visit clinics to boost that ability, which declines both in normal aging and in dementias like Alzheimer’s disease, said researcher Robert Reinhart of Boston University.

The treatment is aimed at “working memory,” the ability to hold information in mind for a matter of seconds as you perform a task, such as doing math in your head. Sometimes called the workbench or scratchpad of the mind, it’s crucial for things like taking medications, paying bills, buying groceries or planning, Reinhart said.

“It’s where your consciousness lives … where you’re working on information,” he said.

The new study is not the first to show that stimulating the brain can boost working memory. But Reinhart, who reported the work Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, said it’s notable for showing success in older people and because the memory boost persisted for nearly an hour minimum after the brain stimulation ended.

One scientist who has previously reported boosting working memory with electrical stimulation noted that the decline in this ability with normal aging is not huge. But “they removed the effects of age from these people,” said Dr. Barry Gordon, a professor of neurology and cognitive science at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.

“It’s a superb first step” toward demonstrating a way to improve mental performance, said Gordon, who was not involved in the new study.

Reinhart agreed that more research is needed before it can be formally tested as a treatment.

The electrical current was administered through a tight-fitting cap that also monitored each subject’s brainwaves. For study participants, that current felt like a slight tingling, itching or poking sensation under the electrodes for about 30 seconds, Reinhart said. After that, the skin got used to the current and it was imperceptible.

The researchers’ idea was to improve communication between the brain’s prefrontal cortex in the front and the temporal cortex on the left side, because the rhythms of activity in those two regions had fallen out of sync with each other.

So the researchers applied the current to those two regions to nudge the activity cycles back into a matching pattern. The results provided new evidence that a breakdown in that communication causes the loss of working memory with age, Reinhart said.

Part of the study included 42 participants in their 20s, plus 42 others aged 60 to 76. First they were tested on a measure of working memory. It involved viewing an image such as a harmonica or broken egg on a computer screen, then a blank screen for three seconds, and then a second image that was either identical to the first or slightly modified. The subjects had to judge whether it was the same image or not.

During a sham stimulation, the older group was less accurate than the younger participants. But during and after 25 minutes of real brain stimulation, they did as well. The improvement lasted for at least another 50 minutes after the stimulation ended, at which point the researchers stopped testing. It’s not clear how long the benefit reached beyond that, Reinhart said, but previous research suggests it might go for five hours or more after stimulation stops.

Researchers got the same result with a second group of 28 subjects over age 62.
…

Spacewalking Astronauts Tackle Battery, Cable Work

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Cosc

Spacewalking astronauts tackled battery and cable work outside the International Space Station on Monday.

It was the third spacewalk in just 2 { weeks for the space station crew. NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques hustled through their part in battery swap-outs that began last month. “All right, you rock,” Mission Control radioed.

Next up: laying cable outside the 250-mile-high outpost to provide a backup power circuit for the station’s Canadian-made robot arm and expand wireless communications.

The ongoing battery work involves re-installing two old batteries. One of six new lithium-ion batteries did not work, so McClain had to remove an adapter plate she put in.

Last week, flight controllers used the space station’s robot arm to remove the failed battery along with an associated charging device. Working remotely, the controllers also installed a spare charging device and one of the old batteries made of nickel hydrogen. The second outdated battery will go in — robotically — later this week.

NASA said it will send up another new battery, although it’s uncertain when. Until then, this combination of old and new batteries is expected to work fine, according to managers.

McClain has now logged two spacewalks and Saint-Jacques one. Their six-month mission began in December.

The next spacewalk will be next month by the two Russians on board. Two other Americans round out the six-person crew.
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Spacewalking Astronauts Tackle Battery, Cable Work

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Cosc

Spacewalking astronauts tackled battery and cable work outside the International Space Station on Monday.

It was the third spacewalk in just 2 { weeks for the space station crew. NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques hustled through their part in battery swap-outs that began last month. “All right, you rock,” Mission Control radioed.

Next up: laying cable outside the 250-mile-high outpost to provide a backup power circuit for the station’s Canadian-made robot arm and expand wireless communications.

The ongoing battery work involves re-installing two old batteries. One of six new lithium-ion batteries did not work, so McClain had to remove an adapter plate she put in.

Last week, flight controllers used the space station’s robot arm to remove the failed battery along with an associated charging device. Working remotely, the controllers also installed a spare charging device and one of the old batteries made of nickel hydrogen. The second outdated battery will go in — robotically — later this week.

NASA said it will send up another new battery, although it’s uncertain when. Until then, this combination of old and new batteries is expected to work fine, according to managers.

McClain has now logged two spacewalks and Saint-Jacques one. Their six-month mission began in December.

The next spacewalk will be next month by the two Russians on board. Two other Americans round out the six-person crew.
…

Ford Workers in Russia Protest Planned Closure

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Coeco

Ford workers in Russia have started work-to-rule action over plans to close a plant.

Mikhail Sergeyev, head of a trade union which represents around a third of the St. Petersburg plant’s 900-strong workforce, has told The Associated Press on Monday the work-to-rule will continue until Ford negotiates, and it’s already causing disruption.

Sergeyev says his union is pushing for more generous layoff packages equivalent to twice a worker’s annual salary.

Ford said last month that it’s leaving the Russian car market and closing two assembly plants and an engine plant, after years of lackluster sales. Ford will keep making vans at another site through a joint venture.

Organized industrial action is uncommon in Russia, where many unions have close ties to management, though the auto industry is a rare exception.

Pinterest Sets Conservative Pricing After Lyft Drop

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Cobiz

Pinterest, among the gaggle of tech companies hoping to go public this year, set a conservative price range Monday for its initial public offering. It hopes to raise as much as $1.5 billion in its initial offering of shares.

The digital scrapbooking site said in a regulatory filing that it will put about 75 million shares up for sale at a price between $15 and $17 each.

That, at the higher end, could put the value of the company at around $9 billion. But it falls below the estimated $12 billion value from earlier sales of shares to private investors, according to reports two years ago.

Companies set their price range for an initial public offering with a tricky calculus set by investment banks and underwriters. They don’t want to set the bar too low, but going too high can lead to a sell-off.

And those tech companies still planning to go public this year may be treading more carefully following the debut of Lyft 11 days ago. After a much ballyhooed debut , the stock slumped for two days. While its shares bounced back from their lows last week, they remain far below the heights reached in the flurry of first-day trading, and they fell 3% Monday, again dipping under the initial offering price.

The Lyft drop was a “major gut check time for Lyft and the tech IPO world to see how this stock trades given it was the first one out of the box,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives after Lyft shares tumbled.

Other tech companies pushing to go public this year include Uber, Lyft’s rival, the messaging app Slack and the video conferencing company Zoom are expected to make their debut soon.

Pinterest claims more than 250 million active monthly users and more than 2 billion monthly searches.

The platform allows people to search for and “pin” images that interest them, whether it’s fashion, sports, pets or travel.

Pinterest has long shunned the label of being a social network. It doesn’t push users to add friends or build connections. That means it’s avoided the privacy tangles that have ensnared companies like Facebook. Pinterest makes advertising revenue when businesses promote pins in users’ feeds.

The San Francisco company had revenue of $756 million last year, a 60% bump from 2017. It had a loss of $63 million in 2018, compared with a loss of $130 million in 2017.

Pinterest was founded in 2010 by Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp, who are the company’s CEO and chief product officer, respectively.

The company has been working on developing its artificial intelligence search, which allows people to take a photo or upload a screenshot of an item and find similar products on Pinterest.

Pinterest’s stock will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the “PINS” ticker symbol.
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Florence Study Proves Artist Leonardo da Vinci Was Ambidextrous

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Corts

An in-depth study of Leonardo da Vinci’s earliest-known drawing has proved that the great Renaissance artist was ambidextrous, Italy’s Uffizi Gallery said on Monday.

The scientific and technological analysis also revealed a hidden, previously unknown landscape sketch, also by Leonardo, on the back of the original work.

“It is a real revolution in the field of Leonardo studies,” said Uffizi director, Eike Schmidt.

The findings were announced a month ahead of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo, with museums around Europe organizing exhibitions and events to celebrate the life of the man responsible for such masterpieces as Mona Lisa.

His first-known drawing is dated Aug. 5, 1473 — when Leonardo was 21 — and shows a landscape of the Arno river valley and Montelupo Castle, just outside Florence.

Commonly known as ‘Landscape 8P’ from its inventory number, the work has words on the front going from right to left, as Leonardo often used to write, which gives the date. On the back, the brief script goes from left to right, and alludes to an informal contract.

A study of the two texts confirmed they were both written by Leonardo and showed he was able to write perfectly using both his left and right hand.

“Leonardo was born left-handed, but was taught to write with his right hand from a very young age,” said art historian Cecilia Frosinini. “By looking at his writings, including from this drawing, one can see his right-handed calligraphy is educated and well done.”

Using infrared light, the art experts also discovered two different layers of drawing, both on the back and front, with an ink line covering the original charcoal trace in certain places.

Not much ink is visible on the back, but the infrared revealed that another landscape depicting a river crossed by a bridge was originally drawn there using a type of charcoal. It was not clear if the artist had rubbed the paper clean or if the charcoal had simply faded over time.

“The elements that emerged during this research open up new perspectives on the interpretation of Leonardo’s Landscape 8P and on how the artist [built] the landscape, on his technique and even on his habits and abilities in writing,” Schmidt said.
…

Florence Study Proves Artist Leonardo da Vinci Was Ambidextrous

Posted on 04/08/2019 by Corts

An in-depth study of Leonardo da Vinci’s earliest-known drawing has proved that the great Renaissance artist was ambidextrous, Italy’s Uffizi Gallery said on Monday.

The scientific and technological analysis also revealed a hidden, previously unknown landscape sketch, also by Leonardo, on the back of the original work.

“It is a real revolution in the field of Leonardo studies,” said Uffizi director, Eike Schmidt.

The findings were announced a month ahead of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo, with museums around Europe organizing exhibitions and events to celebrate the life of the man responsible for such masterpieces as Mona Lisa.

His first-known drawing is dated Aug. 5, 1473 — when Leonardo was 21 — and shows a landscape of the Arno river valley and Montelupo Castle, just outside Florence.

Commonly known as ‘Landscape 8P’ from its inventory number, the work has words on the front going from right to left, as Leonardo often used to write, which gives the date. On the back, the brief script goes from left to right, and alludes to an informal contract.

A study of the two texts confirmed they were both written by Leonardo and showed he was able to write perfectly using both his left and right hand.

“Leonardo was born left-handed, but was taught to write with his right hand from a very young age,” said art historian Cecilia Frosinini. “By looking at his writings, including from this drawing, one can see his right-handed calligraphy is educated and well done.”

Using infrared light, the art experts also discovered two different layers of drawing, both on the back and front, with an ink line covering the original charcoal trace in certain places.

Not much ink is visible on the back, but the infrared revealed that another landscape depicting a river crossed by a bridge was originally drawn there using a type of charcoal. It was not clear if the artist had rubbed the paper clean or if the charcoal had simply faded over time.

“The elements that emerged during this research open up new perspectives on the interpretation of Leonardo’s Landscape 8P and on how the artist [built] the landscape, on his technique and even on his habits and abilities in writing,” Schmidt said.
…