"We have the proof" Syria used chemical weapons, French President Emmanuel Macron says - ABC News

"We have the proof" Syria used chemical weapons, French President Emmanuel Macron says
By MOLLY HUNTER LONDON — Apr 12, 2018, 1:35 PM ET
US military awaits Trump's decision on Syria missile strikes

France has evidence that Syria used chemical weapons against its own citizens, French President Emmanuel Macron President said this afternoon, five days after a suspected chemical attack there.

“We have the proof that last week ... chemical weapons — at least chlorine gas — were used by [President Bashar] Assad's regime," Macron told a French today.

As for a response, "We have to make a decision at the right moment, when we will consider it useful and the most effective,” Macron said, adding that he is "working closely" with the United States.

But the international watchdog charged with independently verifying the chemical attack, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), has not yet been given access to the site of the alleged chemical attack in Douma.

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives at an elementary school to attend a one-hour interview with French news channel TF1, in Berd'huis, France, April 12, 2018.more +
View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

OPCW
✔
@OPCW
 #OPCW will deploy the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) to #Douma, #Syria. Learn more: http://ow.ly/2lgR30jpOBG

1:12 AM - Apr 11, 2018

The OPCW's inspection team is on its way to Syria and will start work Saturday, the organization tweeted today. But getting access to the site may still be a challenge. The Russian military this morning said it was completely in control of the once rebel-held Douma and had raised a Syrian flag in the suburb just outside of Damascus.

The French president's conclusion confirms an independent analysis published Wednesday by a website called Bellingcat, based on open-source material.

Eliot Higgins, a British researcher and independent journalist, runs Bellingcat, which digs into the digital forensics of events mostly inside Syria, focusing on the weaponry used in attacks, both conventional and chemical.

He has become in recent years one of the foremost experts on the munitions used in the Syrian conflict and a vital resource to journalists.

PHOTO: This image released early Sunday, April 8, 2018 by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, shows a child receiving oxygen through respirators following an alleged poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma, near Damascus, Syria.Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP
This image released early Sunday, April 8, 2018 by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, shows a child receiving oxygen through respirators following an alleged poison gas attack in the rebel-held town of Douma, near Damascus, Syria.more +
As soon as Higgins saw the reports of a chemical weapons attack rolling in Sunday, he got to work.

"Reports indicated that a significant number of people, including children, had been killed by these attacks," Higgins wrote at the top of his analysis.

Eyewitness accounts from the ground came in the form of disturbing videos showing children frothing at the mouth, unable to breathe.

Frame by frame, Higgins went through the video and photos that emerged, identifying markings on the buildings in order to confirm the video and pictures were from Douma, a suburb outside of Damascus that activists and doctors said was attacked by the Assad regime.

After they had identified the building featured in most of the photos and videos, Higgins' team members were then able to match the video released by the Russian foreign ministry allegedly showing Russian forces visiting the site of the attack to the same building. His team is confident that the videos from activists and the Russian foreign ministry handout video were shot at the same building.


Eliot Higgins
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@EliotHiggins
10 Apr
Douma chemical attack - The building visited by Russian forces in this video has been geolocated to 33.573900, 36.404831https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QCPj5nUwkg …


Eliot Higgins
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@EliotHiggins
 The entrance of the building they're entering was filmed in another video, showing corpses being removed from the building (graphic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xENU7QxTzS0 … pic.twitter.com/yZl9kiGXLd

8:26 PM - Apr 10, 2018

Eliot Higgins
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@EliotHiggins
10 Apr
Replying to @EliotHiggins
The entrance of the building they're entering was filmed in another video, showing corpses being removed from the building (graphic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xENU7QxTzS0 … pic.twitter.com/yZl9kiGXLd


Eliot Higgins
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@EliotHiggins
 The same entrance is also visible in this video (graphic), showing bodies inside the apartment building that was hit. It's also possible match corpses filmed inside the building to corpses taken outside. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K9H8dh12uE … pic.twitter.com/hojcBFERE8

8:30 PM - Apr 10, 2018

The Russian foreign ministry said their samples were clean. The “Russian specialists” who visited the site “found no traces of chlorine or any other chemical substance used against civilians," according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Higgins sees it differently.

"They went into the building and found nothing,” he told ABC News, noting his concern the Russians may have tampered with evidence the OPCW will need. “We have no idea what they were doing in that building.”

PHOTO: A child cries as they have their face wiped following alleged chemical weapons attack, in what is said to be Douma, Syria in this still image from video obtained by Reuters, April 8, 2018.White Helmets/Reuters TV via Reuters
A child cries as they have their face wiped following alleged chemical weapons attack, in what is said to be Douma, Syria in this still image from video obtained by Reuters, April 8, 2018.more +
Higgins' team was then able to geolocate another video shot by activists showing a yellow gas cylinder on the roof of the same building where the Russians visited and where activists said the attack happened.


Bellingcat
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@bellingcat
11 Apr
Replying to @bellingcat
It's worth noting that two chemical attacks were reported in Douma on April 7th, one at 4pm local time at Saada Bakery, and a second at 7:30pm local time resulting in 34+ deaths pic.twitter.com/cNEIvVyH59


Bellingcat
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@bellingcat
 This video filmed on the roof top of the apartment building containing 34+ bodies shows a yellow gas cylinder of a type used on multiple occasions in previous aerial chlorine gas attacks https://twitter.com/SyriaCivilDef/status/983768284133806080 …

7:28 PM - Apr 11, 2018

Inside this building, Higgins' team counted in photos 34 dead bodies throughout the immediate area.


Eliot Higgins
✔
@EliotHiggins
10 Apr
Replying to @EliotHiggins
The same entrance is also visible in this video (graphic), showing bodies inside the apartment building that was hit. It's also possible match corpses filmed inside the building to corpses taken outside. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K9H8dh12uE … pic.twitter.com/hojcBFERE8


Eliot Higgins
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@EliotHiggins
 There's also a video of a yellow gas cylinder in the roof of the building that we've geolocated to the same apartment building, so it's possible to confirm 100% this building, full of corpses, was hit by a gas cylinder.

8:32 PM - Apr 10, 2018

Additionally “an estimated 500 patients presented to health facilities exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals,” the World Health Organization said, according to reports from its partners.

"In particular," the WHO statement continued, "there were signs of severe irritation of mucous membranes, respiratory failure and disruption to central nervous systems of those exposed."

ABC News has been unable to independently verify either number but they are consistent with what ABC News has heard from eyewitnesses in Douma. The OPCW will produce the only official report of the incident.

Other video emerged showing the same kind of yellow gas cylinder on a bed in an unknown location.

"The external modifications on the above cylinder are particularly interesting as they are consistent with modifications seen on other gas cylinders used in other reported aerial chlorine attacks,” according to Higgins' analysis.

Eliot Higgins
✔
@EliotHiggins
Replying to @EliotHiggins
Here's some examples of the same yellow gas cylinders used in other chemical attacks. February 4, 2018, Saraqib, two cylinders dropped on the town https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/02/14/evidence-february-4th-2018-chlorine-attack-saraqib-idlib/ …

9:04 PM - Apr 9, 2018

Higgins then cited a Human Rights Watch report that collected pictures of the same yellow gas cylinders used in previous chlorine attacks.


Bellingcat
✔
@bellingcat
11 Apr
Replying to @bellingcat
This video filmed on the roof top of the apartment building containing 34+ bodies shows a yellow gas cylinder of a type used on multiple occasions in previous aerial chlorine gas attacks https://twitter.com/SyriaCivilDef/status/983768284133806080 …


Bellingcat
✔
@bellingcat
 Despite reports that victims in the building displayed signs of organophosphate exposure and Sarin use, these yellow gas cylinders have not been previously documented outside of aerial chlorine attacks pic.twitter.com/u31XUJi27Y

7:29 PM - Apr 11, 2018

Eliot Higgins
✔
@EliotHiggins
 Left shows the modified chlorine cylinder used in yesterday's Douma attack, the right hand image is from an August 2017 chlorine attack in Khan Al-Assal. Clear similarities, seems they've strengthened the suspension lugs.

12:08 AM - Apr 9, 2018

Such munitions are dropped by helicopters, Higgins said, and the OPCW has determined that yellow gas cylinders have been dropped by helicopters in previous chemical weapons attacks, according to The Associated Press, which has seen the reports.

But Higgins' team was also able to determine from where the helicopters took off.

"Aircraft observers that are part of the Sentry Syrian network observed two Hip helicopters heading southwest from Dumayr Airbase," Higgins wrote, mentioning a regime airbase, "northeast of Damascus, in the direction of Douma, 30 minutes before the chemical attack in Douma, and two Hip helicopters were observed above Douma shortly before the attack."

But from where Higgins sits, at home in the U.K., there are still unknowns.

"One thing that's confusing," he said, "is that the doctors are all adamant that there are Sarin-like symptoms but this may be because of overexposure to chlorine."

But, he added, "there does seem to be another chemical agent but I don't think it's Sarin."

In the analysis, he wrote "it is important to note that these yellow gas cylinders are not associated with the use of Sarin, and as Sarin is a liquid a compressed gas cylinder seems an unlikely method of delivery for Sarin. Possible explanations for the allegations of Sarin use may be a result of the severity of the symptoms presented, of an undocumented munition being used, or another chemical agent being used that presents symptoms that could be confused with Sarin use."

There are limits to investigating from afar, Higgins acknowledged, which is why it's crucial that the OPCW get to the site and start testing the clothing and blood of victims. Whether they will find another kind of munition that could have carried a different chemical is an open question.

In Higgins opinion, that would be one way to explain an additional chemical and the Sarin-like symptoms.

Higgins' analysis concluded that "based on the available evidence, it is highly likely the 34+ victims killed in the 7:30pm attack on the apartment building near al-Shuhada Square were killed as a result of a gas cylinder filled with what is most likely chlorine gas being dropped from a Hip helicopter originating from Dumayr Airbase."

"The thing is with this," he explained, "there have been constant chemical attacks this year. Five to six already this year. The only thing that's special about this one is that it got noticed.

"If it was dropped just a few meters to the other direction, those people in that building probably wouldn't have died," he added. "A matter of meters between a big news story or just another chemical attack."

Fast-Talking Trump Flip-Flops Into Policy Jams - Bloomberg

Fast-Talking Trump Flip-Flops Into Policy Jams
By Brendan Scott
April 13, 2018, 8:11 PM GMT+10

Does FBI Raid of Trump's Lawyer Change the Course of Mueller Probe?
Does FBI Raid of Trump's Lawyer Change the Course of Mueller Probe?
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For decades, Donald Trump has been talking himself out of jams. In his second year as U.S. president, the ones he’s talked himself into are mounting.

Take trade. With a pen stroke, Trump jilted U.S. allies from Australia to Japan last year and withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Now that he wants help pressuring China— he yesterday opened the door to rejoining the pact -- the allies are skeptical. “There may be a different statement the next day,” Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said today.

Similarly, Trump's Twitter warning for Russia to “get ready” for missiles coming at Syria drew criticism that he violated his own complaints about telegraphing moves to the enemy. Yesterday he tempered his threat, saying a strike “could be very soon, or not so soon at all.”

Trump’s penchant for popping off could prove most consequential in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. The president’s denials about payoffs to purported mistresses, for instance, may have increased his lawyer Michael Cohen’s legal exposure before an FBI raid this week that's tied to that investigation.

And his repeated attacks on “leakin’ James Comey” did little to silence the ousted FBI director, who’s about to release a tell-all book comparing the president to a mob boss.


Trump. Shahien Nasiripour and Patrick Clark take a closer look at how the president's paltry approval ratings are creating new challenges for plans to expand Trump hotels.Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Global Headlines
May talks tough | U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May won support at an emergency cabinet meeting to declare it’s “vital” to respond to an apparent chemical weapons attack in Syria. The statement came as Trump softened his tone on imminent military action, telling reporters after meeting with his national security team yesterday that he was looking “very closely at that whole situation, and we’ll see what happens.”

Trump eases off | Trump met with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein yesterday, an encounter that advisers hoped would cool tensions over Mueller’s investigation. The meeting came a day after Trump had discussed firing Rosenstein with aides amid his dissatisfaction with how the Russia probe has unfolded, and followed his declaration that he had “full confidence” in White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who’s advised Trump to cooperate with the investigation.

Too big to punish | U.S. officials considered blacklisting two of China’s biggest banks for doing business with North Korea last summer amid growing tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, Christian Berthelsen reports. But the idea of a U.S. ban on the Agricultural Bank of China and the China Construction Bank was soon shelved mainly because of fears that it would send shock waves through the global financial system and prompt retaliatory measures from Beijing.

Africa’s graft fight | Corruption used to be so widespread in Angola that the common term for bribe is “gasosa,” the Portuguese word for fizzy drink. Now, President Joao Lourenco is on a drive to stamp it out, and the son of his predecessor could soon go on trial, Henrique Almeida and Pauline Bax report. Angola is one of several key African countries, including South Africa, whose new leaders are pushing prosecutors to target corrupt officials.

Iran optimism | U.S. and EU officials are increasingly confident they can persuade Trump not to tear up an international agreement over Iran’s nuclear program. In talks in Washington this week, they made progress on revisions to the 2015 accord between Iran and six world powers, Margaret Talev and Nick Wadhams report. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, also told senators he’s committed to “fix” the deal before and after a May 12 deadline set by the president.

Swedish battleground | The next test of the populist wave sweeping politics could be Sweden. Polls show the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats may win close to 20 percent in September’s general election, leaving it a potential king-maker between the two establishment blocs, Amanda Billner and Hanna Hoikkala report. Party leader Jimmie Akesson says his starting point for any agreement will be “who's prepared to go furthest to meet our demands” for halting in the inflow of foreigners.


And finally...Once a byword for corruption and delays, Pakistan’s colonial-era rail network is undergoing a renaissance. Chris Kay and Ismail Dilawar took a journey on the Green Line as Beijing prepares to finalize an $8 billion loan to Pakistan to upgrade 1,163 miles of track that runs from Karachi to Peshawar near the Afghan border. It's another piece of China's Belt and Road trade initiative — the grand $1 trillion plan to construct trade routes through Asia to Europe.

Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Cambridge Analytica Acquired His Personal Data - TIME

Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Cambridge Analytica Acquired His Personal Data

Posted: 11 Apr 2018 08:33 AM PDT

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a Congressional committee on Wednesday that his own personal information was among the large sum of data wrongfully obtained by political analysis firm Cambridge Analytica.

Zuckerberg is on Capitol Hill for the third consecutive day, testifying Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee about Facebook’s failures to protect users from outside political interference and data misuse ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Wednesday’s conversation, as with Zuckerberg’s testimony before a joint Senate committee the prior afternoon, centered largely on Cambridge Analytica, which acquired the data of approximately 87 million Facebook users from a researcher who created a personality quiz on the site.

In a tense exchange between Zuckerberg and Rep. Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, the 33-year-old Zuckerberg admitted that his data was among the information acquired by Cambridge Analytica.

“Was your data included in the data sold to the malicious third parties?” Eshoo asked.

“Yes,” Zuckerberg responded.

Her follow-up: “Are you willing to change your business model in the interest of protecting individual privacy?”

Zuckerberg’s answer was more equivocal. “Congresswoman, I’m not sure what that means,” he said.

The House is often more fiery than the Senate, and Wednesday’s hearing in a crowded meeting room of the Rayburn House Office Building was decidedly more heated than the occasionally tedious Senate hearing sixteen hours earlier. At one point, Rep. Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat, compared Facebook to COINTELPRO, the covert F.B.I. surveillance program that targeted activist groups in the mid-twentieth century, and asked Zuckerberg if a parallel between him and notorious former F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover was warranted.

The heat was, in any event, an effective strategy on the House’s part. Zuckerberg’s testimony revealed more than Tuesday’s meandering conversation. For instance, Zuckerberg said that user interaction on Facebook has not dropped in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. He also suggested that legal regulation of Facebook and similar social media platforms was an inevitable outcome of the current scandal.

Mark Zuckerberg Leaves Washington With Bumps and Bruises, but Nothing Worse - TIME

Mark Zuckerberg Leaves Washington With Bumps and Bruises, but Nothing Worse

Posted: 11 Apr 2018 03:09 PM PDT


The American attention span is short these days, and so you’re forgiven if you forgot that as recently as January people thought very seriously that Mark Zuckerberg might run for president in 2020. It wasn’t an absurd suggestion: The 33-year-old wunderkind helmed arguably the most important American company since Microsoft, in an industry whose leaders have since the days of Steve Jobs held a revered status in America as forward-thinking arbiters of the future. Zuckerberg’s well-publicized stump tour of the country’s heartland last year certainly didn’t ease the minds of skeptics.

Things change fast, especially in tech. This week, Zuckerberg arrived in Washington under starkly different circumstances to explain to a scowling tribunal of lawmakers on Capitol Hill why Facebook, a company whose user base amounts to a quarter of the world’s population, had systematically failed to protect the private information of its users and to moderate the information to which they were exposed.
Over a collective nine hours of inquisition, an alternately anxious, defensive, bored, and weather-beaten Zuckerberg — who sat on a thick cushion that made him seem taller than his 5 feet, 7 inches — attempted to convince members of Congress that Facebook was sorry for its lapses, actively working to rectify them for the future and open to new laws that would regulate social media companies. The CEO declined to say much about this last point.

Congress was unimpressed. His testimony before a joint Senate panel the day prior had been a low-kilowatt catastrophe: a demonstration, more than anything else, that lawmakers know very little about the social media platforms they hope to regulate. (At one point, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who is 84, asked Zuckerberg how Facebook makes its money. “Senator, we run ads,” Zuckerberg replied with a mix of reverence and astonishment. A GIF from that moment is one of many memes that have since gone viral.)

Meanwhile the House watched, eager to avoid the mistakes of their colleagues in the upper chamber. On Wednesday, when they had their chance to grill the social media giant, the several dozen members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee pressed him on a loosely confederated array of topics — from the dearth of racial diversity in Facebook’s C-suite to the fact that the platform was reportedly being used to traffic Fentanyl and recruit young jihadis to ISIS.

It was occasionally crackling theater, but the conversation mostly revolved around the issues that had created the storm clouds of public outrage hanging over Zuckerberg in the first place. Last month, media outlets reported that a shady data-mining firm with links to Republican operatives known as Cambridge Analytica had acquired the personal information of approximately 87 million Americans — information that these users had unknowingly supplied by taking an innocuous personality quiz on the site. This, along with the older news that Russian actors had used Facebook pages and ads to “sow discord” ahead of the 2016 presidential election, fomented the core anxiety of this moment of reckoning: the realization of just how much power sites like Facebook hold in twenty-first-century America.

“Facebook has grown so big, so fast,” Rep. Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat, said in the first hour of the hearing. “It is no longer the company that you started in your dorm room. Instead it’s one of the great American success stories. That much influence comes with enormous social responsibility, on which you have failed to act and to protect and to consider.”

Rush, who in the 1960s was active in the civil rights movement, also gave a more damning appraisal. “I was personally a victim of COINTELPRO,” he told Zuckerberg, referring to the Cold War-era domestic counterintelligence program that illicitly spied on and smeared individuals and groups deemed subversive, among them civil rights leaders. “Your organization, your methodology in my opinion is similar… Mr. Zuckerberg, what is the difference between Facebook’s methodology and the methodology of the American political pariah J. Edgar Hoover?”

“It’s an important question,” Zuckerberg responded. It wasn’t clear if he was serious.

When Zuckerberg was pressed to explain how the company was responding to address its past oversights, his answers were thin and repetitive. He repeatedly said that Facebook was auditing third-party actors on the site that may have had wrongful access to users’ private data, but could not or would not elaborate. The members of the House committee, many of whom had watched the Senate hearing, exercised little patience for repetition and were quick to call him out.

“We’ve all been sitting here for more than four hours, and some things are striking from this conversation,” Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, said in the hearing’s final hour on Wednesday afternoon. “As CEO, you didn’t know some key facts. You didn’t know some court cases against your company’s privacy policy. You didn’t know how many apps you need to audit.”

“Here’s what I do know,” she continued. “You have trackers all over the web. Practically on all websites we go to we all see the Facebook share or like button. It doesn’t matter whether you have a Facebook account. Through those tools, Facebook is able to collect information on all of us.”

Throughout the inquisition, Facebook’s stock ticked upwards. When Zuckerberg left the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, he may have been the pariah du jour in the court of public opinion, but the fact remains that he was departing mostly unscathed. The two days of dialogue between the executive and the lawmakers who could be regulating him had been diffuse and materially unproductive.

Tech watchers noted that Congress’ limited understanding of the subject at hand meant that any meaningful regulation was still far off. Meanwhile, more cynical political watchers observed that many of the lawmakers who engaged in the more fiery exchanges are up for reelection this November and would need good clips for their campaign ads.

“I’m encouraged that Facebook is willing to make changes, but I am concerned that you are only acting now out of concern for your brand,” Rep. Paul Tonko of New York said to Zuckerberg at one point. Indeed.

Beneath the Glitz of a Ford Automobile Launch in China, Fears of a Trade War Remain - TIME

Beneath the Glitz of a Ford Automobile Launch in China, Fears of a Trade War Remain

Posted: 12 Apr 2018 01:05 AM PDT


Sparkling beneath a hundred flashbulbs, Ford’s newest saloon was presented to the world in the central Chinese megacity of Chongqing on Tuesday, in a symphony of polished paintwork and umbrella-twirling dancers.

The unveiling of the next generation Ford Focus is the American automobile giant’s first ever global launch in China, spotlighting the growing importance of the world’s most populous nation for American companies. It comes as fears of a trade war persist despite conciliatory remarks from Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has taken aim at America’s current record $375.2 billion trade deficit with China, zeroing in on the disparity between American and Chinese auto import tariffs — 2.5% versus 25% respectively, Trump tweeted April 9 — as an example of “stupid trade.” He has threatened over $150 billion of tariffs against China over the imbalance and alleged pilfering of intellectual property (IP); the Beijing government denies wrongdoing and has vowed to retaliate.
On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to “significantly” reduce U.S. auto import tariffs this year, a move Trump tweeted he was “very thankful for.” But rapprochement was short-lived. China reported the U.S. to the WTO that same day over $3 billion of steel and aluminum tariffs Trump imposed last month. Analysts also doubt whether the auto tariff reduction Xi pledged will happen as China has repeatedly reneged on similar promises in the past.

“U.S. automakers are likely to discover quite quickly that their access to the Chinese market is limited,” a China Association of Automobile Manufacturers official told China’s state-backed Global Times newspaper.

China’s autos market is by far the world’s largest, and its manufacturers have a production capacity of 30 million vehicles annually. The stakes for U.S. manufacturers thus couldn’t be higher, casting a shadow over the Ford launch.

“The two governments have a relationship and we would encourage them to work it out, encourage them to come to some agreement,” Trevor Worthington, vice-president of product development for Ford Asia-Pacific, tells TIME in Chongqing.

Ford only has about 3% of the Chinese market, according to Worthington, and for a firm that consistently ranks in the top five automakers worldwide, it “should be doing much better,” he says. Still, American firms made profits of some $4 billion from Sino-U.S. joint ventures in 2016, according to Chinese officials. In addition, China imported around 273,000 cars from the U.S. — around a quarter of all imports — with a reported value of over $13 billion in 2017. Ford has sold 2.6 million Focus models alone since entering the Chinese market in 2005.

The shifting dynamics of China’s car market reflect the U.S.-China trade relationship more generally. A theoretically communist nation that only began to economically liberalize in the 1980s now wields vast geopolitical and economic clout, yet still enjoys significant preferable treatment regarding trade. When the U.S. supported Chinese accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, the deal was that the U.S. would slowly gain access to its markets, partly compensating for American manufacturing shifting to China. In the time since, China’s GDP has soared from $1.3 trillion to $11.2 trillion but market access has barely improved.

As in many priority industries in China, foreign automakers must make a 50-50 partnership with local firms. (Ford principally works with Chongqing-based Changan Automobile.) These partnerships facilitate the transfer of technology and other IP that have benefited a legion of first-rate Chinese competitors.

The world’s largest car market
In 2001, China had fewer than 10 million passenger vehicles for its 1.2 billion population — just one vehicle for every 128 people, or a market penetration equivalent to the U.S. in 1911 — just three years after Henry Ford produced his first Model T. But by 2009, China was the largest car market in the world. Today, it’s bigger than the U.S. and Japan combined. In 2017, 25.4 million passenger vehicles — the vast majority produced by Chinese firms — were sold in China, according to market analysis firm LMC Automotive. (In the U.S., just 17.2 million vehicles were sold last year.)

This is largely due to canny official control over the economy, combined with some equally resourceful gathering of technology. In his acclaimed book Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip, New Yorker journalist Peter Hessler described how the Wuhan city government set up a car company in the late 1990s by hiring a former Volkswagen engineer called Yin Tongyao. Yin bought an assembly line from an obsolete Ford factory in the U.K., blueprints from Volkswagen subsidiary Seat in Spain, and parts through side deals with Volkswagen suppliers in China. By the spring of 2000, that company, Qirui, known in English as Chery, was churning out cars.

Today, Yin is Chery’s President and CEO, and the firm is China’s biggest automotive exporter, boasting factories in Brazil, Iran, Venezuela and Russia. Chery’s success is paralleled domestically, where production and quality have surged in unison. Private companies are meanwhile overtaking state-affiliated rivals and poaching engineers and executives from storied European and American manufacturers and even buying up foreign firms wholesale. Ford sold Swedish firm Volvo to China’s Geely for $1.8 billion in 2010.

“China is no longer able to act the weak victim that’s dependent on others,” says Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese politics at King’s College London. “It is now a country that others are dependent on.”

Today, Chinese automakers control most of the domestic market (as local manufacturers do in the smartphone market — another IP-heavy field). For Ford, protecting over a century of hard-fought IP is paramount.

“We’re pretty careful about the way we manage the key processes and intellectual property,” says Worthington of Ford’s partnership with Changan. “We do have ways of sharing that with our partners but in a very limited way.”

When Changan handles all of Ford’s local sales, marketing and dealer network, there are huge benefits for the Chinese firm, not only in terms of technology, but branding and other aspects of business strategy. And yet it’s difficult to argue that China needs technology transfer any longer. “China is the lead. The market has become sophisticated very quickly,” says Worthington.

U.S. car sales fell 2% in 2017 and are expected to fall again this year. The danger is that Trump’s attempts to coax fairer terms may make things even worse for American automakers by jeopardizing their China business altogether. In addition, foreign firms such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz now produce the majority of their premium SUVs in the U.S., accounting for 60% of all U.S. auto exports to China. A trade war “might compel German brands to transfer their production,” says Alan Kang, senior market analyst with LMC Automotive—at a cost of thousands of American jobs.

American investment in China could also become a glaring target. “Chinese retaliation may come in form of new taxes or greater restriction of profit repatriation that restrict American businesses operating there,” says Jim Nolt, an Asia specialist with World Policy Institute. Fearful of their position, American companies refuse to publicly castigate Chinese trade practices, exasperating U.S. trade officials who complain to TIME of hearing executives’ complaints in private but only platitudes in public.

For Derek Scissors, an economist focusing on China at the American Enterprise Institute, Trump’s tariff approach is unrealistic “because these are key elements of how China engages the world — you don’t get to compete with state-owned enterprises in China, and if you want access to our market, we want your technology.”

Ironically, Trump undermined his best hope to make progress on the IP issue on his first day in office, when he pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). That free trade pact between a dozen – now 11 — Asia-Pacific nations contained strong IP protection, and the Obama administration was also separately negotiating toughened IP protocols with the European Union. Raising standards elsewhere, particularly in developing nations with lower production costs than China, would have set the global IP bar higher and thus put pressure on Beijing to reciprocate to stay competitive. (Already, in 2014, China introduced special IP courts that have received positive feedback from U.S. firms.) The sheer size of the Chinese market means other nations will likely only coerce better practices by lobbying Beijing in concert.

In autos, like many industries now, China increasingly writes the rules. Whereas cars were once created for precision cruising at 110 m.p.h. on the German autobahn, today they are designed to sooth drivers navigating the maddening stop-start traffic of Beijing. Worthington says Ford is putting modems and wireless chargers in its latest models, which are linked not only with Apple CarPlay but also Beijing-based tech giant Baidu’s CarLife network. Cars in the West traditionally focus on the driver, with little heed to passenger comfort, but in China they are “a social environment,” says Worthington.

Predominantly single-child families also hit the road with grandparents in tow, likely sitting in the rear either side of the infant, meaning extra space is mandatory in the back seats. “The expectation is that it’s a very comfortable, luxurious experience for your parents, “ says Worthington. Today, all Focus models sold across the globe have a longer wheelbase and roomer back row because of this uniquely Chinese preference. Electric vehicles are also coming on in leaps and bounds, mainly due to the concerted backing of green technology by Beijing.

As in so many relationships, the student is now the teacher. Now all the West has to do is figure out how to do away with China’s student discounts.

China man caught by facial recognition at pop concert - BBC News

April 13, 2018

China man caught by facial recognition at pop concert

 There are an estimated 170 million CCTV cameras already in place in China
Chinese police have used facial recognition technology to locate and arrest a man who was among a crowd of 60,000 concert goers.

The suspect, who has been identified only as Mr Ao, was attending a concert by pop star Jacky Cheung in Nanchang city last weekend when he was caught.

Police said the 31-year-old, who was wanted for "economic crimes", was "shocked" when he was caught.

China has a huge surveillance network of over 170 million CCTV cameras.

Chinese police unveil camera sunglasses

China sets up huge 'social credit' system

Mr Ao was identified by cameras at the concert's ticket entrance, and apprehended by police after he had sat down with other concert goers.

"The suspect looked completely caught by surprise when we took him away," police officer Li Jin told state news agency Xinhua.

"He didn't think the police would be able to catch him from a crowd of 60,000 so quickly," Mr Li, from Honggutan police station in Nanchang city, added.

Mr Li also told China Daily that there were several cameras at the ticket entrances equipped with facial recognition technology.

'I wouldn't have gone'
Mr Ao had reportedly driven 90km (56 miles) from Zhangshu to Nanchang with his wife specially to catch the concert.

News site Kan Kan released footage that appeared to show the suspect speaking in police custody, saying: "If I knew, I wouldn't have gone [to the concert]."

Jacky Cheung is one of Hong Kong's most famous singers
This is not the first time Chinese police have used facial recognition systems to catch suspects.

In August last year, police in Shandong province arrested 25 suspects using a facial recognition system that was set up at the Qingdao International Beer Festival.

China is a world leader in facial recognition technology and regularly reminds its citizens that such equipment will make it almost impossible to evade the authorities.

The country has been building what it calls "the world's biggest camera surveillance network".


Media captionIn your face: China's all-seeing surveillance system
An estimated 170 million CCTV cameras are already in place and some 400 million new ones are expected be installed in the next three years.

Many of the cameras use artificial intelligence, including facial recognition technology.

Russia warns of 'dangerous' escalation over Syria - BBC News

April 13, 2018
Russia warns of 'dangerous' escalation over Syria

Russia is an ally of Syria and gives military backing to its government
Russia has warned the US that launching air strikes in response to a suspected chemical attack in Syria could spark a war between the two countries.

"The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war," Moscow's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Thursday.

He accused Washington of putting international peace at risk and said the situation was "very dangerous".

Western powers are thought to be preparing for strikes but Russia, a Syrian ally, opposes such action.

"We cannot exclude any possibilities, unfortunately," Mr Nebenzia told reporters after a private meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.

He said there was a heightened "danger of escalation" because of the Russian military presence in Syria.

What can Western military intervention achieve?
Why is there a war in Syria?
Are we heading for a third world war?
Senior Russian figures, including the head of the military, have warned that US missiles will be shot down and their launch sites targeted if Russian personnel come under threat.

Mr Nebenzia also called for the UN Security Council to meet again on Friday to discuss the possibility of Western military action.

The White House says it is continuing to assess intelligence and talk to its allies on how to respond.

Meanwhile, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) says experts are travelling to Syria and will start investigations on Saturday.

Why is the West considering military action?

Western leaders have been planning a response to Saturday's suspected chemical attack
The call for action comes after a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta on Saturday, which killed dozens of people, according to opposition activists, rescue workers and medics.

Chemical weapons attacks are suspected to have taken place in Syria before. Last year, the US launched a retaliatory strike against one said to have taken place in Khan Sheikhoun.

President Bashar al-Assad's government - which receives military backing from Russia - has denied involvement in any chemical attack, calling the reports "fabricated".

After six weeks of heavy fighting and an estimated 1,700 civilian deaths in the Eastern Ghouta region, the Syrian government is now said to have control of the area, which lies just outside of Damascus.

The final evacuations of about 4,000 remaining Islamist fighters and civilians continued on Friday, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring organisation.

So What can Macron and Trump do?
Firepower of key countries
The significance of Eastern Ghouta's fall
Is there proof of the recent 'chemical attack'?
The Violations Documentation Center (VDC), which records alleged violations of international law in Syria, said bodies were found with foam at the mouth, discoloured skin and burns to the eyes.

On Thursday, unnamed US officials said they had blood and urine samples from victims which had tested positive for chlorine and a nerve agent, according to NBC News.

Syria 'chemical attack': What we know
The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Hayley, told the network: "We definitely have enough proof, but now we just have to be thoughtful in our action."

French President Emmanuel Macron also said he had "proof" that the Syrian government had attacked Douma with chemical weapons, without giving further details.


Media captionUnverified video shows children being treated after the alleged gas attack
In the UK, cabinet ministers agreed that it was "highly likely" the Assad regime was responsible for the alleged attack and said the use of chemical weapons must not "go unchallenged".

During a phone call late on Thursday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump agreed on the need to deter chemical weapon use in Syria.

They agreed to "keep working closely" on the issue, Mrs May's office said in a statement.

What has Trump said about the attack?

Media captionTrump: Decisions on Syria will be made "fairly soon"
On Sunday, the day after the attack, the US president said Russian President Vladimir Putin bore responsibility for the "atrocity" in rebel-held Douma, because of his support for the Syrian government.

Mr Trump, who has cancelled a planned trip abroad, has been canvassing support for strikes from the leaders of France and the UK.

On Wednesday he said the missiles were "coming", but on Thursday he tweeted that he had "never said when". It "could be very soon or not so soon at all", he said.

He later told reporters at the White House: "We're having a meeting today on Syria... We have to make some further decisions. So they'll be made fairly soon."

Also on Thursday, US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis told a congressional panel: "I believe there was a chemical attack and we are looking for the actual evidence."

What is Russia's position?
Russia has described the reports of a chemical attack as a "provocation" designed to justify Western intervention.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he hoped common sense would prevail and that the situation would stabilise.

He added that Russia would "keep all its international obligations in full".

On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich criticised Mr Trump's rhetoric.

"We cannot depend on the mood of someone on the other side of the ocean when he wakes up," the Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

Roger Stone to Trump: Don’t fire Mueller - ABC News

Roger Stone to Trump: Don’t fire Mueller
By PIERRE THOMAS ALI DUKAKIS Apr 11, 2018, 7:04 PM ET

President Donald Trump's longtime friend Roger Stone says the president should resist any urge to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the probe into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during the U.S. presidential election in 2016.

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“I actually think from a political point of view that the termination of Mr. Mueller would probably give the Democrats the firestorm they're looking for,” Stone told ABC News in an interview Wednesday. “I would not recommend that,” he added.

Stone, a self-described “dirty trickster” and controversial figure in American politics, did say he believes the President should fire both Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller’s probe.

“I'm not recommending the firing of Mr. Mueller, but I am recommending a housecleaning at his Justice Department,” Stone said.

Roger Stone speaks at the Pasadena Convention Center on July 30, 2017 in Pasadena, Calif.
A decades-long friend of Trump, Stone is a veteran GOP political operative who worked with Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and partnered with embattled former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort at the outside political consultant firm Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly throughout the 1980s.

The youngest person to testify in the Senate Watergate hearings, Stone is known - for among other things - the tattoo of Nixon's face on his back.

Stone served as an adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign but left amid controversy in 2015. He currently serves as a key contributor to alt-right Alex Jones' radio and YouTube media platform InfoWars. The notorious political provocateur's life was recently documented in a 2016 Netflix documentary, "Get Me Roger Stone," which focused on Stone's eccentric political career.

Asked if he thought Trump could survive in Washington’s current political climate if he fired both his attorney general and deputy attorney general, Stone told ABC News he thought the sound economy and positive movement in relations with North Korea would protect the president.

“America is back and I think that increases the president's leverage,” Stone said. “And I also think it makes the American people recognize this for the partisan witch hunt that it is.”

Stone's comments come amid renewed scrutiny about the political strategist’s alleged contact with Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange in the summer of 2016 after Stone had left the Trump campaign – which is believed to be of interest in the special counsel’s investigation.

Stone has said he had no prior knowledge about the hacking of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's email or the release of those emails by WikiLeaks, despite tweeting about Podesta's "time in the barrel" in late August of 2016 before the messages appeared online two months later.

In September, Stone spoke to the House Intelligence Committee for more than three hours as part of the panel's probe into Russian interference in the election. Afterward, he told reporters that the majority of lawmakers' questions focused on his communications with Guccifer 2.0, the unnamed hacker who has taken credit for breaking into Democratic National Committee email servers. He said questions also focused on communications he had through an intermediary with Assange.

Last month, Stone told ABC News that reports he met with WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange during the U.S. presidential election in 2016 are “provably false," Stone told ABC News in March.

On Wednesday, Stone stood by his earlier claim that he’s had no contact with the WikiLeaks publisher, telling ABC News he has not met with, spoken with, texted or emailed with Assange.

Mike Pompeo, Trump's pick for secretary of state, to tell senators years of soft US policy toward Russia 'now over' - Fox News

April 11, 2018

Mike Pompeo, Trump's pick for secretary of state, to tell senators years of soft US policy toward Russia 'now over'
By Frank Miles | Fox News

Mike Pompeo: Russian aggression enabled by soft policy
Fox News obtained excerpts of Mike Pompeo's opening remarks to be delivered at his confirmation hearing to be secretary of state; Rich Edson reports from the State Department.

Mike Pompeo, whom President Trump chose for his next secretary of state, is expected to tell the Senate during his confirmation hearing Thursday that years of soft policy toward Russian aggression are “now over.”

According to his prepared remarks obtained Wednesday by Fox News from a senior Trump administration official, Pompeo will chastise Russia for acting “aggressively” and emphasize that the national security strategy of the Trump administration considers Russia “a danger to our country.”

He also will say that diplomatic efforts with Moscow, while challenging, “must continue.”

Pompeo, currently the CIA director, will vow to promote democracy and human rights while stressing America’s “duty to lead,” according to the remarks, despite Trump’s vows to put “America first.”

“If we do not lead the calls for democracy, prosperity and human rights around the world, who will?” Pompeo plans to say. “No other nation is equipped with the same blend of power and principle.”

Pompeo’s remarks Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be the first chance for lawmakers and the public to hear directly from the former Kansas congressman about his approach to diplomacy and the role of the State Department, should he be confirmed to replace Rex Tillerson.

Pompeo likely to face a tough confirmation hearing for secretary of state. Rich Edson reports from the State Department.
Pompeo’s views on global issues are well known — he was questioned extensively by senators for his confirmation to run the CIA — but Democratic senators have raised questions about his fitness to be the top American diplomat, given some of his past comments.

“When journalists, most of whom have never met me, label me — or any of you — as ‘hawks,’ ‘war hardliners,’ or worse, I shake my head,” the former Army officer is expected to say. “There are few who dread war more than those of us who have served in uniform.”

The remarks continue, “War is always the last resort.”

GEN. ZINNI, ADM. STAVRIDIS: WHAT POMPEO MUST DO FIRST IF CONFIRMED

Pompeo’s chief goal Thursday is said to be convincing senators that he intends to strengthen the State Department.

Pompeo wants to ensure the State Department is a relevant player in national security policy, a source close to him told Fox News. The source, who wasn’t authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity, said Pompeo promises a relevant State Department that will find “its swagger once again.”

Pompeo is expected to say that as he met with State Department workers recently, they all said they wanted to be “empowered in their roles” and clear about Trump’s mission.

“They also shared how demoralizing it is to have so many vacancies and frankly, not to feel relevant. I’ll do my part to end the vacancies, but I’ll need your help.”

Since being nominated last month, Pompeo has spent much of his time at the State Department immersing himself in briefing books and undergoing mock hearings and prep meetings on key issues like Iran, Syria and North Korea, as well as the inner workings of the State Department, a person close to Pompeo said.

He’s also spoken to all eight living former secretaries — including Hillary Clinton, whom he famously criticized over the deadly 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya.

Rep. Mike Gallagher: Kim is 'a rouge dictator and maniac.'
Pompeo’s questioning by senators comes amid spiraling tensions with Russia over Syria and China over trade; concerns about the planned summit between Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un; and uncertainty over the administration’s international agenda.

He’ll tell the Senate that he’s read CIA histories of past talks with North Korea and is confident that Trump won’t repeat past mistakes, according to the remarks.

“President Trump isn’t one to play games at the negotiating table, and I won’t be either,” he plans to say.

The Republican also is expected to pledge to make it “an immediate personal priority” to work with U.S. allies to try to “fix” the Iran nuclear deal.

Pompeo plans to say: “The stakes are high for everyone, but especially Tehran. If confirmed in time, I look forward to engaging key Allies on this crucial and time-sensitive topic at the G7 Ministerial Meeting on April 22, and the NATO Ministerial Meeting later that week.”

Trump has vowed to withdraw from the accord if agreement with European allies to revamp the deal can’t be reached by May 12.

Trump announced Pompeo’s nomination to become the 70th secretary of state in the same March 13 tweet in which he dumped Tillerson. “He will do a fantastic job,” Trump said at the time, confirming months of speculation that the largely sidelined Tillerson was out of a job and would be replaced by Pompeo, who is known to have the president’s ear and respect and shares his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal.

Pompeo, who was confirmed for the CIA job by a 66-32 vote, developed a reputation for being more outwardly political than many past directors of the traditionally apolitical agency. He developed a visibly close relationship with the president, traveling to the White House on most days to deliver the highly classified President’s Daily Brief in person rather than leaving the task to other intelligence officials. Often Trump would have the CIA director stay in the West Wing after the briefing to accompany him to other meetings.

Fox News’ Rich Edson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Trump tried to call out Obama for going to Syria, now his old tweets are coming back to haunt him - Independent

April 12, 2018
Trump tried to call out Obama for going to Syria, now his old tweets are coming back to haunt him
Posted by Louis Staples in news 
UPVOTE 
              
President Donald Trump has turned disagreeing with Barack Obama into an art.

Though after images of children injured by chemical attacks in Syria shocked the world, Trump has responded in a remarkably similar way to his predecessor.

Trump’s warning that US missiles "will be coming" to Syria follows in Obama’s footsteps, after the former US president launched missiles against the Syrian government in 2013.

But there’s just one problem.
As ever, Trump heavily criticised Obama on Twitter for his choice to launch missiles against Syria, despite the fact that he now plans to do virtually the same thing.

In 2013, Trump argued that the US should "stay the hell out of Syria" and criticised the administration for "broadcasting" its strategy.

Trump also wrote:

For the first time in the history of military operations a country has broadcast what, when and where they will be doing in a future attack!

He added:

 Who are our generals that are allowing this fiasco to happen right before our eyes. Call it the 'PLENTY OF NOTICE WAR'

Here are some other gems.

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
 AGAIN, TO OUR VERY FOOLISH LEADER, DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA - IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN & FROM THAT FIGHT THE U.S. GETS NOTHING!

11:20 PM - Sep 5, 2013

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
 The situation with Russia is much more dangerous than most people may think - and could lead to World War III. WE NEED GREAT LEADERSHIP FAST

9:23 PM - Mar 22, 2014

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Replying to @Walaa3ssaf
@walaa_3ssaf   No, dopey, I would not go into Syria, but if I did it would be by surprise and not blurted all over the media like fools.

10:09 PM - Aug 29, 2013 · Manhattan, NY

Since becoming president, Trump has frequently relayed US military strategy to the press.
Last year, after another deadly chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria, he authorised a military strike on a Syrian government airbase. The previous day, Trump suggested that his attitude towards Syria changed after seeing images of the aftermath of the chemical attack.

But he also added:

One of the things I think you've noticed about me is, militarily, I don't like to say where I'm going and what I doing.

Google's New App Speeds Up the Internet in Places Where It's the Slowest - Fortune

April 11, 2018
Google's New App Speeds Up the Internet in Places Where It's the Slowest

By BLOOMBERG 6:39 AM EDT
Google (GOOGL, -1.22%) is releasing an app in Africa that will help internet users overcome obstacles such as the lack of high-speed connectivity and the cost of data on the continent.

The release of Google Go is the U.S. technology giant’s latest attempt to extend its reach into emerging markets such as sub-Saharan Africa, where Facebook (FB, +0.91%) is also making inroads. The Alphabet unit has laid fiber-optic cable on the continent, eased access to cheaper Android phones and trained a workforce in digital skills.

The new app reduces the amount of data needed to display search results by 40% and allows previous searches to be accessed offline. The internet giant has also adapted the voice function to work better on slow connections, and has partnered with pan-African wireless carriers MTN Group and Vodacom Group to make it work on even basic 2G connections, according to Google Africa Chief Marketing Officer Mzamo Masito.


“Weak data connectivity, high data costs and low storage space often make it hard for people to get the most out of the internet,” he told reporters on Thursday. “Google Go is built to handle these challenges.”

U.S. tech giants see Africa as a relatively untapped market for smartphones and services such as web search and social media. Younger consumers in sub-Saharan Africa are increasingly demanding quicker internet speeds and cheaper phones to go about their business, while MTN and Vodacom see the digital space as their fastest-growing market.

The new app will be available in 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and will be pre-installed on all Android Oreo devices. The company also plans to make it available in other emerging markets, including India, Brazil and Indonesia, Masito said in an interview.

This Is the Richest ZIP Code in America—and the Average Income Is $2.5 Million - TIME Business

This Is the Richest ZIP Code in America—and the Average Income Is $2.5 Million

Posted: 10 Apr 2018 07:20 AM PDT


The richest ZIP code in America is just as exclusive and elite as the people who live there. Fisher Island, located just off the coast of Miami, is accessible only by ferry or water taxi and is a haven for the world’s richest.

The 216-acre island has diverse residents, representing over 50 nationalities and professions ranging from professional athletes and supermodels to executives and lawyers.

The average income in Fisher Island, ZIP code 33109, was $2.5 million in 2015, according to a Bloomberg analysis of 2015 Internal Revenue Service data. That’s $1 million more than the second-place spot, held by ZIP code 94027 in Silicon Valley, also known as the City of Atherton on the San Francisco Peninsula. The area’s neighbors include Stanford University and Menlo Park, home to Facebook and various tech companies. While the IRS data only provide the averages of tax returns, which can be skewed by outliers, Fisher Island is the only ZIP code in the Bloomberg analysis where more than half of all tax returns showed an income of over $200,000.
To no one’s surprise, neighborhoods in California and the New York tri-state area comprise a majority of the top 20 richest U.S. ZIP codes. States with favorable tax structures like Florida and Wyoming are drawing the wealthy, too.

Bloomberg evaluated IRS data for ZIP codes with more than 200 tax returns as of the 2015 filing season, and with 500 residential households according to the latest Census tally. More than 22,000 ZIP codes met the criteria.

This is America's richest zip code https://t.co/uUSu8Qc130 pic.twitter.com/LeQviOZ8A1

— Bloomberg Economics (@economics) April 10, 2018

Who didn’t make the top 20? Any of the ZIP codes in Manhattan. However, several Manhattan neighborhoods made the top 50, starting with the venerable ZIP code of 10005 at No. 21 on the list. This one is home to the New York Stock Exchange and sits at the edge of the iconic “Charging Bull” sculpture.

Two other ZIP codes in Florida — Palm Beach (home of President Trump’s private club) and Naples — made the top 20. Suburbs of Seattle, Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston also landed in the highest spots.

Tax Write-Offs
With high incomes come large tax write-offs. Fisher Island had an average of $448,100 in itemized deductions in 2015, according to IRS data.

For many high-net-worth individuals, charitable contributions make up the biggest share of tax deductions, according to Joseph Falanga, managing director of UHY Advisors, an accounting firm in New York.

The ZIP code that took the most advantage of tax deductions in 2015 was 94301 in Palo Alto, California, where the average deduction was $491,600. Fisher Island had smaller average deductions relative to its income size than other ZIP codes and that’s likely because Florida has no income tax, so its residents can’t take deductions from that category. On the other hand, California has a top marginal income tax rate of 13.3 percent, the highest in the country.

But deductions for the very wealthy could look a lot different this year because of the new tax cut legislation, according to Falanga.

Deductions for state and local income tax have been curtailed to a maximum of $10,000. Before the new legislation, these deductions were unlimited. Limits on charitable contribution deductions have increased to 60 percent of gross income from 50 percent. That is just for cash contributions and does not include foundations, stocks, or artwork, which have different hurdles, said Falanga.

Falanga’s clients include ultra-high-net-worth individuals and high-income people. He said he doesn’t know how the recent tax legislation will affect them.

“I haven’t seen them change, but they have been curious about what’s going on,” Falanga said. “And to a certain extent, some of them will be paying more.”

Bank of America Says It Will Stop Lending to Military-Style Gunmakers - TIME Business

Bank of America Says It Will Stop Lending to Military-Style Gunmakers

Posted: 10 Apr 2018 04:06 PM PDT


Bank of America Corp. plans to stop lending to companies that make assault-style guns used for non-military purposes.

“It’s our intention not to finance these military-style firearms for civilian use,” Anne Finucane, a vice chairman at Bank of America, said Tuesday in a Bloomberg Television interview. The firm has had “intense conversations over the last few months” with those kinds of gun manufacturers to tell them it won’t finance their operations in the future, she said.

Her comments mark the first time an executive at the nation’s second-largest bank has publicly laid out how it will deal with gun-industry clients following Feb. 14 shootings at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead. The massacre set off a wave of pressure on banks, payments processors and other firms to cut services to the firearms industry and on money managers to stop investing in gunmakers. The response has varied.
Citigroup Inc., the nation’s fourth-largest bank, said in March it plans to prohibit retail chains that are its customers from offering bump stocks or selling guns to anyone who hasn’t passed a background check or is younger than 21. Investors including BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp. are engaging with companies in their portfolios over firearms policies.

Finucane said Bank of America also won’t underwrite securities issued by manufacturers of military-style guns used by civilians.

Reaction to the firm’s plans has been “mixed” among gun companies, she said. “There are those that will reduce their portfolios, and we’ll work with them, and others that will do something else,” she said, speaking on the sidelines of the Future of Energy Global Summit in New York hosted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

At least a half-dozen of the nation’s major gun manufacturers produce military-style firearms, including Remington Outdoor Co., Sturm Ruger & Co., SIG Sauer, Vista Outdoor Inc., O.F. Mossberg & Sons and American Outdoor Brands Corp. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry lobby, puts the economic impact of the gun and ammunition industry at $51.1 billion nationwide in 2017.

Bank of America has helped finance Vista Outdoor Inc., an outdoor goods and shooting industry brand, and Remington, a bankrupt firearms maker.

Toys R Us receives multiple $1bn bids for Asia business - Independent

April 12, 2018
Toys R Us receives multiple $1bn bids for Asia business
The collapsed retailer looks for a glimmer of hope in Asia

Shafi Musaddique

Profitable stores will continue in Europe and Asia Getty
Toys R Us has received several $1bn (£706m) bids for a majority stake in its Asia arm, a lawyer for the company said.

The US company plans to sell some of its global operations after collapsing in September due to piling debt and strong competition from discount online retailers.

Lawyer Joshua Sussberg said that the company will attempt to continue running profitable stores in Europe and Asia while it folds its UK and US stores.

Mothercare sales drop even further as fewer people visit its stores
 Mr Sussberg told a US court hearing that sales and estate auctions were generating some money to repay creditors.

Toys R Us is also expecting to finalise a deal to sell its operations in Central Europe.

The retailer had almost 1,600 stores before it filed for bankruptcy protection, many of them characteristically located in out-of-town areas with large stores.

The rise of online shopping and the dominance of e-retailers such as Amazon made life difficult for Toys R Us as it never completely took hold of online sales.

Toys R Us in the UK has yet to find a buyer for 100 closed stores.

"We are working closely with the 2,000 employees affected by the closures to ensure they receive the support they need for redundancy and other compensatory payments," said Stephen Thomas, lawyer at Moorfields.

“The stores across the county will be open as usual until the last day of trading and we would encourage shoppers to make the most of the great deals on offer".

Here is a comprehensive list of closing dates for UK Toys R Us stores;

Banbury, Friday-20-April       

Bayswater, Saturday-21-April     

Bedford, Saturday-21-April     

Belfast Castle Court, Tuesday-24-April     

Brent Cross, Tuesday-24-April     

Brighton, Thursday-19-April     

Bristol   Friday-20-April

Bromley, Thursday-19-April     

Carlisle The Lanes, Thursday-19-April     

Southampton,Tuesday-24-April

Chester, Tuesday-24-April     

Northampton, Monday-23-April

Chester Broughton, Wed-18-April   

Preston, Monday-23-April

Chesterfield, Sun-22-April     

Stevenage, Thursday-19-April

Colliers Wood, Sun-22-April     

Glasgow The Forge, Saturday-21-April

Coventry, Tuesday-24-April     

Wakefield, Saturday-21-April

Craigleith, Friday-20-April

Croydon, Tuesday-24-April     

Glasgow Helen St, Monday-23-April

Derby, Tuesday-24-April     

Basildon, Saturday-21-April

Enfield  Monday-23-April   

Manchester, Saturday-21-April

Harlow, Sunday 22 April

High Wycombe, Saturday-21-April     

Blackburn, Thursday-19-April

Ilford, Sunday-22-April     

Liverpool, Friday-20-April

Lincoln, Monday-23-April   

Thurrock, Friday-20-April

Luton, Monday-23-April   

Doncaster Frenchgate, Friday-20-April

Mansfield, Saturday-21-April     

Dundee, Tuesday-24-April

Medway, Monday-23-April   

Stirling,  Sun-22-April

Merry Hill, Friday-20-April       

Leicester Highcross, Friday-13-April

Metro   Saturday-21-April       

Milton Keynes   Sun-22-April

Nottingham        Tuesday-24-April

Norwich               Tuesday-24-April

Oldbury                Monday-23-April 

Peterborough   Sun-22-April

Portsmouth        Friday-20-April       

Leeds    Monday-23-April

Reading                Saturday-21-April     

Sheffield              Tuesday-24-April

Solihull  Sun-22-April     

Northampton Weston Favell      Saturday-21-April

Sprucefields       Monday-23-April   

Oxford  Saturday-21-April

Stafford               Thursday-19-April     

Warrington         Tuesday-24-April

Staines Elmsleigh             Friday-20-April       

Stockport            Sun-22-April

Swindon              Tuesday-24-April

Stoke    Saturday-21-April     

Nottingham Victoria Centre        Friday-20-April

Sunderland         Wed-18-April

Swansea              Sun-22-April     

Poole    Monday-23-April

Sydenham          Friday-20-April       

Aberdeen Union Square               Thursday-19-April

Teesside              Friday-20-April       

Cardiff Queen Street      Thursday-19-April

Uxbridge             Thursday-19-April     

Gloucester          Monday-23-April

Woking Sun-22-April 

During Facebook’s Senate Hearing, Reddit Reveals It Banned Almost 1,000 Russian Trolls - TIME

During Facebook’s Senate Hearing, Reddit Reveals It Banned Almost 1,000 Russian Trolls

Posted: 10 Apr 2018 06:23 PM PDT


Discussion forum company Reddit issued its transparency report for 2017 during Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Senate appearance, saying it had found and banned 944 suspicious accounts associated with Russia’s Internet Research Agency.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says in a post that the company is cooperating with Congress and informed lawmakers of its findings Tuesday.

Sen. Mark Warner welcomed the announcement in a statement, saying all technology platforms have a responsibility to prevent foreign adversaries from interfering in U.S. elections.

Statement from @MarkWarner following news that @reddit took action against "944 suspicious accounts" controlled/potentially controlled by Russia-based Internet Research Agency:https://t.co/DgYxyojamn pic.twitter.com/lkdtvbIaEE

— Edward Graham (@EdwardJGraham1) April 10, 2018

The update went out during Zuckerberg’s five-hour appearance before a joint U.S. Senate committee hearing. Senators grilled him about privacy in the wake of pro-Trump data mining firm Cambridge Analytica’s collection of Facebook data on millions of Americans without their knowledge.

President Trump Is ‘Very Thankful’ for Xi Jinping’s Conciliatory Talk on Trade - TIME

President Trump Is ‘Very Thankful’ for Xi Jinping’s Conciliatory Talk on Trade

Posted: 10 Apr 2018 07:00 PM PDT


President Donald Trump has welcomed remarks made by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference that seemed intended to deescalate a brewing trade war.

Trump said he was “very thankful” for his Chinese counterpart and hailed “great progress” to be made by the jousting superpowers.

In a tweet Wednesday, the U.S. president said he appreciated Xi’s “kind words on tariffs and automobile barriers” as well as his “enlightenment on intellectual property and technology transfers,” a key sticking point of U.S.-Chinese trade disputes.

Very thankful for President Xi of China’s kind words on tariffs and automobile barriers…also, his enlightenment on intellectual property and technology transfers. We will make great progress together!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2018

The U.S. contends that China pressures American companies into handing over valuable technologies in exchange for the right to access Chinese markets.

Those concerns, as well as the administration’s anxiety about America’s trade deficit with China, drove Trump to raise tariffs 25% last week on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to respond in kind, targeting agriculture products like pork, wine, and soybeans.

Global markets teetered with uncertainty as Trump threatened to impose tariffs on another $100 billion of goods last week, but have rallied in the wake of Xi’s remarks.

At the Boao Forum, dubbed “Asia’s Davos,” he cautioned against the return of a “Cold War mentality” and criticized the “zero-sum” posture of the trade dispute.

“We should act on the vision of common, cooperative, and sustainable security and firmly uphold the international order and system underpinned by the principles in the U.N. charter,” Xi told conference attendees in Boao, China.

Syria 'chemical attack': US weighs up military response - BBC News

April 12, 2018
Syria 'chemical attack': US weighs up military response

The US Navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, is in the Mediterranean
The US says "all options are on the table" in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, as Western leaders continue to weigh up military action.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters that a final decision on military strikes had not been taken.

But she said the US holds Russia and Syria responsible for the incident.

The US National Security Council is to meet on Thursday, while UK PM Theresa May has called a cabinet meeting.

Western leaders appear to be gearing up for air strikes, but Russian figures have said they will retaliate against any strikes on their ally Syria.

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was "very necessary to avoid any steps which could increase tensions in Syria".

Syria 'chemical attack': What we know
WHO demands 'chemical attack site' access
Viewpoint: Chemical weapons ‘threat to West’
At the UN Security Council, Russia and the US blocked each other's proposals for investigating claims of a chemical attack, as they disagreed over who should have the right to apportion blame.

The international Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has said it will go to Douma "shortly", but it is unclear when it would arrive and how much evidence of any chemical attack might remain.

Unverified video shows children being treated after the alleged gas attack
The town is being evacuated through a humanitarian corridor, under terms of an agreement between Russia and the rebels.

The main leaders of the rebel group Jaish al-Islam have left the town, and the group's weapons have been surrendered, according to UK-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Russian claims that the town had been taken over by Syrian forces and a government flag raised on a building could not be independently verified.

Major General Yury Yevtushenko said it was a "significant event in the history of Syria", and meant the whole Eastern Ghouta area was in government control.

What has the US said?
"The president has a number of options at his disposal and a number remain on the table," Ms Sanders said during a briefing on Wednesday evening.

"We haven't laid out any specific actions we plan to take," she added.

The comments appear to row back on President Donald Trump's earlier warning to Russia that it should "get ready" for missile strikes in Syria.

"Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'" Mr Trump said in an early morning tweet on Wednesday.

He also called the Syrian leader a "gas killing animal".

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
 Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia,  because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!

8:57 PM - Apr 11, 2018

Then on Thursday, he tweeted that any attack could be "very soon or not so soon at all".

Skip Twitter post 2 by @realDonaldTrump

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
 Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our “Thank you America?”

8:15 PM - Apr 12, 2018

What happens next?
The US, UK and France have agreed to work together and are believed to be preparing for a military strike in response to the alleged chemical attack last Saturday.

Defence Secretary James Mattis said the US was still assessing the chemical attack, but added that the military stood ready "to provide military options if they are appropriate as the president determines".

The White House said the president had not laid down a specific timetable for when military strikes may take place. But a senior source has told the BBC's North America editor Jon Sopel that any military action is likely to happen at the weekend.

Are we heading for a third world war?
A US Navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, is in the Mediterranean Sea.

In the UK, sources told the BBC that Prime Minister Theresa May looked ready to join military action in Syria without seeking parliamentary consent first, as she is understood to be reluctant to ask the US to hold off any action while she consults MPs.

French President Emmanuel Macron will reportedly decide on a response in the coming days.

He has said any strikes would target the Syrian government's "chemical capabilities".

Other key figures have been showing signs that they anticipate strikes to happen soon. Senior US military sources say President Assad's forces have already moved some aircraft in an attempt to protect them from attacks. The New York Times reports Syrian planes have been taken to a Russian base near Latakia on the country's coast, and that some Russian personnel and equipment have also been moved.

Airlines have also taken note of the situation, and no planes are visible over Syria on the commercial flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned of the need to avoid the situation "spiralling out of control".

What happened in Douma?
Activists, rescue workers and medics say dozens of people died when government aircraft dropped bombs filled with toxic chemicals on the formerly rebel-held town of Douma on Saturday.

But President Bashar al-Assad's government - which receives military backing from Russia - denies being behind any chemical attack.

The Syrian-American Medical Society (Sams), which operates in rebel-held areas, said more than 500 people had been treated for symptoms "indicative of exposure to a chemical agent".

On Wednesday, the UN's World Health Organization demanded access to verify reports from its partners, which include Sams, that 70 people had died - including 43 who showed "symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals".

What is Russia's position?
It has described the reports of the chemical attack as a "provocation" designed to justify Western intervention against its ally, and accused militant rebels of fabricating it.

The US president has said "nothing's off the table" - so what options are on the table?
It said on Wednesday that samples taken from the site had not revealed any chemical substances.

Senior Russian figures have warned of a Russian response to a US attack.

On Wednesday Alexander Zasypkin, Moscow's ambassador to Lebanon, repeated a warning by the head of the military that missiles would be shot down and their launch sites targeted if they threatened the lives of Russian personnel.

And Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asked whether the aim of Western strikes might be "to quickly remove the traces of the provocation... [so] international inspectors will have nothing to look for in terms of evidence".

Addressing new ambassadors in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin said he hoped common sense would prevail and that the situation would stabilise.

Mr Putin said Russia would "keep all its international obligations in full".

UK launched cyber-attack on Islamic State - BBC News

April 12, 2018
UK launched cyber-attack on Islamic State

Jeremy Fleming gave a speech in Manchester
The UK has conducted a "major offensive cyber-campaign" against the Islamic State group, the director of the intelligence agency GCHQ has revealed.

The operation hindered the group's ability to co-ordinate attacks and suppressed their propaganda, former MI5 agent Jeremy Fleming said.

It is the first time the UK has systematically degraded an adversary's online efforts in a military campaign.

Mr Fleming made the remarks in his first public speech as GCHQ director.

"The outcomes of these operations are wide-ranging," he told the Cyber UK conference in Manchester.

"In 2017 there were times when Daesh [an alternative name for Islamic State] found it almost impossible to spread their hate online, to use their normal channels to spread their rhetoric, or trust their publications."

Islamic State conflict
The rise and fall of Islamic State's propaganda machine
IS wife: 'I want to stay in Syria'
Mr Fleming said much of the cyber-operation was "too sensitive to talk about", but had disrupted the group's online activities and even destroyed equipment and networks.

"This campaign shows how targeted and effective offensive cyber can be," he added.

But Mr Fleming said the fight against IS is not over, as the group continues to "seek to carry out or inspire further attacks in the UK" and find new "ungoverned spaces to base their operations".

'Blurring boundaries'
Mr Fleming also criticised Russia over what he called "unacceptable cyber-behaviour" which is a "growing threat" to the UK and its allies.

He recalled the NotPetya ransomware attack on Ukraine last year, which eventually spread across the world. The UK and US later said the Russian military were behind the attack, a claim that Moscow denied.

"They're not playing to the same rules," Mr Fleming said. "They're blurring the boundaries between criminal and state activity."

He said the use of a nerve agent on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury was "stark and shocking", and demonstrated "how reckless Russia is prepared to be".

The UK has said Moscow was "culpable" for the attack, but Russia denies any any involvement.

"The robust response from the UK and from the international community shows the Kremlin that illegal acts have consequences. And it looks like our expertise on Russia will be in increasing demand," he said.

He went on to describe some of GCHQ's other goals, which include tracking down people who use the dark web to distribute child sex abuse images.

Cyber has created a new landscape for attackers and defenders, he said, and the challenges were "vast" but were being met by a strong and lawful GCHQ.

On Wednesday, Mr Fleming announced a new GCHQ base is to open in Manchester, hoping to draw "tech savvy recruits".

Trump Denies Reports That He Wanted to Fire Mueller Last Year - Bloomberg

Trump Denies Reports That He Wanted to Fire Mueller Last Year
By Terence Dopp
April 12, 2018, 8:38 PM GMT+10
President Donald Trump denied reports that he wanted to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller late last year, a day after he is said to have discussed terminating Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein with White House aides.

"If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him," Trump said in a Twitter posting early Thursday. "Just more Fake News from a biased newspaper!"

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
 If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him. Just more Fake News from a biased newspaper!

8:03 PM - Apr 12, 2018

A roster of Trump advisers and allies have urged him to thwart the investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump has grown increasingly combative toward Mueller’s investigation after FBI agents descended on the office and home of his lawyer Michael Cohen on Monday. A person familiar with the matter said Trump on Wednesday discussed firing Rosenstein with White House aides.

Mark Zuckerberg's dreaded homework assignments - BBC News

April12, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg's dreaded homework assignments
Dave Lee
North America technology reporter

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been facing questions from US senators
Over two days, almost 10 hours.

If you watched every moment of Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony in front of Congress this week, you’ll know he rolled out one phrase an awful lot: “I’ll have my team get back to you.”

Now some of these were bits of data Mr Zuckerberg simply didn’t have to hand - such as why a specific advertisement for a political candidate in Michigan didn’t get approved.

Other follow ups, though, will require some hard graft from his team. What they produce could provide even more negative headlines for the company, as it is forced to divulge more of its inner workings than it has ever felt comfortable with.

Looking through the transcripts, I’ve counted more than 20 instances where Mr Zuckerberg promised to get back to representatives with more information. But these are the assignments I think could cause the company the most headaches - and provide some revealing answers.

1) Data on non-users
Set by: Congressman Ben Lujan (Democrat, New Mexico)

"You’ve said everyone controls their data, but you’re collecting data on people who are not even Facebook users who have never signed a consent, a privacy agreement.”

Dubbed “shadow” profiles, details of exactly what Facebook gathers on people who haven’t even signed up to the service has been always been a bit of mystery.

Even, apparently, to Mr Zuckerberg himself. He testified that he didn’t know the term, but acknowledged the firm did monitor non-users for “security” purposes.

Mr Zuckerberg promised to share more details on what data is gathered on people who don’t sign up for Facebook, as well as a full breakdown of how many data points it has on those who do.

In a related request, Mr Zuckerberg will provide details on how users are tracked (on all their devices) when they are logged out of Facebook.

2) Moving to opt-in, not opt-out
Set by: Congressman Frank Pallone (Democrat, New Jersey)

"I think you should make that commitment.”

Creating new regulation will be an arduous, flawed process. But one thing Facebook could do right now? Move to an opt-in model, one which requires users to decide to make something public, as is the default (and most popular) option for posting content now.

In a similar vein, Mr Zuckerberg was asked to get back to Congressman Frank Pallone on how the company might consider collecting less information on its users.


Media captionWhat Facebook protesters want from Zuckerberg
3) Repercussions for censorship mistakes
Set by: Congressman Steve Scalise (Republican, Louisiana)

"Was there a directive to put a bias in [the algorithms]? And, first, are you aware of this bias that many people have looked at and analysed and seen?”

One surprising admission made by Mr Zuckerberg before these hearings was that despite acknowledging the company made big mistakes, nobody has been fired over the Cambridge Analytica affair.

Representative Steve Scalise wants to take questions on accountability a step further.

In cases where Facebook reverses a decision to remove content - i.e. admitting it over-moderated - what kind of repercussions did those responsible face? If someone created an algorithm that unfairly filtered certain political views, was there any kind of punishment?

4) Specific rules for minors
Set by: Senator Ed Markey (Democrat, Massachusetts)

"We're leaving these children to the most rapacious commercial predators in the country who will exploit these children unless we absolutely have a law on the books.”

On Facebook the minimum age of users is 13, not counting the company’s Messenger for Kids app (which doesn’t collect the type of data Facebook’s main app does).

But for those aged 13-18, or maybe 21, what happens in those oh-so-delicate years should be protected by tighter rules, Senator Ed Markey suggested.

Mr Zuckerberg said the idea “deserved a lot of discussion”, but maybe not a new law. He promised to get his team to “flesh out the details”.


Media captionHighlights from Mark Zuckerberg's day on Capitol Hill
5) How many ‘like’ and ‘share’ buttons are out there?
Set by: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (Democrat, Michigan)

“It doesn't matter whether you have a Facebook account. Through those tools, Facebook is able to collect information from all of us."

It seems like everywhere you look there is a button prompting you to “like” or share things on Facebook - indeed, there’s one on the page you’re reading right now.

A request to at least estimate how many of Facebook’s buttons are out there might at first seem like an abstract demand - but the response could be quite something.

The “like" buttons enable Facebook to track users on pages that are not part of Facebook itself, providing more data for advertisers.

If it’s even possible to tot up how many buttons are out there on the web, expect a number in the hundreds of millions - that’s hundreds of millions of pages with which Facebook is tracking your activity beyond its own borders.