Apple reveals Series 9 Watch ahead of expected iPhone 15 event

Published

8 months ago

September 20, 2023

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Apple debuted a new Series 9 Watch with a more powerful processor on Tuesday ahead of an expected announcement about the iPhone 15 with new charging ports and better cameras – and possibly higher prices for top models.

CEO Tim Cook also said Apple is “on track” to ship its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset early next year.

The event at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters comes amid a global smartphone slump and lingering economic uncertainty, especially in China, Apple’s third-largest market where it faces challenges from expanded restrictions on using its iPhones in government offices and the first new flagship phone in several years from Huawei Technologies.

Apple is also expected to debut new AirPods models at the event, but the star of the show will be the iPhone, which still made up more than half of Apple’s $394.3 billion in sales last year.

By far the biggest change for most Apple customers will be a switch from Apple’s propriety “Lightning” charging cables to USB-C, a standard that Apple already uses on its laptops and some high-end iPads.

Apple was forced into the change by European regulations, but analysts believe that the company will position the change as an upgrade, taking advantage of faster data speeds that can transfer high-quality videos made with iPhones.

Analysts are also expecting a new “periscope” camera technology that could give phones better zoom capabilities and titanium cases, as well as upgraded chips. Such “periscope” lenses can use mirrors or prisms to get a longer lens without having to make the camera module much larger.

The biggest question of the day will be whether Apple reserves those features for a new top-end device and makes smaller upgrades to its cheaper models.

“Just like we saw people who aren’t Ultra athletes buy the Apple Watch Ultra, we’re going to see a bunch of people buy this even if they aren’t camera or photography enthusiasts, just because they like the latest and greatest,” said Ben Bajarin, chief executive and principal analyst of Creative Strategies. “That by itself creates that buzz and momentum and allure to the top end.”

Apple is expected to increase the average price per phone sold to boost its revenue, but the question is whether it does that by raising prices across the board or just on premium versions.

The global smartphone market has slumped from shipping 294.5 million total phones to 268 million in the second quarter, but Apple’s shipments declined the least of any major smartphone maker, dropping from 46.5 million phones to 45.3 million, according to data from Counterpoint Research.

“The truth of the matter is, we’re in a very down smartphone market,” said Bob O’Donnell, head of TECHnalysis Research.

O’Donnell said he will also be on the lookout for any hints about Apple’s plans with what is known as generative artificial intelligence, the technology trend behind applications like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s “Copilot” assistant technologies for its Office software.

Analysts have repeatedly prodded Apple about its plans for such technology but the company has given few hints so far, other than Chief Executive Tim Cook’s comments in July that the company’s secret work on the technology is driving up its research spending.

“Will Apple tease an advanced form of Siri? That would be something that would generate some excitement,” O’Donnell said.

World

France prisoner escape: Day of blockades in French prisons as inmate called ‘The Fly’ on the run

Published

3 hours ago

May 15, 2024

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France prisoner escape: Day of blockades in French prisons as inmate called 'The Fly' on the run

A suspected drug boss nicknamed “The Fly” is at the centre of police manhunt after escaping from a prison van in France.

Two prison officers were killed and three others seriously wounded when a convoy transporting prisoner Mohamed Amra from court to jail was ambushed at a motorway tollbooth near Rouen in Normandy by gunmen wearing balaclavas.

Several hundred police officers have been deployed nationwide to find the 30-year-old convict and gunmen. It is unclear how many assailants were involved.

CCTV footage showed a black Peugeot SUV driving into the front of a white van, with other video showing at least two armed men carrying rifles circling the car in flames on the A154 motorway.

French media reports suggested a second car used during the attack was a Sedan – stolen in the town of Pontault-Combault in northern France – which had been following the convoy and together with the SUV trapped the prison van.

The two cars were later found torched a few miles away.

A day of blockades dubbed “Dead Prisons Day” has been announced in jails across France today as prison officer unions respond in anger to Tuesday’s attack.

Local media on Wednesday reported demonstrations outside of prisons across the country – including in the French capital Paris, Rouen, Nice, Grasse, Draguignan and Amiens.

In Yvelines 130 people blocked a remand centre and set fire to wooden pallets, Le Parisien reported.

Inside, around 15 prison staff went about their everyday jobs – compared with the 40 usually onsite.

In addition, the day’s prisoner transportations and visits were cancelled, according to the newspaper.

Hubert Gratraud, a union representative, said: “There is an awareness of the dangerousness.

“We need resources and training. We need to get as close as possible to the reality on the ground: anything can happen.”

“People were shot at point-blank range, it was a massacre, a butchery,” said Ronan Roudaut, another union official.

A minute’s silence is also planned across the French criminal justice system including prisons and courtrooms at 11am.

‘Assassination attempt’

Police sources said Amra was involved in international drug dealing, a suspect in a kidnap and murder case in Marseille, and had ties to the city’s powerful “Blacks” gang.

He had recently been sentenced to 18 months for burglary in the suburbs of Evreux, northwest France, reported BFM TV.

The French broadcaster said his nickname was La Mouche – or “The Fly” in English.

A prison source told Le Parisien that Amra tried to saw the bars off his cell a few days ago – with the convict reportedly put in solitary confinement afterwards.

The publication said he is suspected of having ordered an assassination attempt, linked to drugs, targeting a Frenchman in Spain in the summer of 2023.

It added Amra, born in Rouen in northern France, was also re-evaluated as ‘Escort 3’ risk category, making more guards necessary during transportation.

Read more: Who is ‘The Fly’?

Dangerous fugitive’s mum speaks

His mother told French radio network RTL she had no idea her son had planned an escape.

“I went to Baumettes to see him, he was in solitary confinement, I went to [the prison of] Evreux once. He spoke normally, he didn’t show me anything. I don’t understand,” she said.

“They carry him around from right to left, they put him in solitary confinement instead of judging him once and for all.”

She said she “broke down” and “cried” when she found out what had happened.

“It makes me sick. How can lives be taken like that?” she said of the two fatalities.

“I don’t know what’s going on in his head, he’s not talking to me. He’s my son and he doesn’t talk to me about anything,” she added.

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said two of the injured officers were in a critical condition.

“Absolutely everything will be done to find the perpetrators of this despicable crime,” he told BFM TV.

“These are people for whom life means nothing. They will be arrested, judged and punished according to the crime they committed.”

UK

‘If I go, I know they will detain me’: Asylum seekers consider skipping Home Office meetings over Rwanda fears

Published

3 hours ago

May 15, 2024

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'If I go, I know they will detain me': Asylum seekers consider skipping Home Office meetings over Rwanda fears

In June 2022, Kidus, 30, from Eritrea, came to the UK in a small boat with around two dozen other people.

He still has the video on his phone showing everyone – including some women and children – clinging on to the dinghy wearing identical red lifejackets.

Back then, the government had already announced plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Despite being sent a letter warning he’s being considered for removal, he’s never thought it could really happen until now.

Kidus – not his real name – says before he left France, one of the people smugglers reassured him the government wouldn’t go through with it: the Rwanda policy simply wouldn’t affect him.

But earlier this month, one of his friends from Eritrea, who was on the same boat across the Channel, was detained when attending a routine appointment with the Home Office at a site in Liverpool.

As a result, Kidus is now considering not going to his next fortnightly meeting, even though attending the appointments is a condition of his immigration bail.

“If I didn’t go there, I know they’ll drop my case,” he tells us, concerned his asylum application will be cancelled.

But he adds: “If I go I know they will detain me. So, I’m just confused what I’m going to do.”

A document drawn up by Home Office officials revealed only 2,143 of the 5,700 asylum seekers Rwanda has agreed to accept actually attend check-ins and “can be located for detention”.

If people like Kidus stop attending, they will join the remaining 3,557 migrants who are currently missing.

The shared house Kidus lives in is paid for by the Home Office – so his address makes it almost impossible to disappear. But this means he knows he could be detained at any time.

“I’m always just frightened here. So, they might come at night or day and I’m always thinking that they’ll come and they’ll take me to detention. I’m not feeling safe here,” he says.

Kidus has stopped attending college where he was learning English and carries the phone numbers of legal firms with him at all times.

He speaks to his friend on the phone – who is now being held in a detention centre near Heathrow.

Nahom, not his real name, 26, estimates he’s among around 40 asylum seekers there who’ve been told they’ll be sent to Rwanda.

“It’s like a nightmare, it’s like a prison and I don’t like it here. I’m really stressed and panicked about the situation,” Nahom tells us from the site almost 100 miles away.

He admits he has been able to meet his solicitor but says he’s feeling increasingly desperate about being faced with the prospect of being sent to Rwanda.

“They can send my body, but not me alive,” he says. “I’m just giving up.”

In west London, we meet Nura, in her 20s, whose real name is withheld and who has made the decision to keep attending meetings with the Home Office because she doesn’t want to be kicked out of her taxpayer-funded hotel.

But each time she goes to sign in she’s terrified of being detained.

“Sometimes I say ‘why me’?” she asks tearfully, looking at her “notice of intent” letter warning her she’s being considered for removal to Rwanda.

“It’s not a safe country,” she adds. “What is the difference from Eritrea? It’s the same.”

Nura says when she came to the UK by small boat, she believed women wouldn’t be sent to Rwanda. She says she wouldn’t have come if she’d known she was at risk.

Kidus says the same thing: “If I’d have known this I’d have never come here.” He added he’d have instead gone to “Belgium or France, or Germany maybe”.

Now they’re here, their only hope is they won’t be chosen for detention.

The government remains determined to get the first flights to Rwanda within weeks.

Ahead of a general election, the plan has become a clear dividing line between the Conservatives and Labour, which has vowed to scrap the scheme if it comes to power.

UK

Schools won’t be allowed to teach children that they can change their gender ID, reports say

Published

3 hours ago

May 15, 2024

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Schools won't be allowed to teach children that they can change their gender ID, reports say

Teachers in English schools will not be allowed to teach children that they can change their gender identity, according to reports.

Age limits are also set to be imposed for the first time on when children can be taught sex education.

The Times reports that education ministers will warn schools in England today that gender identity is “highly contested” and that teaching the issue could have “damaging implications”.

If asked, school staff should teach the “biological facts” about sex, the government will say, The Times adds.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has become concerned gender identity is becoming “embedded” in schools as an uncontested fact, the newspaper says.

Under other proposals, schools will be told not to teach children any form of sex education until year 5, when pupils are aged nine.

The plans will also rule out any explicit conversations about sex until the age of 13, The Times report also says.

Thirteen would also be the age threshold for pupils to be taught about contraception, sexually transmitted infections, and abortion.

The new guidance is reportedly part of the government’s response to concerns children are receiving age-inappropriate relationships, sex and health education (RSHE).

Schools will reportedly be required to provide parents with samples of the material their children will be taught.

RSHE became compulsory in all English schools in September 2020.

The existing guidance outlines broad lesson modules, stating primary school children should be taught about alternative types of families and healthy relationships.

Secondary-school-aged children are taught more complex topics, including puberty, sexual relationships, consent, unsafe relationships, and online harms.

The Department for Education said it could not confirm the newspaper reports, and that it would not speculate on leaks.