Apple removes Hong Kong map app after Chinese criticism - The Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Apple removed a smartphone app that allows Hong Kong activists to report police movements from its online store Thursday after an official Chinese newspaper accused the company of facilitating illegal behavior.

Apple Inc. became the latest company to come under pressure to take Beijing’s side against anti-government protesters when the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily said Wednesday the HKmap.live app “facilitates illegal behavior.” The newspaper asked, “Is Apple guiding Hong Kong thugs?”

Apple said in a statement that HKmap.live was removed because it “has been used to target and ambush police” and “threaten public safety.” It said that violated local law and Apple guidelines.

HKmap.live allows users to report police locations, use of tear gas and other details that are added to a regularly updated map. Another version is available for smartphones that use the Android operating system.

“We have verified with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau that the app has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement,” said the Apple statement. “This app violates our guidelines and local laws, and we have removed it from the App Store.”

The Hong Kong demonstrations began over a proposed extradition law and expanded to include other grievances and demands for greater democracy.

Activists complain Beijing and Hong Kong leaders are eroding the autonomy and Western-style civil liberties promised to the former British colony when it returned to China in 1997.

Criticism of Apple followed government attacks starting last weekend on the National Basketball Association over a comment by the general manager of the Houston Rockets in support of the protesters. China’s state TV has canceled broadcasts of NBA games.

People’s Daily warned Apple might hurt its reputation with Chinese consumers.

“Apple needs to think deeply,” the newspaper said.

Brands targeted in the past by Beijing have been subjected to campaigns by the entirely state-controlled press to drive away consumers or disrupt investigations by tax authorities and other regulators.

China has long been critical to Apple’s business.

The mainland is Apple’s second-biggest market after the United States but CEO Tim Cook says it eventually will become No. 1.

Apple, headquartered in Cupertino, California, also is an important asset for China.

Most of its iPhones and tablet computers are assembled in Chinese factories that employ hundreds of thousands of people. Chinese vendors supply components for Mac Pro computers that are assembled in Texas.

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2019-10-10 05:29:58Z
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AT&T to Sell Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands Operations - The Wall Street Journal

AT&T’s sale of its Puerto Rican and U.S. Virgin Islands businesses allows the telecom giant to shave its debt load. Photo: Claudio Papapietro for The Wall Street Journal

By

Shalini Ramachandran and

Shalini Ramachandran
The Wall Street Journal
• Biography
• @shalini
• Shalini.Ramachandran@wsj.com

Drew FitzGerald

Drew FitzGerald
The Wall Street Journal
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• @drewfitzgerald
• andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com

Updated Oct. 9, 2019 10:09 am ET

AT&T Inc. has agreed to sell its Puerto Rican and U.S. Virgin Islands businesses to Liberty Latin America Ltd. for $1.95 billion in cash, allowing the telecommunications giant to shave its debt load and move closer to repurchasing shares.

AT&T’s operation in Puerto Rico provides cellular, landline and internet connections. It had 1.1 million wireless subscribers. As part of the deal, about 1,300 AT&T employees will be transferred to Liberty Latin America.

The two companies said they expect the deal to close within six to nine months. The Wall Street Journal earlier Wednesday reported the companies had agreed to a deal.

Puerto Rico accounts for a small sliver of AT&T’s domestic operations, but shedding the unit will help it work down a large debt load accumulated through its $80 billion-plus acquisition of Time Warner last year.

Related

• AT&T Explores Parting Ways With DirecTV
• Activist Investor Challenges AT&T Over Strategy, Board

The deal signals progress on AT&T’s goal of selling noncore assets, something activist investor Elliott Management Corp., which recently disclosed a stake in the company, is also pushing. AT&T has also sold its stake in streaming service Hulu.

On Wednesday, AT&T said the deal brings to more than $11 billion the amount of money it will have raised from asset sales this year. The company said its expects to return to repurchasing shares in the fourth quarter, along with debt reduction.

Liberty is already the biggest pay-TV and broadband provider on the island. Cable tycoon John Malone, who holds a 25.5% voting stake in Liberty Latin America, and Liberty Latin America CEO Balan Nair have told investors they would like to expand in the region through disciplined mergers and acquisitions.

Liberty plans to finance the cash deal in large part by raising debt against the combined Puerto Rican operation, one person familiar with the matter said.

AT&T originally entered Puerto Rico in 2009 after it acquired Centennial Communications Corp., a rural telecom company with a large share of revenue from the island, for under $1 billion.

The complexity of the Puerto Rican unit slowed negotiations. Thousands of residents of the commonwealth spend several months out of the year on the U.S. mainland, for example, which made difficult the job of counting subscribers, according to another person familiar with the matter. The island also was heavily damaged in 2017 by Hurricane Maria.

Liberty Latin America is a publicly traded telecom and cable provider that operates in Chile, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and other countries in Latin America. The company spun out last year from Liberty Global, the international cable operator headed by Mr. Malone. The Latin America operator currently has a market value of about $3 billion.

Write to Shalini Ramachandran at shalini.ramachandran@wsj.com and Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com

Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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2019-10-09 13:25:00Z
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Johnson & Johnson Risperdal verdict: Company hit with $8B verdict after drug linked to boy growing breasts - CBS News

A Philadelphia jury has ordered medical company Johnson & Johnson to pay $8 billion dollars in punitive damages in the case of a man who said he developed breasts after taking the company's anti-psychotic drug Risperdal as a child. The case is unrelated to a string of big-money lawsuits the company is facing over its signature baby powder. 

In the Risperdal case, a jury found that Johnson & Johnson failed to warn 26-year-old Nicholas Murray of the drug's side effects. Murray claimed that taking the Risperdal as a child caused him to develop breasts, an incurable condition known as gynecomastia. Thousands of others have filed lawsuits alleging the same.   

Murray said he was prescribed the medicine at age 9 for symptoms related to autism spectrum disorder, despite the fact that the FDA's approval of the drug in the 1990s was to treat schizophrenia and episodes of bipolar mania in adults.

Attorneys for Murray alleged the company marketed the drug for unapproved, off-label use in children to increase profits, choosing "billions over children."

Johnson & Johnson denied the allegations, and said it's confident the ruling will be overturned. In a statement, the company said it was "precluded from presenting ... key evidence..." The company further claimed that evidence showed how the label for the drug "clearly and appropriately outlined the risks associated with the medicine." 

Murray's attorneys told "CBS This Morning" consumer investigative correspondent Anna Werner that the punitive damages were meant to deter the company from similar conduct in the future. They believe the decision will stand.

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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2019-10-09 11:40:00Z
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Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay man $8bn over breast growth - BBC News

US drug firm Johnson & Johnson has been told to pay $8bn (£6.6bn) in punitive damages to a man over claims he was not warned that an anti-psychotic drug could lead to breast growth.

A Philadelphia jury made the award to Nicholas Murray, 26, whose case was one of thousands pending in the state.

His lawyers argued J&J's subsidiary Janssen put "profits over patients" in marketing the drug Risperdal.

J&J will appeal the ruling, which it said was "grossly disproportionate".

Professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law said he expected the large damages award to be lowered on appeal.

"A jury, if it's outrageous enough conduct, will award a big number and let the lawyers and judges work it out," he said.

However, Prof Tobias said the jury's verdict could mean the firm faces more large damages awards in other Risperdal cases.

"The kind of evidence in this trial may persuade another jury or judge to do something similar," he said.

The company is facing a series of complaints in the US for allegedly failing to properly warn of Risperdal's side effects.

The US giant is also facing court challenges over vaginal mesh implants and baby powder allegedly tainted with asbestos. Those cases are in addition to an ongoing legal battle over its role in the US opioid addiction crisis.

In August, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $572m after a judge in Oklahoma ruled that the company contributed to an opioid epidemic in the state by running a "false and dangerous" sales campaign. The firm said it will appeal.

More recently, it agreed a $20.4m settlement with two counties in Ohio ahead of a trial about the opioid crisis, scheduled to take place later this month.

In the Risperdal lawsuit, Mr Murray said he developed breasts after his doctors prescribed the drug in 2003 when they diagnosed him with autism spectrum disorder.

Risperdal is approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but doctors can legally prescribe medicine for any condition they see fit.

The company said it is confident the ruling will be overturned, and said the court prevented their legal team from presenting "key evidence" on the drug's labelling.

A jury in 2015 awarded Mr Murray $1.75m after finding the company was negligent in failing to warn consumers of the risks.

A state appeals court upheld the verdict in last year, but reduced it to $680,000.

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2019-10-09 11:06:06Z
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Global Tax Proposal Widens Net Beyond Tech Giants - The Wall Street Journal

The new proposal would also affect makers of luxury goods and automobiles—among other products—that are based in Europe and other countries. Photo: franziska kraufmann/Shutterstock/european pressphoto agenc

By

Paul Hannon in London and

Paul Hannon
The Wall Street Journal
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• @PaulHannon29
• paul.hannon@wsj.com

Richard Rubin in Washington

Richard Rubin
The Wall Street Journal
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Oct. 9, 2019 5:00 am ET

The search for a new agreement on how countries should tax multinational corporations advanced Wednesday, as international negotiators presented a way of rewriting the rules that they expect finance ministers from the Group of 20 leading economies will support.

The proposal comes as tensions between the U.S. and other governments rise following the introduction or announcement of a series of special taxes on digital services that mostly fall on large U.S. technology companies. It appears likely to win the support of the U.S. administration, since the plan is partly based on White House suggestions.

Crucially, the new proposal wouldn’t just target technology companies that are predominantly American, but would also affect makers of luxury goods and automobiles—among other products—that are based in Europe and other countries.

The new rules would also give more taxing power to countries in which consumers are based, rather than where patents, licenses and brands are owned or where businesses have headquarters.

The new proposal comes from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is guiding talks between 134 countries on how to rewrite company tax rules.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Do you think corporate tax rules need an update for the digital age? Do you think this compromise —which covers not just tech companies but also other multinationals, like luxury-goods and automobile manufacturers —will address those concerns? Join the conversation below.

At issue is the growing digitization of the global economy. Decades ago, when companies sold their products abroad, their profits came mostly from manufactured goods. Digital services don’t require a local physical presence, enabling tech companies to lower their tax bills by basing patents, licenses and trademarks—to which their profits are attributed—in low-tax countries.

In the U.S. case, the new rules would likely result in little overall change in taxation, since it is both a large host to intellectual property and a huge consumer market. China would likely be in the same position, while some large European countries may gain.

Those that are set to lose would include low-tax investment hubs such as Ireland and Switzerland, which are hosts to large amounts of intellectual property, but are relatively small consumer markets.

The OECD believes the proposal will prove acceptable even to those countries that stand to lose some tax revenue, since the alternative would be a free-for-all in which each country finds its own way of responding to digitization.

There is also a risk that differences over tax policy could become more entangled with the continuing trade disputes, heaping additional uncertainty onto a global economy that is already slowing. Significantly, the U.S. government is investigating a digital tax imposed by France under the same broad law the Trump administration relied on for its trade dispute with China.

“There will be massive unilateral measures if we don’t find a solution,” said Pascal Saint-Amans, the OECD’s senior tax official.

The proposal was sent to finance ministers from the G-20 on Wednesday, ahead of their meeting in Washington on Oct. 17 and 18. OECD officials expect their plan to receive the G-20’s blessing, although ironing out the details will be a big challenge.

That is because the OECD’s proposal lays out the broad outlines of the new rules, rather than the specifics that will determine how much each government stands to gain or lose, and how much companies will have to pay.

The new rules would only affect companies that have global revenue over €750 million ($823 million), but would exclude businesses in that category that extract raw materials, or which manufacture goods that are then used by other businesses, rather than sold to consumers. It would also include large technology companies that don’t sell directly to consumers, but sell advertising to businesses that do.

The OECD is proposing that governments agree on a profit rate for a company’s global operations that is routine, and a way to share out governments’ rights to tax profits above that level based on the total sales accounted for by each country.

That would be a significant change to the way tax bills are decided. Levies are currently determined by a “bottom up” process in which businesses interact with each country’s tax code and a series of international agreements intended to avoid taxing the same profit twice or giving companies too much leeway to avoid paying taxes altogether.

But tax negotiators aren’t taking a view on exactly how that formula for dividing up tax revenues should work and think it will likely come down to compromise.

“The truth is what countries can agree on,” said Mr. Saint-Amans.

Write to Paul Hannon at paul.hannon@wsj.com and Richard Rubin at richard.rubin@wsj.com

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2019-10-09 09:00:00Z
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Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay man $8 BILLION over drug causing him to grow breasts - RT

A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday said that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) must pay $8 billion in punitive damages to a man over his claims that a drug manufactured by the US firm caused him to grow breasts.

The verdict in favor of Nicholas Murray, 26, came first in one of thousands of Risperdal cases pending in Pennsylvania.

Murray, like other male plaintiffs in the mass tort litigation over Risperdal, alleges that he developed breasts after being prescribed the medicine and taking it from 2003 to 2008. A psychologist prescribed the drug after diagnosing him with autism spectrum disorder. In late 1993, the drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating schizophrenia and episodes of bipolar mania in adults.

Also on rt.com Johnson & Johnson gets $572mn slap on wrist for causing opioid crisis in Oklahoma

Four years ago, a jury awarded Murray $1.75 million after finding that J&J was negligent in failing to warn consumers of the risks. A state appeals court upheld the verdict last year, but reduced it to $680,000.

“This jury, as have other juries in other litigations, once again imposed punitive damages on a corporation that valued profits over safety and profits over patients,” Murray’s lawyers, Tom Kline and Jason Itkin, said. “Johnson & Johnson and [subsidiary] Janssen chose billions over children,” they said.

J&J said the award was “grossly disproportionate with the initial compensatory award in this case, and the company is confident it will be overturned.” It added that the jury in the case had not been allowed to hear evidence of Risperdal’s benefits.

Plaintiffs claim that Johnson & Johnson failed to warn of the risk of gynecomastia (the development of enlarged breasts in males) associated with Risperdal, which they say J&J marketed for unapproved use with children.

Also on rt.com Companies people love to hate: World’s most despised corporations

Plaintiffs in the mass tort litigation had been barred from seeking punitive damages since 2014, when a state court judge ruled that the law of New Jersey (which prohibits punitive damages and is J&J’s home state) should be applied globally to the cases.

In 2018, a Pennsylvania Superior Court ruling cleared the way for punitive damages awards, holding that the law of each plaintiff’s state should instead apply.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section

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2019-10-09 08:24:00Z
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Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay man $8bn over breast growth - BBC News

US drug firm Johnson & Johnson has been told to pay $8bn (£6.6bn) in punitive damages to a man over claims he was not warned that an antipsychotic drug could lead to breast growth.

A Philadelphia jury made the award to Nicholas Murray, 26, whose case was one of thousands pending in the state.

His lawyers argued that J&J subsidiary Janssen put "profits over patients" in marketing the drug Risperdal.

J&J will appeal the ruling, which it said was "grossly disproportionate".

The US giant is also facing court challenges over vaginal mesh implants and baby powder allegedly tainted with asbestos. That's in addition to an ongoing legal battle over its role in the US opioid addiction crisis.

Earlier this year, the company was ordered to pay $572m for its part in fuelling Oklahoma's opioid addiction crisis. It recently agreed to a $20.4m settlement with two counties in the US state of Ohio over claims it fuelled the crisis there.

The company's mounting legal bills have caused concern among some investors, but its earnings have remained strong.

In Risperdal lawsuit said Mr Murray developed breasts after his doctors began prescribing him the drug in 2003. A psychologist prescribed the drug after diagnosing him with autism spectrum disorder.

Risperdal is approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but doctors can legally prescribe medicine for any condition they see fit.

The company said it is confident the ruling will be overturned, and said the court prevented their legal team from presenting "key evidence" on the drug's labelling.

J&J is facing a series of complaints in state courts for failing to properly warn of Risperdal's side effects, including in Pennsylvania, California and Missouri.

A jury in 2015 awarded Mr Murray $1.75m after finding the company was negligent in failing to warn consumers of the risks.

A state appeals court upheld the verdict in last year, but reduced it to $680,000.

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2019-10-09 06:33:31Z
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