An anon put a challenge out there for Putin Face Palm here's 3, kek
(can't find the post)
Drugmakers' answer on drug prices: Hold free-riding foreign governments accountable
America’s biopharmaceutical companies lead the way in making the best medicines in the world. But our businesses can be undercut by weak or unenforced trade agreements that let other countries take advantage of our strong innovation.
When that happens, America needs to fight back – which is exactly what the Trump administration did recently when it highlighted the serious threats we face with countries around the world, including trading partners like Canada, Japan, and Colombia.
Foreign importers of American medicines enjoy the fruits of our discoveries, and they also enjoy an occasional free ride. Sometimes they replicate proprietary manufacturing information to copy our medicines, violating American intellectual property. Other times, U.S. businesses are left trying to compete with foreign firms that are subsidized by local governments, saddling us with a competitive disadvantage. And other governments have been known to change their policies, with little notice, about which medicines they’ll cover. All of these games create an uneven playing field that’s unfair to America.
These behaviors were discussed in the 2018 Special 301 Report from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
South Korea, as one example, created an uneven playing field as it failed to live up to the 2012 free trade agreement known as KORUS. Despite the clear commitments it had made, South Korea refused to appropriately recognize the value of innovative U.S. pharmaceutical products. Instead, it implemented price controls that threatened access to medicines and took advantage of billions of dollars in U.S. investments.
As a result, the foundation of KORUS crumbled for the biopharmaceutical industry. South Korea depressed the price of innovative medicines well below their competitive market value, and those policies grew worse over time. The government arbitrarily set low prices for medicines without transparency and without engaging with U.S. companies and other key stakeholders. This plainly violated the agreement’s promise.
More to the story:
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/drugmakers-answer-on-drug-prices-hold-free-riding-foreign-governments-accountable
Israeli army says has hit 'dozens' of Iranian military targets in Syria
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's army said on Thursday (May 10) it hit dozens of Iranian military targets in Syria overnight after rocket and missile fire toward its forces that it blamed on Iran, marking a sharp escalation in tensions.
"The (Israeli military) has struck dozens of Iranian military targets in Syria," Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus told journalists.
https:// www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/israeli-army-says-has-hit-dozens-of-iranian-military-targets-in-syria
He said they targeted intelligence, logistics, storage and vehicles, as well as the origin of the rockets.
It was one of the largest Israeli military operations in recent years and the biggest against Iranian targets.
Lieutenant-Colonel Conricus however stressed Israel was not seeking an escalation.
I agree, personally know many in that industry, and all agree on the one thing you are saying, unsafe, and new, under patent. One thing they have also added to the conversation is that US pays for most of the R&D, rather than split costs with countries we sell to.
US drone programme taps Apple, passes over Amazon, China's DJI
Apple Inc soon will be capturing images of North Carolina by drone; a 1,500-pound (680kg), unmanned aircraft will look for mosquitoes in Florida; and startup Flirtey will fly medical equipment on drones to heart-attack victims in Nevada.
The projects are among 10 announced by the US Transportation Department on Wednesday (May 9) that will help it assess how to regulate drones and integrate them safely into US airspace.
The United States has lagged other countries in experimentation with drones, something the programme hopes to correct.
Missing from the projects are Amazon.com Inc, the world's largest online retailer, and China's DJI, the world's largest maker of non-military drones. About a dozen applications that included DJI were rejected.
An application that would have seen Amazon deliver goods by drone to shoppers in New York City was also declined, a person familiar with the matter said.
Among the winners were microchip maker Intel Corp, plane maker Airbus SE, ride services company Uber Technologies Inc, delivery company FedEx Corp and software maker Microsoft Corp.
The contest drew 149 bids from locales looking to host flights at night, flights over people and other drone operations that US rules prohibit.
The applicants listed companies they would partner with in the experiments, and the winners may have a head start at the billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs the young industry expects to create.
US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said dozens more projects could be approved in coming months, either with new waivers or under existing rules.
Asked about Amazon's absence, Deputy Transportation Secretary Jeff Rosen cited a rigorous process and said there were "no losers."
The wide interest in the US initiative, launched by US President Donald Trump last year, underscores the desire of a broad range of companies to have a say in how the fledgling industry is regulated and ultimately win authority to operate drones for purposes ranging from package delivery to crop inspection.
More here:
https:// www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/us-drone-programme-taps-apple-passes-over-amazon-chinas-dji
Cracked me up!!
Wow, Backdoor scumballs, should've known
You win!!
Waste not want not?? Much, they are scum!!
That was a belly laugh he was trying to contain, Thanks that was great!
Apple is said to plan selling video subscriptions through TV app
Apple's plan to reinvent cable TV is starting to look a lot like the strategy of its rival Amazon.com.
For the first time, Apple plans to begin selling subscriptions to certain video services directly via its TV app, rather than asking users to subscribe to them through apps individually downloaded from the App Store, according to people familiar with the matter.
This would simplify the process and bolster Apple's TV app on Apple TV, iPhones and iPads, making it a central place for people to find, watch, and buy content. It would also be another way for Apple to keep boosting it's services business, which it expects to generate US$50 billion (S$67 billion) a year in revenue by 2021.
Right now, the TV app aggregates content from other providers, allowing people to locate shows from a wide array of apps and channels like ABC, NBA League Pass and HBO, rather than having to hop between different apps.
But then Apple sends customers outside its app to buy access to those channels or watch shows. With the pending change, subscription purchasing would move to the TV app.
Apple could eventually move the streaming to its own app, instead of sending users to third parties.
Cupertino, California-based Apple plans to roll out this feature in the next year, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing plans that aren't public.
With growth in iPhone sales slowing, Apple is now looking to services such as Apple Music and iCloud storage and content subscriptions to boost its financial results.
Sales from services climbed 31 per cent in the most recent quarter, reaching a record US$9.2 billion.
Apple declined to comment on the project.
Apple is positioning the TV app much like Amazon does with its Channels programme, which allows customers to add subscriptions for HBO, Starz and Showtime to Amazon Prime Video.
Customers who pay an annual subscription fee for Prime also get access to video and music streaming, and they can pay extra for a more robust content library. HBO, Starz and others have credited Amazon with helping them boost new online services by marketing them to its base of more than 100 million Prime customers.
Apple is also one of the biggest sellers of movies and TV shows thanks to iTunes, but it has largely missed out on the wave of on-demand services now replacing the online sale of individual titles. Netflix and YouTube, owned by rival Alphabet, operate the two largest online video services in the world outside of China.
Apple's leadership has explored different ways of getting into the online video business over the past few years without committing to any one direction.
The company flirted with creating an online package of live TV channels before recent efforts by YouTube, Hulu and Dish Network Corp. It also tried to create a package of premium channels like HBO, Starz and Showtime for a discounted price.
The networks baulked. Instead of the live TV service, Apple launched the TV app in 2016, pulling together content from existing apps.
Potential partners described Apple's efforts with the TV app as the company's latest experimentation. The late Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder, once described the TV set-top box as a hobby, a label it has struggled to shed in recent years. Apple TV box market share trails rivals Roku, Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV, according to research firm EMarketer.
https:// www.straitstimes.com/tech/apple-is-said-to-plan-selling-video-subscriptions-through-tv-app
I don't either, just thought it was interesting since there has been so much here about the company, slight shift in direction it looks like.
Adam Schiff obtains documents from dead GOP operative who tried to find Hillary Clinton's missing emails
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, has received documents from the estate of a now-deceased GOP operative who allegedly attempted to retrieve missing Hillary Clinton emails from Russian hackers, according to a report Wednesday.
The attorney for GOP operative Peter Smith’s estate, William Ensing, told ABC News that the documents had been provided to the committee following a request from Schiff.
The documents were sent after the Republicans on the committee ended the panel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. A report from the Republican-led effort determined there was no “collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.”
In response, Democrats criticized Republicans for conducting an probe that was misleading and incomplete, and have indicated that they wish to continue on with their own investigative effort.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2017 that Smith spearheaded a movement to acquire from Russian hackers emails that had been deleted from Clinton’s server. Smith also told the Journal shortly before he reportedly committed suicide that he was not working on behalf of the Trump campaign.
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/adam-schiff-obtains-documents-from-dead-gop-operative-who-tried-to-find-hillary-clintons-missing-emails
Insurers' answer on drug prices: Hold drug companies accountable
Everyone agrees: prescription drug prices are out of control. In survey after survey, voters overwhelmingly cite the skyrocketing price of prescription drugs as a top problem to solve. Why? Because when the price of medicines goes up, families and individual pay more – higher premiums, higher co-pays, and higher deductibles.
President Trump has put a bright spotlight on this problem. He is giving a major address on drug prices later this week, and we at America's Health Insurance Plans applaud his focus on this critical issue. As evidenced by both public opinion and hard data, we have a lot of work to do to bring drug prices back under control.
First, we all need to acknowledge that the problem is the price. Launch prices for new drugs, as well as the relentless upward trend of list prices for existing drugs, are detached from reality. These prices, which are controlled by drug manufacturers alone, have a domino effect that cascades down all the way to the patient, increasing their premiums and what they pay out of pocket. When the price of a drug starts high, it inevitably ends high. That’s common sense.
Our research has found that 22 percent of every dollar spent on insurance premiums goes to prescription drugs – more than for any other cost. This doesn’t include what is dispensed in hospitals, where prices are also out of control. And this growth shows no signs of stopping.
This is a systemic problem. As Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar noted in his confirmation hearing, “I don't know that there is any drug price of a branded product that has gone down from any company in the United States because every incentive in this system is for higher prices.”
But we can effectively flip those incentives.
First, we need to increase competition by allowing more generic drugs and “biosimilar” versions of very expensive biotech drugs. Make no mistake: rewarding innovation is a good thing. But innovation should encourage competition, not stifle it. That is why our legal system – including our Constitution – protects intellectual property for a limited time before that knowledge is shared in the public domain.
Instead, pharmaceutical manufacturers have created decades-long monopolies. One recent study found that out of the 100 best-selling drugs in the United States, 80 percent extended their patent protections at least once, while 50 percent extended it more than once to maintain monopoly pricing power.
More here:
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/insurers-answer-on-drug-prices-hold-drug-companies-accountable
I wish he didn't have to make a daily appearance no matter where I look, right there with you,kek.