Anonymous ID: ee0bd5 May 25, 2018, 9:56 a.m. No.1538964   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9219 >>9360 >>9588

China claims no 'clue' of sonic attack on U.S. consulate

 

Chinese officials say they’ve probed reports of an American government employee experiencing mysterious sensations from sound and pressure at a U.S. diplomatic facility in China but found nothing to back up the claim.

 

“China has carried out an investigation seriously and given an initial feedback to the U.S.,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang. “We have found no reason or clue for what was reported by the U.S.”

 

Mr. Kang made the comments at a press conference in Beijing Thursday, a day after U.S. officials revealed that an employee at the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou, China, had experienced the abnormal sensations.

 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised eyebrows Wednesday, when he told lawmakers in Washington that the sensations reported were “very similar and entirely consistent” with symptoms felt by American diplomats sickened last year in Cuba by what many believe was a sonic or electromagnetic wave attack on the U.S. Embassy there.

 

The incident in Havana has remained a mystery over the past year, with some analysts also speculating the diplomats may have fallen ill from exposure to waves emitting from a malfunctioned foreign listening or spying device.

 

The notion that similar symptoms were reported this week at a U.S. consulate in China sent concerns swirling that the incidents may be linked — or that Beijing may have somehow been involved in the Cuba development.

 

Chinese officials have been eager to head off such speculation.

 

The Associated Press noted Thursday that China’s state-owned Global Times newspaper said in an editorial that the investigation into the U.S. employee’s condition in Guangzhou should be “objective” and that it was “inappropriate” for Washington to connect the incident with what occurred in Cuba.

 

“It is completely unthinkable for there to be medical attacks launched against foreigners, particularly diplomats, in China,” the Global Times said.

 

“A sonic attack especially requires exceptional imagination,” the commentary said, asking, “what sort of ‘profit’ would make it worthwhile for China to take such a risk?”

 

Mr. Kang offered a more diplomatic comment during a regular Chinese foreign ministry news briefing Thursday.

 

“China always protects the safety of staff in foreign diplomatic missions in China, including those from the U.S. side, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” he said.

 

The State Department, meanwhile, said it has dispatched a U.S. medical team to Guangzhou, where “subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure” were reported by an American government worker.

 

The department said it is aware of only one employee who has been affected and that there have been no reports of private U.S. citizens experiencing the phenomena. Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said this week that the American employee had shown clinical findings similar to patients with mild traumatic brain injury, known commonly as a concussion.

 

The worker, who has been sent to the U.S. for additional testing, experienced “a variety of symptoms” from late 2017 through April, Ms. Nauert said.

 

https:// www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/may/25/china-claims-no-clue-sonic-attack-us-consulate/

Anonymous ID: ee0bd5 May 25, 2018, 10:26 a.m. No.1539205   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9360 >>9588

U.S. jury awards Apple $539 million in Samsung patent retrial

 

After nearly five days of deliberations, a U.S. jury on Thursday said Samsung Electronics Co Ltd should pay $539 million to Apple Inc for copying patented smartphone features, according to court documents, bringing a years-long feud between the technology companies into its final stages.

Silhouette of mobile user is seen next to a screen projection of Apple logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

 

The world’s top smartphone rivals have been in court over patents since 2011, when Apple filed a lawsuit alleging Samsung’s smartphones and tablets “slavishly” copied its products. Samsung was found liable in a 2012 trial, but a disagreement over the amount to be paid led to the current retrial over damages where arguments ended on May 18.

 

Samsung previously paid Apple $399 million to compensate Apple for infringement of some of the patents at issue in the case. The jury has been deliberating the case since last week.

 

Because of that credit, if the verdict is upheld on appeal it will result in Samsung making an additional payment to Apple of nearly $140 million.

 

In a statement, Apple said it was pleased that the members of the jury “agree that Samsung should pay for copying our products.”

 

“We believe deeply in the value of design,” Apple said in its statement. “This case has always been about more than money.”

 

Samsung did not immediately say whether it planned to appeal the verdict but said it was retaining “all options” to contest it.

 

“Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages,” Samsung said in a statement. “We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers.”

 

The new jury verdict followed a trial in San Jose, California, before Judge Lucy Koh that focused on how much Samsung should pay for infringing Apple patents covering aspects of the iPhone’s design. The jury awarded Apple $533.3 million for Samsung’s violation of so-called design patents and $5.3 million for the violation of so-called utility patents.

 

Apple this year told jurors it was entitled to $1 billion in profits Samsung made from selling infringing phones, saying the iPhone’s design was crucial to their success.

 

Samsung sought to limit damages to about $28 million, saying it should only pay for profits attributable to the components of its phones that infringed Apple patents.

 

Jurors in the earlier trial awarded $1.05 billion to Apple, which was later reduced.

 

Samsung paid $548 million to Apple in December 2015, including $399 million for infringement of some of the patents at issue in this week’s trial.

 

Apple’s case against Samsung raised the question of whether the total profits from a product that infringes a design patent should be awarded if the patent applies only to a component of the product, said Sarah Burstein, a professor of patent law at the University of Oklahoma.

 

The verdict appears to be a compromise between Apple and Samsung’s positions and does not offer much clarity on that question, said Burstein, who predicted Samsung would appeal it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

 

“This decision just means we are going to have more uncertainty,” Burstein said. “Smart tech industry players are waiting to see what the Federal Circuit does. This is just one jury applying one test.”

 

http:// technewsexpert.com/u-s-jury-awards-apple-539-million-in-samsung-patent-retrial/

Anonymous ID: ee0bd5 May 25, 2018, 11:05 a.m. No.1539552   🗄️.is 🔗kun

U.S. targets airlines in latest Iran sanctions move

 

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies and a number of aircraft in a move targeting four Iranian airlines.

 

The companies targeted were linked to Mahan Air and Meraj Air, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement on its website. It also said it was targeting a number of their aircraft, as well as aircraft from Caspian Airlines and Pouya Air.

 

https:// www.reuters.com/article/iran-nuclear/u-s-targets-airlines-in-latest-iran-sanctions-move-idUSL2N1SV0XW