The Nation Newspaper

Tag: U.S

  • ABUAD students shine in U.S. contest

    Four students of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) have excelled at a competition organised by the Microsoft Corporation in the United States.

    The quartet-Adeyemo Oluwaseun Kayode, Raymond Obinaju, Sobola Timilehin David and Ahwin Kevin-shone at Microsoft’s Imagine Cup where they showcased their invention named Asthma Visor, a device for a more effective and efficient way of managing asthma among children.

    Top executives of Microsoft showered encomiums on the four undergraduates  who were members of “ABUAD’sTeam LifeWatch” which participated in this year’s edition of the competition, which took place in Seattle, US, for its excellent performance at the yearly international event.

    For achieving the feat, Mrs. Jenny Lay-Flurie, a Senior Director with Corporation, described Team LifeWatch, as “the best team in Africa in five years.”

    Deputy Director of Bill and Melinda Gates, Jenine Firpo, in his own remarks, described the Team’s invention as “awesome”.

    Imagine Cup is a global student technology programme and competition that provides opportunities for students across all disciplines to team up and use their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology to create applications, games and integrate solutions that can change the way the world lives, works and plays.

    Team LifeWatch, the inventor of AsthmaVisor, eventually emerged fourth out of the five teams nominated for ‘Imagine Cup Ability’ award on account of the potential impact their projects could have on the lives of people with disabilities and design principles, usability and potential in the market place.

    Other criteria included how the project has been tested with people with disabilities and overall quality of the execution. Team Prognosis (with a solution for Parkinson’s disease detection and intervention) from Greece won the award as their solution has already been deployed on a large scale and in use by disabled people for about a year now in Greece.

    The race to the finals of this year’s edition of the Imagine Cup competition among higher institutions in Nigeria commenced with ABUAD winning in Nigeria to qualify for the African Zone (semi-finals) where it defeated higher institutions in other African countries, including Burkina Faso, South Africa, Uganda, Egypt, Angola, Algeria and Morocco as well as Tunisia to qualify for the World finals.

    The panel of seven judges, made up of seven reputable industry experts were so impressed about ABUAD presentation that they opted for a 10-minute hands-on demonstration with ABUAD team to test its solution. The team also had the privilege of a private session with Microsoft Brand Manager, Dennis Tom. This, according to the judges, was a proof of how much they loved the project and how they “cannot wait to see it in the market.”

    During the private session which lasted for 40 minutes, important issues relating to how the solution can be improved upon and how a partnership can be established with Microsoft for making the solution a reality were discussed.

     

  • U.S. to back researchers

    The United States of America has promised to support Nigerian scholars seeking Fulbright and other scholarships in the United States for postgraduate programmes with plan to return to the country and contribute to its development.

    The Cultural Affairs Officer of the United States Embassy in Nigeria, Bob Kerr, made when he led a team from the Embassy to the university.

    He advised the scholars to come up with good research proposals devoid of typographical errors.

    Kerr, who commended the UNILORIN management for its impressive and peaceful atmosphere, described the campus as “a welcoming campus.”

    In his response, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, restated the university’s resolve to continue exchanging ideas and personnel with other institutions in order to facilitate development.

    At an interactive session with lecturers and postgraduate students of the university, the Mandela Washington Fellowship Programme Officer at the Embassy, Mr. Diran Adegoke, explained that the programme is designed for outstanding students or young people between age 25 and 35 from Sub-Saharan Africa who are offering some level of leadership in their communities.

     

     

    Mr. Adegoke added that five Nigerian students from UNILORIN have benefited from the scholarship programme.

    He stressed that the programme, which previously accommodated about 40 to 45 students, will in 2016 accommodate between 500 and 1,000 students.

     

  • U.S. services sector’s growth slows down

    Growth in America’s services sector eased during September to its slowest rate at any time during the last three months as new business expansion weakened for a second month, an industry report showed on Friday.

    Financial firm Markit said its preliminary, or “flash”, reading of its Purchasing Managers Index for the services sector slipped to 55.6 in September from the final 56.1 reading in August. A reading over 50 signals expansion in economic activity.

    The data matched the 55.6 level forecast by economists in a Reuters survey.

    A subindex measuring new business at service companies declined to 55.3, its lowest level since January, from the final reading of 55.7 in August. The employment component slipped in September from August.

    “The survey data point to sustained steady expansion of the US economy at the end of the third quarter, but various warning  lights are now flashing brighter, meaning growth may continue to weaken in coming months,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

    Markit’s “flash” composite PMI, a weighted average of its manufacturing and services indexes, was 55.3, down slightly from 55.7 in August.

     

  • Google under U.S. scrutiny over Android

    Google Inc. is back under U.S. antitrust scrutiny as officials ask whether the tech giant stifled competitors’ access to its Android mobile-operating system, said two people familiar with the matter.

    The Federal Trade Commission reached an agreement with the Justice Department to spearhead an investigation of Google’s Android business, the people said. FTC officials have met with technology company representatives who say Google gives priority to its own services on the Android platform, while restricting others, added the people, who asked for anonymity because the matter is confidential.

    The Android mobile platform ties together several Google products, including search and maps, into one bundle, echoing the even more dominant Microsoft Windows platforms. square before the information The Android mobile platform ties together several Google products, including search and maps, into one bundle, echoing the even more dominant Microsoft Windows platforms.

    The inquiry is in its early stages, and it could end without a case against the company. Regardless, it shows the FTC is again turning its attention to one of America’s biggest companies, two years after it closed a separate investigation into Google’s Internet search business. The FTC’s handling of the earlier probe left some technology companies skeptical of the agency’s willingness to bring a case, according to the people.

    Spokesmen for the FTC and Google however declined to comment.

    The latest FTC scrutiny comes after Europe’s antitrust chief challenged Mountain View, California-based Google earlier this year over its dominance of Internet search. The European Union has also started its own investigation into Google’s Android platform following complaints, including from a group representing Microsoft Corp., Expedia Inc. and Nokia Oyj. It isn’t clear to what extent EU and U.S. antitrust investigators are cooperating.

    Google’s Android operating system accounted for 59 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the second quarter, while Apple Inc.’s iPhone software had 38 percent, according to International Data Corp., a Framingham, Massachusetts-based market research firm. Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform was third with 2.35 percent.

    The Android mobile platform ties together several Google products, including search and maps, into one bundle, echoing the even more dominant Microsoft Windows platforms of nearly two decades ago. In 1998, the U.S. claimed Microsoft unlawfully protected its Windows monopoly by keeping computer makers from promoting Web browsers that competed with its Internet Explorer. Microsoft agreed, in a settlement four years later, to end the anticompetitive conduct.

    The practice of bundling products and services together may violate antitrust laws if a company dominates the market for a product that customers need, and then forces them to buy a complementary product or service, said Harry First, a lawprofessor at New York University. If consumers can go to other manufacturers to avoid the bundled product, there’s likely no antitrust violation, First said.

    “The question for Android is do they really have sufficient market power, particularly in a world where there are other mobile-phone operating systems?” he said

     

  • U.S. services sector’s growth slows down

    Growth in America’s services sector eased during September to its slowest rate at any time during the last three months as new business expansion weakened for a second month, an industry report showed on Friday.

    Financial firm Markit said its preliminary, or “flash”, reading of its Purchasing Managers Index for the services sector slipped to 55.6 in September from the final 56.1 reading in August. A reading over 50 signals expansion in economic activity.

    The data matched the 55.6 level forecast by economists in a Reuters survey.

    A subindex measuring new business at service companies declined to 55.3, its lowest level since January, from the final reading of 55.7 in August. The employment component slipped in September from August.

    “The survey data point to sustained steady expansion of the US economy at the end of the third quarter, but various warning  lights are now flashing brighter, meaning growth may continue to weaken in coming months,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

    Markit’s “flash” composite PMI, a weighted average of its manufacturing and services indexes, was 55.3, down slightly from 55.7 in August.

     

  • China, Russia target U.S spies via hacked computer databases

    The White House is considering applying sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals who have benefited from the Chinese government’s alleged hacking of valuable United States (.S). trade secrets, which China has denied doing.

    Spy services in China and Russia, among others, are collecting and scrutinizing hacked United States computer databases to target American intelligence agents and officers. Foreign spies have penetrated government websites and emails, social media accounts and massive data troves containing personal information on millions of Americans, including medical forms, Social Security numbers and airline records.

    These data files are used to identify and track — or even blackmail and recruit — U.S. undercover operatives and agents overseas. The foreign spy services employ sophisticated software to reveal “who is an intelligence officer, who travels where, when, who’s got financial difficulties, who’s got medical issues, [to] put together a common picture,” William Evanina, the top counterintelligence official for the U.S. intelligence community, said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

    Evanina declined to say which countries were involved, but other U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Chinese and Russian adversaries in particular were aggregating and cross-indexing vast U.S. computer files for counterintelligence purposes. The Russian Embassy did not respond to requests for comment, but Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said Friday China’s government “firmly opposes and combats all forms of cyberattacks in accordance with the law,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

    The White House is considering applying sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals who have benefited from the Chinese government’s alleged hacking of U.S. trade secrets, which China has denied doing. U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has said China is the top suspect in the hacking of a U.S. government agency that compromised the personnel records of at least 4.2 million current and former government workers, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

    The Obama administration has scrambled to boost cybersecurity mechanisms for federal agencies and vital infrastructure. American intelligence officials have urged Obama to express concerns about Chinese hacking during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House on Sept. 25. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the military also needs to increase its cybersecurity systems.

    “We’re not doing as well as we need to do in job one in cyber, which is defending our own networks,” Carter said Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Our military is dependent upon and empowered by networks for its effective operations… We have to be better at network defense than we are now.”

  • U.S. oil fall longest in 29 years after China data

    U.S. oil prices headed for their eighth consecutive week of falls last Friday, the longest losing streak since 1986, after a sharp drop in Chinese manufacturing increased worries over the health of the world’s biggest energy consumer.

    Activity in China’s factory sector shrank at its fastest pace in almost 6-1/2 years in August as domestic and export demand dwindled, adding to worries about lower consumption of crude in the second-biggest oil user.

    Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower as fears took hold of a China-led slowdown in global growth.

    U.S. crude for October delivery CLc1 was 50 cents lower at $40.92 a barrel by 1230 GMT.

    Last Thursday, the September U.S. crude contract CLU5 saw its lowest intraday trade since March 2009 at $40.21 a barrel before it expired at the market close.

    Brent oil LCOc1 was on track for its seventh weekly decline in eight, down 60 cents at $46.02 a barrel, after settling 54 cents lower last Thursday.

    Both global oil benchmarks are near 6-1/2-year lows, with U.S. crude heading for its longest weekly losing streak in 29 years.

    “The market is stuck in a relentless downtrend,” said Robin Bieber, a director at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates.

    In late 1985, oil prices slumped to $10 from around $30 over five months as OPEC raised output to regain market share following an increase in non-OPEC production.

    “Weighing on prices is the continued ample supply with crude oil builds in the U.S. and OPEC pumping at record levels,” said Michael Poulsen at Global Risk Management. “Fear of slowing growth in China is increasing.”

    The dollar DXY fell on receding expectations of a U.S. interest rate rise in September, providing some support for oil. But technical price charts for almost all the big oil futures markets looked bearish, PVM’s Bieber said.

    U.S. crude inventories continued to rise, as imports rose and shale production fell more slowly than anticipated, despite dropping prices.

    “The only silver lining we are seeing coming from the United States is that refining rates remain high and that crude production continues to fall,” Daniel Ang at Singapore-based Philip Futures said.

  • China, U.S to invest $14b in NIPP

    Foreign firms from China and the United States (U.S) have pledged to invest over $14 billion in the second phase of the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP).

    The second phase projects include construction of large hydropower plants such as Mambilla, Gurara II and 10 small hydropower plants, transmission and distribution facilities and equipment.

    A source said the State Grid of China/CET/Westron, had committed to invest over $8 billion in first tranche and additional $4 billion later (on equity/loan participation) in Transmission Company of Nigeria through Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC)  Limited with a minimum of $600 million contribution by NDPHC which oversees the NIPP projects on behalf of the three tiers of the government.

    The source also noted that Africa Group from U.S. committed to invest over $2 billion in power projects in Nigeria using NDPHC as a fulcrum, adding that there are some other interested investors committed to financing small transmission projects in the range of $50 million and $200 million, citing a firm called Ak-Ay.

    He said following some challenges confronting the project and the over N64 billion owed the NDPHC by the Federal Government, the foreign investments may be stalled.

    He said: “On NIPP phase two programme implementation, the National Economic Council (NEC) approved the construction of some hydroelectric projects and additional strengthening of the transmission network from the proceeds of the sale of 80 per cent shares in NIPP generation projects for implementation as Phase II of NIPP.‘’

    The source said 80 per cent share sales’ transaction supported by Messrs. CPCS Transcom International of Canada resulted in $5.7 billion.

    However, the source added that as no payments had been received from the share sales transaction due to gas and market bankability limitations, the NIPP Phase2 implementation could not commence as planned.

    Earlier, he explained that because of the challenges confronting the NIPP projects, including litigations, bidders have started to withdraw their bid bonds.

    The source stated that share sales transaction has to be redesigned for phased closure, adding that public procurement process for the engagement of a project management consultant to support NDPHC in project selection, design and implementation of NIPP Phase two projects has been completed with AF-Consult/Otis emerging victorious.

    He noted that despite the challenge in gas supply, NIPP currently contributes about 25 per cent of the nation’s generation output.

  • Volkswagen recalls 461,300 cars in U.S., Canada

    Volkswagen is recalling about 461,300 cars in the United States and Canada to fix a fault that could prevent air bags from deploying.

    The world’s biggest carmaker said on Friday that the recall included VW Golf, Passat, Jetta, and Tiguan models assembled between 2010 and 2014.

    No accidents or injuries related to the problem have been reported, VW said.

    The recall comes as the German group struggles to overcome underperformance in the United States, where the sale of VW-branded cars plunged 10 percent to 367,000 last year, less than half its ambitious target of 800,000 by 2018.

    VW said there will be 420,000 models recalled in the U.S. market and another 41,300 in Canada. VW is examining whether such issues affect cars delivered to other markets, a VW spokesman said.

    The spokesman said that debris could, under certain circumstances, interfere with the clock spring that keeps the vehicles’ air bags powered, but added that no such incident has been reported.

  • Volkswagen recalls 461,300 cars in U.S., Canada

    Volkswagen is recalling about 461,300 cars in the United States and Canada to fix a fault that could prevent air bags from deploying.

    The world’s biggest carmaker said on Friday that the recall included VW Golf, Passat, Jetta, and Tiguan models assembled between 2010 and 2014.

    No accidents or injuries related to the problem have been reported, VW said.

    The recall comes as the German group struggles to overcome underperformance in the United States, where the sale of VW-branded cars plunged 10 percent to 367,000 last year, less than half its ambitious target of 800,000 by 2018.

    VW said there will be 420,000 models recalled in the U.S. market and another 41,300 in Canada. VW is examining whether such issues affect cars delivered to other markets, a VW spokesman said.

    The spokesman said that debris could, under certain circumstances, interfere with the clock spring that keeps the vehicles’ air bags powered, but added that no such incident has been reported.