Deficit
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San Francisco Airport (SFO) is facing a “surge” of transients who are often using the facility as a shelter, according to local media.
Airport officers and managers are reporting a tripling in contacts with homeless people over the past two years at SFO, where some public trains (BART) make their final stops for the night.
Figures obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle indicate that officials placed 1,139 calls regarding encounters with homeless at SFO in February alone, averaging to roughly 40 per day – a spike from approximately 12 daily in 2017.
“Bottom line, this particular arrival at night is an area of focus as a disproportionate number of riders on trains are homeless,” said SFO spokesman Doug Yakel. “We’ve been working with BART to examine where trains terminate for the night, and we’ve also requested that BART sweep trains for homeless before they arrive at SFO.”
Riders are reportedly given bus fare if they are discovered asleep on late trains arriving at SFO, but Yakel asserts that this measure is hardly mitigating the issue.
“The notion of pulling them off a BART train and putting them on a SamTrans bus is not solving the problem, it’s just shifting it,” he said.
BART is reportedly facing an annual fare evasion deficit of $25 million per year, and “can’t ticket fare evaders at the six San Mateo County stations — the airport, Daly City, Colma, South San Francisco, San Bruno and Millbrae — because the county opted out of the system back in 1961. The transit agency cannot enforce internal ordinances south of San Francisco,” the Chronicle reports.
“In dozens of official complaints to BART involving the SFO line dating back a year, also obtained through a public records request, irate passengers complained about a range of things relating to apparent homeless people, including foul smells, drug use, masturbation and panhandling. One woman said in March she had watched a woman shoot up drugs on a platform bench with the help of friends after leaving SFO.”
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A new Canadian study of more than 2,400 families suggests that among preschoolers, spending two hours or more of screen time per day is linked to clinically significant behavioral problems.
Compared with children who had less than 30 minutes per day of screen time, children who were exposed to more than two hours of screen time per day were five times more likely to exhibit clinically significant “externalizing” behavioural problems such as inattention; and over seven times more likely to meet the criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Piush Mandhane, associate professor of pediatrics in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, led the study, which was published today in the journal PLOS ONE.
“We found that screen time had a significant impact at five years of age,” said Mandhane. “Current Canadian guidelines call for no more than two hours of screen time a day at that age. But our research suggests that less screen time is even better.”
The research used data from the CHILD Cohort Study, a national birth cohort study collecting a wide range of health, lifestyle, genetic and environmental exposure information from nearly 3,500 children and their families from pregnancy to adolescence. Mandhane leads the Edmonton site of the CHILD Cohort Study.
Parents reported their child’s total screen time per day, including watching TV and DVD’s, and using computers, video consoles, smartphones and tablets. On average, three-year-old children spent 1.5 hours of screen time per day; for 42 percent of the three-year-olds, their viewing time exceeded the Canadian recommended screen-time guideline of less than one hour per day. At age five, children spent, on average, 1.4 hours of screen time per day; for 13 percent of the five-year-olds, their viewing time exceeded the Canadian recommendation of less than two hours per day.
David Knight explains how smart devices are a continuation of MK-Ultra.
The study also assessed child behavior and attention at age five by having parents complete the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), a screening measure for a variety of problems such as anxiety and depression, emotional reactivity, inattention, aggressiveness, and sleep disturbances.
“Prior to this, there weren’t a lot of data out there that asked the questions, ‘How much is too much? Are the guidelines appropriate? Ultimately, will limiting screen time in preschool years have benefits for a child’s development?’ This study gives parents some of those answers,” added the study’s first author Sukhpreet Tamana, an AllerGen Highly Qualified Personnel and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta.
“The two big takeaways from this study are that children exposed to more screen time, at either age three or five years, showed significantly greater behavioral and attention problems at age five, and that this association was greater than any other risk factor we assessed, including sleep, parenting stress, and socioeconomic factors,” added Tamana.
The researchers also identified factors that provided protection from the negative effects of screen time. Good quality sleep had a small impact, while participation in organized sports was found to have a highly significant protective effect.
“Interestingly, it wasn’t physical activity on its own that was protective; the activity needed to have structure,” said Mandhane. “And the more time children spent doing organized sports, the less likely they were to exhibit behavioral problems.”
“A lot of the things that you do through organized activities are really important for young kids early on,” noted Tamana. “It sets the stage for development amongst children. I think in lieu of screen time, it would be beneficial for parents to increase opportunities for other structured activities instead.”
The study did not determine if the media content itself (educational, video gaming, social media) or screen type (television, computer, tablet) were important predictors of behavioral problems, though the team plans to examine those questions more fully in future research.
While the researchers suggest “less is more” when it comes to screen time amongst preschool-aged children, they do not advocate for eliminating it entirely.
“Our data suggests that between zero and 30 minutes a day is the optimal amount of screen time,” said Mandhane. “The preschool period is an ideal time for education on healthy relationships with screens, and we believe our data shows that you can’t start too early.”
Alex explains how other states will follow Texas’ example if patriots take a stand.
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FILE PHOTO: Michele Verroken, founding director of Sporting Integrity sports business consultancy smiles during a discussion on doping in football at the Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester, Britain September 5, 2017. REUTERS/Phil Noble
April 17, 2019
By Alan Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) – Targeted testing of esports competitors is leading to a rethink about drug cheating in online gaming and which stimulants are more widespread, according to anti-doping expert Michele Verroken.
The former head of anti-doping at UK Sport, Verroken now runs the Sporting Integrity consultancy and carries out tests at a number of tournaments for the Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC).
Adderall, a prescription amphetamine used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has long been a concern since a gamer in the United States claimed in 2015 that it was the drug of choice.
In an interview with Reuters at an anti-doping conference organized by the Partnership for Clean Competition (PCC), Verroken suggested however that test results and player surveys indicated changing attitudes.
“The trend is to say ‘yes, we thought that Adderall was the problem but actually we’re beginning to now think that the testing has had an impact and people who might have been considering it are not doing it’,” she said.
“Now the players are saying we’re not so sure. We think you should be aware more about marijuana use as well.”
Marijuana, usually classified as a recreational drug, can be performance-enhancing in esports if it helps a player relax in a stressful quick-fire environment where being too tense is a disadvantage.
Adderall, sometimes referred to as the ‘Study Drug’ because of student misuse, also has properties that keep the user calm, awake and energized.
Verroken carries out oral fluid tests, rather than urine as in traditional sports, targeting those stimulants that gamers are most concerned about.
“We asked the players what they thought should be on their prohibited list and they told us,” she said. “Those drugs are easily tested orally, and in a much cheaper way.”
Doping, along with match fixing and betting fraud, are ESIC’s main area of concern as competitive gaming, with multiple players performing in live-streamed matches, becomes ever bigger.
Esports now has its own star performers and leagues with tournaments that sell out stadiums and offer prizes worth millions of dollars, with online audiences also in the several millions.
Verroken’s tournaments include popular games League of Legends, Counter-Strike and Star Craft.
WILD WEST
David Howman, the former head of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), described esports at the conference as ‘The Wild West’ — a young world lacking a uniform anti-doping policy and governance.
The South Korea-based International esports federation (IESF) is an official signatory of WADA but ESIC has said the anti-doping agency’s ‘one size fits all’ approach to banned drugs is inappropriate for esports.
Verroken, who has now conducted more than 300 tests on players and coaches, said she had yet to sanction anyone but was in discussion with a team about “what looks like party drugs. MDMA at a very low level.
“We call them in, talk to the team, say this is your warning — next time you are going to be targeted. And when I say targeting, I mean targeting,” she added.
Welfare issues are meanwhile coming more to the fore with increasing concern about screen time and the health of players, often youngsters, spending hours in darkened arenas or in front of computers.
But at a time when athletes in conventional sports are seeking a far greater say in the decision-making processes, Verroken said esports was encouraging active engagement and doing things differently.
“I ran the UK anti-doping program, but it just didn’t seem to have the right structure to me. And now I work with esports where there’s huge engagement with the players. It really is good,” she said.
“If they think somebody’s cheating, it will be on social media. They are not going to be afraid.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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FILE PHOTO: Lebanese Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil holds a news briefing in Beirut, Lebanon December 4, 2018. REUTERS/Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
April 17, 2019
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s draft budget for 2019 projects a deficit of less than 9 percent of GDP compared to 11.2 percent in 2018 and includes “wide reductions” in spending based on the need for “exceptional austerity measures”, the finance minister said.
The budget, seen as a critical test of the heavily indebted state’s determination to reform, is based on an economic growth forecast of 1.5 percent in 2019, which could rise to around 2 percent as the economy picks up, Ali Hassan Khalil told Reuters.
The draft budget projects a primary surplus compared to a deficit in 2018, he added.
“The most important thing is that we have put ourselves on the path of dealing with the accumulated deficit,” Khalil said. The draft represented an “introduction to more deficit reductions in the 2020 and 2021 budgets,” he said.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Tom Perry; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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FILE PHOTO: A container ship is shown at port in Long Beach, California, U.S. July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake
April 17, 2019
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy grew at a 2.4% annualized rate in the first quarter as government data showed the U.S. trade deficit hit an eight-month low in February, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast model showed on Wednesday.
This was a tad quicker than the 2.3% pace for the first-quarter gross domestic product that the Atlanta Fed’s GDP program calculated on April 8.
(Reporting by Richard Leong)
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FILE PHOTO: A container ship is shown at port in Long Beach, California, U.S. July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake
April 17, 2019
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. trade deficit fell to an eight-month low in February as exports to China surged, helping to eclipse a rebound in overall imports, which could boost economic growth estimates for the first quarter.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday the trade deficit dropped 3.4 percent to $49.4 billion, the lowest level since June 2018. January’s trade gap was unrevised at $51.1 billion.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade shortfall would widen to $53.5 billion in February. The goods trade deficit declined 1.7 percent to $72.0 billion, also the lowest level since last June.
The trade data have been volatile in recent months amid big swings between exports and imports because of the United States’ conflicts with trading partners, including China.
Washington last year imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of goods imported from China, with Beijing retaliating with duties on $110 billion worth of American products. U.S. President Donald Trump has delayed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports and talks to end the trade impasse continue.
The politically sensitive goods trade deficit with China – a focus of Trump’s “America First” agenda – decreased 28.2 percent to $24.8 billion in February as imports from the world’s No. 2 economy tumbled 20.2 percent. Exports to China jumped 18.2 percent in February.
When adjusted for inflation, the overall goods trade deficit fell $1.8 billion to $81.8 billion in February. The average goods trade deficit for January and February is below the fourth-quarter average. This suggests that trade could provide a boost to gross domestic product in the first quarter after being neutral in the October-December period.
Growth estimates for the January-March quarter are in a 1.5 percent to 2.3 percent annualized range, largely reflecting an accumulation of inventories amid slowing domestic demand. The economy grew at a 2.2 percent rate in the fourth quarter, slowing from the July-September period’s brisk 3.4 percent pace.
The trade deficit in February was pushed down by a 1.1 percent jump in exports to $209.7 billion. Exports of services were the highest on record.
Goods exports increased 1.5 percent to $139.5 billion in February. The surge in goods exports is a hopeful sign for global economic growth, which has showed signs of slowing in recent months.
Exports of motor vehicles and parts increased by $0.6 billion in February. Shipments of civilian aircraft soared by $2.2 billion in February. But commercial aircraft exports are likely to decline in the months ahead following Boeing’s decision to suspend deliveries of its troubled 737 MAX aircraft.
The MAX planes have been grounded indefinitely following two deadly crashes.
In February, imports rose 0.2 percent to $259.1 billion. Consumer goods imports increased by $1.6 billion in February, led by a $2.1 billion rise in imports of cellphones and other household goods. Imports of industrial supplies and materials fell by $1.2 billion.
Crude oil imports fell to 173.7 million barrels, the lowest since March 1992, from 223.1 million barrels in January. An increase in domestic production has seen the United States become less dependent on foreign oil. Imported oil prices averaged $46.89 per barrel in February, up from $42.59 in January.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani Editing by Paul Simao)
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FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
April 17, 2019
By Amy Caren Daniel
(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Wednesday, buoyed by upbeat economic data from China, but gains were capped by disappointing quarterly reports from Netflix and IBM.
China’s economy grew at a steady 6.4 percent pace in the first quarter, defying expectations for a further slowdown, as industrial production jumped sharply and consumer demand showed signs of improvement.
The data, along with semiconductor equipment maker ASML forecasting faster growth due to demand from China, pushed U.S. chipmakers higher in premarket trading.
Intel Corp, Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia Corp gained between 0.5% and 3.6%.
Qualcomm Inc jumped 5.2% after the company won a major victory in its legal dispute with Apple Inc that called for the iPhone to once again use Qualcomm modem chips.
Netflix Inc fell 1.1% after the video streaming service provider’s weak forecast unnerved investors just as Hollywood’s streaming video wars were set to intensify.
International Business Machines Corp declined 3.5% after reporting a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly revenue.
At 6:46 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 28 points, or 0.11%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 5 points, or 0.17% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 21 points, or 0.27%.
With earnings season in full swing, analysts now expect first-quarter S&P 500 profits to have dropped 1.8% year-on-year, according to Refinitiv data. While a solid improvement over recent estimates, it would still mark the first earnings contraction since 2016.
Of the 42 S&P 500 companies that have posted so far, 81% have beaten consensus, compared with the 65% average beat rate going back to 1994.
PepsiCo Inc rose 2.1% after quarterly results beat Wall Street estimates on higher demand for its snacks, low-sugar sodas.
On the economic front, a Commerce Department report, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show U.S. trade deficit widening to $53.5 billion in February. The Federal Reserve issues its so-called Beige Book at 2 p.m. ET, a compendium of anecdotes on the health of the economy, drawn from the central bank’s sources across the nation.
(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
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FILE PHOTO: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks at the opening ceremony for the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, China November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/Pool/File Photo
April 17, 2019
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit China next week to meet its leaders and deliver a keynote speech at the vast Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, the South Asian nation’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as economic anxiety grows at home.
China has pledged about $60 billion in infrastructure loans for Pakistan, touted as a success story of its Belt and Road initiative, which aims to build road and maritime trading routes across the globe.
But Pakistan’s economy has hit serious turbulence over the past year and Islamabad is now finalizing a bailout package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stave off a balance of payments crisis, despite more than $10 billion in short-term loans from allies such as China and Saudi Arabia.
Khan will visit China from April 25, and give a keynote speech at the three-day Belt and Road Forum that starts the following day. The high-profile gathering is one of China’s biggest annual state events.
“In addition to participating in the Belt and Road Forum, the Prime Minister would also hold bilateral meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang,” the ministry said in a statement.
The two countries will sign several pacts to enhance cooperation, and Khan will meet corporate and business leaders, it added.
Khan’s visit to Pakistan’s all-weather friend China comes as his government, in power since August, faces a deepening economic crisis, with a ballooning current account deficit and fast-depleting foreign reserves.
It initially tried to avoid an IMF bailout by securing loans from friendly countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates but has since changed tack and said it had agreed in principle to turn to the IMF.
The long-delayed rescue package would be Pakistan’s 13th IMF bailout program since the late 1980s.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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FILE PHOTO: Containers and cars are loaded on freight trains at the railroad shunting yard in Maschen near Hamburg September 23, 2012. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
April 17, 2019
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s trade surplus in goods with the United States increased in the first two months of 2019 while its deficit with China widened, figures that could increase global economic tensions.
The European Union’s surplus with the United States grew to 21.6 billion euros in Jan-Feb 2019 from 20.9 billion euros ($23.7 billion) in the same period of 2018, EU statistics office Eurostat reported on Wednesday. With China, the EU’s trade deficit expanded to 37.8 billion from 35.5 billion euros.
The United States has hit the European Union with tariffs and threatened more in complaint over the trade balance. Both Washington and Brussels have also complained that China wants free trade without playing fair.
Overall, the goods trade deficit of the 28-nation bloc increased to 28.4 billion euros in Jan-Feb 2019 from 20.7 billion a year earlier.
Energy imports were the chief cause of the deficit, especially from Russia and Norway.
For the narrower 19-country euro zone, exports grew by 4.4 percent year-on-year in February and imports by 4.0 percent, leading to an expansion of its trade surplus to 17.9 billion in February from 16.5 billion euros a year earlier.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the euro zone’s trade surplus also increased to 19.5 billion euros in February from 17.4 billion in January as exports fell by 1.4 percent and imports declined by 2.7 percent.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop)
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Apr 16, 2019; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Alexandre Texier (42) celebrates scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first period during game four of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
April 17, 2019
Rookie Alexandre Texier scored his first two playoff goals as the host Columbus Blue Jackets made history with a 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, wrapping up an Eastern Conference first-round series.
The Lightning became the NHL’s first Presidents’ Trophy winner ever to be swept in a best-of-seven, opening-round playoff series. Tampa Bay had tied the all-time NHL record with 62 regular-season wins.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets won a playoff series for the first time in franchise history.
Columbus’ Oliver Bjorkstrand scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period, and Artemi Panarin, Texier and Matt Duchene added empty-net goals in the final two minutes. Pierre Luc-Dubois and Seth Jones also scored for the Blue Jackets. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves.
Islanders 3, Penguins 1
Jordan Eberle scored for the fourth time in as many games, and Brock Nelson added the winner as visiting New York completed a first-round playoff sweep of Pittsburgh.
The Islanders, who finished second in the Metropolitan Division, used a consistent formula of stifling defense, effective puck pursuit, strong goaltending from Robin Lehner and just enough offense to oust the Penguins, who were third in the division but had hopes of winning the Stanley Cup for the third time in four years.
New York advances to the second round of the Eastern Conference postseason to face the winner of the Washington-Carolina series. The Capitals lead two games to one heading to Game 4 on Thursday.
Golden Knights 5, Sharks 0
Marc-Andre Fleury had 28 saves for his 15th career playoff shutout, and Max Pacioretty had two goals and two assists as Vegas cruised to a victory over San Jose in Las Vegas to take a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference series.
It was the 78th career playoff win for Fleury, who broke a tie with Mike Vernon for seventh place on the all-time playoff wins list. Fleury also moved into a tie with Chris Osgood for fourth place for most career playoff shutouts.
Pacioretty produced the first two-goal playoff game of his career. Shea Theodore also had a goal and an assist, Alex Tuch and Jonathan Marchessault each scored their first goals of the playoffs, and Mark Stone, Reilly Smith and Nate Schmidt all finished with two assists for the Golden Knights.
Jets 2, Blues 1 (OT)
Kyle Connor scored the overtime winner as visiting Winnipeg erased a third-period deficit to defeat St. Louis and even their opening-round Western Conference playoff series at two wins apiece. Game 5 will be Thursday in Winnipeg. The road team has won all four games so far in the series between the Central Division rivals who finished even with 99 points in the regular season.
Off the rush in the extra frame, Mark Scheifele was denied on a golden chance, but he had the presence of mind to feed the puck to the slot for a wide-open Connor to bury the winner at 6:02.
It was the first-ever playoff overtime victory in Jets franchise history.
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