Apple has unveiled an ungraded four-inch iPhone, a new iPad tablet for business use and reduced the price of the Apple Watch during its latest launch event in Cupertino.
The announcements are aimed at boosting the tech giant's commercial momentum after a recent levelling in sales of the company's flagship iPhone products.
The new phone - named the iPhone SE - is an upgrade to the older four-inch iPhone 5S, which was released in 2013.
The device is aimed at consumers who are yet to upgrade to the bigger-screen iPhone 6 models that have been introduced over the past two years.
It will be available from 24 March, and comes with features like Apple Pay and the company's fastest processor.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Cameron Stands By Osborne And Praises IDS
The Prime Minister has praised both George Osborne and Iain Duncan Smith as he seeks to defuse a bitter row in the Tory party over benefit cuts for the disabled.
The Chancellor is facing calls to quit following the dramatic resignation of the Work and Pensions Secretary over Mr Osborne's Budget plan to cut disability benefits by £4.4bn.
Speaking in the Commons, the Prime Minister confirmed he was shelving the proposed cuts to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) that caused Mr Duncan Smith to quit.
And he insisted the Conservatives run a "compassionate", "one nation" Government which is cutting taxes for the lowest paid, creating jobs and introducing the national living wage.
"All of this is driven by a deeply held conviction that everyone in Britain should have the chance to make the most of their lives," Mr Cameron said.
"None of this would be possible if it wasn't for the actions of this Government and the work of my right honourable friend, the Chancellor, in turning our economy around."
As he backed the Chancellor, Mr Cameron said Mr Duncan Smith had "contributed an enormous amount to the work of this Government and he can be proud of what he achieved".
Mr Duncan Smith's successor, Stephen Crabb, told the House there were "no further plans" to make welfare cuts in order to fill the Budget black hole caused by the PIP U-turn.
"I am absolutely clear that a compassionate and fair welfare system should not just be about numbers," he said.
"Behind every statistic, there is a human being and perhaps sometimes in government we forget that."
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn questioned the "enormous hole" left by the planned cuts being ditched.
Mr Corbyn told MPs: "It's really up to the Prime Minister to persuade his great friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to come here and explain how he's going to fill that hole or he perhaps he should consider his position and look for something else to do.
"Because clearly he hasn't be very successful at producing a balanced Budget in the interests of everyone in this country, particularly those with disabilities."
And he criticised Mr Osborne's absence from the House.
Addressing the Prime Minister, he said: "You have come here today, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is here today, practically every other cabinet minister is here today.
"Whatever has happened to the Chancellor of the Exchequer? Where is he today?
"Could you not, instead of covering up for your friend, ask him if he would be kind enough to come along to the House and explain why, for the first time in my memory in Parliament, a government's budget has fallen apart within two days of its delivery and there is an enormous hole in it?"
The Chancellor was also a no-show when his opposite number, John McDonnell, asked an urgent question in the Commons earlier.
Mr McDonnell branded the Chancellor a coward for not turning up, saying he had left Treasury minister David Gauke to "defend the indefensible" and said the Budget was in "absolute chaos".
Feds Investigate Threat Sent to Donald Trump’s Sister
Federal authorities are investigating a threatening letter Donald Trump’s sister received in the mail a day after the mogul’s son was sent a similar letter.
NBC News, citing anonymous sources, reported that the FBI and Secret Service are probing the Friday incident involving the Republican presidential front-runner’s older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry.
Trump Barry, a federal appeals court judge in Philadelphia, was mailed a threatening letter similar to the one received by Trump’s son, Eric Trump, which reportedly warned that if Trump did not drop out of the presidential race soon, harm could come to the family’s children.
Eric Trump’s package contained a non-hazardous powdery substance inside, according to the Washington Post. Trump Barry’s did not, NBC News reports. It’s unclear if the letters were sent by the same sender.
Threats have also been delivered to Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign headquarters in Houston and to Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign headquarters in Washington, according to the Post.
Co-op Offers £40m Dowry To Store Buyers
The Co-operative Group is offering a £40m cash dowry to bidders for scores of properties it acquired during its disastrous takeover of Somerfield nearly a decade ago.
Sky News has learnt that the Co-op has pledged the sum to a trio of suitors for the real estate portfolio, in exchange for a guarantee to keep scores of stores trading for at least three years.
The dowry underlines the determination of the UK's biggest mutual to offload approximately 100 former Somerfield sites, the majority of which traded under the now-defunct brand.
More than 40 of them now operate Co-operative Food, while some of the others are leased to other retailers.
The sale process has attracted interest from bidders such as Greybull Capital, which is also attempting to acquire assets from Tata Steel in the UK and which owns a stake in M Local, a convenience food retailer.
The other remaining bidders for the Co-op portfolio are Gordon Brothers and Hilco, which specialise in acquiring struggling retail businesses.
Richard Pennycook, the Co-op's chief executive, launched the sale as part of a wider effort to repair its finances following a £2.5bn loss in 2013 which was largely the result of a crisis at its banking arm.
It has since offloaded its agricultural business and its pharmacy operations for hundreds of millions of pounds, as well as relinquishing a controlling stake in the Co-op Bank to external investors.
The Co-op paid nearly £1.6bn to buy Somerfield in 2008, adding around 800 shops to its estate.
The deal was a disaster, however, saddling the mutual with debt and leading to huge write-downs in the value of the Somerfield business amid intensifying competition in the food retailing industry.
Since the appointment of a new management team at both the Co-op Group and its food business, its performance has improved markedly.
During the first half of last year, the food division recorded overall like-for-like sales growth of 0.8%, with its convenience estate showing growth of more than 3%.
Sources said the trading stores included in the portfolio being sold were expected to have made a combined profit of just over £1m for 2015, with the net cost of the remaining sites just over £14m.
An insider added that the dowry was necessary to make a transaction viable but said that even after the cost of that had been factored in, the deal would be financially positive for the Co-op.
The fast-changing economics of food retailing mean that all of the major players are being forced to re-evaluate their business models, a point reinforced by J Sainsbury's offer for Argos's owner, Home Retail Group.
Wm Morrison, the UK's fourth-biggest grocer, sold its chain of convenience stores last year for about £25m, since when they reopened under the M Local brand.
A Co-op Group spokesman declined to comment.
Sky News has learnt that the Co-op has pledged the sum to a trio of suitors for the real estate portfolio, in exchange for a guarantee to keep scores of stores trading for at least three years.
The dowry underlines the determination of the UK's biggest mutual to offload approximately 100 former Somerfield sites, the majority of which traded under the now-defunct brand.
More than 40 of them now operate Co-operative Food, while some of the others are leased to other retailers.
The sale process has attracted interest from bidders such as Greybull Capital, which is also attempting to acquire assets from Tata Steel in the UK and which owns a stake in M Local, a convenience food retailer.
The other remaining bidders for the Co-op portfolio are Gordon Brothers and Hilco, which specialise in acquiring struggling retail businesses.
Richard Pennycook, the Co-op's chief executive, launched the sale as part of a wider effort to repair its finances following a £2.5bn loss in 2013 which was largely the result of a crisis at its banking arm.
It has since offloaded its agricultural business and its pharmacy operations for hundreds of millions of pounds, as well as relinquishing a controlling stake in the Co-op Bank to external investors.
The Co-op paid nearly £1.6bn to buy Somerfield in 2008, adding around 800 shops to its estate.
The deal was a disaster, however, saddling the mutual with debt and leading to huge write-downs in the value of the Somerfield business amid intensifying competition in the food retailing industry.
Since the appointment of a new management team at both the Co-op Group and its food business, its performance has improved markedly.
During the first half of last year, the food division recorded overall like-for-like sales growth of 0.8%, with its convenience estate showing growth of more than 3%.
Sources said the trading stores included in the portfolio being sold were expected to have made a combined profit of just over £1m for 2015, with the net cost of the remaining sites just over £14m.
An insider added that the dowry was necessary to make a transaction viable but said that even after the cost of that had been factored in, the deal would be financially positive for the Co-op.
The fast-changing economics of food retailing mean that all of the major players are being forced to re-evaluate their business models, a point reinforced by J Sainsbury's offer for Argos's owner, Home Retail Group.
Wm Morrison, the UK's fourth-biggest grocer, sold its chain of convenience stores last year for about £25m, since when they reopened under the M Local brand.
A Co-op Group spokesman declined to comment.
Sports Direct Boss Snubs Call To Face MPs
Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley has refused to face MPs in Parliament over staff working conditions despite a formal summons.
The Commons Business, Innovation and Skills committee wants to quiz Mr Ashley over the treatment of workers at the sportswear giant and have said he could be in contempt of Parliament if he fails to attend.
However, he has told Sky News he intends to challenge the formal order to appear before MPs which he slammed as an "abuse of the Parliamentary process".
Mr Ashley, who also owns Newcastle United football club, was last week ordered to face the cross-party panel of MPs on 7 June.
Committee chair Iain Wright turned down an offer for the MPs to meet Mr Ashley at the company's centre in Shirebrook, Derbyshire.
Mr Ashley said on Monday that Sports Direct had "nothing to hide" and he was "not willing to stand idle while this company is subjected to public vilification".
"Come here and see it for yourself. You will have to apologise once you've been here," he said.
Referring to the summons by MPs, he went on: "The current intention is not to go, because they ought to come here and see it for themselves.
"They would make a lot more informed decision if they were able to see it for themselves and then I don't think they would actually need to want to see me and carry on the media circus.
"They clearly don't care about the people at Sports Direct. In my opinion they are just showboating. In my opinion they are actually a joke."
The Commons Business, Innovation and Skills committee wants to quiz Mr Ashley over the treatment of workers at the sportswear giant and have said he could be in contempt of Parliament if he fails to attend.
However, he has told Sky News he intends to challenge the formal order to appear before MPs which he slammed as an "abuse of the Parliamentary process".
Mr Ashley, who also owns Newcastle United football club, was last week ordered to face the cross-party panel of MPs on 7 June.
Committee chair Iain Wright turned down an offer for the MPs to meet Mr Ashley at the company's centre in Shirebrook, Derbyshire.
Mr Ashley said on Monday that Sports Direct had "nothing to hide" and he was "not willing to stand idle while this company is subjected to public vilification".
"Come here and see it for yourself. You will have to apologise once you've been here," he said.
Referring to the summons by MPs, he went on: "The current intention is not to go, because they ought to come here and see it for themselves.
"They would make a lot more informed decision if they were able to see it for themselves and then I don't think they would actually need to want to see me and carry on the media circus.
"They clearly don't care about the people at Sports Direct. In my opinion they are just showboating. In my opinion they are actually a joke."
Judge rules on Madonna custody dispute
Madonna has been granted permission to end the British legal action over the custody of her 15-year-old son, Rocco.
The singer is in dispute with her ex-husband Guy Ritchie over where the teenager should live.
Hearings have been held in both New York and London, but Madonna recently asked London's High Court to bring the English proceedings to a close.
The pop star told the judge she wanted to "heal the wounds" opened by the dispute.
Mr Justice MacDonald ruled on Monday the English proceedings could be halted.
Rocco had lived with Madonna since her divorce from Guy Ritchie in 2008 - but he abruptly left his mother while on tour in Europe late last year.
He then moved in with his father and step-mother, model Jacqui Ainsley, in London and enrolled in school. Madonna had accused Ritchie of "illegally retaining" the teenager.
The case will now return to New York, where a judge ruled last December that Rocco should be returned to his mother's custody.
That ruling was ignored - and Madonna's lawyers suggested Ritchie be arrested for contempt of court and compelled to appear in New York.
State Supreme Court Justice Deborah Kaplan dismissed the plan, and implored the parents to reach an amicable solution.
"No one is disrupting his household other than the inability of the parents to reach a resolution," she said. "If they cannot resolve this matter then eventually the court will."
She also scolded the couple for seeking to resolve the matter through the courts, and urged them to take "this tremendous pressure" off their son.
"Frankly, both parties here have chosen to live their lives in a very public way, and may welcome the exposure, but the child has not," she said.
"I urge them to consider what is the best interests of their son - which may be to remove him from the spotlight."
After the hearing in New York, Madonna's lawyers filed a motion at the family division of London's High Court under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
There, the judge echoed the words of his New York counterpart, urging Ritchie and Madonna to reach an "amicable settlement" to this "highly unfortunate and deeply regrettable" family dispute.
Madonna later sought to withdraw her application. Judge Alistair MacDonald said he would consider the evidence before deciding whether he should allow English proceedings to draw to a close - or whether he should make decisions about Rocco's welfare.
The court was told the affair had been upsetting for the teenager.
"Having this order over his head is stressful and upsetting to him," said Rocco's lawyer, Ellen Sigal.
Handing down his ruling on Monday, the judge again appealed to the family to resolve their differences.
"At the root of these proceedings... is a temporary breakdown in trust," he said.
"For all the media coverage, comment and analysis, this is a case born out of circumstances that arise for countless separated parents the world over.
"I renew, one final time, my plea for the parents to seek, and to find, an amicable resolution to the dispute between them."
Neither Madonna nor Ritchie attended the hearing. Lawyers for the couple said they had both outlined proposals for negotiation.
Apple’s Biggest Product Announcements in 2 Minutes
Apple is holding an event Monday, March 21, during which it’s expected to announce a handful of new products.
Among the anticipated releases: A new, smaller iPhone, as well as a new iPad.
The Cupertino, Calif. tech firm is known for its dramatic product announcements. Above, watch some of the company’s most important unveilings over the last several years.
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