Supreme Court makes it easier to claim 'reverse discrimination' in employment, in a case from Ohio
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The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Microsoft's annual cloud revenue hits $75B, profit beats expectations
Microsoft said Wednesday that annual revenue for its flagship Azure cloud computing platform has surpassed $75 billion, up 34% from a year earlier. The Azure cloud business has been a centerpiece of Microsoft's efforts to shift its focus to artificial intelligence, but until Wednesday the company hadn't disclosed how much money it makes. The revelation came in the software giant's end-of-year earnings report. The company also said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit was $34.3 billion, or $3.65 per share, beating analyst expectations for $3.37 per share. It posted revenue of $76.4 billion in the April-June period, up 18% from last year. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had been looking for revenue of $73.86 billion. Microsoft launched Azure more than a decade ago, but the product has increasingly become intertwined with its AI ambitions, as the company looks to sell its AI chatbot and other tools to big business customers that are also reliant on its core online services. But building the infrastructure to power cloud and AI technology is expensive, and Microsoft has looked for savings elsewhere. It has announced layoffs of about 15,000 workers this year even as its profits have soared. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees last week the layoffs were 'weighing heavily' on him but also positioned them as an opportunity to reimagine the company's mission for an AI era. Still, the overall workforce numbers haven't changed. The company said it employed 228,000 full-time employees as of June 30, the exact same amount it reported a year ago, though slightly more of them are now U.S.-based and fewer of them are in product support roles or consulting services. Promises of a leaner approach have been welcomed on Wall Street, especially as Microsoft and other tech giants are trying to justify huge amounts of capital spending to pay for the data centers, chips and other components required to power AI technology. Google said after releasing its earnings last week it would raise its budget for capital expenditures by an additional $10 billion to $85 billion. Microsoft is expected to outline similar guidance soon. Microsoft didn't disclose Wednesday to what extent sweeping U.S. tariffs are affecting its revenue, but its annual report lists tariffs among a number of risks the company faces. 'Increased geopolitical instabilities and changing U.S. administration priorities create an unpredictable trade landscape,' the company said. It also said the "volatility of U.S. tariffs has triggered economic uncertainty and could impact cloud and devices supply chain cost competitiveness."
The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Unsettled by NYC shooting, companies wonder if their offices are safe
Businesses around the country are reevaluating security after a brazen shooting at a New York City office building raised questions about what it takes to keep workplaces safe. The attack on a seemingly secure building — in a gilded part of Manhattan where the rich live in sprawling apartments and tourists window-shop designer stores — has rattled workers and prompted managers to examine whether they are adequately protected. 'What should we be doing different?' clients are asking, said Brian Higgins, founder of Group 77, a Mahwah, New Jersey, security company that is among those getting peppered with an influx of calls. 'How can we prevent something like this?' The gut reaction of some companies, Higgins said, is to buy the latest technology and blanket their workplace in cameras. But, he cautioned, that's only only effective if paired with consistency and long-term monitoring. 'If you're going to add a security measure … you have to make sure you maintain it,' said Higgins, a former police chief who teaches security at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Four people were killed in the shooting Monday before the gunman died by suicide. Images of the shooter, toting a long rifle on a street in the biggest U.S. city, then terrorizing an office building, have companies desperate to do something to keep the scene from repeating. ' People are frightened, people are asking questions,' said Dave Komendat, the Seattle-based chief security officer at Corporate Security Advisors, where calls are also spiking. With the U.S. locked in a pattern of gun violence virtually unparalleled in the world, security firms are used to the rhythms of the business. While attacks at a corporate office are less commonplace, a major shooting or an attack on an executive focuses attention back on security for a time, before receding. 'Give it a couple weeks, a month or so, it'll go back,' Higgins said of the increased call volume. 'When security issues don't happen for a while and companies start reexamining their budget, security is one of those things that companies cut.' Gene Petrino, CEO of Survival Response in Coral Springs, Florida, has also seen an uptick in calls from potential new customers, but expects it to be fleeting. 'When things are calm it's seen as an expense they don't need right away,' he said, 'and then when a tragedy happens it's a priority again.' Petrino said companies can make changes that aren't intrusive like using cameras with artificial intelligence capabilities to identify weapons. Sometimes, it may just be a matter of improving lighting in a hallway or putting up convex mirrors to see around a corner. 'Everything doesn't have to be bulletproof and locked with security cameras everywhere,' he said. 'You don't have to be Fort Knox. You can have very basic things.' Michael Evanoff, chief security officer of Verkada, a building security company based in San Mateo, California, said technology like AI-enabled cameras to help identify threats have become even more important amid a shortage of guards. 'It's harder than many realize to find and retain trained personnel,' Evanoff said. 'That makes it even more essential that guards are equipped with technology that can extend their reach.' Security at 345 Park Avenue, the site of the shooting, included an off-duty New York Police Department officer working as a guard. He was among those killed. Rudin, the leasing company that manages the building, did not respond to a query about when the building will reopen or whether new security measures will be implemented. No matter what, though, every workplace has vulnerabilities. 'The security team has to be perfect to 100% of the time,' said Komendat, a former chief security officer for Boeing. 'Someone like this just needs to be lucky once.'
The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Last conversation between Army helicopter pilot and instructor revealed before fatal American Airlines crash
New details have been disclosed about the final moments before an Army helicopter collided in mid-air with an American Airlines passenger jet in January over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Thousands of pages of records have been released publicly as part of the government's ongoing investigation into the crash, which resulted in 67 deaths. The information raises further questions about whether the crew of the Black Hawk helicopter was aware of its actual altitude and whether it was on a collision course with the Bombardier CRJ700 jet. Included in the newly released records are the final words spoken by two members of the Army helicopter crew, Capt. Rebecca Lobach and her instructor, Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves. The National Transportation Safety Board started a three-day hearing on Wednesday (July 30) about the January 29 crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. There were emotional moments as family members of the victims broke down upon hearing some of the details. All 64 people on American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, were killed along with the three crew members on the military aircraft. Culpability for the accident remains unclear, with questions about whether the collision was due to a mistake by the helicopter crew or if other factors contributed to the incident. Air traffic controllers have also come under scrutiny for their decisions amid reports of staffing issues at Reagan National Airport that day. Helicopters have long flown near the airport, which is known for its notorious congestion. An 11-minute presentation and animation by the NTSB illustrated the circumstances that led to the crash and confirmed details already released by the authorities. The American Airlines pilots were instructed to switch runways approximately five minutes before landing, which they did. Reagan has three runways, the longest (the busiest in the nation) runs parallel to the river, with two shorter runways intersecting it at angles. The pilots were instructed to realign with the northern of the two shorter strips. Meanwhile, the helicopter was flying back to Fort Belvoir in Virginia as part of a night evaluation of Capt. Lobach under the instruction of Eaves. Staff Sgt. Ryan O'Hara was also on board. According to the NTSB presentation, the route down the river on which the helicopter was flying has a maximum altitude of 200 feet near the airport. However, the aircraft continued to fly above that level, reaching heights of more than 300 feet. Officials stated that the crew appeared to believe they were much lower than that, at times claiming they were about 100 feet below their actual altitude. One reason could be because of an error with their altimeter. About three minutes before the crash, Eaves told Lobach to 'come down for me' and fly at 200 feet because they were at 300 feet, the presentation revealed. Two minutes before the crash, an air traffic controller warned them about the approaching passenger plane. Another warning followed 90 seconds later. Both times, the helicopter crew confirmed they could see the plane. They requested 'visual separation,' allowing them to navigate around the incoming flight. The second time, the controller instructed the helicopter to pass behind the passenger plane, but the helicopter crew had keyed its microphone — pushed the button to talk — at the same time as the controller and never heard the instruction, according to the flight recorder. Twenty seconds before the crash, Eaves told Lobach: 'Alright, kinda come left for me ma'am, I think that's why he's asking.' She replied: 'Sure.' Eaves said: 'We're kinda out towards the middle.' Lobach responded: 'Okay fine.' The Black Hawk was at 270 feet above the river, and the American Airlines plane continued its landing approach, passing through 320 feet in altitude. They collided at 8:48 p.m. in a fiery explosion, shown in newly released security camera footage. Investigators stated in the hearing that the helicopter crew had no prior knowledge of the impending crash. In the cockpit of the American Airlines jet, the pilots used expletives and tried to pull the plane up in the seconds before. Part of the investigation focused on testing the helicopter altimeter, a report on which indicated potential discrepancies between the barometric altitude and the radio altitude. A test flight over the Potomac revealed that the barometric altitude was consistently about 100 feet lower than the radio and geometric altitudes over the water. Additionally, the barometric altimeter was obscured during the helicopter flight. To address this, Senator Ted Cruz has introduced legislation called 'The Rotor Act,' which requires all aircraft to transmit their location to other aircraft and air traffic controllers — a system known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B). This is currently only required on aircraft that fly above 18,000 feet, though some aircraft, including those operated by the military, are exempt from ADS-B for security reasons. The NTSB recommended that the FAA require ADS-B on all aircraft as long ago as 2008. 'The mistake was that this was not unforeseen. We had 84 near misses in the three years before in the D.C. airspace, and no one did anything,' Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters. 'Someone was asleep at the wheel. Someone should have seen that.' The three-day hearing will also include an examination of FAA oversight of Washington airspace.
