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Trump, Chinese leaders moving forward on deal to save ZTE
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Fortnite: Battle Royale Finally Adds Jetpacks

Trump, Chinese leaders moving forward on deal to save ZTE

Posted: 22 May 2018 06:47 AM PDT

President Trump is moving closer to freeing the embattled Chinese company ZTE Corp. from severe regulatory restrictions, with his advisers reaching the outline of an agreement with leaders in Beijing, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

But the speed at which Trump is working to cut this deal has drawn loud protests from some congressional Republicans, who have warned that Trump is capitulating too quickly without getting any concrete concessions from the Chinese.

Under the broad outlines of the deal, which hasn’t been finalized, the Commerce Department would lift its recent ban that prohibits U.S. companies from selling material to ZTE, China’s second-largest telecommunications firm. The Commerce Department could instead replace that ban with new fines or other requirements, such as leadership changes at the company. These specifics have not yet been finalized.

“The objective was not to put ZTE out of business,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday. “The objective was to make sure they abide by our sanctions programs.”

The people familiar with the agreement outline warned that the talks between U.S. and Chinese leaders remain extremely fluid and have already been marred by false starts and missteps. It was unclear how quickly a resolution could be reached.

ZTE is partly owned by the Chinese government. It faced severe scrutiny by both the Obama and Trump administrations for violating U.S. sanctions by selling phones to North Korea and Iran. It was then found to have misled U.S. investigators about its behavior.

Last month, the Commerce Department prohibited U.S. companies from selling their materials to ZTE, a development that was widely seen in the United States and China as a death sentence for the company. Chinese leader Xi Jinping personally asked Trump to intercede and help the company, and Trump has directed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to make changes to help the company.

This marked a major change in approach for the White House.

Trump has spent the past several months trying a variety of tactics with China to get it to reduce its trade surplus with the United States. He has threatened to impose tariffs on a variety of Chinese products, a move that angered Chinese leaders and led to warnings of retaliation. But in the past 10 days, he has tried to lure the Chinese into a broader trade agreement by expressing a willingness to free ZTE as part of a deal, even if it angered Republicans and Democrats who believe ZTE’s behavior poses a national security risk.

[Critics fear Trump is ceding too much to China on trade]

“If this is true, then administration has surrendered to #China on #ZTE Making changes to their board & a fine won’t stop them from spying & stealing from us. But this is too important to be over,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted on Tuesday. “We will begin working on veto-proof congressional action.”

Mnuchin said the changes are being led by Commerce Department officials, though he has been brought into meetings about the matter.

“Whatever the Commerce Department decides - the (intelligence) community has been part of the briefings - and we will make sure that we enforce national security issues,” he said.

The broad outlines of the deal were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Mnuchin, though, did appear to contradict Trump in terms of the scope of the ZTE talks. Mnuchin said the Commerce Department was looking at scaling back penalties on ZTE because of a request from Xi to Trump.

But Trump last week wrote on Twitter that ZTE was only being looked at for help as part of the trade discussions.

“Nothing has happened with ZTE except as it pertains to the larger trade deal,” Trump wrote.

Congressional leaders have expressed confusion in the past week at how much the ZTE talks have become entangled in the broader trade discussions with China. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said last week that ZTE would be handled separately as a regulatory matter, but Trump late last week suggested that he would allow ZTE to be freed of the restrictions only if China agreed to other concessions on trade.

“At the end of the day, the Trump administration needs to clarify to the American public how all of this reflects good policy that upholds the rule of law as enforcement actions should, and how any resulting trade deal with China will be good for American companies, workers and consumers,” said James Zimmerman, partner in the Beijing office of international law firm Perkins Coie LLP.

Chinese vice premier Liu He met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other White House officials last week, and the Trump administration had suggested that they could reach a massive deal that would lead to a $200 billion reduction in the trade deficit between both countries. But the talks ended Saturday without any specific agreement or mention of ZTE.

Both sides agreed broadly to increase China’s purchases of agricultural products and other materials from the United States. But China did not give any ground on some of the structural changes that White House adviser Peter Navarro has long sought, things that would make it much harder for Chinese companies to steal intellectual property from U.S. companies.

Ross is scheduled to go to China in early June to try to pin down specific agreements from Chinese leaders related to new purchases of U.S. goods.

Trump has tried to spin the discussions with China as representing a huge breakthrough between both countries, but his advisers have been split, with Mnuchin seeking a quick deal and Navarro wanting the White House to hold out for more sweeping changes.

Emily Rauhala contributed to this report.

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Instagram's new 'mute' option will give you more control over your feed — here's how it works

Posted: 22 May 2018 08:22 AM PDT

Instagram Phone Logo Carl Court/Getty Images

Instagram just added a feature to its photo-sharing app that finally gives users some power to dictate which of the people they follow do (or don't) show up in their feeds.

Starting Tuesday, you can remove specific accounts' posts and stories from your Instagram feed without unfollowing them or even alerting them to what you did. Facebook has given users the option to do that on its own platform for years, and people were thrilled when Snapchat quietly rolled out a similar feature earlier this year — one of the few well-received updates to its app in recent past, actually.

The obvious benefit to a feature like this is the social implication: Instagram users won't risk losing followers or have to go so far as to unfollow a friend because they don't like the frequency of their posts. It can also make for a more consistent feed, giving users the option to exclusively allow posts about fashion, news, or dogs, for example.

Instagram has been experimenting with its algorithm lately, trying to determine the best method to decide who shows up at the top of our feeds and at the beginning of our Stories reel. But — short of deciding who you follow — this is the first update that gives users some amount of control of their own feeds instead.

Here's how to activate Instagram's new Mute feature:

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Fortnite: Battle Royale Finally Adds Jetpacks

Posted: 22 May 2018 08:00 AM PDT

After months of being delayed, jetpacks have finally made their long-awaited debut in Fortnite: Battle Royale. The items arrive on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and iOS as part of the 4.2 content update, but despite their extended gestation period, they won't be around for very long.

Unlike most other items that Epic has recently added to Fortnite, jetpacks will only be available in the game for a limited time. The developer hasn't specified how long they'll appear, but you'll need to be pretty lucky to get your hands on one, as they're a Legendary item that can only be found in treasure chests.

Jetpacks are the first in a new line of items that Epic is introducing to the game: backpacks. Unlike the Back Bling cosmetics that were added earlier this year, backpacks take up an inventory slot like other weapons and items. Players can only pick one backpack up at a time; if you grab a second, it will replace the one you're already carrying. Your backpack will also automatically be destroyed once it is fully used up.

Jetpacks are activated by pressing jump while in the air; however, you will only be able to stay airborne for a limited time before you must recharge. Fortunately, the jetpack begins recharging automatically when it isn't being used. You will also not be able to enter Targeting Mode while flying.

Alongside the jetpacks, Epic has kicked off a new limited-time event in Battle Royale: Solid Gold v2. This marks the second iteration of the mode, and as before, the only weapons it features are of the Legendary variety. Another limited-time mode called Close Encounters is also scheduled to arrive in the game "soon" and revolves around "close quarters combat" using shotguns and jetpacks. You can learn more about the 4.2 content update in the patch notes on the Fortnite website.

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