21 Apr 2025

Big Tech’s “Magnificent Seven” heads into earnings season reeling from Trump turbulence

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By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, Associated Press Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As Big Tech kicks off its quarterly earnings season this week, the industry’s bellwether companies have been thrust into a cauldron of uncertainty and turmoil that they didn’t anticipate when Donald Trump re-entered the White House nearly 100 days ago.

Since President Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, Big Tech stocks have been on a see-sawing ride that has eviscerated trillions of dollars in shareholder wealth amid an onslaught of tariffs and other potentially detrimental actions.

It’s the polar opposite of what Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos hoped for when they assembled behind Trump as he was sworn in.

That display of unity reflected a belief that Trump’s second stint in the White House would be a refreshing change from the heavy-handed regulation of President Joe Biden’s administration while unleashing even more lucrative opportunities in artificial intelligence and deal-making.

But the Trump administration’s policies so far have vexed Big Tech’s “Magnificent Seven” companies — a group consisting of Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta Platforms. Since Trump’s inauguration, the Magnificent Seven’s combined market value has plunged by $3.8 trillion, or 22%, as of April 20.

The financial damage was even more severe a few days after Trump’s April 2 unveiling of sweeping reciprocal tariffs that would have exacted a heavy toll on Big Tech’s supply chains in China and other key markets around the globe. A temporary freeze on the majority of the most punitive tariffs and an exemption from most of the fees on electronics coming in from China has provided some relief, but Trump has made it clear the reprieve may be short-lived.

That has left the specter of Trump’s ongoing trade war hanging over Big Tech, whose influence extends around the world.

“The mass confusion created by this constant news flow out of the White House is dizzying for the industry and investors and creating massive uncertainty and chaos for companies trying to plan their supply chain, inventory, and demand,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said.

Besides the upheaval triggered by Trump’s tariffs, his administration is also in the midst of trying to prove regulators’ allegations that Meta has been running an illegal monopoly in social networking, and working to persuade a federal judge to break up Google after its search engine last year was found to be illegally abusing its power. Trump also has given no indication of abandoning antitrust lawsuits filed by the Biden administration that could hobble Apple and Amazon.

And Nvidia absorbed a significant setback last week when the Trump administration banned it from selling one of its popular AI chips to China, prompting the company to record a $5.5 billion charge to account for the stockpile of processors that it intended to export to that country.

Tech CEOs will get a chance to discuss the fallout from the trade war and other challenges still ahead during analyst conference calls that will be held as part of their companies’ financial reports for the January-March quarter.

The ritual will kick off Tuesday when Tesla is scheduled to release its full financial report after already revealing that its first-quarter car sales dropped by 13% from the same time last year.

The decline occurred against a backdrop of vandalism, widespread protests and calls for a consumer boycott amid a backlash to Musk’s high-profile role in the White House overseeing a cost-cutting purge of U.S. government agencies.

After Musk discusses his strategy for reversing a decrease in Tesla’s market value since he joined Trump in the White House, Google parent Alphabet Inc. is scheduled to announce its results on Thursday. Then four of the Magnificent Seven will get their turn next week: Amazon on April 29; Meta and Microsoft on April 30; and Apple on May 1.

Nvidia, which operates on a fiscal year ending in January, is scheduled to wrap things up on May 28 with the release of its quarterly results.

21 Apr 2025

Son of a Gun: What to Do with a Legacy of (Unwanted) Firearms

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Americans own nearly 400 million guns. Five of them were recently lying on my parents’ living room floor in Dallas. Two revolvers looked like props from a ’70s cop movie. A pistol with a perforated barrel looked like it was from a space opera. There was a Field & Stream-worthy shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle right out of a mass shooting.

This collection of firearms will likely be my responsibility when my father is gone. I might not like it, but I may not have a choice. Last September, he drafted a gun trust and named me as trustee. When I told him I wasn’t particularly interested in taking responsibility for some of these weapons, he paused and thought for a minute.

“There’s no reason not to keep all of them,” he said.

There isn’t?

Everyone I know has a relationship with guns. They’re ingrained in American culture—our movies, books, and politics. The Bill of Rights devoted 27 words to the right to bear firearms but not one to the right to vote. Guns have put food on American tables and defended families. I’ve enjoyed shooting clays with a friend. Over the last few decades, however, the moral weight and awful responsibility of these weapons has grown heavier.

When I was in seventh grade, a classmate of mine took his life with a shotgun. Weeks before I graduated high school, two young men rampaged through Columbine High School, killing 13 people. These tragedies haven’t stopped. Suicide rates of American kids between the ages of 10 and 14 have soared 80 percent since 2001.Half of the time, it’s with a gun. The frequency of school shootings has quadrupled since the 1970s.

I’ve lived a little over four decades now. In that time, there’s been a dramatic decrease in murder and crime overall. Yet the nature of deadly gun violence has grown increasingly heinous. 

Baby Boomers, though, are a different generation. They own more guns per person than any other demographic group. As many begin to think about their legacies, their guns will have to go somewhere. My 74-year-old father’s plans suddenly include me, but I’m not alone. Survey estimates suggest that more than a quarter of gun owners have acquired arms not by purchase but as gifts or inheritances.

AS THE TRUSTEE OF FIVE GUNS AND A SILENCER, I WILL GET TO DECIDE THEIR FATE UPON MY DAD’S DEATH.

In December, I attended the Original Fort Worth Gun Show, which bills itself as the largest in Texas, to hear from collectors about their own plans. Between tables of muskets, Safari-sized ammo and AR-15s, some told me of family members ecstatic about inheriting their collections. Others would sigh, glance at the ground, and confess the interest in their collection ended with them. 

One had a solid plan. Ron, who gave only his first name, pawed a tin of Copenhagen as he told me about his advanced heart disease. After he dies, he said, he has arranged for his collection to go straight to auction. His daughter won’t have to deal with it.

Back in my parents’ home, I know these guns won’t just be carted off or disappear. They’re real wood and metal. Heavy, smooth, and cold. The shotgun’s silver receiver gleams in the living room light. Unlike an old couch that can be tossed to the curb, these items can be lethal if mishandled.

Glaring at the Smith & Wesson M&P 15—one of the most popular semi-auto rifles—I don’t know how to do even the simplest things, like verify it’s unloaded or check the safety. Couple that with a danger affecting similar models where it’s possible to experience “multiple discharges without [pulling] the trigger.” If I were to handle this weapon, it’s possible nothing would happen. Or, I could become one of the 27,000 Americans accidentally injured by a firearm each year.

The M&P 15 also happens to be the same model used in mass shootings in Aurora, Colorado; Highland Park, Illinois; and Parkland, Florida. 

Some legacy.

The odd thing is, aside from the shotgun passed down from my great-grandfather, these guns don’t have sentimental value to me. My father and I never went shooting or hunting together. Although I knew there was a revolver somewhere in our family’s home, he never showed it to me or taught me how to shoot it. Instead, we spent hours casting fly lines in the middle of rippling trout streams, which is about as far from semi-automatic as you can get.

Rather, his collection was amassed largely in the last decade and propelled by a distrust in government. He has plenty of company. The sharpest spikes in gun purchases have occurred after mass shootings and precisely when talk of new gun laws grows the loudest. Yet it wasn’t gun regulation that soared after these tragedies, but thoughts, prayers, and profits for companies like Smith & Wesson.

My father’s political statement comes with a gun trust, a legal tool that has gained popularity among some gun owners in the last several years—and something I knew nothing about.

“A trust is created whenever it’s in writing and it has something of value,” attorney Robert Ray told me. The “something of value” could be anything from real estate to a gun collection. The trust becomes the owner of the assets. Trustees, like me, manage those assets.

As the trustee of five guns and a silencer, I will get to decide their fate upon my dad’s death. I started looking at my options.

It wasn’t long before I found Gatling Gun Rescue out of Dallas, which advertises its free gun removal service on its website: “Have Gun? We travel.” Graham, who asked I only use his first name, is a licensed private detective and firearms professional who runs the operation. He collects unwanted guns and provides a receipt of transfer, no questions asked. Widows and avid shooters short on space make up many of his online queries. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Graham told me, “Some people thought any stranger with a 104-degree fever was going to break down their front door.” When such apocalyptic visions proved more cough than bite, a late 2020 spike in gun purchases led to buyers’ remorse. He gets those inquiries as well.

Graham said he makes no money from the operation. Instead, the roughly 40 unwanted firearms he re-homes each year have ended up with groups like the Boy Scouts and in at least one museum.

Local police are another option. Not every department will accept firearms, though many do—including the Dallas and Plano police in my area. But what happens to them afterward can be opaque at best. A 2024 CBS investigation found several North Texas police agencies had sent 2,600 surrendered firearms to a contractor for what they thought was destruction. Instead, only some of the guns were destroyed while others were salvaged for parts and resold as repair kits.

Auction? I doubt the collection would garner much interest. Resell? The thought of walking into a gun store with a case of weapons to sell makes me feel uneasy. 

As a gun-loving generation passes, we’re facing a wave of unwanted weapons. For some, there are just too many to house. For others, there’s simply no interest. As one collector told me at the gun show, “None of us has an expiration date on his wrist.” But, rest assured, hard decisions are coming.

“When you get older,” my father observed after I had first voiced my concerns about inheriting his gun collection in January, “you realize you spend your life acquiring things that most people don’t want.” Such an admission was as cathartic to me as it was haunting. What was I collecting that my daughter might be left to deal with years from now?

The post Son of a Gun: What to Do with a Legacy of (Unwanted) Firearms appeared first on The Texas Observer.

21 Apr 2025

Global tributes pour in to honor Pope Francis after his death

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LYON, France — Church bells tolled in mourning. Well-wishers flocked into pews. Tributes to Pope Francis poured in from around the world on Monday after the Vatican announced the pontiff’s death at age 88.

The 266th pope was praised for his groundbreaking steps to honor the poor and the vulnerable; seek to end conflicts like those in the Middle East, Ukraine and Africa; protect the environment; and guide the Catholic Church toward greater tolerance of gays and lesbians, among other things. Some critics say he didn’t always go far enough. Others said he went too far.

Many recalled his legacy as the first pope from Latin America, and the first Jesuit to reach the pinnacle of church hierarchy, one who stressed humility over hubris for a Church beset with scandal and indifference.

Here’s a look at some of the global reactions a day after his last public appearance on Easter Sunday to bless thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square.

A shop owner places a black ribbon over a photo of the late Pope Francis after the news of his death at age 88, in Bethlehem, West Bank, on Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A Catholic nun prays in front of a cutout of Pope Francis in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Slamet Riyadi)
A person lights a candle at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral following the announcement by the Vatican of the death of Pope Francis aged 88, in Liverpool, England, Monday, April 21, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Church workers prepare an ornament depicting Pope Francis ahead of a mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, which was visited by Pope Francis in 2024, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
A parishioner kisses a painting of the late Pope Francis at the Basílica de San José de Flores, where he worshipped as a youth, following the Vatican’s announcement of his death in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Devotees pray during a mass for the late Pope Francis at the Cubao Cathedral in Quezon city, Philippines Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Devotees pray during a mass for the late Pope Francis at the Cubao Cathedral in Quezon city, Philippines Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

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A shop owner places a black ribbon over a photo of the late Pope Francis after the news of his death at age 88, in Bethlehem, West Bank, on Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

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— U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who met with the pope on Easter Sunday before traveling to India, wrote on social media that his “heart goes out” to the millions of Christians who loved him, and said: “I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill.”

— King Charles III praised the pope for his work on safeguarding the planet, and alluded to their multiple personal meetings — including a private visit on April 10 at the Vatican. “We were greatly moved to have been able to visit him earlier in the month,’’ the King wrote in a statement signed “Charles R.” It was the pope’s first known meeting with a foreign dignitary after he was hospitalized for five weeks with double-pneumonia.

— Church bells tolled in honor of Francis, from the recently reopened Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to a lone bell at the St. Bartholomew Parish in Bulacan, in the Philippines, that was rung 88 times to signify “the 88 fruitful years of our dear Pope Francis,” the parish wrote on social media.

— Martin Pendergast, secretary of the LGBT Catholics Westminster in London, recalled how Francis looked past sexual orientation and said he wouldn’t judge people who tried to carry out the will of God. “He was the first pope to actually use the word ‘gay,’ so even the way he speaks has been a radical transformation — and some would say a bit of a revolution as well — compared with some of his predecessors,” Pendergast said.

— The Women’s Ordination Conference lamented Francis’ unwillingness to push for the ordination of women. “His repeated ‘closed door’ policy on women’s ordination was painfully incongruous with his otherwise pastoral nature, and for many, a betrayal of the synodal, listening church he championed,” the conference said. “This made him a complicated, frustrating and sometimes heart-breaking figure for many women.”

— President Emmanuel Macron of France, a largely Roman Catholic country, focused on the pope’s impact on the church, writing on social media that “from Buenos Aires to Rome, Pope Francis wanted the Church to bring joy and hope to the poorest. For it to unite humans among themselves, and with nature. May this hope forever outlast him.”

— Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of the few official visitors to see Francis during his recent hospitalization, alluded to the pope’s personal comfort and advice, saying it “never failed me, not even in times of trial and suffering.” She added: “We are saying goodbye to a great man and a great shepherd.”

— Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te expressed condolences on social media and said people there would “continue to draw inspiration from his lifelong commitment to peace, global solidarity, and caring for those in need.” The Holy See is among Taiwan’s only 12 remaining diplomatic allies while China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, has been poaching others.

— South African President Cyril Ramaphosa noted the pope’s “extraordinary life story” and said “Pope Francis advanced a world view of inclusion, equality and care for marginalized individuals and groups, as well as responsible and sustainable custody of the natural environment.” Africa has seen some of the Catholic Church’s biggest growth in recent years.

— European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recalled the pontiff as an inspiration for the entire world, not just Christians. “He inspired millions, far beyond the Catholic Church, with his humility and love so pure for the less fortunate,” she said on social media. “My thoughts are with all who feel this profound loss.”

— Israeli President Issac Herzog, whose role is mostly ceremonial, called Francis a man of “deep faith and boundless compassion.” Francis repeatedly criticized Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza and said allegations of genocide, which Israel has adamantly denied, should be investigated. “I truly hope that his prayers for peace in the Middle East and for the safe return of the hostages will soon be answered,” Herzog said on social media.

— The Palestine Red Crescent offered condolences to Christians, calling the pope “one of the most prominent supporters of justice and human dignity, including his noble stances regarding the suffering of the Palestinian people and their right to freedom and justice.”

— President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, an overwhelmingly Muslim country, said Francis leaves behind “a great human legacy that will remain etched in the conscience of humanity.”

— President Alexander Van der Bellen of Austria recalled how the pope traveled to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a key landing point for migrants seeking to reach Europe, to meet with refugees and commemorate those who died while trying to cross the Mediterranean. The Austrian leader said on social media that the pope’s impact resonated in ways large and small: “He ensured that homeless people near St. Peter’s Square could shower. He criticized dehumanizing words and gestures. That was Pope Francis.”

— President Vladimir Putin of Russia hailed the pope as a “consistent defender of the high values of humanism and justice” and alluded to the pontiff’s efforts to foster interfaith dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches. Last year, the pope suggested Ukraine should have the courage to negotiate an end to the war with Russia and not be ashamed to sit at the same table to carry out talks. Critics said that suggested he was siding with Russia. Francis tried to maintain the Vatican’s traditional diplomatic neutrality during the war, but that often was accompanied by apparent sympathy with Russia’s rationale for invading Ukraine — like when he said NATO was “barking at Russia’s door” with its eastward expansion.

AP journalists from around the world contributed to this report.

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21 Apr 2025

Instagram tries using AI to determine if teens are pretending to be adults

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By BARBARA ORTUTAY, Associated Press Technology Writer

Instagram is beginning to test the use of artificial intelligence to determine if kids are lying about their ages on the app, parent company Meta Platforms said on Monday.

Meta has been using AI to determine people’s ages for some time, the company said, but photo and video-sharing app will now “proactively” look for teen accounts it suspects belong to teenagers even if they entered an inaccurate birthdate when they signed up.

If it is determined that a user is misrepresenting their age, the account will automatically become a teen account, which has more restrictions than an adult account. Teen accounts are private by default. Private messages are restricted so teens can only receive them from people they follow or are already connected to. “Sensitive content,” such as videos of people fighting or those promoting cosmetic procedures, will be limited, Meta said. Teens will also get notifications if they are on Instagram for more than 60 minutes and a “sleep mode” will be enabled that turns off notifications and sends auto-replies to direct messages from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m.

Meta says it trains its AI to look for signals, such as the type of content the account interacts, profile information and when the account was created, to determine the owner’s age.

The heightened measures arrive as social media companies face increased scrutiny over how their platform affects the mental health and well-being of younger users. A growing number of states are also trying to pass age verification laws, although they have faced court challenges.

Meta and other social media companies support putting the onus on app stores to verify ages amid criticism that they don’t do enough to make their products safe for children — or verify that no kids under 13 use them.

Instagram will also send notifications to parents “with information about how they can have conversations with their teens on the importance of providing the correct age online,” the company said.