Millions of people worldwide are already using Apple Music

Less than a month after the launch of streaming service Apple Music, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook announced that “Millions and millions of customers are already experiencing Apple Music and the number is growing substantially every day” as part of today’s poorly-received Q3 earnings report. The question will be how many users continue to pay once their free trials expire and they are automatically billed $10 a month.

Cook noted on today’s earnings call that 15,000 artists are already sharing social updates including unreleased songs and videos on Apple Music’s Connect tab. For example, rapper Drake premiered his new music video on the service. Cook also said that millions of people are listening to the apps Beats 1 radio station.

While vague, the number ranges shows progress for Apple’s successor to its iTunes download store. It’s important to note that Apple Music offers a free three-month trial. Of course, the Apple Music app came with a software update on July 1st that went out to hundreds of millions of iPhones. With that pre-install base, Apple shouldn’t have had trouble getting a least a few million to give its streaming service a shot.

Apple jump started development of it streaming service by acquiring Beats Music, a streaming service sharing a brand name with the Beats Electronics headphone business. That app was shut down and users migrated to Apple Music, which may have contributed to the subscriber base.

Apple Music competes with more established services like Spotify and Google Music. For comparison, Apple Music’s top competitor Spotify has 75 million total listeners, breaking down to 55 million ad-supported free tier users and 20 million paying subscribers.

But Apple Music’s real opportunity it recruiting $10 a month subscribers from the vast majority of people who’ve never seriously streamed music. Hundreds of millions use iTunes, so today’s report is just the first step in a long journey shifting Apple from a music download sale to a streaming subscription company.

US Supreme Court blocks Texas abortion restrictions

The controversial law was signed by Republican Governor Rick Perry in 2013

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Country music and abortion in Tennessee
• Texas abortion provisions struck down
• US abortion rate 'continues decline'

The US Supreme Court has blocked key parts of a controversial Texas law enforcing restrictions on abortion.

The court suspended a lower appeals court ruling requiring state clinics to spend large sums of money installing hospital-level upgrades.

A lower court is still considering the overall constitutionality of the law, signed by Governor Rick Perry in 2013.

The ruling means many abortion clinics can reopen, a move that has been welcomed by abortion advocates.

"We're relieved that the court stepped in to stop this, and we hope this dangerous law is ultimately overturned completely," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Had the law stood, all but eight abortion clinics in the country's second most populous state would have been closed.

However, Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, labelled the court's decision a "short-term loss, but not necessarily a long-term loss".

Six of the nine US Supreme Court justices sided with abortion rights advocates.

The Texas abortion law has sparked strong feelings

On 2 October, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans found Texas could require clinics to meet the same surgical standards as hospitals.

Texas Republicans and other conservatives have argued the law will protect women's health but critics say it is a backdoor way to outlaw abortions, which have been a constitutional right in the US since a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1973.

In August, US District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled the law was less about public safety and instead about limiting access to abortion services.

Many of the state's abortion clinics have already closed in the wake of the law, which requires doctors performing abortions to have hospital admitting privileges.

Ebola crisis: Outbreak death toll rises to 4,447 says WHO Previous

• 
  Latest
• Heathrow screening
• The basics
• Treatment centre
• Outbreak mapped
• What to do
• Living with Ebola
• Why the US?

Next

The WHO says a slowdown in the rate of new cases in some areas may be due to behavioural changes

Continue reading the main story

Ebola outbreak

• How not to catch Ebola
• Living with Ebola
• Why so dangerous?
• Mapping the outbreak

The death toll from the Ebola virus outbreak has risen to 4,447, with the large majority of victims in West Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

WHO assistant director-general Bruce Aylward also said there could be up to 10,000 new cases a week within two months if efforts were not stepped up,

But the rate of new infections in some areas has slowed down, he added.

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been hardest hit by the outbreak.

Jump media player

Media player help

Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

The progress towards an Ebola vaccine - in 80 seconds

There have been 8,914 cases overall, including the fatal cases, and the WHO says it expects this number to top 9,000 by the end of the week.

The WHO estimates its figures by taking the numbers of confirmed cases and multiplying them - from Guinea by 1.5, from Sierra Leone by 2 and from Liberia by 2.5 - to account for under-reporting.

In other developments:

• The UK began Ebola screening at London's Heathrow airport
• A medic working for Sierra Leone's army at a peacekeeping training centre in Freetown tested positive for Ebola
• A "site manager" was appointed at the Dallas hospital where a nurse was infected, with the task of supervising how workers put on and take off protective clothing
• The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set up an immediate response team to travel to any US hospital where Ebola is diagnosed, to hit the ground "within hours"
• A UN health worker, originally from Sudan, died in Germany after contracting the disease in Liberia
• Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, would donate $25m (£16m) to fight Ebola
• A Spanish nurse - the first person to contract the disease outside of Africa - remains in critical condition, although doctors say there are signs of improvement
• Sierra Leone security forces clashed with angry crowds in the capital Freetown who were protesting delays in removing the body of a suspected Ebola victim

The man who was locked up by his corrupt boss

BBC News, Beijing

Continue reading the main story

In today's Magazine

• The First Spacewalk
• Why in a single year did life expectancy in the US drop by 12 years?
• Country music and abortion in Tennessee
• How English became language of science

For the past two years China has been running a very public anti-corruption drive - but it's not just crooked officials who have ended up behind bars. One whistleblower found himself in prison when he exposed his boss.

"A corruption tour? You want me to show you the worst parts of my town?"

Not exactly, we tell our humble host. We want you to show us the places that have been affected by government corruption.

He smiles and shakes his head. "It's going to be a long tour!" he jokes.

Guangshan, the town where Sheng Xingyuan has spent his life, lies in the heart of China's central Henan province. Local corruption is a serious problem across China, but Henan is renowned for dirty, insider politics that benefit a select few.

Few people are better positioned to show us around than Sheng - he's lived on both sides of China's government divide. He worked as a local Communist Party official in one of the town's family planning offices but after he caught his boss stealing government money, Sheng became a thorn in the state's side.

He reported his boss, who ended up paying a small fine. Sheng faced a much harsher punishment - two years in prison.

"My colleagues took revenge on me," he explains, shaking with anger.

Sheng was convicted of "disturbing the social order". He was released after his case was reviewed by an appeals court.

That time in prison had a lasting effect. Sheng is a nervous man, still adjusting to normal life in the small room where he lives with his wife. The couple live next door to their son on the edge of Guangshan.

Sheng is obsessed with clearing his name. On a dusty laptop, he plays a secret video he recorded a few months ago, when the local party chief admitted Sheng had been framed.

"A team of prosecutors from the police and the courts were organised to fight you," the chief says on video.

"When he started talking about what really happened, I felt relieved. At least he told me the truth," Sheng says. "One day, I'll vindicate myself. I feel certain of that."

"Lots of people have been punished here for reporting corruption, like me. But if corruption isn't eliminated, no one can have peace."

China's President Xi Jinping seems to agree. Two years ago, at a Communist Party meeting, he unveiled a wide-reaching campaign to clean up the government. Many of his efforts are focused on Henan. Home to 94 million people, it's one of the biggest provinces in China. Frequent corruption scandals keep it constantly in the news.

In an attempt to unravel Henan's webs of corruption, the central government has opened more anti-corruption offices here than anywhere else.

Eric Holder of US warns Europe over Syrian fighters

"This is a global crisis in need of a global solution," US Attorney General Eric Holder said

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Overseas fighter threat 'exaggerated'
• Profile: Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)
• Cardiff teen's life as a jihadiListen

The US attorney general has called on European governments to be stronger in preventing their own citizens from joining the fighting in Syria.

Eric Holder said the Syrian conflict had turned into "a cradle of violent extremism" that could threaten Western countries when fighters return home.

He made his remarks during a speech for Norwegian diplomats in Oslo.

US officials believes there are about 7,000 foreign fighters in Syria, including dozens of Americans.

In May, a 22-year-old man from Florida carried out a suicide bombing mission in the country.

And a Colorado woman was arrested at the airport in April after US officials said she was intent on providing support to the militant group Isis (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) in Syria.

In the speech, Mr Holder called on European governments to make it illegal to plan or support terrorist plots, catch potential fighters before they leave for Syria through undercover plots and share information about those who have travelled to Syria to fight, including through Interpol.

"Because our citizens can freely travel, visa-free, from the US to Norway and other European states - and vice versa - the problem of fighters in Syria returning to any of our countries is a problem for all of our countries," Mr Holder said.

Greek public sector workers start 24-hour strike

Greece has seen continuing protests against austerity measures

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Greek strike threatens power cuts
• Tourists return as austerity-hit Greece emerges from crisis

Public sector workers in Greece have begun a twenty-four hour strike in protest at continuing cuts in government spending.

Hospitals, tax offices, prisons and archaeological sites are expected to be disrupted by the action.

The workers are protesting against austerity measures, including a 40% reduction to salaries and pensions.

The strike coincides with a visit from Greece's international creditors to check on the country's progress.

The European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank - known collectively as the Troika - are monitoring austerity measures that were a condition of a 240bn-euro (£190bn; $325bn) bailout.

The lenders have praised Greece's progress in meeting the targets set. It has achieved a "primary budget surplus", with its deficit wiped out apart from interest owed on the bailout.

After six years of recession, the economy is expected to return to growth this year.

But the BBC's Mark Lowen says that after Greece's high court ruling that recent wage cuts to judges, the armed forces and emergency service workers were illegal and must be repaid, there will be tense discussions about the widening hole in next year's finances.

The nagging question remains about how to bring down a 26% unemployment rate caused chiefly by four years of austerity, our correspondent adds.

Uganda militant attack leaves scores dead

The Ugandan army has been on high alert following what it said was a threat to Kampala's airport last week

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Uganda profile
• Uganda alert after terror warning

At least 58 people were killed after gunmen launched a co-ordinated attack on police stations and military barracks in Uganda, the army says.

The dead included 41 gunmen and 17 police and civilians.

The attacks took place in the west of Uganda, near the border with Congo.

The military said the attacks were caused by a dispute between rival tribes, but there are fears over the possible resurgence of a Ugandan rebel movement based in eastern Congo.

Gunmen arrested

The attacks targeted security forces in the districts of Kasese, Ntoroko and Bundibugyo.

An army spokesman said the attacks were not connected to the Islamist ADF rebel group, which was last active in the area more than a decade ago.

"What we know is that this militia is not linked with ADF-NALU but we're studying them to establish their motives and their backers," army spokesman Paddy Ankunda told Reuters news agency.

Seventeen gunmen were arrested and are being questioned in custody, the police said.

Pistorius lawyers condemn leaked re-enactment video

Oscar Pistorius' trial was adjourned for a month to allow for a psychiatric examination

Continue reading the main story

Pistorius trial

• Behind the drama
• Unresolved questions
• Pistorius 'damaged not destroyed'
• Week seven round-up

Oscar Pistorius' defence team has condemned the airing of a video showing the athlete re-enacting the events of the night he killed his girlfriend.

The footage shows Mr Pistorius shouting and running on his stumps as he simulates holding a handgun.

It was aired in Australia only by broadcaster Channel 7 on Sunday.

A spokesperson for Mr Pistorius' said that the footage was filmed in order to create a "forensic animation", but that it was "obtained illegally".

"For the family, the airing of this footage constitutes a staggering breach of trust and an invasion of the family's privacy", the statement said.

The footage has not been seen in court in South Africa, where the athlete is on trial for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Mr Pistorius says he mistook his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder

In the video - filmed at his uncle's house - Oscar Pistorius rushes forwards on the stumps of his legs.

He holds out an imaginary gun in his right hand and screams "Reeva, call the police". He is also shown carrying a woman out of a toilet and downstairs.

The re-enactment was done to help US specialists create a computer model of the shooting of Ms Steenkamp.

The BBC's Andrew Harding, in South Africa, says it is not clear why the full reconstruction was not used at the murder trial.

In the leaked footage Mr Pistorius looks unsteady on his stumps, but perhaps more mobile than one of his doctors had described in his evidence last week, our correspondent says.

Mr Pistorius says he shot his girlfriend after mistaking her for an intruder in their house last year.

The prosecution argues that he killed her deliberately after a row.

The sprinter and Ms Steenkamp had been dating for about three months before the shooting.

There are no juries at trials in South Africa, so the athlete's fate will ultimately be decided by the judge, assisted by two assessors.

If found guilty of murder, Mr Pistorius, who went on trial on 3 March, could face life imprisonment. If he is acquitted of that charge, the court will consider an alternative charge of culpable homicide, for which he could - if convicted - receive about 15 years in prison.

His trial will resume on Monday.

Nigerian women and girls 'escape from Boko Haram'

Boko Haram wants to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria

Continue reading the main story

Boko Haram

• City under siege
• Deadliest phase
• Failed fight back
• Who are Boko Haram?

More than 60 women and girls are reported to have escaped from the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, security sources say.

They were among 68 abducted last month near the town of Damboa in north-eastern Borno state.

Reports say the women escaped when the militants went to attack a military base near Damboa on Friday.

The Nigerian military said it killed more than 50 rebels in a clash that night.

Boko Haram is still holding more than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April.

Local vigilante Abbas Gava told journalists he had "received an alert from my colleagues... that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home".

"They took the bold step when their abductors moved out to carry out an operation," he said.

A high-level security source in the state capital Maiduguri confirmed the escape, AFP news agency reported.

Exchange rejected

Boko Haram triggered an international outcry when it captured 200 girls in Borno's Chibok town on 14 April.

It is demanding the release of its fighters and their relatives in exchange for the girls but the government has rejected this.

Last week three women were arrested for recruiting female members for the militant group, the country's military said.

They were said to have targeted widows and young girls, promising them marriage to Boko Haram members.

A state of emergency is in force in northern Nigeria because of the group's increasingly violent campaign to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.

Maiduguri was the headquarters of Boko Haram until it was forced out by the military and vigilante groups.

Ebola outbreak: West African states agree strategy

Health ministers from 11 West African countries have adopted a common strategy to fight a deadly Ebola outbreak in the region.

At an emergency meeting in Ghana, ministers promised better collaboration to fight what has become the world's deadliest outbreak to date.

So far, 759 people have been infected with the virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and 467 of them have died.

The two-day meeting was called by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Under the new strategy, the WHO will open a sub-regional control centre in Guinea to co-ordinate technical support.

Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's assistant director-general of health security, said it was "impossible to give a clear answer" on how far the epidemic could spread.

"I certainly expect that we are going to be dealing with this outbreak, minimum, for a few months to several months," he told AFP news agency.

"I really hope to see a turnaround where we begin to see a decrease in cases in the next several weeks."

BBC West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy says educating people rather than closing borders is seen as the most effective way to contain the outbreak.

Cultural practices and traditional beliefs in some areas have hampered public health measures, contributing to the spread of the disease, he adds.

In some cases, mobs have attacked health workers forcing emergency centres to close.

The WHO has already sent more than 150 experts into West Africa over the past few months to try to contain the outbreak.

But it says political commitment is needed from the region itself to ensure this outbreak is stopped soon.

Most of the deaths have been centred in the southern Guekedou region of Guinea, where the outbreak was first reported in February.

But health officials say the region's porous borders have allowed infected people to carry the disease into other countries.

Ebola spreads through contact with an infected person's bodily fluids and there is no vaccine or cure. It kills up to 90% of those infected.

Father 'killed toddler left in hot car'

Mr Harris was refused bail by the judge

A man accused of killing his toddler son by leaving him inside a hot car will stand trial, a judge has ruled.

A detective told a Georgia hearing the evidence suggested Justin Ross Harris killed his son Cooper intentionally and the tragedy was not due to negligence.

Cobb County Detective Phil Stoddard said Mr Harris had looked at websites advocating against having children

The judge refused bail, meaning Mr Harris, who says he forgot his son was in the car, will remain in jail.

Mr Harris was supposed to drive his 22-month-old son to nursery on the morning of 18 June but he told police that instead he drove to work without realising his son was strapped into a car seat in the back.

The temperature that day was 88 degrees at 5:16 pm, and the child died of hyperthermia as his body overheated.

Search warrants released over the weekend suggested Mr Harris had done an online search on what temperature could cause a child's death in a vehicle.

And they said he returned to put something inside his car during the day while the child was still inside.

Mr Harris's wife Leanna attended the bail hearing

Mr Stoddard told the court Mr Harris was exchanging nude photos with several women, including teenagers, while he was at work on the day his son died.

Defence lawyer Maddox Kilgore said that was irrelevant to the case but the police officer said it showed Mr Harris led a double life and should remain in jail because he was a flight risk.

He added that in the weeks before the boy's death, the father had looked at a website in support of not having children and had searched "how to survive in prison".

Harris and his wife had two life insurance policies for their son, for $2,000 (£1,170) and $25,000 (£15,000).

Mr Harris told police he was a doting father who always kissed his son when he strapped him into the car seat.

A defence witness said Harris appeared to be distraught when he realised his son had died, and was trying to resuscitate him.

Alex Hall, a friend of Harris since college and a colleague at Home Depot, said Mr Harris talked about how much he loved his son all the time, and there was "nothing weird" about him when they had lunch that day.

'Iranian fighter jets deployed' to help Iraq fight Isis

A video posted online appeared to show the fighter jets in Iraq

Continue reading the main story

Struggle for Iraq

• Key players in Sunni revolt
• 'Dangerous development'
• What does Isis want?Watch
• Race against time

Strong evidence has emerged to suggest that Iran has supplied Iraq with Sukhoi Su-25 "Frogfoot" aircraft to help it try to halt the Isis offensive.

Russia supplied an initial delivery of the aircraft just a few days ago.

But analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London say that a further delivery, on 1 July, originates from Iran.

This means that the US - which has also sent aircraft to Iraq - is operating alongside Iran in this conflict.

The US has deployed drones and helicopters to Iraq and is actively gathering intelligence on the Isis advance. Washington is also supplying Iraq's existing air force with Hellfire missiles.

In this case adversity has made for strange bed-fellows.

'Matching markings'

Joseph Dempsey, an analyst for the IISS's Military Balance publication, has carefully studied video of the aircraft released by the Iraqi authorities.

He told the BBC that he believes that some of the aircraft operating in Iraq are indeed Iranian.

"Imagery analysis," he says, "makes this the most logical conclusion. The markings, serial numbers and camouflage all fit with what we know of the Iranian fleet."

The Iraqi government says that it is determined to stop the Isis advance, and on Tuesday took possession of Russian Sukhoi Su-25 fighter planes

Iran maintains a small number of Su-25 aircraft, operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Ironically, the majority of these aircraft used to be part of the Iraqi Air Force - seven Su-25s sought refuge in Iran during the First Gulf War.

Contrary to Iraqi wishes, these aircraft were retained and later brought into Iranian service.

Of course it is much harder to determine who is actually flying the aircraft.

Mr Dempsey says that "while Iraq may retain some capability, having operated the aircraft in the past, any pilots would not have had any flying experience for at least 11 years.

"So it would strongly suggest that some level of external support is required," he says.

More on This