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BARCELONA, June 28 (Reuters) - IBM (IBM.N) will offer telecom operators Verizon (VZ.N) and Telefonica (TEF.MC) new services ranging from running 5G over a cloud platform to using artificial intelligence, the U.S. technology company said on Monday.

Big technology players such as Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Amazon (AMZN.O) are vying for a share of 5G revenue by offering telecom operators next-generation software tools.

IBM, using technology it obtained from buying software firm Red Hat, will offer the telecom operators cloud services to run their networks and assist them in selling products tailored to customers. No financial terms were disclosed about the tie-ups, which broadened IBM's existing partnerships with the two firms.

A cloud platform uses software instead of physical equipment to perform network functions, helping telecom operators build 5G networks faster, reduce costs and sell customised services.

"It's a disruptive time in this particular market segment, telcos are trying to position themselves as the destination for services like augmented reality, machine learning and AI," Darell Jordan-Smith, vice president of Redhat, told Reuters.

On the AI front, IBM and Spain's Telefonica have created a virtual assistant that they say will remove friction points, such as long wait times, by automating the handling of frequently asked questions and tasks like billing.

"We see this as an existential moment for telco operators with 5G: architecturally, they're looking to gain more control on their platforms and rethink their network as a digital world rather than a structured physical model," said Steve Canepa, IBM's general manager for communications business.

Reporting by Clara-Laeila Laudette and Supantha Mukherjee in Barcelona

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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With cloud and AI, IBM broadens 5G deals with Verizon and Telefonica - Reuters

BUDAPEST On a leafy hilltop in Budapest, a small educational foundation inside an aging, former Communist police building has audacious plans to train a conservative future elite. It is constructing a colossal campus, wooing conservative intellectuals for the faculty and expanding its programs to train 10,000 students across Hungary and elsewhere in Europe.

The price tag is expected to run into many millions of dollars, but money isnt a problem: The privately managed foundation, Mathias Corvinus Collegium, or M.C.C., was recently granted more than $1.7 billion in government money and assets from a powerful benefactor: Hungarys prime minister, Viktor Orban.

A hero to Europes far right, Mr. Orban says he wants to overhaul education and reshape his countrys society to have a more nationalistic, conservative body politic. But his critics argue that the donation is legalized theft, employed to tighten Mr. Orbans grip on power by transferring public money to foundations run by political allies.

Even for Mr. Orban, who has persistently flouted democratic norms, it is a brazen move, especially as Hungarys health system is underfinanced and buckling under the strain of Covid-19. The $1.7 billion transfer to the educational foundation is about 1 percent of the countrys gross domestic product. The foundation now controls assets worth more than the annual budget of the countrys entire higher education system.

This is not about Hungarian higher education, said Istvan Hiller, a lawmaker from the opposition Socialist Party and former education minister who now serves as a deputy speaker of Parliament. This is about building a foundation to solidify power.

Mr. Orban has dominated Hungarian politics for more than a decade, walking a delicate line with European Union leaders, who for the most part have tolerated his excesses. But he is now under growing pressure in Europe, where one leader has openly questioned whether Hungary should remain in the bloc, and in Hungary, where his popularity has suffered from his governments handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Orban is expected to seek a fifth term in 2022, facing off against a newly unified opposition and the possibility that his governing party, Fidesz, could lose power, or, at minimum, its two-thirds supermajority in Parliament. Fidesz has used the supermajority to steer once-public assets to loyalists, and critics say the possibility of election losses next year is accelerating that trend.

Bernadett Szel, an opposition lawmaker, said that Mr. Orban and his allies were creating an insurance policy for themselves in case they lost power by transferring public money to an ideologically constrained circle.

They are acting like they are doing a public good, Ms. Szel said, but they are actually stealing from the public.

Mr. Orban has already moved against private media outlets in Hungary, cheering the 2018 consolidation of almost 500 under the ownership of a single foundation controlled by his allies. But in late April, Mr. Orban oversaw one of the most sweeping systemic changes yet, with all but five public universities placed under the control of privately managed foundations.

The universities joined a growing ecosystem of 32 foundations and mostly conservative, government-affiliated think tanks which received about $3.5 billion in public money in the past year, according to K-Monitor, an independent nonprofit. These interlocking foundations are actually in private hands and control public parks, a cinema, concert halls, a boarding high school and much more.

Mr. Orban, a champion of what he calls illiberal democracy, has spoken about his ambition to intertwine conservative politics with culture and academia. His government has banned gender studies, and he now personally controls the appointment of the top administrator to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. (His government also forced the Central European University, founded by Hungarian-American billionaire philanthropist George Soros, to relocate to Austria.)

When the government moved to privatize the universities in April, the biggest beneficiary was the M.C.C. foundation, which received government-owned shares worth $1.3 billion in two companies, cash injections worth $462 million and $9 million of property, including a luxury estate and a marina on Lake Balaton in western Hungary.

The incestuous nature of the foundations structure is evident in its advisory boards. Members are appointed for life, and only they can elect new members. Not a single woman sits on any of them.

The leader of M.C.C.s main board is Balazs Orban (no relation to the prime minister), who has a dual role. As a state secretary in the prime ministers office, he helped mastermind the property transfer to the foundation. And as its chairman, he oversees the recently privatized assets. Another board member is Zoltan Szalai, who also runs a glossy, pro-government weekly called Mandiner. A cafe he owns recently received a $2 million donation of once-public money for use as an event space. The cafe, Scruton, is named after the conservative English philosopher Roger Scruton.

M.C.C. is not a university in its own right, but a residential college. It provides special seminars and a dormitory to students, selected after a battery of I.Q. and other tests, who then receive stipends, networking opportunities and exclusive fellowships. Orban critics have labeled the foundation as an institution designed to breed right-wing intellectuals.

In an interview with The New York Times, Balazs Orban said that the M.C.C. project was critical for a small country like Hungary, with its history of occupation by foreign powers.

Its very important for us to have our own agenda, have our own mind-set, have our own independence, culture, he said. We always have to fight for it.

He was adamant that fomenting patriotism among the next generation of Hungarys leaders was the priority.

Ideology is not important. Patriotism is, he said.

But recent articles and podcasts produced by M.C.C. have discussed reading lists or pushed intellectual lines supportive of the governments antiglobalist message, discussing topics such as patriotism at a time of globalism, or whether political correctness is tolerance or oppression.

Mr. Orbans government is not alone in targeting higher education. In Poland, a think tank with close ties to the right-wing government recently established Collegium Intermarium, a university that hopes to foster a conservative Christian elite.

Ivan Krastev, a Bulgarian political analyst, said that the changes in Hungary appeared mostly to be about money and power. But he noted that leaders in Hungary and Poland viewed universities as key battlegrounds in their quest to retain power.

There is a very strong fear that universities are totally lost for the conservative side, that they are totally dominated by left liberals, and getting control of universities is becoming a big priority for these governments, Mr. Krastev said.

Balazs Orban plans to use the M.C.C.s wealth to expand programs for high school and elementary school students, aiming in the next three years to enroll 10,000 students in 35 European cities that have large Hungarian populations, mostly in neighboring countries.

M.C.C. was established in 1996 with private money from a Fidesz backer, with the goal of training a post-Communist elite. It was known as more conservative than other residential colleges but was respected for providing high-caliber independent programs. While many lecturers views hew closely to the Fidesz line, some are independent or apolitical.

In interviews, some students wondered if the influx of cash and government attention would force a more partisan line of study. Others praised the institution for its quality and low student-to-faculty ratio, and for providing extraordinary access to scholars and policymakers.

Its a huge opportunity, said Viktor Lazar, a third-year student in business and economics at M.C.C.

In most cases at university, we are just given lectures, he said. Here in M.C.C., it is always so easy to ask a question because we are in small groups.

While there are some conservative students at M.C.C., many do not necessarily support the Orban government. Some worried privately that after M.C.C. received so much media attention, their education might come with a stigma attached.

Even if the opposition comes to power next year, it is unclear whether they could dismantle the educational foundations or restore universities to their previous status. A future parliament could not change the rules regulating public interest foundations without a two-thirds majority.

Elections lose their meaning if a deep state, with competencies, assets and revenues given to Fidesz, remains in control no matter who wins, said Balint Magyar, a sociologist and former two-term education minister who researches post-Communist governments.

Mr. Hiller, the former Socialist education minister, said that the debate over the higher education system would deepen polarization in Hungary, no matter who triumphs in the April vote.

The whole system is built on this ideological shift, he said. The effects will last for decades.

David Mihalyi contributed reporting.

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Campus in Hungary is Flagship of Orbans Bid to Create a Conservative Elite - The New York Times

A JetBlue Airways flight bound for New York returned to the Dominican Republic in early February after a passenger allegedly refused to wear a facemask, threw an empty alcohol bottle and food, struck the arm of one flight attendant, and grabbed the arm of another.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which detailed the incident in a report, slapped the passenger with a $32,750 fine.

Reports of verbal abuse, a failure to comply with the federal mask mandate and assault by airline passengers are on the rise. Airline industry groups, flight attendants and lawmakers want the government to do more to stop it.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday said it has received approximately 3,100 reports of unruly passenger behavior since the start of the year.

The agency said it has so far proposed fines totaling $563,800, though recent agency releases describe incidents that allegedly occurred in February, meaning there are likely more cases, and fines, yet to be disclosed.

Flight attendants wearing protective masks walk through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, April 7, 2021.

Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The agency implemented a "zero tolerance" policy and threatened fines of up to $35,000 earlier this year, after a series of politically motivated incidents around the time of the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Passengers have 30 days to contest the fines.

Unruly passenger behavior or interfering with flight attendant duties is against federal law.

Flight attendant unions say their members have beeninsulted, shouted and demeaned by passengers, some of them intoxicated, and in some rare cases, violence.

A passenger allegedly punched a Southwest Airlines flight attendant last month. The flight attendant lost two teeth after she was struck, according to her labor union.

"It's out of control," said Paul Hartshorn, spokesman for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents American Airlines' more than 20,000 cabin crew members. "It's really coming to the point where we have to defend ourselves."

Airline executives note that the cases are rare considering the number passengers they are carrying. Transportation Security Administration airport screenings recently topped 2 million a day, the highest since before the coronavirus was declared a pandemic in mid-March 2020.

But the issue adds to flight attendants' stress after a year of job insecurity and health concerns from working in a pandemic, said Sara Nelson, a prominent labor leader and international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the largest flight attendant union with some 50,000 members across more than a dozen airlines.

"Even if it doesn't rise to the level of a physical altercation, just the constant bickering and name-calling and disrespect, that wears away at people," she said.

Most of the cases are related to passengers' refusal to wear masks on board, which the Biden administration mandated earlier this year, though airlines have required it since early in the pandemic. The administration extended it through mid-September.

A passenger on a Jan. 7 Alaska Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Seattle allegedly pushed a flight attendant when cabin crew walked down the aisle to check whether travelers were wearing face masks, said the FAA, which fined the traveler $15,000.

There isn't one single reason behind the incidents, according to Ryan Martin, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, who has studied anger for about two decades. He said a sense of entitlement is a common thread in displays of anger, however.

"What we know is that entitlement is correlated with anger, meaning the more entitled you are the angrier you get," said Martin,the author of "Why We Get Mad: How to Use Your Anger for Positive Change."

Another factor behind disruptive behavior could be readily available examples, such as videos online, of others acting out.

"We've seen lots and lots of example of people losing their cool and having what I would call tantrums in the last year, very publicly," Martin said. "Some of that may have modeled a way of dealing with problems for people that isn't really a healthy, reasonable way to deal with problems."

Increased anxiety returning to travel might also have heightened tensions, he added, though he noted that one of the better indicators for whether someone will turn violent is that they believe in violence to solve problems in the first place.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., plans to introduce legislation before the end of this month "that would cover abusive passenger behavior on board flights" and against TSA officers, spokesman Chip Unruh told CNBC.

On Monday, Airlines for America, which represents most large U.S. carriers, along with several industry labor unions, wrote Attorney General Merrick Garland urging him to direct the Justice Department to "commit to the full and public prosecution of onboard acts of violence."

At a hearing last week, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D.-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about what the agency is doing to combat the assaults and other unruly behavior on planes and at airports.

"We also have prepared federal air marshals to address any act of violence that they themselves observe while on flights," Mayorkas said. "Importantly, we are working with law enforcement to ensure that these acts are met with the full force of federal law. These individuals who commit these heinous acts are prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

Nelson, the union leader, says a currently voluntary TSA self-defense course for flight attendants should be part of their paid, mandatory training provided by airlines.

Southwest Airlines and American Airlines last month delayed plans to resume alcohol sales for much of the cabin, while United Airlines scaled its plans back to mainline flights over 800 miles. The changes came at the urging of flight attendant unions, following the attack on the Southwest crew member.

Brady Byrnes, managing director of flight service at American, told staff: "We also recognize that alcohol can contribute to atypical behavior from customers onboard and we owe it to our crew not to potentially exacerbate what can already be a new and stressful situation for our customers."

A bar at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. May 28, 2021

Leslie Josephs | CNBC

Both Nelson and Hartshorn, the American Airlines flight attendant union spokesman, said it's key to keep intoxicated travelers off planes. Before allowing passengers to board, some gate agents remind travelers that they can't bring their own alcohol on board

"At the gate we can handle it but at 35,000 feet that becomes a serious problem really quickly," said Hartshorn. He said some of the incidents are between passengers, forcing flight attendants to step in.

Flight attendants are trained to de-escalate arguments with passengers, unions say. Nelson, a 25-year flight attendant at United, noted that one challenge is that said flight attendants have fewer tools than usual to address disruptive passengers.

One tactic for dealing with a disruptive passenger can be moving them to another seat, but planes are flying fuller, leaving fewer options, she said. Catering services have also been limited during the pandemic, so offering passengers food or a beverage to try to calm them down is not always possible.

Clearer messaging about the rules and consequences, from airport bars to public officials would help, she said.

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson, a former Delta pilot, has made several media appearances to warn travelers about the consequences of bad behavior. Last week he discussed fines and potential jail time on TMZ. The FAA has also posted frequently on social media warning travelers to behave or face consequences.

One Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport based-American Airlines flight attendant told CNBC the increase in unruly passenger behavior has discouraged her from pressing passengers to wear masks if they refuse.

"If I see it get heated, I'll back away," said the flight attendant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was concerned it could jeopardize her job.

She said she hasn't experienced an unruly traveler but added, "I think it's a matter of time."

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'It's out of control.' Airlines, flight attendants want stiffer penalties for unruly passengers - CNBC

Gun rights activist Colion Noir criticized President Biden and his administration on "Fox & Friends First" Friday. Noir said Biden is treating gun owners in America like "an oppressive group of people." In a speech earlier this week, Biden said, "If you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons."

COLION NOIR: It's a very sad day in our country's history when you have a president of the United States basically telling the American people that, 'hey, look, we're the government, we can do anything that we want to you and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. He's not talking to us like a group of people. He's talking to us like we're an invading force. People don't want these firearms so we can take over the government. We want these firearms so that we can protect ourselves.

BIDEN CRACKDOWN ON 'ROGUE' GUN DEALERS UNLIKELY TO STOP VIOLENT CRIME

But because Joe Biden looks at us like an oppressive group of people that he's supposed to rule over, he sees us with the ability to protect ourselves as a threat to his control and I think it's disgusting.

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Colion Noir: Biden sees gun owners as 'invading force' and a 'threat to his control' - Fox News

Juul Labs Inc. will pay $40 million to North Carolina and take more action to prevent underage use and sales, according to a landmark legal settlement announced Monday. Brynn Anderson/AP hide caption

Juul Labs Inc. will pay $40 million to North Carolina and take more action to prevent underage use and sales, according to a landmark legal settlement announced Monday.

DURHAM N.C. Electronic cigarette giant Juul Labs Inc. will pay $40 million to North Carolina and take more action to prevent underage use and sales, according to a landmark legal settlement announced Monday after years of accusations that the company had fueled an explosion in teen vaping.

A state judge accepted the first-of-its-kind agreement with a state. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein had sued Juul, accusing it of employing unfair and deceptive practices that targeted young people to use its vaping products, which deliver addictive nicotine. The lawsuit had been scheduled for trial next month.

As part of the agreement, Juul will not advertise to anyone under 21 in North Carolina, including through social media, and will limit sales amounts of Juul products online to any state residents. It will also sell its products only behind counters at retailers that have ID scanners to ensure customers are of age.

Teen use of e-cigarettes skyrocketed more than 70% after Juul's launch in 2015, leading the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to declare an "epidemic" of underage vaping among teenagers. Health experts said the unprecedented increase risked hooking a generation of young people on nicotine, an addictive chemical that is harmful to the developing brain.

"Juul sparked and spread a disease the disease of nicotine addiction. They did it to teenagers across North Carolina and this country simply to make money," Stein, a Democrat, said after a brief court hearing. "Today's court order will go a long way towards ensuring that their e-cigarettes product is not in kids' hands, its chemical vapor is out of their lungs, and that the nicotine does not poison or addict their brains."

Juul, which is partially owned by Altria Group Inc., has seen sales fall after already halting all advertising and social media promotion and pulling most of its flavors except for menthol.

"This settlement is consistent with our ongoing effort to reset our company and its relationship with our stakeholders, as we continue to combat underage usage and advance the opportunity for harm reduction for adult smokers," Juul said in a statement after the court hearing. "We seek to continue to earn trust through action."

Several states have filed their own lawsuits against Juul. A group of 39 state attorneys general have been cooperatively investigating the company's marketing and products since February 2020.

Juul also faces hundreds of personal injury lawsuits from customers and families of young people who said they were hurt or addicted by the company's products. Those have been consolidated in a California federal case.

Juul already had taken a legal beating this spring in the North Carolina case. Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson declared in May that the company had destroyed documents and ignored court orders, leading to possible massive monetary sanctions.

Teen vaping dropped significantly last year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a national survey, just under 20% of high school students said they were recent users of electronic cigarettes and other vaping products, down from about 28% in 2019.

Experts point to restrictions on flavors along with a new federal law that raised the age limit for all tobacco and vaping sales to 21.

Anti-vaping advocates welcomed the decision. But they said more restrictions are needed to curb teen use, including banning menthol from Juul and all other e-cigarettes. Stein also urged the FDA to step in.

"The evidence is clear that Juul's high-dose nicotine products caused the youth e-cigarette epidemic," said a statement from Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "The evidence is also clear that menthol flavor appeals to kids and kids shifted to menthol products."

Monday's settlement, which Hudson signed, also directs "secret shopper' visits to stores by young people to ensure the restrictions are being carried out. The $40 million, to be paid over six years, will be earmarked by the state for vaping cessation and prevention programs, and for e-cigarette research.

Stein filed the lawsuit in state court in Durham, a central North Carolina city that is home to Duke University. Both the city and the school grew substantially in the 20th century thanks to tobacco production. North Carolina still remains the No. 1 producer of flue-cured tobacco in the country.

The connection to Durham wasn't lost on Stein, who said he recalls traveling to the city to tour the now-shuttered Liggett & Myers cigarette manufacturing facility when he was in elementary school.

"The whole town smelled of tobacco," Stein told reporters after the hearing. "When we thought about bringing this case, we thought that there was some symbolism to bring it here."

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Juul Will Pay North Carolina $40 Million To Settle A Landmark Suit Over Teen Vaping - NPR