A handful of international stories worth a note this morning if you have a moment:

Front page news in the global business press this morning: Apple has postedimprovements in revenues and net profits, but analysts zeroed in on a 1% slide in iPhone sales that briefly sent shares down. Apple chief Tim Cook blamed the slowdown in iPhone sales on leaks of what might come with the tenth-anniversary iPhone 8 this fall. See more in the Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg or the Wall Street Journal. Geeks can check out Apple Insider’s summary of the results and of Apple’s analyst call or head over to see Apple’s earnings press release.

Yes, yes, Hamas has “moderated” its tone. Yesterday, we noted that Hamas had issued a ‘moderate’ policy paper in Qatar (where else?) in which the group distanced itself from the Ikhwan and stopped just short of calling for the destruction of Israel. The Western press is now slobbering all over itself to make something out of the newly “moderate” Hamas, noting that its conversion on the road to Damascus comes just days before Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas heads to Washington, DC, to meet US President Donald Trump. See examples in the Financial Times (which suggests economic pressure from Egypt has helped bring Hamas to its knees), the New York Times (ditto, noting that this is Hamas boss Khaled Meshal’s “last hand”), and the Wall Street Journal (which caps its piece with a quote from an Israeli official calling Hamas’ new tone “chatter and nothing more”).

Olayan Financing Co. has hired Saudi Fransi Capital to advise on a potential IPO ofsome of its assets, ahead of which the family-owned conglomerate will reportedly “set up a new holding company for as many as 20 of its units, which could be worth as much USD 5 bn.”