Author: Guillermo Steele

Tesla is recalling more than two million cars after the US regulator found its driver assistance system, Autopilot, was partly defective. It follows a two-year investigation into crashes which occurred when the tech was in use. The recall applies to almost every Tesla sold in the US since the Autopilot feature was launched in 2015. Tesla, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, said it would send a software update “over the air” to fix the issue. The update happens automatically and does not require a visit to a dealership or garage, but is still referred to by the US regulator as…

The maker of Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes says its smoking business in the US is dying out. British American Tobacco (BAT) wrote off £25bn ($31.5bn) in value due to the changed outlook for brands such as Newport and Camel. The move cut the brands’ worth by more than a third, and sent the company’s share price down more than 8%. BAT cigarette sales have struggled as US smoking rates fall and buyers turn to vapes and other alternatives. Demand for its brands has also dropped as buyers squeezed by higher prices prioritise other purchases or opt for cheaper…

Mount Cristo Rey rises in the desert like two hands in prayer, the U.S. and Mexico sides, over a graveyard without tombs. This year, migrants died in this harsh landscape – in the Rio Grande, in the desert, in neighborhoods and on city streets – in numbers never seen before at this border crossing known as the Paso del Norte. Yet no stones mark the places where they died, only numeric coordinates inked on police reports. The sand berm where a Border Patrol agent found 49-year-old Abel Lopez Rodriguez with “maggots all over his body.” The spot behind Doña Ana…

Canada’s Department of National Defense is the first partner nation to access the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) narrowband satellite communication system The Canadian Department of National Defense became the first international partner to access the U.S. Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite network, the U.S. Space Force announced Nov. 30. MUOS, developed by the U.S. Navy, is used for voice, video and data transmissions over a narrowband network of satellites in geosynchronous orbit — four operational satellites and one on-orbit spare. The Navy in March 2023 handed over the system to the Space Force. Canadian operators in a demonstration…

Union minister Jitendra Singh on Friday credited the success of the Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L1 missions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy of “unlocking the space sector” through public-private partnerships and said even the US and Russia eagerly await for India to share information on these projects. Singh emphasised that the Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L1 missions symbolise India’s fast-growing development. “Our missions started almost simultaneously. Chandrayaan-3’s notable aspect was its landing on the southern pole (of the moon), an untouched region. We are gathering crucial data on the atmosphere, minerals and thermal conditions, and analysing the findings”, he told reporters…

A San Diego Superior Court jury awarded damages in a lawsuit filed by Mike Dennis, 57, of Carlsbad. He was diagnosed in 2020 with a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His lawsuit contended that his illness was related to Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate. Dennis had treatment and has been in remission for nearly three years but there is no cure, Adam Peavy, one of his attorneys, told KNSD-TV. “His doctors have told him it’s going to come back and we’re just waiting to see if that happens,” Peavy said. The jury found that Monsanto, which is now a division of…

Surgeons in New York say they have performed the world’s first complete eye transplant on a man, although it is not certain he will regain vision. Aaron James, who survived a high-voltage electrical accident, underwent 21 hours of surgery that replaced half of his face. Surgeons have been able to transplant corneas successfully for years. Experts have called the breakthrough a pivotal moment in the quest to restore sight to millions of people. Mr James, a high-voltage utility line worker from Arkansas, lost most of his face when it accidentally touched a 7,200-volt live wire in 2021. Source : BBC

The United States government on Friday said it was working with the Nigerian government to counter terrorism financing. US Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary, Eric Meyer, who said this noted that the US was willing to make Nigeria’s financial system secure and safe. Meyer stated that his main interest is in finance, particularly as it is related to terrorism, adding that his office works to counter the financing of terrorism through money laundering and other avenues for corruption. Source : Punch

There has never been any doubt that Ukraine was the focus of an intelligence war as much as a physical one. But the extent of Western assistance, as well as growing concern at some Ukrainian tactics, is only now becoming clear. On Monday, the Washington Post ran a lengthy examination of the level of CIA assistance for the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and military intelligence (HUR) that bore all the hallmarks of being facilitated by the US government. It acknowledged that since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Americans has invested ‘tens of millions’ of dollars in training and technical assistance…

Russia on Monday said it supported the statements made by US President Joe Biden on the need for a “new world order.” “We absolutely agree with Mr. Biden. This is a rare case when we absolutely agree with what he said. Indeed, the world needs a new order based on completely different principles,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists in a press briefing in Moscow. Peskov further said that such a “new world order” must be based on international law, mutual respect, mutual benefit, and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. The spokesman showed Moscow’s disagreement with Biden’s later statements…