Donald Trump launched a promised assault on “burdens” imposed by government within hours of becoming US president on Friday by moving to loosen rules tied to Obamacare and halting the introduction of any new regulations. Between the end of the daytime inaugural parade and the start of evening balls, the Trump administration took its first major policy moves by ordering government agencies to do all they could […]
Washington Post reporter Dalton Bennett thrown to the ground by riot police. pic.twitter.com/4I442QhEqM — Alex Emmons (@AlexanderEmmons) January 20, 2017 Dalton Bennett, a political video reporter at The Washington Post, was thrown to the ground by police today while covering the protests against President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. According to reporter Alex Emmons, who’s covering the protests for The Intercept, Bennett was trying to record anti-Trump […]
BERLIN Germany will need a new economic strategy geared toward Asia should the new U.S. administration start a trade war with China, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said on Friday, warning against protectionism hours after President Donald Trump was sworn in. “I think we have to prepare for a rough ride,” Gabriel said in an interview with the public broadcaster ZDF, in the first official German reaction to […]
A driver sits in an Uber self-driving car in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 13, 2016 Evangelists for driverless cars see a bright future coming down the road: thousands of lives saved, countless driving hours freed up, cityscapes transformed with traffic jams vanquished. But the new technology also threatens millions of jobs and raises a slew of ethical dilemmas—prospects that were on the minds of business chiefs and […]
By David Lawder and Scott Malone | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Black-clad activists angry about U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration smashed store and car windows in Washington on Friday and fought with police in riot gear who responded with pepper spray and stun grenades. About 500 people, some wearing masks and kerchiefs over their faces, marched through the city’s downtown, breaking the windows of a Bank of America branch, […]
As Donald Trump moves into the White House, it would be hard to dream up a cabinet friendlier to fossil fuels. His nominees include Rex Tillerson, the former ExxonMobil chief tapped for secretary of state; Scott Pruitt, picked to run the environmental watchdog he fought as Oklahoma attorney-general; and Rick Perry, a former Texas governor set to head the energy department. “Folks in the fossil fuel industry […]
Bernie Dunn may have retired from the US Army but he remains on a mission in the Middle East. The Boeing regional president hit a bullseye on December 11 when his team secured an $8 billion deal with Iran Air in the airline’s first plane contract since 1979. The world’s largest aerospace manufacturer beat out its French rival, Airbus, by 11 days. Though Airbus then secured 20 […]
MELBOURNE A man deliberately drove into pedestrians, killing three and injuring more than 15 in the centre of Australia’s second largest city Melbourne on Friday, but police said the lunch-time incident was not terrorism-related. Police eventually rammed the car and shot the 26-year-old driver in the arm, before dragging him from the vehicle and arresting him. Police said the man had a history of family violence and […]
By Kevin Yao and Elias Glenn | BEIJING BEIJING China’s economy grew a faster-than-expected 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, boosted by higher government spending and record bank lending, giving it a solid tailwind heading into what is expected to be a turbulent 2017. But Beijing’s decision to raise spending to meet its official growth target could exact a high price, as policymakers grapple with financial risks […]
The body of a girl is found in woods outside “a little hole in the wall” Swiss village. Matthäi, an inspector in the Zurich cantonal police, is reluctant to take on the case: it is his last afternoon in the job and one of his last days in the country before he embarks on an overseas posting in Jordan. Nevertheless, he begins to investigate and is soon […]
By Ian Simpson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Washington turned into a virtual fortress on Thursday ahead of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, with police ready to step in to separate protesters from Trump supporters at any sign of unrest. Some 900,000 people, both Trump backers and opponents, are expected to flood Washington for Friday’s inauguration ceremony, according to organizers’ estimates. Events include the swearing-in ceremony on the steps of […]
SINGAPORE, 20 Jan 2017: Singapore will withdraw its Reciprocal Road Charge if Malaysia subsequently withdraws its Road Charge, or implements it in a non-discriminatory way, says the republic’s Ministry of Transport (MOT). MOT described the ‘non-discriminatory way’ as Malaysia should implement its road charge at all of its land borders, at an equal cost and on all non-Malaysian-registered cars. “We have a long-standing policy of matching any levy, tolls […]
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced Thursday that it’s closed its preliminary investigation into Tesla’s Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) or Autopilot systems, finding no defects in design or performance. In fact, according to the report, data from Tesla vehicles shows the vehicle crash rate dropped by almost 40 percent after Autosteer installation. The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) analyzed mileage and airbag deployment data supplied […]
The release of the newly available primary documents, which include information not discussed in a 500-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the C.I.A. torture program that was released in 2014, comes at the same time as an urgent legal battle is unfolding over the potential fate of the still-classified, 6,700-page full version of that report. Continue reading the main story Lawyers for two […]
YENAGOA, Nigeria The Nigerian military said on Thursday it is deploying troops to Gambia as part of a West African coalition force, aiming to uphold the result of December’s presidential elections. “The Nigerian military will deploy its assets as part of (a) standby force to protect the people of the Gambia and maintain sub regional peace and security,” the armed forces said in a statement. Adama Barrow […]
By David Shepardson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. regulators are expected on Thursday to close a six-month-old investigation into the death of a man whose Tesla collided with a truck while he was using its semi-autonomous driving system and not seek a vehicle recall, according to a source briefed on the matter. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did not find evidence of a defect that would […]
The world relies heavily on gasoline and other hydrocarbons to power its cars and trucks. In search of an alternative fuel type, some researchers are turning to the stuff of fireworks and explosives: metal powders. And now one team is reporting a method to produce a metal nanopowder fuel with high energy content that is stable in air and doesn’t go boom until ignited. (via WSJ)
Tesla Panasonic hopes to work with Tesla to produce more than just batteries for next generation vehicles as the company continues to move further into the automotive field. As reported by Reuters on Thursday, Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga said in an interview that the company is “deeply interested” in Tesla’s self-driving vehicle system and ambitions, and hopes to “expand our collaboration by jointly developing devices for that, […]
By Lisa Barrington | BEIRUT BEIRUT After years of political deadlock, Lebanon finally has a new government. Now it needs a new economy. Battered by war in neighbouring Syria, neglected by wrangling politicians and caught in rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the pillars of the economy – remittances from overseas workers, tourism and real estate – are not what they were. Long-term, Lebanon is searching for […]
While ECB President Mario Draghi may sound slightly hawkish at tomorrow’s press conference after an unexpectedly strong acceleration in CPI in December and European economic growth modestly picking up, the ECB is set to argue on Thursday that its extra-easy policy stance is still needed to keep the recovery on course. As a result, it is all but certain to leave current monetary policy in place and […]
By Lisa Richwine and Anya George Tharakan Streaming video pioneer Netflix Inc added over a third more subscribers than expected in the last quarter of 2016, a sign of success for its ambitious global expansion that sent its shares up 8 percent in extended trading. Netflix signed up 7.1 million new subscribers globally, far more than the 5.2 million analysts had expected, according to research firm FactSet, […]
Senegalese troops were massed last night on the Gambian border, preparing for a possible invasion if Yahya Jammeh, Gambia’s president, refused to step down by midnight. Minutes after midnight, the official end of his term in office, there was no word from Mr Jammeh. As the clock ticked down on Mr Jammeh’s term, diplomatic efforts to persuade him to go had continued. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Mauritania’s […]
Members of the new Hydrogen Council at the Davos World Economic Forum on January 17, 2017. Major industrial groups have decided to join forces to promote hydrogen as a source of energy, with the focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions Over a dozen leading European and Asian firms have teamed up to promote the use of hydrogen as a clean fuel and cut the production of harmful […]
Professor Saiful Islam. Credit: The Royal Society Faster recharging lithium batteries could be developed after scientists figured out why adding charged metal atoms to tunnel structures within batteries improves their performance. Rechargeable lithium batteries have helped power the ‘portable revolution’ in mobile phones, laptops and tablet computers, and new generations of lithium batteries are being developed for electric vehicles and to store energy from wind and solar […]
