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Washington investigates Tesla’s ‘Elon Mode’ autopilot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:37 GMT

(CNN) — US highway safety regulators are investigating an apparent hidden feature in Tesla’s Autopilot software that can reportedly disable the safety prompts Tesla gives to drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel. The regulators are demanding information from the automaker about whether consumers could try to circumvent the safety controls on Tesla’s driver-assist technology.In a letter to Tesla dated July 26 and made public by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this week, US authorities expressed concern that the recent discovery of the setting — which has since been widely and unofficially dubbed “Elon mode” — could encourage unsafe driving behavior.“NHTSA is concerned that this feature was introduced to consumer vehicles and, now that the existence of this feature is known to the public, more drivers may attempt to activate it,” wrote NHTSA Acting Chief Counsel John Donaldson in the letter. “The resulting relaxation of controls designed t...

Canadian authorities race to capture 5 million bees from roadway spill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:37 GMT

(CNN) — Authorities raced to capture five million bees released yesterday after a truck carrying several crates of hives fell onto a roadway in Ontario, Canada, Halton Regional Police Constable Ryan Anderson told CNN.Halton Regional Police received a call shortly after 6 a.m. Wednesday, after the straps attached to the crates of beehives became loose and created a spill, releasing the millions of bees onto the roadway in Burlington, Anderson told CNN by phone.Burlington is south of Toronto. The city is located on the shores of Lake Ontario between Toronto and Niagara Falls, according to its website.After police shared a social media post warning residents and vehicles to stay clear of the area, about six or seven local beekeepers volunteered to help get the bees back to safety, Anderson said.“Within a couple hours, the majority of the bees were safely back in their hives in their crates, and were safely loaded back on the trailer,” Anderson said.A local Canadian ...

Thailand’s king reduces prison term of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to a single year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:37 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s king on Friday reduced the prison term of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from eight years to one year following the divisive politician’s return from 15 years of self-imposed exile.The decision by King Maha Vajiralongkorn was published Friday in the Royal Gazette, making ii effective immediately.Thaksin was prime minister from 2001 to 2006, when he was ousted by a military coup. He fled Thailand in 2008 when he faced prison time on charges he described as politically motivated.He returned to Thailand last week and was immediately sent to prison, but was quickly transferred to a state hospital because of what was described as his frail health.The Associated Press

Israeli forces raid a West Bank town, sparking a firefight that kills a Palestinian teacher

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:37 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military on Friday raided a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, besieging an apartment and sparking a gunfight with local militants that killed an apparently uninvolved Palestinian teacher, his family and Palestinian health officials said. It was the latest in a series of Israeli army raids in the occupied territory that have resulted in a high Palestinian death toll.Israeli security forces stormed into a town near Tubas, northeast of the Palestinian city of Nablus, and surrounded a house where militants were believed to be holed up. Israeli soldiers called on the wanted militants through loudspeakers to surrender, residents said. When the gunmen refused, the Israeli military launched soldier-fired missiles and grenades at the building to try to force them out. Videos showed giant plumes of smoke billowing from the apartment. But the gunmen refused to surrender themselves and managed to flee the wrecked house, the local branch of the Palestinian ...

Two women injured after jumping from 2nd floor to escape Scarborough house fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:37 GMT

Two women are in hospital after jumping from a second floor to escape a house fire in Scarborough on Friday morning.The one-alarm fire began around 2:30 a.m. at a residence on Homestead Road, near Kingston Road and Lawrence Avenue East.Police tell CityNews two women were taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries after they jumped from a second story window onto the roof of a parked vehicle below. One of the women landed on the windshield of the vehicle.The fire was quickly put out. Officials say it started in the back of the home.There is no word on the cause of the fire. The investigation is ongoing.

A 98-year-old German man is charged as an accessory to murder at a Nazi concentration camp

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:37 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A 98-year-old man has been charged in Germany with being an accessory to murder as a guard at the Nazis’ Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1943 and 1945, prosecutors said Friday.The German citizen, a resident of Main-Kinzig county near Frankfurt, is accused of having “supported the cruel and malicious killing of thousands of prisoners as a member of the SS guard detail,” prosecutors in Giessen said in a statement. They did not release the suspect’s name.He is charged with more than 3,300 counts of being an accessory to murder between July 1943 and February 1945. The indictment was filed at the state court in Hanau, which will now have to decide whether to send the case to trial. If it does, he will tried under juvenile law, taking account of his age at the time of the alleged crimes.Prosecutors said that a report by a psychiatric expert last October found that the suspect is fit to stand trial at least on a limited basis. German prosecutors have brou...

China’s new national map has set off a wave of protests. Why?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:37 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — China has upset many countries in the Asia-Pacific region with its release of a new official map that lays claim to most of the South China Sea, as well as to contested parts of India and Russia, and official objections continue to mount. What is the map, and why is it upsetting people so much?WHAT IS CHINA CLAIMING? China’s Ministry of Natural Resources released the new “standard” national map on Monday, part of what it has called an ongoing effort to eliminate “problem maps.” In it, China clearly shows its so-called nine-dash line, demarcating what it considers its maritime border, claiming almost the entirety of the South China Sea. The current, and other recent iterations of the annual map, include a 10th dash to the east of Taiwan. In the far northeastern corner of China on the border with Russia, it shows Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island, an island at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, as Chinese territory, even though the countries signed an agreement...

Stock market today: Global shares trade mostly higher ahead of a key US jobs report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:37 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were trading mostly higher Friday as investors looked toward a U.S. jobs report being released later in the day. France’s CAC 40 edged up nearly 0.1% in early trading to 7,321.92, while Germany’s DAX was little changed at 15,948.02. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5% to 7,477.41. U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures up 0.3% to 34,878.00. S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% to 4,525.75. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.3% to finish at 32,710.62. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.4% to 7,278.30. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.3% to 2,563.71. The Shanghai Composite added 0.4% to 3,133.25.Trading was halted in Hong Kong because of an approaching typhoon. Schools and businesses were shut as an official warning was issued about Super Typhoon Saola. Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed. Later Friday, the U.S. government will report employment data for August. The strong job market, along with consumer spending,...

The Red Cross says 43 bodies have been collected in a week from clashes in a disputed Somali city

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:37 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The International Committee of the Red Cross says 43 bodies have been collected in the past week from the front line of the latest fighting in a disputed city in Somaliland.The ICRC in a statement Friday said a further 110 wounded people have been taken to hospitals in the past week by the Somali Red Crescent Society amid clashes that have continued for months in and around Las-Anod. The statement did not identify the dead or those to blame.Somaliland separated from Somalia three decades ago and has sought recognition as an independent country. Somaliland security forces have been fighting clan militia who wish to be part of Somalia, whose Puntland state for years has disputed Las-Anod with Somaliland.Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the fighting. It is not known how many hundreds of people have been killed in total. The ICRC reported “widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure” in Las-Anod, the capital of the Sool region.Somaliland’s government...

Groundbreaking for Albany County solar project

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:37 GMT

COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Groundbreaking for the Albany County Solar Project in Colonie kicks off on Friday starting at 10:30 a.m. Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, Legislature Majority Leader Dennis Feeney, the New York Power Authority, Colonie Town Supervisor Peter Crummey, Calibrant Energy, Siemens, Capital Region BOCES, Shaker Heritage Society, and other elected officials will be in attendance. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! The groundbreaking will take place at the corner of Watervliet Shaker Road and Airline Drive. There is no timetable for when the project will be completed.