Debris from satellite blown up by India still flying around Earth, six weeks after Delhi claimed it should have decayed…
June 26, 2019
The Indian authorities had pledged that all debris would decay within 45 days of the anti-satellite strike aimed at testing the country’s military capabilities on 27 March.
More than six weeks on from the promised deadline, dozens of pieces of space junk from the satellite have been detected in orbit by specialist trackers.
Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, said 41 debris objects were still in orbit. He predicted it would take “a year or so” for the debris to fall to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.
In April, Nasa chief Jim Bridenstine called India’s destruction of a satellite as “terrible, terrible thing” that could endanger astronauts in the International Space Station (ISS)...
Tesla Hit With $2B Lawsuit for Allegedly Violating Patents…
June 26, 2019
Nikola’s founders said in a court filing that Tesla’s first electric heavy duty rig, the Semi, is “substantially” similar to its own truck that it first unveiled in May 2016 and that Tesla copied its patents. The Salt Lake City, Utah-based company added that it was awarded six design patents between February and April 2018 for its wrap windshield, mid-entry door, fuselage, fender, side cladding and the overall design of the Nikola One...
Elon Musk’s personal fortune is shifting away from Tesla and toward SpaceX, which now makes up two-thirds of his wealth, with Tesla accounting for most of the remaining third…
June 26, 2019
Musk is the world’s 41st richest person with a net worth of US$22.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index... SpaceX’s success still hasn’t been enough to completely offset the decline in Musk’s wealth this year. It has dropped by US$1.7 billion...
Macbook batteries are exploding. Apple has issued a recall, go here to see if yours is affected…
June 26, 2019
Apple buys self-driving startup Drive.ai just days before it would have died…
June 26, 2019
It’s not clear just how much of Drive.ai will survive at Apple, or whether the startup’s mass layoffs will proceed as scheduled this Friday. According to Axios’ sources, Apple purchased the company’s assets, including its autonomous cars, but both Axios and the San Francisco Chronicle suggest that Apple chose to hire engineers away from Drive.ai directly. Other workers may not be coming along for the ride...
NRA shuts down future production of NRATV…
June 26, 2019
The influential gun rights group also cut ties with Ackerman McQueen, its estranged advertising firm that operates the organization’s broadcasting media arm, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The Times.
NRATV may continue to air past broadcasts, but its live programming and its on-air personalities will no longer be the NRA’s public faces. It was not immediately clear if the NRA may try to hire some employees over from NRATV...
China halts Canadian meat exports after discovering false veterinary health certificates attached to a batch of pork…
June 26, 2019
China's embassy in Ottawa said a customs investigation -- launched after the discovery of traces of a banned feed additive -- revealed up to 188 false documents had been submitted to Chinese officials.
"In order to protect the safety of Chinese consumers, China has taken urgent preventive measures and requested the Canadian government to suspend the issuance of certificates for meat exported to China since June 25," it said on its website.
"We hope the Canadian side would attach great importance to this incident, complete the investigation as soon as possible and take effective measures to ensure the safety of food exported to China in a more responsible manner," it added...
North Korea, U.S. engaging in “behind-the-scenes” talks on third summit. South Korean President Moon Says Two sides now have better “mutual understanding,”…
June 26, 2019
“It’s noteworthy that the behind-the-scenes talks have been preceded by the mutual understanding of each other’s position gained through the Hanoi summit.” The resumption of nuclear negotiations between the North and the U.S., he said, would serve to take the current peace process on the peninsula to the “next level.” “I believe everything has now fallen into place for that to happen.”
Seoul and Pyongyang, the President continued, have also continued dialogue through “diverse channels to sustain inter-Korean talks,” reiterating his commitment to meet the North Korean leader “at any given moment without being restrained by time, place or formalities.”...
NSA Again Exposed For Unauthorized Collection Of Americans’ Phone Records…
June 26, 2019
Yet again, the National Security Agency has been exposed for "accidentally overcollecting" call-record metadata of millions of Americans. According to a WSJ report that relied on documents obtained by the ACLU...
According to the report, it's unclear how the overcollection occurred, but the incident took place after the NSA said it had purged hundreds of millions of metadata records it had amassed since 2015 in a separate overcollection episode...
AT&T Sued Over Hidden Admin Fees That weren’t included as part of the advertised plans…
June 26, 2019
As Ars Technica reports, the lawsuit was filed by Ian Vianu and Irina Bukchin, AT&T customers who are seeking class-action status for all customers in California. The administration fee is currently set at $1.99, but has been added to customer bills since 2013, when it was introduced at a rate of $0.61 per month.
The fee isn't included in advertised rates and the description of what it covers can only be found within the "Additional Charges" section of AT&T's website. The description is less than clear and references "certain expenses AT&T incurs" before referencing charges related to interconnects with other carriers, cell site rents, and maintenance...
How much does your ISP spend on lobbying?…
June 26, 2019
Internet service providers in the United States have spent more than $1.2 billion on lobbying since 1998, and 2018 was the biggest year so far with a total spend of more than $80 million... Top spenders include AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast, which have amassed lobbying expenses of $341 million, $265 million, and $200 million, respectively since 1998...
Ex-chair of FCC broadband committee gets five years in prison for defrauding investors…
June 26, 2019
Elizabeth Ann Pierce was CEO of Quintillion, an Alaskan telecom company, when she lied to two investment firms in New York in order to raise $270 million to build a fiber network. She also defrauded two individual investors out of $365,000 and used a large chunk of that money for personal expenses...
House Democrats pass $4.5 billion emergency border aid bill with provisions for the treatment of migrant children in U.S. custody…
June 26, 2019
Tuesday’s House vote is not expected to garner significant Republican support. The White House announced it was opposed to the bill Monday, and House GOP leaders said they favor a competing bipartisan bill that passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 30-to-1 vote last week. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters that Democrats were “playing politics” with the border aid and called on Pelosi to put the Senate bill to a vote. “Let’s send the bipartisan bill from the Senate to the president’s desk,” he said...
Barack and Michelle Obama seen rubbing elbows with the Hollywood elite, George Clooney and his wife Amal on Italy’s exclusive Lake Como…
June 26, 2019
...other photos of the lake romp may be a bit more scarce as the governor of Laglio put in place a $565 fine for anyone trying to get within 300 feet of the Clooney’s Villa Oleandra while the Obamas were in town. Actor Clooney was not the only celeb the Obamas partied with on this latest jaunt around Europe. While in France, the Obamas met up with U2 frontman Bono and bandmate The Edge. The former White House occupant also had a tony dinner with Prince Albert II in Monaco...
Overdose Deaths Likely to Fall for First Time Since 1990…
June 26, 2019
Authorities are still counting fatalities around the U.S. from 2018, but provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are pointing lower. Those data predict there were nearly 69,100 drug deaths in the 12-month period ending last November, down from almost 72,300 predicted deaths for 12 months ending November 2017. If the trend holds through December, annual drug deaths will fall for the first time since 1990, when overdoses killed about 8,400 people. December’s data will likely be available next month.
Secret Service Take Chicago Restaurant Employee into Custody After She Spits on Eric Trump…
June 26, 2019
According to sources familiar with the matter, Eric Trump had, with a group of people, come into Aviary, an upscale lounge in Chicago, and the young woman–an employee of the establishment–came right up to him and spit in his face. Per an eyewitness, she murmured inaudibly something that sounded like it was anti-Trump. Then Secret Service agents who were there protecting Eric Trump jumped into action and took the woman into custody. She was put in handcuffs and placed in a police paddy wagon, a source with knowledge said. Eric Trump decided not to press charges against the woman in the end, and she was released from police custody.
Treasury chief Mnuchin: U.S.-China trade deal 90 percent done…
June 26, 2019
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday negotiators are 90 percent of the way to a new trade deal with China, just days before President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet at the G20 summit...
"We were about 90 percent of the way there and I think there's a path to complete this," Mnuchin said. "The message we want to hear is that they want to come back to the table and continue, because I think there is a good outcome for their economy and the U.S. economy."...
By just saying something that sounds optimistic, Mnuchin managed to push US equity futures up - even though a trade deal won't really happen anytime soon.
Bitcoin surges towards $13,000, boosted by ‘Facebank’…
June 26, 2019
From the Financial Times:
Analysts say the bout of enthusiasm for virtual currencies is being stoked by a confluence of factors.
Among the most significant is Facebook’s move into the world of crypto, launching its own currency called Libra in an attack by Big Tech on the payments industry. Analysts are optimistic that Libra could help cryptocurrencies generally gain more mainstream acceptance, both as means of payment and as a store of wealth...