Tokyo, Japan (AFP) Japanese auto giant Honda and South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution announced a joint venture Monday to invest $4.4 billion in a new US electric car battery plant. The move comes after California last week ruled that all new cars sold in America’s most populous state must be zero-emission from 2035, with other US states expected to follow suit. In a joint statement, the firms said they expected construction of the […]
Tag: US
US manhunt after gunman shoots 3 people dead at ‘random’
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Police in the US city of Detroit launched a manhunt Sunday for a suspect believed to have shot four people at “random”, killing three of them, authorities said. The Midwestern city’s police chief, James White, told media that the first three victims — two women and a man — were found shot multiple times in separate locations around the city in the early hours of the morning. A fourth man […]
Two US Navy warships transit through Taiwan Strait
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Two United States warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, the American navy said, the first such transit since China staged unprecedented military drills around the island. In a statement, the US Navy said the transit “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.” Tensions in the Taiwan Strait soared to their highest level in years this month after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited […]
SpaceX and T-Mobile unveil satellite plan to end cellphone ‘dead zones’
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellites will connect directly to T-Mobile cellphones to provide service access even in the most remote places beyond the reach of cell towers from next year, the two companies announced Thursday. The new service, which will work on existing cellphones and utilize SpaceX’s network of thousands of Starlink satellites in Earth’s orbit, will begin offering text messaging services from late 2023, with voice calls and data […]
Webb telescope finds CO2 for first time in exoplanet atmosphere
Washington, United States (AFP) The months-old James Webb Space Telescope has added another major scientific discovery to its growing list: detecting for the first time signs of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system. Although the exoplanet would never be able to support life as we know it, the successful discovery of CO2 gives researchers hope that similar observations could be carried out on rocky objects more hospitable to […]
California says new cars must be zero emission by 2035
Los Angeles, United States (AFP) by Huw GRIFFITH California ruled Thursday that all new cars sold in America’s most populous state must be zero emission from 2035, in what was billed as a nation-leading step to slash the pollutants that cause global warming. The widely touted move has been hailed by environmentalists, who hope it will prod other parts of the United States to quicken the adoption of electric vehicles. The rules demand an ever-increasing […]
US senator lands in Taiwan for fourth political visit this month
by Amber WANG Agence France-Presse TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — US Senator Marsha Blackburn landed in Taiwan late Thursday, the fourth visit by an American politician this month and a move bound to rile Beijing, which has staged huge military drills to protest such trips. Tensions between China and the United States have soared to their highest level in decades since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit triggered Beijing’s unprecedented show of force around the island earlier […]
US GDP contracted 0.6 percent in Q2, less than initial report
Washington, United States (AFP) The American economy contracted in the April-June quarter but not as much as initially reported, as revised data showed stronger US exports and spending, according to government data released Thursday. Second quarter GDP fell 0.6 percent, annualized, less than the 0.9 percent drop the Commerce Department announced in the initial estimate last month. Coming after the steep 1.6 percent contraction in the first quarter, the data still feeds concerns about a […]
Musk lawyers seize on Twitter whistleblower revelations
San Francisco, United States (AFP) by Glenn CHAPMAN Elon Musk’s lawyers jumped Wednesday on the revelations of a Twitter whistleblower to try to force the platform to surrender vast amounts of information for their fight to cancel the billionaire’s buyout bid. The Tesla boss’s team told a US judge the former Twitter security chief’s allegations of major security gaps and problematic practices had bolstered their case, which has struggled for momentum in court. Musk has tried […]
Jury awards $31 mn damages in Kobe Bryant crash photo trial
Los Angeles, United States (AFP) A jury ordered Los Angeles County to pay $31 million in damages to Kobe Bryant’s widow and a co-plaintiff Wednesday over graphic photos of the helicopter crash that killed the basketball star. Sheriff’s deputies and firefighters who rushed to the scene of the January 2020 crash snapped pictures of the carnage, including the mangled remains of the Los Angeles Lakers legend and his 13-year-old daughter. The civil trial in Los […]
Trouser snakes: US smuggler admits carrying reptiles in pants
Los Angeles, United States (AFP) A man who hid snakes and lizards in his trousers as he tried to sneak them into the United States as part of a $750,000 reptile smuggling enterprise faces decades in prison, officials said Wednesday. Jose Manuel Perez masterminded the six-year scheme from his home in southern California, which involved bringing 1,700 animals into the United States from Mexico and Hong Kong. In a plea deal with the Department of […]
Washington condemns possible Russian trials of Ukrainian PoWs
Washington, United States (AFP) The United States on Wednesday condemned any Russian effort to hold tribunals for prisoners of war in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, labeling the proceedings “illegitimate.” Reports surfaced this week that Moscow is considering prosecuting Ukrainian prisoners of war (PoWs) under conditions that could amount to war crimes. “The planned show trials are illegitimate and a mockery of justice, and we strongly condemn them,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price […]





