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Submission + - China's EV sales set to overtake traditional cars years ahead of west (ft.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Electric vehicles are expected to outsell cars with internal combustion engines in China for the first time next year, in a historic inflection point that puts the world’s biggest car market years ahead of western rivals.

China is set to smash international forecasts and Beijing’s official targets with domestic EV sales — including pure battery and plug-in hybrids — growing about 20 per cent year on year to more than 12mn cars in 2025, according to the latest estimates supplied to the Financial Times by four investment banks and research groups. The figure would be more than double the 5.9mn sold in 2022.

At the same time, sales of traditionally powered cars are expected to fall by more than 10 per cent next year to less than 11mn, reflecting a near 30 per cent plunge from 14.8mn in 2022.

Submission + - China Tested Novel Stealth Jets, Launched New Class Amphibious Assault Ship (reuters.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Blurry images [and videos] of two seemingly new Chinese military aircraft with stealthy characteristics appeared online, with defense experts saying they were clearly advanced designs, but there was not enough detail for definitive conclusions. The larger of the two [tail-less] designs is roughly diamond-shaped, with three air intakes for its engines — two alongside the fuselage and one on top — an extremely unusual configuration. The smaller one has a more conventional layout. Both have the lack of 90-degree angles typical of stealth shaping, which is designed to reduce radar detection. Reuters confirmed a video showing the larger of the two new Chinese aircraft flying over Chengdu by matching nearby buildings, signage, logos and trees to satellite imagery and file images. The date could not be verified independently. Neither Chinese jet has an official designation that has been made public. Although the designs are novel relative to the rest of China's fleet, it is not possible to tell how stealthy they are, how maneuverable or fast they are, or what sort of "under the hood" avionics they carry — the sorts of detail needed to determine whether they are truly "next-generation" designs, five defense experts said. Separately, Chinese state media outlet Xinhua reported the People's Liberation Army Navy had launched its newest amphibious assault ship which has a full load displacement of more than 40,000 tons, features a double island superstructure, a full-length flight deck, and an electromagnetic catapult system allowing it to launch fixed-wing aircraft,

Submission + - US Treasury Says Chinese Hackers Stole Documents In 'Major Incident' (reuters.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Chinese state-sponsored hackers broke into the U.S. Treasury Department earlier this month and stole documents from its workstations, according to a letter to lawmakers that was provided to Reuters on Monday. The hackers compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and were able to access unclassified documents, the letter said, calling it a "major incident."

According to the letter, hackers "gained access to a key used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support for Treasury Departmental Offices (DO) end users. With access to the stolen key, the threat actor was able override the service’s security, remotely access certain Treasury DO user workstations, and access certain unclassified documents maintained by those users." After being alerted by cybersecurity provider BeyondTrust, the Treasury Department said it was working with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI to assess the hack's impact.

Submission + - Billionaires and tech barons vying to build a private space station (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Axiom Space, a US business aiming to build its own station, has raised more than $500m (£400m). Vast, a space business backed by crypto billionaire Jed McCaleb, is plotting two stations before the end of the decade. Gravitics, meanwhile, has raised tens of millions of dollars for its modular space “real estate”. Nasa itself, along with other space agencies, is planning a further station, Lunar Gateway, which will orbit the Moon.

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin has also announced plans to build a space station by 2027, called Orbital Reef, which it has described as an orbital “mixed-use business park”.

Submission + - H-1B DATA MEGA-THREAD (threadreaderapp.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: I downloaded five years of H-1B data from the US DOL website (4M+ records) and spent the day crunching data.

I went into this with an open mind, but, to be honest, I'm now *extremely* skeptical of how this program works.

Here's what I found

Lots to dig through, most of it damning.

Exit quote: “You can see where I’m going with this. A casual perusal of the data shows that this isn’t a program for the top 0.1% of talent, as it’s been described. This is simply a way to recruit hundreds of thousands of relatively lower-wage IT and financial services professionals.”

Submission + - Two Boeing 737-800s suffer hydraulic failure (alarabiya.net) 1

Submitted by jd
jd writes: Two South Korean 737s suffered near-identical hydraulic failure, with at least one also suffering a near-total loss of electrical power as well. The first jet attempted a belly landing, ending up smashing into a concrete post and exploding. All 737s in South Korea are now grounded for an emergency investigation.

But this raises several important questions. Firstly, why are no other 737s being checked? Until the crash investigation is complete, assuming it's a problem affecting one country only seems perplexing, especially given Boeing's current profile.

Secondly, why would a plane suffer multiple failures? If systems are isolated and independent, that sounds perplexing. Either they're not independent, or the reporting is problematic.

From the linked article:

The Boeing 737-800 involved in the latest incident was the same model as the Jeju Air plane that crashed on Sunday killing 179 people after coming down without its landing gear engaged.

Seoul said on Monday it would conduct a special inspection of all 101 Boeing 737-800 planes in operation in the country, with US investigators, possibly including from plane manufacturer Boeing, joining the probe into the crash.

The BBC adds the following information:

Indication of electrical fault in 'perplexing crash', aviation expert suggests
published at 12:39
12:39
"This is one of the most perplexing crashes I have ever seen. Nothing about it makes any sense," aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas tells the BBC.

Speaking from Perth, he notes that while a bird strike may have played a role, once the pilot issued a mayday call the air traffic control data cut out.

The sudden loss of data — which allows the flights to be tracked — "indicates an electrical fault of some kind", Thomas suggests.

Following the call, the plane was also allowed to land in the opposite direction to usual.

But the wheels were up, the flaps not set correctly and it landed halfway down the runway before careering into the localiser and exploding, he says.

Thomas says there are workarounds if an electrical or hydraulic problem arises, but these were not used.

"It just doesn’t make any sense. We're going to have to wait for voice recorder details before we can get a handle on what on earth went on."

Comment Re: "it was just one off freak accident" didn't wo (Score 1) 78

the subcontractorâ(TM)s labor rates are going to be lower than the in-house labor rates so it looks better in some managerâ(TM)s spreadsheet. it doesnâ(TM)t matter if using a subcontractor results in the project or product costing more or taking longer. it only matters that at the time the decision is made to outsource, the projected cost based on the subcontractor labor rates is less. And the person making the decision has to move on to their next role before the consequences have time to materialize.

Submission + - Consumer Reports Finds 'Widespread' Presence of Plastics In Food (reuters.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Consumer Reports has found that plastics retain a "widespread" presence in food despite the health risks, and called on regulators to reassess the safety of plastics that come into contact with food during production. The non-profit consumer group said on Thursday that 84 out of 85 supermarket foods and fast foods it recently tested contained "plasticizers" known as phthalates, a chemical used to make plastic more durable. It also said 79% of food samples in its study contained bisphenol A (BPA), another chemical found in plastic, and other bisphenols, though levels were lower than in tests done in 2009.

Consumer Reports said none of the phthalate levels it found exceeded limits set by U.S. and European regulators. It also said there was no level of phthalates that scientists confirm is safe, but that does not guarantee the safety of foods you eat. Phthalates and bisphenols can disrupt the production and regulation of estrogen and other hormones, potentially boosting the risk of birth defects, cancer, diabetes, infertility, neurodevelopmental disorders, obesity and other health problems. Among tested supermarket foods, Annie's Organic Cheesy Ravioli contained the most phthalates in nanograms per serving, 53,579, followed by Del Monte sliced peaches and Chicken of the Sea pink salmon.

Submission + - Drones Are the New Drug Mules (vice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Last week border officials in the Punjab region of India revealed they intercepted 107 drug-carrying drones sent by smuggling gangs last year over the border from Pakistan, the highest number on record. Most were carrying heroin or opium from Pakistan to be dropped and received by collaborators in the Punjab, notorious for having India’s worst levels of opiate addiction. Last year the head of a police narcotics unit in Lahore, a city in Pakistan which borders the Punjab, was dismissed after he was suspected of running a drug trafficking gang sending drones over to India. But the use of cheap flying robots instead of humans to smuggle drugs across borders is a worldwide phenomenon. [...]

[D]rones will likely become an everyday part of drug dealing too, according to Peter Warren Singer, author of multiple books on national security and a Fellow at think tank New America, with legit medicines due to be delivered by drone in the U.S. later this year and maybe in the U.K. too. “We are just scraping the surface of what is possible, as drone deliveries become more and more common in the commercial world, it will be the same with delivery of illicit goods. In our book, Burn-In, we explain how a future city will see drones zipping about delivering everything from groceries and burritos to drugs, both prescribed by a doctor or bought off a dealer. Drones have traditionally been used by governments and corporations for what are known as the "3 D's" jobs that are too dull, dirty, or dangerous for humans. For criminals, it is the same, except add in another D: Dependable. A drone doesn't steal the product and can't be arrested or snitch if caught.”

Liam O’Shea, senior research fellow for organized crime and policing at defense and security thinktank RUSI, said drones were at the moment of limited value to wholesale traffickers and organized criminal gangs because of their range and the weight they can carry. “It makes sense that smugglers would seek to use drones. They are cheap and easy to acquire. They also lower the risks involved in some transactions, as smugglers do not have to be physically present during transactions. They offer opportunities for smuggling in areas where previous routes were too risky, such as prisons and over securitized borders. “I expect them to be of greater value to smaller players and distributors dealing with smaller quantities. Wholesale drug traffickers will still need to use routes that facilitate smuggling at higher volume or using drones to make multiple trips, which entails risks of detection. That may well change as improvements in technology improve drones’ carrying capacity and crime groups are better able to access drones with greater capacity.”

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