News

Summary

Tesla reported its first annual decline in deliveries, with 1.79 million vehicles delivered in 2024 compared to 1.81 million in 2023.

Fourth-quarter deliveries (495,570) fell short of analyst estimates, causing Tesla shares to drop 7%.

Challenges included rising competition in Europe and China, declining sales despite price cuts, and growing inventory of Cybertrucks.

Analysts cited CEO Elon Musk’s political involvement as a potential distraction.

While Tesla plans to release lower-cost autonomous vehicles in 2025, its lack of affordable EVs and intensified competition have strained its market dominance.

Summary

A mass shooting outside the Amazura Concert Hall in Jamaica, Queens, left 10 teenagers, aged 16 to 19, injured on New Year’s Day.

Four male suspects fired about 30 rounds into a crowd of 15 people waiting outside a vigil for a 16-year-old victim of a prior shooting.

All victims sustained non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to recover.

Police are searching for the suspects, who fled in a light-colored sedan. Queens officials condemned the violence, and the public is urged to assist with the investigation.

Summary

Germany’s Interior Ministry reported 189 suspected members of far-right groups, such as Reichsbürger and Selbstverwalter, are wanted under outstanding arrest warrants, including 43 suspects accused of violent crimes.

These groups reject the legitimacy of the modern German state, with some advocating for the restoration of the German Empire or declaring their properties sovereign.

The ministry linked them to antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and tax evasion.

Ongoing trials include a plot to overthrow the government and install Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss as head of state. Over 20 suspects are believed to be abroad.

Summary

As of 2025, works from 1929, including early versions of Popeye and Tintin, have entered the public domain in the U.S., allowing free reuse and adaptation.

Iconic works now public include The Skeleton Dance (Disney’s Silly Symphonies), Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail, William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials Mystery, and Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own.

However, Tintin remains under copyright in the EU until 2054.

This follows recent public domain entries like Steamboat Willie-era Mickey Mouse, with Betty Boop and Pluto set to join in 2026.

Summary

The FBI seized over 150 homemade pipe bombs, tools, and bomb-making materials from the Virginia home of Brad Spafford in December, marking the largest cache of finished explosive devices in FBI history.

Spafford, 36, was initially charged with possessing an unregistered short-barrel rifle, with additional charges related to the explosives expected.

Prosecutors allege Spafford supported political violence, including using President Biden’s image for target practice.

While defense attorneys argue for his release, citing a lack of evidence of planned violence, prosecutors maintain Spafford’s dangerousness due to the explosive devices and his expressed support for political violence.

The suspect in the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas was identified on Thursday by local outlets as 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, a Colorado native.

Police have not officially named the suspect and an inquiry from Mediaite was not immediately returned. KOAA first reported Livelsberger’s name, citing local senior enforcement sources. Livelsberger reportedly lived in Colorado Springs, had multiple addresses tied to his name, and has a military background.

At this point, is this news ? Though it highlights Trump's politics.

Summary

Tesla has been quietly replacing battery packs in Cybertrucks due to issues with "side-dented cells" causing potential battery core collapse.

Reports date back to September 2024, with owners learning of battery replacements during unrelated service visits.

Tesla describes the replacements as proactive but has not issued an official recall, raising questions about transparency and regulatory compliance.

Critics suggest Tesla’s approach avoids negative press and high costs.

Concerns persist about the scope of the issue, potential safety risks, and Tesla’s lack of formal communication with owners or regulatory bodies.

Summary

A U.S. Army veteran, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, killed 15 people and injured dozens in New Orleans by driving a truck into New Year’s revelers, inspired by the Islamic State group.

The FBI is investigating the attack as a terrorist act, finding videos posted by Jabbar expressing support for the Islamic State group and explosive devices in the vehicle and around the city.

Jabbar, a former Afghanistan veteran, was killed by police after opening fire.

… Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the Cybertruck was rented to Matthew Alan Livelsberger, an active duty U.S. Army servicemember who was serving in Germany but was on leave in Colorado at the time of the incident. CBS News spoke to two relatives of Livelsberger who were unaware of any involvement in the incident, but who confirmed he had rented a Cybertruck. One relative told CBS News that Livelsberger's wife had not heard from him in several days.

McMahill said gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars were found in the back of the vehicle after the explosion, which occurred about 15 seconds after the vehicle pulled in front of the building. It's still unclear how the explosives were ignited, he said.

Summary

Chinese government hackers reportedly breached the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Office of Financial Research, which manage economic sanctions.

The hack, disclosed earlier this week, involved exploiting third-party cybersecurity provider BeyondTrust to access unclassified documents and employee workstations.

U.S. officials suggest the hackers were targeting information on potential sanctions against Chinese entities.

China denied the allegations, calling them baseless. This breach follows reports of Chinese state-sponsored cyberattacks on major U.S. telecommunications firms, heightening tensions amid strained U.S.-China relations over sanctions and foreign policy.

For years, Marecitta Dorsey’s four children – ages seven to 14 – suffered regular bouts of nausea, vomiting and sore stomachs. Their unexplained symptoms were bad enough to keep them out of school a few days each month.

“My eldest would tell me, ‘I feel like my tummy’s burning,’” recalled Dorsey. “Every week I was taking at least one kid to the doctor because of something with their stomach.”

She suspected their ailments had something to do with the water. Her children, she said, never had stomach problems before they moved to the Delta.

Dorsey and her family lived in Shaw, Mississippi, a town of 1,400 people about 110 miles (175km) north of Jackson. The area is plagued by sanitation problems – residents in Bolivar county filed half a dozen complaints to state officials just last year about wastewater leaks and burst pipes that have exposed them to raw sewage.

Now, researchers warn that these problems are probably contributing to widespread intestinal infections and parasites such as hookworm, roundworm and tapeworm.

“There’s this whole idea that the US eradicated these things [parasites],” said Tara Cepon-Robins, an anthropologist at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. “But nobody actually eradicated anything.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23788061

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.bestiver.se/post/170743

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cross-posted from: https://lemmings.world/post/18709323

Ministers in Tony Blair’s government were advised to use Post-it notes for sensitive messages to avoid having to release them under new Freedom of Information, according newly-released official files.

The Labour government had originally passed the Freedom of Information Act in 2000 but as the full implementation date approached on January 1 2005 there was growing disquiet among ministers and senior officials at the implications.