Tesla unveils electric semi truck
Hawthorne: American automaker, energy storage company, and solar panel manufacturer Tesla introduced a futuristic all-electric semi truck Thursday. According to the company co-founder and CEO Elon Musk, the Tesla truck has been designed “to be like a bullet”. The company has claimed that the Tesla Semi would be quicker and more economical than diesel-powered trucks of the day. It has four independent electric motors, one for each of its wheels, a transmission that requires no shifting of gears, and a regenerative braking system that “gives it basically infinite brake life”, Musk said. The company says the truck can accelerate to 60 miles per hour in five seconds, and reach that speed in 20 seconds hauling a maximum 80,000 pound load, must faster than a traditional diesel truck. It has a 500-mile range, long enough for most truck routes, 80 per cent of which, according to Musk, are 250 miles or less.
US Congress passes $700 billion defence bill
Washington: The US Congress Friday passed a nearly $700 billion defence budget for 2018 which imposes tougher conditions on Pakistan for military and security assistance and seeks advancement in military cooperation with India, a major defence partner. The 2018 National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) sailed through both chambers of the Congress – House of Representatives and the Senate – by voice vote. It now heads to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign it into law, which he is expected to do before the Thanksgiving holidays. The budget also accommodates the last minute additional White House’s financial request implementing its new South Asia strategy. The NDAA-2018 asked the Secretary of State and the Defence Secretary to come out with a common definition that recognises India’s status as a “Major Defence Partner”. Welcoming the move, top Republican Senator Ted Cruz said few partnerships in the 21st century carried more strategic significance than the US-India partnership. Cruz said that the current bilateral cooperation and joint development need to be more closely aligned with the shared interests of maritime domain awareness and anti-submarine warfare. During the legislative process, Cruz secured an amendment that calls on the Department of Defence to reassess its approach to partnering with India and to appoint an individual to oversee this process. Additionally, Cruz co-sponsored Senator Mark Warner’s amendment, which was adopted, to develop a strategy of defence cooperation between the US and India.
Man, car reunite after 20 yrs
Berlin: A 76-year-old man in Germany was reunited with his car after 20 years in Frankfurt, where he had parked the vehicle in 1997 but forgot the spot and assumed that it got stolen. The car, which was reported “stolen” to the police by the man, then 56, was no longer in a working condition and has rusted when city authorities found it. “Twenty years later, the authorities in the city have tracked down the missing vehicle, only to discover that the man who owned it had in fact, just forgotten where he had parked the car and had assumed it had been stolen,” The Independent reported. The car was found in a garage in an old industrial building that is due to be demolished, it said. Quoting a local German language newspaper Augsberger Allgemein, the report said the man, who was not identified, was driven by the police with his daughter to be reunited with the car. The city authorities said the car was not functional and had to be scrapped.
Mafia ‘boss of bosses’ dies at 87
Milan: Mafia ‘boss of bosses’ Salvatore ‘Toto’ Riina has died in the hospital while serving multiple life sentences as the mastermind of a bloody strategy to assassinate Italian prosecutors and law enforcement trying to bring down the Cosa Nostra, Italian media reported Friday. He was 87. Riina died hours after the Justice Minister had allowed his family members bedside visits Thursday, which was his birthday, after he had been placed in a medically induced coma. Italian media said his health had deteriorated following two recent surgeries. Riina, one of Sicily’s most notorious Mafia bosses, was serving 26 life sentences for murder convictions as a powerful Cosa Nostra boss. He was captured in Palermo, Sicily’s capital, in 1993 and imprisoned under a law that requires strict security for top mobsters, including being detained in isolated sections of prisons with limited time outside their cells.
UK special forces dog gets top military honour
London: A UK special forces dog was Friday awarded a medal equivalent of the country’s highest military honour for his role in saving hundreds of troops during his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Mali, a Belgian Malinois, has been awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal — the equivalent of the human Victoria Cross — for his heroic actions in sniffing out Taliban booby traps during a highly sensitive military operation in 2012. The eight-year-old dog was instrumental is assisting troops to clear militants from a Kabul tower block despite suffering serious shrapnel injuries. He is credited with saving British and Afghan lives as he took part in the Special Boat Service (SBS) assault.