Voa news - 28/03/2023 22:26  

Ford Battery Plant Using Chinese Tech Raises Alarms in Congress

Ford Motor Company's plan to create batteries for the rapidly expanding electric vehicle (EV) market could encounter congressional speed bumps because of the carmaker's plan to use technology created by a Chinese company with ties to the communist government. Ford executive chairman William Clay Ford Jr. announced in February that the company would spend $3.5 billion to build a new battery plant in Michigan and employ U.S. workers to promote U.S. “independence' in the EV market. “Right now, many [U.S.] automakers import most of their batteries from abroad,' Ford said at that time. “This is a slow process that makes us vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.&
webdesk@voanews.com (Kane Farabaugh)
[Read more]
07/06/2023
Ford Motor Company's plan to create batteries for the rapidly expanding electric vehicle (EV) market could encounter congressional speed bumps because of the carmaker's plan to use technology created by a Chinese company with ties to the communist government. Ford executive chairman William Clay Ford Jr. announced in February that the c [Read more]
07/06/2023
The U.N. General Assembly approved five new members for two-year terms on the organization's powerful 15-nation Security Council on Tuesday, rejecting a bid from Belarus. Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and South Korea will start their terms on January 1, 2024. The annual exercise held little excitement this year, as all but o [Read more]
07/06/2023
U.S. lawmakers warned Tuesday that an extension of a COVID-era patent waiver could jeopardize U.S. innovation and favor China in the global race for strategic competition.  The World Trade Organization waived global patent protections established under the 1995 TRIPS Act for the COVID-19 vaccine last June and is currently considering a [Read more]
07/06/2023
U.S. lawmakers warned Tuesday that an extension of a COVID-era patent waiver could jeopardize U.S. innovation and favor China in the global race for strategic competition.  The World Trade Organization waived global patent protections established under the 1995 TRIPS Act for the COVID-19 vaccine last June and is currently considering a [Read more]
07/06/2023
The European Union is pushing online platforms like Google and Meta to step up the fight against false information by adding labels to text, photos and other content generated by artificial intelligence, a top official said Monday. EU Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said the ability of a new generation of AI chatbots to create co [Read more]
07/06/2023
Global leaders in the battle against global warming convened in Bonn, Germany, on Monday for the start of the final phase of a two-year long assessment of the progress being made to limit rising temperatures. The annual Bonn Climate Change Conference is part of the "global stocktake" — a process by which countries around the world ass [Read more]
07/06/2023
New advances in the fight against a range of cancers have been revealed at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which wraps up in Chicago on Tuesday. Here are some of the announcements that have most excited experts. Lung cancer One of the trial results that caused a stir in Chicago has raised hope [Read more]
07/06/2023
China, where COVID-19 was first identified in humans more than three years ago, expects its current wave of infection to hit as many as 65 million cases per week by late June, according to official accounts of models presented at a medical conference. While that may be an exhausting number to a post-pandemic world wearied by a still ris [Read more]
07/06/2023
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have been working the phones in an intense push to sell Congress on the 99-page bill that would suspend the nation's debt limit through 2025 to avoid a federal default while limiting government spending. The Democratic president and Republican speaker have to win their respective part [Read more]
07/06/2023
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is expected to launch a Republican presidential campaign next week in New Hampshire. Christie, who also ran in 2016, is planning to make the announcement at a town hall Tuesday evening at Saint Anselm College's New Hampshire Institute of Politics, according to a person familiar with his thinking [Read more]
07/06/2023
The U.S. Senate voted Thursday night 63-36 in support of a measure that will allow the United States to continue to pay its bills. The U.S. had been on track to run out of cash in four days. The bipartisan legislation now goes to President Joe Biden for his signature. "Tonight, senators from both parties voted to protect the hard-earned [Read more]
07/06/2023
President Joe Biden delivered remarks Friday evening on the Fiscal Responsibility Act, bipartisan legislation achieved following weeks of tough negotiations that suspends the government's debt limit and avoids a potentially disastrous default. For the first time Biden spoke from the Oval Office, signifying the occasion's importance. White [Read more]
07/06/2023
Top Chinese officials told Elon Musk about plans to launch new regulations on artificial intelligence on his recent trip to the Asian giant, the tech billionaire said Monday, in his first comments on the two-day visit. The Twitter owner and Tesla CEO — one of the world's richest men — held meetings with senior officials in Beijing a [Read more]
07/06/2023
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is looking at how artificial intelligence can be used to help identify goods made with child or forced labor and prevent those goods from entering the country. VOA's Julie Taboh has more. VOA footage by Adam Greenbaum. [Read more]
07/06/2023
Japan announced Tuesday that it joined the United States and Australia in signing a $95 million undersea cable project that will connect East Micronesia island nations to improve networks in the Indo-Pacific region where China is increasingly expanding its influence. The approximately 2,250-kilometer (1,400-mile) undersea cable will con [Read more]
07/06/2023
There are renewed concerns North Korea's army of hackers is targeting financial institutions to prop up the regime in Pyongyang and possibly fund its weapons programs. A report published Tuesday by the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future finds North Korean aligned actors have been spoofing well-known financial firms in Japan, Vietnam and [Read more]
07/06/2023
The labor market in the United States continued to defy expectations in May, adding 339,000 new jobs. The figure was far above what economists had expected and signals that ongoing efforts to cool the economy and lower inflation are having, at best, only mixed success. The increase in jobs came along with steadily rising wages. The figu [Read more]
07/06/2023
Stretch limousines — once a symbol of the rich and famous — are now rarely seen on the roads and at red carpet events. Karina Bafradzhian investigates why demand for limousines has declined. [Read more]
07/06/2023
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is looking at how artificial intelligence can be used to help identify goods made with child or forced labor and prevent those goods from entering the country. VOA's Julie Taboh has more. VOA footage by Adam Greenbaum. [Read more]
07/06/2023
The World Bank on Tuesday raised its 2023 global growth forecast as the U.S. and other major economies have proven more resilient than predicted but said higher interest rates would cause a larger-than-expected drag next year. Real global GDP is set to climb 2.1% this year, the World Bank said in its latest Global Economic Prospects rep [Read more]