1 China exports decline (BBC) Chinese exports have
seen a further decline in July, adding to concerns over the global economic
outlook. Exports fell by 4.4% compared to a year earlier, which was a slight
improvement over June's 4.8% drop but still worse than analysts had been
expecting.
Imports were also weaker than estimated, down by
12.5%. As China is a crucial driver of the worldwide economy, the data is seen
as a snapshot of the global outlook. The country's exports have fallen for 12
out of the past 13 months.
Global uncertainty ranging from low commodity prices
to the EU debt crisis and the UK leaving the bloc continues to mute economic
activity around the world. In US dollar denominated terms, exports fell to
$184.7bn while imports dropped to $132.4bn.
The sluggish domestic demand indicates that
Beijing's efforts to boost consumption to spur growth have yet to take effect. The
fresh data, though, comes on the heels of better-than-expected economic growth
in the second quarter. Gross domestic product expanded by 6.7% in the three
months to June compared to a year earlier.
2 Tesla autopilot helps in medical emergency (Alan
Yuhas in The Guardian) Joshua Neally’s brand-new Tesla Model X didn’t exactly
save his life when he started having severe chest pains, but it helped him get
most of the way to a hospital.
The 37-year-old was driving in his electric car from
his law office in Springfield, Missouri, when the air was sucked from his lungs
and he felt a sudden biting pain in his chest – a blocked artery in his lungs.
Distracted by the pain and still in traffic, he let the car’s controversial
autopilot carry him down the road toward a hospital.
Tesla’s autopilot function requires a driver to
touch the wheel every few minutes, and Neally was able to keep it active for 20
miles down the highway. He said that in the moment of crisis, he considered
stopping for an ambulance but decided to trust the software, for fear that he
would crash if the car were entirely in his control. Tesla’s software has been
designed to guide cars to a stop on the side of the road if a driver stops
responding.
Eventually carried near a hospital, Neally gathered
his strength and took over, driving off the highway exit ramp and the rest of
the way to the hospital. He has since recovered and continues to receive
treatment.
In May, a Florida man was killed while driving a
Tesla on autopilot, with a DVD of Harry Potter on, according to a witness.
According to Tesla, the car’s sensors failed to detect a white 18-wheel truck
against a bright sky, and the car attempted to drive underneath the
tractor-trailer “with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the
Model S”.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has defended his embattled
company’s safety record, and in April he asserted that the autopilot system was
“twice as good as a person”. In July, he responded to criticisms of the
autopilot, saying: “When used correctly, it is already significantly safer than
a person driving by themselves and it would therefore be morally reprehensible
to delay release simply for fear of bad press or some mercantile calculation of
legal liability.”
3 End of a 16-year hunger strike in India (San
Francisco Chronicle) In Imphal, India, activist Irom Sharmila has been kept in
judicial custody for engaging in a nearly 16-year hunger strike.
Sharmila told a court in Manipur state last month
that she would end her fast to run in state elections next year. She has not
eaten any food voluntarily since Nov. 5, 2000, in protest of a law that
suspends many human rights protections in areas of conflict.
Three days into her fast, she was arrested on
charges of attempting suicide and has been force fed through a tube in her nose
since then. She has said the single issue on her political agenda is removing
the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which is in effect in Indian-ruled Kashmir
and northeastern areas wracked by separatist insurgencies.
The law says troops have the right to shoot to kill
suspected rebels without fear of possible prosecution and to arrest suspected
militants without a warrant.
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