Associated Press

News Agency

Autonomous trucker TuSimple logs first no-human road test

A semitruck completed an 80-mile route in Arizona with no human on board and no human intervention during the trip using technology developed by TuSimple, the company said Wednesday. The San Diego company says it’s the first successful fully-autonomous run by a class 8 vehicle, or semi, on open public roads with no human intervention. […]

Asia stock markets mixed after Wall St high, virus surge

Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday after Wall Street hit a high and new daily U.S. coronavirus cases surged to a record. Tokyo and Seoul declined while Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced. Wall Street gained Wednesday for its 70th record high of 2021. Optimism was tempered by data showing new U.S. virus cases have risen […]

Asian shares mostly slip amid lingering omicron worries

Asian shares mostly slipped Wednesday, as worries lingered about the coronavirus omicron variant’s potential damage to the regional economy following mixed cues from Wall Street. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.9% in morning trading to 28,809.86. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.9% to 2,993.38, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.2% to 7,510.80. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng […]

China calls on US to protect space station from satellites

China is calling on the United States to protect a Chinese space station and its three-member crew after Beijing complained that satellites launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX nearly struck the station. A foreign ministry spokesman accused Washington on Tuesday of ignoring its treaty obligations to protect the safety of the Tiangong station’s three-member crew following […]

China pursues tech 'self-reliance,' fueling global unease

To help make China a self-reliant “technology superpower,” the ruling Communist Party is pushing the world’s biggest e-commerce company to take on the tricky, expensive business of designing its own processor chips — a business unlike anything Alibaba Group has done before. Its 3-year-old chip unit, T-Head, unveiled its third processor in October, the Yitian […]

Asian shares mixed as omicron worries crimp market optimism

Asian shares rose Tuesday, although optimism set off by a rally on Wall Street was dampened by concerns over the potential impact of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.4% to finish at 29,069.16. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.5% to 3,015.63. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng recouped early losses to edge […]

Elizabeth Holmes jury to begin second week of deliberations

The jury weighing fraud charges against former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will start their second week of deliberations Monday. Holmes faces 11 criminal charges alleging that she duped investors and patients by hailing her company’s blood-testing technology as a medical breakthrough when in fact it was prone to wild errors. The eight men and four […]

Tesla to halt games on infotainment screens in moving cars

Under pressure from U.S. auto safety regulators, Tesla has agreed to stop allowing video games to be played on center touch screens while its vehicles are moving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the company will send out a software update over the Internet so the function called “Passenger Play” will be locked and […]

Russian court slaps Google, Meta with massive fines

A Moscow court on Friday slapped Google with a nearly $100 million fine and also fined Facebook’s parent company Meta $27 million over their failure to delete content banned by local law, as Russia seeks to step up pressure on technology giants. The Tagansky District Court ruled that Google repeatedly neglected to remove the banned […]

Japan Cabinet OKs record defense budget amid Taiwan concerns

Japan’s Cabinet approved a record 5.4 trillion yen ($47 billion) defense budget for fiscal 2022 on Friday that includes funding for research and development of a new fighter jet and other “game-changing” weapons as Japan bolsters its defense capabilities in response to China’s growing military might and its tensions with Taiwan. The 1.1% budget increase […]