Author: admin@primenews

China’s BYD sold a record number of cars in 2023, moving it closer to displacing Tesla as the world market leader for electric vehicles. The Chinese company posted a 62% surge in global sales to just over three million units last year, compared to 2022, according to a stock exchange filing. BYD sold 1.57 million battery electric vehicles (BEVs) last year, up 73%, as well as 1.44 million hybrids, 52% higher than the previous year. Tesla (TSLA) is due to unveil its full-year sales figures as early as Tuesday. Analysts expect the US EV maker to have roughly met its annual delivery target of…

Scenes of devastation emerged along Japan’s western coast Tuesday as rescuers raced to save residents trapped in the rubble of a 7.5 magnitude quake that has triggered multiple aftershocks and killed dozens of people. The quake shook the Noto Peninsula in the central prefecture of Ishikawa on Monday afternoon, collapsing buildings, sparking fires and triggering tsunami alerts as far away as eastern Russia. At least 48 people had been confirmed killed as of Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for Ishikawa prefecture confirmed to CNN. Japan’s Meteorological Agency lifted all tsunami advisories along portions of the country’s western coast Tuesday, but more than 24…

Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai has pleaded not guilty after a case against him resumed on Tuesday. Mr Lai, 76, faces life imprisonment if found guilty of threatening Hong Kong’s national security and colluding with foreign forces. His case has sparked an international outcry and is widely seen as a test of Hong Kong’s judicial independence. His landmark trial started on 18 December after a year-long delay and is expected to last for about 80 days. Mr Lai has been held in solitary confinement since December 2020, following his arrest for fraud and for his involvement in protests in…

South Korea’s opposition leader Lee Jae-myung has been stabbed in the neck during a visit to the city of Busan. Mr Lee, who narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election, sustained a 1cm laceration on the left side of his neck, reports said. He was airlifted to hospital. Doctors say the wound is not life-threatening. The 66-year-old man who attacked him said he had intended to kill Mr Lee, Yonhap news agency reported. The motive for the attack is unclear. The brazen daytime attack shocked the nation and prompted condemnation from political parties and politicians, including current President Yoon Suk Yeol.…

The US Navy is pulling the world’s largest warship, sent to the eastern Mediterranean Sea after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, back to the United States as it reevaluates its global force requirements, the US Sixth Fleet said in a statement Monday. The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford will head back to its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, after its first combat deployment, an eight-month cruise that began on May 2, the statement said. The Ford – described by a Navy spokesperson as the “most adaptable and lethal combat platform in the world” – was commissioned in 2017 and is the US Navy’s newest…

China has named former naval commander Dong Jun as its new defense minister, two months after removing his predecessor Li Shangfu from the role without explanation following Li’s extended absence from public view. The top body of China’s rubber stamp legislature announced Dong’s appointment Friday, following their final session for the year, Chinese state media Xinhua reported. Dong had served as the top commander of the Chinese navy since 2021. His appointment ends months of speculation over when Beijing would fill the role left vacant after the same political body approved Li’s removal in October. Li, who was appointed defense minister in…

Some major shipping companies continue to steer clear of the Red Sea, even as others return following a new US-led security operation to safeguard the area — highlighting how fragile the situation remains in one of the world’s trade arteries. Hapag-Lloyd and Evergreen Line, the container shipping arm of Evergreen Group, told CNN Wednesday that they would continue to reroute vessels via the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip. MSC said the same Tuesday. “At the moment we still consider the situation too dangerous to pass,” a spokesperson for Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd said in a statement. “We continuously assess the situation and plan…

Nearly nine months after Bud Light was front and center in one of the biggest misfires in advertising history, sales of the beer are still down 30% weekly compared to the same time a year ago. It wasn’t supposed to go like that. The year kicked off with an expensive Super Bowl ad with actor Miles Teller and a new slogan — “Easy to Drink. Easy to Enjoy” — which was supposed to mark a “new era” for the 40-year-old brand. But a one-off sponsored Instagram post with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney last April garnered attention from the right, caught anger from the left,…

Gary Oldman thinks that he needed more of a… serious approach to his work playing Sirius Black in the “Harry Potter” movies. “I think my work is mediocre in it,” Oldman remarked on Thursday’s episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, adding, “maybe if I had read the books” like his late co-star Alan Rickman did, he’d feel differently. Had he gotten “ahead of the curve” like Rickman, he said, “if I had known what’s coming I honestly think I would’ve played it differently.” Oldman portrayed Black, Potter’s long-lost godfather and a framed fugitive who turns out to be the titular prisoner from the third…

It’s become rarer for series to run years on end in the streaming age. More ambitious shows have created a higher rate of turnover, meaning the challenge of devising “series finale” frequently becomes an issue after only three or four seasons, as occurred with several of this year’s most-celebrated farewells. In another departure from the past that owes a strong debt to “Lost,” it has also become common for shows to decide to end well in advance and build toward that, a factor that distinguishes the programs mentioned from those that concluded without the benefit of crafting a clear finish.…