Author: admin@primenews

Apple’s latest smart watches can resume being sold in the US after the tech company filed an emergency appeal with authorities. Sales of the Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches had been halted in the US over a patent row. The US’s trade body had barred imports and sales of Apple watches with technology for reading blood-oxygen levels. Device maker Masimo had accused Apple of poaching its staff and technology. It comes after the White House declined to overturn a ban on sales and imports of the Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches which came into effect this week. Apple…

US news organisation the New York Times is suing ChatGPT-owner OpenAI over claims its copyright was infringed to train the system. The lawsuit, which also names Microsoft as a defendant, says the firms should be held responsible for “billions of dollars” in damages. ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) “learn” by analysing a massive amount of data often sourced online. The BBC has approached OpenAI and Microsoft for comment. The lawsuit claims “millions” of articles published by the New York Times were used without its permission to make ChatGPT smarter, and claims the tool is now competing with the newspaper…

One of the world’s biggest shipping firms, Hapag-Lloyd, will not resume its use of the Suez Canal despite an international military operation to keep the area safe. Yemen’s Houthi rebels backing Hamas in the Israel-Gaza war said they are targeting vessels which they believe are heading for Israel. Several firms have stopped using the route following attacks. On Tuesday, Danish shipping firm Maersk said it will resume Red Sea operations. But Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd said it considers passage through one of the world’s most popular trade routes still “too dangerous”, and that it would continue to reroute its ships via the…

Gaston Glock, the Austrian engineer who invented the Glock handgun, has died aged 94. The Glock company said in a statement that its founder’s life’s work would “continue in his spirit”. The weapon has been used by armed forces, security personnel, gun owners and criminals around the world. Its rise was cemented by American pop culture and appearances in Hollywood blockbusters including science-fiction action film The Matrix Reloaded. Despite the popularity of his creation, Glock has been described as a reclusive billionaire who spent most of his time at a lakefront estate in Austria. He was rarely in the news,…

The December sun is baking on the Heng Chun peninsula, the tongue of land that juts out from the bottom end of Taiwan into the Philippine Sea. A half-smoked cigarette pokes from the corner of Hsu Keng-Jui’s mouth. He is part of a network of volunteers – most of them veterans like him – who track the now-constant presence of Chinese ships and aircraft just outside Taiwan’s territorial limit. Using plastic zip ties, Mr Hsu straps a long radio antenna to a steel railing, then sits down with his portable radios and begins to scan the military channels. At first…

A driver trapped in his cab under a bridge for six days after a crash in Indiana was found by two fishermen scouting for fishing holes. Mario Garcia and son-in-law Nivardo De La Torre had been killing time while waiting for their wives, police say. They ended up finding Matthew Reum, 27, of Mishawaka, whose truck had crashed off Interstate 94 on 20 December. In hospital, Mr Reum had one of his legs amputated and is now in intensive care, his union says. Mr Garcia said he had seen the wrecked truck and was moving an airbag out of the…

The gunman who killed 14 people at a university in Prague confessed to an earlier double murder in his suicide note, Czech police have said. The note found in David Kozak’s home contained a confession he had shot dead a man and his baby daughter in woods near the city on 15 December, six days before the Charles University attack. Police said he had been on a list of 4,000 suspects for their murders. Kozak also killed his father, bringing the total number of his victims to 17. The attack at the university on 21 December is the worst mass…

Extreme cold and dense fog have caused travel chaos in India’s capital Delhi and other parts of northern India. More than 100 flights and 25 trains in the city have been delayed due to poor visibility. The city witnessed one of the foggiest days of the season so far, with visibility dropping to below 50 metres on Wednesday. A thick blanket of mist in the morning brought traffic to a crawl and also led to accidents in some parts. Accidents have been reported from other parts of north India as well. In the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, multiple vehicles collided on…

Former European Commission President Jacques Delors – described as the architect of the modern EU – has died aged 98, his daughter says. He helped create the single market allowing the free movement of people, goods and services within the bloc. Serving from 1985 to 1995, Delors also laid the groundwork for the single European currency, the euro. But for those sceptical of integration, especially in the UK, he was seen as a symbol of Brussels meddling. A headline by British tabloid The Sun once famously shouted: “Up Yours, Delors.” Delors’ daughter Martine Aubry said he had died in his…

Michigan’s Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by voters in the US state to disqualify Donald Trump from next year’s presidential primary. They sought to invoke a clause in the US Constitution, barring anyone who has engaged in insurrection, over Mr Trump’s role in the 2021 Capitol riots. The decision comes days after Colorado became the first state to rule that Mr Trump was not an eligible candidate. Michigan is considered a battleground state in the 2024 general election. Traditionally voting Democrat, Michigan narrowly supported Mr Trump, a Republican, in his successful 2016 presidential campaign. But the state reverted…