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PARIJS (ANP) - De linkse Emmanuel Grégoire heeft zondagavond voor het stadhuis van Parijs zijn aanhangers toegesproken na zijn winst bij de burgemeestersverkiezingen in de Franse hoofdstad, meldt de Franse krant Le Monde. Grégoire versloeg de conservatieve oud-minister Rachida Dati. Daarmee verlengde hij de kwart eeuw durende heerschappij van de socialisten in de Franse hoofdstad.
"Vandaag heeft Parijs besloten trouw te blijven aan haar geschiedenis", zei Grégoire in dat kader. "Veel dank aan de Parijzenaars die, waar ze ook vandaan komen, ervoor hebben gekozen de alliantie tussen links en de groenen in de tweede ronde te steunen." En hij deelde een sneer uit naar de rechtse partijen. "Want alles in de ziel van onze hoofdstad verwerpt het idee van een verzwakt Parijs, het idee van een Parijs dat zijn inwoners selecteert. Parijs is geen radicaal-rechtse stad en zal dat ook nooit zijn."
A man crossing the street one San Francisco night spotted a self-driving car — and decided to confront its passenger, 37-year-old tech worker Doug Fulop. The New York Times reports the man yelled that "he wanted to kill Fulop and the other two passengers for giving money to a robot."
A taxi driver would have simply driven away. But Fulop's vehicle had no driver — it was a self-driving Waymo... Self-driving cars are designed to stop moving if a person is nearby. People can take advantage of that function to harass and threaten their passengers.... It was unsettling to be trapped inside a Waymo during an attack, Fulop said. "If he had kept hammering on one window instead of alternating, I'm sure he would have eventually broken through," he said. The attacker did not appear to be on drugs or otherwise impaired, but seemed to be overtaken by extreme anger at the self-driving car, Fulop said.
It did not seem safe to get out and run, he added, since the man was trying to open the locked doors and said he wanted to kill the passengers. They called 911 and Waymo's support line, Fulop said. Waymo told them that it would not manually direct the car away if someone was standing nearby, and that the passengers would be OK with the doors locked. The car's software does not allow riders to jump into the driver's seat and take over during an incident. The attack lasted around six minutes. By then, bystanders had begun cheering on the man, Fulop said. That distracted the man, who moved far enough away from the car that it could finally drive away...
Fulop said he had stopped using Waymo for a time after the January attack and would avoid the service at night unless the company changed its policy of not intervening when a hostile person threatened riders. "As passengers, we deserve more safety than that if someone is trying to attack us," he said. "This can't be the policy to be trapped there."
The article remembers other incidents — including a 2024 video showing three women screaming as their autonomous taxi is spray-painted by vandals. And technology author/speaker Anders Sorman-Nilsson says in Los Angeles five men on e-bikes surrounded his Waymo and forced it to stop. The author felt safe inside the vehicle, according to the times, which adds "He felt reassured knowing that Waymo's many exterior cameras were recording the men. After around five minutes, he said, they gave up and rode away."
A taxi driver would have simply driven away. But Fulop's vehicle had no driver — it was a self-driving Waymo... Self-driving cars are designed to stop moving if a person is nearby. People can take advantage of that function to harass and threaten their passengers.... It was unsettling to be trapped inside a Waymo during an attack, Fulop said. "If he had kept hammering on one window instead of alternating, I'm sure he would have eventually broken through," he said. The attacker did not appear to be on drugs or otherwise impaired, but seemed to be overtaken by extreme anger at the self-driving car, Fulop said.
It did not seem safe to get out and run, he added, since the man was trying to open the locked doors and said he wanted to kill the passengers. They called 911 and Waymo's support line, Fulop said. Waymo told them that it would not manually direct the car away if someone was standing nearby, and that the passengers would be OK with the doors locked. The car's software does not allow riders to jump into the driver's seat and take over during an incident. The attack lasted around six minutes. By then, bystanders had begun cheering on the man, Fulop said. That distracted the man, who moved far enough away from the car that it could finally drive away...
Fulop said he had stopped using Waymo for a time after the January attack and would avoid the service at night unless the company changed its policy of not intervening when a hostile person threatened riders. "As passengers, we deserve more safety than that if someone is trying to attack us," he said. "This can't be the policy to be trapped there."
The article remembers other incidents — including a 2024 video showing three women screaming as their autonomous taxi is spray-painted by vandals. And technology author/speaker Anders Sorman-Nilsson says in Los Angeles five men on e-bikes surrounded his Waymo and forced it to stop. The author felt safe inside the vehicle, according to the times, which adds "He felt reassured knowing that Waymo's many exterior cameras were recording the men. After around five minutes, he said, they gave up and rode away."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Oscar-nominated actor says online hate has become so bad that he is ‘hiding away’, adding that ‘you don’t want to even be on screen any more’
Oscar-nominated actor Barry Keoghan has said online abuse about his appearance is affecting his life, to the point that he now does “not want to go outside”.
The Irish actor, who is playing Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles tetralogy, told SiriusXM host Ben Harlum that though he left social media in 2024 due to online abuse, it was still so bad that he was “shying away” from the public eye – and it was making him want to retreat from acting.
Continue reading...Russia ‘taking advantage of more favourable weather conditions’ Zelenskyy says; Witkoff says progress made during discussions in Florida. What we know on day 1,489
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday the Russian army was attempting to “intensify” attacks on the front, but that Ukraine had inflicted heavy losses. “This week, we have observed attempts by the Russians to intensify their offensive efforts, taking advantage of more favourable weather conditions,” Zelenskyy said on social media after a meeting with Ukrainian army commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky. But “the only tangible outcome for the Russian army has been an increase in their losses,” Zelenskyy said. Earlier on Sunday, the Russian defence ministry claimed its forces had taken control of Potapivka, a small village near the Russian border in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region.
Ukrainian and US delegations concluded a second day of talks in Florida on finding ways to end the four-year war with Russia. Russian representatives were not present at the talks, which opened in Florida on Saturday. They were originally expected to attend the negotiations, which were due to take place in Abu Dhabi.
Zelenskyy voiced hope on Sunday that the United States would keep up efforts to end the Russian invasion despite the US focus on attacking Iran, after envoys met in Florida. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s negotiator, reported unspecified progress during the two days of discussions, which came after the United States relaxed sanctions on Russian oil. “It’s clear that the primary focus of the American side at this time is the situation around Iran and in that region, but this war that Russia is waging against Ukraine must also be brought to an end,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address.
Zelenskyy has said he has a “very bad feeling” about the impact of the war in the Middle East on the efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine and on defending his country while it remains ongoing. The Ukrainian president also addressed the strain on the special relationship between the UK and US amid the Iran war, saying the history between the two nations is “stronger than the emotions of two or three people”. He highlighted that Russian president Vladimir Putin “will want a long war” in the Middle East as it helps weaken Ukraine.
Continue reading...PLUS: Singtel’s triple outage; 17,000 counterfeit hard drives seized; Tech wages shift across Asia; And more!
Asia In Brief Australia’s government on Monday announced a set of datacenter “expectations” to guide would-be bit barn builders who contemplate breaking ground down under.…
Emily is my wife's favourite character so this story is basically a little present for her (and possibly...for you???)
iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:
iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:
iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:
