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There are some flights to the Middle East that have resumed but there is still disruption.
As regional carriers re-build their schedules following war-related disruptions, some airlines are gradually restoring flights to the Middle East. However, the conflict continues disrupting wider traffic flows. Middle Eastern airlines have increased capacity following severe disruption caused by the Iran War, but many carriers outside of the Gulf still divert Europe-Asia flights to avoid the area. The latest flight information is listed below alphabetically: AEGEAN AIRLINES The largest airline in Greece has cancelled flights between Thessaloniki and Tel Aviv up until June 26. Dubai flights are cancelled until August 31. Erbil, Baghdad and Erbil flights will be cancelled until July 2. AEROFLOT The Russian flag carrier announced that it would resume flights to the United Arab Emirates on June 1. AIRBALTIC AirBaltic, a Latvian airline, has announced that flights to Tel Aviv are cancelled until the 28th of June. Dubai flights are cancelled until 24 October. AIR CANADA The Canadian carrier has canceled flights to Tel Aviv, Dubai and Abu Dhabi until September 7. AIR EUROPA Spanish Airlines has cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv up until the 28th of June. AIR FRANCE-KLM Air France has suspended Tel Aviv flights through June 7. Air France has suspended its flights to Tel Aviv until June 7. KLM suspends flights to Riyadh, Dammam and Dubai until July 12, and until August 2. CATHAY PACIFIC Hong Kong Airlines has suspended all flights to Dubai, Riyadh and cargo services until May 31, and until August 31, respectively. The airline plans to continue all scheduled flights after June. The U.S. carrier plans to resume New York JFK-Tel Aviv flights from September 6 and has extended the suspension of services on the Atlanta-Tel Aviv routes through December 18. The launch of the Boston-Tel Aviv flight, originally scheduled for late October, has been delayed. EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES All flights to Dubai have been cancelled until 31 May. FINNAIR It has cancelled all flights to Doha until October 2 and continues to avoid the airspaces of Iraq, Iran Syria, and Israel. The airline will only resume Dubai flights in October. British Airways, owned by IAG, has decided to delay the resumption of flights to Dubai, Doha, and Tel Aviv until August 1. It also plans to reduce Middle East flights when they resume and to permanently drop Jeddah from its list of destinations. The airline also plans to reduce the number of flights to?Dubai and Doha as well as Riyadh, Tel Aviv, and Riyadh to just one per day. Iberia Express, the Spanish low-cost carrier of IAG, has cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv until May 31. JAPAN AIRLINES Japan Airlines has suspended its scheduled Tokyo-Doha and Doha-Tokyo flight until August 1, as well as Doha-Tokyo until July 31. The Polish airline has suspended its flights to Tel Aviv till May 30. The airline has also cancelled its flights to Riyadh up until June 30, and to Beirut between March 31 and June 27. LOT will operate its winter route from Dubai to Riyadh in October. LUFTHANSA GROUP Austrian Airlines plans to restart flights to Tel Aviv on June 1. SWISS, ITA Airways, and Lufthansa plan to resume flights in July. Brussels Airlines suspended its operations until October 24, ITA Airways, SWISS, and Lufthansa will continue to suspend flights until September 13 Until October 24, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS have suspended their flights to Abu Dhabi and other destinations, including Amman, Beirut and Dammam as well as Riyadh. Erbil, Muscat, Tehran and Riyadh are also affected. Eurowings, the low-cost carrier, has suspended flights from Tel Aviv to Beirut and Erbil. ITA Airways has also extended its suspension of flights to Riyadh through June 30. MALAYSIA Airlines will resume limited service to Doha on July 2. NORWEGIAN AIR The low-cost airline has delayed the launch of its Tel Aviv, Beirut and Beirut services until June 15. PEGASUS Pegasus Airlines, Turkey's national airline, has cancelled all flights to Iran, Iraq Kuwait, Bahrain, Dammam Riyadh Abu Dhabi Sharjah until June 1. QANTAS Australia's national carrier has added flights to Rome, Paris and London to respond to a surge in demand on European routes. The number of flights to Paris will rise from three to five weekly return flights, and the Perth to Singapore service will go up from daily to ten a week. A new schedule will be implemented gradually for flights starting in mid-April. It will run through late July. ROYAL MAROC Moroccan carrier announced that flights to Doha and Dubai will be cancelled until 30 June. SINGAPORE Airlines To meet increased demand, the carrier has extended its Singapore to Dubai flight suspension until August 2. It also added services on Singapore-London Gatwick (late March) and Singapore-Melbourne (late March to October 24). TURKISH AIRLINES SunExpress, Turkish Airlines joint venture with Lufthansa has cancelled flights until June 30, including to Dubai, Bahrain and Erbil. WIZZ AIR Low-cost airlines resumed their flights to Tel Aviv from May 28, but flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as flights to Amman in Jordan remain suspended. All flights to Medina have been suspended permanently. (Compiled by Josephine Mason and Jamie Freed. Elviira Loma, Tiago Branao, Agnieszka Olenka, Bernadette HOG, Boleslaw LaSocki, Romolo Tosiani. Matt Scuffham and Alexander Smith edited by Milla Nissi, Susan Fenton, Jonathan Ananda, Milla Nissi-Prussak, and Jonathan Ananda.
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Poland arrests employee of arms manufacturer suspected of spying
Wladyslaw KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ, the Polish Defence Minister, announced on Friday that a PGZ employee had been detained on suspicion of spying for a foreign'state. Poland claims that its role as the hub for military supplies and other goods?to Ukraine makes it a 'target' for Russian spies who are trying to gather information on Kyiv’s efforts to repel Russia’s invasion, as well?as to engage in sabotage. Kosiniak Kamysz reported on X that "On May 27,... the department of military affairs detained a Polish citizen, an employee of a PGZ Group facility, on suspicion of espionage for a 'foreign'state." The district court of 'Poznan' ordered, on May 29th this year, the implementation of preventive measures in the form of a?temporary arrest? for a period?of 3 months. (Reporting and editing by Hugh Lawson; Anna Wlodarczak Semczuk)
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Indian airline IndiGo reports quarterly loss due to capacity restrictions and declining rupee
IndiGo, India's budget airline, reported a loss for the fourth quarter?on Friday. The country's leading airline was struggling with a deteriorating rupee and soaring fuel costs. The airline reported a loss for the quarter ending March 31 of 26.62 billion rupies ($280.2m), compared to a profit of 30,73 billion rupies in?the previous period. The airline was forced to reduce its domestic capacity in the third quarter by 10% after being ordered to do so by the aviation regulator of the country. This followed a series of mass cancellations that occurred during December, which led to the worst aviation crisis of the country and the sudden departure of the CEO. The revenue for the quarter grew by 1.3%. However, expenses increased at a faster rate, nearly 31%. IndiGo spends over 60% of its costs in dollars, directly or indirectly. A depreciating currency has also increased the overall cost for the company. IndiGo's forex loss was 48.82 billion rupees in the third quarter. This compares to a gain of 1.38 billion rupees a year ago. The airline's margins were also affected by the rising fuel prices as a result of supply restrictions following the war in Iran. IndiGo and other airlines that do not hedge their fuel have been struggling with the soaring prices of jet fuel as the Iran War pushed crude oil to over $100 per barrel. ($1 = 95.0000 Indian Rupees) (Reporting and editing by Nivedita Battacharjee in Bengaluru)
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China is against any country that uses freedom of navigation as a means to undermine China's sovereignty
China responded to the passage of a Canadian warship through the Taiwan Strait on Friday by saying that it firmly opposed 'any attempt' to undermine its security and sovereignty "under the pretense of freedom of Navigation". Canadian?media reported last week that the frigate HMCS Charlottetown 'transited' without being accompanied?by any allied ships. China asserts sovereignty over Taiwan, a democratically-governed island, and the strategic Taiwan Strait despite Taipei rejecting the claims. Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that China respects all nations' rights to navigation as per international law. Taiwan's Defence Ministry said that the Taiwan Strait was an international waterway and all countries enjoyed a right to freedom of navigation. The ministry said it "closely monitored relevant developments by using joint?intelligence and surveillance mechanisms" but did not disclose proactively the movements of military vessels from allies. The Canadian Department of National Defence didn't immediately respond to our request for a comment. Reporting?by Joe Cash, Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard from Taipei, Writing by Liz Lee and Editing by Himani & Ros Russell.
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Georgia uncovers the worth of Stalin's wine collection, which includes 40,000 bottles
In a?dim, dim light, cobwebs are tangled from the ceiling and a musky, pleasant sweetness fills the air. This repository once housed a valuable?wine collection that was owned by 'Georgia’s most infamous child,?Josef Stalin. The?Georgian Government, which owns 40,000 French and Georgian rareties, opened the wine vault in Tbilisi this week for the first. The collection includes some wines dating back to the early 19th century. It will be auctioned off and the proceeds used to fund a wine school in Georgia. Irakli Gilauri of Gilauri Wines, who worked on the project with Georgia's Agriculture Ministry, said that the auction will help "put Georgia on collectors' maps". South Caucasus is marketed as the birthplace for wine. Archaeological?evidence shows that winemaking has been a tradition in this region since 8,000 BCE. Stalin, born in Georgia, led the Soviet Union between 1924 and 1953. He was a passionate wine collector and drinker. The collection includes wines from Bordeaux estates once owned by Russia's Tsar Alexander III, and his son Nicholas. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Soviets took over the Imperial Romanov Collection. Stalin then became its guardian and slowly added his favourite Georgian varieties. Victor Chen was excited to see the amber liquid in the dusty bottles. He had travelled from Dallas, Texas to 'Tbilisi. He said: "I feel like Indiana Jones opening a cave. It could be nothing or it could be something." He was referring to the fictional archaeologist from the film franchise. There aren't many historical moments left at this time. This could be one. Reporting by Lucy Papachristou, editing by Barbara Lewis
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BHP Electrical workers vote to strike at key Australian Iron Ore Export Hub
A union announced on Friday that hundreds of BHP's Electrical Workers at Port Hedland, in Western Australia, will vote on a potential strike action. This could disrupt iron ore exports from one of the largest export hubs of the world. Electrical Trades Unions (ETU) has begun the process to allow its members to authorize a strike. This could happen "very likely" by the end June if no pay deal is reached. After six months of stagnant talks, workers are now considering a strike after a failed attempt to reach an agreement with BHP, "the world's largest listed miner" in order to come up with a new labour contract. They want better pay and working conditions. Adam Woodage, state secretary of the union, told a Perth press conference: "Our members didn't take this lightly." BHP has stalled the negotiations for six months. The company has made little progress, and the movement that has occurred has been insulting to our members. Woodage said that a strike could have "significant impacts on operations" as well as bring the export hub to a standstill. BHP's spokesperson confirmed that the miner is negotiating with its port operation teams a "new agreement". The spokesperson said that "in the event of union disruptions on our sites, we will have contingency plans to protect our employees and continue operations in a safe, reliable manner." Port Hedland, Australia's largest iron ore port, is among the world's largest. It is connected to several BHP mines located in the Pilbara area and is used by BHP for all its iron ore in Western Australia. BHP's collective agreement covers 450 port workers. Around 200 of them are ETU members. The ETU announced that unionised workers would vote within the next two weeks on whether to approve work stops ranging between 15 minutes and 24 hours. Woodage stated, "We expect they'll support taking this action." BHP made a profit of?A$15billion ($10.73billion) last year. There's plenty in the bank to share with workers. Our members want a piece of this money. BHP shares were up 1.4% to A$61.45 during afternoon trading, following the benchmark?S&P/ASX 200, which was also up 1.2%. Separately the ETU and the Offshore Alliance, a union representing workers at the Ichthys Gas Plant in Darwin, are in negotiations with Japan's Inpex. The Offshore Alliance, a coalition of the Australian Workers' Union (AWU) and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), announced on Friday that the planned strike action would be delayed until the 2nd of June as negotiations progressed. $1 = 1.3978 Australian Dollars (Reporting from Helen Clark in Perth, Christine Chen in Sydney and Sherin Sunny at Bengaluru. Additional reporting by Alan Barona and Rashmi aich in Jamie Freed's office).
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Special Report-Why Tesla AI trainers do not trust self-driving technology or safety statistics
In an office in Utah, hundreds of Tesla employees scrutinize the video footage collected by cars using the Full Self-Driving feature (FSD). In some clips, the cars are shown hitting deer or cats. Other clips show more common accidents. They sometimes don't stop before hitting. They speed up a lot. Sometimes, workers witness children playing on the street. These Tesla staffers, also known as "data labels," train the AI-powered Tesla driver-assistance system. They note incidents of good driving and bad driving, and report problems to engineers who are working to improve the software. Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, says that FSD will "soon" make all Teslas autonomous. Interviews with nine former Tesla labelers and an ex-self-driving engineering show that in recent months, the technology has struggled to perform basic maneuvers such as avoiding emergencies or stopping to let school buses load or unload students. (View the article on.com:) Musk and other executives continue to tout the safety of FSD, despite its dangerous flaws. They have pushed Tesla into staging public demonstrations of the fully automated capability that the CEO has "promised" investors each year for the past decade. Displays include a robotaxi in Austin, Texas that was launched in June last year with human safety monitors inside the cars as well as others who worked remotely. Four former Tesla employees said that as the events neared, Tesla staffers spent long hours mapping routes, and training software to recognize specific hazards, in order to make self-driving cars appear more capable. Staffers claimed that these labor-intensive safety measures are not feasible to implement on a large scale. These efforts, which were not previously reported, undermine Musk’s claim that Tesla’s self-driving tech will soon work globally, and won't need the laborious mapping of local roads and hazards used by competitors. Musk said Tesla relies on AI and cameras to simplify its approach. This will allow Tesla to expand its robotaxi service with "hyperexponential speed" and give current Tesla owners complete autonomy via software updates. Musk and other Tesla leaders have reinforced the impression of robocompetence by citing statistics about company safety that, they claim, prove FSD to be up to 10x safer than human driving. A? A?examen of Tesla's statistical method and interviews with?company?insiders shows Tesla isn't near delivering safely self-driving cars at scale, a promise that underpins the automaker's stock-market valuation of $1.6 trillion. This included an analysis of how Tesla compares their own crash data with federal crash data, a comparison of the more rigorous methodology used by robotaxi rival Waymo and interviews with eleven traffic-safety experts who reviewed Tesla's method. The review identified several invalid data comparisons that were used to support the statistics in Tesla’s FSD safety reports. Ten researchers claimed this was misleading marketing, rather than an investigation into a crucial safety issue. Tesla, for example, exaggerates safety of the technology by comparing a crash rate in FSD-piloted Teslas which triggered airbag deployments with a federal accident rate for all vehicles, including far less severe accidents. Tesla also compares their cars with the average U.S. car, which is older than the typical Tesla. Researchers said that this results are distorted because automakers all have launched safety features to reduce accidents. "Any new vehicle is significantly safer than an old car," said Phil Koopman. He's a Carnegie Mellon University professor of engineering and an expert in autonomous vehicles. It's like saying, "My jet plane is faster than your World War II Bomber." Yeah, then what's the point? Tesla did not respond to the detailed questions for this report. Tesla's CFO Vaibhav Tania first claimed that the robotaxi was 10-times safer in July last year, following Tesla's Austin launch. Robyn Denholm, Tesla Board Chair, repeated the claim at a meeting in November where shareholders approved an incentive package that would grant Musk up to $1 trillion worth of Tesla stock. Musk displayed at the same meeting a chart that claimed "85% fewer crashes" based on the recently revised Tesla method. Musk said to shareholders that he felt "almost comfortable" allowing drivers to text while driving. In the next few months, we'll be closely examining safety statistics. But we will let you text while driving. Tesla still hasn't approved texting while driving using FSD six months after it was first announced. The fine print of its FSD site continues to warn that "currently enabled features require active supervisory supervision and do NOT make the vehicle autonomic." Tesla has often cited this disclaimer when sued for serious accidents. FSD has been widely recognized as a technology capable of handling a wide range of driving situations and can do so for extended periods. Full autonomy is still elusive to Tesla and other car companies because it requires flawless technology execution, even in the most complicated driving situations. Seven former data labelers said they would not trust FSD to drive them. One said, "We've all seen it fail." One man said that he would not ride in a Tesla Robotaxi "if you paid me." Another self-driving expert, who has studied Tesla crash data over the years, called Tesla's safety claims "bullshit." The engineer replied, "I don't think you can trust Elon with this." 'TRAUMA TEAM REVIEWS NEAR MISSES Tesla's data labels get an up-close look at FSD capabilities by reviewing footage from eight exterior cameras equipped vehicles. Former employees said that FSD failed to perform basic tasks such as stopping for emergency vehicles or giving motorcycles enough room. They saw FSD vehicles failing to brake at freeway exit ramps. One Tesla even hit a concrete barrier. The footage, according to them, did not show if anyone was injured. Two employees claimed that clips showed FSD not avoiding construction zones. One of these incidents involved a Tesla driving into the construction zone and nearly hitting workers, according to one person. This account is based on the descriptions provided by former staffers of the footage they saw. Managers at Tesla carefully control access to videos. Employees only watch the clips that they are assigned. They may or may be able to see FSD's biggest failures. Three employees reported that one data-labeling group focused on pedestrians who were close to being hit. One source claimed that the employees were known informally as "the trauma team" and worked in Palo Alto in California with special access to the footage. The trauma-team footage was closely guarded by engineers, but sometimes, some footage "slipped through" to the other teams, according to the source. Both the person and an employee claimed to have seen clips of drivers taking control manually at the last moment when FSD failed recognize pedestrians at crosswalks. Two former employees remembered seeing videos of FSD-piloted Teslas almost hitting children last year. Tesla has faced federal investigations, lawsuits, and other legal proceedings for many years involving fatal crashes that were blamed by drivers or regulators on the failure of FSD, or its older Autopilot system. In 2021, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation on Autopilot after a number of accidents involving Teslas hitting emergency vehicles. In 2023, the investigation led to a recall where Tesla installed software updates to detect when drivers are not paying attention. NHTSA is currently conducting four investigations on FSD and Autopilot. One of these involves dozens cases in which vehicles using FSD did not stop at red lights or turned towards traffic. A second investigation examines whether Tesla's Autopilot upgrades for 2023 were adequate to solve the safety issues. The agency is investigating nine FSD incidents, including one fatal crash where the system failed due to reduced visibility, such as in fog or sun glare. Tesla was awarded $243 million last year after an Autopiloted Tesla crash in Florida killed a woman aged 22 and seriously injured her boyfriend. Tesla has appealed. The company settled similar cases without disclosing the terms in several other similar cases. NHTSA did not respond to a question from NHTSA about the safety of FSDs and Tesla's method when asked by NHTSA. The agency referred any questions regarding Tesla's safety claims over to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC refused to comment on Tesla’s safety statistics. Consumer advocacy groups and U.S. Senators have asked the FTC to look into Tesla's marketing for Autopilot and FSD. Tesla has not been subjected to any enforcement action by the FTC. STATS INFLATED ON TESLA'S FSD SAFETY Tesla's CEO and board boosted their claims of safety as employees watched the videos. Tesla's leaders promoted this 10-times safer claim for much of the last year. Tesla CFO Taneja stated in a call to discuss earnings that "a car with FSD will be 10x safer". "Even with $99 per month, you get a personal driver for less than $3.33 per day." Tesla's method is flawed because of a comparison error. This led to a three-fold increase in the claimed level of safety. The automaker compared data from all crashes involving a tow truck with the number of Tesla crashes that had airbags deployed. This was a much less strict criterion. Tow truck crashes are often not severe enough to activate airbags. Tesla used a flawed methodology, even though the federal data that it used included crashes in which airbags were deployed. The flawed methodology led to the conclusion that Teslas with FSD or Autopilot traveled 10 times further between crashes than an average human driver. According to Marco Benedetti's analysis, a former NHTSA statistician and assistant research scientist from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Teslas with driver-assistance systems are three times more likely to travel between crashes in which airbags were deployed. Two other traffic safety researchers confirmed Benedetti’s calculations. Benedetti explained that Tesla's method is flawed in several ways, and this does not mean FSD makes a driver three times more safe than an average driver. Tesla changed its approach to only include data from vehicles that use FSD in November and excluded those using Autopilot. Tesla claimed more miles between crashes by including Autopilot because it is a less complex system that's designed for highways, where cars travel fewer miles and crash less often than in urban areas. On its website, the company continues to cite the flawed airbag crash comparison to claim that FSD is 7 times safer than an average driver. This amounts to 85% in percentage terms. The findings of a study cast doubts on the safety of FSD. When comparing its crash rates to those of the nation, the automaker does not take into account the age of the vehicle. Tesla compares the average age of its cars, which is just 4.1, with that of all U.S. vehicles which averages 12.8. Ten safety researchers said that this skews results because most automakers are now offering revolutionary safety features across their entire lineup, such as blind-spot detection and automatic emergency brakes. Tesla reduces the number of crashes by counting only those that occur with FSD on or within 5 seconds after it is turned off. The U.S. Government, on the other hand, requires automakers report crashes that occur within 30 seconds after an advanced driver assistance system is deactivated. Tesla claims FSD can save over 32,000 lives each year and prevent 1.9 million injuries. Researchers in traffic safety have called these figures meaningless, because they assume that all U.S. vehicles, including trucks and motorcycles that are crash-prone, will be replaced with Tesla cars that support FSD, and that each Tesla is at least seven-times safer than its predecessor. The More?Rigorous Approach of WAYMO Ten traffic safety researchers have said that the premise behind Tesla's statistics on safety is flawed as well, because FSD isn’t a true autonomous system. Tesla's executives are wrong when they claim that the company is comparing its technology with human drivers. Tesla isn't comparing its technology to human drivers, as executives claim. Instead, it compares the average driver with another human who drives a Tesla and uses FSD. Tesla fails to take into account that these drivers are able to turn FSD off and on. Research shows that motorists avoid advanced driver-assistance technologies in traffic situations with high levels of complexity, as they feel unsafe. Tesla's data indicates that FSD is mostly used on highways. Alphabet Waymo compares its driverless robotaxis in 11 U.S. metro areas to similar human-driven cars. Waymo adopts a more rigorous strategy than Tesla. It examines crash data from the markets in which it operates, and adjusts for the type of roads and neighborhoods that its robotaxis travel. Waymo looks at specific crash rates, such as airbag deployments and serious injuries. This is for both human-driven cars and Waymo's cars. John Scanlon is a Waymo researcher who specializes in safety. "You have to be very specific with your research questions and conclusions." Waymo, meanwhile, points out flaws in its data as well as collaborating with external researchers to publish its safety statistics in peer reviewed journals. Tesla, on the other hand, does not seek peer review, and only publishes top-line statistics about safety, while keeping Tesla's crash data secret. VIDEOS OF TESLAS STRIVING DOGS, CATS AND DEAR Data labelers at Tesla get a raw look at FSD safety. Three former Tesla employees have described videos of Teslas hitting animals at high speed without braking. Five former employees stated that specific teams were focused on FSD’s difficulties recognizing school busses. The Dawn Project, a technology safety group, raised this concern by airing ads at the Super Bowls of 2023 and 2024 showing Teslas with FSD enabled failing to stop for school buses with flashing lights and stop signs. Two former Tesla employees have said that they saw videos similar to those in Tesla. Five former data labelers have described a chaotic, hurried work environment, where priorities were constantly changing based on Musk's and FSD's engineers' directives. They said that the data-labeling department was plagued by a high turnover rate due to monotonous work and low pay. Four former employees claim that Tesla's higher-ups would often launch new projects as a reaction to news stories or social media posts that showed FSD making mistakes. One project was to fix the problem of sunlight obscuring exterior cameras on cars. A social media video showed how the light reflected off a watch of a passenger blinded a camera, shutting FSD down. A second effort was made at railroad crossings after news reports that Teslas with FSD failed to stop there. Five of the employees also said that FSD clips regularly showed speeding. Engineers and other people higher up in the chain treated this as a problem with low priority. After the automaker launched a "Mad Max mode" that allows for more aggressive driving, one employee reported labelers regularly seeing Teslas exceeding speed limits of 20-30 miles per hour. One labeler said he saw a vehicle driven by FSD traveling at 60 mph within a 25 mph zone. TESLA PUBLIC ROBOTAXI DISPLAYS: BEHIND THE CURTAIN Musk announced Tesla's self driving capabilities in October 2024, as Tesla employees struggled with FSD training. The robotaxi was unveiled at Warner Bros. Studios near Los Angeles. Musk showed off about 20 two-door prototypes of his "Cybercab" which had no pedals or steering wheel, to the invite-only audience. He said, "The cars just pass by without any people." Musk said Tesla's software was designed to navigate unfamiliar landscapes and work anywhere. Two former data-labeling workers claim that for the weeks leading up to the Cybercab launch, the staff collected video footage of the route the cars would take at the event. The employees claimed that labelers spent hundreds hours on video annotating road markings and curbs to avoid embarrassing incidents. Musk has dismissed this approach as being too expensive and slow. Musk called Waymo's'very localized solutions' "quite fragile" in 2024. Musk announced on a call for earnings in January 2025 that Tesla will launch robotaxis in Austin in June 2025, after the Warner Bros. presentation. He hailed the technology as "a generalized AI solution," which didn't need "high precision maps of a specific location." Tesla filmed stop lights, road signage and other features for months prior to the Austin launch. Two employees who have direct knowledge of this matter say that data labelers marked up the video to make sure the software was capable of handling challenging scenarios. These included passenger pickups and responding to emergency vehicles. Three employees claimed that the Utah data-labeling team doubled in the half-year prior to the Austin launch, from about 100 workers to 300. They said that the department worked on a variety of projects in order to ensure that the Austin test went smoothly. Two employees reported that the software was still unreliable as Tesla data labelers were preparing for the "rollout". Some driving behaviors improved with each FSD upgrade. Some driving behaviors improved with each FSD update. Two large screens in the Utah office displayed statistics on FSD, a key safety metric for autonomous driving. Former employees stated that the company's performance was "like the stock market", with no consistency in improvement. Two sets of human safety monitors are available for the vehicles to hit the road: one in the front passenger's seat and another watching remotely. Labelers in Utah could watch videos to see when remote monitors were taking control of the vehicles. Former employee stated that the Austin routes were created for a small area to allow the software of the cars to be extensively trained on specific maneuvers in particular streets. The person who said this described it as "OK, we taught a car" how to operate within a restricted area. "You can't be creative outside of this." Four sources stated that scaling up in a safe manner could take many years. Musk said in July that the robotaxi service would be expanded to cover half of the U.S. by 2025, just a month after its launch in Austin. Musk claimed falsely in January that Tesla operated 500 “robotaxi vehicles” in Austin and San Francisco Bay Area. He added that he expected this to "double each month" along an "exponential" curve. According to a recent presentation by officials, Tesla operates less than 50 robotaxis in Austin, despite the launch of the service nearly a full year ago. Three sources confirmed that the vehicles travel within a carefully-mapped and limited zone. According to recent observations made by a journalist, some vehicles still have human safety monitors on the front passenger's seat. Tesla announced in April that it would be launching robotaxis throughout Dallas and Houston. It also provided maps of the areas covered. Reporters who tested the service recently in both cities reported long wait times and inconsistent availability. When a reporter was able to get a ride three times in Dallas, the robotaxi would not drop him off at his destination downtown within Tesla's service area. Every time it took him 15 minutes to walk. (By Chris Kirkham, Los Angeles; and Rachael LEVY, Washington. Sheila Dang, Norihiko Schirouzu, and Benjamin Lesser contributed additional reporting. Brian Thevenot, David Crawshaw and Brian Thevenot edited the story.
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After six months of stagnant talks, BHP's Port Hedland electricians will vote on a work stoppage.
The Electrical Trades Union announced in a statement on Friday that after six months of unsuccessful talks with management, electrical workers at BHP’s Port Hedland Bulk Port?terminal would vote on work halts. The union stated that the ballot was held after six months of stonewalling, where employees found employers unwilling or unable to negotiate an agreement with their representatives, or unauthorised to do so. The union said that workers are seeking to resolve major discrepancies between their employment contracts, after having been hired under wildly different common-law contracts by two separate legal entities, both of which ultimately belong to BHP. According to its website, the Electrical Trades Union is made up of?more than 75,000 electricians, apprentices, and electrical workers?in Australia. The workers also want transparent criteria and classifications for promotions and pay parity between themselves and their co-workers. Electrical Trades Union WA Secretary, Adam Woodage, says that union members will resort to protected industrial actions if BHP managers do not negotiate after several meetings. BHP workers in the Pilbara were subjected to a pattern of?behaviour that made lawful protected industrial actions the only option, said?Woodage. Port Hedland, Australia's largest iron ore port, is among the largest ports in the world. It is connected to a number of BHP mines in the Pilbara area. BHP did respond immediately to a comment request. (Reporting and editing by Alan Barona in Bengaluru, Sherin Sunny from Bengaluru)
DHS chief warns US that it could stop international flights and cargo at Newark due to immigration dispute
The U.S. Homeland Security Department announced on Thursday that the Trump administration could soon stop processing international passengers and cargo at Newark Airport because local law enforcement officials are not assisting federal immigration authorities in northern New Jersey. Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of Homeland Security at Fox News' "Fox and Friends", said that if things do not change soon we will have to take this step. He was referring to United Airlines' major hub near New York City.
Mullin claimed that local police did not ensure that federal immigration officials were able to enter and exit the New Jersey detention centers and warned that he would reassign airport customs officials. Mullin stated that if (Customs), is not there to 'process international flights', those individuals will not be allowed into the United States when the airlines land. U.S. Airlines are taking this threat "very seriously" and have made calls to officials in the administration and legislators, warning them that a suspension of flights could be devastating. United declined to make a comment.
Later, Acting Attorney-General Todd Blanche stated on Fox News that the option of stopping processing flights in all airports within sanctuary cities was "extreme", but it should be considered.
Blanche stated, "We need to discuss all our options." "Whatever makes sense will be the answer, and what President Trump believes we should do." Mullin said on Tuesday that the Trump administration is preparing plans to stop international passengers and cargo from being processed at major U.S. Airports in "sanctuary Cities" which have refused to cooperate with a crackdown on immigration.
This could have a major impact on international air travel, and the commerce of airports in Democratic States. Millions of tourists are expected to arrive in these states for the FIFA World Cup next month.
The final will take place on July 19, in East Rutherford (New Jersey), about 12 miles away from Newark Airport. Mullin was reported to have privately informed U.S. Travel executives that his department may opt to stop processing international travelers' customs and immigrations.
The U.S. Justice Department has published a list containing many major cities, including Boston, Denver and Chicago. Also included were Los Angeles, Newark, Seattle, San Francisco, Newark City, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Mullin first publicly made this threat in April. Democrats claim reforms are necessary to curb abuses committed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. This includes the murder of two U.S. Citizens in Minneapolis, Minnesota in January.
The U.S. Travel Association stated that halting international flights at major airports could have devastating effects on the travel industry as well as communities who depend on international visitors.
Last year, more than 50 millions international travelers visited the three main New York airports.
Airlines for America, an association of major cargo and passenger airlines, stated that reducing?customs personnel at major airports could disrupt operations?for carriers and travelers, as well as the flow of international freight. Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary, did not support the idea of halting international travel at certain airports during a hearing before Congress last week. Duffy stated that "we shouldn't stop air travel in states where our politics are not supported." (Reporting and editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Nick Zieminski).
(source: Reuters)