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The US Government’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), also known as the Five Star Safety Assessment, has received major updates. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced on Thursday a set of new proposals for a federal program aimed at curbing the increase in pedestrian deaths.

For the first time, NHTSA will consider the inclusion of an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS – sorry for all the acronyms!) Features such as automatic emergency stop, dead zone detection and lane saving assistance. These ADAS features, which are fast becoming the standard in most vehicles today, could become a major benchmark for a five-star government safety rating.

Traditionally, NHTSA assigns safety assessments to new cars and trucks by placing several crash test dummies inside the vehicle and driving it into a wall at high speed. But this system really only assesses the risks to passengers in the car, not the danger to vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.

NHTSA recognizes that this is no longer a resilient system

NHTSA recognizes that this is no longer a resilient system. “For the first time in history, the NCAP includes technology recommendations not only for drivers and passengers, but also for off-road users, such as pedestrians,” said Stephen Cliff, NHTSA’s deputy administrator.

The European Union version of NCAP is different and obviously better. Vehicles receive a five-star rating only if they can demonstrate the ability to stop completely – or at least slow down – before colliding with a pedestrian or cyclist. Under President Obama, NHTSA has begun the process of revising the NCAP to address the safety of those outside the vehicle; under President Trump, that effort was abandoned.

But President Joe Biden resurrected him through a two-party infrastructure plan signed last year. In addition to requiring passenger cars to include frontal collision warnings, automatic emergency braking and lane keeping assistance, he also ordered the Ministry of Transport to revise the NCAP to include these features in its safety assessment criteria.

The idea is to assess the car safety of many new technologies that can stop risky driving behavior before it even happens. As a result, NCAP tests will become more stringent and vehicles that do not include these features are likely to receive a lower rating. As David Zipper, a visiting fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School and an active advocate for car safety, wrote in Bloomberg last year:

From the beginning, NCAP has been a consumer education program designed to help Americans understand the relative safety of new cars before making a purchase. Carmakers can ignore NCAP if they choose, but federal law requires that its ratings be affixed to car window stickers at car dealerships … Carmakers are looking forward to the best five-star NCAP ratings and bragging when they receive them.

However, new NHTSA proposals may not go far enough. As Zipper notesthe agency says it will “carry out tests” to determine whether to include an automatic emergency stop for cyclists, as its European counterparts have done.

The new proposals come amid a tragic – but completely predictable – increase in the number of people killed in trafficking. Although fewer Americans traveled the road during the pandemic, nearly 39,000 people were killed in 2020 – the highest number of deaths since 2007. And 2021 is set to be another record year, with nearly 32,000 people dying from January to September. (NHTSA still collects data from the last three months of the year.)

These were particularly bloody years for pedestrians and cyclists

These were particularly bloody years for pedestrians and cyclists. In 2020, cyclist deaths increased by more than 9 percent, reaching their highest level since 1987. Urban deaths increased by almost 9 percent, and pedestrian deaths approached 4 percent, the most the highest number since 1989

“There is a crisis on America’s roads: 3,000 people are dying every month, and the numbers have only gotten worse in recent years,” said US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigig in a statement. “These important changes will help save lives on our roads by ensuring that consumers have the necessary information about the latest safety technologies when buying a new vehicle.

The link between vehicle design and pedestrian deaths is quite clear. The most popular types of vehicles, jeeps and pickups, are usually the most dangerous. While people driving SUVs are a little safer, the number of pedestrians killed by those drivers has risen 81 percent in the past decade, according to a report released several years ago by the Road Safety Insurance Institute.

This is mainly due to the way SUVs are designed: larger bodies and taller carriages mean that pedestrians are more likely to suffer fatal blows to the head and torso. Higher ground clearances mean that victims are more likely to be trapped under an accelerating SUV instead of being pushed onto the hood or side.

A revised NCAP can penalize vehicles that are designed in this deadly way. This could have a huge impact on the current design of SUVs and trucks – but only if NHTSA sticks to its weapons and accepts these proposals.

Ukraine has announced it will issue irreplaceable tokens to fund its armed forces as cryptocurrency becomes an increasingly popular means of supporting the government in Kyiv.

Mikhail Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said on Twitter on Thursday that the government would soon issue an NFT to help pay for the army.

NFT provides ownership of a unique digital item – with works of virtual art that are proving to be particularly popular – to its buyer, even if that item can be easily copied. Ownership is recorded in a digital, decentralized register known as a blockchain.

Fedorov did not elaborate on the NFT, but said the government had canceled earlier plans to reward cryptocurrency donors with airdrop, a free digital token commonly used by the crypto community to encourage participation in a project.

After careful consideration, we decided to cancel the airdrop. Every day there are more and more people willing to help Ukraine fight aggression. Instead, we will soon announce the NFT in support of the Ukrainian armed forces. We have NO plans to issue replaceable tokens

– Mikhail Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 3, 2022

The move comes after Ukraine’s call for donations of cryptocurrencies exceeded $ 50 million (£ 38 million) after Fedorov posted a request for donations in bitcoins, ethereum and theater on Twitter last week.

Stand with the people of Ukraine
He now accepts donations of cryptocurrency. Ethereum. Bitcoin and Tether (USDTtrc20)

BTC – 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P

ETH – 0x165CD37b4C644C2921454429E7F9358d18A45e14

USDT (trc20) – TEFccmfQ38cZS1DTZVhsxKVDckA8Y6VfCy

– Mikhail Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 26, 2022

The appeal has already raised $ 54.7 million for the Ukrainian government and a Ukrainian NGO, according to Elliptic, a blockchain data and analysis company. Most of the money went to the government, with a smaller amount sent to Come Back Alive, an organization that funds “real-time needs to protect Ukraine.”

According to Elliptic, there have been more than 102,000 donations of cryptocurrencies since the invasion began last week, including a $ 5.8 million donation from Gavin Wood, the British co-founder of the blockchain platform Polkadot. Elliptic added that a $ 1.86 million donation appears to come from the sale of NFT, originally intended to raise money for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. CryptoPunk NFT worth $ 200,000 has also been sent to the Ukrainian government.

“Most of the donations received so far have been in bitcoin and ether, although stable US dollar coins contribute a significant share,” Elliptic said this week. However, the company added that fraudsters also appear to be raising funds by luring consumers who are trying to donate to Ukrainian causes.

NFT’s global market reached $ 25.5 billion last year, according to DappRadar, a company that tracks sales, rising sharply from just $ 100 million in 2020. The rising value of NFT has sparked warnings from skeptics that token obsession carries everyone distinctive features of a speculative bubble. DappRadar’s head of finance and research, Modesta Masoyt, said Ukraine’s move was a “turning point” in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

Ukraine has also raised significant sums through conventional means. Last week, she raised £ 200m from the sale of military bonds and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to raise additional funds.

Former Senator Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., Discusses Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat and whether NATO should take a more practical approach to Ukraine, saying the conflict will “define how secure the world is” in the future.

The same American companies that are in a hurry to sever ties with Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine have nothing to say about China’s position against Taiwan or the persecution of the Uighurs.

Apple said Tuesday it had stopped sales and other services such as Apple Pay in Russia, saying it was “deeply concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine” and “with all the people who are suffering as a result of the violence.”

APPLE STOPPED SALES IN RUSSIA FOR UKRAINE

Apple also said that state-owned Russian media outlets such as RT News and Sputnik News are no longer available for download from the App Store outside of Russia.

Woman cries in front of houses damaged by Russian air strike, according to locals in Gorenka, outside the capital of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022 (AP Newsroom)

Apple has not taken such action against China, which is increasing its presence near Taiwan, an island that the communist country claims is part of its own territory, despite the island’s claims to independence since 1949. The United States does not officially recognize Taiwan, but maintain an informal relationship and support their democratic government.

China is sending dozens of fighter jets to Taiwan’s air defense zone, in line with calls by Chinese President Xi Jinping to bring the island to China as part of a “peaceful unification.” Taiwan has said it must warn nine Chinese planes that entered its defense zone on February 24, the same day Russia invaded Ukraine.

Uighur, Tibetan and Hong Kong communities gather in front of the Chinese Embassy in London, October 1, 2021 (Hasan Esen / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Although Apple is taking a stand against Russia and its state media, Chinese state media such as Xinhua, China Central Television (CCTV) and People’s Daily are still available for download from the App Store.

Apple is also silent about China’s human rights abuses against Muslims, especially Uighurs, in Xinjiang, which the United States has declared genocide. In fact, the company removed the Koran application from its App Store in October following requests from the Chinese government.

Apple CEO Tim Cook makes an elevator gesture as he arrives to speak during a week-long antitrust trial in a federal court in Oakland, California, May 21, 2021.

In March last year, Apple complied with the Chinese government’s request to remove H&M stores from Apple Maps in the country after the Swedish-based retailer spoke out against human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party.

“We are required to abide by local laws, and sometimes there are complex issues on which we may disagree with governments,” said Apple’s human rights policy.

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Apple did not respond to a request from Fox News Digital for comment on the Uighur genocide or whether it would take similar action against China, which it did with Russia in the event of an invasion of Taiwan.

Similar requests for comment from many other companies that have moved to sever ties with Russia but not China, including Twitter, Google, Nike, Disney and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, have remained unresolved.

But the use of satellite services can be dangerous in war, as evidenced by the history of countries using satellite signals to geolocate and target enemies, cybersecurity experts told CNN Business.

“If the enemy has a specialized aircraft in the air, he can detect [a satellite] signal and get involved in it, “said Nicholas Weaver, a security researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, by e-mail. Starlink may work right now, but anyone who asks a [Starlink] plate in Ukraine should see it as a potential giant target. “

In short: “It may be useful, but for safety reasons you don’t want to put it (or really any distinctive emitter) in Ukraine anywhere near where you wouldn’t want a Russian bomb to fall,” Weaver said.

Shortly after this story was first published, Musk also got involved Twittersaying “Important note: Starlink is the only non-Russian communication system still operating in some parts of Ukraine, so you are likely to be targeted. Please use with caution. ”He continued to I advise consumers in Ukraine to “turn on Starlink only when necessary and place the antenna as far away from people as possible”, and to “put light camouflage on the antenna to avoid visual detection.”

It is not clear how many Starlink terminals have sent SpaceX to Ukraine, nor is it clear how the Ukrainian government plans to use or distribute them.

SpaceX’s raid to help Ukraine began when the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov made a public request to Musk on Twitter last weekend, saying: “While you are trying to colonize Mars, Russia is trying to occupy Ukraine!” While your missiles successfully land from space – Russian missiles attack civilians of Ukraine! Please provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and ask sensible Russians to stay. “This was one of a series of tweets that Fedorov directed at various US-based technical figures, begging them to take action on behalf of Ukraine.

Musk responded with offers of help, announcing that the Starlink network has already been activated in Ukraine, and this week a whole truckload of consumer terminals arrived, which are needed to provide users with access to satellite Internet service.

Fedorov shared a photo online.

And on Wednesday, he shared a photo of what appears to be an active Starlink antenna at work.

Most of the country still has access to its normal, Earth-based Internet connections, despite attacks on other communications infrastructure, such as a TV tower in Kyiv’s capital, by Russian invaders, according to Alp Toker, who heads Internet monitoring company NetBlocks. .

But some areas have had interruptions, Toker said.

“The worst disturbances are observed in the east, Melitopol, Mariupol, Kharkiv and along the Luhansk and Donetsk districts to the regions controlled by Ukraine and Severodonetsk,” Toker said by email. “Kyiv did better, as did the western part of the country.”

Tocker added that according to NetBlocks Starlink “will not return Ukraine online in the event of an eclipse nationwide” – but the service can provide hotspots for important services such as support for journalists, resistance groups and public officials “with enough luck to have access to the equipment “.

But Toker also acknowledged that using the service could be dangerous: “There is always a risk associated with new technologies in war zones where detection with unfamiliar equipment can highlight journalists or activists for closer scrutiny. There is also a specific risk of tracking and triangulation through [radiofrequency] emissions when it comes to telecommunications equipment. “

These risks, Tocker said, “must be weighed on a case-by-case basis.”

John Scott-Reylton, a senior fellow at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab who has spent a decade studying hacking and surveillance in conflict zones, turned to Twitter over the weekend in an attempt to raise awareness of the potential risks. He praised the scope of SpaceX, but warned that Starlink terminals could become the equivalent of drawing a giant target on its back.

“It’s great to see how the technology sector is committed to Ukraine. “This could not be a stronger signal of global solidarity,” Scott Reilton told CNN Business. “But we have to keep the risks in mind. People in conflict zones are limited in time and resources. And we want to make sure that they don’t get a false impression of the safety of the technology we provide them. “

The risks have nothing to do with whether communications are encrypted, Scott-Railton added, as devices don’t have to be eavesdropped on by the enemy – they just have to emit enough unique signals to be tracked and eventually localized. He also noted that Starlink is still a very new technology, so it is not required has been tested in military zones to identify and assess risks.

A U.S. military spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The US military is aware of the risks of using satellite technology in military areas. In 2003, during the Iraq war, for example, both countries banned satellite phones due to security and intelligence risks.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment on Starlink, nor did it respond to routine email inquiries from reporters for years. Ukrainian officials and the country’s military did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Scott-Reylton pointed out that the use of satellite technology in conflict zones was – again and again – an underestimated risk. In 1996, the Russians reportedly used satellite signals to direct and assassinate Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev. Russia has “decades of experience” in carrying out such attacks, he said on Twitter. Scott-Reylton is also exploring the role that satellite technology plays in Libyan revolution since 2011

It is not always clear when the enemy has caught the use of enemy satellite technology, Scott-Reylton added, until it is too late.

Josh Lospinoso, CEO of Shift5, a US-based computer security company, added in an email: “Ultimately, the deployment of a SpaceX Starlink terminal in Ukraine could raise serious concerns for Ukrainian employees who use them … Russia may use this geolocation information for everything from intelligence gathering and tracking to air strikes. ”

Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, has indicated that Russia is aware of Musk’s donation – and Rogozin sees it as a hostile act. In comments to CNN Business on Wednesday, Rogozin said SpaceX’s claims that Starlink was for civilian use and aimed at connecting the world were “fairy tales.”

“Muscophiles say it’s amazing, it’s the light of our world space exploration,” Rogozin said. “Okay, [Musk] took a side. I have no problems with it. It is obvious that this is the West, which we should never trust, because it has always felt chronic jealousy among political elites, jealousy of our country. See how right now they are competing with each other to empty our relationship, and who will clear up the whole mess later? What is happening right now is very dangerous. “

Musk tweeted.

“The civil Internet in Ukraine was experiencing strange interruptions – maybe bad weather. “So SpaceX is helping to fix it,” he said wrote.

Artistic depiction of the future marine terminal in South Brooklyn, turned into a major center for the construction of wind turbines.

The artist presents with the kind assistance of Equinor

Map showing the location of future wind turbines, the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects.

The map is provided by Equinor

Artistic depiction of the future marine terminal in South Brooklyn, equipped to process large components for offshore wind turbines.

To do the job, New York City Economic Development Corporation and Equinor will train local community members.

“This site will be the launch of an entirely new industry for New York that will support 13,000 local jobs over time, generate $ 1.3 billion in average annual investment across the city and significantly reduce our carbon footprint.” so that we can achieve our climate goals of 100 percent clean electricity by 2040, “Adams said in a statement announcing the deal.

“This is a transformative moment for New York and our future for clean energy – a future of sustainable energy, well-paid jobs and climate justice,” Adams said.

The new port aims to provide 30% employment to its subcontractors from minority and women-owned subcontractors based and registered in New York or New York State, according to a statement issued for the plan.

The state of New York and New York have committed to receiving 70% of their electricity from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, by 2030.

During a recent briefing, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby denied that the U.S. military had a hand in assisting Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in his efforts to send Starlink satellite kits to Ukraine, which is currently at war with Russia. Kirby’s comments were in response to a question about whether Musk had had help from the Pentagon when he successfully sent Starlink kits to the besieged country.

“There is no help from us that I know of,” Kirby said. Asked if Starlink’s internet connection had had any effect on helping Ukrainians gain a tactical advantage in the war, the Pentagon spokesman simply said that such topics “are really for Ukrainians to talk about.” However, Kirby stressed that “the US military and I know we have no part in this.”

Kirby’s comments for Starlink are around 30:00.

Despite comments from the Pentagon spokesman, Elon Musk’s Starlink shipment to Ukraine was widely praised by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov. In a recent Twitter update, the official said the satellite Internet system was helping to keep the country’s cities connected amid pressure from the Russian invasion.

Fedorov even asked Musk if he had any ideas how to keep starlink functional even if the Russians attack Ukraine’s infrastructure. Musk suggested that solar panels and batteries would be the perfect solution, even if there is an eclipse. The Ukrainian welcomed the proposal before announcing it Starlink “will save many lives”.

Musk Starlink’s delivery to Ukraine was originally requested by Fedorov last weekend, with the official saying satellite Internet kits would be invaluable in the ongoing conflict. It took Musk about ten hours to respond, although he later said the terminals were on their way to the country. The Ukrainian official later shared a photo of the Starlink truck kits just about 48 hours after Musk’s initial response on Twitter. Later tests in the country showed that the satellite Internet system delivers speeds of up to 200 Mbps.

Although the supply of Musk Starlink to Ukraine was widely praised by many, it was met with extreme criticism from the head of the Russian space agency Dmitry Rogozin. Through Russia today, the head of Roscosmos said that “When Russia realizes its highest national interests in Ukraine, Elon Musk appears with his Starlink, which was previously declared purely civilian … Look, he chose the country. I don’t even blame him personally. This is the West, which we should never trust, “Rogozin said said.

Musk, in response on Twitter, brazenly said he had sent Starlink kits to Ukraine as the country experienced strange Internet outages. And because SpaceX could help, his private space company did. “The civil Internet in Ukraine was experiencing strange interruptions – maybe bad weather. “So SpaceX is helping to fix it,” Musk said wrote.

Do not hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to [email protected] to warn us.

The Pentagon denies involvement in the delivery of Elon Musk Starlink to Ukraine

Verizon announced on Thursday that it is launching a new platform in partnership with Netflix, Peloton, Disney Plus and other streamers as a hub for customers to “discover, buy and manage some of their favorite subscriptions.” Called Plus Play, the platform will launch with a select group of customers and brands later this month, with a broader launch later this year, the company said in a press release.

Plus Play will centralize streaming subscriptions at no extra cost to Verizon subscribers. Plus Play will allow Verizon customers to manage subscriptions on a variety of devices and provide information on content service deals, such as the Disney Plus / Hulu / ESPN Plus discount and other promotional offers. However, with Verizon and other service providers, you’ll want to keep an eye on the fine print. Sometimes signing up for a discount automatically involves data collectors, such as Custom Experience Plus, which tracks location data, who you’re calling, and what websites you’re visiting.

The company said in a news release that as more streaming platforms launch in different areas of content – such as games, music and news – it is becoming difficult for customers to know what they have, what may be available to them and whether they receive the best value of your subscriptions.

Also during its Investor’s Day event on Thursday, Verizon announced a partnership with the parent company of Facebook Meta, which will explore how companies can collaborate in a future metaverse. The partnership will look at ways to use Verizon’s 5G network with Meta technology “to understand the basic requirements for meta-universal applications.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has built the key universe initiative for the company, formerly known as Facebook.

President Biden’s chief surgeon on Thursday formally asked major technology platforms to provide information on the scale of Covid-19 misinformation on social media, search engines, crowdsourcing platforms, e-commerce platforms and instant messaging systems.

A request for information from the Chief Surgeon’s Office requires technology platforms to send data and analysis on the spread of disinformation about Covid-19 to their sites, starting with common examples of disinformation about vaccines documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

The communication requires companies to provide “exactly how many users have seen or may have been exposed to disinformation about Covid-19”, as well as aggregated demographic data that may have been disproportionately exposed or affected by the misinformation.

Chief Surgeon Dr. Vivek Murtie also requested information from the platforms on the main sources of disinformation about Covid-19, including those involved in the sale of unproven Covid-19 products, services and treatments.

“Technology companies now have the opportunity to be open and transparent with the American people about misinformation on their platforms,” ​​Dr. Murty said in an email statement. He added: “It’s about protecting the nation’s health.”

Companies have until May 2 to submit data. Denial of information requests is not sanctioned, but the notice is the first official request from the Biden administration to technology companies to provide disinformation about Covid-19, according to the chief surgeon’s office.

Six months ago, Dr. Murty used his first official advice to the United States to uncover technology and social media companies he accused of not doing enough to stop the spread of dangerous health misinformation – especially about Covid-19. He called the misinformation “an urgent threat to public health”.

The request for information is part of President Biden’s National Preparedness Plan for Covid, which the White House clarified on Wednesday and is a roadmap for a new phase of the pandemic, where Covid-19 is causing “minimal disruption”, according to the White House. Mr Biden first revealed details of the plan during his speech on the state of the Union on Tuesday night.

In addition to requiring disinformation data from technology platforms, the chief surgeon called on healthcare providers and the public to provide information on how disinformation Covid-19 has negatively affected patients and communities.

“We ask anyone with relevant insights – from original research and data sets to personal stories that talk about the role of misinformation in public health – to share it with us,” said Dr. Murty.