China's EV maker Li Auto expects monthly sales to reach 10,000 cars in Sept
China's electric vehicle maker Li Auto expects sales to reach 10,000 cars a month from September and will expand its sales network, executives said on Wednesday.
Li Auto President Shen Yanan said Li Auto, which has only one model, expects monthly sales of its facelifted Li ONE extended-range electric sport-utility vehicle model to nearly double by September. It sold 5,539 cars in April.
Shen said the firm would expand its sales network and continue to use a direct-sales model strategy to sell its vehicles, adding that it is building a team to research selling overseas. It has 75 stores in more than 50 Chinese cities.
Li Auto, with a market capitalisation of $18 billion, is competing with Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and a swathe of Chinese EV makers, including Nio Inc (NIO.N) and Xpeng Inc (XPEV.N).
CEO Li Xiang said Li Auto plans to invest 3 billion yuan in research and development this year, and expects that number to grow.
Li said he open to further fundraising options, including bonds, loans and follow-ons.
Source- Reuters
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle announce birth of daughter
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced Sunday the birth of their daughter Lilibet Diana, who was born in California after a year of turmoil in Britain's royal family.
"Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honour her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales," said a statement from the couple.
The child — the couple's second, who will be eighth in line to the British throne — was born Friday in Santa Barbara and was now out of the hospital and at home.
"She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz. Both mother and child are healthy and well, and settling in at home," the statement said.
The couple, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, live near Los Angeles following their decision to quit frontline royal duties early last year.
The couple sat in March for a bombshell interview with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey, triggering the royal family's biggest crisis since Harry's mother died in a car crash in 1997.
During the two-hour sit-down, viewed by more than 17 million people in the US and over 11 million in Britain, Harry and Meghan said racism had played a part in them quitting the UK for North America.
Source-AFP
Cruise ships return to Barbados starting on June 7th,2021
Barbados is preparing to welcome back cruise ships to its shores from Monday, with all passengers on board being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
This was disclosed by Tourism Minister Lisa Cummins on Saturday.
“We are preparing…to welcome back for the first time in over 15 months cruise ships to Barbados. We have the Celebrity Millennium that will be making a transit call on Barbados on Monday. She will arrive in Barbados at approximately 11 (local time) in the morning.”
“It has been over a year of discussions, negotiations, and engagement at the level of the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the European Union (EU) healthy sail guidelines, working through the Americas Crews Task Force, …chaired by the President and CEO of Royal Caribbean, Michael Bailey, and Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados.”
Cummins pointed out that a number of protocols are in place and all passengers are required to have a valid negative PCR test three days prior to arrival.
“There is testing that is going to be taking place on board the ships that will make sure that people are continually kept safe, but there are multiple different scenarios, and we want to spend some time just talking you through what that looks like. So, everybody's comfortable that we have been robust and rigorous in the assessment of what the parameters need to be, what the risk is going to be, what risks are going to be posed, and what measures need to be put in place,” she stated.
The minister also outlined the plans that have been put in place to receive cruise ships and passengers.
There are at least three different types of parameters that we needed to consider for cruising …people are going to be flying in; they're going to have to meet the requirements first for boarding an aircraft, which would be a negative PCR test before they land in Barbados, and they're taken via sterile corridor directly to the port, where they then have to be subjected to further screening in order to embark on the ship, which is homeported here in Barbados,” she said.
She said that bubble tours will be made available for passengers.
“What that means is that we're restricting what types of activity can be undertaken at this stage because despite our best efforts, and despite the level of rigour that we have put into developing these protocols, this is still the first ship. We need to take small, confident but careful steps,” the tourism minister said.
Source-CMC
U.S. VP Harris' plane forced to return due to `technical issue'
A technical issue that involved “no major safety concerns” forced US Vice President Kamala Harris' plane to return to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland about 30 minutes after she had left Sunday on a trip to Guatemala and Mexico.
The plane landed safely and she gave a thumbs-up when she got off.
“I'm good, I'm good. We all said a little prayer, but we're good,” she said.
The vice president departed in another plane about an hour and a half later.
Her spokesperson, Symone Sanders, told reporters travelling with Harris that it was a technical issue with the original plane and there were “no major safety concerns”.
Source-AP
New Music Friday: Tinashe, H.E.R., Lucky Daye, Raheem DeVaughn, and more
Here's a roundup of new music from today's hottest R&B singers.
Tinashe brings the summer vibes with her new single, "Pasadena," featuring West Coast rapper Buddy. The uplifting track finds the singer relishing in everything that the good weather will bring.
"Up in the penthouse to see to the ocean / How did we get here, we don't even know / Hands in the wind, racin' out to the coast / Feelin' free, can't get better than this," Tinashe sings.
"Pasadena" is the first single from Tinashe's upcoming album, 333, the follow-up to 2019's Songs for You.
After "Fight For You," Grammy-winning vocalist H.E.R. returns with another poignant single, "Change." The inspiring anthem will appear in the upcoming Netflix series, We the People, and finds H.E.R encouraging younger generations to be a part of the change they want to see.
"Don’t have to wait for someday just to have change / No, you’re never too young to make a difference / You have the power to be an active citizen," she sings.
H.E.R. won her first Oscar for "Fight for You" earlier this year, which D’Mile produced for the film Judas and the Black Messiah.
D'Mile also reunited with his other frequent collaborator, singer Lucky Daye, for the new single, "Running Blind." Daye put his New Orleans spin on the first single from the compilation album, Liberated / Music for the Movement Vol. 3, arriving June 18th, ahead of Juneteenth.
Liberated comes from Hollywood Records and ESPN's The Undefeated as a celebration of Black beauty and empowerment during Black Music Month.
Meanwhile, R&B vet Raheem DeVaughn partnered with Detroit producer Apollo Brown to craft 12 anecdotal love songs for their collaborative album, Love Sick. "Everything Baby" is a special track in which DeVaughn mentions everything he loves about his woman.
Source- ABC
2021 Grand Prix has been dropped due to Covid restrictions
The Singapore Grand Prix has reportedly been removed from the 2021 F1 calendar due to the Covid-19 pandemic restricting travel to the country.
Unlike many countries, Singapore has responded to the Coronavirus outbreak by imposing strict immigration restrictions which F1 and Singapore authorities have agreed make it impossible to hold the event in the city state.
The thousands of people due to descend on Singapore for the race would have put too great a strain on the city state's test-and-trace system.
While F1 has yet to issue an official statement, a spokesperson told the BBC: "We continue to work with all promoters during this fluid time and have plenty of options to adapt if needed."
This is the second year in a row that the Singapore event has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus.
The race series’ organisers have yet to confirm which track will replace Singapore’s Marina Bay Street Circuit, which was scheduled to host the GP on 1-3 October. According to the BBC, Turkey is being considered as a replacement. There could also be a revival of the Chinese Grand Prix.
A double header at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, is also a possibility, as the track owners recently offered F1 the option of two races at the venue in the middle of October. F1 owner Liberty Media is an American company.
While F1 will hope that Singapore is the last race to be cancelled this season, there are warnings that other Grand Prix may drop from the rota. These include the Mexico and Brazil GPs, whose countries are currently dealing with some of the world’s highest Covid infection rates.
Source-Auto Car
China accuses Western firms over 'harmful' kids' goods
China has accused several Western clothing brands of selling goods that could be harmful to children.
A warning notice on the country's customs administration website listed 81 items imported by companies including Nike, H&M and Zara.
In March, China targeted foreign clothes retailers as an international backlash grows over claims of abuses in the cotton-growing Xinjiang region.
Earlier this year, several Western nations imposed sanctions on China.
The announcement from China's General Administration of Customs included items like children's clothing, shoes, toys, toothbrushes and baby bottles that were spotted during examinations from June 2020 to May 2021.
Nine batches of H&M girls' cotton dresses were said to contain "dyes or harmful substances [that] may be absorbed by the body through the skin, mouth, etc. and endanger health."
The same issue was raised for children's clothes imported by Zara, Nike boys' t-shirts and batches of Gap boys' cotton pyjamas.
H&M, Zara, Nike and Gap have not yet responded to requests for comment from the BBC.
The notice is the latest blow to Western clothing brands operating in China, which have been targeted amid an international backlash over claims of abuses in the cotton-growing Xinjiang region, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority group
Several big companies have expressed concern over allegations that Uighurs are being used as forced labour.
Some firms' online shops have been blocked and their stores have vanished from some digital maps.
China initially targeted H&M and Nike but that has widened to include Burberry, Adidas and Converse, among others.
While H&M's physical stores in China remain, it is no longer possible to hail a taxi to the shops using an app and consumers can't shop online. Instead China is championing local brands.
In March, several Western countries imposed sanctions on officials in China over rights abuses against the mostly Muslim Uighur minority group.
China has detained Uighurs at camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang, where allegations of torture, forced labour and sexual abuse have emerged.
The sanctions were introduced as a coordinated effort by the European Union, UK, US and Canada.
Beijing has denied the allegations of abuse, saying the camps are "re-education" facilities used to combat terrorism.
China has also hit back with retaliatory sanctions on Western lawmakers, scholars and institutions.
Source-BBC
Apple Music launches "All Music Is Black Music" campaign for Black Music Month
Megan Thee Stallion, Nas and Giveon will appear in a short film from Apple Music to celebrate June's annual Black Music Month celebration.
According to Billboard, the film is part of Apple's "All Music Is Black Music" campaign to celebrate the contributions of Black artists and musicians who have shaped the global influence of music.
Ebro Darden, global editorial head of hip-hop and R&B at Apple Music, hopes this campaign will support the narrative of Black artists and their influence on other genres of music.
"When talking about pop music, you can't look past Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross [and] Michael Jackson," Darden tells Billboard. "They influenced literally the world, how music gets made and how stage performance happens."
This month, Apple Music will release over 30 playlists that capture the influence of Black music in Japan, Scandinavia, and other regions of the world. Additionally, this year's theme includes new Apple TV content and mixes from artists and DJs, including Snoop Dogg, DJ Clue, and newcomers like Amorphous, who produced Fat Joe and Khaled's single, "Sunshine (The Light)."
Source- ABC
NFL agrees to drop race bias in concussion claims
The NFL has said it will stop settling concussion lawsuits using a race-based formula that assumes black players have a lower level of cognitive function.
America's top-flight football league also pledged to review previous brain injury claims that have been settled via the practice known as race-norming.
Two black players filed a civil rights lawsuit over the practice.
One black player involved in the litigation called the policy "classic system racism".
More than 2,000 former NFL players have lodged dementia claims, but fewer than 600 have received compensation.
Lawyers say more than half of NFL retirees are black.
Attorneys have requested details on how NFL brain injury payouts have been apportioned along racial lines, but are yet to receive any details.
Two former black players, Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, who were refused payouts under a $1bn (£0.7bn) NFL compensation scheme for brain injuries, launched a civil lawsuit over race-norming.
But the judge dismissed the lawsuit in March and ordered the NFL and the main lawyer for the compensation scheme to negotiate a settlement.
She also took the unusual step of calling for a full report on the racial bias allegations.
In its use of race-norming, the league compares a given player's cognitive test scores with the supposed norm for his demographic group. Under the methodology, black players are assumed to possess a lower level of cognitive function than the average white player.
But attorneys say the standard means that in order to qualify for compensation, the average black player must demonstrate a greater level of cognitive decline than a white counterpart.
Ken Jenkins, a retired black player supporting the litigation, told the Hill: "This is classic systemic racism. Just because I'm black, I wasn't born with fewer brain cells."
The NFL has defended the practice in the past, saying its standards "relied on widely accepted and long-established cognitive tests and scoring methodologies".
The NFL has said its adoption of the racial norming standard was not mandatory and doctors participating in the compensation programme had the freedom to choose whether or not to apply it.
Several clinicians, however, have disagreed, saying the programme manual did not indicate any such flexibility.
The NFL has also previously appealed against some injury claims from black players whose cognitive scores were not adjusted for race.
In a statement released on Wednesday, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said work was continuing to "help identify alternative testing techniques."
"Everyone agrees race-based norms should be replaced, but no off-the-shelf alternative exists and that's why these experts are working to solve this decades-old issue," he said.
Race-norming was first established in the 1990s in recognition of how socioeconomic factors affect a person's health and was soon used to make dementia payouts.
Source-BBC
Apple wants staff back in offices by September
Apple wants its employees to return to offices by September, a company-wide memo sent to staff on Wednesday said.
Workers must return to their desks for at least three days a week, chief executive Tim Cook wrote. Some staff members will be given the option to work the remaining two days remotely.
Teams that require "in-person" work will return for four or five days.
Apple also told staff they will be able to apply for the chance to work remotely for two weeks a year.
However, managers will need to approve remote work requests.
Mr Cook said that despite a smooth transition to remote working, it was not an adequate replacement for in-person collaboration.
"For all that we've been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other," he said in the document, seen by The Verge.
"Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate."
He added: "I know I'm not alone in missing the hum of activity, the energy, creativity and collaboration of our in-person meetings and the sense of community we've all built."
Apple has gone from strength-to-strength during the pandemic with its overall revenues jumping 50% year-on-year largely because of a surge in iPhone sales.
The company has also been more conservative regarding its working from home policy than other tech giants.
Facebook announced last year that its employees could work from home full-time as long, as they get approval from their manager.
Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey also made headlines when he announced a similar policy in May 2020.
But Google recently announced a similar bid to get more people back into offices for three days a week.
Sources-BBC