Elon Musk has reportedly said that no new hires can be made at Tesla unless he personally approves them, including contractors. In an email to executives seen by Reuters, Musk instructed them to send him a weekly list of hiring requests and to “think carefully” before submitting such requests. The news comes after criticism of Musk’s management style and amidst financial concerns for the company.
Veteran crime reporter Tamara Cherry has written "The Trauma Beat: A Case for Re-Thinking the Business of Bad News", in which she offers alternative ways of covering traumatic events, based on her research into best practices and lessons learned. Cherry found that while in some cases survivors benefited from news coverage of violent crimes, whether to seek justice or raise awareness of issues such as gun control or impaired driving, many other survivors and families of victims wanted media outlets to consider their need for privacy and to avoid emotional “sound bites” in the immediate aftermath of such events. Cherry's research included a survey with 71 relatives of homicide or traffic victims in the US and Canada; of the 44 respondents who were contacted by journalists within 72 hours of their loss, 50 reported negative experiences, while 15 described the interaction as positive.
Cherry spoke to The Star about the effect the process of news gathering could have on journalists reporting such devastating events, including the increased risk of vicarious secondary trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder caused by prolonged trauma exposure. Pressures exist within media organisations to provide news quickly and accurately, but journalists who report trauma need to understand the perspectives of victims and survivors fully, including how images of a traumatic event or footage of it might be distressing.
Cherry advocates for news organisations to change the way they report on trauma, with journalists to take more time following up with survivors or following an event when the true facts and perspective have become clearer. Trauma-informed journalism is about sensitivity and the accurate and compassionate portrayal of victims and survivors. As journalists try to provide safety information that the public needs to know after an event as quickly as possible, it’s important to see victims and survivors as individuals who have suffered rather than sources for emotional content.
Eric Adams, the Democrat New York City mayor, has been excluded from Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign over critiquing his handling of immigration rates and crime. Biden’s squabble with Eric Adams has underscored the division within the Democratic Party over its handling of rising violent crime rates and influx of migrants coming across the US-Mexico border. Mr. Adams has previously been touted as a potential future Democratic Party leader. The 2024 Presidential campaign is due to be hard-fought and Biden has included potential leadership rivals in his 50-person squad of surrogates, which includes Californian Governor Gavin Newsom, and the Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer, as well as the progressive senator Elizabeth Warren.
Restrictions on abortion are leading to “delays and worsening and dangerous health outcomes for patients,” according to a large-scale report from the University of California San Francisco. The study, which addressed the impact of the US Supreme Court’s decision to allow abortion bans in certain states, examined 50 cases from over a dozen recently banned regions. It found that conditions such as preterm pre-labor rupture of membranes were often left untreated, while opportunities to treat for inevitable pregnancy loss and patients requiring care for fetal anomalies were also limited.
American jailed for spying by China is a veteran pro-Beijing advocate who rubbed shoulders with senior Chinese officials, CNN reporting shows
CNN
23-05-16 16:25
John Shing-Wan Leung, 78, an American citizen, has reportedly been sentenced to life in prison by a Chinese court. Leung was found guilty of spying, however, it was not known that he had been detained until the verdict was delivered. Searches on Chinese state media reports reveal that John Leung is the head of several pro-China groups in the US and has ties with senior Chinese officials. Leung is linked with the National Association for China’s Peaceful Unification (NACPU), Washington DC-based pro-China and Taiwan-focused lobby group, designated a foreign mission in 2020 by the Trump administration. China’s Foreign Ministry said the designation was unjustified.
Gabriella Gonzalez was executed in a Dallas gas station by her ex-partner, Harold Thompson, after months of abuse, culminating in his threatening her and her three children. A warrant for Thompson’s arrest had already been issued in March 2022 but he had not been taken into custody. Gonzalez had just returned from Colorado following an abortion when Thompson, who had reportedly made threats when he learned about the termination, attacked her. Texas recently banned most abortions in the state, a decision supported by Thompson which added to Gonzalez’s fears for her safety. The state’s repressive abortion regime saw Gonzalez travel to another state to organise the procedure. Released surveillance footage shows Thompson attempting to choke Gonzalez, before returning to his vehicle to retrieve a gun and killing her. Thompson is now under arrest and has been charged with murder.
A 12-year-old boy has been arrested on a murder warrant in connection with the fatal shooting of a Sonic Drive-In employee on Saturday night in Keene, Texas. The employee, Matthew Davis, 32, was shot multiple times during a fight between Angel Gomez, 20, and an unspecified number of others in the parking lot. The boy was with Gomez and shot Davis using an AR-style rifle after taking the gun from Gomez’s vehicle. Both Gomez and the boy fled the scene but were later arrested on murder warrants.
Jen Miller, who works from home and employs a full-time nanny, has shared a typical day in her life on social media platform TikTok. After disclosing her initial concern that people might wonder why she required full-time support, 29-year-old Miller described what a typical day looks like for her and her daughter in Austin, Texas. Having had her daughter, she decided that her husband would be responsible for finances and she would take care of everything else, but also run her business from home. Many viewers of her video praised her for her honesty about her lifestyle.
The United States is on pace to set a new record for mass shootings this year, according to data. To date, there have already been over 200. There is no political desire to address the issue, despite the fact that guns remain at the centre of American culture. Claims that mass shootings are the result of poor mental health provision are unfounded, given that the US has nearly half of all privately owned guns in the world, including powerful semi-automatic weapons. The country also has just 4% of the world’s population.
Tesla will launch advertising for its electric vehicles for the first time, said CEO Elon Musk at the company’s investor day. Tesla has previously relied on word of mouth and incentivised referrals for marketing. Musk said that the Tesla ads would be aesthetically pleasing and informative. In a follow-up interview with CNBC’s David Faber, Musk also stated that Tesla’s “full self-driving” technology will allow for vehicle leasing within a robotaxi fleet in 2021. The Tesla founder also argued that remote working was “morally wrong” and that China needed to be taken at its word that it views Taiwan as integral to the country. He suggested that if China took Taiwan, it would harm all international businesses and companies that rely on the nation for manufacturing. Musk also noted that Twitter, which he acquired last year, had recently experienced a $40m loss due to ads being checked for accuracy and subsequently labelled “misleading”.
Texas Rangers pitcher Kumar Rocker will require Tommy John surgery after sustaining a torn ligament in his right elbow, according to general manager Chris Young. Rocker, an ex-Vanderbilt college player widely viewed as a top-quality talent, had been arguably the highlight of the Rangers' recent draft haul, but he had trigger-point injections last month amid shoulder problems. However, he had looked on course to earn promotion in the minor leagues when he suffered his acute elbow injury last week.
Tesla will advertise for the first time, according to CEO Elon Musk, following the rise in competition from major automakers and the company's decision to heavily discount its e-vehicle offerings alone. Tesla has previously not advertised, with Musk claiming that demand outstripped supply of the vehicles. However, greater competition is driving Tesla to devote more money to advertising its brand to maintain its lead in the market. Musk's purchase of Twitter may have also affected his decision following a decline in advertising revenues for the social media platform.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting that a self-driving upgrade for the company’s vehicles was getting close to being safer than human driving. He also told the meeting in Texas that the car and solar panel manufacturer would try some advertising. While relying on Musk to generate free publicity, Tesla has avoided paid advertising, a strategy Musk had once described as Apple's ‘graveyard’. The decision followed a call by one shareholder for the company to advertise, an idea, Musk indicated, had merit.
The Republican Party is clashing with US corporate America as conservatives rally around social issues. Companies have been caught up in the culture wars before, but legislative moves targeting firms represent a new frontier for Republicans who are traditionally allied with big business on matters such as lower taxes and light regulation. Dozens of US states are considering proposals aimed at stopping governments from doing business with financial firms that consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when making investments, moves that have cost BlackRock more than $4bn in customer funds. However, the financial impact of the conservative backlash has been limited so far.
Two drilling rigs, valued at $40m and $30m but unbought since 2019, are being auctioned off by Texas-based Kruse Asset Management at heavily discounted starting prices of $12.9m and $2.3m respectively, following the oversupply of drilling equipment. The oversupply signals that the US shale energy industry has reached peak drilling, responding to the demand from Wall Street that surplus cash be spent on shareholders following falling commodity prices.
A case challenging the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) decision to approve a medication used for medical abortions over two decades ago will move to a federal appeals court in New Orleans. The case concerns mifepristone and relates to the FDA's initial approval in 2000, as well as actions to make the drug more accessible. It comes nearly a year after the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling establishing abortion rights. It is expected that the case will reach the Supreme Court, with judges nominated by Donald Trump set to play a significant role.
An appeals court has dismissed Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes' bid to avoid imprisonment while she seeks to overturn her blood testing company’s fraud and conspiracy conviction. The company tried to revolutionise blood testing with processes using small blood samples. Holmes has also been told to pay $452m restitution to her victims, shares liability with former business partner Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who has already been incarcerated. Holmes attempted a last-minute legal manoeuvre to delay the start of her 11-year sentence. She is to be separated from her family at her current home in San Diego to serve her sentence.
The Oakland Athletics beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-8 on Tuesday night in a close match, with Oakland coming from behind to win. Ryan Noda hit a grand slam in the seventh to tie the game, before Esteury Ruiz secured the victory with a winning run in the 12th, following a walk-off hit. The A's won for the second time in 10 games, leaving many fans disappointed following the team's recent acquisition of land to build a new stadium in Las Vegas, with just 3,261 fans attending the game.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who had been isolated by Arab states for a decade following the uprising against his rule in 2011, has returned to the Arab League at its summit in Saudi Arabia. Pro-Assad forces backed by Russia and Iran have regained control of most of the country. However, the return has met with opposition from some member states including Qatar and Kuwait, while it has been viewed sceptically by the US. Additionally, while Assad has been permitted to return, Arab states are pushing for action against Syria’s drugs trade and want to see the return of war refugees.
Republican lawmakers in North Carolina have overruled a veto by Governor Roy Cooper to pass legislation banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy in the state. Members of the party claimed the limits were a middle ground as the state already bans nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy without rape or incest caveats. The votes were part of a wider shift on the issue across the US, with lawmakers in South Carolina and Nebraska also considering new abortion limits. The North Carolina law will include rape or incest exceptions through 20 weeks of pregnancy and exceptions for "life-limiting" fetal anomalies during the first 24 weeks. The bans are possible as in 2020 the US Supreme Court struck down landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade which had established a nationwide right to abortion.
