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You can make your Mercedes EV go faster for $60 a month

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:06:48 GMT

(CNN) — Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle owners in North America who want a little more power and speed can now buy 60 horsepower for just $60 a month or, on other models, 80 horsepower for $90 a month.They won’t have to visit a Mercedes dealer to get the upgrade either, or even leave their own driveway. The added power, which will provide a nearly one-second decrease in zero-to-60 acceleration, will be available through an over-the-air software patch.Buyers can bypass the monthly subscription completely, however, and opt for an annual subscription payment or simply pay a one-time flat fee. For instance, a buyer could take an all-wheel-drive Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 sedan from its standard 288 horsepower to 348 permanently for $1,950.These upgrades are a booming business for car companies. Mercedes is not alone in offering upgrades, or even new features, through over-the-air updates, similar the way software and capabilities can be added on phones. Tesla has offered additiona...

Look out, Putin: Ukraine says it’s ‘ready’ to attack

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:06:48 GMT

Ukraine is ready to launch a counter-offensive to recover parts of its territory invaded by Russia following months of planning, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Friday.“Preparations are coming to an end,” Reznikov told reporters in Kyiv, according to French newswire AFP.“Equipment has been promised, prepared and partially delivered. In a global sense, we’re ready,” he added.Kyiv has been preparing a major counteroffensive against Russian forces in the spring for months, pressing its Western allies to deliver ammunition and weapons to that effect.Although the details of the offensive remain unclear, it is likely to take place as early as mid-May or early June.Earlier on Friday, Russia launched 23 missiles targeting several Ukrainian cities, killing multiple people in the first massive air attack launched by Moscow in weeks.This is a developing story.

Brexiteers fume as UK dampens bonfire of EU laws

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:06:48 GMT

LONDON — The U.K. government has poured cold water on long-touted plans for a bonfire of laws inherited from the EU after Brexit — and some Conservative Euroskeptics aren’t happy.During a briefing Monday on the Retained EU Law Bill, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch told senior Tory Brexiteers that by December 31 the government will only bin 800 — or one in four — of the estimated 3,200 pieces of EU legislation which were automatically added to the U.K. statute book after Brexit.The bill introduces a controversial “sunset clause” that will automatically scrub EU retained laws that have not been changed or repealed by the end of this year. Advocates see that cull as a key Brexit dividend as the U.K. goes its own way, but the policy has been criticized by business groups for creating regulatory uncertainty.Badenoch told the group of MPs that her officials had concluded it is not possible to remove thousands of laws, according to people in the room who confirmed a Daily Telegraph story....

Prosecutors: Brian Walshe, charged with killing wife Ana Walshe, suspected she was having an affair

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:06:48 GMT

The husband of a Massachusetts woman who has been missing since New Year’s Day suspected she was having an affair and persuaded his mother to hire a private investigator to prove it, according to prosecution documents released Thursday.In December, Brian Walshe “would repeatedly access the Instagram page” of one of Ana Walshe’s male friends from Washington, D.C., where she was working, prosecutors said. His mother hired the investigator on Dec. 26 “with his input and direction” to conduct surveillance and, the next day, his oldest child’s iPad was used for an internet search on “divorce.”Walshe, 47, has been charged with first-degree murder as well as misleading a police investigation/obstruction of justice and improper conveyance of a human body. A first-degree murder conviction in Massachusetts carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.Walshe is accused of killing Ana Walshe, dismembering her and disposing of her body. He pleaded not guilt...

Wet Weekend, But No Washout

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:06:48 GMT

You can leave the umbrella at home today, but don’t put it away as rain makes a return this weekend. That said, I want to stress that this weekend is not a complete washout. You’ll likely run into a shower at some point, but there will plenty of dry hours as well.We’re waking up to quite a bit of fog early this morning with many towns reporting visibility of a quarter mile or less! Once we burn the fog off, we’ll have sunshine for a few hours before clouds take over this afternoon. The clouds that move in will be those high level cirrus clouds so it’s just more of a filtered sunshine on tap for the afternoon. Temperatures will hit the 60s inland, but with an east wind, hold in the 50s on the coast.There are a lot more clouds on the way this weekend and unfortunately it will be a pretty gray weekend. There will also be scattered showers around, more so on Saturday than Sunday. Sunday is probably your better option for dry weather.Below are future radar s...

Michigan 7th grader safely brings full school bus to a stop after driver loses consciousness

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:06:48 GMT

(CNN) — A seventh grader in Michigan is being praised as a hero for preventing his school bus from crashing after his bus driver lost consciousness, according to a school official.Dillon Reeves, a student at Lois E. Carter Middle School in Warren, took immediate action on a bus ride after school Wednesday afternoon in “an extraordinary act of courage and maturity,” Warren Consolidated Schools Superintendent Robert D. Livernois said.The bus driver experienced “some dizziness” while driving and followed protocol by alerting ‘”home base” that she wasn’t feeling well and was going to pull over to allow the transportation department to dispatch someone to provide relief to her, Livernois said at a Thursday news conference.But the driver didn’t make it to where she planned to park, eventually passed out and couldn’t stop the bus, which started to veer into oncoming traffic, he said.Reeves, who was seated about fiv...

Prosecutors say leaks suspect has history of making violent threats and possessed an ‘arsenal of weapons’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:06:48 GMT

(CNN) — Prosecutors are arguing that the Air National Guardsman accused of posting a trove of classified documents to social media should remain in jail during the course of his legal case, in part, because he has a history of violent threats and possessed an “arsenal of weapons.”In comments cited in court filings late Wednesday night, Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, spoke of wanting to “kill a [expletive] ton of people” because it would be “culling the weak minded,” and discussed wanting to make a minivan into an “assassination van.”At his home in Massachusetts, prosecutors say, Teixeira had access to an “arsenal” of weapons and accessories — including handguns, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, an AK-style high-capacity weapon, a gas mask, ammunition, tactical pouches, and a “silencer-style accessory” — all of which he kept in his bedroo...

Howie Carr: Harvard ticket out of jail

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:06:48 GMT

If I ever get jammed up criminally, I ask for no special favors.I just want to be treated like 64-year-old Harvard egghead Charles Lieber.All the professor did was secretly pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from the Red Chinese, open a bank account in Wuhan (does that name ring a bell?), cheat the IRS by not paying income taxes on his blood money from the Islamophobic genocidal murderers after which he lied to the feds about his unspeakable string of crimes against humanity.Ex-chemistry professor Lieber pleaded guilty to all the above – six felonies altogether. He was sentenced on Wednesday in federal district court in Boston.Lieber got two days. Two days! Which he’d already served, by the way, when he was first lugged.I repeat, two days.It’s great to be a Democrat, isn’t it?It’s also great to be a Harvard professor, emeritus, I guess you’d call him. He was sentenced by a woman the Harvard Crimson so aptly described as “Judge Rya Zobel ’53.”In other words, Harvard (she...

2023 NFL Draft: 8 potential Patriots picks on Day 2

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:06:48 GMT

The first round is over, but the work has only just begun.The Patriots have several picks still to make in the NFL Draft, starting with the second and third rounds Friday night. History indicates the team will trade up in the second round. The Pats have moved up for a second-round prospect in each of the past five years, most recently for wide receiver Tyquan Thornton.Whether they do or don’t trade up, here are eight potential Patriots picks to watch Friday, from the early second round to late in the third.Cincinnati WR Tyler ScottHt/Wt: 5-10, 177Scott possesses the same long speed and agility as coveted Boston College receiver Zay Flowers, another undersized weapon teams have coveted. Scott also served as a gunner on Cincinnati’s punt team, the type of special teams experience that always appeals to the Patriots. He’s drawn comparisons to T.Y. Hilton and Tyler Lockett, and can play both the slot and outside.As one of the more inexperienced receivers in the draft, ...

Huawei 1Q revenue edges up, profit margin narrows

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:06:48 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese tech giant Huawei reported Friday that its revenue edged up 0.8% from a year earlier in the first three months of 2023 and the company was profitable. Revenue rose to 132.1 billion yuan ($19.1 billion), a company statement said. It said its net profit margin was 2.3%, down from 4.3% a year earlier.The company, headquartered in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, has responded to U.S. sanctions that devastated its smartphone brand by expanding into serving hospitals, ports and other industrial customers. It gave no breakdown of sales by global region or business line. It said spending on research and development increased but gave no details.Huawei Technologies Ltd., China’s first global tech brand, has struggled since then-President Donald Trump cut off access to U.S. processor chips and other technology in a feud with Beijing over technology and security. American officials say the company is a security risk and might facilitate Chinese spying, which Huawei denie...