The first global regulations for fully autonomous vehicles were adopted on June 24, a UN agency said, establishing uniform international safety requirements that could pave the way for larger-scale rollouts of self-driving cars.
Safety concerns and the cost of developing next-level systems have long slowed progress on autonomous vehicles.
As self-driving cars have begun to hit the road in a growing number of cities, the fragmented national approaches to regulation have spurred manufacturer fears that vehicles developed for one market could be blocked from others.
In a bid to address that issue, a meeting of the World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations at the United Nations in Geneva decided to introduce a global regulatory framework for vehicles equipped with fully autonomous driving systems (ADS). The forum brings together dozens of countries, carmakers and technology giants.
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PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
US President Donald Trump faced pointed criticism over the Iran war on June 24 in a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans, shortly before his administration asked Congress for tens of billions of dollars to pay for the conflict.
Several Republicans in the closed-door meeting said Trump engaged in a shouting match with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who said the administration needs to explain a framework deal Trump signed last week that provides financial incentives for Iran but does not accomplish any of the goals he laid out at the war’s beginning.
“The American people need to know more than we are being told,” Cassidy told reporters. “It does not appear, although I don’t know for sure, that the course of this is going the way that we were told.”
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PHOTO: EPA
The global risk “remains low” from a deadly Ebola outbreak centred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the World Health Organisation chief said on June 24, after a case was confirmed in France.
France on June 24 announced the first confirmed case of Ebola identified on its territory: a doctor who had flown back from the DRC, which is fighting a major outbreak.
The case is the first of the deadly haemorrhagic fever identified outside the African continent during the current outbreak, which has also affected Uganda.
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PHOTO: REUTERS
Bosnia and Herzegovina kept their World Cup hopes alive thanks to a stunning goal from teenager Kerim Alajbegovic which powered them towards a tense 3-1 win over Qatar on June 24 and secured third place in Group B to eliminate their opponents.
The 18-year-old Alajbegovic broke the deadlock in the 29th minute, dancing past two tackles and firing an unstoppable shot past Mahmoud Abunada from the edge of the box, sending the thousands of Bosnian fans in the stadium wild.
Bosnia scored again five minutes later when a cross from captain Edin Dzeko, on his 150th international appearance, bounced off a defender and spun into the net.
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PHOTO: AFP
Many of the top-ranked women’s and men’s players will step up their protest at their share of revenue at Wimbledon, a statement said on June 24.
After limiting their participation in media day ahead of the the French Open in May, the players will this time limit their media commitments to 15 minutes for the whole first week of the championships, which start on June 29, said a statement released on their behalf.
It said 15 minutes reflected “that Wimbledon currently pays slightly below 15 per cent of revenues to players as prize money”.
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