Iran stresses nuclear disarmament of US, pressure on Israel

TEHRAN, Aug. 23 (MNA) – Iran UN envoy Majid Takht Ravanchi called for a real commitment

 to nuclear disarmament by the United States and a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.

Speaking at the Tenth NPT Review Conference on Tuesday, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi share Iran’s deep concern about the NNWS regarding the lack of progress in the implementation of nuclear disarmament obligations and commitments.

Here is the full statement:

Mr. President, 

I would like to thank you and your team for all your efforts in steering the Conference. My delegation has contributed constructively to the discussions and draft reports. However, regrettably, due to some imbalanced contents of draft reports, none of them garnered consensus. We share the deep concern of the NNWS regarding the lack of progress in the implementation of nuclear disarmament obligations and commitments. Three weeks of intense negotiations reveal that the NWS does not have the determination and political will to accept any concrete commitments or timetables, benchmarks, or targets that are required for making progress in our negotiations on the nuclear disarmament pillar.

My delegation underlines that the positions of the nuclear weapon States echoed and supported by the so-called umbrella states, including their attempt to replace nuclear disarmament with nuclear risk reduction are contrary to their explicit legal obligations concerning nuclear disarmament.

I would like to add that establishing a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction is long overdue after the consensual adoption of the resolution in 1995. To implement this resolution, the 2010 Review Conference adopted by consensus a detailed plan of action and agreed that the Secretary-General and the co-sponsors of the 1995 resolution, in consultation with the States of the region, convene and exert their utmost efforts to ensure the success of a conference in 2012 that was to be attended by all States of the Middle East, on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction. However, after delays in convening the Conference, at the first, second and third sessions of the Preparatory Committee, in 2012, 2013, and 2014, the NAM and regional countries warned that any further delay in convening the 2012 conference would seriously jeopardize the overall implementation of the conclusions and recommendations for follow-on actions and would represent a major setback in that regard.

We are firmly convinced that the Conference was postponed indefinitely because of the US’ opposition and this has been the persistent policy of the US to turn a blind eye to the nuclear arsenals of the Israeli regime while not supporting the convening of the Conference.

Now, we expect the current Conference to reject the impediments to convening the conference. The failure to convene the conference in 2012 contradicts and violates the collective agreement of the States parties contained in the conclusions and recommendations for follow-on actions adopted by the 2010 Review Conference and contravenes the letter and spirit of the 1995 resolution on the Middle East.

Despite the lack of required inclusivity and transparency in developing the SB II draft report, once again we reiterate our main proposals in this regard and would like to emphasize that any document without embracing the ideas contained in our proposals, any glimpse of consensus will be faded away. In accordance with our proposals which are fully consistent with the NAM positions, the Conference, inter alai, Expresses concern about the lack of progress towards the implementation of the 1995 resolution and the 2010 action plan on the Middle East; and Calls upon Israel to renounce possession of nuclear weapons and eliminate its entire stockpile of nuclear weapons;

It Reaffirms that the accession of Israel to the Non-Proliferation Treaty without precondition and further delay and the placement of all of its nuclear activities and facilities under the comprehensive IAEA safeguards is essential in realizing the goal of universal adherence to the Treaty in the Middle East and the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East;

It Expresses its strong support for the other process launched by the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction convened by the Secretary-General, pursuant to General Assembly decision 73/546, to elaborate a legally binding treaty on the establishment of the zone on the basis of consensus;

The full text of our proposals will be submitted to the Secretariat of the Conference.

ZZ/PR

Iran renews call to compel Israel to destroy its nuclear weapons stockpile

23 August، 2022

New York, SANA- The US should adhere to its commitments towards nuclear disarmament and the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent representative to the United Nations, Majid Takht Ravanchi said.

Takht Ravanchi’s remarks came during the Tenth Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which is being held in New York.

“The Zionist entity must abandon its nuclear arsenal, completely destroy its stockpile of nuclear weapons, and accede to the Non-Proliferation Treaty without further delay or any preconditions,” Takht Ravanchi was quote by Iranian IRNA news agency as saying.

He noted that subjecting all nuclear activities of the Zionist entity under the comprehensive safety measures of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is necessary in order to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone.

Ruaa al-Jazaeri

US Polio Outbreak Linked to The Oral Vaccine, Revealing Its Risks

The risk of a polio outbreak from the oral vaccine has caused countries to start to move away from distributing the oral form of the vaccine, but it remains the cheaper and easier option.

By Maria Cheng • 

AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary
 A health worker gives an oral polio vaccine to a girl on a street in Lahore, Pakistan, June 27, 2022. 

For years, global health officials have used billions of drops of an oral vaccine in a remarkably effective campaign aimed at wiping out polio in its last remaining strongholds — typically, poor, politically unstable corners of the world. Now, in a surprising twist in the decades-long effort to eradicate the virus, authorities in Jerusalem, New York and London have discovered evidence that polio is spreading there. The source of the virus? The oral vaccine itself.

For years, global health officials have used billions of drops of an oral vaccine in a remarkably effective campaign aimed at wiping out polio in its last remaining strongholds — typically, poor, politically unstable corners of the world.

Now, in a surprising twist in the decades-long effort to eradicate the virus, authorities in Jerusalem, New York and London have discovered evidence that polio is spreading there.

The original source of the virus? The oral vaccine itself.

Scientists have long known about this extremely rare phenomenon. That is why some countries have switched to other polio vaccines. But these incidental infections from the oral formula are becoming more glaring as the world inches closer to eradication of the disease and the number of polio cases caused by the wild, or naturally circulating, virus plummets.

Since 2017, there have been 396 cases of polio caused by the wild virus, versus more than 2,600 linked to the oral vaccine, according to figures from the World Health Organization and its partners.

“We are basically replacing the wild virus with the virus in the vaccine, which is now leading to new outbreaks,” said Scott Barrett, a Columbia University professor who has studied polio eradication. “I would assume that countries like the U.K. and the U.S. will be able to stop transmission quite quickly, but we also thought that about monkeypox.”

The latest incidents represent the first time in several years that vaccine-connected polio virus has turned up in rich countries.

Earlier this year, officials in Israel detected polio in an unvaccinated 3-year-old, who suffered paralysis. Several other children, nearly all of them unvaccinated, were found to have the virus but no symptoms.

In June, British authorities reported finding evidence in sewage that the virus was spreading, though no infections in people were identified. Last week, the government said all children in London ages 1 to 9 would be offered a booster shot.

In the U.S., an unvaccinated young adult suffered paralysis in his legs after being infected with polio, New York officials revealed last month. The virus has also shown up in New York sewers, suggesting it is spreading. But officials said they are not planning a booster campaign because they believe the state's high vaccination rate should offer enough protection.

Genetic analyses showed that the viruses in the three countries were all “vaccine-derived,” meaning that they were mutated versions of a virus that originated in the oral vaccine.

The oral vaccine at issue has been used since 1988 because it is cheap, easy to administer — two drops are put directly into children's mouths — and better at protecting entire populations where polio is spreading. It contains a weakened form of the live virus.

But it can also cause polio in about two to four children per 2 million doses. (Four doses are required to be fully immunized.) In extremely rare cases, the weakened virus can also sometimes mutate into a more dangerous form and spark outbreaks, especially in places with poor sanitation and low vaccination levels.

These outbreaks typically begin when people who are vaccinated shed live virus from the vaccine in their feces. From there, the virus can spread within the community and, over time, turn into a form that can paralyze people and start new epidemics.

Many countries that eliminated polio switched to injectable vaccines containing a killed virus decades ago to avoid such risks; the Nordic countries and the Netherlands never used the oral vaccine. The ultimate goal is to move the entire world to the shots once wild polio is eradicated, but some scientists argue that the switch should happen sooner.

“We probably could never have gotten on top of polio in the developing world without the (oral polio vaccine), but this is the price we’re now paying,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The only way we are going to eliminate polio is to eliminate the use of the oral vaccine."

Aidan O’Leary, director of WHO's polio department, described the discovery of polio spreading in London and New York as “a major surprise,” saying that officials have been focused on eradicating the disease in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where health workers have been killed for immunizing children and where conflict has made access to some areas impossible.

Still, O'Leary said he is confident Israel, Britain and the U.S. will shut down their newly identified outbreaks quickly.

The oral vaccine is credited with dramatically reducing the number of children paralyzed by polio. When the global eradication effort began in 1988, there were about 350,000 cases of wild polio a year. So far this year, there have been 19 cases of wild polio, all in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mozambique.

In 2020, the number of polio cases linked to the vaccine hit a peak of more than 1,100 spread out across dozens of countries. It has since declined to around 200 this year so far.

Last year, WHO and partners also began using a newer oral polio vaccine, which contains a live but weakened virus that scientists believe is less likely to mutate into a dangerous form. But supplies are limited.

To stop polio in Britain, the U.S. and Israel, what is needed is more vaccination, experts say. That is something Columbia University's Barrett worries could be challenging in the COVID-19 era.

“What’s different now is a reduction in trust of authorities and the political polarization in countries like the U.S. and the U.K.,” Barrett said. “The presumption that we can quickly get vaccination numbers up quickly may be more challenging now.”

Oyewale Tomori, a virologist who helped direct Nigeria’s effort to eliminate polio, said that in the past, he and colleagues balked at describing outbreaks as “vaccine-derived,” wary it would make people fearful of the vaccine.

“All we can do is explain how the vaccine works and hope that people understand that immunization is the best protection, but it’s complicated,” Tomori said. “In hindsight, maybe it would have been better not to use this vaccine, but at that time, nobody knew it would turn out like this.”


Copyright AP - Associated Press

Exclusive: Iran has dropped some demands for nuclear deal - U.S. official

By Steve Holland and Arshad Mohammed - 

FILE PHOTO: Illustration shows Iran's and U.S.' flags© Reuters/DADO RUVIC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran has dropped some of its main demands on resurrecting a deal to rein in Tehran's nuclear program, including its insistence that international inspectors close some probes of its atomic program, bringing the possibility of an agreement closer, a senior U.S. official told Reuters on Monday.

The United States aims to respond soon to a draft agreement proposed by the European Union that would bring back the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that former President Donald Trump abandoned and current President Joe Biden has sought to revive.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that although Tehran has been saying Washington has made concessions, Iran has dropped some of its key demands.

"They came back last week and basically dropped the main hang-ups to a deal," the official said.

"We think they have finally crossed the Rubicon and moved toward possibly getting back into the deal on terms that President Biden can accept," the official added. "If we are closer today, it's because Iran has moved. They conceded on issues that they have been holding onto from the beginning."

Iran's foreign ministry had no immediate comment.

Iran had already largely relented on its demand that the United States lift its designation of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) entity, the official said.

"We said under no circumstances would we do that. They continued to push it. A month ago they started to soften that core demand and said you can keep the (FTO) designation but we would like lift it from a number of companies affiliated with the IRGC. We said 'no we're not going to do that,'" he added.

Iran also wanted a guarantee that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would close investigations involving unexplained traces of uranium.

Related video: Iran steps up its nuclear programme after US sanctions

Duration 3:10 View on Watch

"Iran wants guarantees that the IAEA would close all of them. We said we would never accept that," the official said.

The IAEA board of governors in June overwhelmingly passed a resolution criticizing Iran for failing to explain the presence of uranium traces at three undeclared sites.

The official said that gaps remain between the United States and Iran and that "it could take a little longer" to come to a final agreement, if one is possible.

"We’re studying Iran’s response now and we'll get back to them soon," the official said.

Earlier, State Department spokesman Ned Price said there was no guarantee a deal can be struck, saying "the outcome of these ongoing discussions still remains uncertain as gaps do remain."

Washington would have to lift some sanctions under the terms of the agreement, but U.S. officials say returning to the deal is crucial to preventing a nuclear crisis in the Middle East.

"If we get this deal, yes, we do lift some sanctions, but Iran has to dismantle its nuclear program," the official said.

All this comes at a time when Iran is thought to have enough enriched uranium to - if further purified - build multiple weapons, and is closer than ever to being able to produce them, the official said.

The nuclear deal between Iran and world powers appeared near revival in March after 11 months of indirect U.S.-Iran talks in Vienna.

But negotiations broke down over obstacles such as Iran's desire to remove the Revolutionary Guards from the FTO list.

Iran has also demanded the United States guarantee that no future U.S. president would abandon the deal. Biden cannot provide such ironclad assurances because the deal is a political understanding rather than a legally binding treaty.

A second official said that under full implementation of the deal, the IAEA would be able to resume a comprehensive inspections regime that could detect any Iranian effort to pursue a nuclear weapon covertly. Much of this monitoring would remain in place indefinitely.

This official also said Iran would be prohibited from enriching and stockpiling uranium above very limited levels, denying it the material required for a bomb.

In addition, the official said, Iran would not be permitted to have any of the 20% and 60% enriched uranium that it is stockpiling today; advanced centrifuges Iran is operating would be stopped and removed, including all of the centrifuges at its fortified underground facility at Fordow.

"Strict limits on Iranian enrichment would mean that even if Iran left the deal to pursue a nuclear weapon, it would take at least six months to do so," the official said.

(Reporting By Steve Holland and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Mary Milliken and Gerry Doyle)

Factbox: Alexander Dugin advocates a vast new Russian empire

AUGUST 22, 2022
By EU Reporter Correspondent


Russian politologist Alexander Dugin gestures as he addresses the rally 'Battle for Donbas' in support of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, in Moscow, Russia, 18 October, 2014.

Darya Dugina, the daughter of ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin, was killed in a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow on Saturday evening (20 August). Acquaintances of Dugina said the car she was driving belonged to her father and that he was probably the intended target.

Who is Alexander Dugin?

- Dugin, 60, has long advocated the unification of Russian-speaking and other territories in a vast new Russian empire, which he wants to include Ukraine.

- In his 1997 book, The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia, Dugin was fiercely critical of US influence in Eurasia and called for Russia to rebuild its own authority in the region and advocated breaking up the territory of other nations.

- That book featured on army reading lists, but there is no indication that Dugin has ever had direct influence on Russian foreign policy.

- Dugin's influence over President Vladimir Putin has been a subject for speculation, with some Russia watchers asserting that his sway is significant and many calling it minimal. He has no official ties to the Kremlin.

- The United States imposed sanctions on Dugin in 2015 for being "responsible for or complicit in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, stability, or sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine".

- In a statement in March, the U.S. Treasury said his Eurasian Youth Union actively recruited individuals with military and combat experience to fight on behalf of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine.

- "Dugin controls Geopolitica, a website that serves as a platform for Russian ultra-nationalists to spread disinformation and propaganda targeting Western and other audiences," the US Treasury said.

- In 2015, Dugin was quoted as saying by gazeta.ru that his being added to the U.S. sanctions list was "unprecedented" and that sanctions were being imposed for "intellectual activity that breaks no laws".

- Dugin did not immediately respond to questions emailed to him on Sunday at an address listed on the website of the International Eurasian Movement that he founded.

- Dugin's 1997 book increased his prominence. In the early 1990s, he co-founded the National Bolshevik Party (NBP), which espoused vehemently anti-centrist views and whose largely red flag featured a black hammer and sickle at its centre.

- Dugin left the NBP around a decade before it was declared an "extremist organisation" in 2007 and its activities banned in Russia.

- He went on to found political and social movements centred on staunchly anti-Western ideas for the future of Eurasia.

- Dugin worked a brief stint as chief editor of Tsargrad TV, a pro-Kremlin, Christian Orthodox channel owned by businessman Konstantin Malofeev. Malofeev was sanctioned by the United States and European Union in 2014 over accusations that he funded pro-Moscow separatists fighting in Ukraine, something he denies.

- Writing on Tsargrad's website in May, Dugin said Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine required immediate, "patriotic reforms".

- He wrote that a "new, eternal, true and profound Russia" needed to be established to attract the people of Ukraine.

- "Ukraine can become an integral, organic part of this," he wrote. "Ukrainians must understand that we are inviting them to create this new, great power. As well as Belarusians, Kazakhs, Armenians, but also Azerbaijanis and Georgians, and all those who not only were and are with us, but also will be."

Ukraine not 'criminal state,' had nothing to do with Moscow car bombing: Official

Kyiv had nothing to do with killing of daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin, says Ukrainian presidential adviser

Jeyhun Aliyev |22.08.2022

Daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin killed in car explosion

ANKARA

Ukraine is not a “criminal state” like Russia, and so had nothing to do with the weekend killing of a relative of one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies, according to a top Ukrainian official.

Darya Dugina, the daughter of political scientist Alexander Dugin, was killed in a car explosion on the outskirts of Moscow late Saturday.

"I want to emphasize that Ukraine had nothing to do with this,” Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukraine's senior presidential adviser, told local channel ICTV on Sunday.

"They don’t understand that we’re not a criminal state like Russia," he added, adding that blaming Ukraine for the incident is probably meant to justify the drafting of more soldiers for Russia’s war against its western neighbor, now in its sixth month.

In recent years Moscow has been accused of being behind the assassinations of Russian critics and defectors abroad, including the near-deadly poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in 2018 in Salisbury, England.

On Saturday’s incident, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pointed to what she called Ukraine’s "policy of state terrorism."

Reports claim that Darya Dugina’s father, called "Putin's brain," was the intended target.

Russia’s Investigation Committee said that the bombing “was planned in advance and committed on order” and that authorities are investigating.

Born in 1992, Dugina, like her father, was involved in journalism, philosophy, and political science.

Magistrate Judge To Tesla Buyer Suckered Into Paying Extra For ‘Full Self-Driving’ That Isn’t Full Self-Driving: Next Time Read The Fine Print

Overhype

from the never-trust-a-huckster dept

Mon, Aug 22nd 2022 - Mike Masnick

For many years now, Tesla has referred to its various driver assistance tools as “full self-driving” and then acted shocked and surprised when people point out that it’s nowhere near what any normal human being would consider “full self-driving.” That, of course, hasn’t stopped Tesla boss Elon Musk from repeatedly promoting Full Self-Driving and insisting that it was going to truly be an autonomous driving setup in the somewhat near future. Lots of experts and officials have vocally complained that the “Full Self-Driving” name is dangerously misleading — and recently, the California DMV has actually filed a complaint against the company, alleging that “Full Self-Driving” is a deceptive practice as it is “untrue or misleading.”

However, Tesla is having somewhat better luck in a case where an actual purchaser of the Full Self-Driving capability, a guy who paid them $6,000 for the “feature” claimed that the company ripped him off in not actually providing anything approaching full self-driving (used colloquially). The guy is not represented by a lawyer (i.e., a pro se case), so it’s already off to a not great start — and the magistrate judge has basically recommended throwing out the bulk of the claims — more or less telling the guy he should have read the fine print before plunking down $6,000 on the dream of “Full Self-Driving.”

There is a very limited part of the case that is allowed to move forward, but effectively this is a win for Tesla. The guy, Joel Young, bought a Model 3 in May of 2019 and paid the $6k for “Full Self-Driving Capability” expecting that his shiny Model 3 would be fully autonomous by the end of the year. That didn’t happen. As the magistrate judge summarizes:

Plaintiff argues that Defendant’s description generated false impressions that the vehicle could drive itself without human intervention…. At the time he purchased the vehicle, it could not; it contained driver-assist features but did not have the software necessary for fully autonomous self-driving without human intervention because Defendant had not yet developed this technology….

Notwithstanding the fact that the car could not autonomously drive itself at the time of purchase, communications from Tesla CEO Elon Musk and information on Defendant’s website led Plaintiff to believe that the car would attain these abilities by the end of 2019. Plaintiff cites to a December 19, 2019 tweet by Musk, the contents of the website “[o]n the day that [Plaintiff] responded to [Defendant’s] solicitation via the wires”, and a February 29, 2019 interview between Musk and a money management firm in support of this belief…. Because Plaintiff’s vehicle could not drive itself autonomously without human intervention by December 31, 2019, Plaintiff sued Defendant for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, civil conversion, negligence per se, and fraud.

The problem for Young is that while Musk may pop off and say overly optimistic nonsense on the reg, Tesla seems to have hired mostly competent lawyers to avoid exactly these kinds of complaints. Though, to be fair, much of this entire thing could have been avoided if (1) Tesla didn’t refer to its non-self-driving suite of driver assistance tools as “Full Self-Driving” and (2) had, maybe, actually defined “Full Self-Driving” in the contract, which apparently the company… did not do. Even so, the plaintiff’s purported belief that “Full Self-Driving” means fully autonomous is definitely a stretch. The magistrate judge is not impressed.

As alleged in the complaint, the contract does not define the term “Full Self-Driving Capability.” Instead, the term appears on an itemized list of optional features for the Model 3 vehicle that the contract covers. Doc. 1 at 62 (Exhibit A to complaint). In his complaint, Plaintiff includes a word-by-word dictionary definition of “Full Self-Driving Capability”…. This is a legal conclusion that the Court is not required to accept as true and that I recommend the Court not accept.

The context in which the term “Full Self-Driving Capability” is used indicates that the term is used to describe a specific feature of the vehicle. This conclusion is supported by the fact that each word in the phrase is capitalized. Other capitalized phrases in the same section of the contract clearly refer to names for vehicle features rather than their dictionary definitions. For example, it would be difficult to believe that the “Pearl White Multi-Coat” exterior is made of real pearls, as a discrete word-by-word analysis might suggest. Instead, the context makes clear that “Pearl White” is an adjective used to describe a color. The term “Pearl White Multi-Coat,” taken as a whole, is a noun signifying a particular type of vehicle coating. The best way to determine exactly what “Pearl White Multi-Coat” means is to look at a vehicle with this coating or to look at a sample of this coating.

Similarly, the best way to determine what “Full Self-Driving Capability” means is to look at the context in which Defendant uses that term. As Plaintiff notes in his complaint, Defendant’s website provides a description of the term “Full Self-Driving Capability.” This definition includes the “hardware needed in the future for full self-driving” and explains that “[a]s these self-driving capabilities are introduced, your car will be continuously upgraded through over-the-air software updates.” … The website also identifies the need for regulatory approval. Id. This description therefore makes it clear that cars with Full Self-Driving Capability are not currently capable of driving themselves without human intervention. Nor does the website provide a date as to when cars with this feature will be capable of driving themselves without human intervention. What the website does make clear, however, is that cars with the Full Self-Driving Capability will have access to software updates necessary to provide self-driving capabilities as they develop and attain regulatory approval. This term is not reasonably susceptible to multiple interpretations; its only reasonable interpretation is that it is a name referring to the collection of features described on Defendant’s website.

So… because the website describes Full Self-Driving as a lot less than full self-driving, Mr. Young’s argument that Tesla meant full self-driving isn’t going very far.

The other arguments Young made don’t get very far either. The magistrate judge argues that Elon Musk’s comments in February of 2019 (before Young made his purchase) don’t bind the company either:

First, he cites a February 19, 2019 podcast interview by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, in which Musk stated, “I think we will be ‘feature-complete’ on full self-driving this year, meaning the car will be able to find you in a parking lot, pick you up, take you all the way to your destination without an intervention this year. I am certain of that. That is not a question mark.” …. But the interview, to the extent that it was applicable to Plaintiff’s purchase at all, was superseded by the terms of the contract signed on May 20, 2019. The contract explicitly states, “Prior agreements, oral statements, negotiations, communications or representations about the Vehicle sold under this Agreement are superseded by this Agreement.”

In short: don’t ever rely on anything Elon Musk says about his products. If you purchase something based on those statements, you’re likely to get screwed and the contract protects Tesla, not the buyer.

Young also cited similarly silly comments from Musk from after he purchased the vehicle, but here, the magistrate judge notes, by then, he’d already purchased the car, so he can’t make the argument he relied on those claims to make the purchase decision. Basically: the contract rules everything.

Plaintiff points to Elon Musk’s December 19, 2019 tweet, which was part of a series in which Musk stated, “Tesla holiday software package has FSD sneak preview, Stardew Valley, Lost Backgammon & a few other things”…. Another Twitter user asked Musk whether he could release the software package early and Musk responded, “Needs a few more days of validation, then early access, then wide release”…. But this tweet does not help Plaintiff’s breach of contract claim. The tweet took place after the contract had been formed, so the tweet cannot have induced Plaintiff into purchasing the vehicle from a simple chronological standpoint. Count I, alleging breach of contract, states that Plaintiff “would not have purchased a 2019 Model 3 at all but for his reasonable and justifiable reliance on Tesla’s repeated, highly specific, and imperative representations about the efficacy of Full Self-Driving Capability, and about its certain delivery before the end of 2019.”… Musk’s tweet, made after Plaintiff signed the contract, therefore could not have influenced Plaintiff’s decision to purchase the Model 3 vehicle.

Where Young is on only slightly more steady ground is in arguing that when he purchased the “Full Self-Driving Capability” package, the Tesla website made some promises. But… he also overstates what those promises actually were. The website did list out what was included in “Full Self-Driving” which is, notably, way less than full self-driving, and then included some other features that it labeled as “coming later this year.” As the recommendation notes, these two lists fall into different categories:

Making all reasonable inferences in Plaintiff’s favor, by listing the four features in this first category under the heading “Full Self-Driving Capability” and above the sub-heading “Coming later this year”, the website can be fairly read to describe features that existed at the time Plaintiff purchased his vehicle. But, Plaintiff does not allege in his complaint that Defendant breached the contract by failing to provide any of the four features listed in the first category. Further, this page of the website also clearly states, “The currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” … Thus, Plaintiff has no viable complaint that, because these four features did not actually make the vehicle fully autonomous, Defendant breached the contract. Although it likely would be a breach if, for example, Defendant had developed fully autonomous self-driving software and attained the necessary approvals but still refused to provide it to Plaintiff, Plaintiff makes no such allegation.

The story is slightly different for the features that were under the “coming later this year” label — but they didn’t actually promise full self-driving: just automatic driving on city streets and responding to traffic lights and stop sights. And… Tesla’s lawyers made sure the fine print said “the activation and use of these features are dependent on achieving reliability far in excess of human drivers as demonstrated by billions of miles of experience, as well as regulatory approval, which may take longer in some jurisdictions.”

And, so the magistrate judge notes that this is not even a promise that Young would get those features this year, but rather just that the company would make significant progress on those features — and then says there may be a contractual breach related just to that fact, though it’s pretty limited.

Reading the complaint in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, considering Plaintiff’s pro se status, and drawing reasonable inferences in Plaintiff’s favor, I read Plaintiff’s complaint as alleging that Defendant failed to deliver the two features promised in category two. Although Defendant made no promises as to when its vehicles would be fully automated such that they could operate safely without human intervention, in connection with the $6,000 Full Self-Driving Capability option, it did promise to stay on a certain track; namely, that by year end the Full SelfDriving Capability Plaintiff paid for would at least include recognizing and responding to traffic lights and stop signs and automatic driving on city streets. Allegations that Defendant did not deliver on those two features by the end of the year as promised states a claim for breach of contract.

As such, I recommend that the Court find that the complaint states a claim for breach of contract as to the two features “coming later this year” (recognizing and responding to traffic lights and stop signs and automatic driving on city streets). As to the reminder of Plaintiff’s breach of contract claim regarding Full Self-Driving Capability, I recommend that the Court grant the motion to dismiss.

The magistrate judge goes on to recommend rejecting all of the other claims as well.

Basically: yes, Elon Musk may have mislead the many Tesla fans out there, but when you’re purchasing a $60,000 car, you should probably read the details, or ask specific questions, before assuming that you’re actually going to get “full self-driving” rather than a suite of driver assistance tools.

Of course, as the California DMV is noting, the naming itself may be misleading, but (and perhaps this is due to the pro se nature of the plaintiff) this was not well argued in the complaint. The complaint over argued its case by suggesting that Young actually expected a fully autonomous vehicle when Tesla’s fine print was worded to avoid that specific promise.

 

Filed Under: autonomous vehicles, breach of contract, elon musk, full self-driving, joel young
Companies: tesla

CONSPIRACY THEORIES GROW

Mossad 'likely' behind Salman Rushdie stabbing, claims Denver professor

Nader Hashemi, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver, said Rushdie's attacker may have been convinced to commit the attack by a Mossad agent.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Published: AUGUST 23, 2022 06:38

Author Salman Rushdie gestures during a news conference before the presentation of his latest book 'Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights' at the Niemeyer Center in Aviles, northern Spain, October 7, 2015.

The stabbing of novelist Salman Rushdie last week may have been orchestrated by the Mossad, suggested Nader Hashemi, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver, in a Saturday interview with Negar Mortazavi, host of the Iran Podcast.

Questioning the timing of the attack, Hashemi highlighted what he believed to be two possible explanations.

Did Iran try to assassinate Salman Rushdie?

Hashemi said that one possibility is that Iran wanted to take vengeance on the United States for the 2020 assassination of IRGC general Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad Airport.

Saudi Arabia’s absence at Arab summit in Egypt raises question

"So one possible explanation," he said, "could be that after the assassination of Iran's top general in January 2020, Qassem Soleimani, Iran was looking to retaliate. And the Department of Justice, a few days before the attack on Salman Rushdie, announced that the Iranian [Islamic] Revolutionary Guard Corps were seeking to assassinate Mike Pompeo and John Bolton. So this could be one possible explanation. They couldn't go after Pompeo and Bolton, in other words, the IRGC couldn't go after those high-value targets so they chose a soft target such as Salman Rushdie. Perhaps, possibly, we don't know."

Was Israel's Mossad behind the stabbing of Salman Rushdie?

Another possibility, Hashemi said, adding that he believes this is more likely, is that Rushdie's attacker, Hadi Matar, had been convinced to commit the attack by a Mossad agent masquerading as an IRGC operative or supporter.

A New Jersey police officer and a plain-clothed police officer exit the building where alleged attacker of Salman Rushdie, Hadi Matar, lives in Fairview, New Jersey, US, August 12, 2022. (credit: EDUARDO MUNOZ / REUTERS)


"That so-called person online claiming to be affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran could've been a Mossad operative."Nader Hashemi, Director, Center for Middle East Studies, University of Denver


"The other possibility, which I actually think is much more likely, is that this young kid Hadi Matar was in communication with someone online who claimed to be an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member or supporter and lured him into attacking Salman Rushdie and that so-called person online claiming to be affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran could've been a Mossad operative."

Why would the Mossad attack Rushdie?

Hashemi went on to suggest that Israel's motive for carrying out a false flag operation would be to galvanize opposition to the ongoing efforts of world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.

"Israel has taken a very strong position against reviving the Iran nuclear agreement," he said. "We were in very sensitive negotiations, like an agreement was imminent, and then the attack on Salman Rushdie takes place. I think that's one possible interpretation and scenario that could explain the timing of this at this moment during these sensitive political discussions related to Iran's nuclear program."

Oil companies’ decarbonisation scenarios inconsistent with the Paris Agreement, finds new report

A new study by Climate Analytics finds institutional decarbonisation scenarios from major oil companies' would be classified as inconsistent with the Paris Agreement as they fail to limit warming to ‘well below 2°C’.

• 19 August 2022
 
• Press Release

A new study by Climate Analytics finds institutional decarbonisation scenarios from major oil companies' would be classified as inconsistent with the Paris Agreement as they fail to limit warming to ‘well below 2°C’.

This study analyses six institutional decarbonisation scenarios published between 2020 and mid-2021, including four from the oil companies BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Equinor (two from BP), and two developed by the International Energy Agency IEA.

It finds that most of the scenarios would be classified as inconsistent with the Paris Agreement as they fail to limit warming to ‘well below 2°C’, let alone 1.5°C, and would exceed the 1.5°C warming limit by a significant margin.

Robert Brecha, Professor of Sustainability, University of Dayton and Gaurav Ganti, Ph.D. Student in Geography, Humboldt University of Berlin published a blog on The Conversation that explained how they have been working with the nonprofit science and policy research institute Climate Analytics to better understand the implications of the Paris Agreement for global and national decarbonization pathways – the paths countries can take to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, exploring the roles that coal and natural gas can play as the world transitions away from fossil fuels.

When analyzing the energy companies’ decarbonization scenarios, they found that BP’s, Shell’s and Equinor’s scenarios overshoot the 1.5°C limit of the Paris Agreement by a significant margin, with only BP’s having a greater than 50% chance of subsequently drawing temperatures down to 1.5°C by 2100.

These scenarios also showed higher near-term use of coal and long-term use of gas for electricity production than Paris-compatible scenarios, such as those assessed by the IPCC. Overall, the energy company scenarios also feature higher levels of carbon dioxide emissions than Paris-compatible scenarios.

Of the six scenarios, they determined that only the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero by 2050 scenario sketches out an energy future that is compatible with the 1.5°C Paris Agreement goal.

Read the report here.

British Sikh activist ‘tortured in India after tip-off from UK intelligence’

Matthew Weaver - THE GUARDIAN


A British Sikh campaigner is facing a possible death sentence after the UK intelligence services passed on information about him to the Indian authorities, according to a high court complaint.


Jagtar Singh Johal was arrested in the Punjab in 2017, where he had travelled for his wedding.© Photograph: Family handout/PA

Lawyers for Jagtar Singh Johal from Dumbarton, Scotland, say he was tortured, including being given electric shocks, after his unlawful arrest in the Punjab in 2017 where he had travelled for his wedding.

The campaign group Reprieve, which is representing him, says it has uncovered documents suggesting MI5 and MI6 tipped off the Indian authorities about Johal.

“No one should ever be tortured, especially not with the assistance of the UK government,” it said in a petition about the case.

Johal’s brother, Gurpreet Singh Johal, a solicitor and Labour councillor in West Dunbartonshire, told the Guardian he was “astonished” to discover the UK’s involvement.

He said: “We’ve repeatedly been told that they are raising the case at the highest level. It feels as if it was all just lip service. They’ve never told us what they’re actually doing.”

He added: “Jagtar’s wife is heartbroken because she really came to the UK thinking that the UK government will be bringing her husband home.”

This month, Johal’s lawyers, Leigh Day, lodged a claim in the high court against the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the attorney general, his brother confirmed.

It alleges UK intelligence agencies unlawfully shared information with the Indian authorities when there was a risk of torture.

Reprieve is calling on the UK foreign secretary to intervene. It said: “As foreign secretary and potential future prime minister, Liz Truss has a duty to right the wrongs of foreign secretaries before her and, in good faith, to bring Jagtar home and reunite him with his family; ban intelligence sharing where there is a real risk of torture or the death penalty; [and] give torture survivors a right to know if the UK was involved in their abuse.”

It added: “Our government should protect us, not expose us to torture and the death penalty.”

Boris Johnson acknowledged this year that the Indian authorities had arbitrarily detained Johal, adding that the UK government had consistently raised concerns about his treatment and right to a fair trial.

After four and half years in detention, Johal’s lawyers were told he would be charged with conspiracy to commit murder and being a member of a terrorist gang, for which he faces a possible death penalty. He is expected to be formally charged next month.

The Indian authorities say the charges relate to Sikh nationalism. He denies any wrongdoing.

The Foreign Office said it would not comment on an ongoing legal case.

A statement from the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition said that if substantiated, the allegations suggested the UK had facilitated arbitrary detention and torture.

In a statement, its co-chairs, Stephen Timms and Andrew Tyrie, said: “The government’s own principles on torture – designed to ensure that the UK is not involved in it – appear to have been breached. Parliament and the public cannot have confidence that the UK is not involved in kidnap and torture.”

Walmart ordered to pay Oregon man $4.4M for racial profiling after worker allegedly 'spied' on customer, called police

Walmart spokesperson Randy Hargrove said the company does "not tolerate discrimination" and branded the verdict "excessive."

Aug. 23, 022

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — DDA Multnomah County grand jury has ordered Walmart to pay $4.4 million in damages to a man who sued the store, saying he was racially profiled and harassed by a Walmart employee at a Portland, Oregon, area store in 2020.

According to the lawsuit the employee “spied” on Michael Mangum while shopping, ordered him to leave and called police when he refused, KGW reported.

According to the lawsuit and a news release from his attorneys, Mangum, who was 59 at the time, visited the Walmart in Wood Village on March 26, 2020, to buy a light bulb for his refrigerator. After Mangum arrived, he noticed store employee Joe Williams watching him as he shopped.

Williams told Mangum to leave the store, but Mangum refused, saying he’d done nothing wrong. Mangum’s lawyers said Williams told Mangum he was going to call the police and tell them Mangum had threatened to “smash him in the face.”

Williams called the non-emergency police dispatch line and told the operator he “had a person refusing to leave,” the lawsuit states.

According to Mangum’s lawyers, deputies from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office responded and “refused to take action against Mangum.” The lawyers said deputies made that decision based on Williams’ “shifting explanations” for the reason he called and because of his “reputation for making false reports to police.”

According to Mangum’s lawyers, the next day, Sheriff’s Sergeant Bryan White and another deputy met with the director of the Walmart and the assistant manager and explained that deputies had noticed a “pattern of behavior” in which Williams would call police to report “dangerous active situations, such as customers physically assaulting him or other employees,” that were not happening.

The store and Walmart corporate officials kept him on the job for several more months. and fired him in July 2020 for “mishandling $35 of Walmart property,” the lawsuit said.

 

Chinese workers dig deep to keep crops watered after drought hits largest lake

23 August 2022, 09:24

China Drought. Picture: PA

There has been a huge decline in water coverage in Poyang Lake in Jiangxi province.

With China’s biggest freshwater lake reaching historic low levels thanks to drought, work crews are digging trenches to keep water flowing to irrigate crops.

The dramatic decline of water coverage in Poyang Lake in the central province of Jiangxi would
have otherwise cut off irrigation channels to neighbouring farmlands in one of China’s key rice-growing regions.

Crews using diggers to create trenches only work after dark due to the daytime heat, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Luoxingdun Island is seen in the dried lake bed of Poyang Lake (Xinhua via AP)

High temperatures have sparked mountain fires that have forced the evacuation of 1,500 people in south-west China, and factories have cut production as hydroelectric plants reduce their output amid drought conditions.

The drought and heat have wilted crops and shrunk rivers including the giant Yangtze, disrupting cargo traffic and reducing power output.

Fed by China’s major rivers, Poyang Lake averages around 1,400 square miles at high season, but has contracted to just 285 square miles amid the recent drought.

Work crews are digging trenches to keep water flowing to irrigate crops (Xinhua via AP)

A wide area of western and central China has seen days of temperatures exceeding 40C in summer heat waves that have started earlier and lasted longer than usual.

In the hard-hit city of Chongqing, department stores have delayed their opening to 4pm. Residents
have been seeking respite from the heat in air raid shelters dating from the Second World War.

That reflects the situation in Europe and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, with high temperatures taking a toll on public health, food production and the environment in general.

By Press Association