Tesla Electric Car Explodes After Hitting Tow Truck in Moscow - The Moscow Times

A Tesla electric car caught fire after crashing into a tow truck on a Moscow motorway late on Saturday.

Footage of the incident on state TV channel Rossia 24 showed the car by the side of the road engulfed in flames and thick black smoke. Two small explosions occurred within a few seconds of each other.

It was not possible to tell which Tesla model the car was and only the metal frame remained after the fire.

Tesla Inc stood by safety claims for its Model 3 earlier this week in the face of regulatory scrutiny, while documents showed the top U.S. automotive safety watchdog issued at least five subpoenas since last year seeking information about crashes involving the company's vehicles.

The state-run RIA news agency website posted a video showing the car driving in the left-hand lane of Moscow's ring road, known as the MKAD, before crashing into a tow truck parked by a safety fence that separates the carriageway from oncoming traffic.

The accident took place at around 9 p.m. Moscow time. The speed limit on the ring road is 100 kilometers per hour.

Tesla was not immediately available for a comment on the incident outside normal business hours.

The driver, 41-year-old Alexei Tretyakov, and his children were injured in the crash but escaped from the vehicle before it was destroyed by the fire, Rossia 24 reported.

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August 11, 2019 at 08:32PM

Frustration grows among natural gas producers amid low prices, LNG uncertainty - Global News

Greg Kist admits he was burned out when he resigned as president of Pacific NorthWest LNG at the end of 2014, as the Vancouver-based venture led by Malaysian energy giant Petronas advanced its ill-fated mission to build a liquefied natural gas project in B.C.“I needed to decompress,” the 57-year-old gas industry veteran says of his decision to return to his home and family in Alberta.Story continues belowRelated

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August 11, 2019 at 10:47PM

Five things to watch for in the Canadian business world in the coming week - CP24 Toronto's Breaking News

TORONTO - Five things to watch for in the Canadian business world in the coming week:

Yes we cannabis?

Analysts and investors are waiting to see if cannabis companies, including Tilray Inc., which reports its financial second-quarter results on Tuesday and Canopy Growth Corp., which reports Wednesday, will reward shareholders with a profit, or at least a path to profitability.

Latest from Metro

Metro Inc. will release its third-quarter financial results and hold a conference call to discuss the results with analysts on Wednesday. The grocer reported strong food sales in the second quarter amid higher prices for fresh fruit and vegetables, though the company expected produce costs to moderate close to summer.

Freshii earnings

Freshii Inc. will hold a conference call with analysts to discuss its second-quarter financial results on Wednesday. The chain, which opened its first store in 2005, said in June it plans to launch higher-quality protein ingredients as it attempts to win back customers amid continued negative sales performance.

Acrimony at Aimia

Aimia Inc. executives will discuss second-quarter earnings on Wednesday. The former parent company of Aeroplan filed a lawsuit against its largest shareholder in July that accuses the dissident investor of violating a contracted truce, the latest move in a battle over control of the company's board of directors.

Still smokin'

Statistics Canada will release its National Cannabis Survey for the second quarter of 2019 on Thursday. The agency reported in May that 5.3 million, or 18 per cent, of Canadians aged 15 years and older said they used pot within the last three months, up from 14 per cent who reported using cannabis a year earlier, before legalization in October 2018.

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August 11, 2019 at 09:19PM

BlackRock now has the biggest slice of Sports Illustrated owner Authentic Brands - CNBC

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Investment giant BlackRock just became the largest stakeholder of Sports Illustrated's parent company.

BlackRock bought roughly a 30% stake in Authentic Brands Group for $875 million, the company's chief executive officer Jamie Salter told CNBC's Brian Sullivan in a phone interview on Sunday.

The deal values the brand management company around $4 billion to $4.5 billion, including debt, according to Salter. 

Created in 2010, Authentic Brands Group owns more than 50 athletic, entertainment, apparel and consumer brands, as well as the likeness of celebrities Muhammad Ali, Elvis Presley, Shaquille O'Neal, and Marilyn Monroe, according to the company's website.

In addition to Sports Illustrated, Authentic Brands Group owns Aeropostale, Juicy Couture, Herve Leger, Nine West, Spyder, and Frye.

Salter and his family will still control about 20% of Authentic Brands Group; however, he sold to BlackRock to develop a "long-term partner" of "more than 10 years."

Salter said the deal will provide Authentic Brands Group with additional capital to grow its branding business.

This is the first deal made by BlackRock's new private equity fund Long Term Private Capital.

Singapore's GIC also added about $150 million to the deal. Investment firm Jasper Ridge Partners also contributed $80 million.

— with reporting from CNBC's Brian Sullivan.

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August 12, 2019 at 02:12AM

Tesla Model 3 owner implants RFID chip to turn her arm into a key - TechCrunch

Forget the keycard or phone app, one software engineer is trying out a new way to unlock and start her Tesla Model 3.

Amie DD, who has a background in game simulation and programming, recently released a video showing how she “biohacked” her body. The software engineer removed the RFID chip from the Tesla Model 3 valet card using acetone, then placed it into a biopolymer, which was injected through a hollow needle into her left arm. A professional who specializes in body modifications performed the injection.

You can watch the process below, although folks who don’t like blood should consider skipping it. Amie DD also has a page on Hackaday.io that explains the project and the process.

The video is missing one crucial detail. It doesn’t show whether the method works. TechCrunch will update the post once a new video delivering the news is released.

Amie is not new to biohacking. The original idea was to use the existing RFID implant chip that was already in her hand to be able to start the Model 3. That method, which would have involved taking the Java applet and writing it onto her own chip, didn’t work because of Tesla’s security. So, Amie DD opted for another implant.

Amie DD explains why and how she did this in another, longer video posted below. She also talks a bit about her original implant in her left hand, which she says is used for “access control.” She uses it to unlock the door of her home, for instance.

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August 11, 2019 at 05:39AM

CannTrust shares swing wildly after auditor pulls reports - Article - BNN - BNNBloomberg.ca

VAUGHAN, Ont. -- Shares in CannTrust Holdings Inc. (TRST.TO) experienced a wild ride Friday, roaring back from early morning losses to close up more than 40 per cent.

The beleaguered pot producer's stock started the day lower after it announced an independent outside auditor had withdrawn its endorsement of the company's 2018 financial statements, the latest fallout from recent revelations about illicit grow rooms at the Ontario-based cannabis producer.

Shares ended the day up $1.22, 40.8 per cent, at $4.21. It was not immediately clear what prompted the surge. CannTrust did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.

Friday's stock movements were notable, even for the notoriously volatile marijuana sector.

Earlier, CannTrust announced that accounting firm KPMG LLP had withdrawn its March 27 report on 2018 financial results and an interim report for the three months ended Mar. 31, 2019 and declared that the audited results can't be relied upon as accurate, the marijuana grower said Friday in statement from Vaughan, Ont.

The move is the latest in a string of woes for the Toronto-area company after it revealed a Health Canada probe found the company had grown cannabis in several rooms at its Pelham, Ont., facility in Niagara Region without government approval, and that employees had provided inaccurate information to regulators.

The Ontario Securities Commission said last week it has launched a joint investigation with the RCMP to examine unlicensed growing at CannTrust's greenhouse.

That followed an announcement from the company's board of directors that it had fired its CEO and asked its chairman to resign after the board discovered new information during an internal investigation.

The board appointed the special committee's chair Robert Marcovitch as interim CEO in the wake of the departures.

CannTrust said Friday that the auditor's decision to revoke its reports was prompted by the company's caution against relying on financial statements for those time frames, as well as the recent sharing with KPMG "of newly uncovered information from the special committee's investigation, including information that led to senior leadership changes."

CannTrust added that KPMG was not aware of the information recently shared by the company when the auditor issued its reports, and that it had relied upon representations made by individuals no longer at the company.

The company said it will co-operate with KPMG, which remains CannTrust's outside auditor, as well as authorities investigating the matter.

"We will continue co-operating with our auditor and regulators, and take whatever steps are necessary to restore full trust in the company's regulatory compliance. Our medical patients, customers, shareholders and employees deserve nothing less", Marcovitch said in a statement Friday.

The company has warned that it would likely miss its filing deadline for an interim financial report because of the significant uncertainty on the impact of the pending Health Canada decisions.

Health Canada's probe could result in the suspension or termination of CannTrust's cannabis licences and fines up to $1 million.

The Vaughan, Ont.-based company, which has halted all sales and shipments as Health Canada continues its probe, said previously that it had hired a financial adviser to help it explore a potential sale and other strategic alternatives.

CannTrust has disclosed that the production in five unlicensed rooms took place between October 2018 and March 2019, before it received licences for those rooms in April 2019.

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August 10, 2019 at 04:21AM

Tesla explodes after crash on Russian highway - TechCrunch

A Tesla vehicle involved in a collision burst into flames and exploded on a highway near Moscow last night, local media reported. The occupants were slightly injured, but the car is toast.

The model of the car is not clear from reporting, but seems to be either a Model S or Model 3. It was being driven by a 41-year-old Russian man, who had his children with him. He had reportedly engaged a drive assist feature (though not necessarily Autopilot) and had his hands on the wheel when he crashed into a tow truck in the left lane.

The driver broke his legs and the kids got away with just bruises, Reuters reported, but the car wasn’t so lucky. Some time after the crash the car caught fire, and shortly after that a pair of explosions occurred within its body, as seemingly captured (I was unable to directly confirm this) in the following video posted by someone in traffic going the other direction:

Firefighters soon arrived and put the flames out. The circumstances of this crash are still unclear, and there will no doubt be an investigation, as there are for any serious issues like this. I’ve asked Tesla for more details and will update this post if I hear back.

While cars crash and catch fire on a fairly regular basis, Teslas have a rare but recurring problem of bursting into flame after a crash, or even spontaneously. The unique dangers of battery-based vehicles are of course interesting, but the sensational nature of reports around them can also give a false idea of those dangers. Tesla cars are in crashes about as often as other vehicles, but fires are rare.

Whether Autopilot was involved is also not clear. The drive-assist mode the driver was using may simply have been cruise control or the like, and the driver told papers that he didn’t notice the tow truck. Until more facts are known speculation is fruitless.

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https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/11/tesla-explodes-after-crash-on-russian-highway/

2019-08-11 17:09:23Z
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