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Chinese TV Makers Surpass Samsung in Premium Market, Challenging Korean Dominance
By JILL COLVIN and STEPHEN GROVES WASHINGTON (AP) — After several weeks working mostly behind closed doors, Vice President-elect JD Vance returned to Capitol Hill this week in a new, more visible role: Helping Donald Trump try to get his most contentious Cabinet picks to confirmation in the Senate, where Vance has served for the last two years. Vance arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday with former Rep. Matt Gaetz and spent the morning sitting in on meetings between Trump’s choice for attorney general and key Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The effort was for naught: Gaetz announced a day later that he was withdrawing his name amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations and the reality that he was unlikely to be confirmed. Thursday morning Vance was back, this time accompanying Pete Hegseth, the “Fox & Friends Weekend” host whom Trump has tapped to be the next secretary of defense. Hegseth also has faced allegations of sexual assault that he denies. Vance is expected to accompany other nominees for meetings in coming weeks as he tries to leverage the two years he has spent in the Senate to help push through Trump’s picks. Vice President-elect JD Vance, still a Republican senator from Ohio, walks from a private meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., center, and Vice President-elect JD Vance, left, walk out of a meeting with Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) FILE – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, departs the chamber at the Capitol in Washington, March 15, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) FILE – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, center speaks during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) FILE – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, right, speaks with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, before testifying at a hearing, March 9, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File) FILE – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, arrives for a classified briefing on China, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) FILE – Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, arrives for a vote on Capitol Hill, Sept. 12, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) FILE – Sen. JD Vance R-Ohio speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) Vice President-elect JD Vance, still a Republican senator from Ohio, walks from a private meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) The role of introducing nominees around Capitol Hill is an unusual one for a vice president-elect. Usually the job goes to a former senator who has close relationships on the Hill, or a more junior aide. But this time the role fits Vance, said Marc Short, who served as Trump’s first director of legislative affairs as well as chief of staff to Trump’s first vice president, Mike Pence, who spent more than a decade in Congress and led the former president’s transition ahead of his first term. ”JD probably has a lot of current allies in the Senate and so it makes sense to have him utilized in that capacity,” Short said. Unlike the first Trump transition, which played out before cameras at Trump Tower in New York and at the president-elect’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, this one has largely happened behind closed doors in Palm Beach, Florida. There, a small group of officials and aides meet daily at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort to run through possible contenders and interview job candidates. The group includes Elon Musk, the billionaire who has spent so much time at the club that Trump has joked he can’t get rid of him. Vance has been a constant presence, even as he’s kept a lower profile. The Ohio senator has spent much of the last two weeks in Palm Beach, according to people familiar with his plans, playing an active role in the transition, on which he serves as honorary chair. Vance has been staying at a cottage on the property of the gilded club, where rooms are adorned with cherubs, oriental rugs and intricate golden inlays. It’s a world away from the famously hardscrabble upbringing that Vance documented in the memoir that made him famous, “Hillbilly Elegy.” His young children have also joined him at Mar-a-Lago, at times. Vance was photographed in shorts and a polo shirt playing with his kids on the seawall of the property with a large palm frond, a U.S. Secret Service robotic security dog in the distance. On the rare days when he is not in Palm Beach, Vance has been joining the sessions remotely via Zoom. Though he has taken a break from TV interviews after months of constant appearances, Vance has been active in the meetings, which began immediately after the election and include interviews and as well as presentations on candidates’ pluses and minuses. Among those interviewed: Contenders to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray , as Vance wrote in a since-deleted social media post. Defending himself from criticism that he’d missed a Senate vote in which one of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees was confirmed, Vance wrote that he was meeting at the time “with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director.” “I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” Vance added on X. “But that’s just me.” While Vance did not come in to the transition with a list of people he wanted to see in specific roles, he and his friend, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is also a member of the transition team, were eager to see former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. find roles in the administration. Trump ended up selecting Gabbard as the next director of national intelligence , a powerful position that sits atop the nation’s spy agencies and acts as the president’s top intelligence adviser. And he chose Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services , a massive agency that oversees everything from drug and food safety to Medicare and Medicaid. Vance was also a big booster of Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who will serve as Trump’s “border czar.” In another sign of Vance’s influence, James Braid, a top aide to the senator, is expected to serve as Trump’s legislative affairs director. Allies say it’s too early to discuss what portfolio Vance might take on in the White House. While he gravitates to issues like trade, immigration and tech policy, Vance sees his role as doing whatever Trump needs. Vance was spotted days after the election giving his son’s Boy Scout troop a tour of the Capitol and was there the day of leadership elections. He returned in earnest this week, first with Gaetz — arguably Trump’s most divisive pick — and then Hegseth, who has was been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017, according to an investigative report made public this week. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing. Vance hosted Hegseth in his Senate office as GOP senators, including those who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, filtered in to meet with the nominee for defense secretary. While a president’s nominees usually visit individual senators’ offices, meeting them on their own turf, the freshman senator — who is accompanied everywhere by a large Secret Service detail that makes moving around more unwieldy — instead brought Gaetz to a room in the Capitol on Wednesday and Hegseth to his office on Thursday. Senators came to them. Vance made it to votes Wednesday and Thursday, but missed others on Thursday afternoon. Vance is expected to continue to leverage his relationships in the Senate after Trump takes office. But many Republicans there have longer relationships with Trump himself. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, said that Trump was often the first person to call him back when he was trying to reach high-level White House officials during Trump’s first term. “He has the most active Rolodex of just about anybody I’ve ever known,” Cramer said, adding that Vance would make a good addition. “They’ll divide names up by who has the most persuasion here,” Cramer said, but added, “Whoever his liaison is will not work as hard at it as he will.” Cramer was complimentary of the Ohio senator, saying he was “pleasant” and ” interesting” to be around. ′′He doesn’t have the long relationships,” he said. “But we all like people that have done what we’ve done. I mean, that’s sort of a natural kinship, just probably not as personally tied.” Under the Constitution, Vance will also have a role presiding over the Senate and breaking tie votes. But he’s not likely to be needed for that as often as was Kamala Harris, who broke a record number of ties for Democrats as vice president, since Republicans will have a bigger cushion in the chamber next year. Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
EU rules requiring all new smartphones, tablets and cameras to use the same charger came into force on Saturday, in a change Brussels said will cut costs and waste. Manufacturers are now obliged to fit devices sold in the 27-nation bloc with a USB-C, the port chosen by the European Union as the common standard for charging electronic tools. "Starting today, all new mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, speakers, keyboards and many other electronics sold in the EU will have to be equipped with a USB Type-C charging port," the EU Parliament wrote on social media X. The EU has said the single charger rule will simplify the lives of Europeans and slash costs for consumers. By allowing consumers to purchase a new device without a new charger, it will also reduce the mountain of obsolete chargers, the bloc has argued. The law was first approved in 2022 following a tussle with US tech giant Apple. It allowed companies until December 28 this year to adapt. Makers of laptops will have extra time, from early 2026, to also follow suit. Most devices already use these cables, but Apple was more than a little reluctant. The firm said in 2021 that such regulation "stifles innovation", but by September last year it had begun shipping phones with the new port. Makers of electronic consumer items in Europe had agreed on a single charging norm from dozens on the market a decade ago under a voluntary agreement with the European Commission. But Apple, the world's biggest seller of smartphones, refused to abide by it and ditch its Lightning ports. Other manufacturers kept their alternative cables going, meaning there were about half a dozen types knocking around, creating a jumble of cables for consumers. USB-C ports can charge at up to 100 Watts, transfer data up to 40 gigabits per second, and be used to hook up to external displays. At the time of its approval, the commission said the law was expected to save at least 200 million euros (US$208 million) per year and cut more than a thousand tonnes of EU electronic waste every year. "It's time for THE charger," the European Commission wrote on X on Saturday. "It means better charging technology, reduced e-waste, and less fuss to find the chargers you need." (AFP)Article content One of the main hurdles for many customers considering an all-electric vehicle is the total driving range available – or lack thereof – on a fully charged battery. The distance of roughly 450 kilometres seems to be a pretty good baseline these days, at least without installing enormous batteries the size of Vancouver Island (ahem, Chevrolet Silverado EV, ahem). Numerous companies have been working on so-called solid-state batteries, units which do a much better job in the field of energy density than the technology currently available, such as liquid-state lithium-ion batteries. This week, researchers from Honda outlined their desires in this arena, hoping to use solid-state tech to double the range of the automaker’s EVs by the end of this decade. Keiji Otsu, president of Honda R&D, has been bullish on the prospect. “It’s a game-changer of the EV era,” he told Reuters reporters during a tour of the company’s solid-state battery pilot production line late November. The assembly in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, is pencilled to crank out all-solid-state batteries beginning January 2025, following an investment of 43 billion yen (CDN$388 million) , nearly half of which was furnished through subsidies from the Japanese government. Over the next five years, Honda hopes to cut battery sizes in half while chopping at least 25% of the cost from the things. Basic math tells us doubling the energy density of a battery and halving its size means a company could package a much smaller and lighter battery into an EV without sacrificing any range; or, as would likely be preferred in this market, retain the approximate size of today’s cells whilst cranking total driving range to 900 kilometres or more. This would handsomely address concerns about range anxiety, especially if cost and weight are kept under control. Toss in a charging capability that’s at least as good as what is on the market today, and it is likely electric vehicles would become more appealing to a wider variety of shoppers. Of course, EVs aren’t right for everyone, no matter the range or recharge stats — the quicker car companies and governments get that through their heads, the better off we’ll all be. Honda is open to sharing the tech for a price, saying it has “no reason to refuse” the external sale of its solid-state batteries if such a path is mutually beneficial to it and its partners. Sign up for our newsletter Blind-Spot Monitor and follow our social channels on X , Tiktok and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest automotive news, reviews, car culture, and vehicle shopping advice.
Sam Stein couldn't WAIT to post on X about Trump admitting he can't bring grocery prices down. Except that's not what Trump said ... we get the feeling we'll be saying that a lot over the next four years. Stein had to know there was more to the quote in TIME magazine, that Trump did indeed say he believed the prices would come down but he knew the nitwits and overly emotional dipsticks who follow him would take what he said at face value and run with it. And they wonder why cheer their industry's demise. Trump tells Time he's not sure he can get the price of groceries down: "It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard." TFG. Here's the part Stein deliberately left out: Viral tweet. Millions of views. Just one problem: That's not what Trump said. Trump said he thinks prices will go down by fixing supply chains and energy supply. Just print the full quote. It's not hard. https://t.co/KsRiftw3UJ pic.twitter.com/swaRVLivnj It's hard if you're entire purpose is to hurt one political party and half the country. Nice try. Here’s the full quote. You are so pathetic. pic.twitter.com/mWP9PYRRHK Pathetic. Desperate. Deceptive. Divisive. Useless. We could go on and on. After all, we do have access to a thesaurus ya' know! Hey idiot, We have the receipts. Do better. https://t.co/V2vqOTqKwB pic.twitter.com/7WCku4CY1s This may be the best Stein can do. After all, he's part of a dying industry ... and the more they spiral they more desperate for relevance they're going to be. Fake news can only be fake for so long before even the people who want to believe them start tuning them out. Seems Stein has not figured this out just yet. =========================================================================== Related: FATALITY! Riley Gaines OWNS Trans Montana Dem for Celebrating Court BLOCKING Gender Affirming Care Ban TIME Magazine Being a Leftist, Biased Rag ACCIDENTALLY Makes Trump Look Even MORE Bada*s How 'Bout GFY? WH Dem Officials 'Warn' Trump Not to Undo Key Parts of Biden's Legacy and HELLOOO Backfire Adam Schiff Thought It Was SMART to 'Go There' Sucking UP to Christopher Wray and WOOF Was He EVER Wrong BEST Part of Nancy Pelosi Getting Heckled for 2 Minutes STRAIGHT Is Watching Katie Couric SQUIRM (watch) ===========================================================================NDP ready to open 'gates' to pass Liberal GST holiday bill separate from $250 rebate
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