Business

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Autonomous car startup Zoox Inc. on Friday became the first firm in California to transport passengers in self-driving vehicles on public roads in the U.S. state of California, state transport regulators said.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said in a statement that it has authorized Zoox to "participate in California's first pilot program providing 'drivered' autonomous vehicle passenger service to the public."

TEHRAN, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Germany will ban flights of Iran's Mahan Air to its cities under the U.S. pressures, Tasnim news agency reported Saturday.

The German government has decided to stop Mahan Air from operating its flights to Dusseldorf and Munich after intensive deliberations on U.S. demands, according to the report.

Currently, Mahan Air operates flights to EU cities of Milan, Athens, Dusseldorf and Munich as well as countries such as Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and several other destinations in the Middle East and Asia.

JIUQUAN, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- China launched a tech-experimental satellite as part of the Hongyun Project, a low-orbit broadband communication satellite system on Saturday morning.

A Long March-11 rocket carrying the experimental satellite blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 7：51 a.m.. It successfully entered its preset orbit.

MOSCOW, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Amid ongoing tense frictions between Moscow and Washington, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeals to his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to resume direct talks so as to discuss urgent issues on bilateral and international agendas.

Noting that the two countries "have reached the bottom of our relations" at his annual press conference Thursday, Putin reconfirmed his readiness for dialogue and said it is time for both sides to think with a clear head and start mending bilateral ties.

OTTAWA, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Allegations against China of cyber attacks reported by Canadian media were fabricated stories, which have seriously misled the public, the Chinese embassy in Ottawa said Friday in a statement.

The Canadian media reported recently that U.S. authorities had indicted two Chinese nationals on the grounds of "cyber stealing."

22 Dec 2018; AFP: Wall Street ended its worst week in a decade with more bruising losses Friday, and with the tech-rich Nasdaq entering a bear market amid worries about trade wars and a possible US government shutdown.

The Nasdaq and Dow suffered their worst weeks since the start of the global financial crisis as the US-China trade dispute returning to the forefront, and amid continued concerns about the Federal Reserve's plans for interest rate increases.

LONDON (AP) — London’s Gatwick Airport is seeking to run a full schedule Saturday after police arrested a man and a woman in connection with the “criminal use of drones.”

In a statement, Britain’s second-biggest airport said it is operational but urged passengers, tens of thousands of whom have been stranded since the drone incursions began on Wednesday evening, to check the status of their flights.  

WASHINGTON (AP) — A partial federal shutdown took hold early Saturday after Democrats refused to meet President Donald Trump’s demands for $5 billion to start erecting his cherished Mexican border wall, a chaotic postscript for Republicans in the waning days of their two-year reign controlling government.

New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) Media firm NDTV group's digital arm NDTV Convergence Friday said it has signed a five-year deal worth over Rs 300 crore with content recommendations engine Taboola.

"The five-year deal ties NDTV Convergence exclusively to Taboola and involves a minimum guarantee of more than Rs 300 crore for NDTV Convergence, making it one of the largest deals, not just for digital content, but for the media space in its entirety," NDTV said in a BSE filing.

DUBAI, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will deposit 11 billion dirhams (3 billion U.S. dollars) in the State Bank of Pakistan to help with the country's cash and financial policies, state-run WAM news agency reported Friday.

The move aims "to enhance the liquidity and monetary reserve of the foreign currency in the State Bank," WAM cited the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development as saying in a statement.