Top News Story –
Boris Johnson wins race to be Tory leader and PM
Boris Johnson has been elected new Conservative leader in a ballot of party members and will become the next UK prime minister.
He beat Jeremy Hunt comfortably, winning 92,153 votes to his rival’s 46,656.
The former London mayor takes over from Theresa May on Wednesday.
In his victory speech, Mr Johnson promised he would “deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat Jeremy Corbyn”.
Speaking at the Queen Elizabeth II centre in London, he said: “We are going to energise the country.
“We are going to get Brexit done on 31 October and take advantage of all the opportunities it will bring with a new spirit of can do.
“We are once again going to believe in ourselves, and like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and ping off the guy ropes of self doubt and negativity.”
Twitter trends [from Trendinalia] – today from UK
Hyperloop test pod sets speed record
A competition helping to drive development of the futuristic hyperloop transport system has been won by engineering students from Munich.
The hyperloop idea involves passengers in pods travelling at very high speeds down sealed tunnels.
The team’s pod hit 457km/h (290mph) on a 1.2km (0.75 mile) test track.
Run by the SpaceX aerospace company, the competition aims to refine the technologies that could underpin the super-fast transport system.
The win is the third in a row for the Technical University of Munich team.
The competition saw student teams from universities around the world gather in California to put their prototype pods through their paces.
The idea for hyperloop, which would see pods speed through a sealed tunnel to reduce friction or air resistance, has been around for decades and was fleshed out by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2012.
He suggested that pods could travel along the system’s tunnels at speeds in excess of 1,000km/h.
Critics have voiced concerns about the potential cost of building a large hyperloop and whether its technical demands can be met.
Mr Musk’s SpaceX company has run a series of competitions to drive development of the concept.
In the latest round of the competition, the Munich team, Warr Hyperloop, outpaced rival capsules, which could manage speeds of only 88mph (Delft University) and 55mph (EPF Loop, from Switzerland), to beat its own record speed, 323km/h, set in the second competition, in September 2017.
Other News Stories –
International relations
- Foreign relations of Venezuela
- Through Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Faurie, the Lima Group say that “the use of force in Venezuela will be implemented when required”. (El Nacional)
- Hezbollah foreign relations
- Hezbollah condemns Argentina over its designation of their group as a “terrorist organization”, saying Argentina did so under “United States pressure”. (Itón Gadol)
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