Major route closed after hole appears in road
A major commuter road has been closed to traffic in Greater Manchester after a hole appeared.
Part of Bury New Road, Bury, which takes traffic to the M60, Whitefield and towards Manchester city centre, has collapsed.
It is thought that a sewage pipe has burst.
A diversion is in place with drivers advised to avoid junction 17 of the M60.
Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Will Musk's explosive row with Trump help or harm his businesses?
When Elon Musk recently announced that he was stepping back from politics, investors hoped that would mean he would step up his involvement in the many tech firms he runs. His explosive row with President Donald Trump - and the very public airing of his dirty White House laundry - suggests Musk's changing priorities might not quite be the salve they had been hoping for. Instead of Musk retreating somewhat from the public eye and focusing on boosting the fortunes of Tesla and his other enterprises, he now finds himself being threatened with a boycott from one of his main customers - Trump's federal government. Tesla shares were sent into freefall on Thursday - falling 14% - as he sounded off about President Donald Trump on social media. They rebounded a little on Friday following some indications tempers were cooling. Even so, for the investors and analysts who, for months, had made clear they wanted Musk off his phone and back at work, the situation is far from ideal. Some though argue the problems for Musk's businesses run much deeper than this spat - and the controversial role in the Trump administration it has brought a spectacular end to. For veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher, that is especially so for Tesla. "Tesla's finished," she told the BBC on the sidelines of the San Francisco Media Summit early this week. "It was a great car company. They could compete in the autonomous taxi space but they're way behind." Tesla has long attempted to play catch-up against rival Waymo, owned by Google-parent Alphabet, whose driverless taxis have traversed the streets of San Francisco for years - and now operate in several more cities. This month, Musk is supposed to be overseeing Tesla's launch of a batch of autonomous robo-taxis in Austin, Texas. He posted to X last week that the electric vehicle maker had been testing the Model Y with no drivers on board. "I believe 90% of the future value of Tesla is going to be autonomous and robotics," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told the BBC this week, adding that the Austin launch would be "a watershed moment". "The first task at hand is ensuring the autonomous vision gets off to a phenomenal start," Ives added. Who is Elon Musk? How the Trump-Musk feud erupted But with Musk's attention divided, the project's odds of success would appear to have lengthened. And there's something else to factor in too: Musk's own motivation. The talk in Silicon Valley lately centres less on whether Musk can turn things around and more on whether he even cares. "He's a really powerful person when he's focused on something," said Ross Gerber, President and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management. "Before, it was about proving to the world that he would make EVs - the tech that nobody else could do. It was about proving he could make rockets. He had a lot to prove." A longtime Tesla investor, Gerber has soured on the stock, and has been pairing back his holdings since Musk's foray into right-wing politics. He called Thursday an "extremely painful day." "It's the dumbest thing you could possibly do to think that you have more power than the president of the United States," Gerber said, referring to Musk's social media tirade against Trump. The BBC reached out to X, Tesla, and SpaceX seeking comment from Mr Musk but did not receive a response. A particular problem for Musk is that, before he seemingly created an enemy in Donald Trump, he already had one in the grassroots social media campaign against his car-maker. Protests, dubbed #TeslaTakedown, have played out across the country every weekend since Trump took office. In April, Tesla reported a 20% drop in car sales for the first three months of the year. Profits plunged more than 70%, and the share price went down with it. "He should not be deciding the fate of our democracy by disassembling our government piece by piece. It's not right," protestor Linda Koistinen told me at a demonstration outside a Berkeley, California Tesla dealership in February. Koistinen said she wanted to make a "visible stand" against Musk personally. "Ultimately it's not about the tech or the Tesla corporation," said Joan Donovan, a prominent disinformation researcher who co-organized the #TeslaTakedown protests on social media. "It's about the way in which the stock of Tesla has been able to be weaponized against the people and it has put Musk in such a position to have an incredible amount of power with no transparency," Donovan added. Another aspect of Musk's empire that has raised the ire of his detractors is X, the social media platform once known as Twitter. "He bought Twitter so that he had clout and would be able to - at the drop of a hat - reach hundreds of millions of people," Donovan said. There is another possibility here though. Could Musk's high-profile falling out with Trump help rehabilitate him in the eyes of people who turned against him because of his previous closeness to the president? Patrick Moorhead, chief analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, thinks it could. "We're a very forgiving country," Moorhead says in a telephone interview. "These things take time," he acknowledges, but "it's not unprecedented". Swisher likened Musk's personal brand to that of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates more than two decades ago. She said Gates was once regarded as "the Darth Vader of Silicon Valley" because of his "arrogant and rude" personality. Today, despite his flaws, Gates has largely rehabilitated his image. "He learned. He grew up. People can change," Swisher told me, even though Musk is "clearly troubled." The problem for Musk is the future for him and his companies is not just about what he does - but what Trump decides too. And while Trump needed Musk in the past, not least to help fund his presidential race, it's not so clear he does now. Noah Smith, writer of the Noahpinion Substack, said Trump's highly lucrative foray into cryptocurrencies - as unseemly as it has been - may have freed him from depending on Musk to carry out his will. "My guess is that this was so he could get out from under Elon," Smith said. In Trump's most menacing comment of the day, he suggested cutting Musk's government contracts, which have an estimated value of $38 billion. A significant chunk of that goes to Musk's rocket company SpaceX - seemingly threatening its future. However, despite the bluster, Trump's warning may be a little more hollow than it seems. That's because SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft ferries people and cargo to the International Space Station where three NASA astronauts are currently posted. It demonstrates that SpaceX has so entrenched itself in the US space and national security apparatus, that Trump's threat could be difficult to carry out. You could make a similar argument about Musk's internet satellite company, Starlink. Finding an alternative could be easier said than done. But, if there are limits on what Trump can do, the same is also true of Musk. In the middle of his row with Trump, he threatened to decommission the Dragon - but it wasn't long before he was rowing back. Responding to an X user's suggestion he that he "cool down" he wrote, "Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon." It's clear Musk and Trump's friendship is over. It's less certain their reliance on each other is. Whatever the future for Musk's businesses is then, it seems Trump - and his administration's actions - will continue to have a big say in them. Trump and Musk trade insults as row erupts in public view Tesla shares tumble as Trump-Musk feud erupts Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
An abandoned ship full of EVs is burning in the Pacific
A cargo ship transporting 3,000 cars was abandoned in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday after a massive fire broke out. As of Friday, the ship was still burning. The blaze may have been fueled by the vehicles' lithium-ion batteries, which are notoriously difficult to extinguish once ignited. The ship, named Morning Midas, was reportedly carrying 3,000 cars on a journey from Yantai, China to Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico. Of those vehicles, about 750 were fully electric or partial hybrids, powered at least in part by large lithium‑ion batteries that can short‑circuit and ignite extremely hot fires. Although the exact cause has yet to be determined, the Morning Midas crew reported smoke rising from the deck around midnight on Tuesday. A representative from Zodiac Maritime, a UK-based ship manager overseeing the vessel, told The Register that the 22 sailors on board responded to the fire on Tuesday and attempted to extinguish it using the available onboard fire suppression systems. It wasn't enough. As the blaze grew out of control, the crew reportedly issued a distress call and abandoned the ship in lifeboats. A nearby merchant vessel responded and rescued all 22 sailors, according to a statement released by the U.S. Coast Guard. As for the Morning Midas, it remains afloat and burning in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, approximately 304 miles south of Adak, Alaska. It's unclear what makes or models of cars were aboard—or whether any of them will be recoverable. In a statement sent to Popular Science, Zodiac Maritime said the decision was made to prioritize safety crew and abandon the vessel due to the intensity of the fire. Zodiac has appointed salvage company Resolve Marine to respond to the ongoing fire. A separate team of salvage specialists are expected to arrive on the scene by June 9. Zodiac says it's continuing to monitor the Midas' status via its onboard satellite-connected systems. 'As the search and rescue portion of our response concludes, our crews are working closely with the vessel's manager, Zodiac Maritime, to determine the disposition of the vessel,' US Coast Guard Seventeenth District Commander Rear Admiral Megan Dean said in a statement. 'We are grateful for the selfless actions of the three nearby vessels who assisted in the response and the crew of motor vessel Cosco Hellas, who helped save 22 lives.' Related: [Electric vehicle fires are rare, but challenging to extinguish] You've likely seen images of firefighters struggling to put out fires in Teslas and other large EVs. While EVs are statistically less likely to catch fire than vehicles with internal combustion engines, the fires that do occur are significantly more difficult to extinguish. That's due to a phenomenon known as thermal runaway. The large lithium-ion batteries that power EVs can short-circuit, triggering a chain reaction that eventually leads to ignition. Thermal runaway can take days, or even weeks, to manifest. But once ignited, these fires burn much hotter than those caused by traditional internal combustion engines. They can also reignite after being extinguished, making them especially challenging for firefighters to manage. Cargo ships are a perfect breeding ground for potentially dangerous fires. They're often tightly packed with vehicles and have limited ventilation, meaning a fire in one vehicle can quickly spread to others. And while ships are typically equipped with some firefighting systems, those measures may be insufficient once a blaze spreads across multiple vehicles. In 2022, a cargo ship transporting 4,000 vehicles caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean and eventually sank. Just a year later, another ship carrying around 3,000 vehicles caught fire off the Dutch coast. That incident killed one person and injured several others. Carmakers and battery suppliers are making efforts to improve the durability and reduce the risk of lithium ion fires. Just this week, Texas-based Alkegen, a major supplier of cell spacers used in batteries, announced commercial production of a new type of aerogel insulation they say can protect EV batteries from thermal runaway. Other companies have made improvements in monitoring systems to keep tabs on a battery's health and more intelligent charging protocols that prevent damage from occurring from overcharging. Even with those improvements though, the sheer scale of new EVs being shipped to meet increasing global demand means fires, either on ships or out on streets, aren't likely to go away anytime soon.
Forbes
9 hours ago
- Forbes
Rogue And Illegal Ebikes Spark Challenges In UK Cities
Rush-hour cyclists, traffic and pedestrian commuters on Bishopsgate in the City of London, the ... More capital's financial district, on 28th February 2025, in London, England. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images) Ebikes are a perfect solution for getting around cities — but rogue designs that aren't legal on UK roads need to be addressed, as do other sources of friction. Because of that, one local councillor has called to bring 'licensing laws out of the 19th century', saying at the Living Streets Walk Summit in Bristol that the demands of the delivery market and a failure to sufficiently crack down on illegal ebikes are leading to dangerous driving. And it's no surprise there are concerns. At the end of February, a pedestrian was hit in West London by an ebike rider in West London — not a rental or sharing scheme, to be clear — and died after a month in hospital. Though the ebikes hurtling around making deliveries, illegally modified bikes causing road chaos, and the rise of ebike sharing schemes are causing friction, this shouldn't be construed as cyclists as a whole being a problem on city roads, where cars wreak much more havoc – and take up more space, too. In the UK, ebikes are legal so long as they don't provide assistance above 15.5mph and are pedal assist, and the motor must only kick in when the rider is pedalling, rather than controlled via a throttle. Of course, if you've been on British city streets, you'll have seen plenty of fat-tire bikes go much faster, when the rider isn't pedalling; those should technically be rated as electric motorbikes and only be ridden on the road with appropriate registration, license and tax, and meet safety rules. Some of those bikes are illegally imported, and others are modified to break the law. A member of the City of London Police Cycle Team takes part in a police operation to confiscate ... More illegally modified ebikes near Bishopsgate Police Station in London. Police seizures of illegally modified electric bikes (e-bikes) soared in the past year amid concerns their speed and weight present a lethal threat to pedestrians, according to Freedom of Information (FoI) figures obtained by the PA news agency. Forces across the UK confiscated 937 e-bikes in the year to August 11. Picture date: Thursday September 12, 2024. (Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images) Police forces have started to crack down on illegal bikes. Last year, the City of London police confiscated 937 dodgy ebikes, up from 511 the year before, including one that was modified to reach 70mph. That had been used by a food delivery worker, according to reports, and it's not clear that he ever actually hit that top speed; the bike was taken by police, and the rider faced no action, according to reports. Delivery companies need to address the use of illegal bikes by riders on their platforms, but such rogue bikes are also used for crime, with police also reporting the use of illegal ebikes and scooters for drug distribution. Dodgy ebikes aren't just a problem in London and the UK, but New York has tried to crack down on the issue too. Ed Plowden, a Green councillor for Bristol, speaking at the Living Streets Walking Summit in Bristol this week, said it's time for action before the issue with ebike delivery drivers gets out of hand. "I do think that we're seeing a new danger, which is for want of a better phrase, 'Uberoo' – and it's a really unlicensed market where people have been pushed to deliver things really, really fast, and we are seeing some really quite risky behavior, which is making all of us less safe," he said. "And I'd like to see a bit more licensing and a bit more regulation of that market, because the people are putting themselves at risk by the way that they're moving around the city, often on personally changed vehicles," he said. "So I think that's something that we really need to drag some of our licensing laws out of the 19th century." He added it goes beyond dodgy ebikes, with issues raised by ebike sharing platforms, including messy pavement parking. 'Some of the tech companeis are making our cities more dangerous for all of us by putting people onto really quite dangerous vehicles that they've adapted themslves and asking them to whizz around really, really fast,' he said. While the introduction of a 20mph speed limit on Bristol roads has improved road safety, he says that casualties from road safety issues have gone back up. 'Some of the electric scooters and soem of the ways that people are forced to move very quickly through our city, delivering things is making our cities less safe for all of us, and we need some better regulation there of the tech bros,' he added. Indeed, beyond delivery ebikes, sharing platforms also continue to spark concerns. One alarming story comes via London Centric, which earlier this year reported on an alarming trend of legs broken when Lime bikes fall on riders after problems braking. Another ongoing challenge is how such "sharing" bikes are left littered on sidewalks, potentially blocking access — it's even tripped up celebrities like Timothee Chalamet. Speakers at the conference noted that pedestrians are supposed to be prioritized on pavements, but admitted that doesn't always happen. Rental bikes are pictured scattered across a pavement on 26th February 2024 in London, United ... More Kingdom. E-bikes left unsafely on pavements present hazards for pedestrians, in particular for disabled and elderly people. (photo by Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images) Plowden added that giving over space encourages better behaviour — suggesting making room for bikes of any sort to be parked would help ease the challenge. But he noted that councils may find it difficult to remove car parking spots to make space for cycle parking because the former is a source of revenue, and the latter is not. It's worth noting that the health benefits of active transport — cycling and walking, essentially — are so high that they may outweigh the safety risks. Professor Scarlett McNally, also speaking at the conference, said "the benefits outweigh the risks by 10 to one." What do the bike companies say? A spokesperson for Forest (formerly known as Human Forest) said that it takes rider and pedestrian safety "extremely seriously" and that it doesn't publish raw incident figures, but that "serious injuries are rare". The company admitted that e-bikes are naturally heavier due to battery and motor, but that the weight is distributed to enhance balance and minimise the risk of tipping. LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 4: A Lime rental e-bike on the pavement in Leadenhall Street on June 4, 2024 ... More in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by) A Lime spokesperson echoed that, noting that share bikes need to be more sturdy and that ebikes are generally heavier than standard bicycles, saying that Lime bikes are about the same weight as other share bikes on London roads. "At Lime, safety is our highest priority," a spokesperson for Lime said in a statement sent to Forbes. It guides how we design and maintain our vehicles, how we develop technology and educational materials to encourage safe riding, and how we work with cities to provide safe riding environments. As part of our London Action Plan, we are increasing our investment in safer riding education to improve the safety of all London cyclists." "In London, 99.9% of trips end without a reported incident, which speaks to the strength of our safety record across millions of journeys," the spokesperson added. "The majority of Lime users are responsible, and incidents of dangerous cycling are rare. When they do occur, we take them seriously and work closely with the police and local authorities to support investigations."
