GM’s China sales dip 4.5% in Q1
Chevrolet deliveries dropped 47 percent to about 18,000 while Buick sales dipped 2.8 percent to around 103,000.
Free blue checks are back for some accounts on Elon Musk’s X. Not everyone is happy about it
By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS (AP Business Writer)
NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk’s X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has begun restoring complimentary blue checks for some of its users, the latest unexpected shift to cause a lot of confusion on the platform.
For years, Twitter’s blue checks mirrored verification badges that are common on social media, largely reserved for celebrities, politicians and other influential accounts. That changed months after Musk bought the platform for $44 billion in October 2022.
Last year, X began issuing verification checks only to those who paid the starting price of $8 per month for it, and stripping verification badges from many celebrities and other prominent accounts. That also led to confusion, complaints, and a large number of fake accounts pretending to be someone else, blue check included.
But late Wednesday night and early Thursday, numerous users reported seeing the blue checks return to their accounts, or appear for the first time, despite the fact that they were not paying for “premium” services on X.
ALS drug will be pulled from US market after study showed patients didn’t benefit
By MATTHEW PERRONE (AP Health Writer)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The maker of a drug for Lou Gehrig’s disease that recently failed in a large study said Thursday it will pull the medicine from the market, acknowledging it didn’t help patients with the deadly neurological condition.
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals announced it will voluntarily halt sales and marketing of the drug in the U.S. and Canada, where new patients will no longer be able to get a prescription.
“While this is a difficult moment for the ALS community, we reached this path forward in partnership with the stakeholders who will be impacted and in line with our steadfast commitment to people living with ALS,” company co-founders said in a statement. Patients already taking the therapy who wish to continue will be able to enroll in a program to receive it for free.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the much-debated drug, Relyvrio, in September 2022, following a years-long advocacy campaign by patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
Ford delays EV pickup, utilities as it expands hybrid options
The automaker said it is delaying the start of production at its under-construction Blue Oval City plant in Tennessee from late 2025 to 2026. It is also postponing production of three-row EV utilities at a facility in Canada from 2025 to 2027.
CNN to debut 4-part series on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
CNN is debuting a four-part series looking back at the events that led to the death of seven astronauts on board Space Shuttle Columbia when it was destroyed on its way back home from space in 2003.
“Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight” promises “exclusive first-hand testimony” from family members of the crew and “key players at NASA – some of whom have never spoken before,” according to a press release from the network.
Two of the four parts will debut Sunday at 9 p.m. with the final two airing the following Sunday, April 14.
“I didn’t know at that time that anything concerning had happened,” said Sandra Hawkins Anderson, the wife of STS-107 mission specialist Michael Anderson in a trailer preview for the series. “There were people that did, though.”
Anderson died Feb. 3, 2023, aside mission commander Rick Husband, pilot William McCool, and mission specialists David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon, who was the first Israeli to go into space. Columbia broke up in the skies over Texas on its way to try and land back at Kennedy Space Center.