A new report from The Wall Street Journal says the FBI is reviewing Tesla's Model 3 production numbers as part of an ongoing criminal probe into whether the company misled investors. "Federal agents are reviewing Tesla's stated Model 3 numbers dating back to early 2017, the Journal reports, citing unnamed sources," CNBC reports. From the report: Tesla had previously said it provided documents to the Department of Justice regarding CEO Elon Musk's controversial take-private tweet -- a blunder that ultimately cost Tesla and Musk a combined $40 million in fraud settlement fees. Now Tesla says it also provided information to the Department of Justice regarding Musk's public statements regarding production numbers of its Model 3 sedan. Tesla says the company has not received "a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process," but the Journal reported Friday that former Tesla employees have received subpoenas and requests for testimony.

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Leaders of Turkey, Russia, Germany and France to discuss Idlib, aid, drafting of constitution and reconstruction.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: California has agreed to delay enforcement of its net neutrality law until after litigation that will determine whether states can implement their own net neutrality rules. California's net neutrality law was slated to take effect on January 1, 2019. But the Trump administration's Department of Justice and broadband industry sued to block the law and were seeking a preliminary injunction that would halt enforcement until litigation is over. The DOJ and broadband industry had a good chance of winning a preliminary injunction because the Federal Communications Commission had declared that all state net neutrality rules are preempted. As the DOJ argued, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California must presume that the FCC preemption of state laws is valid since that preemption has not been overturned by any court. In a U.S. District Court filing today, California agreed to take no action to enforce the state net neutrality law until after the U.S. Court of Appeals case is decided and all appeals have been exhausted.

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President Trump says it's time for the US to end the arms pact it signed with Russia more than 30 years ago.

South American nation, which has been plagued by chronic economic problems, reached IMF deal for $50bn loan in June.

Prosecutors say shooting that left two African Americans dead in the US state is being probed as possible hate crime.

I read a post this morning by Evan McMullen, a conservative Republican saying "the next political tribe in America will care about everyone." I commented "sign me up." Then someone said "That's the Democrats." And I thought "That's bullshit." You want to keep losing elections, keep demonizing white men. There's a lot of resentment building, the Repubs have figured out how to tap into it. On the other hand McMullen's theoretical party, by design, will care about everyone.

If Trump were a regular citizen would the Secret Service arrest him for inciting violence against Democrats and journalists? Is he criminally liable for what his acolytes do at his behest? (BTW, Bernie never told anyone to attack Steve Scalise so that's bullshit.)

Search and rescue efforts continue in Dead Sea area after flash floods swept away scores of people on Thursday.

Sacked PM Ranil Wickremesinghe says president's decision to replace him with Mahinda Rajapaksa is 'unconstitutional'.

Microsoft said Friday it will not pull out of the competition for a $10 billion cloud contract for the Department of Defense, despite growing concerns about private companies selling new technologies to the federal government. From a report: The Redmond, Wash., company defended its position in a blog post Friday, claiming that technologists should be involved in government adoption of new innovations to ensure they are not misused. Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in the post that "to withdraw from this market is to reduce our opportunity to engage in the public debate about how new technologies can best be used in a responsible way." He decided to share publicly sentiments that he and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discussed at a monthly Q&A with employees Thursday. "We want the people of this country and especially the people who serve this country to know that we at Microsoft have their back," Smith wrote. "They will have access to the best technology that we create." Smith's defense comes days after an unspecified number of Microsoft employees urged the company to not bid on the Project JEDI. Further reading: Oracle Trying Hard To Make Sure Pentagon Knows Amazon Isn't the Only Cloud Around; Google Drops Out of Pentagon's $10 Billion Cloud Competition; Jeff Bezos Defends Big Tech Working with Department of Defense.

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Readers share a column: Apple is no longer the king of the smartphone camera, but that's just a small component of a company in (highly profitable) stagnation. It wasn't that long ago that anyone who cared about taking great photos on their phone was destined to buy an iPhone (whether they wanted it or not) just by sheer brilliance of its miniaturized camera tech. But something happened over the last 18 months that's changed the dynamic for consumers in the market: Samsung and especially Google have started producing handsets that equal or surpass Apple's devices with their picture-taking quality. [...] But Google is not Facebook, and while I give up some of my data to the company, what I get in return has sizable value -- apps I use for hours every day, predictive services that actually work, photo processing that means I'm less likely to miss an important moment. To be clear: the stuff Google and Amazon are doing right now isn't just cool and doesn't solely serve their corporate interests -- it matters in very real ways to consumers, with touchpoints they encounter every day where Apple can't even get a word in edgewise. [...] Coming in second in the camera space alone might not be that big of an issue, but Apple has also had significant problems with its hardware recently -- not just with quality control, but in pure design terms as well (who could have predicted that in 2018 people would be touting Microsoft as the industry leader in design?). Siri continues to be a running joke among most people I know -- tech enthusiasts and average users alike. Apple's iCloud efforts have amounted to little more than a "hard disk in the sky" (a famous Jobsian turn of phrase). And is it the best experience for consumers to be forced into Apple Mail, Apple Maps, iTunes, Apple Music, and Apple Photos at every turn? Can you honestly say they're the best at what they do?

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"Water cooler moment" as greener cooling idea is scaled up to help chill homes and buildings.

Asma Jahangir, Rebeca Gyumi, Joenia Wapichana and Front Line Defenders honoured by the UN for promoting human rights.

Widespread pollution forced it to close to allow time for a clean-up.