BYD to launch Yangwang brand in Europe, weak password sunk 158-year-old company

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BYD has finally confirmed plans to launch its high-end Yangwang brand in Europe, more than two years after introducing it in China. Yangwang is the Chinese company’s high-end marque, sitting above the core BYD line-up and the new Denza premium brand with a range of tech-heavy, high-performance flagship models that are pitched as rivals to the likes of Bentley, Porsche and Ferrari. The brand was launched in 2023 with the Yangwang U8 – a huge range-extender luxury SUV that packs more than 1000bhp, outpaces the BMW M3, can turn 360degrees on the spot and floats on water. Autocar

With less than two months until the release of the next iPhones (read full details of the exact date expected here), there’s a lot that has been reported by now. But now it looks like the colors of the iPhones are coming into focus. The latest data has information about the regular iPhone 17, too. Plus, there’s some surprising information about the fourth model, the so-called iPhone 17 Air — if accurate it’s unprecedented in Apple’s iPhone design changes. A new report from Macworld claims that the colors have been confirmed in what it describes as the “definitive lineup thanks to our sources.” Forbes

A US stealth bomber flies across a darkening sky towards Iran. Meanwhile, in Tehran a solitary woman feeds stray cats amid rubble from recent Israeli airstrikes. To the uninitiated viewer, this could be a cinematic retelling of a geopolitical crisis that unfolded barely weeks ago – hastily shot on location, somewhere in the Middle East. However, despite its polished production look, it wasn’t shot anywhere, there is no location, and the woman feeding stray cats doesn’t exist. The engrossing footage is the “rough cut” of a 12-minute short film about last month’s US attack on Iranian nuclear sites and is made entirely by artificial intelligence. The Guardian 

Sir Keir Starmer’s government is seeking a way out of a clash with the Trump administration over the UK’s demand that Apple provide it with access to secure customer data, two senior British officials have told the Financial Times. The officials both said the Home Office, which ordered the tech giant in January to grant access to its most secure cloud storage system, would probably have to retreat in the face of pressure from senior leaders in Washington, including vice-president JD Vance. FT

One password is believed to have been all it took for a ransomware gang to destroy a 158-year-old company and put 700 people out of work. KNP – a Northamptonshire transport company – is just one of tens of thousands of UK businesses that have been hit by such attacks. Big names such as M&S, Co-op and Harrods have all been attacked in recent months. The chief executive of Co-op confirmed last week that all 6.5 million of its members had had their data stolen. In KNP’s case, it’s thought the hackers managed to gain entry to the computer system by guessing an employee’s password. BBC 

The Range Rover Electric is still very much in development. This long-awaited fully electric version of Jaguar Land Rover’s flagship luxury SUV was first announced back in 2003, and was expected to be released this year. However, testing continues. One sign that it’s getting closer to release is that I was invited to give it a test drive around an off-road course, set up next to the Goodwood Race Circuit, last weekend. The prototype I was driving was still in testing, but felt close to being finished. T3.com

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