Autocar and Ennis & Co are delighted to announce that Gordon Murray, the legendary designer and engineer, has joined the Drivers of Change judging panel. Having been at the forefront of the automotive industry for the best part of five decades, Murray will provide an expert eye as one of judges across the three categories that make up Drivers of Change: Technology, Digital and Retail. “It is always an honour and a privilege for me when I am invited to judge an automotive competition which involves innovation and new talent. This type of initiative is in perfect alignment with our thinking and the ethos within the Gordon Murray Group with our apprentice and graduate schemes," Murray explained. "Finding and developing new talent is central to our philosophy and I take a personal interest in all our educational schemes. I look forward to judging this inspirational competition.” For a chance to impress Murray and get your idea in front of him and the other panel of judges, including Autocar’s Mark Tisshaw, Steve Cropley and Piers Ward as well as senior representatives from each sponsor, click here to enter your brilliant idea and be in with the chance of winning £5000. The Drivers of Change initiative seeks to promote talent interested in entering three exciting areas of the automotive industry: technology, digital and retail. It is being delivered in partnership with executive search specialists Ennis & Co, with the goal of energising the industry through innovative thinking. Each category winner will receive £5000 as well as the opportunity to attend the Society for Motor Manufacturers (SMMT) dinner, the biggest automotive industry event of the year. The initiative is open to anyone who has a visionary idea in any of the three categories. Prior experience isn’t required - the range of entrants spans from those starting out in their career to those with more experience, be that within the automotive world or outside of it. The key is to have an idea that could challenge the status quo. Autocar’s Steve Cropley, another of the judges and one of the driving forces behind the initiative, said "I'm delighted that Gordon Murray is joining our Drivers of Change initiative. It's a real honour for Autocar that a pioneer and visionary of Gordon's standing wants to join our Drivers of Change judging panel, and I think it chimes really well with what we're trying to achieve with the award scheme, to create and inspire the next generation of brilliant engineers and forward-thinkers. I can't wait to see what ideas people have come up with. Roll on judging day." Lynda Ennis, Founder of Ennis & Co and co-Founder of the Drivers of Change initiative, said "Throughout his career Gordon Murray has shown the remarkable impact that a single individual can make by embracing complex challenges, turning them into successful opportunities which deliver widespread benefits. It is this spirit which underpins the Drivers of Change programme and Ennis & Co are delighted to welcome Gordon to our judging panel where he will bring his unique experience as we continue our quest to find the people who will be tomorrow’s game-changers."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57898987 A celebrated South Korean climber who lost his fingers to frostbite 30 years ago has gone missing during his descent from a mountain in Pakistan. Kim Hong-bin had just scaled the 26,400ft (8047m) high Broad Peak in the Karakoram mountains before he is thought to have fallen into a crevasse. The climb made the 57-year-old the first disabled person to scale all the world's tallest mountains. An initial search failed to locate him and a large operation is being planned. Mr Kim, who had all his fingers amputated after suffering severe frostbite while climbing in Alaska in 1991, reached the summit of Broad Peak on Sunday as part of an expedition organised by a small group, the Korea Herald reported. The climber is believed to have later slipped and fallen while descending the Chinese side of the mountain in poor weather, the secretary of the Pakistan Alpine Club, Karrar Haidri, said. "Since then no information is available about him," he added, telling the Associated Press that planned search efforts on Tuesday included help from the South Korean embassy in Islamabad. Mr Haidri told Reuters news agency that helicopters would be used in the search "when the weather permits". The other mountaineers who were on the climb with Mr Kim initially searched for him, but were hindered by bad weather conditions, Mr Haidri said. They were reportedly all safe and continuing their descent on Tuesday. Mr Kim made history by reaching the summit of Broad Peak, conquering the 14 highest mountains in the Himalayas - all of which are above 8,000m. In 2007, he successfully scaled Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain which is located on the border of Nepal and China. Mr Kim represented his country as part of the Alpine skiing team at the Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City in 2002. The mountaineer also founded an organisation promoting outdoor activities - including mountain climbing - for children with disabilities.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-57908376 The foreign secretary has accused the EU of seeking "to undermine the UK's sovereignty over Gibraltar". Dominic Raab said proposals for a post-Brexit deal over the British overseas territory were "disappointing". Mr Raab said a draft mandate from the European Commission "directly conflicts" with a framework deal agreed by the UK, Gibraltar and Spain last December. EU leaders must sign off on the EU's mandate before negotiations can begin. Gibraltar's sovereignty is disputed by Spain and Britain. The territory was not included in the trade agreement settled between the EU and the UK last year and a separate deal has to be agreed. It is thought that British objections to the EU plans centre on the nature of proposed new border arrangements in Gibraltar. Last December's political deal between the UK, Gibraltar and Spain gave a prominent role to the EU's border agency Frontex but the Commission's mandate appears to give greater responsibility to Spanish officials. In a statement, the foreign secretary said: "We have consistently showed pragmatism and flexibility in the search for arrangements that work for all sides "We are disappointed that this has not been reciprocated. We urge the EU to think again." The European Commission said the proposed negotiating directives "put forward solutions to remove physical checks and controls on persons and goods" at the border between Spain and Gibraltar. "It is without prejudice to the issues of sovereignty and jurisdiction, and focuses on cooperation in the region," the bloc added. The mandate includes rules for establishing responsibility for asylum, visas, residence permits and police cooperation and information exchange. The EU's post-Brexit negotiator, Maros Sefcovic, said its proposals seek to make a "positive impact" on those living either side of the border with Spain while protecting the single market. "By putting forward this draft mandate, we are honouring the political commitment we made to Spain to start the negotiations of a separate agreement between the EU and the UK on Gibraltar. "This is a detailed mandate, which aims to have a positive impact for those living and working on either side of the border between Spain and Gibraltar, while protecting the integrity of the Schengen Area and the single market." In March the Foreign Secretary, and Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo agreed a joint approach to the negotiations on a new Gibraltar treaty between the EU and the UK.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57845644 Across Asia, Chinese vaccines have played a crucial role in immunising people against Covid-19, with millions receiving either a Sinovac or Sinopharm jab. But in recent weeks, concerns have grown about their efficacy. Now, some Asian countries which made Chinese vaccines a key plank in their immunisation programmes have announced they will use other jabs. The move has raised questions, not only about whether China's vaccines can be trusted, but also about its attempts at vaccine diplomacy in Asia. Last week, Thailand announced it was changing its vaccine policy - instead of receiving two Sinovac shots, residents will now get a mix of Sinovac and AstraZeneca. Healthcare workers who are already fully vaccinated with Sinovac will also get a different jab as a booster shot. Indonesia announced a similar move the previous week, saying it was giving Moderna booster shots to healthcare workers immunised with Sinovac. The decisions followed reports that hundreds of fully vaccinated healthcare workers had caught Covid, with some of them - two in Thailand and 30 in Indonesia - dying. Both countries, which have seen slow rollouts of their vaccination programmes, have been battling new outbreaks. Thailand is now reporting record high numbers of infections and deaths, while Indonesia - the new epicentre of Covid in Asia - has seen overcrowded hospitals and oxygen shortages. The two countries said they were making the switch to increase protection, and Thai officials cited local studies which showed mixing vaccines could boost immunity. Indonesia's tourism minister Sandiaga Uno also recently told the BBC the Sinovac vaccine was "quite effective". But by choosing to switch vaccines, the Thai and Indonesian governments were essentially "saying they are concerned about vaccine failure", said Dale Fisher, who heads the World Health Organization's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network. However, he also cautioned that there was not enough information about the healthcare workers' infections and deaths, and urged authorities to conduct a "thorough investigation". Sinovac has yet to comment. Since then, Malaysia announced it was switching to Pfizer's vaccine after it finished its Sinovac supplies. But other countries like the Philippines and Cambodia are continuing to use Chinese vaccines.

FOOL’S GOLD—pyrite, to give its proper name—may once have disappointed prospectors looking for nuggets. But modern miners have learned to love it, because inside its crystal lattice of iron and sulphur there is often actual gold to be found. It is never much—at most a few tenths of a percent. And extracting it is hard work which involves grinding and heating the mineral, and then treating it with sodium cyanide, which is extremely toxic. But that can be worthwhile. Some 5-10% of the world’s gold production derives from pyrite. And this is likely to increase. According to estimates by McKinsey, a consultancy, 24% of the world’s gold reserves are “refractory”—meaning the gold must be yanked from the clutches of some mineral, in most cases pyrite. To a large extent, however, this extraction process is flying blind. That is because it has never been properly established quite how the gold is lodged in the pyrite. One theory is that it forms tiny inclusions—nanonuggets, so to speak. Another is that it is integrated, atom by atom, within the crystal, thus forming a kind of iron-sulphur-gold alloy. Nick Timms of Curtin University, in Perth, though, reckons he has found another explanation. As he and his colleagues write in Geology, they used a scanning electron microscope and an atom probe (a device which combines a field-ion microscope and a mass spectrometer) to investigate samples from a Chinese gold mine. They discovered that the gold in pyrite (along with many other “foreign” atoms, including arsenic, copper, nickel and lead) is concentrated in places known as dislocations, where the crystal, having been exposed to high pressure or high temperature at some point in its past, has got kinked. Dr Timms suspects this concentration happens when foreign atoms, which because of their odd sizes do not fit properly into the crystal, migrate through the lattice to relieve tensions caused when it is bent. That migration herds them towards particular places, and when there are enough of them in such a place the lattice buckles and the tension is released. This process must be quite efficient. Aliens made up just over 1% of the metal atoms in the sample (the rest being iron). In the deformation zones they were three times as abundant. That is useful information. Experiments with other types of crystal have shown that impurities in such deformed areas are easier to dislodge than those elsewhere a lattice. If this is also true for pyrite, it might point the way to a more efficient way of extracting its gold—perhaps by using a harmless solvent like thiosulphate, rather than cyanide, or even employing bacteria to do the job. And only a fool would not be interested in seeing how that panned out.

The Peugeot 108 has received an update for 2021, which brings new colour and design options and a five-door bodystyle only. Prices start from £13,320 for the supermini, which will no longer be offered in its original three-door form. All 108 models will be powered by the firm’s 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine with a five-speed manual gearbox. “With new colours and interior ambiences, the 108 remains a stylish city car,” said Peugeot UK boss Julie David. “Now offered exclusively as a five-door variant, the 108 is suitable for drivers wanting to travel with friends and family.” Customers have the choice of the same Active, Allure and Collection specification levels as before, with Active models continuing to offer a charcoal grey interior with white detailing and trim. The step-up Allure trim offers an additional gloss black detailing on the centre console. The range-topping Collection model offers body-coloured door handles in place of the previous chrome design, with 15in alloy wheels and orange wheel caps. Interior changes for Collection models include orange trim and yellow stitching, with interior colours matching when Smooth Green or Calvi Blue exterior paint is selected. The firm says all other body colours for Collection models will feature an interior with a combination of glossy black and grained black textures. All models gain two new colour options of Ural White and Galaxite Grey, which replace Bianca White and Carbon Grey.

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Intel's flagship Beast Canyon NUC 11 Extreme PC has been disassembled by MNPCTech, giving us a detailed view of what powers this insane SFF PC. The NUC 11 Extreme aims to be the fastest SFF PC within an 8L footprint and the way it is designed is nothing short of impressive so let's dive into the design and specs. The Intel NUC 11 Extreme 'Beast Canyon' SFF PC comes within an 8L chassis which looks almost like a rectangle with huge mesh plates covering the sides and top of the case. The front features a large plate where the Intel 'SKULL' logo will be showcased with RGB LEDs. On the back is the traditional I/O and power inlet socket coming from the embedded PSU. The power supply itself is an FSP build 'FSP650-57SAB-A SFF' ITX 650W power supply. The difference between the Intel NUC 11 Extreme and a standard gaming PC is nominal. The NUC comes within a small 8L chassis which means it has lower cooling potential than say a gaming PC that's been configured in an M-ATX or standard ATX chassis. The extra heat can definitely affect the performance of the hardware and throttle it down to lower clocks. Furthermore, the components are all tightly cramped and you can't expect the top-of-the-line CPU cooling solutions as you'd get on a standard gaming PC. However, previous tests have revealed minimal performance differences between a standard gaming PC and the NUC 11 Extreme.

If you’re one of those people who likes to out-geek your car-mad mates, cast your eye over this lot and see how many you’re familiar with. All of these automotive cul de sacs sold in tiny numbers and as a result they’re now pretty much forgotten. In some cases that’s entirely deserved as we don’t fancy the Asia Rocsta or Sao Penza being revived any time soon. But not all of these cars were dogs – some deserved a better fate: