TECH

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HONOLULU: Billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has purchased more property in Hawaii, including most of a reservoir that unleashed a deadly flood 15 years ago.

Property records show Zuckerberg's Kaloko LLC bought a 110-acre (44.5-hectare) site on Kauai last month for $17 million from a company owned by the Pflueger family, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

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Chinese citizens lashed out online against billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk's space ambitions on Monday after China complained that its space station was forced to take evasive action to avoid collision with satellites launched by Mr. Musk's Starlink programme.

The satellites from Starlink Internet Services, a division of Mr. Musk's SpaceX aerospace company, had two "close encounters" with the Chinese space station on July 1 and Oct. 21, according to a document submitted by China earlier this month to the U.N.'s space agency.

"For safety reasons, the China Space Station implemented preventive collision avoidance control," China said in a document published on the website of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

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Intel found itself on the back foot in Washington and Beijing on Thursday after issuing a public apology over a letter to its suppliers referencing US sanctions targeting human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region.

The conflict follows passage of a US law that bans virtually all imports from Xinjiang in response to concerns over the use of forced labor and other human rights abuses against an ethnic minority.

The semiconductor giant told suppliers earlier this month to avoid any products from the region in order to comply with the restrictions.

But following public outcry in China, the chipmaker on Thursday expressed regret for the comments in a statement posted on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform.

"Our original intention was to ensure compliance with American laws," Intel said. "We apologise for the trouble caused to our respected Chinese customers, partners and the public."

US President Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law on Thursday, and Intel's apology drew a skeptical response from the White House.

"We believe the private sector and the international community should oppose the PRC's weaponizing of its markets to stifle support for human rights," said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

"We also think that American companies should never feel the need to apologize for standing up for fundamental human rights or posing repression."

A statement from Intel's US staff made clear the company would follow US law.

"On December 23 we issued a statement in China to address concerns raised by our stakeholders there regarding how we communicated certain legal requirements and policies with our global supplier network," Intel said.

"We will continue to ensure that our global sourcing complies with applicable laws and regulations in the US and in other jurisdictions where we operate."

The pressure on Intel comes as US companies grapple with the new sanctions, which ban the import of all goods from the region unless companies offer verifiable proof that production did not involve forced labour.

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A group of Apple employees is planning to walk off their jobs on Christmas Eve and are urging a customer boycott on the day — when much last-minute shopping takes place. The worker advocacy group Apple Together called for a walkout on Twitter. Their demands include a more respectful workplace and paid sick leave.

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SpaceX's corporate headquarters is experiencing an outbreak of Covid-19, The Los Angeles Times was first to report on Monday.

The LA Times cited public data on Covid-19 outbreaks published by Los Angeles County. The data showed SpaceX has an "active outbreak" with 132 staff confirmed to have Covid-19. It's the largest outbreak on Los Angeles County's public list of outbreaks at non-residential settings, which includes workplaces and food and retail stores.

Citing court documents, the LA Times reported SpaceX employs an estimated 5,972 staff at its headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

SpaceX did not immediately to request for comment sent by Insider outside of working hours. SpaceX also did not immediately respond to the LA Times when contacted for comment on Monday.