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Wayne Gretzky, The Great One's ultra-rare 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition hits auction on Bring a Trailer

Wayne Gretzky, The Great One's ultra-rare 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition hits auction on Bring a Trailer

Time of India03-06-2025

When hockey legend Wayne Gretzky sells a car, it's not just news, it's a spectacle. His ultra-rare 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition is now up for auction on Bring a Trailer, combining elite performance, low mileage, and celebrity provenance.
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With bidding open through June 6, collectors and fans alike are watching this sale closely.
A Heritage supercar with the Wayne Gretzky's signature touch
The 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition isn't just another collector's item, it's a celebration of American racing history. Painted in the iconic Gulf Oil blue and orange, it honors the GT40s that dominated Le Mans in the 1960s. This specific car was once owned by none other than Wayne Gretzky, adding an entirely new level of allure for bidders.
Powered by a 5.4-liter supercharged V8 producing 550 horsepower and paired with a six-speed manual transmission, this GT is all about old-school, analog thrills. A limited-slip differential and rear-wheel-drive layout deliver a driving experience that's raw, loud, and deeply connected to the road. Car and Driver once clocked it at 0–60 mph in just 3.3 seconds—a number that still holds weight.
What sets this car further apart is its condition.
With just 1,200 miles on the odometer, it's been barely touched since new. Inside, it remains factory-correct with black leather, air conditioning, and a CD player features almost ironic in such a stripped-down performance machine.
And then there's Gretzky. His number '99' is proudly displayed on the doors, turning the car into a rolling tribute. While celebrity-owned vehicles can sometimes be overhyped, this particular combination—ultra-low mileage, a rare Heritage Edition, and ownership by one of sports' most iconic figures feels genuinely special.
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Unlike car-obsessed celebs like Steve McQueen or Paul Walker, Gretzky isn't known for his automotive passion. Some see it as a nice bonus, others as mere marketing. This listing has drawn far more attention than your typical Ford GT.
The auction closes on June 6, and with the market already bullish on first-generation Ford GTs, all signs point to a high-stakes finish. Whether it lands with a hockey fan, a gearhead, or a museum, this car is poised to become more than just a footnote, it's a piece of performance history with a Hall of Fame signature.

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DeepSeek aids China's military and evaded export controls, US official says
DeepSeek aids China's military and evaded export controls, US official says

Time of India

time28 minutes ago

  • Time of India

DeepSeek aids China's military and evaded export controls, US official says

AI firm DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence operations, a senior U.S. official told Reuters, adding that the Chinese tech startup sought to use Southeast Asian shell companies to access high-end semiconductors that cannot be shipped to China under US rules. Hangzhou-based DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the technology world in January, claiming its artificial intelligence reasoning models were on par with or better than U.S. industry-leading models at a fraction of the cost. "We understand that DeepSeek has willingly provided and will likely continue to provide support to China's military and intelligence operations," a senior State Department official told Reuters in an interview. "This effort goes above and beyond open-source access to DeepSeek's AI models," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to speak about U.S. government information. The U.S. government's assessment of DeepSeek's activities and links to the Chinese government have not been previously reported and come amid a wide-scale U.S.-China trade war. Among the allegations, the official said DeepSeek is sharing user information and statistics with Beijing's surveillance apparatus. Chinese law requires companies operating in China to provide data to the government when requested. But the suggestion that DeepSeek is already doing so is likely to raise privacy and other concerns for the firm's tens of millions of daily global users. The US also maintains restrictions on companies it believes are linked to China's military-industrial complex. US lawmakers have previously said that DeepSeek, based on its privacy disclosure statements, transmits American users' data to China through "backend infrastructure" connected to China Mobile , a Chinese state-owned telecommunications giant. DeepSeek did not respond to questions about its privacy practices. The company is also referenced more than 150 times in procurement records for China's People's Liberation Army and other entities affiliated with the Chinese defense industrial base, said the official, adding that DeepSeek had provided technology services to PLA research institutions. Reuters could not independently verify the procurement data. The official also said the company was employing workarounds to U.S. export controls to gain access to advanced US-made chips. The US conclusions reflect a growing skepticism in Washington that the capabilities behind the rapid rise of one of China's flagship AI enterprises may have been exaggerated and relied heavily on U.S. technology. DeepSeek has access to "large volumes" of U.S. firm Nvidia 's high-end H100 chips, said the official. Since 2022 those chips have been under US export restrictions due to Washington's concerns that China could use them to advance its military capabilities or jump ahead in the AI race. "DeepSeek sought to use shell companies in Southeast Asia to evade export controls, and DeepSeek is seeking to access data centers in Southeast Asia to remotely access US chips," the official said. The official declined to say if DeepSeek had successfully evaded export controls or offer further details about the shell companies. DeepSeek also did not respond to questions about its acquisition of Nvidia chips or the alleged use of shell companies. When asked if the US would implement further export controls or sanctions against DeepSeek, the official said the department had "nothing to announce at this time." China's foreign ministry and commerce ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. "We do not support parties that have violated US export controls or are on the US entity lists," an Nvidia spokesman said in a prepared statement, adding that "with the current export controls, we are effectively out of the China data center market, which is now served only by competitors such as Huawei ." Access to restricted chips DeepSeek has said two of its AI models that Silicon Valley executives and U.S. tech company engineers have showered with praise - DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 - are on par with OpenAI and Meta 's most advanced models. AI experts, however, have expressed skepticism, arguing the true costs of training the models were likely much higher than the $5.58 million the startup said was spent on computing power. Reuters has previously reported that US officials were investigating whether DeepSeek had access to restricted AI chips . DeepSeek has H100 chips that it procured after the US banned Nvidia from selling those chips to China, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the number was far smaller than the 50,000 H100s that the CEO of another AI startup had claimed DeepSeek possesses in a January interview with CNBC. Reuters was unable to verify the number of H100 chips DeepSeek has. "Our review indicates that DeepSeek used lawfully acquired H800 products, not H100," an Nvidia spokesman said, responding to a Reuters query about DeepSeek's alleged usage of H100 chips. In February, Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case domestic media have linked to the movement of Nvidia's advanced chips from the city state to DeepSeek. China has also been suspected of finding ways to use advanced US chips remotely. While importing advanced Nvidia chips into China without a license violates US export rules, Chinese companies are still allowed to access those same chips remotely in data centers in non-restricted countries. The exceptions are when a Chinese company is on a US trade blacklist or the chip exporter has knowledge that the Chinese firm is using its chips to help develop weapons of mass destruction. US officials have not placed DeepSeek on any US trade blacklists yet and have not alleged that Nvidia had any knowledge of DeepSeek's work with the Chinese military. Malaysia's trade ministry said last week that it was investigating whether an unnamed Chinese company in the country was using servers equipped with Nvidia chips for large language model training and that it was examining whether any domestic law or regulation had been breached.

Possibility of Iran's retaliation to US strikes keeps markets on their toes
Possibility of Iran's retaliation to US strikes keeps markets on their toes

First Post

time36 minutes ago

  • First Post

Possibility of Iran's retaliation to US strikes keeps markets on their toes

President Donald Trump said the strikes had a 'limited' objective to destroy Iran's atomic program. Still, he warned that any retaliation on US targets would be met with 'far greater' force and hinted at the possibility of regime change read more Iran has vowed to avenge the "unprovoked" attack on its nuclear facilities by the US. Representational image: AP File Iran has kept up its attacks as Israeli forces launched new strikes on the Islamic Republic's military sites and airports. Iranian leaders have not yet disclosed how they might target US forces in the region in retaliation for Washington's attack on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites, but they warned American assets were vulnerable. The US operation on Sunday (May 22), which marked its entry into the conflict, involved 125 aircraft, submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles, and 14 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, striking Iran's. It was the first time the bunker busters were used in combat. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD President Donald Trump said the strikes had a 'limited' objective to destroy Iran's atomic program. Still, he warned that any retaliation on US targets would be met with 'far greater' force and hinted at the possibility of regime change. Markets on alert The attack and its fallout pushed oil prices up nearly 6 per cent when markets opened in Asia, before easing. Brent crude was trading at $77.65 per barrel as of 8:37 am GMT. US stock futures also fell as investors considered the impact on energy supplies and inflation. 'An expanding conflict adds to the risk of higher oil prices and an upward impulse to inflation,' Bloomberg Economics analysts including Ziad Daoud said in a note. At the United Nations, Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told an emergency Security Council meeting that Tehran's response would be determined by 'the timing, nature and scale' chosen by its armed forces. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would keep targeting Israel and pointed to American bases in the region as a weakness, though it stopped short of openly threatening US troops. Damage to Iran's nuclear sites unclear Although Trump said the three nuclear sites hit by US bombers were 'totally obliterated,' US officials acknowledged it was too early to assess the full extent of the damage, particularly at Fordow, which is buried deep underground. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine said more time was needed to determine the status of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, estimated at more than 400 kilograms enriched to 60 percent. The International Atomic Energy Agency told the Security Council it had no way to verify the condition of the sites or the location of the uranium. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Strait of Hormuz under watch Iran's parliament on Sunday called for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz , a vital waterway for global oil and gas shipments. However, such a decision would require approval from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Supreme National Security Council. Iran may also face challenges in organising a direct military response. Russia and China, key allies, have so far offered only statements of support. Russian officials stated their security agreement with Tehran does not include mutual defence. China, which relies on Gulf energy imports, is unlikely to support actions that threaten oil flow or raise prices. Militias aligned with Iran, long used to conduct regional operations, have also not entered the conflict, leaving Iran increasingly isolated as it weighs its next move.

Forget AI. Keeping cool is the bigger power sector problem: Maguire
Forget AI. Keeping cool is the bigger power sector problem: Maguire

Time of India

timean hour ago

  • Time of India

Forget AI. Keeping cool is the bigger power sector problem: Maguire

Utilities in the developed world are stressing over how to keep up with demand from data centres and artificial intelligence searches. But globally, keeping people cool is likely to be a much bigger drain on electricity grids and a more pressing power sector challenge. Worldwide, data centres and air conditioners are both projected to triple their electricity use over the coming decade, and will severely test utilities that are already under strain from aging grids and lengthy backlogs for new supply. Indeed, electricity demand from data centres is projected to rise by roughly 800 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2035, from around 416 TWh in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villa For Sale in Dubai Might Surprise You Villas in Dubai | Search ads Learn More Undo That is enough to power around 75 million American homes for a year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Global demand for cooling systems, however, is set to rise by around 1,200 TWh by 2035, or nearly as much electricity as the entire Middle East consumes annually, data from think thank Ember shows. Importantly, the location of demand growth also differs significantly between the two drivers, as does the consequences of failure to meet this spike. Live Events Most data centre expansions are set to be within developed economies with modern power networks, and increased demand will primarily come from processing search requests for businesses and social media applications. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories In contrast, the vast majority of the demand growth for air conditioning is set to occur in emerging economies where many communities already face the prospect of heat-related deaths and illness within already fragile energy systems. Increased deaths and human suffering, the likely outcome of power system shortfalls in the developing world, are of a different order of magnitude than the risk of slower search results and economic drag that could result from failure to boost power supplies for data hubs. Building impact Climate change is leading to more frequent, more intense and more prolonged heatwaves across the world, but especially in developing regions such as South and Southeast Asia where high humidity levels can amplify the impact of heat stress. "A single heatwave - even one lasting just a few days - causes tens of thousands of excess deaths in India," according to a report published in April by India's Centre for Science and the Environment. To combat the effects, new homes and offices across warm climate countries are scaling up the number of cooling units they contain. And many of these areas are already undergoing a building boom, magnifying the amount of space needing to be cooled. In 2022, around 36% of all households were estimated to possess some air conditioning equipment, according to the IEA. By 2035, that share is expected to jump to 50%, and then to 60% by 2050. To power that expanding footprint, the installed capacity of cooling equipment is set to surge from around 850 gigawatts (GW) in 2022 to 1,750 GW by 2035, and to 2,700 GW by 2050, IEA data shows. India-led India, which already has the world's largest population and is expected to have the third largest economy by 2035, is expected to be the main driver of cooling system demand in the coming decades. Currently, around 5% of the world's stock of air conditioners is in India, or around 110 million units of the roughly 2.4 billion in use globally, per the IEA. By 2035, India's share of the global air conditioner stock is set to rise to 13% (to nearly 500 million units), and then to more than 1.1 billion units by 2050. Indonesia, another fast-growing populous nation prone to hot and humid spells, is set to treble its air conditioner count by 2035, while Brazil, Mexico and the Middle East are all set to more than double it. Widening loads Power firms in all regions have their work cut out in ramping up electricity supplies to match the projected demand growth from both data centres and cooling systems. But again, the challenges faced in addressing these two demand drivers will differ based on where the power is needed. In the United States and Europe, most data centre expansions are taking place close to established generation sites, so that server farms can tap uninterrupted power and avoid transmission delays. In developing economies, many of the new cooling systems are within new multi-story apartment buildings or on previously undeveloped land, meaning that power suppliers have to vastly expand their geographic reach while also boosting volumes. Needing to rapidly increase both the scope and scale of electricity production will likely expand the use of coal-fired power in India, Indonesia and elsewhere, which will generate pollution that may further accelerate warming trends. But the sheer magnitude of energy demand growth ensures that fossil fuels alone will not be able to meet it, and that supplies from a multitude of power sources will have to be deployed. This "all of the above" approach, in turn, means that power from clean energy and renewable sources should gain a growing share of the generation mix over time, potentially squeezing out high polluting fuels from electricity production. But in the near term, the fossil fuels burned to meet the rising demand for power will only increase. The need to keep people safe and comfortable as temperatures keep climbing will thus only exacerbate future heat stress, putting ever more pressure on strained electrical grids. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.

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