Today’s News Briefs: McDonalds scraps AI; Conservative Hungary to lead EU; Kenya bread riots; MU student’s coroner’s report revealed.
McDonalds removes AI ordering from drive-thrus
McDonald’s is removing artificial intelligence (AI) powered drive-thru ordering from U.S. locations. The move comes after customers shared hilariously misinterpreted order mishaps including bacon-topped ice cream. In one video, a woman says the drive-thru AI added nine sweet teas to her order when all she requested was that a Diet Coke wrongly added to her order be taken off. In another mishap reports Delish, “a woman can be heard yelling at the drive-thru screen to ‘stop’ as it adds hundreds of dollars worth of McNuggets Meals to her order. The chaos is intensified by the sound of her friend laughing uncontrollably in the background.” The company promises “an informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year.”
Kenya scraps bread tax after protests
Kenya’s government has scrapped numerous new taxes including a 16% levy on bread. The decision, reports the BBC, comes after a public outcry and protests that resulted in tear gas and water cannons being used against citizens in the Nairobi. Other proposed taxes that have been axed include ones on cooking oil, mobile money services and on motor vehicles, which critics said would have also hit the insurance industry. The country is one of the top 5 economic powerhouses of the African continent. The country is attempting to pay down its debt while at the same time seeking billions in loans from China. Critics say that China uses the loans to hold countries hostage to their communist foreign policy goals.
Pro-Israel Hungary set to lead the European Union
Hungary’s ascension to the European Union Council Presidency in July will improve relations between Israel and the 27-member bloc, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said during a visit to the Jewish state’s strong ally in Europe. “The period of the Hungarian Presidency is an unprecedented opportunity to improve Israel’s position in the European Union” despite “the plots” that EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell “has tried to promote against us,” Katz said according to the BBC. The EU’s economic wing threatened Israel with boycotts over the years and often favored Iran terrorists over Israel, according to some critics. With Hungary providing a new direction, it will be difficult for anti-Israel forces in the EU to push policies damaging to the Jewish state.
Coroner’s report released for MU student who died in Nashville
The University of Missouri student who went missing in downtown Nashville in March was extremely drunk and also had TLC (pot) in his system when he drowned, a newly released medical examiner’s report states. Riley Strain, 22, had a blood alcohol content of 0.228 on the night of March 8. Family members had feared foul play during the search for the college student but the report concludes his cause of death as “drowning and ethanol intoxication.” THC is the main psychoactive element in marijuana. On the evening of his disappearance, he was kicked out of a bar and video caught him staggering through the streets. The Springfield native was found two weeks later about eight miles downstream in the Cumberland River. His death has highlighted the deadly drinking culture among college students.
–Dwight Widama and wire services
