Iranian President

Dies Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former Iranian president, suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 82. Tens of thousands gathered at Tehran University to attend the funeral and mourn the man, who was their president from 1989 to 1997. Iran has undergone three days of official mourning. Rafsanjani was buried next to Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

The Consumer Electronic Show (CES) ran in Las Vegas from the 5th to the 8th January 2017, and the big part of the show was about cars that can detect emotion, or are self-driving or are voice controlled. Honda’s latest concept, equipped with a digital assistant named HANA, can detect the driver’s emotions and play appropriate music. It can also function autonomously as a ride-sharing vehicle making money for its owner while the owner is at work or asleep. If you fancy speaking to your car, the Oasis concept car might interest you as it is voice-controlled. Its rear is designed for cargo like parcels or pizzas, and there is a small garden in the dashboard to make the space more personal. If you do not want to interact much with your car, the self-driving ones will do just fine. Nissan’s Seamless Autonomous Mobility system will help autonomous vehicles make decisions in unpredictable situations.