Feds probe reports of fires in Cruze

Feds probe reports of fires in Cruze

DETROIT

The government is investigating reports of engine fires in the Chevrolet Cruze small car and Jeep Wrangler SUV.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received two reports of fires in the 2011 model year Chevrolet Cruze. In both cases, the fires began while the cars were moving and destroyed the vehicles. The Cruze is built in Lordstown.

General Motors Co. spokesman Alan Adler says the company knows of no deaths or injuries related to the issue. GM is cooperating with the investigation.

The NHTSA has also received eight reports of fires in 2010 model year Jeep Wranglers. Most began when the vehicles were moving.

Chrysler Group spokesman Nick Cappa says the company knows of no accidents or injuries related to the issue. Chrysler is cooperating with the investigation.

NHTSA investigations can lead to vehicle recalls.

UK surveillance program in works

LONDON

Every email to your child. Every status update for your friends. Every message to your mistress.

An official with Britain’s Internet Service Providers’ Association says the government is preparing proposals for a nationwide electronic surveillance network that could potentially keep track of every message sent by any Brit to anyone at any time.

Similar plans were abandoned in 2008 after a public outcry. But the Service Providers’ Association’s James Blessing says the government appears to be “reintroducing it on a slightly different format.”

Britain’s Home Office declined to comment on the particulars of any such move, but a spokesman said Sunday that it would not involve prying into the content of emails or voice conversations.

Temporary outage of Visa network

WASHINGTON

Visa says a technical problem affecting its network barred people from using their credit and debit cards for about 45 minutes Sunday.

Visa Inc. spokeswoman Sandra Chu says that the outage was caused by a recent enhancement Visa has made to its system. She says Visa had trouble processing some transactions as a result, but the system is operating normally now.

Associated Press