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  • ‘Get Ready With Me’: Video genre that focuses on everyday life is everywhere — and not slowing down

    ‘Get Ready With Me’: Video genre that focuses on everyday life is everywhere — and not slowing down

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — “Get Ready with Me” — to go on a date, go to work or … get fired?

    “Get Ready with Me” videos are everywhere these days, and they’re as straightforward as the name suggests. Social media users, often influencers, invite viewers to watch them get ready to do something or go somewhere. And embedded in the storyline are the skin care, the makeup, the hairdo and all the glam that goes into looking hot — and, of course, the personal stories about life or love that arrest your attention.

    GRWM videos, as they’re also known, are part of a trend of “with me” content that has gained popularity over the past decade. Think “Clean with Me” videos where users watch people clean their homes for inspiration or pleasure. Or hours-long “Study with Me” videos for students who want buddies for intense cramming sessions but don’t have any friends nearby.

    More than a decade after debuting on YouTube in the days when creator content was still relatively new, “Get Ready with Me” videos and their personal sensibilities have inundated social media thanks to a shorter iteration of the genre, which seems to have lent them a more personal and even revelatory tone.

    “For creators, this is a vehicle for storytelling,” says Earnest Pettie, a trends insight lead at YouTube. “It becomes an excuse to share something about your life.”

    The videos have made everyday tasks a core staple of our online diets on platforms like YouTube by drawing in viewers who find it either informative, communal, or both.

    Consumers, for the most part, seem to be really into it. In a report released in August, YouTube said there were more than 6 billion views of videos titled with variations of “grwm” at that point in the year. On TikTok, videos with the hashtag “grwm” have been viewed more than 157 billion times.

    Celebrities and “it girls” have hopped on the bandwagon, often to promote their brands or as part of Vogue’s “Beauty Secrets” series, which draws from the trend. In April, model Sofia Richie Grainge joined TikTok and posted a series of Get Ready with Me videos to offer fans an inside look into her wedding.

    In the initial years of the genre, Pettie says, people would simply put on makeup in front of the camera. Soon after, the videos evolved to what is seen today — content creators getting glammed up while talking to their followers about whatever’s on their minds.

    It experienced another revival in recent years with the popularity of short-form video, TikTok’s bread-and-butter — which was cloned by YouTube and Instagram in the form of Shorts and Reels, respectively.

    The genre is being adopted by up-and-coming creators who might be uncomfortable sharing a story in a video without doing anything else, says Nicla Bartoli, the vice president of sales at Influencer Marketing Factory. Adding activities has the tendency to make content feel less heavy and more inviting, especially to viewers who’ve never come across the creator but are interested in what they’re doing.

    Because users also tend to scroll quickly on TikTok, creators must capture a viewer’s attention right away before they move on to the next thing on their “For You” page. More engagement means more popularity, which typically leads to partnerships with companies eager to pay influencers through brand deals or other means.

    “The level of compelling stories has been increasing a lot,” says Bartoli, whose company connects influencers with brands who want to partner with them to promote products. “It can be because it’s more crowded. You need to step up the game, so to speak.”

    One of the most-known influencers in this arena is 22-year-old Alix Earle, who shares her experiences with struggles like acne, an eating disorder and panic attacks as well as lighthearted episodes about nights out with friends. She has nearly 6 million followers on TikTok.

    Alisha Rei, 18, who lives in Toronto and models, says she wants to create viral social media content to help her build her following and, in turn, her modeling career. She says her friends told her to make Get Ready with Me videos because they tend to be popular.

    Because of modeling events, Rei says she’d missed some shifts at her part-time job working at a mall shoe store. So she decided to make a “get ready with me to get fired” video while doing her makeup before she went back for another shift. The video was tagged #pleasedontbelikeme.

    In an interview, Rei, a college freshman, says she received a warning from her manager but didn’t get fired. “God is good,” she says.

    Often, behind the “getting ready” content lurk other, more commercial messages.

    Bartoli notes that many of the confessional videos do more than they might first appear: They can provide more engagement from users who want to receive updates on a story that’s being shared or know more about the products creators are using. That can make the videos good for product placements and encourage brand partnerships, which, according to Goldman Sachs, is the largest source of income for creators. The investment bank said in a report earlier this year that the creator economy is worth $250 billion today and could roughly double in size by 2027.

    Allie Pribula, a 25-year-old TikToker who used to be an elementary school teacher in the Philadelphia suburbs, says she started making GRWM videos as a way to process her feelings about her old job. Pribula says some companies have since reached out to her to offer gifts and have paid her to market products on her page. She says she considers it a “side hustle.”

    Camilla Ramirez Diaz, a 25-year-old optician who lives in Burlingame, California, recently bought a freckle pen that was featured on GRWM videos she watches at night to wind down her day. Diaz prefers to watch them more on TikTok, where she says the content can be a bit more personal. She cites a video she recently came across from an influencer who was getting ready while stranded in London due to an expired passport.

    “Its almost like you’re watching your friend on FaceTime with you,” Diaz says. “I could sit there all day and watch Get Ready with Me videos from different creators. They’re just a mix of everything.”

    ___

    Haleluya Hadero writes about Amazon, retail and internet culture for The Associated Press. Follow her work at https://apnews.com/author/haleluya-hadero

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  • ‘Get Ready With Me’: Video genre that focuses on everyday life is everywhere — and not slowing down

    ‘Get Ready With Me’: Video genre that focuses on everyday life is everywhere — and not slowing down

    [ad_1]

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — “Get Ready with Me” — to go on a date, go to work or … get fired?

    “Get Ready with Me” videos are everywhere these days, and they’re as straightforward as the name suggests. Social media users, often influencers, invite viewers to watch them get ready to do something or go somewhere. And embedded in the storyline are the skin care, the makeup, the hairdo and all the glam that goes into looking hot — and, of course, the personal stories about life or love that arrest your attention.

    GRWM videos, as they’re also known, are part of a trend of “with me” content that has gained popularity over the past decade. Think “Clean with Me” videos where users watch people clean their homes for inspiration or pleasure. Or hours-long “Study with Me” videos for students who want buddies for intense cramming sessions but don’t have any friends nearby.

    More than a decade after debuting on YouTube in the days when creator content was still relatively new, “Get Ready with Me” videos and their personal sensibilities have inundated social media thanks to a shorter iteration of the genre, which seems to have lent them a more personal and even revelatory tone.

    “For creators, this is a vehicle for storytelling,” says Earnest Pettie, a trends insight lead at YouTube. “It becomes an excuse to share something about your life.”

    The videos have made everyday tasks a core staple of our online diets on platforms like YouTube by drawing in viewers who find it either informative, communal, or both.

    Consumers, for the most part, seem to be really into it. In a report released in August, YouTube said there were more than 6 billion views of videos titled with variations of “grwm” at that point in the year. On TikTok, videos with the hashtag “grwm” have been viewed more than 157 billion times.

    Celebrities and “it girls” have hopped on the bandwagon, often to promote their brands or as part of Vogue’s “Beauty Secrets” series, which draws from the trend. In April, model Sofia Richie Grainge joined TikTok and posted a series of Get Ready with Me videos to offer fans an inside look into her wedding.

    In the initial years of the genre, Pettie says, people would simply put on makeup in front of the camera. Soon after, the videos evolved to what is seen today — content creators getting glammed up while talking to their followers about whatever’s on their minds.

    It experienced another revival in recent years with the popularity of short-form video, TikTok’s bread-and-butter — which was cloned by YouTube and Instagram in the form of Shorts and Reels, respectively.

    The genre is being adopted by up-and-coming creators who might be uncomfortable sharing a story in a video without doing anything else, says Nicla Bartoli, the vice president of sales at Influencer Marketing Factory. Adding activities has the tendency to make content feel less heavy and more inviting, especially to viewers who’ve never come across the creator but are interested in what they’re doing.

    Because users also tend to scroll quickly on TikTok, creators must capture a viewer’s attention right away before they move on to the next thing on their “For You” page. More engagement means more popularity, which typically leads to partnerships with companies eager to pay influencers through brand deals or other means.

    “The level of compelling stories has been increasing a lot,” says Bartoli, whose company connects influencers with brands who want to partner with them to promote products. “It can be because it’s more crowded. You need to step up the game, so to speak.”

    One of the most-known influencers in this arena is 22-year-old Alix Earle, who shares her experiences with struggles like acne, an eating disorder and panic attacks as well as lighthearted episodes about nights out with friends. She has nearly 6 million followers on TikTok.

    Alisha Rei, 18, who lives in Toronto and models, says she wants to create viral social media content to help her build her following and, in turn, her modeling career. She says her friends told her to make Get Ready with Me videos because they tend to be popular.

    Because of modeling events, Rei says she’d missed some shifts at her part-time job working at a mall shoe store. So she decided to make a “get ready with me to get fired” video while doing her makeup before she went back for another shift. The video was tagged #pleasedontbelikeme.

    In an interview, Rei, a college freshman, says she received a warning from her manager but didn’t get fired. “God is good,” she says.

    Often, behind the “getting ready” content lurk other, more commercial messages.

    Bartoli notes that many of the confessional videos do more than they might first appear: They can provide more engagement from users who want to receive updates on a story that’s being shared or know more about the products creators are using. That can make the videos good for product placements and encourage brand partnerships, which, according to Goldman Sachs, is the largest source of income for creators. The investment bank said in a report earlier this year that the creator economy is worth $250 billion today and could roughly double in size by 2027.

    Allie Pribula, a 25-year-old TikToker who used to be an elementary school teacher in the Philadelphia suburbs, says she started making GRWM videos as a way to process her feelings about her old job. Pribula says some companies have since reached out to her to offer gifts and have paid her to market products on her page. She says she considers it a “side hustle.”

    Camilla Ramirez Diaz, a 25-year-old optician who lives in Burlingame, California, recently bought a freckle pen that was featured on GRWM videos she watches at night to wind down her day. Diaz prefers to watch them more on TikTok, where she says the content can be a bit more personal. She cites a video she recently came across from an influencer who was getting ready while stranded in London due to an expired passport.

    “Its almost like you’re watching your friend on FaceTime with you,” Diaz says. “I could sit there all day and watch Get Ready with Me videos from different creators. They’re just a mix of everything.”

    ___

    Haleluya Hadero writes about Amazon, retail and internet culture for The Associated Press. Follow her work at https://apnews.com/author/haleluya-hadero

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  • Nissan will invest $1.4 billion to make EV versions of its best-selling cars at its UK factory

    Nissan will invest $1.4 billion to make EV versions of its best-selling cars at its UK factory

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    LONDON — Nissan will invest $1.4 billion to update its factory in northeast England to make electric versions of its two best-selling cars, a boost for the British government as it tries to revive the country’s ailing economy.

    The Japanese automaker manufactures the gasoline or gas-hybrid Qashqai and smaller Juke crossover vehicles at the factory in Sunderland, which employs 6,000 workers.

    Nissan Motor Co. said it’s directly investing up to 1.12 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) to produce electric successors to the two models. The money also will enable “wider investment in infrastructure projects and the supply chain, including a new gigafactory” for EV batteries at the site, the government said in a separate press release.

    “Nissan’s investment is a massive vote of confidence in the U.K.’s automotive industry,” which contributes 71 billion pounds a year to the economy, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

    Sunak visited the factory for the announcement, posing for photos with Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt in front of a blue Qashqai on the assembly line, meeting workers and getting a tour from plant staff. The day before, Hunt announced tax cuts and other budget priorities ahead of a national election next year, coming as economic growth is weak in the U.K. and still-high inflation is squeezing consumers.

    The Qashqai is the U.K.’s second most popular vehicle this year, while the Juke is the seventh. Nissan also said it will make the next generation of its long-running Leaf electric car at the factory.

    The company said in 2021 that it planned to build an electric vehicle at the factory, alongside batteries made next door by supplier AESC, owned by China’s Envision. AESC already has two gigafactories in Sunderland, and Friday’s announcement adds a third.

    EVs are “at the heart of our plans to achieve carbon neutrality,” Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement. “With electric versions of our core European models on the way, we are accelerating towards a new era for Nissan, for industry and for our customers.”

    Nissan has set a target of electrifying its entire European passenger car lineup by 2030.

    “With today’s announcement, we are making that vision happen,” Uchida said at the plant, which temporarily stopped production for the ceremony.

    The future of Nissan’s Sunderland had been in question before and after Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union. Brexit opponents said leaving the bloc without a trade deal would damage Britain’s economy because companies like Nissan would face tariffs on exports to the EU.

    The auto industry is bracing for 10% post-Brexit trade tariffs taking effect in January. They threaten to raise the cost of new EVs by punishing manufacturers in their respective markets for not sourcing enough of their components from either the EU or Britain.

    Many EV makers will struggle to meet the requirement because Europe lags behind Asia in battery production. Nissan, however, is the only carmaker in the U.K. with a dedicated battery plant nearby.

    Nissan joins other automakers making the transition to EV production in the U.K., even as Sunak pushed back a deadline to end the sale of new gas and diesel cars by five years, to 2035.

    BMW said earlier this year that it’s investing 600 million pounds into its Mini factory in Oxford, England, to start making electric vehicles by 2026.

    India’s Tata Sons, which owns Jaguar Land Rover, is building a 4 billion-pound EV battery factory in the U.K. that’s expected to produce about 40 gigawatt hours of battery cells every year, enough to provide half the U.K.’s electric vehicle batteries.

    Stellantis, parent company of British automaker Vauxhall, is investing 100 million pounds to make electric vans and cars in northwestern England.

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  • Nissan will invest $1.4 billion to make EV versions of its best-selling cars at its UK factory

    Nissan will invest $1.4 billion to make EV versions of its best-selling cars at its UK factory

    [ad_1]

    LONDON — Nissan will invest $1.4 billion to update its factory in northeast England to make electric versions of its two best-selling cars, a boost for the British government as it tries to revive the country’s ailing economy.

    The Japanese automaker manufactures the gasoline or gas-hybrid Qashqai and smaller Juke crossover vehicles at the factory in Sunderland, which employs 6,000 workers.

    Nissan Motor Co. said it’s directly investing up to 1.12 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) to produce electric successors to the two models. The money also will enable “wider investment in infrastructure projects and the supply chain, including a new gigafactory” for EV batteries at the site, the government said in a separate press release.

    “Nissan’s investment is a massive vote of confidence in the U.K.’s automotive industry,” which contributes 71 billion pounds a year to the economy, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

    Sunak visited the factory for the announcement, posing for photos with Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt in front of a blue Qashqai on the assembly line, meeting workers and getting a tour from plant staff. The day before, Hunt announced tax cuts and other budget priorities ahead of a national election next year, coming as economic growth is weak in the U.K. and still-high inflation is squeezing consumers.

    The Qashqai is the U.K.’s second most popular vehicle this year, while the Juke is the seventh. Nissan also said it will make the next generation of its long-running Leaf electric car at the factory.

    The company said in 2021 that it planned to build an electric vehicle at the factory, alongside batteries made next door by supplier AESC, owned by China’s Envision. AESC already has two gigafactories in Sunderland, and Friday’s announcement adds a third.

    EVs are “at the heart of our plans to achieve carbon neutrality,” Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement. “With electric versions of our core European models on the way, we are accelerating towards a new era for Nissan, for industry and for our customers.”

    Nissan has set a target of electrifying its entire European passenger car lineup by 2030.

    “With today’s announcement, we are making that vision happen,” Uchida said at the plant, which temporarily stopped production for the ceremony.

    The future of Nissan’s Sunderland had been in question before and after Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union. Brexit opponents said leaving the bloc without a trade deal would damage Britain’s economy because companies like Nissan would face tariffs on exports to the EU.

    The auto industry is bracing for 10% post-Brexit trade tariffs taking effect in January. They threaten to raise the cost of new EVs by punishing manufacturers in their respective markets for not sourcing enough of their components from either the EU or Britain.

    Many EV makers will struggle to meet the requirement because Europe lags behind Asia in battery production. Nissan, however, is the only carmaker in the U.K. with a dedicated battery plant nearby.

    Nissan joins other automakers making the transition to EV production in the U.K., even as Sunak pushed back a deadline to end the sale of new gas and diesel cars by five years, to 2035.

    BMW said earlier this year that it’s investing 600 million pounds into its Mini factory in Oxford, England, to start making electric vehicles by 2026.

    India’s Tata Sons, which owns Jaguar Land Rover, is building a 4 billion-pound EV battery factory in the U.K. that’s expected to produce about 40 gigawatt hours of battery cells every year, enough to provide half the U.K.’s electric vehicle batteries.

    Stellantis, parent company of British automaker Vauxhall, is investing 100 million pounds to make electric vans and cars in northwestern England.

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  • Broadcom planning to complete deal for $69 billion acquisition of VMWare after regulators give OK

    Broadcom planning to complete deal for $69 billion acquisition of VMWare after regulators give OK

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    SAN JOSE, California — Computer chip and software maker Broadcom has announced it has cleared all regulatory hurdles and plans to complete its $69 billion acquisition of cloud technology company VMware on Wednesday.

    The company, based in San Jose, California, announced it planned to move ahead with the deal after China joined the list of countries that had given a go-ahead for the acquisition.

    Broadcom is paying $61 billion in cash and stock for VMware and taking on $8 billion of its debt, making this one of the biggest technology deals ever.

    The announcement came soon after Microsoft acquired video game-maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, also one of the most expensive tech acquisitions in history.

    It took 18 months for Broadcom to get all the regulatory approvals, just days before the merger agreement was due to expire.

    The acquisition was able to go ahead after China’s State Administration of Market Regulation said Broadcom’s commitments, submitted Monday, would reduce the impact of the merger.

    The massive buyouts are occurring at a time of heightened anxiety because of turmoil on the global supply chain, war in Europe and the Middle East, and rising prices that have the potential to cool both business and consumer activity.

    Broadcom’s acquisition plan earlier gained approval from Britain’s competition regulator.

    Countless businesses and public bodies, including major banks, big retailers, telecom operators and government departments, rely on Broadcom gear and VMware software. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm and top antitrust enforcer, cleared the deal after Broadcom made concessions to address its concerns about competition.

    Broadcom wants to establish a stronger foothold in the cloud computing market, and VMware’s technology allows large corporations to blend public cloud access with internal company networks. VMware, which is based in Palo Alto, California, has close relations with every major cloud company and provider, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

    In a statement, Broadcom said it had legal greenlights in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, Israel, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and “foreign investment control clearance in all necessary jurisdictions.”

    “There is no legal impediment to closing under U.S. merger regulations,” it said.

    There has been a flurry of such deals after technology companies’ shares fell from stratospheric levels attained during the pandemic, making such acquisitions more affordable.

    But Broadcom’s CEO, Hock Tan, has been pursuing such deals for years, building out the company with big acquisitions like Symantec for close to $11 billion in 2019, and CA Technologies for about $19 billion the year before.

    In an earnings call not long after the deal was announced, Tan described the plan to acquire VMWare as a “very unique opportunity to take our company and its business to the next level.”

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  • OpenAI says ousted CEO Sam Altman to return to company behind ChatGPT

    OpenAI says ousted CEO Sam Altman to return to company behind ChatGPT

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    The ousted leader of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is returning to the company that fired him late last week, culminating a days-long power struggle that shocked the tech industry and brought attention to the conflicts around how to safely build artificial intelligence.

    San Francisco-based OpenAI said in a statement late Tuesday: “We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board.”

    The board, which replaces the one that fired Altman on Friday, will be led by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, who also chaired Twitter’s board before its takeover by Elon Musk last year. The other members will be former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo.

    OpenAI’s previous board of directors, which included D’Angelo, had refused to give specific reasons for why it fired Altman, leading to a weekend of internal conflict at the company and growing outside pressure from the startup’s investors.

    The chaos also accentuated the differences between Altman — who’s become the face of generative AI’s rapid commercialization since ChatGPT’s arrival a year ago — and members of the company’s board who have expressed deep reservations about the safety risks posed by AI as it gets more advanced.

    Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and has rights to its current technology, quickly moved to hire Altman on Monday, as well as another co-founder and former president, Greg Brockman, who had quit in protest after Altman’s removal. That emboldened a threatened exodus of nearly all of the startup’s 770 employees who signed a letter calling for the board’s resignation and Altman’s return.

    One of the four board members who participated in Altman’s ouster, OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, later expressed regret and joined the call for the board’s resignation.

    Microsoft in recent days had pledged to welcome all employees who wanted to follow Altman and Brockman to a new AI research unit at the software giant. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also made clear in a series of interviews Monday that he was still open to the possibility of Altman returning to OpenAI, so long as the startup’s governance problems are solved.

    “We are encouraged by the changes to the OpenAI board,” Nadella posted on X late Tuesday. “We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance.”

    In his own post, Altman said that “with the new board and (with) Satya’s support, I’m looking forward to returning to OpenAI, and building on our strong partnership with (Microsoft).”

    Co-founded by Altman as a nonprofit with a mission to safely build so-called artificial general intelligence that outperforms humans and benefits humanity, OpenAI later became a for-profit business but one still run by its nonprofit board of directors. It’s not clear yet if the board’s structure will change with its newly appointed members.

    “We are collaborating to figure out the details,” OpenAI posted on X. “Thank you so much for your patience through this.”

    Nadella said Brockman, who was OpenAI’s board chairman until Altman’s firing, will also have a key role to play in ensuring the group “continues to thrive and build on its mission.”

    Hours earlier, Brockman returned to social media as if it were business as usual, touting a feature called ChatGPT Voice that was rolling out to users.

    “Give it a try — totally changes the ChatGPT experience,” Brockman wrote, flagging a post from OpenAI’s main X account that featured a demonstration of the technology and playfully winking at recent turmoil.

    “It’s been a long night for the team and we’re hungry. How many 16-inch pizzas should I order for 778 people,” the person asks, using the number of people who work at OpenAI. ChatGPT’s synthetic voice responded by recommending around 195 pizzas, ensuring everyone gets three slices.

    As for OpenAI’s short-lived interim CEO Emmett Shear, the second interim CEO in the days since Altman’s ouster, he posted on X that he was “deeply pleased by this result, after (tilde)72 very intense hours of work.”

    “Coming into OpenAI, I wasn’t sure what the right path would be,” wrote Shear, the former head of Twitch. “This was the pathway that maximized safety alongside doing right by all stakeholders involved. I’m glad to have been a part of the solution.”

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  • Ford to resume building Michigan electric vehicle battery plant delayed by strike, but scale it back

    Ford to resume building Michigan electric vehicle battery plant delayed by strike, but scale it back

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    DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is resuming construction on a Michigan electric vehicle battery plant that the company postponed two months ago during a strike by the United Auto Workers union.

    But the automaker said that due to slowing electric vehicle sales growth, it will scale back the factory’s size, cutting the number of planned jobs by about one third to 1,700 from 2,500. The annual battery cell output will drop from enough for 400,000 vehicles per year to about 230,000.

    Ford put the plant, originally to cost $3.5 billion, on hold in late September as the union went on strike at targeted assembly plants run by Ford, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis. The contract dispute ended last week with workers at all three voting to ratify new agreements.

    Spokesman Mark Truby said Tuesday that the company looked at growth forecasts for electric vehicle sales, its EV product plans and whether it could make a sustainable business out of the factory in Marshall, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Detroit.

    “We are now good to confirm that we are moving forward with the plant,” he told reporters.

    The plant will open in 2026 on the same timeline as the company set when it announced the factory in February. It will produce batteries with a lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry, which is cheaper than the current nickel-cobalt-manganese chemistry now used in many EV batteries. Consumers will be able to choose between a battery with lower range and cost, or pay more for higher range and power.

    Unlike the company’s other battery plants that are joint ventures, the Marshall factory will be a fully owned Ford subsidiary staffed by Ford workers. But China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, which is known for its lithium-iron-phosphate expertise, would supply technology, some equipment and workers.

    Truby said he wasn’t sure how much the company would spend on the scaled back plant.

    U.S. electric vehicle sales are still growing at a high rate, but not as fast as they were last year, causing many automakers to slow their battery and assembly plant building plans.

    In June of last year, for instance, electric vehicle sales were growing about 90% year over year, according to Motorintelligence.com. But by June of this year, the growth rate had slowed to about 50%, and automakers are fearful it will slow even further with consumers having reservations about how far they can travel and whether charging stations will be available.

    Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told reporters after a bill signing Tuesday that the incentive package promised to Ford would be reduced, saying that “when one aspect is resized, so is the other.” Specifics on the new package would come from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which handles the state’s incentive fund for economic developments, she said.

    The state has allocated nearly $1.7 billion in incentives for the project, and added $65 million in October for site readiness.

    When it announced third-quarter earnings in October, Ford said a slowdown in electric vehicle sales and prices has led to a delay in plans to build one of two new joint-venture EV battery factories in Kentucky that was announced two years ago. The company also is trimming Mustang Mach-e production and delaying other spending on EVs totaling $12 billion, Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said.

    Truby said scaling back the Michigan plant was part of the $12 billion. He said the company is still bullish on EVs. “While there is growth both in the U.S. and worldwide, clearly the growth isn’t at the rate that we and others had expected,” he said.

    Sales of Ford’s Mustang Mach-E electric SUV, its top-selling electric vehicle, have struggled this year. They’re up only 1.5% through October and were down 7% last month. Sales of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup are up 42.7% for the year. Shares of Ford fell just over 1.4% Tuesday in a largely down day in the markets for automakers.

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  • ChatGPT-maker OpenAI hosts its first big tech showcase as the AI startup faces growing competition

    ChatGPT-maker OpenAI hosts its first big tech showcase as the AI startup faces growing competition

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    SAN FRANCISCO — Less than a year into its meteoric rise, the company behind ChatGPT unveiled the future it has in mind for its artificial intelligence technology on Monday as it launched a new line of chatbot products that can be customized to a variety of tasks.

    “Eventually, you’ll just ask the computer for what you need and it’ll do all of these tasks for you,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to a cheering crowd of more than 900 software developers and other attendees. It was OpenAI’s inaugural developer conference, embracing a Silicon Valley tradition for technology showcases that Apple helped pioneer decades ago.

    At the event held in a cavernous former Honda dealership in OpenAI’s hometown of San Francisco, the company unveiled a new version called GPT-4 Turbo that is “more capable” and can retrieve information about world and cultural events as recent as April 2023 — unlike previous versions which couldn’t answer questions about anything that happened after 2021.

    It also touted a new version of its AI model called GPT-4 with vision, or GPT-4V, that enables the chatbot to analyze images. In a September research paper, the company showed how the tool could describe what’s in images to people who are blind or have low vision.

    Altman said ChatGPT has more than 100 million weekly active users and 2 million developers, spread “entirely by word of mouth.”

    Altman also unveiled a new line of products called GPTs — emphasis on the plural — that will enable users to make their own customized versions of ChatGPT for specific tasks.

    The path to OpenAI’s debut DevDay has been an unusual one. Founded as a nonprofit research institute in 2015, it catapulted to worldwide fame just under a year ago with the release of a chatbot that’s sparked excitement, fear and a push for international safeguards to guide AI’s rapid advancement.

    The conference comes a week after President Joe Biden signed an executive order that will set some of the first U.S. guardrails on AI technology.

    Using the Defense Production Act, the order requires AI developers likely to include OpenAI, its financial backer Microsoft and competitors such as Google and Meta to share information with the government about AI systems being built with such “high levels of performance” that they could pose serious safety risks.

    The order built on voluntary commitments set by the White House that leading AI developers made earlier this year.

    A lot of expectation is also riding on the economic promise of the latest crop of generative AI tools that can produce passages of text and novel images, sounds and other media in response to written or spoken prompts.

    Altman was briefly joined on stage by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who said amid cheers from the audience “we love you guys.”

    In his comments, Nadella emphasized Microsoft’s role as business partner using its data centers to give OpenAI the computing power it needs to build more advanced models.

    “I think we have the best partnership in tech. I’m excited for us to build AGI together,” Altman said, referencing his goal to build so-called artificial general intelligence that can perform just as well as — or even better than — humans in a wide variety of tasks.

    While some commercial chatbots, including Microsoft’s Bing, are now built atop OpenAI’s technology, there are a growing number of competitors including Bard, from Google, and Claude, from another San Francisco-based startup, Anthropic, led by former OpenAI employees. OpenAI also faces competition from developers of so-called open source models that publicly release their code and other aspects of the system for free.

    ChatGPT’s newest competitor is Grok, which billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled over the weekend on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Musk, who helped start OpenAI before parting ways with the company, launched a new venture this year called xAI to set his own mark on the pace of AI development.

    Grok is only available to a limited set of early users but promises to answer “spicy questions” that other chatbots decline due to safeguards meant to prevent offensive responses.

    Goldman Sachs projected last month that generative AI could boost labor productivity and lead to a long-term increase of 10% to 15% to the global gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services.

    Altman described a future of AI agents that could help people with various tasks at work or home.

    “We know that people want AI that is smarter, more personal, more customizable, can do more on your behalf,” he said.

    ——

    O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

    ——-

    The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing agreement that allows for part of AP’s text archives to be used to train the tech company’s large language model. AP receives an undisclosed fee for use of its content.

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  • ChatGPT-maker OpenAI hosts first big tech showcase as it faces growing competition

    ChatGPT-maker OpenAI hosts first big tech showcase as it faces growing competition

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    SAN FRANCISCO — Less than a year into its meteoric rise, the company behind ChatGPT unveiled the future it has in mind for its artificial intelligence technology on Monday as it launched a new line of chatbot products that can be customized to a variety of tasks.

    “Eventually, you’ll just ask the computer for what you need and it’ll do all of these tasks for you,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to a cheering crowd of more than 900 software developers and other attendees. It was OpenAI’s inaugural developer conference, embracing a Silicon Valley tradition for technology showcases that Apple helped pioneer decades ago.

    At the event held in a cavernous former Honda dealership in OpenAI’s hometown of San Francisco, the company unveiled a new version called GPT-4 Turbo that is “more capable” and can retrieve information about world and cultural events as recent as April 2023 — unlike previous versions which couldn’t answer questions about anything that happened after 2021.

    It also touted a new version of its AI model called GPT-4 with vision, or GPT-4V, that enables the chatbot to analyze images. In a September research paper, the company showed how the tool could describe what’s in images to people who are blind or have low vision.

    Altman said ChatGPT has more than 100 million weekly active users and 2 million developers, spread “entirely by word of mouth.”

    Altman also unveiled a new line of products called GPTs — emphasis on the plural — that will enable users to make their own customized versions of ChatGPT for specific tasks.

    Alyssa Hwang, a computer science researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who got an early glimpse at the GPT vision tool, said it was “so good at describing a whole lot of different kinds of images, no matter how complicated they were,” but also needed some improvements.

    For instance, in trying to test its limits, Hwang appended an image of steak with a caption about chicken noodle soup, confusing the chatbot into describing the image as having something to do with chicken noodle soup.

    “That could lead to some adversarial attacks,” Hwang said. “Imagine if you put some offensive text or something like that in an image, you’ll end up getting something you don’t want.”

    That’s partly why OpenAI has given researchers such as Hwang early access to help discover flaws in its newest tools before their wide release. Altman on Monday described the company’s approach as “gradual iterative deployment” that leaves time to address safety risks.

    The path to OpenAI’s debut DevDay has been an unusual one. Founded as a nonprofit research institute in 2015, it catapulted to worldwide fame just under a year ago with the release of a chatbot that’s sparked excitement, fear and a push for international safeguards to guide AI’s rapid advancement.

    The conference comes a week after President Joe Biden signed an executive order that will set some of the first U.S. guardrails on AI technology.

    Using the Defense Production Act, the order requires AI developers likely to include OpenAI, its financial backer Microsoft and competitors such as Google and Meta to share information with the government about AI systems being built with such “high levels of performance” that they could pose serious safety risks.

    The order built on voluntary commitments set by the White House that leading AI developers made earlier this year.

    A lot of expectation is also riding on the economic promise of the latest crop of generative AI tools that can produce passages of text and novel images, sounds and other media in response to written or spoken prompts.

    Altman was briefly joined on stage by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who said amid cheers from the audience “we love you guys.”

    In his comments, Nadella emphasized Microsoft’s role as a business partner using its data centers to give OpenAI the computing power it needs to build more advanced models.

    “I think we have the best partnership in tech. I’m excited for us to build AGI together,” Altman said, referencing his goal to build so-called artificial general intelligence that can perform just as well as — or even better than — humans in a wide variety of tasks.

    While some commercial chatbots, including Microsoft’s Bing, are now built atop OpenAI’s technology, there are a growing number of competitors including Bard, from Google, and Claude, from another San Francisco-based startup, Anthropic, led by former OpenAI employees. OpenAI also faces competition from developers of so-called open source models that publicly release their code and other aspects of the system for free.

    ChatGPT’s newest competitor is Grok, which billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled over the weekend on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Musk, who helped start OpenAI before parting ways with the company, launched a new venture this year called xAI to set his own mark on the pace of AI development.

    Grok is only available to a limited set of early users but promises to answer “spicy questions” that other chatbots decline due to safeguards meant to prevent offensive responses.

    Asked for comment on the timing of Grok’s release by a reporter, Altman said “Elon’s gonna Elon.”

    Goldman Sachs projected last month that generative AI could boost labor productivity and lead to a long-term increase of 10% to 15% to the global gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services.

    Altman described a future of AI agents that could help people with various tasks at work or home.

    “We know that people want AI that is smarter, more personal, more customizable, can do more on your behalf,” he said.

    ——

    O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

    ——-

    The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing agreement that allows for part of AP’s text archives to be used to train the tech company’s large language model. AP receives an undisclosed fee for use of its content.

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  • AP survey finds 55 of 69 schools in major college football now sell alcohol at stadiums on game day

    AP survey finds 55 of 69 schools in major college football now sell alcohol at stadiums on game day

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    EAST LANSING, Mich. — EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — College tailgates are as synonymous with the game as blocking and tackling. Burgers, brats and beer go along with the cornhole and camaraderie for tens of thousands of people every Saturday, a beloved tradition seen outside stadiums big and small.

    “My dad almost gets more excited for season than I do because of the tailgating and stuff like that,” said J.J. McCarthy, the star quarterback for No. 2 Michigan.

    For many years, the booze flowed only outside of stadiums. Not anymore: Selling beer and wine inside college football stadiums has become the norm over the past decade, a way for schools to bring in more revenue and attract fans who might otherwise be inclined to stay home.

    According to a survey by The Associated Press of Power Five conference schools and Notre Dame, 55 of 69 of them — 80% — now sell alcohol in the public areas of their stadiums on game days. Of the remaining schools, some sell alcoholic drinks in non-public areas of the venue such as suites; others do not sell booze at all.

    The University of Wisconsin is one of the institutions that do not sell alcohol to the general public at football games, but it will begin selling booze at basketball and hockey games this season.

    “If our fan experience metrics increase, then it certainly warrants a conversation,” said Mitchell Pinta, Wisconsin’s deputy athletic director. “`Hey, we did this at Kohl Center (and) LaBahn Arena. What would it take? What will it look like? Is that something we want to do at Camp Randall?’”

    Alcohol has been sold in football stadiums in various ways for years, but the number of schools willing to do it picked up dramatically in the late 2010s. Adam Barry, a health behavior social scientist at Texas A&M, said after the Southeastern Conference allowed schools to sell alcohol in 2019, booze started to flow in stadiums from coast to coast.

    “Since the SEC made that decision, other Power Five conferences followed suit, and we’ve seen an exponential rise,” Barry said.

    The AP survey found that 19 schools that currently are in Power Five conferences began selling alcohol to the public during football games in 2019. Before that, just 20 such schools permitted the practice.

    Since 2019, another 16 schools have come on board, including Michigan State, Kentucky and Stanford, all of which started selling booze in their football stadiums during the current season.

    Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation in July lifting the state’s ban on alcohol being sold at college sporting events. Michigan State made moves relatively quickly in response.

    “I didn’t have much trepidation because we’re not the first,” said Marlon Lynch, Michigan State’s chief safety officer. “It’s been done for years.”

    The University of Michigan, meanwhile, did not make alcohol available at the Big House this fall, waiting to see how it goes at basketball and hockey games later this winter. The school has also conducted community surveys.

    “We have to take slow steps in order to implement this because it hasn’t been a part of our culture,” athletic director Warde Manuel said. “This is a way to phase that in, see what the data says and then talk to the regents and the president again.”

    University of Michigan Regent Paul Brown said he was not sure about the idea.

    “One of the things that makes us unique is a collegiate atmosphere,” Brown said last month as the board approved applying for liquor licenses at the school’s football, basketball and hockey venues. “It is different than the pro sports that always serve alcohol. I think that difference is one thing that creates value for our institution. And so, I don’t want to destroy that value.”

    The University of North Carolina, meanwhile, is in its fifth season of selling Twisted Tea, Modelo, White Claw and other booze.

    “Based upon the people that I attend games with sometimes, I think that they will still prefer tailgating over the in-game,” said Jonathan Williams, gripping a Coors Light after buying it at a cart station during a recent Tar Heels game. “They’re going to want to buy and pay grocery-store prices versus stadium prices and try to get as much in as they can before coming in.”

    At North Carolina, alcohol has helped the bottom line with about $4 million in sales. After having $320,213 in net sales during the 2019-20 athletic year, the school quadrupled that number last year and will see an increase again after this season.

    “Athletic departments typically are not profitable,” Barry said. “So, selling alcohol has simply become a new revenue stream.”

    Before Pittsburgh upset Louisville at home last month, Jen Margot and her family played cornhole, noshed on barbecue and drank an array of mostly domestic beers on the fourth level of a parking garage adjacent to Acrisure Stadium.

    “We always joked the prices at the tailgate were better,” Margot said with a laugh.

    Margot said the adults will buy a beer or two when they’re inside but prefer the atmosphere at the tailgate.

    “We don’t go to the games so we can get beer,” she said. “It’s nice that it’s an option especially because it’s pretty common at most other stadiums we’ve been to.”

    ___

    AP Sports Writers Steve Megargee in Wisconsin, Aaron Beard in North Carolina, Will Graves in Pennsylvania and Teresa M. Walker in Tennessee contributed. Follow Larry Lage at https://twitter.com/larrylage

    ___

    Get alerts on the latest AP Top 25 poll throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

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  • Japanese consumers are eating more local fish in spite of China’s ban due to Fukushima wastewater

    Japanese consumers are eating more local fish in spite of China’s ban due to Fukushima wastewater

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    IWAKI, Japan — Local fishing communities feared the worst when the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant began discharging treated radioactive wastewater into the sea.

    Instead of a business calamity, however, consumers from across the nation have supported the region by eating more fish. Besides boosting a fragile industry, the demand has helped mitigate the impact of China‘s ban on Japanese seafood, though there are worries about the future of the water release.

    “So far, I haven’t heard anyone raising safety concerns over the treated water release. I’d say zero,” Kazuto Harada, who works at Marufuto Fish Store near the Onahama Port in Fukushima, said as he stood by a tank of lobsters caught nearby. “I’m half surprised, and half relieved.”

    Customers nationwide are placing orders, with many asking for “Joban-mono,” or fish from the waters off Fukushima and its southern neighbor Ibaraki. That includes regional favorites flounder and greeneye.

    By late afternoon, almost all the fresh local catch sells out.

    Sumie Nouchi, a Tokyo resident, visited the Lalamew seafood market after playing golf in the area with friends. “I was determined to come here and buy fish on my way home,” she said. Her purchases included rosy seabass, greeneye, squid and octopus.

    It’s less about supporting local businesses than because Joban-mono tastes good, she says. “I’m not worried about the treated water discharge. I’ve been checking sampling results and I trust them.”

    The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant started releasing treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the sea on Aug. 24. Officials said it was necessary because more than 1.3 million tons of radioactive wastewater has accumulated in about 1,000 tanks at the plant since its cooling system was destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

    Even with the wastewater release, the tanks are estimated to reach capacity in the first half of 2024, and space at the plant will be needed for its decommissioning, which will take decades — if it’s ever accomplished.

    Before being released, the water is treated to reduce radioactive materials to safe levels. It’s then diluted with massive amounts of seawater to make it much safer than international standards.

    The release, which is expected to continue for decades, was strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries, including South Korea, where hundreds have protested. Beijing immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood. It was a major hit to Japanese seafood producers, processors and exporters — especially those in northern Japan who specialize in scallops and sea cucumbers, which are coveted in China.

    China’s seafood ban and reports of its impact on the Japanese fishing industry may have tempered Japanese criticism of the water release and encouraged people to eat more seafood from the region.

    “Before the discharge began, we were worried that consumers may stay away from Fukushima fish, but we saw a significant increase of our customers asking for Fukushima fish,” said Futoshi Kinoshita, executive of Foodison, which operates the Sakana Bacca chain. “After China’s ban on Japanese seafood, we are seeing more customers buying not only Fukushima fish but also Japanese seafood in general to support the industry.”

    He says fish testing data are key to making consumers confident in the seafood’s safety, but the data alone is not enough. “I believe people who are still concerned about Fukushima fish may develop confidence by seeing their friends or relatives eating it without worry, and I hope the circle of confidence will expand.”

    The International Atomic Energy Agency concluded in a July report that the discharge, if carried out exactly as planned, would cause negligible impact on the environment and human health. The IAEA safety and sampling missions that visited Fukushima after the discharge began said it was going well so far.

    The release of a third batch of water began Thursday, and Tokyo Electric Power Company, the Fukushima plant operator, said everything is moving as planned.

    Japan’s government has set up a relief fund to help find new markets and reduce the pain of China’s seafood ban. Measures include the temporary purchase, freezing and storage of seafood and the promotion of seafood sales at home. Cabinet ministers have traveled to Fukushima to sample local seafood and promote its safety, and the United States Embassy in Tokyo has been helping find new markets, including its military bases in Japan.

    Despite the wastewater discharges, auction prices at Fukushima fish markets have remained stable — or even occasionally higher than normal.

    But Katsuya Goto, a Fukushima prefectural fisheries official, said that the situation is still fragile.

    “Any mishap in the seawater discharges and its sampling results would easily hurt the reputation of the fish, so we have to carefully watch and make sure everything is as planned,” Goto said. “The government and TEPCO have begun this despite local fishers’ opposition, so we must watch and make sure they do it right.”

    More than two months after the discharge began, the support movement is still growing.

    While individual consumers favor ordering fish by mail and shopping at seafood markets, prefectural government cafeterias have started serving Fukushima seafood for lunch.

    The Tokyo Metropolitan Government started an “eat and cheer” subsidy campaign in late October, joined by 1,000 seafood retailers through the end of December. The campaign targets customers interested in high-priced seafood like lobsters.

    In Kyoto, a group of world-renowned Japanese “Kaiseki” cuisine chefs, will develop menus that primarily use Fukushima fish starting early next year. Yoshinori Tanaka at Toriyone, a Kyoto restaurant, and a member of the Japanese Culinary Academy, said dozens of chefs plan to hold tasting events around the country beginning in the spring, and eventually serve their menus at hundreds of restaurants.

    “Home-grown farm and fisheries products are indispensable for Japanese cuisine,” Tanaka said. “Of course the safety of the treated water release is a prerequisite to fight off the negative reputation. We are hoping our project can also contribute to addressing safety concerns that some people still have.”

    Some experts warn that efforts to boost Fukushima fish won’t last forever and the region needs to have long-term measures to revive the fisheries industry in the region while making sure to avoid any safety lapses.

    Fukushima’s fisheries community, tourism and the economy were badly hit and are still recovering. Local fishing was beginning to return to normal in 2021 when the government announced the water release plan.

    Fukushima’s local catch today is still about one-fifth of its pre-disaster levels due to a decline in the fishing population and smaller catch sizes.

    Hiroharu Haga, the manager of Ichiyoshi, a fish store at the Lalamew seafood market in Onahama, said customers increased after the treated water discharge, with many ordering from outside of Fukushima, but he cannot meet all the requests because of a limited supply.

    “I wish I could sell more local fish,” Haga said.

    ___

    Find more AP Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

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  • Japanese consumers are eating more local fish in spite of China’s ban due to Fukushima wastewater

    Japanese consumers are eating more local fish in spite of China’s ban due to Fukushima wastewater

    [ad_1]

    IWAKI, Japan — Local fishing communities feared the worst when the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant began discharging treated radioactive wastewater into the sea.

    Instead of a business calamity, however, consumers from across the nation have supported the region by eating more fish. Besides boosting a fragile industry, the demand has helped mitigate the impact of China‘s ban on Japanese seafood, though there are worries about the future of the water release.

    “So far, I haven’t heard anyone raising safety concerns over the treated water release. I’d say zero,” Kazuto Harada, who works at Marufuto Fish Store near the Onahama Port in Fukushima, said as he stood by a tank of lobsters caught nearby. “I’m half surprised, and half relieved.”

    Customers nationwide are placing orders, with many asking for “Joban-mono,” or fish from the waters off Fukushima and its southern neighbor Ibaraki. That includes regional favorites flounder and greeneye.

    By late afternoon, almost all the fresh local catch sells out.

    Sumie Nouchi, a Tokyo resident, visited the Lalamew seafood market after playing golf in the area with friends. “I was determined to come here and buy fish on my way home,” she said. Her purchases included rosy seabass, greeneye, squid and octopus.

    It’s less about supporting local businesses than because Joban-mono tastes good, she says. “I’m not worried about the treated water discharge. I’ve been checking sampling results and I trust them.”

    The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant started releasing treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the sea on Aug. 24. Officials said it was necessary because more than 1.3 million tons of radioactive wastewater has accumulated in about 1,000 tanks at the plant since its cooling system was destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

    Even with the wastewater release, the tanks are estimated to reach capacity in the first half of 2024, and space at the plant will be needed for its decommissioning, which will take decades — if it’s ever accomplished.

    Before being released, the water is treated to reduce radioactive materials to safe levels. It’s then diluted with massive amounts of seawater to make it much safer than international standards.

    The release, which is expected to continue for decades, was strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries, including South Korea, where hundreds have protested. Beijing immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood. It was a major hit to Japanese seafood producers, processors and exporters — especially those in northern Japan who specialize in scallops and sea cucumbers, which are coveted in China.

    China’s seafood ban and reports of its impact on the Japanese fishing industry may have tempered Japanese criticism of the water release and encouraged people to eat more seafood from the region.

    “Before the discharge began, we were worried that consumers may stay away from Fukushima fish, but we saw a significant increase of our customers asking for Fukushima fish,” said Futoshi Kinoshita, executive of Foodison, which operates the Sakana Bacca chain. “After China’s ban on Japanese seafood, we are seeing more customers buying not only Fukushima fish but also Japanese seafood in general to support the industry.”

    He says fish testing data are key to making consumers confident in the seafood’s safety, but the data alone is not enough. “I believe people who are still concerned about Fukushima fish may develop confidence by seeing their friends or relatives eating it without worry, and I hope the circle of confidence will expand.”

    The International Atomic Energy Agency concluded in a July report that the discharge, if carried out exactly as planned, would cause negligible impact on the environment and human health. The IAEA safety and sampling missions that visited Fukushima after the discharge began said it was going well so far.

    The release of a third batch of water began Thursday, and Tokyo Electric Power Company, the Fukushima plant operator, said everything is moving as planned.

    Japan’s government has set up a relief fund to help find new markets and reduce the pain of China’s seafood ban. Measures include the temporary purchase, freezing and storage of seafood and the promotion of seafood sales at home. Cabinet ministers have traveled to Fukushima to sample local seafood and promote its safety, and the United States Embassy in Tokyo has been helping find new markets, including its military bases in Japan.

    Despite the wastewater discharges, auction prices at Fukushima fish markets have remained stable — or even occasionally higher than normal.

    But Katsuya Goto, a Fukushima prefectural fisheries official, said that the situation is still fragile.

    “Any mishap in the seawater discharges and its sampling results would easily hurt the reputation of the fish, so we have to carefully watch and make sure everything is as planned,” Goto said. “The government and TEPCO have begun this despite local fishers’ opposition, so we must watch and make sure they do it right.”

    More than two months after the discharge began, the support movement is still growing.

    While individual consumers favor ordering fish by mail and shopping at seafood markets, prefectural government cafeterias have started serving Fukushima seafood for lunch.

    The Tokyo Metropolitan Government started an “eat and cheer” subsidy campaign in late October, joined by 1,000 seafood retailers through the end of December. The campaign targets customers interested in high-priced seafood like lobsters.

    In Kyoto, a group of world-renowned Japanese “Kaiseki” cuisine chefs, will develop menus that primarily use Fukushima fish starting early next year. Yoshinori Tanaka at Toriyone, a Kyoto restaurant, and a member of the Japanese Culinary Academy, said dozens of chefs plan to hold tasting events around the country beginning in the spring, and eventually serve their menus at hundreds of restaurants.

    “Home-grown farm and fisheries products are indispensable for Japanese cuisine,” Tanaka said. “Of course the safety of the treated water release is a prerequisite to fight off the negative reputation. We are hoping our project can also contribute to addressing safety concerns that some people still have.”

    Some experts warn that efforts to boost Fukushima fish won’t last forever and the region needs to have long-term measures to revive the fisheries industry in the region while making sure to avoid any safety lapses.

    Fukushima’s fisheries community, tourism and the economy were badly hit and are still recovering. Local fishing was beginning to return to normal in 2021 when the government announced the water release plan.

    Fukushima’s local catch today is still about one-fifth of its pre-disaster levels due to a decline in the fishing population and smaller catch sizes.

    Hiroharu Haga, the manager of Ichiyoshi, a fish store at the Lalamew seafood market in Onahama, said customers increased after the treated water discharge, with many ordering from outside of Fukushima, but he cannot meet all the requests because of a limited supply.

    “I wish I could sell more local fish,” Haga said.

    ___

    Find more AP Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

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  • Cedar Fair and Six Flags will merge to create a playtime powerhouse in North America

    Cedar Fair and Six Flags will merge to create a playtime powerhouse in North America

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    Cedar Fair and Six Flags are merging to create an expansive amusement park operator with operations spread across 17 U.S. states and three countries.

    The combined company, worth more than $3.5 billion, will boast 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. It will also have entertainment partnerships and a portfolio of intellectual property including Looney Tunes, DC Comics and Peanuts.

    Amusement parks have seen an uptick in revenue but have struggled to raise attendance since the pandemic, even as other entertainment sectors have bounced back. A tie-up between two huge players is expected to at least lower costs.

    Cedar Fair reported an attendance of 12.4 million guests in its third quarter, a 1% increase from a year earlier. Six Flags announced a 16% rise in its third-quarter attendance, which totaled 9.3 million guests.

    But amusement parks, including Six Flags, has struggled to get people through the gates, said James Hardiman at Citi Investment Research.

    “Whereas the theme park industry as a whole has been under significant pressure since the start of the pandemic, Six Flags has created additional pressure of its own, with a volatile new attendance and pricing strategy that has struggled to take root, alienating its core customers and leading to dramatic drops in visitation along the way,” Hardiman wrote.

    Six Flags and Cedar Fair, which have little geographical overlap, anticipate $120 million in cost savings within two years of closing the deal.

    Six Flags and Cedar Fair have talked about potential deals before, with Six Flags previously making an offer for Cedar Fair in 2019, but it was turned down. SeaWorld approached Cedar Fair with a bid last year, but that proposal was also rejected.

    Under the agreement announced Thursday, Cedar Fair unitholders will receive one share of common stock in the combined company for each unit owned, while Six Flags shareholders will receive 0.5800 shares of stock in the combined company for each share owned.

    Cedar Fair unitholders will own approximately 51.2% of the combined company, while Six Flags shareholders will own about 48.8%.

    “Our merger with Six Flags will bring together two of North America’s iconic amusement park companies to establish a highly diversified footprint and a more robust operating model to enhance park offerings and performance,” Cedar Fair CEO Richard Zimmerman said in a prepared statement.

    Zimmerman will be president and CEO of the combined company. Selim Bassoul, president and CEO of Six Flags, will become executive chairman.

    The companies said that given their broader geographic footprint as a single company, seasonal volatility should moderate.

    The company’s newly formed board will include six directors from Cedar Fair and six directors from Six Flags.

    The company will be headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and will keep significant finance and administrative operations in Sandusky, Ohio, where Cedar Fair is based.

    Six Flags is now based in Arlington, Texas.

    Once the deal closes, the combined company will operate under the name Six Flags and trade under the ticker symbol “FUN” on the New York Stock Exchange.

    The transaction, which was approved by both companies’ boards, is targeted to close in the first half of next year. It still needs approval from Six Flags shareholders.

    Shares of Six Flags Entertainment Corp. and Cedar Fair LP were essentially flat before the opening bell Thursday, but both are up more than 9% this week after rumors of a deal began to spread.

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  • Eyedrops from CVS, Rite Aid and others carry possible infection risk, FDA says

    Eyedrops from CVS, Rite Aid and others carry possible infection risk, FDA says

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    U.S. health regulators are warning consumers not to use more than two dozen varieties of over-the-counter eyedrops due to the risk of infections that could lead to blindness

    ByThe Associated Press

    October 30, 2023, 11:23 AM

    FILE – A sign for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is displayed outside their offices in Silver Spring, Md., Dec. 10, 2020. U.S. health regulators are warning consumers not to use more than two dozen varieties of over-the-counter eyedrops because of the risk of infections that could lead to blindness. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

    The Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators are warning consumers not to use more than two dozen varieties of over-the-counter eyedrops because of the risk of infections that could lead to blindness.

    The Food and Drug Administration advisory applies to lubricating drops sold by six companies, including CVS Health, Target, Rite Aid and Cardinal Health. Consumers should stop using the products immediately and avoid purchasing any that remain on pharmacy and store shelves, the FDA said in a statement Friday.

    The agency asked the companies to recall their products last week, because FDA inspectors found unsanitary conditions and bacteria at the facility producing the drops. The FDA did not disclose the location of the factory or when it was inspected.

    No injuries related to the products had been reported at the time of the announcement, but the FDA encouraged doctors and patients to submit cases through the agency’s online reporting system.

    Earlier this year, federal officials linked an outbreak of drug-resistant bacteria to eyedrops from two companies, EzriCare and Delsam Pharma. More than 80 people in the U.S. tested positive for eye infections from the rare bacterial strain, according to the most recent update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    After the products were recalled in February, health inspectors visited the manufacturing plant in India that made the eyedrops and uncovered problems with how they were made and tested, including inadequate sterility measures.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Huawei reports its revenue inched higher in January-September despite US sanctions

    Huawei reports its revenue inched higher in January-September despite US sanctions

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    HONG KONG — Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies said its revenue edged higher in the first three quarters of the year, even as it grappled with U.S. sanctions that have hindered both its sales and its purchases of advanced technology.

    The Shenzhen-headquartered firm said Friday that it generated 456.6 billion yuan ($62.4 billion) in revenue for the first nine months of the year, an increase of 2.4% compared to the same period last year.

    Huawei, the biggest maker of network gear for phone and internet carriers, said its net profit margin was 16%, but it gave no basis for comparison.

    Ken Hu, Huawei’s rotating chairman said that the figures were “in line with forecasts.” He thanked Huawei’s customers and partners for their trust and support.

    “Moving forward, we will continue to increase our investment in R&D to make the most of our business portfolio and take the competitiveness of our products and services to new heights,” Hu said.

    Huawei, which is not listed on any stock exchanges, has struggled since former U.S. president Donald Trump put the firm on a blacklist that blocked the Chinese company from doing business with U.S. firms, accusing it of potentially spying for China. The move effectively cut off Huawei’s access to U.S. processor chips and other technology.

    Huawei denies accusations that it is a security risk and insists it does not spy for the Chinese government.

    The firm, which was once a top smartphone maker, fell from top global ranks after it lost access to Google services for its devices.

    Huawei has since pivoted to helping companies, factories and mines to digitize. The firm is a top global spender on research and development and last year invested about a quarter of its total revenue in R&D. It has invested in technologies such as advanced computer chips and autonomous driving.

    In September, Huawei caused a stir after it launched its Mate 60 smartphone series in China.

    The high-end smartphone Mate 60 Pro was found to be using a domestically-made advanced chip, which experts said suggests the firm has begun to overcome U.S. sanctions.

    Chinese shoppers snapped up the Mate 60 phones, giving Huawei a 37% increase in smartphone sales for the third quarter compared to the same period last year, even as other brands such as Apple, Oppo and Vivo saw declining sales growth, according to the market research firm Counterpoint Research.

    Huawei said earlier this week that it launched a health lab in Helsinki, Finland, as part of its efforts to deepen research in health monitoring algorithms for wearable technologies.

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  • Autoworkers reach a deal with Ford, a breakthrough toward ending strikes against Detroit automakers

    Autoworkers reach a deal with Ford, a breakthrough toward ending strikes against Detroit automakers

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    DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union said Wednesday it has reached a tentative contract agreement with Ford that could be a breakthrough toward ending the nearly 6-week-old strikes against Detroit automakers.

    The four-year deal, which still has to be approved by 57,000 union members at the company, could bring a close to the union’s series of strikes at targeted factories run by Ford, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis.

    The Ford deal could set the pattern for agreements with the other two automakers, where workers will remain on strike. The UAW called on all workers at Ford to return to their jobs and said that will put pressure on GM and Stellantis to bargain. Announcements on how to do that will come later.

    “We told Ford to pony up, and they did,” President Shawn Fain said in a video address to members. “We won things no one thought possible.” He added that Ford put 50% more money on the table than it did before the strike started on Sept. 15.

    UAW Vice President Chuck Browning, the chief negotiator with Ford, said workers will get a 25% general wage increase, plus cost of living raises that will put the pay increase over 30%, to above $40 per hour for top-scale assembly plant workers by the end of the contract.

    Previously Ford, Stellantis and General Motors had all offered 23% pay increases. When the talks started Ford offered 9%.

    Assembly workers will get 11% upon ratification, almost equal to all of the wage increases workers have seen since 2007, Browning said.

    Typically, during past auto strikes, a UAW deal with one automaker has led to the other companies matching it with their own settlements.

    GM said in a statement it is “working constructively” with the union to reach an agreement as soon as possible. Stellantis also said it’s committed to reaching a deal “that gets everyone back to work as soon as possible.”

    Browning said temporary workers will get more in wage increases than they have over the past 22 years combined. Temporary workers will get raises over 150% and retirees will get annual bonuses, he said.

    “Thanks to the power of our members on the picket line and the threat of more strikes to come, we have won the most lucrative agreement per member since Walter Reuther was president,” Browning said. Reuther led the union from 1946 until his death in 1970.

    Fain said that the union’s national leadership council of local union presidents and bargaining chairs will travel Sunday to Detroit, where they’ll get a presentation on the agreement and vote on whether to recommend it to members. Sunday evening the union will host a Facebook Live video appearance and later will hold regional meetings to explain the deal to members.

    While on the picket line at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant west of Detroit Wednesday night, local union leaders invited workers across the road to the union hall for a briefing on the deal. As they trickled out of the building, many were smiling and most were relieved.

    “It’s an emotional time for me. I’m emotional,” worker Keith Jurgelewicz said as his eyes welled up with tears. “But just super excited that this is over with. I just can’t wait to get back to work and just get on with my life.”

    Jurgelewicz said he is happy that the end of the strike came during his shift on the picket lines, where he has faithfully appeared for all of his shifts.

    “Hopefully, GM and Stellantis can get their deals done. … Historic day for us,” he said.

    In a statement, President Joe Biden, who had visited GM picketers near Detroit early in the strikes and has billed himself the most union-friendly president in American history, praised the settlement. “I’ve always believed the middle class built America and unions built the middle class,” Biden said. “This tentative agreement is a testament to the power of employers and employees coming together to work out their differences at the bargaining table in a manner that helps businesses succeed while helping workers secure pay and benefits they can raise a family on.”

    Workers with pensions also will see increases for when they retire, and those hired after 2007 with 401(k) plans will get large increases, Browning said. For the first time, the union will have the right to go on strike over company plans to close factories, he said.

    “That means they can’t keep devastating our communities and closing plants with no consequences,” Browning said. “Together we have made history.”

    Ford said it is pleased to have reached the deal, and said it would focus on restarting the huge Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, as well as the Chicago Assembly Plant. The Louisville plant alone employs 8,700 workers and makes high profit heavy duty F-Series pickup trucks and big truck-based SUVs.

    In all, 20,000 workers will be coming back on the job and shipping the company’s full lineup of vehicles to customers, Ford said.

    Ford’s statement made no mention of the cost of the contract. Company executives said last week they were at the limit of what they could pay while still being able to invest in new vehicles and the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles. All three companies have said they don’t want to be saddled with high labor costs that could limit their ability to invest in future vehicles and potentially force them to raise prices.

    “This agreement sets us on a new path to make things right at Ford, at the Big Three, and across the auto industry. Together, we are turning the tide for the working class in this country,” Fain said.

    ___

    Associated Press Writer Mike Householder contributed from Wayne, Michigan.

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  • Autoworkers strike cuts into GM earnings, company sees further loses if walkouts linger

    Autoworkers strike cuts into GM earnings, company sees further loses if walkouts linger

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    DETROIT — A strike by auto workers against General Motors is expected to cut pretax earnings by $800 million this year, and another $200 million per week after that, the company’s chief financial officer said.

    And those figures include only factories that are on strike now with less than a third of the company’s workforce on the picket lines, so if more plants are added by the United Auto Workers union, the losses will pile up further, CFO Paul Jacobson told reporters.

    Those strike are already taking a toll.

    GM on Tuesday posted net income of more than $3 billion from July through September, down 7% from the same period last year due to lost production from the strike, and also increased warranty costs, Jacobson said. The company also withdrew its previous full-year pretax earnings estimates, citing uncertainty over the length of the strike and how many factories would be shut down

    However, excluding one-time items, GM said made $2.28 per share, handily beating Wall Street estimates of $1.87. Revenue of $44.13 billion rose 5.4% and also exceeded estimates of $42.48 billion, according to data provider FactSet.

    That sent shares up 3% before the opening bell Tuesday.

    The UAW has been on strike since Sept. 15 — nearly six weeks — against GM and its Detroit competitors, Ford and Jeep maker Stellantis. So far the union has spared factories that make GM’s most profitable vehicles, pickup trucks and large SUVs, from its targeted strikes. Yet the UAW demonstrated again this week that risks to those money making facilities can rise the longer the strike goes on.

    On Monday, the union shut down Stellantis’ huge Ram pickup truck plant north of Detroit in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Two weeks ago workers walked off their jobs at Ford’s largest and most profitable plant, one that makes pickups and big SUVs in Louisville, Kentucky. So far only 28% of the union’s 146,000 members at the Detroit Three are on strike.

    Jacobson said the third-quarter strike loss was $200 million, since the walkouts were only in effect the final two weeks of the period. He predicted another $600 million of losses from October through December.

    “We remain optimistic and hopeful that we’ll make progress and get this resolved going forward,” Jacobson told reporters.

    He said many have expressed concerns about the company taking on higher labor costs, but GM has planned for it by cutting in other areas. For example, GM’s annual fixed costs will be $2 billion lower than 2022 by the end of 2024, Jacobson said. The company also is slowing electric vehicle production to adjust to slower short-term growth in demand.

    Last week GM announced that it’s postponing production at one Michigan electric pickup truck factory from this year until late 2025 to keep manufacturing in line with demand. That decision will save the company $1.5 billion next year, Jacobson said.

    GM is sticking with plans to increase manufacturing capacity to 1 million EVs per year in North America by the end of 2025, he said. But earlier guidance of building 400,000 EVs in North America through the middle of next year have been scrapped. Jacobson said GM still expects to start turning low-to-mid single-digit profit margins on electric vehicles in 2025.

    Demand for vehicles and prices remained strong through the third quarter, which helped keep GM’s profit high. The company’s U.S. sales rose 21%, and Jacobson said the average U.S. selling price for GM vehicles was $50,750, down only slightly from the previous quarter.

    “So far the consumer has held up remarkably well for us, as evidenced by the average transaction prices,” Jacobson said. “They continue to hang in and I think exceeded most expectations that were set at the beginning of the year.”

    Jessica Caldwell, head of insights for the Edmunds.com auto site, said GM’s sales numbers looked good on the surface, but that could change in the next few months. As cold weather arrives, those in the market are usually looking for larger four-wheel-drive vehicles. But she said a lingering strike could close plants, cut production of those lucrative vehicles and “be harbingers of sales declines during an important stretch of the calendar ahead.”

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  • Malaysia gives nod for Australian miner Lynas to import, process rare earths until March 2026

    Malaysia gives nod for Australian miner Lynas to import, process rare earths until March 2026

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    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s government said Tuesday it will allow Lynas Rare Earth to continue to import and process rare earths until March 2026, after the Australian miner proposed a new technology to extract radioactive elements from the waste it produces.

    The Lynas refinery in Malaysia, its first outside China producing minerals that are crucial to high-tech manufacturing, has been operating in central Pahang state since 2012. But the company has been embroiled in a dispute over radiation from waste accumulating at the plant.

    The government had ordered Lynas to move its leaching and cracking processes — which produce the radioactive waste from Australian ore — out of the country by the year’s end. It also was not allowed to import raw materials with radioactive elements into the country.

    Science Minister Chang Lih Kang said the two conditions for renewing Lynas’ license had been removed after the company proposed a way to extract thorium, the radioactive element, from the raw rare earths it imports and from the more than 1 million tons of waste sitting at its factory.

    The Atomic Energy Licensing Board has studied the Lynas proposal and found it feasible, he said.

    Chang said the government’s about-turn was not a softening of its stance. He said he considered it a win-win situation as it “fulfills our decision not to allow the continuous accumulation of radioactive waste” at the Lynas plant.

    If successful, Chang said the waste can be disposed off quickly and the thorium can be commercialized and sold to nuclear plants overseas or to other industries. Lynas must commit 1% of its gross revenue to research and development, especially on the thorium extraction, he added.

    Lynas welcomed Malaysia’s decision, with CEO Amanda Lacaze saying it will provide a strong foundation for the further development of Malaysia’s rare earths industry. She said Lynas has invested more than 3 billion ringgit ($627 million) in Malaysia.

    Lynas said in a statement it will raise its research and development investment from 0.5% to 1% of its Malaysian gross sales, to develop methods to remove naturally occurring radioactive material from residues.

    Lynas insists its operations are safe. It had earlier taken its dispute with the government to a Malaysian court.

    Last week, Lynas said it will shut down most of its Malaysian operations for the next two months to upgrade its downstream operations. It said the upgrade was essential if its license was updated to allow the company to continue to import and process raw materials from Jan. 1. Lynas said it plans to also undertake further maintenance work on the cracking and leaching facility if operations are allowed to resume as normal.

    Rare earths are 17 minerals used to make products such as electric or hybrid vehicles, weapons, flat-screen TVs, mobile phones, mercury-vapor lights and camera lenses. China has about a third of the world’s rare earth reserves but a near monopoly on supplies. Lynas has said its refinery could meet nearly a third of world demand for rare earths, excluding China.

    Environmental groups have long campaigned against the Lynas refinery, demanding that the company export its radioactive waste. They contend that the radioactive elements, which include thorium and uranium among others, are not in their natural forms but have been made more dangerous through mechanical and chemical processes.

    The only other rare earths refinery in Malaysia — operated by Japan’s Mitsubishi Group in northern Perak state — closed in 1992 following protests and claims that it caused birth defects and leukemia among residents. It is one of Asia’s largest radioactive waste cleanup sites.

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  • Australia’s Lynas to upgrade Malaysian rare earth refinery amid dispute over operating license

    Australia’s Lynas to upgrade Malaysian rare earth refinery amid dispute over operating license

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    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Australian miner Lynas Rare Earths said Friday that it will temporarily shut down most of its operations in Malaysia for upgrading as it deals with a legal battle with the Malaysian government over its operating license.

    Lynas said in a report to investors that a Malaysian court is set to hear in November its application for a stay to allow it keep operating while other administrative and legal appeals are being heard. It didn’t give an exact date.

    The Lynas refinery in Malaysia, its first outside China producing minerals that are crucial to high-tech manufacturing, has been operating in central Pahang state since 2012. But it has been locked in a battle over concerns about radiation from waste accumulating at its plant.

    Earlier this year, the government approved the renewal of Lynas’ license for three years until March 2026. But it said Lynas must move its cracking and leaching processes — which produce the radioactive waste from Australian ore — out of Malaysia. It also is not allowed to import raw material with radioactive elements into the country.

    It said Lynas has produced approximately more than a million metric tons of radioactive waste since 2012.

    Lynas insists its operations are safe and has sought to remove the conditions that it said marked a “significant variation” from the conditions under which it made the initial decision to invest in Malaysia. It has taken its dispute with the government to the Malaysian court and says it is prepared for any outcome.

    Most operations at the Malaysian refinery will shut down for the next two months while Lynas prepares to ramp up its downstream operations, the company said.

    It said the upgrade is essential if its license is updated to allow the company to continue to import and process raw materials from Jan. 1. Lynas said it plans to also undertake further maintenance work on the cracking and leaching facility, if operation are allowed to resume as normal.

    If the license is not extended, Lynas said the additional downstream capacity can be used for a new facility in Kalgoorlie, Australia. Demand for heavy rare earths remain high, largely driven by the global development of electric vehicles.

    “Lynas continues to manage operations to optimize outcomes within various scenarios. Key variables include include the operating license conditions in Malaysia and the start-up and commissioning process in Kalgoorlie,” it said.

    Rare earths are 17 minerals used to make products such as electric or hybrid vehicles, weapons, flat-screen TVs, mobile phones, mercury-vapor lights and camera lenses. China has about a third of the world’s rare earth reserves but a near monopoly on supplies. Lynas has said its refinery could meet nearly a third of world demand for rare earths, excluding China.

    Environmental groups have long campaigned against Lynas’ operations and demanded that the company export its radioactive waste. They contend that the radioactive elements, which include thorium and uranium among others, are not in their natural forms but have been made more dangerous through mechanical and chemical processes.

    The only other rare earth refinery in Malaysia — operated by Japan’s Mitsubishi Group in northern Perak state — closed in 1992 following protests and claims that it caused birth defects and leukemia among residents. It is one of Asia’s largest radioactive waste cleanup sites.

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  • Ford executive chair gets involved in contract talks during uncommon presentation

    Ford executive chair gets involved in contract talks during uncommon presentation

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    DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford called on autoworkers to come together to end a monthlong strike that he says could cost the company the ability to invest in the future.

    In a rare speech during contract talks in the company’s hometown of Dearborn, Michigan, Ford said high labor costs could limit spending to develop new vehicles and invest in factories. “It’s the absolute lifeblood of our company. And if we lose it, we will lose to the competition. America loses. Many jobs will be lost,” said the great grandson of company founder Henry Ford.

    The company, he said, builds more vehicles in America and has more United Auto Workers employees than any company, which has increased its costs in a highly competitive industry.

    Ford has 57,000 UAW workers compared with 46,000 at GM and 43,000 at Stellantis. “Many of our competitors moved jobs to Mexico as we added jobs here in the U.S.,” Ford said.

    The company is near an impasse with the United Auto Workers union, which walked out in targeted strikes at all three Detroit automakers on Sept. 15,

    Last week 8,700 union members walked out at the largest and most profitable Ford plant in the world, the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville.

    Ford said the strike at the Kentucky plant is harming tens of thousands of Americans who work for parts suppliers and Ford dealers. The strike also could cause a fragile parts supply base to collapse, he said. “If it continues, it will have a major impact on the American economy and devastate local communities,” he said.

    There was no immediate response from the UAW early Monday.

    Ford, only the fourth family member to lead the 120-year-old company, said he has watched other countries lose their auto industries, then all of their manufacturing base. He said strong American manufacturing is essential for national security.

    “We need to come together to bring an end to this acrimonious round of talks,” Ford said. “I still believe in a bright future – one that we can build together. I still believe the automobile industry is a major force for good in our country. We will continue to be there when America needs us most.”

    Last week, after the Kentucky strike began, a top Ford executive said on a conference call with reporters that Ford had reached the limit in how much it was willing to spend to end the strike.

    The speech from Ford arrives with the entire auto industry making a historic and expensive shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.

    UAW President Shawn Fain has said Ford and crosstown rivals General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis are making billions in profits, and that workers should get a share. He says the workers should be repaid for sacrificing general pay raises, cost of living adjustments and agreeing to lower wage tiers to keep the companies afloat during the Great Recession.

    The union began striking at targeted factories after its contracts with the companies expired. It started picketing one assembly plant from each company, but that has since spread to 38 parts warehouses at GM and Jeep maker Stellantis. The UAW later added another assembly plant at both GM and Ford.

    Last Wednesday Fain made the surprise announcement that the union would walk out at the Kentucky plant, which makes Super Duty pickups and large Ford and Lincoln SUVs.

    About 34,000 of the union’s 146,000 employees at all three automakers are now on strike.

    Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue, the company’s internal combustion engine business, told reporters Thursday that Ford stretched to get to the offer it now has on the table.

    The apparently widening labor rift suggests Ford and the union may be in for a lengthy strike that could cost the company and workers billions of dollars.

    Fain said on Wednesday that Ford told UAW bargainers for nearly two weeks that it would make another counteroffer on economic issues. But at a meeting called by the union, the company didn’t increase its previous offer, Fain said. “Ford hasn’t gotten the message” to bargain for a fair contract, Fain said in announcing the walkout by 8,700 workers at the company’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville.

    “We’ve been very patient working with the company on this,” he said in a video. “They have not met expectations, they’re not even coming to the table on it.”

    Galhotra called Ford’s offer “incredibly positive” and said Ford never indicated to the union that it would be increased.

    “We have been very clear we are at the limit,” he said on a conference call with reporters. “We risk the ability to invest in the business and profitably grow. And profitable growth is in the best interest of everybody at Ford.”

    The company has a set amount of money, but is willing to move dollars around in a way that might fit the union’s needs, he said, adding that he still thinks it’s possible to reach a deal.

    The union has said Ford’s general wage offer is up to 23% over four years and that it has reinstated cost of living raises. GM and Stellantis were at 20%. But Fain said none was high enough.

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