Bernie Sanders Memes Go International 

With Google Maps Tool 

© Provided by HuffPost Canada Bernie Sanders in Vancouver's Crab Park.

The evolution of a meme is a beautiful thing to watch.

In the 24-hours since the image of a mitten-clad senator Bernie Sanders first drew attention at U.S. President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the meme has naturally changed and evolved. At first the Internet was simply obsessed with Sanders’ “Vermont grandpa-core” look, remarking on how he looked like he was on his way to the post-office, or like a chilly parent at their frigid kids’ outdoor sports game.

Now, the meme’s evolved, and we’ve collectively moved on to simply placing Sanders in places he seems like a natural fit. Because why not imagine Bernie hanging out with sad Keanu or on the Toronto sign?

Of course Canada’s prodigal son Ryan Reynolds got in on the fun with his own spin on the meme. 

But a new web tool makes building your own Bernie memes even easier for the not-so Photoshop savvy, allowing you to drop photographer Brenden Smialowski’s iconic image of cosy Bernie literally anywhere in the world. New York software engineer Nick Sawhney developed the tool, which uses Google Maps to place Bernie at any address or place the service recognizes.

You can simply type a place name or street address, and the webpage will load you your very own version of the Bernie meme. Canadians took the chance to place Sanders in some iconic locales in their own neighbourhoods, like Vancouver’s Congee Noodle House or its international airport.

Or various Toronto-area Chinese restaurants. 

Or even just a driveway in Edmonton. 

Really, we all just love putting Bernie places.

Admittedly some addresses work better than others, like when we tried to plunk Bernie down in front of the old HuffPost Canada office in Toronto.

© Provided by HuffPost Canada This is what happens when you try to input the old HuffPost Canada office into the Bernie meme generator.

On Twitter, Sawhney said the site has crashed several times since its launch due to overwhelming demand. He is funding the server out of his own pocket, and has launched a fundraiser on buymeacoffee.com to fund both the server and associated fees from Google Maps and keep the Bernie memes going.

When asked about the iconic image yesterday, Sanders himself said he wasn’t looking to inspire a meme, but rather was simply bundled up against the cold.

So go forth and put Bernie in front of your childhood home. It’s the least we can do to smile during these trying times.

WATCH: Image of Sanders in mittens goes viral.

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© Provided by HuffPost Canada

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Pacific island nations turn to Beijing-backed AIIB as pandemic sinks economies

By Jonathan Barrett and Praveen Menon

© Reuters/TINGSHU WANG FILE PHOTO: Headquarters of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Pacific island nations are turning to China-led agencies to plug funding gaps in their pandemic-ravaged budgets after exhausting financing options from traditional western partners, stoking fears the region is becoming more dependent on Beijing.

The Cook Islands, a tiny country of around 20,000 people in the South Pacific, turned to the Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) late last year after loans from the U.S. and Japanese-led Asian Development Bank (ADB) and grant from close ally New Zealand fell short.

The US$20 million AIIB loan to the Cook Islands was the second to a strained Pacific economy in the last few months, after Fiji secured a US$50 million facility, signalling the arrival of a development bank closely linked to China's Belt and Road Initiative to the Pacific.

Vanuatu, with a population of 300,000, also announced last week that it had accepted a US$12 million grant from the Chinese government.

While most Pacific island countries have used their natural borders to combat COVID-19 infections, they have faced economic hardship given their reliance on international tourism, a sector that abruptly shut as the pandemic struck.

China's growing reach in the region is unsettling for the United States and its allies, who have been the dominant powers in the Pacific since World War II.

Despite being small, Pacific states boast strategic ports and air strips and control vast swathes of resource-rich ocean. They also represent a vote in some international forums.

"China is very willing to lend money to any Pacific island nation. As much as Australia and New Zealand have encouraged the islands to look to them first it's been a lot easier getting money out of China," said Fletcher Melvin, president of Cook Islands' Chamber of Commerce.

The AIIB did not immediately respond to questions.

FUNDING GAP

One of the most remote outposts of World War Two, Cook Islands has a free association agreement with New Zealand and shared citizenship, though it is its own country.

Almost one-third of Cook Islands' NZ$215 million ($153.2 million) external debt now lies with Beijing-linked bodies, AIIB and China's Exim Bank, up from 16% before the pandemic.

Cook Islands expects to require additional borrowings of NZ$71.2 million ($50.74 million) over the next three years to cover shortfalls, documents show.

Jon Fraenkel, Professor in Comparative Politics at Victoria University of Wellington said Fiji, which has one of the biggest Pacific economies, was desperate for foreign funds after it entered the pandemic in a weak financial position.

The Cook Islands has previously defended its economic ties to China, which has funded several projects, including a water supply system. Its government did not respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

The ADB said in a statement to Reuters that late last year it provided an additional US$20 million loan, which was the "country limit" for the small island nation.

The New Zealand government said it provided a NZ$22 million ($16 million) grant through its aid programme.

After getting what it could from those sources, the Cook Islands then sought funding from AIIB, sources with knowledge of the financing talks told Reuters.

"If the AIIB becomes the primary lender to the Pacific and the region's economic recovery is driven by Chinese lending, then certainly there will be cause for significant concern that economic dependence could be exploited," said Anna Powles, senior lecturer in the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at Massey University based in Wellington.

($1 = 1.4033 New Zealand dollars)

IKEA lowers climate footprint helped by pandemic and energy-efficient light bulbs

By Anna Ringstrom

© Reuters/PHIL NOBLE FILE PHOTO: Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Warrington

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Furniture giant IKEA said it is on track to cut its emissions further after an 11% reduction in its climate footprint in the 12 months to the end of August, partly because of temporary store closures.

Brand owner Inter IKEA said on Monday carbon emissions throughout the value chain - from the production of raw materials to customers' use and disposal - fell in its fiscal year (FY) 2020 to 21.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

The reduction per euro of retail sales - a measure that takes into account that government lockdowns meant most stores closed for several weeks - was 7%.

"Our expectation is that the trend that we started already in FY19 and continued in FY20 will also continue in FY21," Inter IKEA Chief Executive Jon Abrahamsson said in an interview.

"Looking at CO2 emissions divided by sales we do believe we will have a positive development compared to 2020."

Head of sustainability Lena Pripp-Kovac told Reuters the main contributors, beside the pandemic, to curbing emissions were more energy efficient lighting and appliances, followed by more renewable energy use in production and transport.

IKEA, whose emissions shrank for the first time in 2019, aims to be climate positive - to reduce more greenhouse gas emissions than the value chain emits - by 2030. It said on Monday that translates into a cut of at least 15% from baseline year 2016 to 20.4 million tonnes CO2 equivalents.

IKEA said in fiscal 2020 it reached its target that more than 98% of wood in its products be from responsibly managed forests - as certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) - or recycled. It launched a new target that at least a third of wood be recycled by 2030, up from 12% last year.

IKEA, one of the world's biggest wood buyers, in the year used 19 million cubic metres of wood in products and packaging.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; editing by Barbara Lewis)

GOUGING NB MONOPOLY CREATES PETRO PANIC
Irving Oil supporters and skeptics lining up on opposite sides of company price hike request

© CBC News file photo Irving Oil says it needs an 'urgent' increase in petroleum margins to ensure product shortages do not hit consumers.

An initial hearing into Irving Oil's request for increases in petroleum wholesale prices begins today in front of the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board with supporters raising the stark prospect of the company shutting down if it does not get what it is asking for and skeptics warning the board against being manipulated.

"We must be cautiously aware that no business is too big to fail," read one letter on the issue received and posted publicly last week by the EUB.

"They are playing the Board," read another about the company's application.

New Brunswick adopted petroleum price regulation in 2006 and put the Energy and Utilities Board in place to oversee it. Currently wholesalers are allowed to add 6.51 cents per litre to the price of motor fuels they handle (gasoline and diesel) and 5.5 cents per litre to furnace oil.

Irving Oil is applying for a 62.8 per cent (4.09 cent per litre) increase in the allowed wholesale margin for motor fuels and a 54.9 per cent (3.02 cent per litre) increase in the margin for furnace oil

© Robert Jones/CBC News New Brunswick's Energy and Utilities Board has scheduled a full hearing into Irving Oil's request for wholesale petroleum price increases for March 30. It will hear arguments Monday for and against an emergency interim increase.

The increases are substantially more than the 11 per cent growth in inflation that has occurred since the margins last changed in March 2013, but the company says fundamental changes in the oil industry and a sudden collapse in demand for petroleum products caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have rendered those old amounts obsolete.

"Petroleum pricing regulations in New Brunswick were created 15 years ago," Darren Gillis, Irving Oil chief marketing officer, said in an affidavit supporting the application. "They did not contemplate the challenges of the last several years and were not designed to react to a global pandemic."

If granted in full, the increases would apply to all New Brunswick wholesalers and would cost consumers about $60 million per year in higher retail prices.

The Energy and Utilities Board has tentatively scheduled a full hearing into the matter for the end of March, but in its application Irving Oil said its situation is dire and it cannot wait that long for relief.

Instead it is asking for 85 per cent of the requested increase on motor fuels (3.5 cents) and 99 per cent of the increase on furnace oil (3.0 cents) to be granted immediately pending the outcome of the full hearing next spring.

"The entire supply chain in under pressure and at risk," Gillis said in the application. "COVID-19 has exacerbated challenges for the industry and urgent action is required."

That tone has alarmed supporters of Irving Oil who fear the company is in trouble. Last week, the company announced layoffs at its Saint John refinery and worried suppliers have been mobilizing to urge the EUB to grant its request in full.

Eric Lloyd is president of Sunny Corner Enterprises Inc., an industrial construction firm in Miramichi that does business with Irving Oil.

Lloyd wrote to the EUB to say it "must take action to understand the economic forces that are stressing a very important contributor to our economy," and warned it is not "too big to fail" in asking its request be granted.

© Tori Weldon/CBC News Hafsah Mohammad is with the Moncton social justice and climate action group Grassroots NB, one of several groups registered to oppose Irving Oil's application.

Another Irving supplier, Lorneville Mechanical Contractors Ltd. in Saint John, also sent a letter expressing concern about the company's financial health.

"We understand that Irving Oil has identified New Brunswick's highly regulated fuel pricing system as a challenge to its ability to operate reliably and sustainably," wrote Lorneville's president Jim Brewer, in endorsing immediate increases.

Local building trade unions warned the viability of the refinery itself could hinge on the EUB's decision.

"It would be devastating to lose this asset," wrote union president Jean-Marc Ringuette in his letter supporting Irving Oil's request.

But others are skeptical.

A number of anti-poverty, union and social justice organizations have signed up to oppose Irving Oil's application and a clutch of private citizens, like Saint John resident Mary Milander, also sent letters opposing the increase.

"I believe that that the people of Saint John and the whole province have suffered financially much more than the oil industry during the pandemic," Milander wrote to the board.

© Radio-Canada Natural Resources and Energy Development Minster Mike Holland stoked early controversy about Irving Oil's request by writing a letter to the Energy and Utilities Board telling it the application should be dealt with quickly.

Although yet to start, the hearing has already been highly controversial following news last week that New Brunswick Natural Resources Minister Mike Holland sent his own letter to the EUB expressing concerns about Irving Oil's ability to supply products at current prices.

That led to criticism from all three opposition parties and a call for Holland to resign from Green Party Leader David Coon. Premier Blaine Higgs defended Holland's intervention.

The EUB has granted interim relief to applicants in other cases before, but normally on the condition money collected from consumers be returned if the increases are later found to be unjustified.

A complicating factor in Irving Oil's application for immediate relief is that Gillis has acknowledged that other than home heating oil sales, returning money to customers will not be possible.

"In the unlikely case the permanent increase for motor fuels is lower than the interim increase, Irving Oil cannot effectively and fairly rebate the difference," he said.

Posthaste: Don’t write off Canadian pipeline companies just yet — there is plenty of growth left post-KXL

© Provided by Financial Post Steel pipe to be used in the oil pipeline construction of the Canadian government’s Trans Mountain Expansion Project lies at a stockpile site in Kamloops, British Columbia.

Good morning!

Canada’s pipeline sector was shaken up by U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to nix TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline, but don’t write off the industry — and TC Energy — just yet, analysts say.

RBC Dominion Securities Inc. analyst Robert Kwan argues that a decade-long cliffhanger surrounding KXL’s construction was weighing down on TC Energy’s stock and its cancellation ‘cleans up the story’, as it allows investors to focus on the company’s other businesses.

“From a financial perspective, we calculate a modest reduction in EPS (earnings per share) associated with ceasing the booking of capitalized interest, partially offset by not recording non-controlling interest expense associated with the Alberta government’s funding,” Kwan wrote in a note for clients on the weekend.

The Alberta government had committed $1.5 billion to the project last year, with another $6 billion in loan guarantees.

While the analysts’ optimistic notes present a less than bleak picture, the industry now has one less route to the market. Expect environmental groups to turn their attention to the federally-funded Trans Mountain pipeline and Enbridge Inc.’s Midwest pipelines such as Line 3 and Line 5.

Citibank notes that Canadian oil producers don’t need any increase in pipeline capacity, at least over the next two years.

“We remain WCS (Western Canada Select benchmark) bulls and do not see President Biden’s cancellation of KXL as a material headwind to our 2-year view,” wrote Prashant Rao, analyst at Citibank.

However, if Enbridge’s Line 3 expansion and Trans Mountain expansion fails to materialize, “we see the potential for a return to Canada’s historic egress crunch come 2023, but note that Alberta’s authority to resume issuing production quotas remains in the background throughout,” Rao added.

Scotiabank analyst Robert Hope believes that while the KXL cancellation could impact TC Energy’s growth prospects, it also removes a large equity funding requirement and should help the company de-lever.

“TC Energy’s shares have under-performed its peers since the fall, which we attribute to the loss of KXL, but also a flow of funds from TC Energy, which we view as the lowest risk name in the energy (space), into companies with more torque to higher oil prices,” Hope noted. “We view TC Energy as a high quality name at an attractive valuation at a 2021 PE of 13.5x and free cash flow yield of 10.2 per cent. With KXL behind them we believe the narrative on the shares could improve.”

TC Energy’s shares closed $56.39 on Friday, stable after closing at $56.57 per share a day before Biden’s executive order killed the project. Scotiabank has a 12-month target price of $69 on the stock, albeit lower than the $72 per share previously.

BMO Capital Markets also remains optimistic about the prospects of Canadian midstream companies such as Enbridge, TC Energy and Gibson Energy Inc., with the caveat that greater focus on carbon reduction could see profit margins being squeezed over the long term.

“The more aggressive carbon-reduction Net Zero (1.5°C) scenario appears to be already reflected fully in the share prices of GEI (Gibson), ENB, and TRP, but points to 20 per cent downside from current levels for the other midstream companies,” such as Keyera Corp., Inter Pipeline Ltd. and Pembina Pipeline Corp.

“That said, we view the most damaging Net Zero scenario as somewhat of an unrealistic outcome given it would require significant cost and change in societal preferences,” BMO analyst Ben Pham wrote in a note.

Also remain on the look out for consolidation news. Calgary-based investment bank Peters & Co. expects mergers to continue to play a larger role in TC Energy’s growth path, as the company aims to maintain its 5-7 per cent annual growth path.

In addition, the new Biden Administration’s efforts to restrict U.S. production, such as the temporary bans of new oil and gas leasing, could curtail American crude energy production, providing an opening for Canadian fossil fuel products.

“Against a backdrop where we could see U.S. natural gas demand move higher driven by environmental regulations(e.g., coal-to-gas switching), this has the potential to be positive for Canadian production, particularly natural gas,” RBC’s Kwan said.

THE NORTH NEEDS AIRSHIPS AND HIGHSPEED INTERNET

Senator Dennis Patterson Peeved About ‘No Action’ On Nunavut’s Bad Internet

Unlike most jurisdictions in Canada, there is no option for unlimited internet.

Emma Tranter Canadian Press
01/24/2021 

SUNNYGRAPH VIA GETTY IMAGES

Loading Concept laptop screen with typing hands on the keyboard.


IQALUIT, Nunavut — In Nunavut, it’s not unusual for the internet to cut out, slow down or stop working altogether.

Unlike most jurisdictions in Canada, there is no option for unlimited internet. Instead, residents are faced with high prices and heavy fees for higher monthly data caps.

Amy Matychuk, who lives in Iqaluit, says each month she and her fiancé wait for the notice from their internet service provider telling them they’ve reached their data limit.

Matychuk says the couple spends about $250 a month on internet. Her fiancé is completing his masters, which requires him to be on Zoom nearly eight hours a day.

“He’s at the maximum data he can have on his phone, so once we run out of internet at home he can hot-spot to his phone,” she said.

Nunavut’s internet problems aren’t new, but the territory’s senator, Dennis Patterson, says the pandemic has made a bad situation even worse.

“Internet continues to be of crucial importance to remote communities in Nunavut. The situation has sadly not changed,” Patterson said in an interview. 

Only province or territory without fibre internet

A report commissioned by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the land-claim body that represents Inuit in the territory, says the fastest possible internet speed in Nunavut is eight times slower than the national average.

The report states Nunavut is the only jurisdiction in Canada without residential access to internet speeds over 25 megabits per second. The highest possible speed in Nunavut is 15 megabits per second.

Some 86 per cent of Canadian households have access to unlimited data packages and 94 per cent have access to broadband speeds of at least 25 megabits, the report says. It would cost a single Nunavut household at least $7,000 annually to reach the average level of data usage in Canadian households.

Nunavut is also the only Canadian province or territory without access to fibre internet. There are three proposals that could bring it to Nunavut through lines connected to other provinces, but those are still a few years away from completion.

Patterson says one reason internet hasn’t improved in the territory is a lack of competition for service providers. Northwestel, which is owned by Bell, serves all of Nunavut’s 25 communities. Qiniq, its main competitor, also offers internet and mobile phone service but runs off a different network because it doesn’t have access to Northwestel’s.

“It’s like an airport being owned by one airline and other airlines needed to either build their own airport or pay premium rates to access that airport,” Patterson said.

We need immediate relief during the height of the pandemic when all these services in health and education and working at home are so critical. Senator Dennis Patterson

Another reason internet hasn’t improved in the territory is because previously announced federal funding has not been distributed, he added.

“There’s been no action. It’s deeply disturbing to me.”

Last summer, projects in Yukon and the Northwest Territories received $72 million from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to improve broadband internet service.

Nunavut did not receive any money. In a news release at the time, the CRTC said Nunavut projects were deferred to a second round of funding.

“We need immediate relief during the height of the pandemic when all these services in health and education and working at home are so critical,” Patterson said.

The CRTC said in an email that it “is continuing to evaluate the applications submitted to the second call for applications.”

“Further funding announcements will be made as additional projects are approved.”

The CRTC said it could not disclose how many Nunavut projects had applied for funding.

Andrew Anderson, communications director with Northwestel, said the company’s proposal to the CRTC seeks to bring internet speeds up to 50 megabits per second with an option for unlimited internet. Right now, the company’s highest internet package for home users is 150 gigabytes a month and costs $129.

“We’re hopeful that our proposal brings good value to Nunavut and will help meet that standard, but we’re waiting to hear back on that,” Anderson said.

For his part, Patterson will continue to push the federal government to make immediate investments for faster, more affordable internet as the pandemic rages on.

“People still need to work and do schooling remotely. It’s no secret that Nunavut has been subject to internet blackouts.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2021

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Northern internet company secures new satellite

 to fix shortage

© David Gunn/CBC Dean Proctor is the chief development officer of SSi Micro.

Nunavut's main internet service provider has secured more satellite capacity to fix a shortage that forced them to stop taking on new customers. 

SSi has joined a multi-year agreement with a European satellite network SES to increase their internet capacity. 

SSi Canada runs the internet service Qiniq— which is the main provider for Nunavut communities outside Iqaluit. 

"They [SES] have actually liberated a satellite, a whole satellite that was already in space, and pointed it north," said Dean Proctor, SSi's chief development officer. 

Proctor says the satellite covers all of Canada and will allow SSi to continue to provide the same quality service to existing customers while being able to take on new customers. 

In the fall, Qiniq had to stop taking on new customers because they didn't have the bandwidth to take on more users without the quality of the existing service going down. 

"We have been running out of [internet] capacity in Nunavut because there are only so many satellites that deliver service there," said Proctor. "It has been a real issue." 

The deal with SES is the solution to that problem. 

"This is providing much more than we had, but there is much more to be done," said Proctor. 

However, Proctor says satellite is still a much more costly service than other internet options like fibre optic, DSL, or cable — options that don't currently exist in Nunavut because of a lack of infrastructure. 

"We're still not at a point where we can deliver the same capacity for the same price as you would find in southern Canada," said Proctor. 

Proctor says this deal is another step in closing the digital divide in the North and improving connectivity. 

"This is an essential step," said Proctor. "It's one that comes in the time of COVID where more than ever we need this."

Nunavut Broadband - Newest Technology Updates (nunavut-broadband.ca)

French court hears Agent Orange case against chemical firms

A French court on Monday heard a case against more than a dozen multinationals, accused by a French-Vietnamese woman of causing grievous harm to her and others by selling the Agent Orange defoliant to the US government which used it to devastating effect in the Vietnam War.

© Provided by AFP The US used Agent Orange for a decade during its war in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

© KHAM A Vietnamese soldier stands next to a hazardous warning sign by a runway at Bien Hoa air base, a former US air base, on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City

Tran To Nga, born in 1942 in what was then French Indochina, worked as a journalist and activist in Vietnam in her 20s.

She filed the lawsuit in 2014 against 14 firms that made or sold the highly toxic chemical, including Monsanto, now owned by German giant Bayer, and Dow Chemical.

Backed by several NGOs, she accuses the companies of being responsible for injuries sustained by her, her children and countless others, as well as for damage done to the environment.

"A recognition of Vietnamese civilian victims would constitute a legal precedent", said international law specialist Valerie Cabanes.

So far, only military veterans -- from the US, Australia and Korea -- have won compensation for the after-effects of the chemical whose toxic properties Cabanes said were "absolutely phenomenal" at around 13 times the toxicity of herbicides in civilian use such as glyphosate.

Four million people in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were exposed to Agent Orange, according to NGOs, over a decade when the US military sprayed an estimated 76 million litres (20 million gallons) of the herbicide and defoliant chemical to halt the advances of communist North Vietnamese troops and deprive enemy combatants of food sources.

© Mandel Ngan The US ended the use of defoliant chemicals in the war in 1971, and withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, defeated by the Viet Cong

The US ended the use of defoliant chemicals in the war in 1971, and withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, defeated by the Viet Cong.

Agent Orange destroyed plants, polluted the soil and poisoned animals, and caused cancer and malformations in humans, NGOs say.

"I'm not fighting for myself, but for my children and the millions of victims," said Tran To Nga, who says that Agent Orange attacked people's immune system.

She herself was suffering from typical Agent Orange effects, including type 2 diabetes and an extremely rare insulin allergy.

She said she also contracted tuberculosis twice, developed a cancer and one of her daughters died of a malformation of the heart.

Every year, some 6,000 children are diagnosed with congenital malformations in Vietnam, Cabanes said.

The multinationals have argued that they could not be held responsible for the use the American military made of their product.

Contacted by AFP, Bayer said that Agent Orange was made "under the sole management of the US government for exclusively military purposes".

The plaintiff and her lawyers are expected to argue that the makers of Agent Orange misled the US government as to its true toxicity.

The trial in the southern Paris suburb of Evry was originally due to open in October, but its start was postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions.

ola/jh/har

Death of diesel looms as carmakers accelerate to electric future

By Gilles Guillaume

© Reuters/Vincent Kessler FILE PHOTO: Employees of French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen work on the new engine "EB" assembly line at the company engines factory in Tremery near Metz

PARIS (Reuters) - The world's biggest diesel engine factory in Tremery, eastern France, is undergoing a radical overhaul - it's switching to make electric motors.

From less than 10% of output in 2020, electric motor production at Tremery will double to around 180,000 in 2021, and is planned to reach 900,000 a year - or more than half the plant's peak pre-pandemic output - by 2025.

The shift is testament to a car industry in flux. Demand for diesel cars has slumped since a 2015 pollution scandal, while tough new EU regulations, which fine carmakers for exceeding emissions limits, are pushing them to make more electric models.

So, in the midst of a pandemic and with the level of consumer demand for battery-driven cars still uncertain, automakers from Volkswagen to Nissan are ditching diesel models and ramping up output of electric drives.

"2021 is going to be a pivotal year, the first real transition towards the world of electric models," said Laetitia Uzan, a representative for the CFTC union at Tremery.

But for Tremery's 3,000 workers, and the wider car industry, there's an added complication.

Electric motors only have a fifth of the parts of a traditional diesel engine, putting a question mark over jobs.

Uzan acknowledged a risk that fewer staff may be needed, but was optimistic that could happen "quite naturally" as workers retire without being replaced.

Tremery's owner Stellantis - newly created from the merger of Peugeot maker PSA and Fiat Chrysler to help tackle the industry changes - has said it won't close factories and will seek to protect jobs.

But some industry researchers warn Europe's car manufacturers, already suffering from overcapacity, will have to make big cuts in order to deliver the investments needed to catch up with U.S. electric car pioneer Tesla.

French car lobby group PFA estimates 15,000 jobs linked to diesel are at risk in France, out of 400,000 employed by the industry as a whole.

IAB, a German labour research institute, calculates the arrival of electric vehicles could threaten 100,000 jobs in Germany, or about one in eight German auto industry jobs.

'UNPRECEDENTED YEAR'

The transition from diesel is particularly marked in Europe, where sales of diesel vehicles made up at least 50% of the total as recently as 2015, according to data from research group JATO Dynamics, far higher than in both North America and Asia.

At least 20 car models will no longer offer diesel versions in 2021, from Volkswagen's Polo and Renault's Scenic to Nissan's Micra and Honda's Civic, according to researchers IHS Markit, which says 2021 will be "an unprecedented year" in the shift away from diesel.

Meanwhile, a slew of new electric models will hit showrooms.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Britain's car lobby group, expects 29 new fully-electric and seven plug-in hybrid models will be launched in the country this year, compared with 26 internal combustion engine models - only 14 of which will have diesel variants.

There are encouraging signs that consumer interest in electric vehicles is picking up.

In September, EU registrations of electrified vehicles - fully electric, plug-in hybrid or hybrid - overtook diesel registrations for the first time, according to JATO data.

EU sales of fully-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles surged 122% in the first nine months of 2020, at a time when overall vehicle sales fell 29% due to the pandemic.

But they still only accounted for around 8% of total sales, with some drivers put off by the limited availability of charging points and higher cost of many electrified models.

At Renault's Cleon plant near the northern French coast, the switch from diesel is well under way, with only half a building housing the assembly lines for diesel motors while hybrid and electric motors are spread over two whole buildings.

"If an employee came back after several years away, they wouldn’t recognise the place," said Lionel Anglais, a union representative with oversight of manufacturing at Renault.

(Writing by Nick Carey. Editing by Mark Potter.)

COVID: Demand for dogs and cats surges in Germany

Prices for puppies and kittens are exploding on the internet, and animal shelters and breeders have been inundated with inquiries. But the boom has its downsides for the animals.

The COVID pandemic is boosting the trade in puppies in Germany

When Bernadette Dierks-Meyer announced the imminent arrival of a new litter on the homepage of the Labrador Club of Germany, the dog breeder had no idea what she was in for.

"Probably about ten inquiries - as usual," thought the woman who confesses to remember her dogs' birthdays better than those of her children. But within a few days, Dierks-Meyer was bombarded with requests for the little dogs, who are not even born yet.

"I already have over 60 inquiries. I haven't published my phone number, luckily, otherwise, people might even call me at night. And I know of breeders who have many more inquiries," Dierks-Meyer told DW.

As the coronavirus pandemic rages, Germans are discovering their love of animals. Cats and dogs, the traditional favorite animals in this country, are in particular in demand. Even before the pandemic began, one in four German households had a cat, and one in five had a dog. Now, in times of contact restrictions and lockdowns, people are lonely and many who are in furlough or home office have the time to look after a pet. So the requests are shooting up massively. According to the German Kennel Club (VDH), about 20% more dogs were purchased in 2020 than in previous years

Watch video 01:33 Germany: A puppy to cope with the pandemic?

A cuddle in lonely COVID times

"Maybe it's the need for a partner," is Dierks-Meyer's explanation. The Labrador lover, whose basement is filled with trophies from national and international sporting dog competitions, is currently getting heaps of mail from people who are spilling all their family history and raving about their deceased four-legged friend. "These are very, very nice emails," she says. "But I can't give them all a dog, I don't have that many."

The trained veterinarian charges €1,500 ($1,800) for each of her puppies - comparatively little for a pedigree dog. For people who, unlike Dierks-Meyer, do not adhere to the breeders' strict guidelines (two litters in two years) and who see only a lucrative business in the animals, the pandemic has brought golden times.

For some animals, however, these times are anything but golden. 

Last stop shelter

Julia Zerwas knows a lot of animal stories without happy endings. And this is what drives her. She quit her studies in veterinary medicine in Munich to return to where she belongs, and where she started working ten years ago: The Albert Schweitzer animal shelter in Bonn.

"We had a case the other day where a person brought their animal back here because it hadn't settled in after three days," Zerwas says. The shelters are worried that many animals will end up with them once the pandemic is over and people are tired of their newfound hobby.

Already, some 48 dogs, 52 cats and 175 small animals are romping around the area next to a highway in Bonn; even snakes, lizards and pigeons have found a home here. Zerwas and her 20 colleagues are, if you will, intensive care workers for pets: They are there when no one else will help.

Watch video12:01 The loneliness pandemic meets the COVID-19 pandemic

Dog? Cat? Snake?

Whether it's the emergency call from the Eifel region when 125 dogs are discovered in a single house or 100 hamsters who suddenly need a new home in one swoop or a dog that ends up stranded at the shelter after 13 owners gave up on it in despair. Julia Zerwas is used to making the impossible possible, but the coronavirus crisis has presented her with huge new challenges.

"We've had to massively limit public traffic and now only allow visits by appointment. Of course, that means we only find new homes for far fewer animals than before. At the same time, inquiries have increased sharply during the coronavirus crisis," says Zerwas.

The financial situation of the shelter is also a headache for her. "People who visited always used to leave a donation, and we're missing this money now. We just had to start a new appeal because of that."

And what advice does Zerwas have for people who are thinking about getting a pet? "To think really hard about what happens after the coronavirus. Will I still have the time then? And the desire? So does a pet fit into my normal life, or just right now?"
Illegal puppy trade flourishing

"People have been asking shelters if they could have a dog for three months now, just for when they're working from home," confirms Hester Pommerening from the German Animal Welfare League. "And there have been shelters that have gotten 500 requests in a single weekend."

Pommerening says she wants to act as a voice for the animals, which is a full-time job in Germany. Just recently she was in front of a camera demanding an end to the killing of male chicks, she is strongly opposed to animal testing, and has a list of reform demands for agriculture. But now there is a problem that is more topical than ever for her: The illegal puppy trade.

Watch video01:45 Pets getting more time with owners amid pandemic

One click away

The trade in pets is now considered the third-largest source of illegal income in the European Union after organized drug and arms trafficking. The German Animal Welfare Federation said between January and October 2020 75 illegal pet trades were reported, involving more than 800 animals (mainly dogs.) The number of unreported cases is probably much higher.

"The cute pet is just a mouse click away. But we're talking about a living being here that you can't take back to the store as easily as a sweater or a toy," says Pommerening. And yet the prospect is so tempting: If inquiries at breeders or animal shelters are unsuccessful, one look at eBay Classifieds is enough for a huge selection of thousands of faithful pairs of eyes.

"But behind these ads there are often sick animals that have been separated from their mothers too early, are behaviorally disturbed, and are produced under cruel conditions in Eastern Europe," says Pommerening, "Many animals then also die because they have not received any vaccinations at all."

The organized criminal operations in Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Turkey are often very professional: The advertisements can hardly be distinguished from respectable businesses, the prices are normal, and written inquiries get friendly replies.

But on delivery, prospective customers should become a little suspicious: "They often make excuses, so the delivery will have to take place on a parking lot."

And illegal animal traders often even get orders for more than just dogs and cats: Some people want exotic animals such as snakes and even kangaroos.

Pommerening has one main demand for animal lovers during the coronavirus crisis, but also the time after: "Animals should not be sold on the internet. Hands off!"

This article has been translated from German. DW

ASIA
Why the pro-Trump QAnon movement is finding followers in Japan

After emerging among conspiracy theorists in the US, the far-right QAnon movement is expanding to include a small but dedicated band of adherents in Japan. Julian Ryall reports from Tokyo.



Experts point out that social media has made the message of conspiracy theorists far easier to disseminate

Undeterred by the mayhem at the Capitol in Washington and the near-universal condemnation of Donald Trump's failures in the dying days of his presidency, the small but committed Japanese chapter of the far-right QAnon movement is standing by its man.

It is also advancing some absurd, albeit uniquely Japanese theories: The imperial family was replaced by "fakes" during the mid-1800s; Emperor Hirohito was British, an agent for the CIA, and owned the patent for the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the closing days of World War II.

The group clearly has an ax to grind with its monarchy, as members are also convinced that the nearly 20,000 people who died in the tsunami triggered by an earthquake off northeast Japan in March 2011 were victims of the "artificial tsunami terrorism" overseen by Hirohito's son Emperor Akihito, who abdicated in April 2019.

A past tainted by cultish beliefs

A member of the group who goes by the name Eri claims there are at least 500 QAnon followers across Japan and a further 100 people are part of the QArmy Japan Flynn — an allied group that idolizes Michael Flynn. The former national security advisor to Trump had to step down after just 24 days for lying over his links to Russia before the 2016 presidential election.

Watch video 26:06 QAnon: How dangerous are conspiracy theories?

As well as being convinced that Trump legitimately won the 2020 election and has been cheated out of a second term as president, QAnon Japan adherents believe that Japanese politics is "dominated by foreigners" who have sold off the nation's wealth to "global capitalists" through privatization. They also believe that ethnic Koreans are running the government.

Similarly, they believe that "deep state" is implementing a "global human population reduction plan" that has previously relied on war, illness and infertility to control population numbers.

Jun Okumura, an analyst at the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs, says there are some clear parallels with the emergence of QAnon and another cult that briefly shook Japan.

"I look at these people and while they are present and visible in every society, I see this group as being quite similar to the Aum Shinrikyo cult back in the early 1990s," he told DW, referring to the violent quasi-religious organization that released sarin gas on the Tokyo subway system in March 1995, killing 12 people.

"It appears that a small minority of people have their minds wired to accept these outlandish theories in spite of all the evidence and knowledge that is put directly in front of them," Okumura said. "There is even the argument that it is human nature to want to believe that a person is privy to secret information or knowledge that no-one else has."
Conspiracy theories – coronavirus, global warming, monarchs

QAnon Japan followers are convinced that global warming is a lie and that the planet's climate is being artificially manipulated, while the coronavirus pandemic that started in the Chinese city of Wuhan is linked to the introduction of 5G mobile networks "and may function as a controllable electromagnetic weapon," Eri told DW.

Stephen Nagy, an associate professor of international relations at Tokyo's International Christian University, points out that social media has made the message of conspiracy theorists far easier to disseminate.

Watch video 12:06 Spreading conspiracy theories, spreading coronavirus?

"Anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers, those that think the coronavirus was a biological weapon deliberately manufactured in a Chinese laboratory and brought into Japan by North Korean agents – where does it all come from and why do some people fall for these tales?" he asked.

"I remember similar stories in years gone by, but they never gained any real traction then. But now we live in an era where social media amplifies and expands every thought and idea," Nagy told DW.

"And with people now locked down because of the coronavirus, many are going online and falling down the rabbit hole offered by QAnon and others with similar agendas," he added.

In a country that broadly reveres its monarchy, QAnon's opinions on the imperial family are perhaps most surprising.

Eri insists that the members of the real imperial family were "replaced by fakes" during the Meiji era and "Emperor Hirohito had British nationality and is not a pure Japanese," adding that Emperor Hirohito, who was Japan's emperor from 1926 until his death in 1989, was a CIA agent.

QAnon also claims that Hirohito's son and heir, Emperor Akihito, was behind the March 2011 earthquake tragedy.

Not all Trump supporters back QAnon

But many Japanese supporters of Trump's politics are scathing in their assessment of QAnon's conspiracy theories.

"I've noticed their tweets, but none of us is taking them seriously because they are clearly a cult," Yoko Ishii, a conservative activist and journalist who has backed Trump, told DW. "They are not politically influential or a threat as they won't grow, at least among the conservative political community. They are nerds and conspiracy theorists."

But Eri disagrees, insisting that QAnon Japan is "a wonderful grassroots movement that makes everyone happy."

As of January 21, Eri's Twitter account has been suspended.