ANARCHY OF CAPITALISM; THE MARKET

Japan wants TSMC, Sony to build 20 nanometre chip plant -Nikkan Kogyo

EVERY OECD COUNTRY IS DOING 

THE SAME

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's government wants Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd and Sony Group to invest 1 trillion yen ($9.2 billion) to build the country's first 20 nanometre chip plant, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported on Wednesday.

© Reuters/ANN WANG FILE PHOTO: Logo of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), in Hsinchu

The potential factory would be built close to Sony's image sensor plant in southwest Japan, according to a proposal floated by Japan's trade and industry ministry, the report said. It did not provide further details on the proposal or when it was made.


Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida declined to comment on the report at a strategy briefing on Wednesday but said "stable chip supplies are important for Japan to maintain its international competitiveness."

TSMC declined to comment. A ministry spokesman said the report was not true but declined to elaborate.

Bitter trade tension between United States and China has resulted in concern that too much of the world's chip production is located in Taiwan as well as contributing to a global chip shortage that has hit automakers particularly hard.

Japan like the United States is looking for ways to boost semiconductor production at home in a bid to ensure its companies can secure the critical components.

Japan's most advanced semiconductor plant is a 40 nanometre chip factory operated by Renesas Electronics Corp near Tokyo. A 20 nanometre chip is more powerful as it packs more transistors into a smaller space.

U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer this month unveiled legislation to approve $52 billion to significantly boost U.S. semiconductor chip production and research over five years.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly, Ben Blanchard and Ritsuko Shimizu; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

FORDISM2.0

Ford boosts EV spending, outlines 2030 sales targets, shares near 5-year high

"This is our biggest opportunity for growth and value creation since Henry Ford started to scale the Model T," 

© Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay FILE PHOTO: Ford Motor Co's logo pictured in 2019

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co on Wednesday outlined plans to boost spending on its electrification efforts by more than a third and said it aims to have 40% of its global volume be all electric by 2030, sending shares up 6.5% to a near five-year high.

Under a plan dubbed "Ford+" meant to have investors value it more like a technology company, the No. 2 U.S. automaker said it now expects to spend more than $30 billion on electrification, including battery development, by 2030, up from its prior target of $22 billion. It has launched the all-electric Mustang Mach-E crossover, and plans to introduce electric versions of the Transit van and F-150 pickup.

"This is our biggest opportunity for growth and value creation since Henry Ford started to scale the Model T," Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley said in a statement.

Ford and other global automakers are racing to shift their gasoline-powered lineups to all electric power under pressure from regions like Europe and China to cut vehicle emissions. U.S. President Joe Biden has called for $174 billion to boost U.S. EV production, sales and infrastructure.

Ford's 2030 sales target would translate to more than 1.5 million EVs, based on last year's sales. By comparison, rival General Motors Co has targeted annual sales of more than 1 million EVs in the United States and China by 2025.

GM has said it aspires to halt U.S. sales of gasoline-powered passenger vehicles by 2035, and last year said it was investing $27 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles over the next five years.

Some analysts see Ford as trailing its rivals in the electrification race, but Ford officials disagree with that view, pointing to the Mach-E rollout and its other plans.

Ahead of an investor meeting, Ford said it expects to deliver an 8% operating margin in 2023.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based company also said it is forming a new stand-alone unit, called Ford Pro, to focus exclusively on commercial and government customers, a segment Farley sees as a huge growth opportunity for the company.

The company is targeting increasing revenue for the commercial market for hardware and related services addressable by Ford Pro to $45 billion by 2025, up from $27 billion in 2019.

Ford said it will also aim to develop EV batteries under the "IonBoost" brand, from lithium-ion versions to lithium-ion phosphate for commercial vehicles and eventually low-cost solid-state batteries in partnership with startup Solid Power, in which the automaker has invested. Farley expects Ford to cut battery costs by 40% by mid-decade.

Last week, the automaker announced a memorandum of understanding to form a battery joint venture with South Korea's SK Innovation, to make battery cells at two U.S. plants.

Farley also said Ford expects to have 1 million vehicles capable of receiving over-the-air software updates on the road by the end of the year, top the number of vehicles Tesla Inc serves that way next year and scale that to 33 million by 2028.

It sees the overall market for connected functions like driver-assist technologies, new features and upgraded software content, and EV charging hitting a projected $20 billion by 2030.

Ford confirmed it will develop two dedicated EV platforms, one for full-size trucks and SUVs, the other for cars and smaller SUVs. Reuters reported that on Tuesday.

Sources previously told Reuters Ford is planning to launch at least nine all-electric cars and car-based SUVs and at least three electric trucks, vans and larger SUVs, including second-generation editions of the Ford F-150 Lightning and Mach-E at mid-decade. (This story refiles to fix word order in headline)

(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Kremlin critic Khodorkovsky urges Europe to sanction Belarus

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian oil tycoon, called for sanctions against Belneftekhim, Belarus’s state oil company, and Belaruskali, one of the world’s largest producers of potash.

Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former owner of the Yukos Oil Company, spoke out about the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich [File: Matt Dunham/AP Photo]

24 May 2021

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon who fell foul of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, said European countries should punish Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for his act of airspace “piracy” by sanctioning oil and potash producers.

“Roman Protasevich must be freed and the dictator punished,” Khodorkovsky said in a statement to Reuters news agency. “The dictator should be hit where it hurts the most: his wallet.”

“European countries should join United States sanctions against Belneftekhim and sanction Belaruskali,” Khodorkovsky said.

Belneftekhim is Belarus’s state oil company. Belaruskali is one of the world’s largest producers of potash fertilisers.

European leaders threatened on Monday to limit international air traffic over Belarus and possibly restrict its ground transport after a Ryanair passenger plane was forced to land in an incident denounced by Western countries as “state piracy”.

The presidential press service said Lukashenko personally ordered a MiG-29 fighter jet to accompany the Ryanair plane, which was en route from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania, to the Minsk airport, where Protasevich – a journalist and passenger on the Ryanair flight – was arrested at the airport.

Protasevich, 26, is a co-founder of the Telegram messaging app’s Nexta channel, which Belarus last year declared as “extremist” after it was used to help organise large protests against Lukashenko.

Protasevich, who had fled the country for Poland, faces charges that could carry a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

Khodorkovsky condemned the diversion of the plane and the arrest of Protasevich.

“The piratical interception of a civilian aircraft in the Belarusian sky contemptuously disregards international aviation safety rules and is an unprecedented case of using military planes to hunt down a journalist,” Khodorkovsky said.

The incident also drew immediate international condemnation, calls for the activist’s release from the US and other nations, sanctions and an investigation by the United Nations’ civil aviation body.

EU sanctions expected to hit Belarus's potash, oil and finance

EU leaders summit in Brussels

Victoria Waldersee
Thu., May 27, 2021,

LISBON (Reuters) -The European Union will look at hitting Belarus's big potash exports as well as its oil and financial sectors with new sanctions, as punishment for forcing down a Ryanair flight to arrest a journalist, foreign ministers from the bloc said.

European leaders have described Sunday's incident, in which a flight between EU members Greece and Lithuania was pressed to land in Minsk and a 26-year-old exiled dissident and 23-year-old student were arrested, as state piracy. They have promised to impose serious consequences.

Foreign ministers gathering in the Portuguese capital Lisbon on Thursday said they were looking at hitting sectors that play a central role in the Belarus economy, to inflict real punishment on President Alexander Lukashenko.

"The hijacking of the plane and the detention of the two passengers is completely unacceptable, and we will start discussing implementation of the sectorial and economic sanctions," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters before the informal meeting in Lisbon.

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said: "The keyword, I think, is potash. We know that Belarus produces very much potash, it is one of the biggest suppliers globally, and I think it would hurt Lukashenko very much if we managed something in this area."

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the EU should consider hitting the oil sector, while Germany's Heiko Maas spoke of measures to target financial transactions, which diplomats said would probably involve preventing the EU from lending to Belarusian banks.

Exports of potash - a potassium-rich salt used in fertilizer - are one of the major sources of foreign currency for Belarus, and state firm Belaruskali says it produces 20 percent of the world's supply.

The EU statistics agency said the bloc imported 1.2 billion euros ($1.5 billion) worth of chemicals including potash from Belarus last year, as well as more than 1 billion euros worth of crude oil and related products such as fuel and lubricants.

So far this week, Europe has already moved to bar its airlines from using Belarus air space and to keep Belarusian planes out of its skies. But finding a package of sanctions that would change the behaviour of Lukashenko has proven difficult.

Since cracking down on pro-democracy protests last year, he largely ignored three previous rounds of EU sanctions and comparable U.S. measures, mainly blacklists that bar officials from travelling to or doing business in Europe and the United States.

Ministers in Lisbon said new sanctions would include a fourth round of travel bans and asset freezes. They are aiming for agreement on June 21 when they meet in Luxembourg.

Western countries are demanding free elections in Belarus. Germany's Maas said sanctions should continue to be tightened, at least until more than 400 political prisoners there are released.

"As long as this is not the case, the EU cannot relent in paving the way for fresh sanctions," he said.

($1 = 0.8201 euros)

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee in Lisbon and Sabine Siebold in BerlinWriting by Robin EmmottEditing by Hugh Lawson and Peter Graff)

VERSUS BELARUS

BHP taps Nutrien for Canada potash mine partnership - Bloomberg News

(Reuters) - BHP Group is in discussions with fertilizer maker Nutrien Ltd about a partnership in the miner's potash project in Canada, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources.

© Reuters/David Gray FILE PHOTO: A promotional sign adorns a stage at a BHP Billiton function in central Sydney

Potential options include Nutrien acquiring a stake in the Jansen, Saskatchewan mine, or becoming an operator and selling the potash through its channels, the report said, adding that the talks were private and there was no guarantee of a deal yet.(https://bloom.bg/3fmbtHZ)

BHP and Nutrien declined to comment.

Investors have raised concerns over the Jansen project recently, worried that a potash oversupply over the next decade could crimp returns.

Australia-based BHP is the world's biggest listed miner, but does not produce potash, a crop nutrient farmers spread to increase yields.

Nutrien is the biggest global fertiliser producer by capacity, based in Saskatchewan.

Nutrien buying a stake in Jansen makes no sense for either company, BMO Capital Markets analyst Joel Jackson said in a note. A broader joint venture between Nutrien and BHP involving the potash assets of both companies has more potential, Jackson said.

BHP has already sunk $4.5 billion into Jansen and forecast more in annual capital expenditure, as it edges towards making a final investment decision on the mine by mid-year.

(Reporting by Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg and Jeff Lewis in Toronto; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

GREEN CAPITALI$M
An indoor farming startup is valued at $2.3 billion after a historic fundraising round as climate change concerns become more urgent

insider@insider.com (Alex Hickey, Morning Brew) 

Indoor vertical farming. Lianoland Wimons, Sgverticalfarming1, CC BY-SA 4.0

Hello! This story is from today's edition of Morning Brew, an awesome daily email publication read by 2.5 million next-generation leaders like you. Sign up here to get it!

Yesterday, Bowery Farming announced a $300 million fundraising round that included A-list investors like Natalie Portman, José Andrés, and Lewis Hamilton. Justin Timberlake also chipped in.

The startup, now valued at $2.3 billion, grows produce using indoor vertical farming setups. Its 13 varieties of greens are sold in 850 stores, and with its new funds it'll build additional farms and expand into new crops including tomatoes, strawberries, and carrots.

Sci-fi farming is catching on

Climate change concerns and a renewed focus on the food supply chain have contributed to increased investor appetite for indoor farming. Last year, global VC investment in indoor farms tripled to almost $1.9 billion.

Bowery's deal is the biggest on record for the industry, but competitors have scored plenty of dough in recent months, including BrightFarms ($100 million last October), "Omakase" strawberry grower Oishii ($50 million in March), and AppHarvest, which SPAC'd in February and is now worth $1.5 billion.

Zoom out: The indoor farming sector is growing but is still just a wee seedling. In 2019, California grew nearly 4x more pounds of lettuce than all indoor-grown veggies across the country combined.

A woman will helm the Louvre for the first time in its 228-year history

Vincent Noce 

ART NEWSPAPER

26/5/2021

For the first time since its creation in the wake of the French Revolution, the Musée du Louvre in Paris will be headed by a woman. Laurence des Cars, 54, the current president of the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée de l'Orangerie, was appointed on Wednesday as the new president-director of the Louvre by French President Emmanuel Macron.

© Julien Mattia/Le Pictorium/Cover Images/AP The Louvre Reopens To The Public 

On September 1, Des Cars will replace the museum's leader of eight years, Jean-Luc Martinez, who had been seeking a third term but had recently come under fire while seeking reappointment. Martinez, a trained archaeologist from a working-class background, became director in 2013 after a long reign by upper-class art historians. Des Cars' nomination appears to be a return to this tradition. Descended from a French noble family of writers, she is a specialist in 19th-century painting.

Des Cars started her career as a curator at the Musée d'Orsay in 1994, before taking charge in 2007 of Agence France-Muséums, the French government body responsible for delivering the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The 965 million euro ($1.1 billion) project was hindered by serious delays and growing exasperation from the United Arab Emirates, and when Martinez took the Louvre directorship, he replaced Des Cars with the curator and archaeologist Jean-François Charnier.


Des Cars became the director of the Musée de l'Orangerie in 2014, followed by the Musée d'Orsay in 2017, where she has emphasized the social role of the museum. Under her leadership, the Orsay held an acclaimed 2019 exhibition on representations of Black female figures in 19th-century Western painting. Earlier this month, the museum reopened following coronavirus restrictions with a show on the impact of Darwinism on the arts of the time. In March, the Orsay was also the first French museum to voluntarily restitute a painting looted by the Nazis.

Des Cars immediately pledged to extend the opening hours of the Louvre, which currently closes its doors at 5:30 p.m., in order to attract younger visitors, a move that Martinez previously told The Art Newspaper he had also planned. According to a statement from the French culture ministry, the new director's priorities will include fostering a "dialogue between ancient art and the contemporary world" and broadening the museum's audiences with particular attention to young people. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Louvre depended on international tourists who, according to a museum press release, accounted for around 75% of visitors in 2019.

On Wednesday, Macron also appointed Martinez as a special ambassador for international co-operation on cultural heritage. In 2015, after the destruction of museums and sites in Mosul, Iraq, and Palmyra, Syria, Martinez authored the report on the fight against terrorism, archaeological looting and trafficking, which was submitted by France to the G7.

Read more stories from The Art Newspaper here.

© Matthias Balk/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Laurence des Cars, who will be the new president-director of the Louvre, is pictured here at an exhibition at Kunsthalle Muenchen in Munich, Germany, in September 2017.

CANADA

Civilian DND employee says she was punished for speaking up about harassment

Duration: 02:01 

While the military is under intense scrutiny for sexual misconduct, a former civilian Department of National Defence employee says she was punished for speaking up about her experience with racism and sexual harassment years ago.

cbc.ca

#PRIDE

Karine Jean-Pierre makes history giving White House briefing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday became the first openly gay woman to deliver the White House press briefing and only the second Black woman in history to take on the role.

AND A HAITIAN IMMIGRANT

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Jean-Pierre, the White House principal deputy press secretary, had briefed reporters aboard Air Force One, but Wednesday marked her first time before the lectern for a televised briefing.

“It’s a real honor to be standing here today,” Jean-Pierre told reporters, when asked about her historic turn. “Clearly the president believes that representation matters, and I appreciate him giving me this opportunity.”

Judy Smith, who served as deputy press secretary to President George H.W. Bush in 1991, was the first Black woman to take on the role.

Jean-Pierre is seen as a potential successor to current White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who has publicly said she only intends to serve in the role for about a year, and Wednesday’s appearance was seen as an audition of sorts for the job. Jean-Pierre fields press requests and makes frequent appearances for the Biden administration on cable news.

“Today is a big day in the press office and @WhiteHouse. My partner in truth--@KJP46 is doing her first full briefing from the podium today making history in her own right. But doing her real justice means also recognizing her talent, her brilliance and her wonderful spirit,” Psaki tweeted.

On Wednesday, like Psaki and generations of White House spokespeople before her, Jean-Pierre leaned heavily on a binder full of prepared notes and statements, as she fielded questions on topics including the Tokyo Olympics and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Jean-Pierre, who was born in Martinique to Haitian emigrants and grew up in New York City, has spoken publicly about how her own experiences as an immigrant have informed her lengthy career in politics.

“I am everything that Donald Trump hates,” she said in a video for progressive organization MoveOn in 2018. “I’m a Black woman, I’m gay, I am a mom. Both my parents were born in Haiti.”

During the 2020 campaign, Jean-Pierre was now-Vice President Kamala Harris’ chief of staff. She previously worked on both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, ultimately serving as national deputy battleground states director for the 2012 campaign. In between, Jean-Pierre worked in the Obama administration, serving as the White House liaison to the Labor Department and later as regional director in the White House Office of Political Affairs.

Jean-Pierre is one of a handful of potential Psaki successors, a list that includes Symone Sanders, Harris’ chief spokesperson, who has tamped down speculation over her interest in the role. Sanders showed support for Jean-Pierre on Wednesday with a tweet offering her congratulations.

“I will be raising my coffee cup during the WH press briefing in celebration of representation, aptitude and brilliance. The ancestors are proud,” she tweeted.

Alexandra Jaffe, The Associated Press

UK

Sasha Johnson: Five arrested in connection with shooting of British BLM activist

By Schams Elwazer and Sharon Braithwaite, CNN 

London police have arrested five men on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the shooting of prominent Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson.

Activist Sasha Johnson uses a megaphone at the head of a gathering in Westbourne Park to taking part in the inaugural Million People March march from Notting Hill to Hyde Park in London on August 30, 2020, to put pressure on the UK Government into changing the "UK's institutional and systemic racism". - The march is organised by The Million People Movement, and takes place on the bank holiday weekend usually associated with the Notting Hill Carnival, this year cancelled due to the coronavirus covid-19 pandemic. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP) (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Johnson, a 27-year-old mother of three, has been in critical condition in hospital since she was shot in the head at a house party in south London on Sunday.

A 17-year-old was arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon and possession with the intent to supply class A drugs, according to a Wednesday statement from Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Richard Leonard.

Three men -- aged 18, 19 and 28 -- were arrested on suspicion of affray (a group fight) and possession with intent to supply class B drugs, while a fifth man, who is 25, was arrested on suspicion of affray and failing to stop for police, the statement said.

"While the investigation remains in its early stages, these arrests show that progress is being made. However, I would continue to appeal to those who may hold information about the events that led to Sasha receiving her horrific injuries, or about those responsible, to do the right thing and come forward and speak to police," Leonard said. He added that all five men remain in custody.`

Johnson and her political party -- the Taking the Initiative Party (TTIP) -- rose to prominence last year after she helped organize a series of protests against institutional racism in the UK in the wake of George Floyd's murder.

Sasha Johnson - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasha_Johnson

• Sasha Johnson is a British Black Lives Matter activist and member of Taking The Initiative Party. A graduate of Ruskin College, she has been involved in Rhodes Must Fall, Black Lives Matter and Kill the Bill protests. On 23 May 2021, Johnson was shot in the head. Two days later, five people were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

US embassies authorized to hang Black Lives Matter flags, banners by Blinken

In advance of the one-year anniversary of George Floyd's murder, Secretary of State Antony Blinken authorized all U.S. embassies and consulates overseas to fly the Black Lives Matter flag on their official flagpole this year, according to an internal memo obtained by ABC News.

Duration 1:38
What is Black Lives Matter?

All U.S. diplomatic posts are "strongly encouraged" to use the department's resources "to promote policy objectives to advance racial equity and support for underserved communities," especially on May 25 and during June to commemorate Juneteenth, according to Blinken's memo.

That includes support for using "the term 'Black Lives Matter' in messaging content, speeches, and other diplomatic engagements with foreign audiences to advance racial equity and access to justice on May 25 and beyond."MORE: A year after George Floyd's death, America is still grappling with police violence and reform

That push to promote racial justice and equality has been a cornerstone of Blinken's short time at the agency, rankling critics, including his predecessor Mike Pompeo.

© Danny Lawson/AP People take part in a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, England, June 6, 2020.

Last year, demonstrations in the U.S. that started over Floyd's murder and spread to protest racial injustice were swiftly swept overseas to dozens of countries, often addressing local issues as well. In Colombia, for example, protesters denounced the killing of Floyd and Anderson Arboleda, a young Afro-Colombian man whose family said he was beaten by police and later died, while in France, Floyd's killing reignited mass demonstrations over the death of Adama Traoré, who died in French police custody.

©Thanassis Stavrakis/AP A Black Lives Matter banner, marking the one-year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, hangs from the U.S. Embassy in Athens, May 25, 2021.

In a video released Tuesday, Blinken said the U.S. can only be a "credible force for human rights around the world" if it faces "the realities of racism and hatred here at home."

MORE: Biden admin. grants 'blanket authorization' to fly Pride flag at embassies

The video, which includes U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield and other senior U.S. officials, was shared by U.S. posts around the world.

"We can't sweep our shortcomings under the rug or pretend they don't exist. We need to face them openly and honestly, even if that's ugly -- even if that's painful," Blinken says in it, under photos of protests held around the world last year.

His internal memo encourages embassies and consulates to plan events and messaging around that theme, but "as appropriate and depending on local context."

The phrase "Black Lives Matter" and the surrounding issues can be a source of greater sensitivity in certain countries, including Colombia where protests against tax reform in April have more recently taken on police violence after police used deadly force against demonstrations. But the Colombian government remains a critical U.S. partner in Latin America, making any political statements by the U.S. embassy there more difficult in a fraught political environment.

"On the anniversary of George Floyd's killing, we reaffirm that what distinguishes the U.S. is not that we are perfect. It is that we face our flaws and challenges openly to move forward, defend our core values, and demonstrate the resilience of our democracy," the U.S. embassy in Bogotá tweeted Tuesday, mirroring Blinken's words.

Back in Washington, the top U.S. diplomat has unveiled some of his own policies to do just that, speaking repeatedly about the need to diversify the State Department's historically white and male ranks. Last month, Blinken announced that he had tapped veteran diplomat Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley to be his chief diversity and inclusion officer, the department's first ever.

© Mandel Ngan/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Former ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley speaks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that she would be the first chief diversity officer in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the State Department in Washington, D.C., April 12, 2021.