Google to buy more office space in NYC as big tech swoops down on real estate


(Reuters) -Google plans to buy an office building in Manhattan for $2.1 billion, as the Alphabet Inc-owned search engine giant joins fellow technology companies in investing in prime real estate, even as hybrid work models become common.

© Reuters/ANDREW KELLY FILE PHOTO:

 A logo is seen on the New York Google offices in New York City

The deal for St. John's Terminal site in New York City, which Google currently leases, will complete in the first quarter of next year, Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said in a blog post https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/increasing-googles-investment-in-new-york on Tuesday. The space is expected to open by mid-2023.

Tech giants, with billions of dollars in cash reserves, have been taking advantage of lower office building prices across cities in the United States.

Amazon.com Inc's $978 million purchase of the Lord & Taylor building on Fifth Avenue last year and Facebook Inc's leasing of the Farley Building across from Madison Square Garden are seen as prime examples for Manhattan's real estate prospects.

Tech was the top industry for the second straight year in Manhattan leasing activity, brokerage CBRE Group Inc said in January this year.

While Big Tech is growing its footprint, others are vacating office spaces as pandemic-led remote working has prompted companies to reassess the need for real estate.

Financial firms, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, were looking to sublet big blocks of office space in Manhattan, according to media reports https://www.reuters.com/article/us-jpmorgan-realestate-idUSKCN2AU2KS from earlier this year.

Google's latest investment "builds upon our existing plans to invest more than $250 million this year in our New York campus presence," Porat said.

The investment comes at a time when most of its employees are working remotely and it has extended its voluntary return-to-office policy through January.

(Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

H2
Toyota CEO: Going All-EV Could Cost Japan Millions Of Jobs
Dan Mihalascu 4 days ago

"In achieving carbon neutrality, the enemy is carbon dioxide, not internal combustion," Akio Toyoda argues.

Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, who is also the chairman of Japan’s automaker association, is not happy with the Japanese government’s EV-centric push for carbon neutrality.

The executive said that going all-EV could cost Japan 5.5 million jobs and 8 million units of lost vehicle output by 2030. At a regular meeting of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) where he was joined by top execs from Honda, Yamaha, and Isuzu, Toyoda warned that the potentially overzealous green manufacturing goals pushed by Europe-inspired Japanese authorities are unsustainable.

The government aims to slash Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach net carbon neutrality by 2050 by going all-EV. However, Toyota’s CEO believes the road map should take into account the reality that Japan’s economic lifeblood stems from manufacturing.

A sudden shift to EVs could undercut Japan’s industrial base, Toyoda argues, so he proposes a wider approach to carbon reduction instead.

"Japan is an export-reliant country. Thus, carbon neutrality is tantamount to an issue of employment for Japan. Some politicians are saying that we need to turn all cars into EVs or that the manufacturing industry is an outmoded one. But I don't think that is the case. To protect the jobs and lives of Japanese people, I think it is necessary to bring our future in line with our efforts so far.”

The executive noted that Japanese automakers produce about 10 million vehicles a year at home, about half of which are exported. He cited forecasts projecting that by 2030, domestic plants will still be making 8 million vehicles a year equipped with combustion engines, including hybrids and plug-in hybrids.

Once those vehicles are banned, automakers will take a big hit, Toyoda said, leaving companies with a tough decision: either send production of such vehicles overseas or end it entirely.

"This means that production of more than 8 million units would be lost, and the automotive industry could risk losing the majority of 5.5 million jobs. If they say internal combustion engines are the enemy, we would not be able to produce almost any vehicles.”

When it comes to offering solutions, Akio Toyoda argues that the path to carbon neutrality should be adapted to each country's conditions. More specifically, there should be more freedom on which technologies are used to get there, as long as the result is the same: an overall reduction in carbon emissions.

"In achieving carbon neutrality, the enemy is carbon dioxide, not internal combustion. To reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it is necessary to have practical and sustainable initiatives that are in line with different situations in various countries and regions."

Unsurprisingly, Toyoda says that hybrid vehicles still have significant contributions to make toward carbon neutrality, even though they are equipped with internal combustion engines. That’s because hybrids are more affordable than EVs and can penetrate markets where charging infrastructure is nonexistent.

In addition, technical improvements are making hybrids cleaner each year. At the same time, hybrids can be used as a bridge technology toward EVs and zero emissions, helping lessen the blow to jobs that make parts for engines and transmissions.

"In achieving carbon neutrality, the enemy is carbon dioxide,
not internal combustion," 

GAZ WARS
Ukraine’s Naftogaz CEO accuses Russia of using gas as a geopolitical weapon as energy crisis deepens

Sam Meredith 2 hrs ago


European households face a steep jump in energy bills, with nerves growing ahead of winter as power and gas prices soar.

Speaking to CNBC via video call, Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko said Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom was manipulating the region's energy crisis to try to strengthen the case for starting flows via Nord Stream 2.

"It is happening at the moment … Record prices that really hurt the economy of Ukraine [and] not just Ukraine, the whole region basically. If it is not an economic war, what is that?" Vitrenko said.

Provided by CNBC Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko.

LONDON — The chief executive of Ukrainian state energy giant Naftogaz has accused Russia's Gazprom of using natural gas as a geopolitical weapon, calling on the U.S. and Germany to take action against Moscow while it awaits regulatory approval for a controversial pipeline project.

It comes shortly after the International Energy Agency, the world's energy watchdog, intervened to call on Russia to send more gas to Europe to alleviate the region's deepening supply crunch.

The IEA's statement on Tuesday was seen as a rare rebuke of the Kremlin and lent further support to the view that Moscow has played a role in Europe's energy crisis — alongside market drivers such as extremely strong commodity prices and low wind output.

European households face a steep jump in energy bills, with nerves growing ahead of winter as power and gas prices soar.

Speaking to CNBC via video call, Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko said Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom was manipulating the region's energy crisis to try to strengthen the case for starting flows via Nord Stream 2.

Gazprom did not respond to a CNBC request for comment.

The pipeline is designed to deliver Russian gas directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine and Poland.

Critics argue the pipeline is not compatible with European climate goals, deepens the region's dependence on Russian energy exports and will most likely strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin's economic and political influence over the region.

The construction of Nord Stream 2 was completed earlier this month. Germany's energy regulator has since said it now has four months to complete certification of the project after receiving all necessary paperwork for an operating license.

© Provided by CNBC A facility near the starting point of the Nord Stream 2 offshore natural gas pipeline.

Naftogaz's Vitrenko said Gazprom was deliberately withholding gas supplies to Europe, blocking access to the gas transmission system of Ukraine from other Russian companies and blocking exports from Central Asia that could go to Ukraine via Russia.

"This is a very clear sign that they are using gas as a geopolitical weapon at the moment," Vitrenko said.

Kyiv's relations with Russia plummeted in 2014 after Moscow annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region. Ukraine says the seven-year conflict has killed more than 14,000 people.
Germany's warning to Russia

Benchmark European gas prices have skyrocketed more than 250% since January, while benchmark power contracts in France and Germany have both doubled.

EU energy ministers held meetings in Slovenia this week to discuss the bloc's energy policy.

Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to ease long-running concerns about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline during her final visit to Kyiv before leaving office.

Speaking last month alongside Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Merkel said sanctions may be imposed against Moscow if gas was being used "as a weapon."

Analysts have questioned how Germany or Europe would determine that to be the case.

 Provided by CNBC German Chancellor Angela Merkel gives a joint news conference with Ukrainian President following their talks at the Mariinsky palace in Kiev, on August 22, 2021.

When asked whether Naftogaz had faith Germany would take appropriate action if Russia's Gazprom was deemed to be using gas as a geopolitical weapon, Vitrenko replied: "We already see that Gazprom is using gas as a geopolitical weapon. So, it is not about the future, but we are telling them that Gazprom has been using gas as a geopolitical weapon for years."

"It is happening at the moment … Record prices that really hurt the economy of Ukraine [and] not just Ukraine, the whole region basically. If it is not an economic war, what is that?"

Germany's ministry for economic affairs and energy declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.
U.S. Senate panel to discuss Nord Stream 2

Naftogaz's chief executive said he expects President Joe Biden's administration to immediately reconsider its decision to waive sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, the Gazprom-owned, Swiss-registered company working on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

A further delay to lift the waiver would make such a decision "more and more difficult," Vitrenko said.

Biden's administration concluded in May that Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO engaged in behavior that warranted sanctions. However, Biden waived the sanctions to allow time to work out a deal and continue building ties with Germany.

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to discuss the matter at a closed-door hearing next week. It comes amid intensifying pressure from some Congress members to drop the waiver and impose sanctions.

"First, you show you are compliant and only then you are allowed basically to operate. That's how it works," Vitrenko said.

"We expect the U.S. government will reconsider their decision and remove this waiver and will impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2. And then … when they see Gazprom has stopped using gas as a geopolitical weapon, when they see that Gazprom and its subsidiary change something so that they are now compliant with European rules, then these sanctions will be removed. That's the logical approach."

"When somebody's in breach, somebody's using gas as a geopolitical weapon, you sanction thi

Childcare plan best hope for boosting Canada's economy
Larysa Harapyn 19 hrs ago

© Provided by Financial Post Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits children at a daycare in St. John's, N.L. in July. The province struck a deal with Ottawa for a $10-a-day child-care program

National Post’s John Ivison and Financial Post’s Kevin Carmichael talk with Larysa Harapyn of the Financial Post about what’s next for Canada’s political parties after the federal election.

GLOBALIZTION IS FORDISM ABROAD

Vietnam's carmaker VinFast eyes more countries for its European strategy

TURIN (Reuters) - Vietnamese carmaker VinFast could add other markets in 2023 to expand its European strategy beyond a planned debut in Germany, France and the Netherlands next year.

© Reuters/Nguyen Huy Kham FILE PHOTO: 

Workers at Vinfast's auto plant on the occasion of its opening ceremony in Hai Phong city

The company, a unit of Vingroup JSC Vietnam's largest conglomerate which some have called "Vietnam's answer to Tesla", will debut in Europe next year with two battery electric SUVs models, the midsized VF e35 and the seven-seater VF e36, both designed by Italy's Pininfarina.

The two models launch in Vietnam, North America and Europe around mid-2022, after an unveiling planned later this year.

VinFast became Vietnam's first fully fledged domestic car manufacturer when its first gasoline-powered models built under its own badge hit the streets in 2019.

VinFast's B2B Sales Vice President Emiel Hendriksen said on Thursday it was also looking at Italy, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Austria for a second step in its European strategy.

"We're considering those countries for 2023," he said during a presentation at Pininfarina headquarters in Turin.

VinFast will initially rely on a direct distribution model in Germany, France and the Netherlands, based on property showrooms, but could later consider an agency-model for sales in other countries, Hendriksen said.

The company sold about 30,000 vehicles domestically last year and had set a target of selling 15,000 electric vehicles in 2022, although its representatives did not provide detailed forecasts for the European market on Thursday.

Earlier this year sources said parent Vingroup JSC was considering an U.S. initial public offering (IPO) of its car unit that could value VinFast at about $60 billion, though an initial second-quarter deadline for the deal mentioned by one of the sources was delayed.

VinFast Europe CEO Bich Tran said any IPO decision was up to the company's headquarters in Vietnam.

"Our European plans are independent from any IPO. We're carrying on with our plans, everything in Europe is moving as planned," she said.

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, editing by David Evans)

CO-OP

Canada's Federated Co-operatives looks to sell oil-producing business, keep refinery

By Rod Nickel 20 hrs ago

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canada's Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) put its oil production business up for sale this week, according to a marketing document obtained by Reuters, but the co-op said it plans to keep its Saskatchewan refinery.

FCL spokesperson Cam Zimmer did not comment on the reason for offering to sell the production business but said the co-op is committed to owning its Regina, Saskatchewan refinery long-term.

FCL, which made C$7.9 billion in sales last year from energy, crop supplies and food, is offering to sell its crude unit, which includes a production base of 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, mostly liquids, and 550,000 hectares of land across Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, according to the document issued on Monday by Bank of Montreal.

The bank is handling the sale.

Also for sale is FCL's stake in a carbon capture project at Weyburn, Saskatchewan operated by Whitecap Resources.

The assets may be worth C$80 million to C$100 million ($79.07 million), an industry source said.

In May, FCL said it planned to cut an undisclosed number of jobs at the refinery, after pandemic lockdowns hit its energy revenues in 2020.

More than half of FCL's revenue came from energy last year, according to its annual report.

($1 = 1.2647 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by David Gregorio)

Oilpatch expects new emissions targets ahead of major climate conference

Geoffrey Morgan 2 days ago

© Provided by Financial Post A pump jack near Granum, Alberta, May 6, 2020.


CALGARY — The Canadian oilpatch expects a freshly re-elected federal government will move ahead with new emissions targets in a matter of months as Ottawa prepares for a major climate-change conference in November.

“We don’t want to be sitting back and having things happen to us,” said Brian Schmidt, president and CEO of Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd., adding the industry plans to reach out to officials in Ottawa on expected policies such as methane reduction targets. “How do we work together on what kind of commitments we’re going to make in November?”

After Monday’s federal election returned the Liberals to a minority government, oil and gas executives and policy analysts said they believe new greenhouse gas targets are likely to be enacted to coincide with the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) global climate summit in Glasgow, U.K., in November.

Companies are now re-reading the Liberal platform — which included increasing methane emission reductions targets from 45 per cent to 75 per cent and new interim CO2 emissions targets by 2025 — to understand what’s coming in an effort to engage with Ottawa.

Schmidt said the oil and gas industry had a productive relationship with Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan, and expects to work “collaboratively” again since “oil and gas was not a central part of any party’s platform.”

“I suspect that if we get the right players in the right ministries, they will see us as collaboratively working with them to move the industry in the right direction here, including emissions reductions and investment,” he said.

In years past, Canadian federal and provincial governments have announced emissions reduction policies immediately ahead of major conferences in an effort to draw accolades during the summits — and the same approach is expected before planes depart for Scotland.

“If we’re going to see larger changes or new flags being pointed, it’s likely to be around November, when COP26 takes place,” said Marla Orenstein, director of the natural resources sector at the Canada West Foundation.

“That is when, I suspect the current government would like to come out strong and appear on the world stage with — hopefully achievable, hopefully implementable — strong climate policy,” she said.

Orenstein said the Liberals campaigned largely on the same suite of climate-change policies that they had already begun implementing while in power, although the party did add interim emissions reductions targets for the energy industry on the campaign trail.

“The results have given us continuity — more of the same— with what came before and I think we can assume that the policies themselves are going to follow,” she said, noting that the balance of power in Parliament is a near replica of what it was before the election was called.

Tristan Goodman, president of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (EPAC), which represents small- and mid-sized oil and gas producers, said the industry is expecting a few “minor changes” in federal policy, including the interim targets and additional methane reduction targets.

“We have a fairly good understanding in the energy business where the government is moving. We don’t expect significant change from the consistent policy agenda on climate,” Goodman said.

But some energy executives believe climate policy and energy policy in the country has not been stable — and don’t expect predictability even after Monday’s election gave the Liberals a minority government with an almost identical seat count as the 2019 vote.

“What we do need is we need stability and certainty of policy. We do not have that in Canada — we do not, it’s fluctuating all over the place,” said Grant Fagerheim, president and CEO of Whitecap Resources Inc., which produces 117,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Fagerheim said Canada’s long-term emissions targets have changed multiple times in recent years — most recently on July 12 to an up to 45 per cent cut below 2005 emissions — with little consultation with the industry. “The goal posts move with no consultation,” he said.

Environmental groups have pointed to the fact that all major parties campaigned on platforms with serious climate change policies and, as a result, the incoming government should take bolder action on emissions policies targeted at the oil and gas business.

“The Liberal Party’s commitment to bring in measures to significantly lower emissions from sectors that release the most greenhouse gas emissions — oil and gas and transportation — is critical to achieving Canada’s climate goals,” Pembina Institute executive director Linda Coady said in a release Monday.

She noted that those commitments include a 75 per cent reduction in methane emissions below 2012 levels and a target that all light-duty vehicles sold in Canada be zero-emissions by 2035.

“Full and timely implementation of these measures, monitoring progress, and maintaining full transparency in reporting on milestones are essential next steps,” Coady said.

“The federal government has a responsibility to advance the industries that create economic prosperity for Canadians,” Mark Scholz, CEO of the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors, said in a release Tuesday. “Our energy industry is committed to lowering emissions by investing in clean technologies and increasing energy efficiency while providing high-value jobs and resource revenues.”

• Email: gmorgan@nationalpost.com | Twitter: geoffreymorgan

_____________________________________________________________

MISSED THE MEMO: KEEP IT IN THE GROUND
ConocoPhillips bets $23 billion on U.S. shale oil as rivals retreat
By Sabrina Valle and Arunima Kumar 2 days ago

© Reuters/Brendan McDermid FILE PHOTO: ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Lance rings the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange

HOUSTON (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Ryan Lance on Monday doubled down on U.S. shale and the world's continued demand for oil with his second blockbuster acquisition in less than a year.


His $9.5 billion purchase of Royal Dutch Shell's West Texas properties, nine months after closing a $13.3 billion deal for Concho Resources, puts the company's future squarely in shale after exiting Canada's oil sands, U.S. offshore and British North Sea fields.

The strategy depends on a world thirsty for cheap oil and Conoco's ability to extract it with less carbon emissions. While Shell, BP and Equinor quit shale for renewable fuels, Lance argues oil and gas will not be soon supplanted.

"We don't believe the existential threat to this business is right around the corner," he told analysts in June.

With Shell's assets, Conoco gets more than 10 years of output and rewards shareholders willing to stick with fossil fuels, said Lance.

"We're going to create a lot more value over the next 10 years and beyond with this acquisition," Lance told analysts on Tuesday, promising to deliver higher returns for shareholders than paying a one-time dividend.

Lance, who became CEO in 2012, joins Chevron and Exxon Mobil in rejecting the shift to solar, wind and batteries embraced by European oil majors. Shareholders want the company to focus on its strengths, he said.

"This is what we're good at. This is what we do really really well," Lance said, referring to generating strong cash flow from modest investments in new oil and gas. The deal increases capital spending by $1 billion per year, but will add $10 billion to free cash flow and shareholder payouts over a decade.

Shell's more efficient assets will help Conoco reduce its carbon emissions per unit of production by as much as half its 2016 levels by 2030, he said.

But the acquisition does not sit well with environmentalists, who this year pushed Conoco to address customers' emissions from using its fuels. In May, 58% of shareholders voted in favor of a non-binding petition to set reduction targets including from products.

"Buying fossil fuel assets is exactly the opposite of what investors actually want," Mark van Baal, founder of Dutch advocacy group Follow This, said in a phone interview. "Eventually he will have to listen," he said.

(Reporting by Sabrina Valle; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Shell exits Permian with $9.5 billion Texas shale sale to ConocoPhillips
By David French and Jessica Resnick-Ault 3 days ago

(Reuters) -Royal Dutch Shell said on Monday it would sell its Permian Basin assets to ConocoPhillips for $9.5 billion in cash, an exit from the largest U.S. oilfield for the energy major shifting its focus to the clean energy transition.

For ConocoPhillips, it is the second sizable acquisition in a year in the heart of the U.S. shale industry, as American and European producers diverge in whether to focus on hydrocarbons going forward.

Like all of the world's largest oil companies, Shell is under pressure from investors to reduce fossil-fuel investments to help reduce global carbon emissions and fight climate change.

Europeans such as Shell and BP PLC have set targets to slowly move away from crude production while investing in non-fossil energy sources like solar and wind power, while U.S. producers including Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp are doubling down on hydrocarbons.

Through the deal, ConocoPhillips sides with the latter, but concurrently announced it would tighten its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, an acknowledgement of heightened focus on climate considerations.

ConocoPhillips is acquiring around 225,000 net acres, as well as over 600 miles of associated infrastructure, according to its statement announcing the transaction. This builds on its existing portfolio of 750,000 net acres in the Permian.

U.S. shale producers have used mergers and acquisitions to boost their size to compete against the largest operators and lower production costs through economies of scale.

To help pay for the deal, ConocoPhillips will hike its own divestment targets by 2023 to between $4 billion and $5 billion, up from between $2 billion and $3 billion.

VALUE

For Shell, selling the Permian assets will leave its U.S. oil and gas production almost entirely in the offshore Gulf of Mexico, where it is the largest single producer. It sold its Appalachian gas assets last year.

The sale was announced on the same day Shell disclosed damage to offshore transfer facilities from Hurricane Ida will cut production from the area into early next year.

"We have had a once in a 20-30 year storm that has been impactful, but we continue to believe this is a very valuable position," Wael Sawan, the company's director of upstream, told Reuters.

Sawan said the company would continue to invest in its top oil and gas assets globally, and while it had looked at options which would have retained and boosted its Permian acreage in recent years, it was decided the position did not have sufficient scale for Shell to continue to operate it.

"This sale came up for us as a very compelling value proposition," Sawan said.

U.S. will continue to account for around one-third of Shell's global spending, as it focuses on its Gulf position as well as petrochemicals and renewables.

Shell will return $7 billion of the proceeds to shareholders as dividends on top of existing commitments, with the rest going to pay down debt, it said. Conoco also announced it would increase quarterly cash payments to shareholders by 7% from Dec. 1.

Reuters first reported in June that Shell had put up for sale its assets in the Permian, the shale formation stretching across Texas and New Mexico that accounts for around 40% of U.S. oil production.

Morgan Stanley and Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co advised Shell, with Goldman Sachs supporting ConocoPhillips. Legal advice for the seller and buyer came from Norton Rose Fulbright and Baker Botts respectively.

(Reporting by David French and Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York; Additional Reporting by Sabrina Valle in Houston and Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio and Stephen Coates)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

VW culture to blame for silence over emissions scandal, ex-manager says in trial

BRAUNSCHWEIG (Reuters) - A former Volkswagen manager, who is on trial over the carmaker's emissions-cheating scandal, blamed company culture on Thursday for his and others' silence on the matter, but said he would have acted differently had he known the consequences.

© Reuters/Michele Tantussi FILE PHOTO: VW logo

Hanno Jelden, who prosecutors said was in charge of the development of the illegal software at the heart of the scheme, attributed the long silence over the software malfunction in part to Volkswagen's company culture, which he described as one where problems were to be solved quickly rather than analysed.

Jelden said at an earlier hearing that he informed superiors about the software that sparked the so-called "Dieselgate" scandal, but was pressured to keep quiet.

Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to cheating U.S. diesel engine tests, sparking the biggest crisis in its history and costing the carmaker more than 32 billion euros ($37.7 billion) in vehicle refits, fines and legal costs so far.

"I never made a secret out of this function [of the software]," Jelden said in a courtroom in the city of Braunschweig, where the trial is being held. "If I had known the legal consequences this could have, I would never have let it happen."

The company has previously said the software function which ultimately disabled the car's emission filter was designed for another purpose, namely to reduce unpleasant noise from the engine, a defense Jelden repeated on Thursday.

"The function really was developed to improve the acoustics," Jelden said, calling the approval process for the function a "huge mistake."

The trial of four current and former Volkswagen managers and engineers began last Thursday with all four accused of failing to raise the issue, and instead, seeking to maximise profits for the carmaker and, in turn, their performance bonuses, according to Braunschweig prosecutors.

The defendants either claim they did not know about the manipulation or had informed their superiors about it, judicial sources said.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Nigeria-born designer Joy Meribe opens Milan Fashion Week


MILAN (AP) — Nigeria-born designer Joy Meribe opened Milan Fashion Week on Wednesday with her debut runway collection, a concrete success for a movement to promote diversity in Italian fashion just a year after launching

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Italian National Fashion Chamber tapped Meribe to open six days of womenswear previews for Spring-Summer 2022 after her inaugural collection for the “We are Made in Italy” initiative last year found commercial success.

“Beyond whatever video, proclamation or manifesto that we make, the real test is whether clients buy your products. Joy passed that exam,’’ said Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, who helped launch the initiative in the summer of 2020, asking the question, “Do Black Lives Matter in Italian Fashion?” inspired by the U.S. movement and following racists gaffes by major Italian fashion houses.

“It wouldn’t have been so quick, if there wasn’t an acceleration from the United States,’’ said Jean, who basked in the early achievement in the front row alongside Italy-based U.S.-born designer Edward Buchanan and Afro Fashion Week Milano founder Michelle Ngonmo.

Meribe broke down in tears after the show as she thanked the fashion chamber and the movement’s founders for getting her to the runway.

The collection featured tiered and ruffled skirts and jackets with built-in capes that were both regal, as seen in an off-shoulder dress sweeping the ground, and hip, including a mini day-dresses and shoulder-baring tunic. Textiles were an explosion of bright yellow against an aqua blue, with tropic prints featuring thatched cottages against flourishing banana trees, which Meribe said was meant to celebrate a return to more normality.

“We have passed from a dark moment, and I wanted to create something full of hope and light, the joy of restarting,’’ she said backstage.

The initiative that launched Meribe opened its second edition this fashion week, an all-female group of designers working in Italy with roots in Togo, Morocco, Haiti, Cuba and India, following last year’s “Fab Five” inaugural class of all African-born designers.

“There is movement happening,’’ said Buchanan, the American designer behind the Sansovino 6 label. “Of course everything takes time, but it takes somehow an industry to get used to the idea that these are talents like any other.”

To point, they have created a database of more than 3,000 fashion professionals with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds living in Italy, including designers, merchandisers, photographers and stylists, with the aim of putting to rest the notion that diverse talents weren’t available in Italy.

In this year's “Fab Five” class, Judith Borsetto created a line of shoes and hosiery with embroidered details for her Judith Saint Jermain label, recalling her birth name in Haiti before she was adopted by an Italian family at age 4. Zineb Hazim designed a line of business wear for abaja-wearing Muslim women, using European plaids on the long garments, which were double-sided to extend a business traveler's wardrobe.

Fallylah Nyny Ryke Goungou sourced woven fabrics from her native Togo in western Africa for looks inspired by her love of Japan and know-how in her adopted Italy. Romy Calzado, a former textile designer born in Cuba, created a collection with honeycomb graphic elements on fabrics with anti-viral properties, while Sheetal Shah, originally from India, designed an all-denim collection from textiles treated to resist water and wear longer.

But even while marking progress on diversity being made in the industry, organizers said that a racist incident at a four-star hotel in Milan aimed at this year’s “Fab Five” underlined the work still ahead.

Ngonmo said that she was checking into the hotel with the five women when the desk clerks rudely dismissed routine requests by paying guests, indicating that they didn't belong there. She posted the incident on social media and later spoke with management, who apologized and fired the workers responsible.

“They dehumanized us, taking away our humanity and treating us like animals. It is really, really bad,’’ Ngonmo said.

Jean said the incident “is the proof that everything we are doing today, more than ever, needs to be done. It is a necessity.”

Colleen Barry, The Associated Press