Jack Dorsey apologizes for his Twitter-moderation choices, saying he did the 'wrong thing for the internet and society' despite calling his decisions the 'right thing' at the time


Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert,Hannah Getahun
Tue, December 13, 2022 

Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey.Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

In a blog post, Jack Dorsey said he should be blamed solely for Twitter's content-related failures.


Dorsey decried attacks on his ex-colleagues and offered his thoughts on the future of social media.


As CEO, Dorsey said he led Twitter to do the "wrong thing for the internet and society."

In a Tuesday blog post, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey weighed in on the revelations made in the "Twitter Files" and said he led the social-media platform to do the "wrong thing for the internet and society."

The post first outlined Dorsey's thoughts on "principles" about social media he has come to believe: that social platforms "must be resilient to corporate and government control," that "only the original author may remove content they produce," and that "moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice."


"The Twitter when I led it and the Twitter of today do not meet any of these principles. This is my fault alone," Dorsey wrote in the post, saying he "gave up pushing" for the principles when an unnamed "activist entered stock in 2020."

That year, The New York Times reported the activist hedge fund Elliott Management acquired a $1 billion stake in Twitter and called for Dorsey's ousting, though it is unclear whether Dorsey was referring to the company in his post.

Dorsey went on to write that he believed social-media companies had amassed too much power and that Twitter's decision to bar former President Donald Trump, under Dorsey's own leadership, was evidence of that power taken to an extreme.

"As I've said before, we did the right thing for the public company business at the time, but the wrong thing for the internet and society," Dorsey wrote.

The "Twitter Files" have provided some insight into the content-moderation practices of the social-media giant under Dorsey's leadership. Musk released the emails and internal documents making up the cache to independent journalists including Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.

Included in the "Twitter Files" are debates between employees on whether to bar Trump for inciting violence following the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, proof the platform limited the reach of a New York Post story about Hunter Biden's laptop — which was previously known — and acknowledgment that Twitter accepted requests from both Joe Biden's campaign and the Trump administration to remove content from the site.

While some of the content in the Twitter Files brought to light additional details and internal discussion about the platform's content-moderation practices, many of the policy decisions surrounding Trump's barring, and the rationale behind them, had previously been reported or acknowledged in Dorsey's 2020 statement to the Senate and congressional testimony after the Capitol riot.

Backlash over the Twitter Files has resulted in increased threats being levied against Yoel Roth, Twitter's former head of trust and safety. In a series of tweets, Musk added to the criticism of Roth, posting an excerpt of a paper written by the former Twitter executive in which he appears to advocate for a teen-friendly version of Grindr for young queer adults. Musk also agreed with tweets calling Roth a "creep."

The threats, which Dorsey condemned in his post without addressing Musk's behavior, have reportedly gotten so bad that Roth was forced to flee his home out of fear for his safety, CNN reported.

"The current attacks on my former colleagues could be dangerous and doesn't solve anything," Dorsey wrote. "If you want to blame, direct it at me and my actions, or lack thereof."

In recent months, Dorsey has apologized (after massive layoffs by Musk) for growing "the company size too quickly," said shutting down the video-clip platform Vine was his "biggest regret," and agreed with Musk's decision to reverse Trump's Twitter ban, saying it was "a business decision." In April, Dorsey said he was "partially to blame" for damaging the internet.

His latest apologies are in contrast to his initial statement barring Trump — saying at the time it was "the right decision" — and his 2021 congressional testimony in which he acknowledged "some" responsibility for misinformation spreading on Twitter that contributed to the January 6 attack on the Capitol but said "the broader ecosystem," not just Twitter, had to be considered.

When he cofounded Twitter in 2006, Dorsey's approach to content moderation was seen as pro-free speech and the company "had to be dragged" into content moderation, J.M. Berger, a researcher on extremism on social platforms like Twitter, told Insider.

"Because of Jack Dorsey's personal views about freedom of speech and whatever his sympathies are ideologically, Twitter had to be dragged — kicking and screaming — into the age of content moderation," Berger told Insider. "So Twitter was really the last of the big three platforms to implement any kind of robust moderation."

Flaws in controversial decisions Dorsey made while attempting to moderate Twitter content, such as barring Trump and censoring the Hunter Biden-laptop story, have drawn ire from critics, including Musk. Since his acquisition, citing flaws in Dorsey's approach, Musk has implemented a more stringent approach toward "free speech absolutism" and has diminished content moderation on the platform.

"The way that Twitter's content moderation has changed since he's taken over has definitely skewed towards favoring the far-right," Berger previously told Insider, adding that he believed the billionaire was "intentionally empowering right-wing extremists."

Dorsey, Musk, and representatives for Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jack Dorsey responds to Twitter Files: There were no ‘hidden agendas’


Chris Wattie / reuters


Karissa Bell
·Senior Editor
Tue, December 13, 2022 

Jack Dorsey has waded into the Twitter Files discourse. Writing in a newsletter, Dorsey lightly criticizes the manner the files have been released, and condemned attacks on former Twitter executives.

“I continue to believe there was no ill intent or hidden agendas, and everyone acted according to the best information we had at the time,” Dorsey wrote. “As for the files, I wish they were released Wikileaks-style, with many more eyes and interpretations to consider. There’s nothing to hide…only a lot to learn from.”

The response is the first time the former CEO has addressed the “Twitter Files” in detail. The disclosures detail some of the company’s internal deliberations surrounding controversial decisions, like Donald Trump’s suspension and Twitter’s handling of a New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. However, the “files” have only been made available to a handful of individuals, who have only published snippets of Slack messages, emails, and screenshots from Twitter’s internal tools. The underlying documents have not been released widely, or provided to other media outlets.



Notably, Dorsey also addressed the ongoing harassment of former Twitter executives. “The current attacks on my former colleagues could be dangerous and doesn’t solve anything,” he wrote. “If you want to blame, direct it at me and my actions, or lack thereof.” CNN reported Monday that Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former Trust & Safety head, had “fled his home” after a surge in violent threats against him.

Interestingly, Dorsey doesn’t mention Musk by name in his lengthy post. Dorsey had once said that “Elon is the singular solution I trust” for Twitter, though it’s unclear if he still feels that way. Dorsey, whose personal email was made public in the original installment of the Twitter Files, didn’t respond when asked if he stands by the statement.

As with other recent statements from Dorsey, he also shares lots of ideas about how content moderation should work — namely that algorithms should be used in favor of “a centralized system — and his hopes for an “open protocol” that could “make social media a native part of the internet.” And he revealed that he intends to give messaging app Signal $1 million a year as part of an effort to fund companies working on such protocols.

You can read Dorsey’s entire post here.

Jack Dorsey warns against attacks on Twitter staff and dedicates $1M a year to Signal



Devin Coldewey
Tue, December 13, 2022 at 4:53 PM MST·3 min read

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey issued a warning on the social network's state and prospects, saying it meets none of the standards he hoped to achieve and that harassment of its staff is shortsighted and dangerous. It's time to move on, as he's said before, and to that end he's funding new efforts in "open internet development," starting with $1 million per year to Signal.

Starting in a Twitter thread but quickly transitioning to a blog post ("I don't want to edit everything into 280 char chunks," he wrote — shade he probably never anticipated throwing), Dorsey said that his hope to build a Twitter according to his wishes died in 2020 with the entrance of an unnamed activist investor.

"I planned my exit at that moment knowing I was no longer right for the company," he wrote.

The principles he had hoped to build on — resilience to corporate and government control, user-controlled content with no exceptions and algorithmic moderation — are not present in today's Twitter, nor in the one he led, he admitted.

Even so, he wrote that, contrary to the insinuations accompanying the so-called Twitter Files, "there was no ill intent or hidden agendas, and everyone acted according to the best information we had at the time."

The various threads have been very selective in what they show and what they redact, while casting certain staff, particularly former head of Trust and Safety, Yoel Roth, as being power-mad and agenda-driven. Roth reportedly experienced harassment in person serious enough that he had to temporarily leave his home. On the whole there is little new in what has been published beyond a handful of convenient scapegoats for imagined abuse.

Of this Dorsey says:

As for the files, I wish they were released Wikileaks-style, with many more eyes and interpretations to consider. And along with that, commitments of transparency for present and future actions. I’m hopeful all of this will happen. There’s nothing to hide…only a lot to learn from. The current attacks on my former colleagues could be dangerous and doesn’t solve anything. If you want to blame, direct it at me and my actions, or lack thereof.

Be careful what you wish for, Jack.

The conversations themselves, as I wrote last week, do in fact constitute a very interesting look at the difficulty of moderation under unprecedented circumstances. The frank and open discussion of how to interpret a rule or what action they should or shouldn't take is exactly what one would hope is happening behind the scenes of such a process. Imputations of bias have little or no documentary weight behind them, beyond whatever is lent by a carefully curated presentation openly intended to promote that narrative.

Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ offer a glimpse of the raw, complicated and thankless task of moderation

As to actual solutions, Dorsey is of course hard at work (or at least present) at Bluesky, but he calls out Mastodon and Matrix as other worthwhile avenues for development:

There will be many more. One will have a chance at becoming a standard like HTTP or SMTP. This isn’t about a “decentralized Twitter.” This is a focused and urgent push for a foundational core technology standard to make social media a native part of the internet.

Putting his money where his mouth is, he announced that he'll start by funding Signal (definitely resilient to governments) to the tune of $1 million/year. More grants are forthcoming, he said, and solicited recommendations. And fortunately, since what appeared to be his personal email was inadvertently published by Matt Taibbi in the first Twitter Files thread, everyone should be able to get in touch.

Decentralized discourse: How open source is shaping Twitter’s future

IN TIME FOR XMAS

US Energy Secretary Offers Olive Branch to Oil and Gas Industry


Ari Natter
Wed, December 14, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm extended an olive branch to the oil and gas industry, telling executives at a meeting in Washington that she recognizes fossil fuels will be around for a long time, even as the Biden administration works to transition away from them to cleaner alternatives.

“We are eager to work with you,” she said at the Wednesday meeting of the National Petroleum Council, an outside federal advisory group that includes executives from Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. “Moving too fast could have unintended consequences that hurt people, cause backlash.”

Her remarks come at the end of year that’s seen a deterioration in the relationship between the industry and the White House. Biden has accused fossil fuel companies of price gouging and has weighed additional taxes on their profits as well as curbs on exports of refined oil products.

Granholm nodded to that friction Wednesday, beginning her remarks by acknowledging the “elephant in the room” and that the administration has “butted heads” with industry. Fossil fuel production will need to increase in the near future to meet growing demand, including a shortage of diesel in the Northeast US, she said.

GEN XYZ CONSUMERS

Nearly half of young adults in the US & UK are living at home with their parents, and all that saved rent is fueling a luxury boom

Nidhi Pandurangi
Wed, December 14, 2022 

Shoppers in Times Square.Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Nearly half of US young adults are living at home — a high not seen since the Great Depression.

They are helping fuel a luxury boom, Morgan Stanley analysts said.

Living at home is freeing up their budgets and leaving them with more disposable income for spending.

A record number of young adults in the US are currently living at home, and all that saved rent is sparking a luxury boom.

Recent data from the US Census Bureau shows that nearly half of young Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 are living with their parents today. That's a historical high not seen since the Great Depression era, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a Friday note.

The analysts estimated that around 48% of young adults are living with parents in 2022, similar to levels seen in the 1940s.

The levels of young adults living at home peaked at 49.5% around 2020, coinciding with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data came from a Pew Research Center analysis, USA Today, the University of Minnesota, and Morgan Stanley research.

That's great news for luxury retailers, because saving on daily necessities like rent and groceries is freeing up disposable income for discretionary spending, a team of Morgan Stanley analysts led by Edouard Aubin found.

"This is of course not the only reason luxury-goods consumers are getting younger in the West (social media playing also an important part) but we see it as fundamentally positive for the industry," the analysts wrote in the note.

Factors like high rental costs, enrollment in higher-education programs, and delayed marriage are also keeping young adults at home, the analysts wrote.

"When asked about the incentives to move in with parents, 51% of the young adults said that it was to save money and 39% of them said that it was because they could not afford rent," according to a December 5 survey from PropertyManagement.com. The survey platform Pollfish conducted the survey of about 1,200 US participants online on December 1.

Similar themes are emerging among British youth

Similar themes are emerging across the pond in the United Kingdom, where about 42% of young adults lived with their parents in 2021. That's the highest level on record based on data compiled from 1996 onward by the Office for National Statistics and Morgan Stanley research.

In the first half of 2022, imports of luxury Swiss watches into the UK rose 31% year over year, the Guardian reported in June, citing data from Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. The watches on average cost about £6,000, or about $7,400 at current exchange rates. Sales of midrange watches — those costing below £2,500, or about $3,100 — were falling at the time, the Guardian reported.

The British luxury brand Burberry reported an 11% year-over-year increase in sales in the quarter ending in September. The luxury-goods maker LVMH, which owns brands including Dior, Tiffany, Moët Hennessy, and Louis Vuitton, reported a 19% year-over-year increase in revenue for the third quarter of 2022, thanks to robust demand from Europe, the United States, and Japan.

An Insider Intelligence report on September 14 found that the luxury-goods sectors in the US and China has bounced back during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but economic headwinds — like an impending recession — will weigh heavy on middle-class

 spenders.

Young Adults Living With Their Parents Are Driving a Luxury Boom: Report

Dana Givens

Robb Report
Tue, December 13, 2022 


More young people in the US are now staying at home to save some cash—but that doesn’t mean they aren’t scoping out the luxury shops.

In recent years, millennials and Gen Z have chosen to live with their parents instead of leaving the nest, thanks to the groups’ pursuit of higher education and delay of marriage, plus soaring rental costs. Now the two generations are opting to use their new disposable income to purchase high-end items, according to a new report from Morgan Stanley.

And their shopping habits are definitely having an impact: The trend has helped drive sales and increase the appeal of goods such as purses, watches and jewelry across the luxury industry, according to Bloomberg.

“When young adults free up their budget for daily necessities, they simply have more disposable income to be allocated to discretionary spending,” Edouard Aubin, an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley, said in the report. “We see it as fundamentally positive for the [luxury] industry.”

According to recent US Census data, nearly half of young Americans between the ages of 18 to 29 are living with their ‘rents, the highest percentage reached nationwide since 1940—when the country was rebuilding after the decade-long Great Depression.

One of the main reasons millennials and Gen Z are opting to stay put? The two age groups are largely delaying taking the next step in their relationship and having kids to achieve financial security before taking the plunge. 37 percent of young people were holding off on getting married or getting engaged because they want to ensure their debts were paid off first, according to a 2020 New York Post poll. Another 29 percent say they delayed purchasing their first home for the same reason.

Young adults across the pond aren’t strangers to this trend. Morgan Stanley found the number of UK residents aged 15 to 34 residing at home has increased to 42 percent, up from about 35 percent in 1999, despite the country dealing with an economic recession. More young high-income UK shoppers are also fueling luxe goods sales to increase their engagement on social media.

And now is the time to splurge. Since the summer, American shoppers have been hopping on flights to Europe to take advantage of the sinking pound and euro, getting more for their dollar across the region—and making pit stops at their their favorite retailers to score a deal. The young adults are then reselling the same investment pieces for a profit to combat rising inflation. They can use the kickback to continue the cycle and purchase even more designer goods—perhaps as a gift for their parents this holiday season.

Big Kids Living at Home are Spending a Fortune on Luxury Brands

By The Daily Upside – Dec 12, 2022
The Motley Fool 

It's one thing when your 27-year-old is living in their childhood bedroom, but it's quite another when they're doing so wearing a Rolex and Golden Goose flats.

Historic numbers of young adults still living at home with their parents are fueling a luxury boom in the US and UK.

'Rents Pay the Rent

In a development not seen since 1940, today, nearly half of all US and UK adults ages 18-29 are living with their parents, according to census data. Some never left while others are what's known as "boomerang children." Most stick with their folks because they want to save money to pursue higher education or wait until the rental and housing market isn't so cruel. Also, fewer young couples are keen on settling down as marriage and cohabitation rates have dropped from 71% in 1990 to 62% now.

Since more and more working people are relying on mom and dad for daily costs like utilities and groceries, this frees up disposable income for watches, handbags, and jewelry. While 'rents looking forward to retirement might want their progeny out of the house, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany couldn't be happier:Like a cartoon hustler who just rolled up their sleeves to reveal multiple wristwatches, the US' "big kids" have become obsessed with expensive timepieces. Companies like Watches of Switzerland saw US revenue skyrocket to $512 million in its most recent fiscal year, a 44% annual increase.
US tourists in Europe are also taking advantage of the strong dollar against the British pound and Euro. Luxury boutiques like Gucci have normally relied on Chinese spending during the holiday season, but during Black Friday, American tourist spending rose more than 40% compared to the same time in 2019. The average transaction amount was $1,313.

Not So Dependent Now: If Gen X is the competent older sibling with a cool record collection and Gen Z somehow got famous for dancing on TikTok, Millennials are the lazy, awkward middle children still sleeping on mom's couch. Or at least that's what stereotypes would have you believe. Once they do leave the nest, their champagne taste extends to real estate as well. In 2020, millennials accounted for the largest share of all home buyers in the US at 37%. And not only that, but they were also jumping into the luxury real estate market, purchasing homes worth close to $1 million on average.

For India, the Adani Group is growing too big to fail

Mimansa Verma and Niharika Sharma
Tue, December 13, 2022 

The Indian companies belonging to Gautam Adani, the world’s third-richest man, have soared in value at breakneck pace. Some of Adani’s listed companies—such as Adani Green Energy, Adani Enterprises, and Adani Transmission—have seen their shares rise over 1,000% in the past five years.

One significant engine of this growth has been Adani’s closeness to prime minister Narendra Modi, which has raised allegations of cronyism. Adani has won a slew of government contracts in energy and infrastructure. His companies mine coal, produce power, and transmit it. They run ports and airports. They’re setting up giant solar farms. In each of these sectors, Adani’s firms are among the largest players, if not the largest.

datawrapper-chart-3PDtr

The contracts aside, though, vast volumes of taxpayer money, both as debt and investment, have also fueled Adani’s rise. So much, in fact, that the question asks itself: Has Adani become so big that his companies cannot be allowed to fail, lest they set off shock waves in the economy at large?

India’s LIC is heavily invested in Adani’s companies

Despite the expansion of Adani’s companies, private investors have been relatively wary of putting their money into Adani stocks. The government, though, has had no such hesitation: specifically, the 66-year-old Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), which is majority-owned by the government, and manages more than $500 billion (41 lakh crore rupees) in assets. Over 50 million customers pay premiums for LIC’s insurance products. In Indian public life, few brands are more trusted than LIC.

Over the last two years, LIC’s investment in five of the seven listed Adani Group companies—Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports, Adani Total Gas, and Adani Transmission—has increased to $9.5 billion. These holdings account for 4.6% of the total market cap of these five companies as on Sep. 30. This is nearly five times the volume that mutual funds have invested in the same stocks.

datawrapper-chart-NZKla

In September 2020, LIC’s exposure to these five Adani companies stood at $889 million, or 1.24% of LIC’s equity assets under management. But a spike in stock prices and increases in shareholding have multiplied that value—to $3.9 billion in 2021, and now to $9.5 billion or nearly 8% of LIC’s total equity assets.

“The stake [held by LIC] is quite high, considering a lot of Adani group companies are not really cash-flow rich. Some of them are not even profitable,” Amit Kumar Gupta, founder of the equity research company Fintrekk Capital, told Quartz. “Some of the companies like Adani Green Energy are futuristic and heavy capex businesses... It is a bit of a risk, having so much from one group of companies, because it could have a domino effect, if there is a negative development of any kind with respect to the debt position.”

How the Adani Group affects LIC’s fortunes

To be sure, LIC’s stakes in the companies of the Reliance and Tata groups are larger. But those are older, more time-tested conglomerates. The Adani Group’s rise has been much more recent⁠. Perhaps for that reason, LIC stands to gain the most⁠—but also lose a lot⁠—from swings in Adani stocks.

Shares of Adani Enterprises, the group’s flagship entity, have risen over 2,500% in five years. In the last five months, it has acquired controlling stakes in firms across several sectors, including IT, airports, and the media. But if these debt-driven ventures do not pan out, LIC’s stakes would shrink in value, potentially making it harder to fulfill policyholders’ insurance claims.

The Adani Group took over the operations of Ahmedabad airport in November 2020.

Already, LIC has taken a huge hit after listing a 3.5% stake in itself in May this year. Adverse market conditions and high inflation have wiped out $17 billion of its market value, making LIC one of the biggest wealth losers in Asia.
India’s state banks are widely exposed to the Adani Group

The Adani Groupʼs growing appetite for expansion also raises risks for Indian banks that are already grappling with bad loans.

In the 2022 fiscal year, the Adani Group had a total net debt of nearly $20 billion. Out of this, loans from state-owned banks comprise 21%, including Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank, down from 55% in 2015-16. Nearly 40% of the loans from public-sector banks⁠⁠—a share that adds up to $2.3 billion—originate from the State Bank of India. Loans from private banks comprise 11%, down from 31% in 2015-16. (The rest of the debt is in the form of corporate bonds and Adani’s equity capital program.)

Although the share of loans from public banks to the Adani Group has dropped over the years, it doesn’t dispel the cloud of worries over the banks’ balance sheets. India’s overall “bad loan” ratio, which measures the extent of default on loan repayment, is one of the highest among comparable countries, at 5.9% as of March 2022. Part of the bad loan problem, critics argue, stems from easy lending to cronies, who run businesses that are often less than creditworthy.

“Despite the worries around [the Adani group] being overleveraged, banks have been favoring Adani,” Sonam Chandwani, a managing partner at KS Legal & Associates, told Quartz. “They should be cautious, because if the group ever goes into a default cycle...it could wreak havoc.”

The Adani Group’s Mundra port in Gujarat is the largest commercial port in India.

The Adani Group’s collapse will hurt the man on the street

That kind of collapse isn’t out of the question. Rating agencies and financial experts have already flagged risk factors and how the group can spiral into a debt trap. CreditSights, a subsidiary of Fitch Ratings, highlighted in August that Adani Group is “deeply overleveraged” and may lead to the “default of one or more group companies.” The group also suffers from “high key-man risk”: the absence of robust managers below Adani himself.

“The risk is so high that Indian banks as well as some international capital bond market investors are considering limits on credit to one group, which can become a challenge for the conglomerate,” Abhishek Dangra, a senior director at S&P Global, said in an August 2022 report.

In a 15-page note responding to the CreditSights report, the Adani Group argued that its net debt-to-EBITDA ratio—a metric that measures a company’s total obligations, including debt and other liabilities—has declined to 3.2 from 7.6 over the last nine years. A net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of less than 3 is considered healthy. The lower the ratio, the higher the probability of the firm successfully paying off its debt.

“The general anxiety is around the rate at which Adani’s companies are growing and along with the acquisitions across multiple sectors, the question that comes to everybody’s mind is whether the group will be able to digest the same,” said Amit Tandon, the founder of Institutional Investor Advisory Services, a Mumbai-based firm.

Tandon believes the picture around the Adani Group’s growth will become clearer “three-four years from now.” But Chandwani worried: “If the Adani group’s bubble bursts, the Indian stock market may experience a ripple effect.”

A massive default by one or several of Adani’s companies will rock not just the equities markets but India’s economy overall, given how deeply and widely the firms are embedded in the country’s infrastructure. The taxpayer will be hit, additionally, by her indirect exposure to the group, through LIC and the state-owned banks. A bailout would limit the damage. That too would be funded by the public exchequer, but it would be unavoidable if the government decides that the Adani Group has indeed grown too big to be allowed to fail.

China urges citizens to leave Afghanistan after Kabul attack



AfghanistanTaliban fighters are seen in the rooftop of a hotel building during a gunfire in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. A Taliban official says that a hotel building has come under a complex attack in the Afghan capital Kabul. (AP Photo)More


RAHIM FAIEZ
Tue, December 13, 2022 

ISLAMABAD (AP) — China on Tuesday advised its citizens in Afghanistan to leave the country “as soon as possible," following a coordinated attack by Islamic State militants the previous day on a Chinese-owned hotel in the heart of Kabul.

The Chinese advisory appeared to be a setback for Afghanistan's Taliban rulers who seek foreign investments in hopes of halting the downward spiral of the Afghan economy since their takeover of the country more than a year ago.

The militant Islamic State group — a key rival of the Taliban — claimed responsibility for the attack Monday afternoon on Kabul Longan Hotel, which left three assailants dead and at least two hotel guests injured as they tried to escape by jumping out of a window.

Plumes of smoke rose from the 10-story building in the central Shar-e Naw neighborhood, according to images posted on social media as the attack unfolded. Residents reported explosions and gunfire.


Taliban forces rushed to the area and blocked all roads leading to the site. Khalid Zadran, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Kabul police chief, said the attack lasted several hours, followed by a clean-up operation.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the attack “egregious in nature” and said China was “deeply shocked.”

Beijing demanded a “thorough investigation” and urged the Taliban government “to take resolute and strong measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Afghanistan,” Wang said.

The Chinese Embassy in Kabul sent its team to the site to help with the rescue, treatment and accommodations for the victims of the attack, Wang added.

“In view of the current security situation in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again advised Chinese citizens and institutions in Afghanistan to evacuate from Afghanistan as soon as possible,” Wang said.

The Taliban swept across the country in August 2021, seizing power as U.S. and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their final withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.

Since their takeover, the international community has balked at extending official recognition to the former insurgents who have broken promises of pursuing a more moderate path forward, including reopening schools to girls beyond the sixth grade and safeguarding minority rights.

The Taliban government has recently also made statements saying it intends to implement Islamic law, or Sharia, as it did when the Taliban previously ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s. In the past weeks, the Taliban have carried out executions and public floggings on several occasions of those convicted in Taliban courts of crimes such as murder and adultery.

China has economic and mining interests in the country though those familiar with past talks between the Taliban and Chinese officials say Beijing wants Taliban commitments to prevent China’s Uyghur opponents from setting up operations in Afghanistan.

Chinese firms, with strong government backing, have tentatively sought to pursue opportunities in exploiting Afghanistan’s vast, undeveloped resource deposits, especially the Mes Aynak mine that is believed to hold the world’s largest copper deposit.

In October, Taliban-appointed government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid highlighted China as a key part of Afghanistan’s economic development. China has also revealed its aspirations to play a leading role in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S. forces — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a regional conference recently led calls for the United States to unfreeze Afghan assets held abroad and end sanctions on the Taliban government.

There was no information on the identities of the injured Chinese guests at the Kabul hotel or what they were doing in Afghanistan.

The IS statement, carried by one of the militant Telegram channels used by the group, said two of its members targeted the hotel because it is frequented by diplomats and owned by “communist China."

It further claimed IS attackers detonated two bags with explosives that were left in the hotel earlier, including one in the main hall, and set fire to a part of the hotel. The militant group offered no proof for its claims.

There were conflicting reports as to the casualty numbers. Taliban officials said three assailants were killed; the IS claim said only two of its members took part in the attack, identifying them by name and posting their photographs. According to Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesman, two foreign residents were injured when they jumped out of hotel windows.

However, the Emergency Hospital in Kabul said in a tweet Monday that it received 21 casualties, including the bodies of three people.

The IS regional affiliate — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — has increased its attacks since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.

___

Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Riazat Butt in Karachi, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

ISIS Bomb Targets Chinese Diplomats, Executives in Afghanistan



Eltaf Najafizada
Tue, December 13, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- An Islamic State offshoot took credit for an attack at a Kabul hotel popular with Chinese diplomats and businessmen, the first attack targeting citizens from one of the few countries with good ties with the Taliban since the militant group seized power last year.

Two armed members of the Islamic State-Khorasan, a local affiliate of the militant group operating in the Middle East, detonated explosive devices inside the Kabul Longan Hotel in a posh district of the Afghan capital Monday. The group claimed the suicide attack killed or wounded at least 30 people, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

A spokesman of Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government, Zabihullah Mujahed, said two foreign nationals were injured while jumping from the hotel balcony and three assailants were killed after a gun battle with government forces.

China was “deeply shocked” by the attack, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Tuesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing. Chinese diplomats in the South Asian nation made serious representations with Afghanistan about the incident, he said, adding that Beijing supported the nation in countering terrorism.

This is the group’s third attack in the last few months hitting targets associated with nations that have friendly ties with the Taliban. Earlier this month there was an attack on Pakistan’s embassy in the country. In September, the group claimed an attack just outside the Russian embassy, which killed several people including a senior diplomat and a security guard.

The IS-K group is one of the Taliban’s most serious security threats, carrying out large-scale attacks in densely populated areas. Even before the Taliban took over the militant group was fighting it in an attempt to impose their even-harsher Islamic ideology and expand their influence in the region.

The attacks highlight the difficulties the Taliban faces to break its international isolation and draw in foreign investments to the country’s largely untapped mineral resources.

The militant group has limited diplomatic links with only seven countries, including Russia and China, but even those countries have not formally recognized its government.

--With assistance from Philip Glamann.

IT PRE-DATES TESLA

I drove America's cheapest electric SUV, the $28,000 Chevy Bolt EUV. It's the affordable EV we've been waiting for.

ELECTRIFICATION AND STATE CAPITALISM EQUALS SOCIALISM

V.I.LENIN

Tim Levin
Wed, December 14, 2022 

The Chevrolet Bolt EUV isn't the quickest or the coolest EV around, but it is one of the cheapest.

Tim Levin/Insider

I drove the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, now the cheapest electric SUV in America after a price cut.

The Bolt EUV costs just over $28,000 and provides 247 miles of driving range, making it one of the best values on the market.

Chevy lent me a 2022 Bolt EUV Premier, which would cost around $37,000 after this year's price cut.

Electric cars have mostly shed their stigma as toys for rich people and quirky conveyances for tree-huggers. But there's still one significant barrier to entry keeping would-be converts from taking the plunge: They're just too darn expensive.

In a time when more people than ever are eager to kick fossil fuels to the curb, the average electric vehicle is still far out of reach for the average American. Last month, the price for a new battery-powered car was a whopping $65,000, roughly a year's income for the median US household.

But there's a bright spot among all the prohibitively pricey Teslas and Audis: The Chevrolet Bolt EUV.

The 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV.Tim Levin/Insider

It's not some theoretical affordable EV that might get made eventually. (Looking at you, Tesla.) It's available right now for $28,195, and I got to drive it. It's the cheap electric car that America has been missing.

An EPA-rated 247 miles of range gives the EUV — America's cheapest e-SUV after a recent $6,300 price cut — some of the best bang for your buck in the entire EV market. If you break down value into a range-per-dollar ratio, the EUV is beat out only by the Bolt EV hatchback, which costs slightly less and returns 259 miles of range.

Consider the other low-priced EVs out there. An electric Mini Cooper will run you around $34,000, but it only provides 114 miles of range in return. Likewise, the Nissan Leaf starts at $28,000, but it's rated for a paltry 150 miles. The latest generation of electric SUVs from Ford, Hyundai, and Kia all start at well over $40,000.

In a world where charging stations still aren't widespread, range and price are two of the top concerns for EV buyers. And the EUV gets high marks on both.

The 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV.

Tim Levin/Insider

Crucially, all that range and value comes wrapped up in the SUV package that Americans love. Historically, the cheapest, mass-market EVs were always hatchbacks, which Americans have rejected in favor of SUVs of various sizes.

Driving the Bolt EUV isn't a revelation, but it's a totally pleasant experience. The EUV cruises comfortably and quietly. It doesn't provide the same jolt of acceleration as, say, a Ford Mustang Mach-E, but it darts away from a stoplight quick enough thanks to a 200-horsepower motor. Its back seat is roomy enough even for large adults. And you can pay extra for Super Cruise, an excellent driver-assist feature that pilots the car hands-free on highways.

The 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV.

Tim Levin/Insider

The cheapest of anything is bound to have a few shortcomings. The EUV can't charge as quickly as pricier rivals (it can add 95 miles of range in 30 minutes, Chevy says), and all-wheel drive isn't an option. It's not particularly quick, and its styling looks pretty pedestrian alongside head-turning models from Hyundai and Kia.

There's clear appetite for cheaper EVs. Surveys consistently cite high prices among the top factors keeping buyers out of the EV market. And according to a new study from S&P Global Mobility, Tesla is losing market share to EVs on the more affordable (sub $50,000) end of the spectrum, where Musk's brand doesn't compete.

The Bolt EUV isn't trying to be a spaceship, speed demon, or smartphone on wheels. What it brings to the table is arguably more important amid a warming climate: Electrification for the masses.

Electric cars are shredding the brand loyalty automakers have spent decades building up — and it's great news for Kia and Hyundai

Nora Naughton
Wed, December 14, 2022 at 12:55 PM MST·2 min read

Automakers work like crazy to drive brand loyalty, while EVs "draw in new buyers naturally."Ford

A new study finds EVs are helping car brands attract new customers.


Ford, Hyundai, and Kia have EVs bringing in the most new customers.


GM CEO said 40% of customers purchasing GM EVs are new to the company.

Electric vehicles are poised to disrupt customer loyalty in the car business, long one of the mainstays of vehicle brand identities.

According to a new study from car-shopping site Edmunds, electric vehicles are convincing buyers to change brands at much higher rates than historically seen in automotive retail. This particular sales metric, known as customer conquests, has historically been a difficult thing to achieve.

Carmakers have spent decades using wave after wave of focus groups, spending billions in marketing dollars, and internalizing customer feedback to drive loyalty among their buyer bases.

Keeping customers within the brand has always been a top priority for car companies and dealers alike, and not just for the obvious reason that no brand wants to see a buyer go to a competitor. It's also that it's far cheaper to keep a customer than to find a new one, according to Edmunds Executive Director of Insights Jessica Caldwell.

Car companies looking to conquest buyers to a brand can end up spending billions of dollars on new ad campaigns and R&D efforts to revamp their image, only to see meager or temporary shifts in loyalty.

"This is no easy feat in the auto industry and a part of the reason why leasing was invented — to drum up repeat business," Caldwell wrote in the study. "These EVs are drawing in new buyers naturally, which is a benefit that can't be underestimated."

The vehicles attracting the most customers from other brands, according to Edmunds:

Ford's Mustang Mach-E, 69% conquest rate among trade-ins


Hyundai's Ioniq 5, with 81% conquest rate among trade-ins


Kia's EV6, with 79% conquest rate among trade-ins

Ford's early electric vehicle strategy hinged on leveraging the company's most valuable brands – with the most loyal customer bases – to strengthen its position in the EV market.

"I want us in segments and markets where we do really well without even trying that hard," Ford CEO Jim Farley told Insider earlier this year.

In remarks to journalists last week, GM CEO Mary Barra said 40% of GM's EV buyers are new to the company. GM is currently playing a long game with EV customers to drum up new loyalty with a call center for all electric vehicle drivers and shoppers.

PRISON NATION U$A

Senators want answers in wake of AP’s prison investigations






Federal correctional officers protest in response to an Associated Press investigation that exposed how the Bureau of Prisons repeatedly promoted an official who was accused of beating several Black inmates, in front of the Bureau of Prisons' regional office, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, in Stockton, Calif. The picket comes as members of Congress, including the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are demanding answers from the agency's director after AP's reporting on deputy regional director Thomas Ray Hinkle. 

(AP Photo/Aaron Kehoe)More


MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO
Mon, December 12, 2022 

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said he plans to question the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons this week about an Associated Press investigation that found the agency has repeatedly promoted and continues to stand by a high-ranking official who beat Black inmates in the 1990s.

“I am very concerned about the allegations in this article and whether BOP will address abuses, prioritize safety, and improve their flawed approach to misconduct investigations,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., tweeted in the wake of AP’s story chronicling Thomas Ray Hinkle’s rise to deputy western regional director.

At the same time, Durbin and a group of Senators are demanding answers from the Justice Department about the subject of another AP investigation — the federal prison system’s handling of rampant staff misconduct, including staff-on-inmate sexual abuse and whistleblower retaliation.

Durbin on Monday joined Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, both California Democrats, in sending a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco seeking additional information and imploring the Justice Department to take immediate action to root out staff misconduct. Grassley is the Judiciary Committee's top Republican.

The Justice Department formed a working group in July to evaluate its handling of staff sexual abuse after the warden and several other workers at a federal women’s prison in Dublin, California, were arrested for sexually abusing inmates. An AP investigation revealed that the allegations stemmed from a toxic culture of abuse and coverups at the Bay Area lockup. The working group issued a report with its findings in November.

Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters is expected to face questions on both topics when she testifies Tuesday before the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The panel, chaired by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., has been conducting its own investigation into sexual abuse of female inmates in federal prisons. Peters will meet with Durbin separately.

Prison workers and union officials, angered by the AP's investigation into Hinkle and the agency’s response defending him, picketed Monday outside a Bureau of Prisons Western Regional Office in Stockton, California. They called on the agency to fire Hinkle and his boss, Regional Director Melissa Rios.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., echoed that sentiment. She reported a hostile encounter with Hinkle in February while on a site visit to investigate staff sexual abuse at the troubled federal women’s prison in Dublin.

“The details revealed here are deeply disturbing,” Speier said in a tweet linking to the AP article. “If only half of what is reported is true, Hinkle should be terminated immediately. I will be following up with BOP for answers.”

The AP’s story, published Friday, revealed how the Bureau of Prisons repeatedly promoted Hinkle despite numerous red flags, rewarding him again and again over a three-decade career while others who assaulted inmates lost their jobs and went to prison.

Hinkle, responding to questions from the AP, acknowledged he beat inmates but said he regrets that behavior and now speaks openly about it “to teach others how to avoid making the same mistakes.”

Peters, who started as Bureau of Prisons director in August, told the AP she believes Hinkle is a changed man and a model employee. At the same time, she said, she's committed to working with the Justice Department and Congress to root out staff misconduct.

“Mr. Hinkle has openly acknowledged his past mistakes, gone through the employee discipline program, sought professional help and reframed his experiences as learning opportunities for others,” Peters said. “Today, I am confident he has grown into an effective supervisor for our agency.”

Federal prisons employees and union officials protesting Monday outside the regional office where Hinkle works said they were troubled by what they see as a two-tiered system of justice in the Bureau of Prisons.

“I’m very mad. You’re supposed to hold everybody accountable. Nobody is above the law," Dublin union president Ed Canales said. “But apparently, he can change? What about officers and staff members that were wrongfully terminated on lesser charges? Or were actually terminated on the same charges? Can they be exonerated? Can they come back?”

___

Associated Press reporter Haven Daley in Stockton, California contributed to this report.

A Prison Warden Beat Black Inmates For Years. Instead Of Being Fired, He Was Promoted.

Candace McDuffie
Tue, December 13, 2022 


Federal correctional officers protest in response to an Associated Press investigation that exposed how the Bureau of Prisons repeatedly promoted Thomas Ray Hinkle who was accused of beating several Black inmates, in front of the Bureau of Prisons’ regional office, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, in Stockton, Calif.

A new report by The Associated Press reveals disturbing information about Bureau of Prisons official Thomas Ray Hinkle. Despite having a violent past abusing Black inmates—stemming from allegations made in 1995—he has been promoted at least nine times. In June, he was selected by the Bureau of Prisons and Justice Department to become acting regional director.

“At least three inmates, all Black, have accused Hinkle of beating them while he was a correctional officer at a Florence, Colorado federal penitentiary in 1995 and 1996. The allegations were documented in court documents and formal complaints to prison officials. In recent years, colleagues say, Hinkle has talked about beating inmates while a member of a violent, racist gang of guards called ‘The Cowboys.’”

The piece about went into more detail about Hinkle’s deplorable behavior:

“One inmate said he felt terrified as Hinkle and another guard dragged him up a stairway and slammed him into walls. Another said Hinkle was among guards who threw him to a concrete floor, spat on him and used racist language toward him. A third said Hinkle slapped him and held him down while another guard sexually assaulted him.”

Even though a minimum of 11 guards affiliated with “The Cowboys” were charged with federal crimes, Hinkle wasn’t. The group beat dozens of inmates that were primarily Black. Ultimately, three were convicted and imprisoned. Four others were acquitted and an additional four pleaded guilty and said they would cooperate.

However, Hinkle was promoted twice before the criminal investigation was even over. He told AP: “With the support of my friends, family, and colleagues, and through professional help, I have made the most of my opportunity for a second chance to serve the Bureau of Prisons honorably over the past twelve years.”

Hinkle added: “I cannot speak to why some are dredging up history from so many years ago, but my distant past does not reflect who I am today. My story I share with my fellow staff has more to do with hope and change after getting help and not self-medicating with alcohol. We are all human and make mistakes. There is no shame in admitting our problems and seeking help.”

He also denied using racist language and recent allegations of misconduct (which includes silencing a whistleblower). The agency’s new director, Colette Peters, insists says the Bureau of Prisons stands by Hinkle’s leadership.

“[He] has openly acknowledged his past mistakes, gone through the employee discipline program, sought professional help and reframed his experiences as learning opportunities for others,” Peters stated. “Today, I am confident he has grown into an effective supervisor for our agency.”

Despite calls for Hinkle to be terminated immediately, Justice Department policy mandates that he must retire next May when he turns 57.

Prisons chief: Official who beat inmates deserves 2nd chance





Senate Federal PrisonsJustice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz testifies during the hearing of Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations, on Sexual Abuse of Female Inmates in Federal Prisons, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. 

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

MICHAEL R. SISAK
Tue, December 13, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — The director of the federal Bureau of Prisons is defending her decision to rally behind a high-ranking agency official who climbed the ranks after beating Black inmates in the 1990s, saying Tuesday that she feels he's shown contrition and deserves a second chance.

Colette Peters, making her first comments since The Associated Press published an investigation chronicling Thomas Ray Hinkle’s sordid past and subsequent promotions, said she met with Hinkle soon after starting as director in August and came away convinced that he should keep his job.

"He openly shared some of his past and has shared with me that he’s a changed man, that he’s not the person he was 25 years ago, and that he wants to spend the remainder of his career helping people understand not to make those exact same mistakes,” Peters said.

“It’s that type of behavior change that we’re looking for in both those in our custody and who work for us. Some, they don't get a second chance. But he owned it.”


Peters spoke with the AP after testifying Tuesday before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has spent months scrutinizing the Bureau of Prisons' inability to clamp down on rampant staff sexual misconduct.

Subcommittee Chairman Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said the eight-month, bipartisan investigation — after the arrests of a warden and other workers at a federal women’s prison in Dublin, California — shows that the agency is “failing systemically” in its duty to protect female inmates from the “cruel and unusual punishment” of abuse at the hands of correctional workers.

The Bureau of Prisons’ inability to detect and prevent staff-on-inmate assaults has led to dozens of assaults and left some accused workers free to offend again, the subcommittee found. The findings echo common complaints about the agency's handing of sexual abuse and other staff misconduct, some of which has been detailed in AP reporting.

Among the subcommittee's other findings: Audits meant to ensure compliance with a federal prison rape prevention law have proven inadequate; inmates who report abuse often face retaliation; and the agency's internal affairs office is facing a backlog of 8,000 cases, including hundreds of sex abuse allegations. Peters said she's added 40 workers to the internal affairs office to process cases faster.

At the Dublin prison, the rape-prevention audits were being supervised by the former warden, Ray Garcia, who was convicted last week of abusing three inmates. At a prison in Coleman, Florida, where six have been accused of sexually abusing inmates since 2012, officials shipped all the female inmates away two days before they were to be interviewed by auditors.

“This situation is intolerable," Ossoff said. “Sexual abuse of inmates is a gross abuse of human and constitutional rights and cannot be tolerated by the United States Congress.”

Tuesday's hearing began with disturbing testimony from three victims of staff-on-inmate sexual abuse — women who say the Bureau of Prisons compounded their suffering by ignoring warning signs, enabling coverups and failing to equip prisons with practical tools, like functioning security cameras.

Carolyn Richardson recounted how a correctional officer at a federal lockup in New York City preyed on her visual impairment, sexually assaulting her after he brought her to medical appointments. Briane Moore, crying at times, said the prison captain who abused her had threatened to put her in solitary confinement or transfer her to another prison if she reported him.

Linda De La Rosa said the Bureau of Prisons “entirely failed” in allowing the correctional officer who attacked her and three other women in 2019 at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, to continue working despite previous allegations of sexual abuse. The officer, Christopher Goodwin, pleaded guilty in March and is serving 11 years in prison.

“The problem is the old boys club,” De La Rosa said. “Prison staff, managers, investigators, correctional officers — they all work together for years, if not decades. No one wants to rock the boat, let alone listen to female inmates. There is no objective, independent oversight.”

The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, as Richardson, Moore and De La Rosa have done. All sexual activity between a prison worker and an inmate is illegal. Correctional employees enjoy substantial power over inmates, controlling every aspect of their lives from mealtime to lights out, and there is no scenario in which an inmate can give consent.

Peters, who testified alongside Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, has vowed to change the culture that has enabled officers to sexually assault inmates. She reiterated the Bureau of Prisons' zero-tolerance policy for staff sexual misconduct and said she's urged transparency throughout the agency, so that she's not kept in the dark on any incidents that occur.

A Justice Department working group issued recommendations last month for curbing staff sexual misconduct. Among them: starting an anonymous abuse reporting process, overhauling investigations, seeking longer prison sentences for workers convicted of abuse and potentially granting early release to victimized inmates.

Peters, who visited Dublin early in her tenure, said the crisis there shows some prisons have been infected with a “culture of abuse and a culture of misconduct" and that “when it’s high-level officials engaging in these egregious criminal acts there’s clearly a culture” of abuse.

“That culture needs to be reset in order to ensure the safety and security of those in our care and custody,” Peters testified. “And I think we do have systemic changes in the works that will help us reset that culture there and throughout the federal Bureau of Prisons.”

As for Hinkle, Peters will face more questions about him this week when she meets with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin. The Illinois Democrat tweeted that he was “very concerned about the allegations” in the AP's article about Hinkle "and whether BOP will address abuses, prioritize safety, and improve their flawed approach to misconduct investigations.”

On Monday, prison workers and union officials picketed outside the agency's regional office in Stockton, California, and called on Peters to fire Hinkle and his boss, Regional Director Melissa Rios.

__

On Twitter, follow Michael Sisak at http://twitter.com/mikesisak and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/

THE ORACLE OF SHANGHAI
A Warren Buffett-backed Tesla competitor is making a dent in Elon Musk's EV empire

Tim Levin
Wed, December 14, 2022

BYD EV car store in Shanghai, China, in 2021.Robert Way/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus

China's BYD is quickly gaining on Tesla, the world leader in electric car sales.


It's already sold twice as many EVs this year as it did in 2021.


BYD, backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, is planning two new premium brands.

Tesla has long dominated global sales of electric cars. But a Chinese newcomer is quickly gaining on Elon Musk's empire.

BYD started selling gasoline cars back in 2003 before expanding into hybrids and all-electric vehicles. This year, it kicked combustion-engine cars to the curb and has grown its EV business at an explosive pace. Pretty soon, it could sell more all-electric cars than anyone else.

In 2021, the Warren Buffett-backed carmaker shipped some 320,000 pure electric vehicles (not including the plug-in hybrid vehicles that still make up much of BYD's sales). This year, it's furiously accelerated output: In the first 11 months of 2022, it's more than doubled last year's numbers, shipping out roughly 800,000 EVs.

It hasn't quite caught up yet: Tesla notched 908,573 deliveries worldwide through September (it releases numbers quarterly) and is on track for an annual record of its own. Plus, Tesla's profit margin per vehicle dwarfs BYD's.

BYD's epic rise comes amid signs that Tesla is losing steam in China, the world's biggest market for electric cars. In October, Tesla discounted its cars in China. This week, Bloomberg reported that Tesla is slowing production at its Shanghai factory, potentially signaling decreased demand for its vehicles. (Tesla disputes the report.)

Some industry watchers like Michael Dunne, founder of the EV industry consultancy ZoZoGo, think BYD is primed to become the EV sales leader and dethrone Tesla. But comparing them is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, he says.

"It's like asking, 'will Toyota surpass Mercedes in overall sales?' Yeah, because Toyota has a full spectrum of vehicles that go from $20,000 to $80,000," Dunne told Insider. "And the lower the price point, the bigger the market of course."

BYD has a few advantages that will propel it to market dominance by 2025, according to Dunne: While Tesla is solidly a luxury brand — its cars go for around $50,000 and up — BYD sells vehicles under multiple brands and at several price points. The automaker is also one of the world's leading battery manufacturers.

BYD has been in business since 1995. And in addition to cars, it makes electric buses, trucks, and forklifts.

And the Chinese firm is expanding into Tesla's turf in more ways than one. In November, the company announced plans to launch two new high-end brands. This is part of an effort to shed its identity as a maker of affordable cars and become a more aspirational brand in China, Dunne said.

It's also expanding its reach far beyond its home country. BYD recently started selling cars in Europe, and it's targeting Mexico and Japan in 2023.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Trims Stake In BYD EV Company To Below 15%

Anusuya Lahiri
Tue, December 13, 2022


Berkshire Hathaway sold 1.33 million Hong Kong-listed shares of electric vehicle maker BYD Co, Ltd (OTC: BYDDF) (OTC: BYDDY) for HK$267.69 million ($34.43 million).

The divestment reduced Warren Buffett-owned investment company's holdings in BYD's total issued H-shares to 14.95% on December 8, down from 15.07%, Reuters reports.

As of November 17, Berkshire sold about 3.23 million Hong Kong-listed shares of the Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) rival for HK $630.33 million ($80.7 million), trimming its stake from 16.28% to 15.99%.

Also Read: Warren Buffett-Backed BYD More Than Doubles Production, Deliveries In Nov Despite COVID-19 Challenges

In December, BYD forged a 500 million ringgit ($113 million) tie-up with Sime Darby Motors Sdn Bhd as it made its electric vehicle debut in Malaysia.

BYD's growing list of export destinations now stretches from North to Southeast Asia, Australia, and Europe to Latin America.

BYD's foreign markets included Brazil, Chile, Germany, Israel, Japan, and India.

Price Action: BYDDF shares traded lower by 1.88% at $27.08 in the premarket on the last check Tuesday.

See more from Benzinga

Warren Buffett Backed BYD Forays Malaysia With $113M Deal

House Democrats introduce legislation to bar Trump from office under 14th Amendment


Jared Gans
Thu, December 15, 2022 

A group of 40 House Democrats, led by Rep. David Cicilline (R.I.), introduced legislation on Thursday to bar former President Trump from holding future federal office under the 14th Amendment.

Section 3 of the amendment states that no one who previously took an oath to support the Constitution and engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” shall “hold any office, civil or military, under the United States.”

Cicilline said in a release announcing the legislation that Trump “very clearly” engaged in an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, with the intention of overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“You don’t get to lead a government you tried to destroy,” he said.

The release states that the bill includes testimony and evidence demonstrating how Trump engaged in the insurrection.

The bill also specifically describes how Trump helped encourage the violence on Jan. 6, tried to intimidate state and federal officials when they did not support his false claims of the election being stolen and refused to denounce the mob that stormed the Capitol for hours during the riot.

“The 14th Amendment makes clear that based on his past behavior, Donald Trump is disqualified from ever holding federal office again and, under Section 5, Congress has the power to pass legislation to implement this prohibition,” Cicilline said.

Cicilline, who served as an impeachment manager during Trump’s first impeachment, sent a letter to his Democratic colleagues last month to solicit co-sponsors for a bill to bar Trump from office.

Trump was impeached on a charge of “incitement of insurrection” in the aftermath of Jan. 6, but he was acquitted by the Senate. This was the second time Trump was impeached, with the first coming in December 2019.

Last month, Trump became the first major candidate to announce a run for the presidency in 2024.

The 14th Amendment was ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War, when ex-Confederates and seceded states rejoined the Union.