Dutch export rules on China in focus ahead of ASML results


ASML Holding logo is seen at company's headquarters in Eindhoven

Fri, January 20, 2023 
By Toby Sterling and Stephanie van den Berg

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Expectations that the Dutch government will further limit sales to China by chip equipment giant ASML Holding NV may overshadow what are expected to be strong fourth quarter results due next week.

The Hague is expected to impose at least some additional restrictions on ASML's exports to China, a Dutch government source familiar with security discussions between the United States and Netherlands told Reuters, though they could not give a timeframe.

ASML, a key supplier to chipmakers, generates about 15% of its sales in China, an important growth market even after it was restricted from selling its most advanced machines there under U.S. pressure in 2019.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing over semiconductors have since steadily worsened.

Washington in October imposed export restrictions on its own chip equipment companies aimed at hobbling China's ability to make chips and to blunt its military progress.

U.S. officials say they expect the Netherlands to follow suit.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Jan. 17 said he expected a "good outcome" to discussions with the United States on the matter after meeting with President Joe Biden in Washington.

But Dutch trade minister Liesje Schreinemacher has underlined the Netherlands will not simply adopt U.S. rules.

"I know there's a lot of pressure internationally but I will be fighting for open trade and against protectionism," she told a panel in Davos on Jan. 19.

The government source said The Hague has been working to resolve several concerns.

One is making sure Dutch rules are drafted in such a way that they are not actually more restrictive for ASML than for U.S. companies.

Another is that Japan, home to ASML competitor Nikon, have similar rules, and a third is that new restrictions do not upend the global chip market, which is just emerging from COVID-19 era shortages and needs Chinese production, especially for less-advanced chips.

"We will figure it out," the source said.

EARNINGSThe Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry, which oversees export controls, declined to comment. ASML also declined to comment citing a quiet period ahead of earnings due on Jan. 25.

ASML is expected to post fourth-quarter net income of 1.68 billion euros ($1.82 billion) on record revenue of 6.37 billion euros, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

In November ASML raised its annual revenue estimates by 25% to at least 30 billion euros by 2025.

The company's top customers including TSMC, Samsung and Intel are engaged in major expansions, so any loss of Chinese sales could initially be offset elsewhere.

Still, the U.S. restrictions are expected to impact 5% of ASML's 38-billion-euro order backlog.

There could be further losses from tougher Dutch rules, if for example, limits are re-applied to sales to China of older technology deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) equipment.

ASML has sold more than 8 billion euros worth of such equipment in China since 2014, when DUV was removed from international lists of goods deemed of possible military use.

The government would need to expand its definition of sensitive technology to include DUV in order to restrict it and may not specify that such a move is targeting China.

($1 = 0.9223 euros)

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Jason Neely)

SCOTLAND UPHOLDS LGBTQ RIGHTS

Nicola Sturgeon: Alister Jack has acted like a ‘governor-general’ over trans law

Simon Johnson
Thu, January 19, 2023 

Nicola Sturgeon - Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Nicola Sturgeon has accused the Scottish Secretary of acting like a colonial “governor-general” after he vetoed her gender reforms over their impact on UK-wide protections for women.

The First Minister said Alister Jack had treated the Scottish Parliament as a “subordinate body” by “deciding which democratic decisions and laws to veto”.

In a speech to a group of pro-independence businessmen and women, she claimed the decision signalled the start of “a new and more dangerous phase for devolution” that showed Scotland should leave the UK.

Ms Sturgeon claimed that the Tories have “broken cover” and their “stealth attacks” on the Scottish Parliament had “been joined by a full-frontal assault”.

But UK Government sources rejected her allegations, saying that her decision to resort to personal slurs against Mr Jack demonstrated the weakness of her case.

Her outspoken assault on the Scottish Secretary came after one of the country’s most eminent legal authorities rejected as “quite wrong” the First Minister’s claim that the veto represented an attack on Holyrood.

Lord Hope of Craighead, a former deputy president of the UK Supreme Court, said the power was “not destroying devolution at all” but was included in the Scotland Act that created it.

Despite her claims to be very confident of victory, he warned Ms Sturgeon that she had a “very low” chance of overturning the veto in her planned judicial review court action and questioned whether it was a “sensible use of public money”.

Alister Jack - Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

On Thursday, Shona Robison, the SNP’s Social Justice Secretary, said Mr Jack should “immediately” withdraw the block to “show the UK Government is serious about improving the lives of trans people and respecting Scottish democracy”.

She claimed that Tory ministers had failed to raise any issues about the Bill undermining UK-wide protections for women during its passage at Holyrood.

But, although she said the Scottish Government remained “absolutely determined to vigorously defend the Bill”, she did not repeat her previous threat of court action and warned a legal battle “only raises further uncertainty”.

Mr Jack has offered talks to try and find a compromise but Ms Sturgeon argued his actions demonstrated that “Westminster control means the worst of both worlds” for Scotland, with a weaker Holyrood and a weaker economy.

She said: “Through his actions, the UK Government Secretary of State for Scotland is demonstrating he is, sadly, not interested in working in partnership.

“He’s decided to act like a governor-general: treating the Scottish Parliament as a subordinate body and deciding which democratic decisions and laws to veto.”

Ms Sturgeon also argued that Westminster decision-making was also undermining the Scottish economy, despite her plans to join the EU requiring a hard border with England, the country’s dominant trading partner.

The UK Government said it raised “a number of concerns” about the impact of the Bill on the rest of the UK “as part of our constructive approach, in advance of the legislation passing”.

A series of potential problems were also highlighted by women’s rights groups and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the UK's equalities watchdog.

But Ms Robison insisted the Scottish Government kept UK ministers informed about the Bill’s development during its passage at Holyrood and “at no point” did they ask for it to be amended.

She said: “Put bluntly, this was a one-way conversation up until the final moments this Bill should have gone for Royal Assent and become law.

“So for the Scottish Secretary to announce this week that he was unilaterally vetoing the Bill is fundamentally disrespectful to Scotland’s parliament and the MSPs who have been part of its scrutiny, consideration and passing.”

Referring to Mr Jack’s offer of talks, she said: “If he really wants to work together in a partnership of equals, then he should acknowledge that yesterday’s announcement is completely incompatible with such a partnership, and he should immediately revoke the Section 35 order.

“That would show the UK Government is serious about improving the lives of trans people and respecting Scottish democracy.”

But a UK Government spokesman said a Section 35 order was only issued “after thorough and careful consideration of all the relevant advice and the policy implications”.

He said: “This legislation would have an adverse impact on the operation of Great Britain-wide equalities legislation.

“Transgender people deserve our respect, support and understanding. Our decision is about the legislation’s consequences for the operation of GB-wide equalities protections and other reserved matters.”

An AI rival to ChatGPT passed a university level law and economics exam, and did better than many humans, professor says

Sawdah Bhaimiya
Thu, January 19, 2023 


An AI received a marginal pass in a law and economics exam, economics professor Alex Tabarrok said.


Tabarrok, a professor at George Mason University, said the AI's answer was "better than many human responses."


The AI, known as Claude, was built by Anthropic, a company part-funded by Sam Bankman-Fried.

An AI which received funding from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried passed a university-level law and economics exam, according to a professor at Virginia's George Mason University.

The AI, named Claude, was designed by AI safety and research firm Anthropic, and was used by Alex Tabarrok to take a law and economics

Claude received a "marginal pass" on a recent law and economics exam at George Mason University in Virginia, Alex Tabarrok, an economics professor at the college wrote on the influential Marginal Revolution University blog, which he runs with fellow economist Tyler Cowen.

Tabarrok said the exam was graded blind and that he considered Claude "a competitor" and "improvement" to OpenAI's GPT3, the tech underlying viral sensation ChatGPT.

Tabarrok did note that there were some weaknesses in the answer including the fact that it was "mostly opinion," and a better answer would have used more economic reasoning.

"Still a credible response and better than many human responses," he added.

There has been an explosion of interest in AI capabilities since the launch of OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT in November. ChatGPT has an eerie human-like ability to do everything from writing convincing cover letters to beating 80% of human candidates to an interview.

Anthropic secured $580 million in Series B funding in May 2022 with investors including Bankman-Fried, FTX's former director of engineering Nishad Singh, and former CEO of Alameda Research Caroline Ellison.

FTX, Alameda Research, and other affiliated companies filed for bankruptcy on November 11, after customers withdrew funds en masse.

Bankman-Fried was arrested in December and had eight criminal charges brought against him by federal prosecutors including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Singh and Ellison have also been implicated in Bankman-Fried's alleged fraudulent activities, and have been cooperating with prosecutors.

KING  OF THE PUMP & DUMP

Trump backer Peter Thiel reportedly made $1.8 billion cashing out an 8-year bet on crypto – when he was still touting a massive bitcoin price surge

George Glover
Thu, January 19, 2023 

Peter Thiel's fund made $1.8 billion cashing out its crypto positions last year, according to the Financial Times.

Marco Bello/Getty Images

Peter Thiel's fund closed almost all of its crypto positions shortly before prices crashed last year, according to the Financial Times.

Founders Fund made $1.8 billion cashing out its bet on digital assets, the publication said.

Thiel predicted bitcoin's price would surge 100 times around the same time his fund was reportedly selling its crypto holdings.

Peter Thiel's venture capital firm reportedly made $1.8 billion closing out its crypto positions last year – around the time when the early bitcoin bull was still predicting the token's price to surge 100 times.

Founders Fund had cashed out almost all of its bets on digital assets by March 2022, according to a Financial Times report that cited people familiar with the matter.

But Thiel was still backing bitcoin when he spoke at a crypto conference in Miami the following month.

"We're at the end of the fiat money regime," he said, adding that the token's price could increase 100-fold from its level at the time of $44,000.

That prediction was proven false as rising interest rates and failures of high-profile firms like Celsius Network, Three Arrows Capital and FTX dragged the crypto sector into a prolonged slump. Bitcoin plummeted over 60% in 2022 and was trading at under $17,000 by the end of the year.

Founders Fund first started pouring money into crypto in 2014 – when bitcoin was trading at around $750. By the time bitcoin reached its all-time high in November 2021, it had surged 8,500% from that level.

Thiel has a long track record as one of Silicon Valley's most prominent tech investors.

He took early stakes in start-ups including Facebook, Elon Musk's SpaceX and ride-hailing app Lyft, and co-founded PayPal in 1998.

Thiel is also a high-profile supporter of the Republican party and has continued to voice his support for Donald Trump since the former president left office in January 2021.

The fund held around two-thirds of its portfolio in the token at one time but now has no significant exposure to crypto, according to the FT's sources.

Founders Fund did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

UAE Explores Non-Oil Trade in Rupees, Sees Major Role for Crypto


DUBAI PORTS

Abeer Abu Omar, Manus Cranny and Ben Bartenstein
Fri, January 20, 2023 

The United Arab Emirates and India are discussing ways to boost non-oil commerce in rupees as the Gulf country looks to strengthen ties with its second-largest trade partner.

“We are still in early-stage discussions with India on this dirham-rupee trade,” Thani Al-Zeyoudi, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign trade, told Bloomberg Television in Davos, Switzerland. Another area he spotlighted in a separate interview on Friday is the role of cryptocurrencies in commerce.

“Crypto will play a major role for UAE trade going forward,” Al-Zeyoudi said. The UAE — and especially Dubai — has been working to lure the world’s largest firms with its crypto-friendly policies.

“The most important thing is that we ensure global governance when it comes to cryptocurrencies and crypto companies,” Al-Zeyoudi said. “We started attracting some of the companies to the country with the aim that we’ll build together the right governance and legal system, which are needed.”

The UAE has been seeking to step up trade with crucial partners and last year signed multiple economic pacts with countries including India, Indonesia, Turkey, Israel and Ukraine. In the coming months, the UAE expects to finalize similar agreements with Cambodia and Georgia, Al-Zeyoudi said.

The economic agreements are set to boost the UAE’s gross domestic product by 3.4% to 3.8% by 2030, he said.

OPEC’s third-biggest producer has long maintained a currency peg to the dollar and most trade in the Gulf is settled in the US currency. Total bilateral trade between the UAE and India was nearly $64 billion in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Oil sales in the Indian currency are “not under consideration,” Al-Zeyoudi said. “This is only going to be focusing on non-oil trade.”

Al-Zeyoudi’s statement echoes that of neighboring Saudi Arabia. Earlier this week, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said the kingdom is open to discussions about trade in currencies other than the US dollar.

The dollar’s strength in the first half of last year and its weaponization to enforce sanctions on Russia has given fresh impetus to some of the world’s biggest economies to explore ways to circumvent the US currency. China has looked to bolster the yuan’s global appeal and has been pushing to boost its use in transactions with major energy and commodity exporters.

Discussions on a trade agreement with China are also taking place, the UAE minister said.

“China is our first trade partner,” he said. “For sure, more is going to be good for consumers, for workers, for people, for businesses.”

Bullish Outlook

The UAE and neighboring Gulf countries look relatively resilient to the risk of a global recession this year, mainly due to massive oil bounties they collected in 2022 and measures they have taken since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dubai, part of the seven sheikhdoms comprising the UAE, has seen an influx of businesses, entrepreneurs and tourists over the past couple of years.

The UAE is “very immune” if a recession in the world economy materializes in 2023, Al-Zeyoudi said. “We did excellently last year, and we’re going to have an excellent performance this year as well.”

The governement will also start imposing a 9% corporate tax later this year, a rare move in a region otherwise known for being tax-free. The UAE said it would slash other fees to offset the impact of the levy.

“There will be an overlap for some time between the normal fees and the corporate tax,” Al-Zeyoudi said. “It’s the first time we are applying it, it’s going to take some time.”

Turkey's opposition to announce presidential candidate in February: party official

Supporters of the main opposition CHP cheer during an election rally of their mayoral candidate Imamoglu in Istanbul

Fri, January 20, 2023 at 3:21 AM MST·1 min read

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's six-party opposition alliance is set to announce in February their presidential candidate to challenge President Tayyip Erdogan's 20-year rule in elections set for May, an opposition party official said on Friday.

Turkey is heading towards one of the most consequential votes in the century-long history of the modern republic and Erdogan signalled on Wednesday that the presidential and parliament elections would be on May 14, a month ahead of schedule.

"The name of the (six-party opposition's) presidential candidate will probably be declared sometime in February," Unal Cevikoz, an adviser of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, told reporters.

The six-party alliance is seeking to forge a united platform but has yet to agree a candidate to challenge Erdogan for the presidency.

Turkey's two main opposition parties, the secularist CHP and centre-right nationalist IYI Party, have allied themselves with four smaller parties under a platform that would seek to dismantle Erdogan's executive presidency in favour of the previous parliamentary system.

Cevikoz said leaders of the six opposition parties would reveal on Jan. 30 in two documents their proposals for a transitional period to a parliamentary system and their government programme.

(Reporting by Birsen Altayli; Writing by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Daren Butler and Alex Richardson)

WHY WHITE U$A NEEDS CRT
Black FedEx Driver Kept Composure During Racist Attack And Went Viral On Social Media

Candace McDuffie
Fri, January 20, 2023

Photo: max.ku (Shutterstock)

ATL Uncensored Twitter recently shared a viral video of a Black FedEx worker who was subjected to racist threats by a white man during a stop in an Atlanta suburb. Somehow, the employee managed to keep his composure. The video, which was posted on Twitter, has now been seen almost six million times and is half a minute long.

Many who saw the video commented on the driver’s ability to keep his cool. To summarize, the white (and bafflingly barefoot) customer calls the worker several racial slurs including the n-word. He then threatens to fight the driver if he runs over his dog, which can also be seen in the video.

“You stupid monkey. You a dumb n*****,’ he said, which can be heard in the footage. “Go ahead and park. You want to f*** around with a white man? You run over my dog and I’ll show you how little Black lives matter.”

The FedEx employee laughed, stated he wasn’t going to run anything over and records the entire incident. As the racist walks up the driveway back toward the house, the driver remarks “Welcome to Facebook” before the footage cuts off.

In an email, FedEx told Newsweek that they will review “the circumstances” behind the exchange. Are there any justifications to call a Black person the n-word, though?

“At FedEx, we believe that everyone deserves respect. The behavior depicted in this video is highly disturbing. The safety and security of our team members and service providers is a top priority and we are reviewing the circumstances behind this matter,” a spokesperson explained to the publication.

This isn’t the first time FedEx employees have been forced to deal with racist encounters. Last year, D’Monterrio Gibson was racially targeted by two white neighborhood residents as he made his FedEx deliveries. In 2022, Jennifer Harris, a former Black FedEx employee, was awarded over $300 million in a discrimination lawsuit against the company.

The Root

Rio Holocaust Memorial remembers Jewish victims - and others
 

A table displays the names of groups persecuted by the Nazis at the Holocaust Victims Memorial on its opening day to the public in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. The memorial tells the stories of the thousands of people who took refuge in Brazil during the Holocaust. 

  

A monument stands outside the Holocaust Victims Memorial on the first day it opened to the public, with a Sugar Loaf Mountain in the background, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. The museum tells the stories of the thousands of people who took refuge in Brazil during the Holocaust. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

ELÉONORE HUGHES
Thu, January 19, 2023

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro on Thursday opened the doors to a Holocaust Memorial that honors not only Jewish victims, but also lesser-known groups likewise persecuted by the Nazi regime.

Curators hope that the memorial, perched atop one of Rio’s shapely hills with a view of Sugarloaf Mountain and the Guanabara Bay, becomes a pilgrimage site for a diverse audience.

“Nazism is not only a history of victimized Jews. They were the main target, but others also suffered,” said Sofia Levy, a member of the curatorial team. “The message is: don’t ever think it doesn’t concern you.”

The main exhibition is a journey through a tunnel behind the central hall, depicting victims’ lives before, during and after the Holocaust.

The first section features colorized photos of birthdays, traditions and day-to-day lives of soon-to-be victims. One picture shows Hilarius Gilges, a Black German actor and tap dancer who was a communist. A table displays the names of groups who the Nazis persecuted: artists, anarchists, masons, Roma people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gay people and the disabled. It also specifies the various Jewish groups targeted, like Hasidic and Sephardic Jews.

From there, the memorial’s visitors on Thursday passed into the second section and were suddenly bathed in sepia-toned light. A railroad representing the deportation trains runs beneath black-and-white photos of the text of Nuremberg laws that made Jews legally inferior, Hitler Youth members and a man holding a sign inciting the boycott of shops owned by Jews. Graphic images of concentration camps and stick-thin corpses do not appear; instead, visitors can figuratively put themselves in victims’ shoes by standing on footprints to hear recordings of their accounts.

In the final part, life resumes in color — for those fortunate enough to have escaped the horror. Videos from families’ archives show births, celebrations and other snippets of life. And an interactive screen contains a database with information and photos of those who built new lives in Brazil.

Jorge Tredler, 83, leaned over the table and looked up his mother, father and sister. Their family fled Poland and spent years passing through the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and other nations before finally reaching in Brazil in 1951.

“I feel really emotional, it brings me back to the past,” Tredler said. “This place recalls one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, so people know about it and there never again is a Holocaust.”

The memorial is Brazil’s third Holocaust-focused institution inaugurated in just over a decade, following a museum in southern city Curitiba and another memorial in Sao Paulo. Levy said the idea was born three decades ago, but work only got off the ground with a municipal ordnance passed in January 2018 allowing for its creation.

That same month, far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro was sworn into office. He was an outspoken champion of Christian faith and conservative values. Many human rights associations blamed his fiery rhetoric for the recent surge in cases of people promoting Nazism, as well as hate crimes against members of the LGBT community.

“The years when Bolsonaro was in power led to the emergence of extremists with a greater intolerance for difference,” said Fernando Lottenberg, a Brazilian Jew who is the Organization of American States’ commissioner for monitoring and combating antisemitism. “Like (former U.S. President Donald) Trump, he created an atmosphere favoring the expression of this kind of behavior.”

There are more than a dozen neo-Nazi groups in Brazil with between 2,000 and 3,000 organized activists, according to Brazilian nonprofit SaferNet, which fields complaints of intolerance on social media via a hotline it runs with the prosecutor-general’s office.

Brazil’s Jewish population was around 107,000 in 2010, according to the national statistics agency IGBE’s latest census. Many of them are descendants of people who fled rampant antisemitism in Europe in the 20th century. And 14 million Brazilians identified as Black in 2010, while 83 million identified as biracial.

“A developed society is plural and diverse,” said Alberto Klein, president of the Holocaust memorial’s cultural association.

__

AP videojournalist Pedro Varela contributed.

  

Jorge Tredler, 83, of Poland, who came to Brazil with his family in Feb. 1951 after taking refuge in Russia and other countries during the second World War, points to a photo of his mother Irena on an interactive table that tells the stories of thousands of people who took refuge in Brazil during the Holocaust, at the Holocaust Victims Memorial on its opening day to the public in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. 

 

Photos from the permanent collection of the Holocaust Victims Memorial are on display on the first day it opened to the public in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. The museum tells the stories of the thousands of people who took refuge in Brazil during the Holocaust.

 

A youth looks at photos on an interactive table displaying the photos and stories of the thousands of people who took refuge in Brazil during the Holocaust at the Holocaust Victims Memorial on the first day it opened to the public in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023.

Jorge Tredler, 83, of Poland, who came to Brazil with his family in Feb. 1951 after taking refuge in Russia and other countries during the second World War, points to a photo of his father Szymon on an interactive table that tells the stories of thousands of people who took refuge in Brazil during the Holocaust, at the Holocaust Victims Memorial on its opening day to the public in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. Another photo of his father is displayed at left.

AP Photos/Bruna Prado

A SOCIALIST IS "THE GREATEST CANADIAN" 

WHAT IF IT IS A BION

Juárez UFO was of 'nonhuman origin,' Mexico ufologist Jaime Maussan claims

Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times
Thu, January 19, 2023 

Mexico's most-famous ufologist Jaime Maussan claims a photo of a supposed UFO hovering over the FC Juárez soccer stadium last weekend shows "a ship of nonhuman origin."

FC Juárez created a fun stir this week by sharing a fan's photo of an unknown dark object close to a bright setting sun behind Estadio Olympico Benito Juárez on Saturday at the Bravos game against the Tijuana Xolos. A close-up of the small dark speck looks similar to a flying saucer.

More:Does photo show UFO over FC Juárez Bravos soccer game?

In its tweet, FC Juárez tagged Maussan, who expressed interest and followed up on Wednesday, saying that the photo had been computer enhanced and analyzed. The enhanced photo shows a smooth, dark almond-shaped object.

"I share that the case was analyzed with AI equipment, and everything indicates that we are facing an unidentified anomalous phenomenon 'UAP', (Kyiv) scientists call these ships 'Ghost' for being dark objects," Maussan said in a tweet.

"Given all of the above, I think it is a SHIP of nonhuman origin," Maussan stated.

UAP stands for "unidentified aerial phenomena," or what the U.S. military now calls what were traditionally known as UFOs, or unidentified flying objects. Ukrainian astronomers have reported dozens of unidentified objects flying over Kyiv. Since Russia and Ukraine are at war, it's possible the sightings are military aircraft or drones.

Maussan has reported on UFOs for more than three decades and hosts the longtime Mexican TV show "Tercer Milenio" (Third Millenium) about UFOS and other paranormal topics.

New Mexico:UFO sighting over Carlsbad credited to nearby Air Force training mission, feds say

Twitter responses to Maussan's take on the Juárez UFO photo ranged from praise to criticism and jokes ‒ lots of jokes. Among the Twitter takes:

"Parece un bolillo." (Looks like a bread roll.)


"Parecen un sombrero." (Looks like a hat.)


"Super fake esa foto" (The photo is super fake.)

Whether the object in the Juárez UFO photo is nonhuman or nonsense is up for debate.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Juárez UFO was 'nonhuman,' Mexico ufologist Jaime Maussan says

GM to sink over $900M into 4 plants, Flint to get new engine plant


The GMC logo is displayed on the grill of a truck at a GMC dealership in Warminster, Pa., Tuesday, April 26, 2022. General Motors announced Friday, Jan. 20, 2023 it will spend more than $900 million to update four factories, with the bulk going to an engine plant in Flint, Mich., to build the next-generation V8 for big pickup trucks and SUVs. 

MIKE HOUSEHOLDER and TOM KRISHER
Fri, January 20, 2023

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — General Motors says it will spend more than $900 million to update four factories, with the bulk going to an engine plant in Flint, Michigan, to build the next-generation V8 for big pickup trucks and SUVs.

Factories in Rochester, New York; Defiance, Ohio; and Bay City, Michigan; also will see investments, some to make V8 engine components as well as parts for future electric vehicles, the company said Friday.

The investments won't create any new jobs, but they will preserve about 2,400 hourly and salaried positions positions at the four sites, the company said.

The investments “provide job security at these plants for years to come,” Gerald Johnson, GM's manufacturing chief, said in a statement.

Much of the money, $579 million, will go to Flint Engine Operations for equipment to build the sixth-generation small-block V8 that will go into the next round of big pickup trucks and SUVs. The plant now employs about 700 people who also will keep making their current product, a diesel engine used in light trucks.

GM, like other automakers, is facing stricter government fuel economy standards and pollution limits starting in the 2024 model year. New vehicles sold in the U.S. will have to average at least 40 miles per gallon of gasoline in 2026, up from about 28 mpg, under new Biden administration rules that undo a rollback of standards enacted under former President Donald Trump.

That means the new V8 will have to get better mileage and pollute less than the current versions. Although GM wouldn't release details on the new engine, Johnson said during a news conference at the Flint plant that it would be more efficient than the current version.

GM has a goal of selling only electric passenger vehicles by 2035, but Johnson said that's a dozen years out, a period when many customers will still want gas engines.

“We know that has a horizon,” he said. “Between here and there, there are a lot of internal combustion customers that we don't want to lose,” he said.

In addition to Flint, GM's engine components plant in Bay City, Michigan, will get $216 million to build camshafts and connecting rods, and to machine engine blocks and heads for the new V8 being built in Flint. The plant now employs about 425.

The Defiance, Ohio, foundry will get $55 million to build a variety of block castings for the new V8. Included is $8 million for castings to support future electric vehicles, the company said. The plant has about 530 employees.

And GM's operations in Rochester, New York, will get $68 million, with $56 million to produce battery pack cooling lines for electric vehicles. The rest will go for tools to make intake manifolds and fuel injection rails for the new V8. About 745 people work at the Rochester facility, GM said.

GM's plant in Tonawanda, New York, now builds the fifth-generation small-block V8s for big pickup trucks and SUVs, and Johnson said that will continue until the end of the decade. “It is a great organization, a great work force for us,” he said Friday. “Tonawanda will be fine running the current Gen 5 well into the future,” he said.

GM to invest close to $1B in 4 US factories, 

2 in Michigan

Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press
Fri, January 20, 2023 

General Motors is investing $918 million in four U.S. plants for expanded V-8 engine production in light-duty full size pickups and large SUVs as well as component parts for electric vehicles.

GM made the announcement Friday at Flint Engine plant where GM leaders, UAW leaders and Michigan's Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist gathered. As part of the investment, two plants in Michigan will receive new products to build: Flint Engine Operations and Bay City Powertrain facilities.

GM said of the $918 million, $854 million will go to prepare the facilities to make GM's sixth generation small block V-8 engine used in the Chevrolet Camaro, light duty pickups and large SUVs. An additional $64 million will be invested in Rochester Operations in Rochester, New York and Defiance Operations in Defiance, Ohio plants to make castings and components to support GM's EV production.

UAW President Ray Curry speaks to employees at General Motors Flint Engine South in Flint on Friday, January 20, 2023, while talking about General Motors investing $918 million in four U.S. plants for expanded V-8 engine production in light-duty full size pickups and large SUVs as well as component parts for electric vehicles. As part of the investment, two plants in Michigan will receive new products to build: Flint Engine Operations and Bay City Powertrain facilities.

The focus of all the investments is job retention, said GM spokesman Dan Flores. That means a total of about 2,400 union and salaried jobs will be retained.

Flores also said these investments will help GM strengthen its full-size pickup and SUV business because this new V-8 engine will give GM vehicles a performance edge in what is a competitive market segment. GM's pickup and SUV sales are key to GM's profits and help to fund GM's development of EVs as the company looks to transition to a zero-emissions lineup by 2035. GM said in a media release that "product details, timing, performance and features related to GM’s next gen V-8 engine are not being released at this time."

“These investments, coupled with the hard work and dedication of our team members in Flint, Bay City, Rochester and Defiance, enable us to build world-class products for our customers and provide job security at these plants for years to come," said Gerald Johnson, GM executive vice president of Global Manufacturing and Sustainability, in a statement.

General Motors EVP of Global Manufacturing & Sustainability Gerald Johnson, right, speaks with people at General Motors Flint Engine South in Flint on Friday, January 20, 2023, after a press conference talking about General Motors investing $918 million in four U.S. plants for expanded V-8 engine production in light-duty full size pickups and large SUVs as well as component parts for electric vehicles. As part of the investment, two plants in Michigan will receive new products to build: Flint Engine Operations and Bay City Powertrain facilities.

Here is how the investment breaks down:

Flint Engine Operations: GM employs 709 people at Flint Engine. GM will invest $579 million to prepare the plant to assemble the sixth-generation small block V-8 gasoline engines as well as do some preparation of engine parts for final engine assembly. Construction work at the facility will begin immediately and Flint will continue building the 3.0-liter turbo-diesel used in GM full size light duty pickups during the renovations.


Bay City: GM, which employs 425 people at the plant, will invest $216 million to build camshafts, connecting rods and machinery used in making the engine block and head that go into future production at Flint Engine.


Defiance Operations, Ohio: GM, which employs 530 people at Defiance, will invest $55 million in the facility. Of that, $47 million will cover the cost to prepare the facility to build block castings to be sent to Flint Engine for its production. The investment includes $8 million for Defiance to cast metal parts for future EVs.


Rochester Operations, New York: GM employs 745 people at Rochester. There it will invest $68 million, in which $12 million will be used to prepare the plant to make other parts for the future V-8 production at Flint Engine. GM will spend $56 million to prepare the facility to make battery pack parts for EVs.

Some workers at Flint Engine said the investments provide future job security there, people familiar with the investment told the Free Press on Thursday. Those people asked to not be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media. But they said contractors have been at Flint Engine for about three months doing prep work. Some at the plant hope the upgrades could lead to 100 additional new jobs in the future, they said.

Employees at General Motors Flint Engine South in Flint listen to speakers announcing General Motors investing $918 million in four U.S. plants on Friday, January 20, 2023, at the plant in Flint.

Flores declined to speculate on future hiring, emphasizing that the focus of these current investments is job retention at the four locations.

Flint Engine currently builds the 1.5-liter turbo engine for the Chevrolet Malibu sedan and the 3.0-liter turbo diesel engine for the light-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups and the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon large SUVs.

GM's last big investment in Flint Engine was in 2015. It put $263 million in the plant to build a new engine line. In 2019, GM assigned Flint the Duramax 3.0-liter turbo-diesel for its light-duty pickups. Nearby, GM builds the heavy-duty Silverado and Sierra at Flint Assembly plant.

In a statement, UAW President Ray Curry said, “Our union celebrates the announcement of these new investments into our GM facilities, which will benefit our members at Locals 659 (Flint, Michigan), 362 (Bay City, Michigan), 211 (Defiance, Ohio) and 1097 (Rochester, New York). The skill and dedication of UAW members are a key part of GM’s success, and this investment recognizes that our members will remain a vital part of GM’s future.”

UAW President Ray Curry left, speaks with Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist at General Motors Flint Engine South in Flint on Friday, January 20, 2023, after the announcement of General Motors investing $918 million in four U.S. plants for expanded V-8 engine production in light-duty full size pickups and large SUVs as well as component parts for electric vehicles. As part of the investment, two plants in Michigan will receive new products to build: Flint Engine Operations and Bay City Powertrain facilities.

In September, GM announced it will invest $760 million at its Toledo Propulsion Systems plant to prepare it to make drive units that will be used in future GM EVs. Those drive units will be used in the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV, 2024 GMC Sierra EV and current GMC Hummer EVs. GM's Factory Zero, which straddles Detroit and Hamtramck, is currently building the Hummer and will build the Silverado EV, along with Orion Assembly in Orion Township.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM to invest close to $1B in 4 US factories, 2 in Michigan