Chinese firms to invest nearly $1 billion in northern Mexico -state officials

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -A Chinese supplier for Tesla and a Chinese technology company will invest nearly a billion dollars in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon where the automaker is planning a new factory, Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel Garcia said during a trip to Shanghai on Wednesday.

The planned investments include $700 million from Ningbo Tuopu Group and $260 million from Shenzhen H&T Intelligent Control Co., a Nuevo Leon representative said.

Tesla announced in March it would build a large plant in the state, where it already has suppliers, in what Mexican officials described as a more than $5 billion investment.Speaking in a video filmed at Tesla's Shanghai factory, Garcia said Ningbo Tuopu Group was looking to begin production by the end of the year in Nuevo Leon.

The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ningbo Tuopu Group develops shock absorption products and other auto parts.

Ningbo is expected to create some 10,000 jobs, Nuevo Leon officials said.

Tesla has not yet begun construction in Nuevo Leon, and its timeline for starting production is unclear. Its factory in Austin, Texas, is several hours away just north of the U.S.-Mexico border

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"We're very happy because everything seems to indicate that the Nuevo Leon site will be twice as big, at least, as the one in Austin," Garcia said, noting that Tesla already sources batteries, software, computers and other parts from Nuevo Leon.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon, Raul Cortes and Kylie Madry; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer)

Australian hydrogen company outlines US expansion in New Mexico, touts research

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An Australia-based company plans to build a campus in New Mexico to expand its research into hydrogen fuel as a heat source for industry, touting a proprietary chemical process without greenhouse gas emissions.

Hydrogen-technology research and developer Star Scientific Limited, which has around 20 employees, signed a letter of intent with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham while she was in Sydney attending a summit Thursday on hydrogen and the energy sector.

Andrew Horvath, global group chairman at Star Scientific, said the new facilities in Albuquerque would scale up research and development of its hydrogen technology for generating heat.

“Our system doesn’t burn gas, it reacts the gas,” said Horvath, describing the proprietary technology in general terms only. “It creates an instantaneous reaction whereby you end up with the heat from the excitation energy from those atoms.”

Horvath said the company is developing a chemical catalyst system for use in combining hydrogen and oxygen to produce heat directly, with water as a byproduct. The system is different from hydrogen fuel cells that provide electricity, he said.

Star Scientific is currently sponsoring two hydrogen-energy pilot projects in Australia with a food-production company and a plastics-packaging business. They aim to replace heat systems derived from natural gas, reducing emissions of climate-warming pollution in the process

The New Mexico governor's office said in a statement that the company is looking to acquire enough land to place up to 10 buildings for laboratory research, testing and eventual manufacturing, and possibly qualify for public incentives that underwrite infrastructure investments and job training.

Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, has enthusiastically embraced support for hydrogen-energy ventures to create local jobs. But there's been concern and criticism from environmentalists who say hydrogen presents its own pollution and climate risks depending on production methods and precautions against leaks.

The Biden administration this month selected clean-energy projects from Pennsylvania to California for a $7 billion program to kickstart development and production of hydrogen fuel, a key component of the administration's agenda to slow climate change. Applications that were passed over include a collaborative pitch by New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

Some consider hydrogen “clean” only if made through electrolysis — splitting water molecules using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, which also is carbon free, as well as nuclear power. Hydrogen also can be produced from methane using heat, steam and pressure, but that brings challenges of storing the carbon dioxide that is generated.

Horvath said Star Scientific chose New Mexico for its expansion based on factors including public investments in education, business incentives and relatively inexpensive labor and land costs.

Morgan Lee, The Associated Press

US agri-food heavyweight Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM) has invested $33m to build a new pet-food production line in Guadalajara, Mexico.

ADM signage at Decatur plant

The ingredients supplier to human- and animal-food manufacturers said adding the line will increase the factory workforce by 65% and “optimise dry pet-food production flow”. Alongside its Ganador and Minino brands, ADM said the investment will also support the development of new product ranges.

The line will be equipped with new and automated technologies.

Chicago-based ADM, which has been present in Mexico for more than 65 years, said the investment will also expand its coverage to Central America and Colombia.

Jorge Martínez, president of ADM's pet-nutrition business, said: "Without a doubt Guadalajara is a strategic, economic location for ADM in Mexico. The integration of this new production line adds range and flexibility to our capabilities in Mexico and enables ADM to triple its capacity and give us wider international visibility within the pet-food market."

Jalisco, the region in which Guadalajara sits, has been identified as a key growth market in Mexico, based on increased economic activity and growing investment in the region.

ADM’s plant adheres to its CSR initiatives by reusing water from a new treatment plant.

In 2021, ADM bought a majority stake in US pet-food business P4 Companies - the owner of the PetDine, Pedigree Ovens, The Pound Bakery and NutraDine pet-food businesses.

It paid $450m for a 75% stake in the business with an option to buy the remaining 25%.

While better known as an ingredients business, in March ADM launched the direct-to-consumer plant-based health brand Knwble Grwn.

The Knwble Grwn line - distributed via Amazon.com and Walmart.com - includes flaxseed, hemp seed, flax oil, hemp oil and quinoa.

ADM said the launch was driven by consumer demand for “transparency and traceability” of their food.

The company said that while its “core business continues to be B2B”, it is “building more and more of a presence in D2C”.

Just Food has asked ADM for details of how its Ganador and Minino pet-food brands are distributed.

"ADM pumps $33m into pet-food production in Mexico" was originally created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for ADM 

 RECENT ARTICLES IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARXIST-HUMANIST WEBZINE (October 2023)

The Middle East and the World After October 7, and Israel’s War on Palestine by Kevin B. Anderson A global turning point has been reached, showing systemic fragility, but with genocidal repression looming over Gaza. Approved as a Statement of the Steering Committee of the International Marxist-Humanist Organization. Clarifying Our Perspectives on Palestine and Israel after October 7 by Alireza Kia On several tendencies on the left, especially in Iran and the diaspora. Front Commun: The Herculean Leap of the Working Class Quebecois by Kaveh Boveiri Quebec general strike has become a real possibility. Los Angeles Demonstration for Palestine Amidst Rising Fears of Israeli Invasion by Derek Lewis The demonstration of several thousand galvanized support for Palestine. The Uyghurs and the Palestinians by Chinese Student The oppression of Uyghurs in China compares to that of the Palestinians. Poems of the Living Dialectic by Sam Friedman A series of 7 poems on the dialectic. Ongoing Strikes Show Increasing U.S. Labor Militancy by Derek Lewis Increasing militancy of unions at the leadership and grassroots levels illustrates an increased resolve to resist capital. Review of Raya Dunayevskaya’s Intersectional Marxism: Race, Class, Gender, and the Dialectics of Liberation by Sevgi Doğan Review of “Raya Dunayevskaya’s Intersectional Marxism: Race, Class, Gender, and the Dialectics of Liberation,” Kevin B. Anderson, Kieran Durkin, Heather A. Brown (eds.), Palgrave 2021. Originally appeared in Science & Society, 2023, 87:3. How Green Was Karl Marx? – On Kohei Saito and the Anthropocene by David Black Review of Saito’s "Marx in the Anthropocene."

UPCOMING EVENTS SPONSORED BY THE IMHO [Chicago] The Regional and Global Impact of Israel’s War Against the  Palestinian People   Monday, October 30, 6:30 pm (Central time) Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84126516993?pwd=OHk4a3lNS25zM2N5RzVwRG53bk9vZz09 The growing opposition around the world to Israel’s genocidal assault on in Gaza has shattered the illusion of the U.S., Israel, and their allies in and beyond the Arab world that, after having been politically isolated, confined, and driven to despair, the Palestinian people would gradually disappear or acquiesce to the new “reality” of total Israeli domination. The past two weeks show, as in Poland, Ireland, or South Africa in earlier times, or the history of the Jews themselves, that oppressed peoples who have acquired a clear sense of identity and organization are capable of outlasting their oppressors, even in the face of decades and even centuries of setbacks. Join us for a discussion of the regional and global impact of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the Israeli state’s ongoing effort to bomb and starve Gaza into submission. Opening the discussion: Peter Hudis, author of Frantz Fanon, Philosopher of the Barricades Ali Reza, Iranian revolutionary activist. Suggested Reading: “The Middle East and the World After October 7, and Israel’s War on Palestine,” by Kevin B. Anderson, in The International Marxist-Humanist     [London] Raya Dunayevskaya’s Intersectional Marxism   Wednesday, November 8, 2023, 19:00 (GMT) Bertrand Russell Room, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Chair: Sandra Rein, University of Alberta, Canada, scholar of Rosa Luxemburg Speakers: Kieran Durkin, University of York, UK, author of Erich Fromm’s Radical Humanism Heather Brown, Westfield State University, USA, author of Marx on Gender and the Family David Black, writer and cultural critic, UK, author of Helen Macfarlane Janaina de Faria, Federal University of Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, Brazil and Journal of the Brazilian Society for Political Economy Kevin B. Anderson, University of California, USA, author of Marx at the Margins Sponsored by the International Marxist-Humanist Organisation Free admission Copies will be available at 50% discount of new paperback edition of Raya Dunayevskaya’s Intersectional Marxism: Race, Class, Gender, and the Dialectics of Liberation, ed. by Kevin B. Anderson, Kieran Durkin, and Heather Brown RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST (with reviews posted on our Publications pages) Raya Dunayevskaya's Intersectional Marxism: Race, Class, Gender, and the Dialectics of Liberation edited by Kevin B. Anderson, Kieran Durkin & Heather A. Brown (Palgrave Macmillan). A Precious Residue: Poems that ponder efforts to spark a working class socialism in the 1970s and after by Sam Friedman (International Marxist-Humanist). Marxist-Humanism in the Present Moment: Reflections on Theory and Practice in Light of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Uprisings edited by Jens Johansson & Kristopher Baumgartner (The International Marxist-Humanist Organization). Critique of the Gotha Program (Revised Translation & New Introduction) by Karl Marx, Peter Hudis (Introduction), Peter Linebaugh (Foreword), translated by Kevin B. Anderson & Karel Ludenhoff (PM Press). A Revolutionary Subject: Pedagogy of Women of Color and Indigeneity by Lilia D. Monzó (Peter Lang Inc.). Dialectics of Revolution: Hegel, Marxism, and its Critics Through a Lens of Race, Class, Gender, and Colonialism by Kevin B. Anderson (Daraja Press). ******* We have also posted reviews of these and other of our books in a variety of journals, including ECONOMIC & POLITICAL WEEKLY (India). See also our dropdown menu for our LANGUAGES on our homepage for newly uploaded articles, reviews, interviews, and book announcements in Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Persian, German, Turkish, Italian, Korean, French, Spanish, Czech, and other languages. THE INTERNATIONAL MARXIST-HUMANIST is the webzine of the INTERNATIONAL MARXIST-HUMANIST ORGANIZATION (IMHO) Web:  https://www.imhojournal.org/ Email: arise@imhojournal.org  Follow us on Twitter (upper right on IMHO homepage) for immediate notice of new posts. Join our Facebook page: "International Marxist-Humanist Organization," https://www.facebook.com/groups/imhorg/ We would love to hear your thoughts on our webzine or our organization, either through the "arise" email account above or as a comment in our (moderated) comments pages. Consider a donation (tax deductible in USA) to the IMHO to support our work bit.ly/IMHO-DONATE

Experts rebuke politician's claim supervised drug sites 'destroy' cities

Story by The Canadian Press • 

The warning was apocalyptic: Bringing a supervised drug-use site to Woodstock "would destroy the city," a civic politician there declared.

In a 4-3 vote, Woodstock city council last week nixed the idea of allowing a site where drugs can legally be consumed under medical supervision, despite pleas by public health authorities that such a facility – increasingly common in Ontario – is needed to help curb the deadly toll of opioid drugs in the Southwestern Ontario city of 40,000.

Coun. Deb Tait's language equating such facilities with higher crime rates around them hit a level the other opponents did not, inviting fact-checking follow-up questions about her assertion.

"The crime is off the scales around these places," Tait said during the council debate. "Talk to any police officer in a city that has them, and it's at least a six-block radius (that's affected).

"It would destroy the city."

Tait said later she has no facts to back up her claim, but relied on what police officers from London and Brantford – she wouldn't identify them – told her.

"I don't have statistics," she said in an interview. "That came from the police forces that I talked to."

London has had a supervised drug-use site since 2018, when an emergency centre opened. Another site is proposed in Brantford.

Often controversial when they first arrive to a community, the sites divide many people into two camps.

Related video: Advocates frustrated by ‘State of Indecision’ around drug use sites (WWLP Springfield) Duration 2:06  View on Watch

Proponents argue they're an effective way to reduce harm in the teeth of an opioid drug crisis, saving lives by allowing people who might risk deadly overdoses to consume drugs under medical supervision.

Critics, on the other hand, see the centres as enabling addicts and some go even farther, arguing anything that attracts drug users will also draw in those who prey on them, driving up nearby crime.

Megan Van Boheemen of the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection, who works at London’s supervised drug-use site, said she knows of no statistics to support Tait’s assertion about higher neighbouring crime rates.

“That's not accurate in our experience,” Van Boheemen said. “I have children that attend (H.B.) Beal personally, and many of them (students) aren't even aware that this exists here. It's not an issue.

“I've not seen it. I've not heard that. I'd be open to reading it if somebody wanted to share that, but we have not had that experience."

Earlier this month, Ontario paused approval of new supervised drug-use and treatment sites pending a review of all such sites after a 44-year-old Toronto woman was struck and killed by a stray bullet near an east-end Toronto facility.

Studies in scholarly journals, and government reviews and discussion papers, have been done in Canada and elsewhere exploring drug-use sites and crime, often finding either no change in criminal activity near them or a need for more study.

One expert in the United States, widely published on substance abuse and treatment, said supervised drug-use sites are often found in areas with high crime rates – but there's no proof they cause the crime.

“Most studies that have looked find that crime does not change in response to the opening of these sites,” Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at California's Stanford University, wrote in an email exchange.

“There is one study that showed a rise, and one that showed a drop, and all the rest show no change. On balance, then, I think we should expect no change in crime when one opens,” said Humphreys, who was a drug policy advisor to former U.S. president Barack Obama.

In Canada, only government-sanctioned drug-use sites are allowed and communities where they locate usually have to approve needed rezoning.

Last week's vote essentially kills the possibility of one opening in Woodstock, even before the area public health office could complete its research into how it would help reduce the opioid drug toll.

One politician who voted to keep the door open to one said she's troubled that needed research won't continue.

“Unfortunately, this motion (that passed) is answering a question that hasn't even been asked yet,” Coun. Bernia Martin said. “That's what the biggest frustration is. It’s saying stop the study, because we don't want this in the downtown. Well, we haven't even determined if it's going to be, (or) could be in the downtown."

- With file by Canadian Press

bwilliams@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/BrianWatLFPress

Brian Williams, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, London Free Press

 Refinery strike causes Metro Vancouver sugar shortage

Sugar has been scarce on grocery store shelves since workers at the Rogers Sugar refinery in Vancouver walked off the job a month ago. Local businesses say sugar is getting harder to source and prices are going up. As CBC's Michelle Gomez reports, businesses are concerned about having enough for the holiday season. 

Archaeologists unearthed the ruins of a 5,000-year-old tomb on one of the Scottish Orkney Islands, National Museums Scotland said in a statement Tuesday.

The "incredibly rare" tomb, which is from the Neolithic era, was largely destroyed without record in the 19th century, according to the museum. Only 12 of such tombs have been found in Orkney. They're considered "the pinnacle of Neolithic engineering in northern Britain," the museum said.

The tomb, unearthed after a three-week excavation, has a large stone chamber at the center of a cairn, which is a human-made pile of stones usually raised as a marker for a burial mound. The stone chamber is surrounded by six smaller rooms.

Archaeologists found 14 articulated skeletons of men, women and children in one of the smaller side rooms, according to the museum. Other human remains and artifacts, including pottery, stone tools and a bone pin, were also discovered.

"The preservation of so many human remains in one part of the monument is amazing, especially since the stone has been mostly robbed for building material," Vicki Cummings, head of Cardiff University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said in a statement.


Archaeologists found 14 articulated skeletons of men, women and children in one room. / Credit: National Museums Scotland© Provided by CBS News

Cummings co-directed the excavation with Dr. Hugo Anderson-Whymark of National Museums Scotland.

The Holm tomb was buried beneath a pasture field. It had been largely destroyed in the late 18th or early 19th century in order to supply a nearby farmhouse with building material, according to the museum. In 1896, the farmer's son came across eight skeletons while digging in the ruins. His discovery was reported in The Orcadian, a newspaper.

The 1896 discovery prompted archeologists to search in the area.

"Orkney is exceptionally rich in archaeology, but we never expected to find a tomb of this size in such a small-scale excavation," Anderson-Whymark said. "It's incredible to think this once impressive monument was nearly lost without record, but fortunately just enough stonework has survived for us to be able to understand the size, form and construction of this tomb."

"Australia review of indigenous group’s application on Barossa pipeline project" 

Originally created and  published by Offshore Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.

The Australian government has commenced review of indigenous group’s emergency application filed to block the pipeline construction for Santos’ $3.6bn (A$5.7bn) Barossa gas project off northern Australia.


The emergency application has been filed under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. 

Credit: Dragon Claws/shutterstock.com.© Dragon Claws/shutterstock.com.

The application has been filed under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act to the Australian Minister for Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek.

The group is seeking a special declaration from the minister to prevent ‘serious and immediate harm to significant underwater cultural sites’ in the Timor Sea, where Barossa Gas Project is planned to be developed.

A press statement from the non-profit, non-government entity, Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) reads: “The Santos has announced that it intends to begin work on the pipeline as soon as this Wednesday, despite being aware of Tiwi concerns that it will traverse an area of significant underwater cultural heritage.”

Plibersek has been urged by six indigenous elders on the Tiwi Islands to issue a declaration safeguarding their heritage, reported Reuters.

The indigenous group claim that their heritage is immediately in danger of being desecrated by the development of the planned Barossa pipeline.

A spokesperson for the environment department was quoted by the news agency as saying in an e-mail: "Applications are considered in order of urgency and have different assessment requirements.


"The department is considering the short-term emergency application."

In a recently issued quarterly update, Santos said an independent expert determined presence of no specific underwater cultural heritage places along the proposed Barossa pipeline route.

However, according to EDO, the pipeline route will cross a sea floor area where Tiwi people believe it could cause ‘significant harm to ancient Tiwi burial grounds, songlines and other sacred ancestral sites’.

Santos aims to commission the Barossa field project in the first half of 2025.

EDO Special Counsel Alina Leikin said: “Tiwi elders have sought emergency protection for an area that they consider holds cultural significance and which they fear is under serious and immediate threat.

“They have asked the Minister to make a special declaration under cultural heritage laws, to protect their cultural heritage. This is a step our clients take very seriously, but given the importance of the cultural heritage at risk, it is a step they feel they must take to protect and preserve their precious cultural heritage.”

NJ

Former coal-fired power plant being razed to make way for offshore wind electricity connection

UPPER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — For decades, tourists heading to the New Jersey beach resorts of Ocean City and Cape May saw the towering smokestack of the B.L. England Generating Station as they zipped past it on the Garden State Parkway.

The 463-foot-tall (141.1-meter) stack was a local landmark and even a weather forecaster for some residents who glanced outside to see which way emissions from its top were blowing, and how fast, as they decided what to wear for the day.

But the power plant, which burned coal and oil over the decades, closed in May 2019, a casualty of the global move away from burning fossil fuels.

And the smokestack, the last major remaining piece of the plant, will be imploded at 10 a.m. EDT Thursday, brought down by explosives strategically placed by a demolition company known in the area for razing the former Trump Plaza casino in nearby Atlantic City in 2021.

The demolition will clear the way for the waterfront site on Great Egg Harbor Bay to enter its next role in providing energy to New Jerseyans: As the connection point for several of the state's planned offshore wind farms.

Because the power plant already had connections to the electrical grid, much of the infrastructure to plug offshore wind into the power system already exists nearby, making it a logical site to bring the offshore wind power onshore.

A cable from the first such wind farm, to be built by energy company Orsted, will come ashore on a beach in Ocean City, run underground along a roadway right-of-way before re-entering the waters of the bay and finally connecting to the grid at the former B.L. England site.

That route, and the very existence of the project itself, has generated significant opposition from residents in Ocean City and other Jersey Shore communities, who are fighting them in court and in the court of public opinion.

The power plant opened in 1961. A cooling tower there was demolished in September 2022, and boilers at the site were demolished in April.

The property is currently owned by Beesley's Point Development Group, a New York company that says it specializes in redeveloping “distressed” heavy industrial sites.

___

Follow Wayne Parry on X, formerly known as Twitter, at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

Wayne Parry, The Associated Press

Unionized Starbucks workers in Sherwood Park, Alta. vote to accept 1st collective agreement

Story by Stephen Cook • CBC

Workers at two Starbucks locations in Sherwood Park, Alta. previously voted to unionize with one having ratified a collective agreement this week.© Eric Risberg/The Associated Press

Unionized Starbucks employees at a Sherwood Park, Alta. location have successfully negotiated their first-ever collective agreement.

Workers at the Beaverbrook Plaza coffee shop recently voted to accept the new three-year contract, according to a news release from the United Steelworkers (USW) union. The agreement covering around 25 employees was ratified Tuesday.

It's the second of its kind negotiated by the USW in Alberta and the third in Canada, following in the footsteps of a collective agreement at the Calgary Millrise Centre Starbucks this summer.

"It's good news and it shows that the process works," Scott Lunny, western Canadian director for USW, said in an interview Wednesday.

"It's a slow process, it's a legalistic process, sometimes, to organize in Alberta. It's not very favourable to workers easily joining a union but it is possible."

Lunny said USW hopes to see more locations unionize and achieve collective agreements.

Last year saw a flurry of unionization activity at Starbucks across Canada and the United States. A second Sherwood Park Starbucks on Sherwood Drive also voted to join the USW but has yet to negotiate a collective agreement.

Previous unionization efforts

Meanwhile, a unionization effort at five Lethbridge, Alta. locations was unsuccessful after a tied vote by workers.

USW also represents Starbucks workers at stores in Edmonton as well as in B.C. and Ontario. Vancouver's only unionized Starbucks was set to close at the end of September after its lease expired.

The USW release said the collective agreement at Beaverbrook Plaza includes improved working conditions, better job security and mechanisms for resolving disputes. Workers will also receive wage increases of five per cent on ratification and another five per cent increase over the following two years.

"It's not perfect, but it's the first agreement and we'll build on that," Lunny said. "And in a couple years, we'll be bargaining again for the Beaverbrook store."

A statement posted online from Starbucks Canada says the agreement was able to be reached as "the result of respectful and constructive in-person conversations at the bargaining table."

"Starbucks has always been committed to bargaining in good faith," read the statement.

"We agree that partners at each of our union-represented stores deserve to see progress towards first contracts. That's why Starbucks is committed to progress negotiations towards a first contract where union representatives have approached contract bargaining with professionalism and have allowed both parties to discuss proposals."