Agnipath: One dead as trains set on fire across India amid protests against army reforms

Shweta Sharma

Fri, June 17, 2022

A protester died and several others were injured after police in India’s southern Telangana state allegedly opened fire on them as the country continued to witness anger over recent reforms announced in the recruitment process of the Indian armed forces.

Large scale nationwide protests continued to take place across India for the third consecutive day, leading to violence and trains being set on fire after protesters crowded railway stations.

Large crowds have taken over railway stations and blocked roads and highways in major Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Rajasthan and national capital Delhi, demanding the government to reinstate the earlier recruitment process.

A train on a railway platform in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia was set ablaze by a protesting crowd, causing damage to several coaches before police resorted to using force to disperse the crowd.

The situation escalated in Secunderabad when a violent mob ransacked railway platforms, vandalised computers and electronics, destroyed CCTV cameras, lights and set fire to 4-5 train engines and 2-3 coaches.

Smoke billows out from a passenger train coach after it was set on fire by protestors during a protest against the ‘Agnipath’ reforms for recruiting personnel for armed forces in Secunderabad city on 17 June (Reuters)

Police fired at least 10 rounds to control the situation, leaving at least 15 people injured. One of the protesters, identified as Damodar Kumar, succumbed to his injuries, reported the Indian Express.

Eight other injured protesters are receiving treatment at Gandhi Hospital while two remain at the railway hospital.

In the eastern state of Bihar, which is the worst hit by protests, at least two coaches in two different trains were set on fire in the Lakhisarai and Samastipur stations.

A mob outside the house of Bihar’s deputy chief minister Renu Devi attacked her residence and caused damage to property.

“Such type of violence is very dangerous for the society. The protesters should remember that this is a loss for the society,” Ms Devi, who was not at home at the time of the attack, told news channel NDTV.

Section 144, a prohibitory order used often by the government to ban gatherings of more than four people, was imposed in Haryana’s Gurugram, 20km away from the national capital, after a large number of people clashed with police.

On Friday, more than 200 train services were impacted, including 35 trains services cancelled and 13 terminated across the country, according to the Indian railways.

The ongoing demonstrations have forced the government to allow an exemption in the age limit just for this year by increasing the upper limit to 23 years from the existing 21.

A police vehicle burns after it was set on fire by the protestors during a protest against ‘Agnipath’ in Patna city (Reuters)

Protesters, however, said they want the scheme to be rolled back as it would potentially leave them unemployed.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh, who unveiled the scheme on Tuesday, said the one-time waiver on the age relaxation “indicates that the Government cares for our youth”.

Under the new plan, referred to as the “Agnipath” programme, translates literally to “path of fire”.

Around 45,000-50,000 soldiers will be recruited annually among candidates aged between 17.5 years and 23 years.

Of the total annual recruits, only 25 per cent will be allowed to continue for another 15 years under a permanent commission, while others will be let off with skill certificates and bridge courses.

The contentious scheme has been harshly criticised by army veterans and aspirants for deploying a “hire and fire” culture into the armed forces as they say recruits will end up unemployed after a four-year stint.

The programme was announced despite existing anger as recruitments have been stalled for around two years due to the Covid pandemic, causing frustration among millions of aspirants fearing they might exceed the existing age limit.

The new scheme has not only shortened employment tenures to four years from the existing 17 for the lowest ranks, but has also made 75 per cent recruits ineligible for government pension.

Mr Singh claimed the scheme is needed to make the Indian armed forces battle ready and more youthful, by reducing the average age of personnel over time.

“Agnipath… is a truly transformative reform which will enhance the combat potential of the armed forces, with a younger profile and technologically adept soldiers,” he said.

Backlash grows to India’s plan to introduce US-style ‘tours of duty’ for military service

Shweta Sharma

Thu, June 16, 2022

Violent protests broke out in major Indian cities on Thursday, two days after the government announced a major overhaul to the recruitment process in the Indian armed forces.

Hundreds of young aspirants set train coaches on fire, blocked railway tracks and roads, and clashed with security forces as they raised slogans against the new US army-style short-term recruitment plan that they say will leave them unemployed.

The government of India on Tuesday unveiled the “Agnipath” or “Path of Fire” programme, which will induct aspirants for a short-term four-year contract into three services – navy, airforce and army. On completion of this programme, only 25 per cent will be retained and the others will be released.

Touted by defence minister Rajnath Singh as “major defence policy reform” to make the Indian armed forces more “battle-ready” and youthful, the move is aimed at cutting down ballooning pensions and salaries, which has been a long-pending issue for one of the world’s largest forces.

Demanding the rollback of the plan, a huge number of people hit the streets in the state of Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and raised slogans such as “down with the Indian government” and “give us jobs or kill us”.

Police resorted to baton charging and fired teargas to control the angry crowd.

However, several coaches of a train were set fire in Chhapra in Saran district of Bihar as protests intensified.

“The protesters set fire to a train bogie [coach] in one place,” said Sanjay Singh, additional director general of police in the eastern state of Bihar, adding that roads and railway tracks were obstructed in dozens of places.

Around 22 trains of East Central Railway in Bihar were cancelled and 29 others were affected due to demonstrations.

Under the new plan, around 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers will be recruited annually for candidates aged between 17.5 years and 21 years. Of the total annual recruits, only 25 per cent will be allowed to continue for another 15 years under permanent commission, while others will be let off with skill certificates and bridge courses.

The employment duration has been significantly reduced from up to 17 years for the lowest ranks.

Successful candidates will be given Rs 30,000 (£316) each month and other benefits during the four-year period. The short-term servicemen would get Rs 1,171,000 (£12,372) at the end of their contract.

The four-year-stint has effectively made 75 per cent of recruits ineligible for pension, which was one of the main benefits of joining the armed forces for hundreds of thousands of aspirants as it provided social security to those coming from marginalised backgrounds in absence of resources to get degrees for other career options.

The Indian army – one of the world’s biggest with 1.4 million personnel – was one of the main employers in the country. But frustration was already building up as the recruitment process had been frozen for the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic and aspirants were worried about passing the age limit.

“Where will we go after working for only four years? We will be homeless after four years of service. So we have jammed the roads; the country’s leaders will now get to know that people are aware,” a protestor in Jehanabad, Bihar told Indian news agency ANI.

The new scheme has also triggered a debate among politicians and army veterans, many of whom say that lack of job security can lead to low motivation levels. Additionally, it poses the risk of having thousands of young unemployed youth with arms training in society, potentially causing a law-and-order fallout.

Major General GG Dwivedi in a column in The Indian Express dubbed the Tour of Duty model “tourist soldiering”, and said it is in vogue in the US and the west, where they have “peaceful neighbourhoods with settled borders”.

Protesters blocked roads and highways in Indian state of Bihar (ANI via Reuters)

But the scheme is “flawed and merits a holistic review” as India faces the stark reality of a two-front threat on borders with hostile neighbours Pakistan and China, he said.

Retired Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah said it is a “retrograde step” and “the most detrimental measure inflicted on armed forces”.

“With a year spent on training and six months on pre-release formalities, the soldier will get only 2.5 years to serve, which is inadequate to inculcate regimental ethos, affiliation, and discipline,” the veteran said.

Retired major general GD Bakshi said he was “flabbergasted” by the scheme.

“I thought initially it was a trial being done on a pilot basis. This is an across the board change to convert Indian armed forces to a short tenure quasi-conscript force like the Chinese. For God’s sake, please don’t do it,” he said in a tweet.

“Let’s not destroy our institutions in a time of great threats from China & Pak. Armed forces have performed well. Just for saving money let us not destroy what we have.”

Nupur Sharma protests: The police brutality video that shocked India

Rajini Vaidyanathan and Dilnawaz Pasha - BBC News
Fri, June 17, 2022, 

The BBC has identified some of the men from the video and spoken to their families

A video showing Indian police beating a group of Muslims in custody has been viewed by millions after it was shared by an elected member of the ruling BJP party who praised their brutal actions as a "gift" to the men.

No action has been taken against the officers involved. The families of those who were attacked say their loved ones are innocent and should be freed.

"This is my brother, they are beating him a lot, he's screaming so much."

Zeba breaks down in tears, hands shaking, as she holds her mobile phone to watch a harrowing video of her younger sibling Saif.

"I can't even look at this, he's being hit so badly," she says, as she's comforted by relatives at her home in the north Indian city of Saharanpur.

The distressing footage shows two Indian policemen taking aim at a group of Muslim men in custody, including Zeba's brother.

Zeba (centre) is unable to hold back tears after watching her brother being thrashed by policemen

The officers can be seen thrashing the men with rods which they swing like baseball bats. The sound of the thwack as each blow lands is punctuated by screams.

"It hurts, it hurts…NO!" some of the group yell as they cower in fear, backs against the wall.

As the pounding continues, a man in a green t-shirt folds his hands in prayer. Saif can be seen in a white tunic raising his arms in the air as if to surrender.

Saif, 24, was one of dozens of Muslim men who were rounded up and detained by police last week.

Thousands demonstrated at the town's mosque after Friday prayers, joining nationwide protests over inflammatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed made by Nupur Sharma, a national spokesperson for the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The party later suspended her amid an outcry from Muslim nations, and said it opposed insulting any religion.

India home demolitions: 'You broke a family'

Madhya Pradesh: Why an Indian state is demolishing Muslim homes

The protests in Saharanpur were largely peaceful, with crowds marching from the mosque past shops in the city.

As tensions rose, some stores owned by members of India's Hindu majority were attacked, and two businessmen sustained minor injuries. Officers used batons to disperse some of the crowds.

Police documents accuse Saif and 30 others of being involved in rioting, instigating violence, voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant and endangering life, among other charges.

The family, which ekes out a modest living selling cardboard, says Saif wasn't even at the protests and is innocent.

Saif, 24, was one of dozens of Muslim men who were rounded up and detained by police

They say he left home at around 5pm local time on Friday, to book a bus ticket for a friend, when he was arrested by officers and taken to Kothwali police station, in Saharanpur.

When Zeba visited him there she said she saw bruises on her brother's body: "He was blue from all the beating, he couldn't even sit."

The video, which clearly shows police brutality, went viral after it was shared by an elected official from the BJP, Shalabh Tripathi, who posted it with the caption, "a return gift for the rebels".

Mr Tripathi is a former media adviser to one of India's most powerful politicians, Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, where this incident happened.

There has been no condemnation of the footage from party officials, or anyone in the BJP government.

Human rights groups say there's been a growing climate of intolerance in India since the BJP swept to power in 2014, with a rise in hate speech and attacks targeting the country's Muslim minority.

The BBC has gathered testimony from half a dozen Muslim families who say their relatives were beaten in police custody at Kothwali police station in Saharanpur, after they were detained on Friday.

The relatives have also identified them in videos, which show police using violence. In other footage the men can be seen being led into a van before being taken to another location - in these images the sign for the Kothwali police station is clearly identifiable.

A screenshot of a video shows Saif (in white) in front of the police station in Saharanpur

The police report also cites the station. Despite this, earlier in the week local police denied the incident had happened there.

"No such incidents have happened in Saharanpur, there are two to three videos circulating on social media. If you watch one video on slow motion - you will see the name of some other district in the video," Akash Tomar, a senior police officer, told the BBC.

Mr Tomar has since said he is working to verify the authenticity of the video, and will take action if required.

Other relatives of men seen in the video say their loved ones were detained as they went to visit the station for more information.

Fahmida's son Subhan, who's 19, went to find out what had happened to his friend Asif who'd been arrested, when he was also taken in and beaten.

Dressed in pale yellow, Subhan can be seen dropping to the ground as a policeman strikes a baton in his direction. The family say Subhan didn't even go to the main mosque on Friday, let alone take part in the protests there.

"My son was beaten mercilessly," Fahmida cried.

Officials say they've arrested 84 people they accuse of violence in Friday's protests.

Beaten and humiliated by Hindu mobs for being a Muslim in India

Superintendent Kumar told the BBC that only criminals were arrested. "When we arrest someone we first show their footage of participating in a violent protest and then only we make arrests," he said, his statement at odds with accounts we've heard from families of some of the arrested.

Across town from the police station, the force of the law has been displayed in other ways - bulldozers have destroyed parts of the homes of two Muslim men officials accuse of instigating violence.

The Kothwali area police station where the arrested men were brought

Millions of Indians live in makeshift homes without proper planning permissions, but using this as a means of punishment has become a more common tactic deployed by the BJP.

The orders to demolish illegally constructed properties belonging to those accused in recent protests have been endorsed at the highest level.

Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted that bulldozer action would continue against alleged lawbreakers.

And, in a tacit reference to Muslims who worship on Fridays, his media adviser Mrityunjay Kumar tweeted a photo of a bulldozer with the caption "After Friday, there is a Saturday."

Last Saturday afternoon, a digger arrived at Muskaan's house and started to demolish the front gate.


Police showed up at the rented property with a photo of her brother asking if he lived there. The 17-year-old had been taken into custody the day before.

"My father confirmed that that was his son, and asked if something had happened," Muskaan said. "They didn't reply, they just suddenly started using the bulldozer."

Officials accuse the teenager of encouraging violence on Friday. An official showed the BBC a video they say shows him instigating the crowd.

In it he can be seen making a speech to those gathered: "The Muslims of this country are sleeping. History is a witness to the fact that whenever a Muslim has risen, he has risen with wrath," he says.

Muskaan denies all the allegations against her brother: "He is not the one to cause destruction, he is not this kind of a boy to break things… All of this is a lie."

Officials told the BBC that the families of those arrested were given notice that their homes were illegally constructed without proper approvals.

"When we investigated we found that his family is living in an unauthorised house of a relative," Rajesh Kumar, a senior police official, told the BBC, justifying their actions.

"The municipal team visited the homes under tight police security and action was taken," Mr Kumar told the BBC, as he warned the homes of more people who've been arrested could be bulldozed.

"The bulldozer will roll if anything illegal comes against those who are arrested and sent to jail," he added.

The partly demolished house of Muskaan and her 17-year-old brother

The bulldozer action was all done according to the law and "as per procedure…nothing is done against the law", Navneet Sehgal, an adviser to Mr Adityanath, told the BBC.

A group of India's top legal experts, including former judges and pre-eminent lawyers, have petitioned the country's Supreme Court over these latest instances of police beatings and the unwarranted use of bulldozers.

Their letter accuses Mr Aditynath of emboldening the police to "brutally and unlawfully torture protesters", and says these latest actions are "shaking the conscience of the nation".

"Such a brutal clampdown by a ruling administration is an unacceptable subversion of the rule of law and a violation of the rights of citizens, and makes a mockery of the Constitution and fundamental rights guaranteed by the state."

Rights group Amnesty international has also accused India's government of suppressing any form of dissent: "The government of India is selectively and viciously cracking down on Muslims who dare to speak up and peacefully express their dissent against the discrimination faced by them.

Munni Begun is worried for her son and husband who she says were beaten by police

"Cracking down on protesters with excessive use of force, arbitrary detention and punitive house demolitions by Indian authorities is in complete violation of India's commitments under international human rights law and standards," Aakar Patel, chair of Amnesty International India Board, wrote in a statement.

Back in Saharanpur, Munni Begum is also in distress, as she waits on news of her son and husband, who she says were also beaten by police.

She's unsure when they'll return, and whether they'll even have a home to come back to.

"My innocent son and husband are in jail, I am alone with my daughters in this newly-built home.

"I fear what will happen to us if they bulldoze it. I can't sleep at night."

California bill would make gunowners buy liability insurance

California would be the first state to require gun owners to buy liability insurance 


San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo stops to view a makeshift memorial for the rail yard shooting victims in front of City Hall in San Jose, Calif., on May 27, 2021. State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, introduced legislation, Thursday, June 16, 2022, that would require gun owners to carry liability insurance for negligent or accidental use of the firearms. Skinner said that she wants to follow the example of the Silicon Valley city of San Jose, which this year became the first U.S. city with such a requirement.

(AP Photo/Haven Daley, File)

DON THOMPSON
Thu, June 16, 2022, 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California would be the first state to require gun owners to buy liability insurance to cover the negligent or accidental use of their firearms, if lawmakers approve a measure announced Thursday.

“Guns kill more people than cars. Yet gun owners are not required to carry liability insurance like car owners must,” Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner said in a statement.

She said the costs of gun violence shouldn't be borne by taxpayers, survivors, families, employers and communities: "It’s time for gun owners to shoulder their fair share.”

The state of New York is considering a similar requirement in the wake of numerous recent mass shootings and a rise in gun violence.

In January, the Silicon Valley city of San Jose approved what’s believed to be the first such insurance requirement in the United States.

No insurance company will cover the misuse of a firearm, predicted Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California.

He said such requirements are an illegal infringement on gun owners' constitutional rights.

“We don’t believe you can put precursors on the exercising of a constitutional right," Paredes said. "By requiring somebody to get insurance in order to exercise their right to keep and bear arms, that ceases to make it a right.”

Skinner is amending an existing bill on another topic to allow gun owners to be held civilly liable if their firearms are used to cause property damage, injury or death.

The bill would also require gun owners to have insurance that covers loses or damages from the negligent or accidental use of their firearm. And they would have to keep proof of insurance with their firearm and show it to police if they are stopped for some reason.

Paredes had similar objections to a second bill that also would affect gun owners' costs, this one by imposing an excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

The bill would impose an excise tax equal to 10% of the sales price of a handgun and 11% of the sales price of a long gun, ammunition or parts to build firearms.

Democratic Assemblyman Marc Levine estimated his bill would bring in more than $118 million annually that would go toward gun violence prevention programs.

Because it would impose a tax, Levine's bill would require approval by two-thirds majorities in the Legislature. His similar measure last year fell four votes short of the 54 it needed in the 80-member Assembly.

The bills are among numerous firearms measures being considered by California lawmakers this year, including one that would make it easier to sue gun-makers and another that would allow private citizens to sue those who traffic in illegal weapons.

You think $5 gas is bad?

Check out the most expensive gas prices in these European countries

Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto — Getty ImagesChris Morris

Fri, June 17, 2022,

Gas prices are an ongoing source of concern, frustration, and debate in the U.S., after topping $5 per gallon for the first time in the past week. But it’s hardly the only country facing a fuel crisis.

AAA reports the national average of a gallon of regular unleaded stands at $5 as of Friday morning, a slight decrease from earlier in the week as demand at the pump has started to wane. In California, residents are paying an average of $6.42.

But for people in Hong Kong, $5 or $6 per gallon would be a tremendous relief.

The price per gallon in U.S. dollars in that country currently stands at $11.35, according to globalpetrolprices.com, which tracks average prices around the world. Hong Kong holds the dubious honor of having the world’s most expensive gas at the moment.

The fact that consumers in other countries are paying even more doesn’t erase the financial pain Americans feel as they attempt to balance their budgets, of course. But it can help put things in perspective and show that the situation could certainly be worse. Here’s how prices stand, as of June 13. (All prices are in U.S. dollars for a gallon of gas.)

Hong Kong: $11.35
Norway: $10.22
Denmark: $10.04
Finland: $10.08
Greece: $9.49
Netherlands: $9.33
United Kingdom: $8.39
Spain: $8.35
France: $8.27
Italy: $8.01
Israel: $7.94
Germany: $7.65

Curious who else is in the $5 range? Australia, Chile, India, and Fiji are all in roughly the same place as the U.S. when it comes to gas prices.

Of course, some countries have it better—a lot better. You might think Saudi Arabia has the cheapest gas, but it stands at $2.35 per gallon there, well above other countries in the region. Here’s who has the cheapest gas on the planet.

Venezuela - $0.08
Libya: $0.12
Iran: $0.20
Syria: $1.08
Algeria: $1.19
Kuwait: $1.29

IN EDMONTON A GALLON IS $7 

WE PAY BY THE LITRE (A QUART) $1.85

AND WE HAVE REFINERIES HERE

Pilot Crunch Hits Cathay Pacific As Pilots Resign In Large Numbers

Vandana Singh

Fri, June 17, 2022, 

• Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (OTC: CPCAY) is facing a continuously high rate of pilot resignations.

• Bloomberg reported that the airline says it may improve allowances and benefits to lure the crew who took deep pay cuts to the carrier during the COVID-19 crisis.

• "We still have resignation rates at much higher levels than we've historically had," Chief Operations and Service Delivery Officer Greg Hughes said at a town hall meeting for Cathay staff watched online by Bloomberg News.

• "It would also be an incorrect statement for me to make that COS18 is not one of the reasons."

• COS18 referred to contracts introduced in 2018 for new employees and expanded to all existing crew in October 2020, cutting pilots' pay by about 40% and reducing housing and retirement benefits.

• Cathay's workforce was reduced to almost 40% during the pandemic.

• In November, there was an increase in resignations after about 150 Cathay staff and their families were sent to a government-run COVID isolation camp when three crew members became infected while overseas.

• As per the Bloomberg report, Cathay plans to hire 4,000 people by the end of next year, including 700 pilots, Tang said.

• The airline plans to recruit and train 800 new junior pilots by 2025.

• Airlines globally are seeing staffing crunches, with travel catching up as the pandemic restrictions are lifted in most places.

• Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Thailand is fighting to save a lone tree on a small, uninhabited island from overtourism



Rebecca Moon
Thu, June 16, 2022

Officials are fighting to save a lone tree on an uninhabited island in Thailand that has been severely damaged by a surge of tourists climbing the tree for selfies.

Located on the Koh Khai Hua Roh islet in Trat province, Thailand, the taban tree (Xylocarpus rumphii) was discovered to have been severely damaged upon inspection on Tuesday. Local authorities reported that several branches had broken off the tree and a large root showed signs of having been repeatedly trampled on.

The director of maintenance at the Koh Mak Tambon Administrative Organization, Lertrob Saithongpu, explained that the tree trunk bent much more than before the location became a popular tourist attraction, reported The Nation.

After a tourist’s Facebook post compared the tree to an island in a popular Thai comic book called “Khai Hua Roh,” the tree began suffering from overtourism despite the location’s limit of five visitors at a time.

Local administrations are now working to protect the tree by implementing a restricted number of visitors to the island as well as limiting entry to certain seasons of the year. A conservation campaign will also be launched to raise awareness among tourists.

Featured Image via Tourism Authority of Thailand

VW U.S. chief warns of industry challenges with EV battery shift


FILE PHOTO: Volkswagen's ID Buzz is pictured in a production line in Hanover

Thu, June 16, 2022, 
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG's top U.S. executive said on Thursday the United States faces major challenges in ramping up battery production to facilitate a shift to electric vehicles including attracting skilled workers, mining for key metals and supply chain issues.

Scott Keogh, chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America, told an Automotive News forum in Washington that the move to EVs is the single biggest "industrial transformation in America."

Automakers and battery companies are committing tens of billions of dollars to building new battery plants and EV assembly plants throughout North America as they scale up electric vehicle production. This move, focusing on vehicles powered by advanced new batteries rather than gasoline, requires the United States to overcome a series of challenges, Keogh said.


These challenges include attracting enough skilled workers, dramatically boosting and facilitating U.S. mining for critical minerals to produce the lithium batteries for EVs, supply chain issues and more broadly addressing healthcare, education and infrastructure, Keogh said.

Keogh told Reuters on the sidelines of the forum that potentially hundreds of thousands of people could be employed by 2030 in U.S. battery industry production.

"It comes down to labor, it comes down to the infrastructure, it comes down to the investment," Keogh said.

President Joe Biden has set a goal of 50% of new-vehicle sales being electric or plug-in electric by 2030, but has not endorsed phasing out gasoline-powered vehicle sales by any specific date.

Keogh estimated that the United States is making 150,000-200,000 batteries a year and that seven years from now "we need to be making 8.5 million batteries" annually.

"This is a scale of investment that honestly is going to make the industrial revolution look like a cake walk. It's massive," Keogh said.

Keogh also said the United States needs to do more to boost manufacturing capacity. The U.S. manufacturing sector has fallen from than 17 million jobs in 2000 to 12.8 million today, which has rebounded to about pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

"We need to build a collective ecosystem turning America into a manufacturing society again. I think America has become a service economy," Keogh said. "The challenge of getting somebody who's been working at a Starbucks taking 20-minute breaks, smoking a cigarette out back and is now jumping into a factory ... is a whole new world."

Keogh said long shifts for factory workers are much different.

"This is brutal, difficult, challenging work," Keogh said.

Biden sued by climate groups using novel legal argument to stop oil and gas drilling

Rachel Koning Beals - Thursday


Using an untested legal argument based on the Endangered Species Act, a coalition of environmental groups sued the Biden administration this week for failing to consider the harm to at-risk species from the emissions produced by oil and gas drilling on public lands.

The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and led by the Center for Biological Diversity, argues that oil burned from a well in Wyoming adds to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is heating the planet. And the impact isn’t restricted to local wildlife, the suit alleges, but the fauna as far flung as polar bears in the Arctic and monk seals in Hawaii.

If the suit succeeds, more than 3,500 drilling permits issued during the Biden administration could be revoked and future permitting could be challenged.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration said it would resume selling leases for new oil and gas drilling on public lands, but would also raise the federal royalties that companies must pay to drill, the first increase in those fees in more than a century.

The auction of leases to drill on 145,000 acres of public lands in nine states was the first such sale since President Joe Biden took office, but followed months of legal back-and-forth. The approvals, according to the Western Energy Alliance, largely cover oil and gas that had already been explored during the previous administration and don’t go far enough to bring U.S. energy on line.

Biden’s move was in reaction to calls for increasing domestic energy sources after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and post-COVID-19 inflation have sharply driven up energy prices, including gasoline just as the summer driving season kicked off.

No doubt, the issue has been a challenging one for Biden. He ran for president on a climate-friendly campaign that said he would downplay traditional fossil fuels in favor of solar, wind hydrogen and other alternative sources that pollute less. Recently, he has urged more oil and gas production to ease near-term market stress.

Russian truckmaker Kamaz struggles to settle payments due to sanctions, CEO says


Kamaz's CEO Kogogin attends a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum


Thu, June 16, 2022, 

(Reuters) - Kamaz, Russia's largest truckmaker, sees its exports stagnating at last year's levels or falling slightly as clients shy away from settling payments with the firm after it was hit by Western sanctions, its chief executive said on Thursday.

Under EU and UK sanctions as part of Western sanctions over Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, Kamaz has seen its foreign clients become hesitant or even reluctant to make payments to the firm.

The company, which mostly exports trucks to former Soviet countries, had planned to sell some 5,000 trucks abroad this year but has since lowered its target to between 4,000 and 5000, CEO Sergei Kogogin said.

"We have not lost our client base," Kogogin told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. "Payments are the main issue when it comes to exports. Our partners have difficulty understanding how they can pay us. And we also have difficulty understanding."

Kogogin said Kamaz's competitiveness as an exporter has also been hampered by a stronger rouble, which is beneficial to importers but hits the revenue of exporters given that they receive smaller rouble proceeds for selling their goods abroad for other currencies.

With the current exchange rate – at around 56.95 roubles per U.S. dollar and 59.17 roubles per euro – Kogogin said profit from Kamaz's exports this year would be "zero in the best case scenario".

On the domestic market, Kamaz expects to increase sales to 45,000 trucks from 36,400 last year as it fills the void left by the exit of European truck brands from Russia.

Kamaz's revenue is expected to fall in 2022, in part due to a drop in the production of its more expensive K4 and K5 models.

"It's painful for us because expensive trucks generate the bulk of the company's cash flow," Kogogin said.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by David Evans)

Putin says government must support domestic car industry, wants new plan soon


Employees work at the assembly line of the LADA Izhevsk automobile plant in Izhevsk

Thu, June 16, 2022

LONDON (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government on Thursday to quickly come up with new measures to support the domestic car industry, which has seen sales crater since the invasion of Ukraine.

Amid a crunch on demand from Russian buyers and severe logistics problems as a result of Western sanctions, car sales slumped a record 83.5% in May, according to Association of European Businesses (AEB) data.

"I would like to ask the government to tell us in detail what swift measures it is taking to support the auto industry and stabilise the internal market," Putin said in a meeting with officials broadcast on state TV.

Interfax news agency quoted him as saying the government should come up with an updated plan before Sept 1.

Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said Moscow would allocate 20.7 billion roubles ($377 million) this year to support demand for cars, Interfax reported.

Some 10.2 billion roubles would be spent on resuming car loans with the rest split between support for preferential leasing rates as well as discounts for electric and gasoline-powered vehicles.

"This is what should be implemented in the near future in order to stimulate the market for precisely those products that are freely produced and can be supplied to our consumers," the agency cited him as saying.

Russian statistics agency Rosstat says car prices have jumped nearly 50% since the start of the year, slamming demand in a country where household incomes have declined while inflation hovers near 20-year highs.

In recent weeks a string of officials have warned about a possible demand slump that could accentuate the economic crisis, already expected to be the worst in at least two decades.

Despite a high-profile import substitution drive, Russia's auto industry had remained heavily reliant on foreign investment and equipment.

Lada-maker Avtovaz, Russia's largest car manufacturer, halted production for more than two months citing a shortage of electronic parts.

French auto giant Renault struck a deal in May to sell its majority stake in Avtovaz to a Russian science institute, reportedly for the symbolic sum of just one rouble, with a six-year option to buy it back.

($1 = 54.8750 roubles)

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in London and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Gareth Jones and Jonathan Oatis)

Elon Musk sued for $258 billion over 

alleged Dogecoin pyramid scheme

Thu, June 16, 2022,

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Elon Musk was sued for $258 billion on Thursday by a Dogecoin investor who accused him of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency.

In a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, plaintiff Keith Johnson accused Musk, electric car company Tesla Inc and space tourism company SpaceX of racketeering for touting Dogecoin and driving up its price, only to then let the price tumble.

Musk is CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX.

"Defendants were aware since 2019 that Dogecoin had no value yet promoted Dogecoin to profit from its trading," the complaint said. "Musk used his pedestal as World's Richest man to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme for profit, exposure and amusement."

The complaint also aggregates comments from Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and others questioning the value of cryptocurrency.

Tesla, SpaceX and a lawyer for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A lawyer for Johnson did not immediately respond to requests for comment on what specific evidence his client has or expects to have that proves Dogecoin is worthless and the defendants ran a pyramid scheme.

Johnson is seeking $86 billion in damages, representing the decline in Dogecoin's market value since May 2021, and wants it tripled.

He also wants to block Musk and his companies from promoting Dogecoin and a judge to declare that trading Dogecoin is gambling under federal and New York law.

The complaint said Dogecoin's selloff began around the time Musk hosted the NBC show "Saturday Night Live and, playing a fictitious financial expert on a "Weekend Update" segment, called Dogecoin "a hustle."

Tesla in February 2021 said it had bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin and for a short time accepted it as payment for vehicles.

Dogecoin traded at about 5.8 cents on Thursday, down from its May 2021 peak of about 74 cents.

The case is Johnson v. Musk et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-05037.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)