Archives for September 2021

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The leaders of Greece and France are expected to announce a major, multibillion-euro deal in Paris on Tuesday involving the acquisition by Greece of at least six French-built warships, Greek state ERT TV reported.

ERT said Monday that Greece was planning to acquire three French FDI frigates — with the option of later buying a fourth —and another three corvettes.

Greece has already bought 18 French Rafale fighter jets and plans to purchase another six under a program to modernize its armed forces amid tensions with neighboring Turkey.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who flew to Paris on Monday for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, said in an interview with ERT that “we are heading towards a substantive deepening of the strategic cooperation between Greece and France.”

He declined to comment on the reported warship deal — which Greek media say would be worth about 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) — only saying that announcements would be made Tuesday.

“I have no intention to enter an arms race with Turkey,” Mitsotakis added. “But there are key issues of modernizing our military after a decade of (economic) crisis.”

Tensions with historic regional rival Turkey have increased in recent years over gas exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean and waters between the two countries. Greece had announced plans to upgrade its fleet, discussing potential frigate purchases with countries including France, the U.S. and Britain.

Greek media said the deal that Mitsotakis and Macron are expected to announce at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Tuesday follows an improved French offer. They linked the offer with France’s loss of a $66 billion deal this month to sell diesel submarines to Australia, which instead chose to acquire nuclear-powered submarines provided by the U.S.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis asked Florida’s secretary of state to investigate Facebook on Monday based on a news article that reported the social media company gives preferential treatment to politicians, celebrities, professional athletes and other prominent people.

DeSantis cited a recent Wall Street Journal report in asking Secretary of State Laurel Lee to see if Facebook’s policies violated Florida election law. The article detailed Facebook’s practice of exempting high-profile users from some or all of its rules.

The newspaper reported that incumbent politicians were included on the “whitelist,” but challengers often weren’t in state and local elections. That raised concerns that incumbents could be receiving preferable treatment. A Facebook spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal it addressed the problem.

“If this report is true, Facebook has put its thumb on the scale of numerous state and local races in a disturbing and concealed fashion,” DeSantis wrote to Lee.

Facebook’s communication office didn’t immediately return an email Monday seeking comment on DeSantis’ letter.

For months, DeSantis has criticized the influence of large social media companies. Earlier this year he signed a bill to allow the state to fine large social media sites if they deactivate a statewide politician’s account. The bill, which has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge, would have also let any Floridian sue those companies if they feel like they’ve been treated unfairly if their accounts are suspended. The state is appealing the judge’s decision to block the measure.

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TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that two Canadians detained in late 2019 who were allowed to return to Canada in a prisoner swap were released on bail for health reasons.

A ministry spokesperson made the comment as Beijing sought to downplay the connection between their release and the return to China of a long-detained executive of Huawei Technologies.

Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were detained in December 2019, days after Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada at the request of U.S. authorities.

Many countries labeled China’s action “hostage politics,” while China accused Canada of arbitrary detention. The two Canadians were jailed for more than 1,000 days.

Meng fought the U.S. demand for extradition from Canada. She landed in China on Saturday after reaching a deal with the U.S. Justice Department that led to a prisoner swap.

“The case of Meng Wanzhou is completely different from that of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in nature,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a daily briefing on Monday.

The two men were suspected of endangering national security, Hua said.

Spavor, an entrepreneur, had been sentenced to 11 years in prison, accused of spying. Kovrig had not yet been sentenced but was facing similar charges.

China released the two Canadians on bail after a “diagnosis by professional medical institutions, and with the guarantee of the Canadian ambassador to China,” Hua said.

Hua did not answer questions from journalists about whether the prisoner releases were entirely unrelated and what the health reasons were.

Canada has maintained that Kovrig and Spavor were innocent of any charges.

“We continue to oppose the way these two citizens were treated,” Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau told the U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders Monday.

He said Spavor and Kovrig “paid a heavy price” because their country “observed the rule of law” in responding to the U.S. extradition request.

Representatives for the two countries traded retorts later Monday on the assembly floor, with China rejecting Canada’s take on the affair. Canada continued to insist Kovrig and Spavor were mistreated.

Meng reached an agreement with U.S. federal prosecutors that will drop fraud charges against her next year. In return, she is accepting responsibility for misrepresenting the company’s business dealings in Iran.

U.S. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that the decision to allow Meng to return to China was an independent law enforcement matter decided by the U.S. Justice Department. She added that President Joe Biden’s administration has advocated for the release of the two Canadians but stressed that the White House was not involved.

She said Biden raised concerns about the Canadians’ detention when he spoke with President Xi Jinping earlier this month.

Meng’s return to China was broadcast live on the country’s state broadcaster, CCTV. She wore a red dress the shade of China’s flag and thanked Xi and the ruling Communist Party.

On Monday, Hua, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said Meng was a victim of “political persecution” and was able to return to China thanks to the “government’s unrelenting efforts.”

In contrast, the release of the Canadians was reported by the state-owned tabloid Global Times, and while the news spread online, it was not carried by more authoritative state media agencies such as CCTV or Xinhua News Agency.

Huawei is the biggest global supplier of network gear for phone and internet companies. It has been a symbol of China’s progress in becoming a technological world power — and a subject of U.S. security and law enforcement concerns.

Former President Donald Trump’s administration cut off Huawei’s access to U.S. components and technology, including Google’s music and other smartphone services, and later barred vendors worldwide from using U.S. technology to produce components for Huawei.

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Associated Press video producer Liu Zheng, and Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz at the United Nations, contributed to this report.

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GLENDALE, Ky. (AP) — Ford and a partner company say they plan to build three major electric-vehicle battery factories and an auto assembly plant by 2025 — a dramatic investment in the future of EV technology that will create an estimated 10,800 jobs and shift the automaker’s future manufacturing footprint toward the South.

The factories, to be built on sites in Kentucky and Tennessee, will make batteries for the next generation of Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles that will be produced in North America. Combined, they mark the single largest manufacturing investment the 118-year-old company has ever made and are among the largest factory outlays in the world.

Notably, the new factories will provide a vast new supply of jobs that will likely pay solid wages. Most of the new jobs will be full time, with a relatively small percentage having temporary status to fill in for vacations and absent workers.

Together with its battery partner, SK Innovation of South Korea, Ford says it will spend $5.6 billion in rural Stanton, Tennessee, where it will build a factory to produce electric F-Series pickups. A joint venture called BlueOvalSK will construct a battery factory on the same site near Memphis, plus twin battery plants in Glendale, Kentucky, near Louisville. Ford estimated the Kentucky investment at $5.8 billion and that the company’s share of the total would be $7 billion.

With the new spending, Ford is making a significant bet on a future that envisions most drivers eventually making the shift to battery power from internal combustion engines, which have powered vehicles in the United States for more than a century. Should that transition run into disruptions or delays, the gamble could hit the company’s bottom line. Ford predicts 40% to 50% of its U.S. sales will be electric by 2030. For now, only about 1% of vehicles on America’s roads are powered by electricity.

In an interview Monday, CEO Jim Farley said it would be up to the workers at the new plants to decide whether to be represented by the United Auto Workers union. That question could set up an epic battle with union leaders, who want employees of the future to join the union and earn top UAW production wages of around $32 per hour. It represents a high-stakes test for the UAW, which will need jobs for thousands of members who will lose work in the transition away engines and transmissions for petroleum-powered vehicles.

Ford’s move also could put the company at odds with President Joe Biden’s quest to create “good-paying union jobs” in a new, greener economy.

Farley said it’s too early to talk about pay or unionization at the new factories. He stressed that Ford will maintain a geographic manufacturing balance when the company’s investments in Ohio and Michigan are included. Ford and General Motors have UAW-represented plants in Kentucky and Tennessee, states where it is common for political leaders to actively campaign against unionization.

“We love our UAW partners,” Farley said. “They’ve been incredible on this journey of electrification so far. But it’s up to the employees to decide.”

Just four months ago, Ford said it would build two new battery plants in North America. But Farley said demand for the electric Mustang Mach E SUV and over 150,000 orders for the F-150 electric pickup convinced the company to increase battery output.

Farley said Ford intends to lead the world in electric vehicles, a title now held by upstart Tesla Inc., which is adding jobs at a third factory now under construction near Austin, Texas.

Ford picked the Kentucky and Tennessee sites in part because of lower electricity costs, Farley said, as well being less exposed to flooding and hurricanes than other states. Battery factories use five times the electricity of a typical assembly plant to make cells and assemble them into packs, so energy costs were a big factor, Farley said.

The company also needed huge tracts of land for the plants that weren’t available in other states, Farley said.

Both Southern states also have skilled labor forces and are willing to train workers for the new jobs, he said.

“These jobs are very different than the jobs we’ve had in the past,” Farley said. “We want to work with states who are really excited about doing that training and giving you access to that low energy cost.”

The Tennessee Valley Authority, which serves the Memphis-area site, sells industrial electricity at a price that’s lower than 93% of competitors nationwide, said CEO Jeff Lyash. Rates have stayed flat for the past decade and are planned to stay flat for the next 10 years, he said.

Combined, the three new battery plants will be able to supply enough batteries to power 1 million vehicles per year, about 129 gigawatts of power, Ford Chief Operating Officer Lisa Drake said.

Shares of Ford Motor Co., which is based in Dearborn, Michigan, rose more than 4% in extended trading after the new factories were announced late Monday.

Reaction from the union was tempered Monday, with officials seemingly optimistic about organizing the factories.

“We look forward to reaching out and helping develop this new workforce to build these world-class vehicles and battery components,” union President Ray Curry said in a statement.

Kristin Dziczek, a senior vice president at the Center for Automotive Research who follows labor issues, said the union’s future depends largely on organizing the new plants.

“It’s imperative that the UAW organize these if they’re going to have a stake in the electrification of this industry,” she said.

Union representation of the plants could become a contentious issue in the next round of national contract talks with the union in two years.

When General Motors first announced joint venture battery factories over the past few years, its executives said workers would decide on unionization. UAW officials howled in protest. In May, GM said it would support union organizing at the plants.

The Kentucky site is only about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Louisville, where Ford has plants that make SUVs and trucks now powered by internal combustion engines. Ford wouldn’t comment on whether those plants eventually would make electric vehicles, but Dziczek said converting at least one would make sense. One plant makes the Ford Escape small SUV, in the most popular segment of the U.S market, she said.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in an interview that Ford’s 5,000 jobs at the Glendale battery plants is the largest single employment announcement in state history. And he said it will also bring jobs with suppliers that make components for the plants. Earlier this month state legislators approved $410 million worth of economic development incentives.

Beshear said Ford would get a loan of up to $250 million to draw on through construction. It’s forgivable if the company hits completion milestones. The package also includes the cost of the Glendale land, plus up to $36 million in training incentives, he said.

Ford will formally announce the plants with ceremonies on Tuesday at both sites. In Glendale’s one-block downtown on Monday evening, there were no signs of pending dramatic changes in the economy from the new jobs. All was quiet in the town where the primary businesses are antique shops and corn and soybean fields that stretch in all directions.

The Tennessee assembly plant is to be built on a site about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Memphis that’s almost six square miles (15.5 square kilometers). Combined, the assembly plant, to be run by Ford, and the battery factory, would employ about 5,800 workers.

State officials have been trying to develop the site for years without success. Gov. Bill Lee said Tennessee offered Ford $500 million in incentives to win a contest with 15 other states. Lee said he is confident legislators will approve the spending.

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Krisher reported from Detroit. Associated Press Writer Kimberlee Kruesi contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.

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