NEW YORK (AP) – Ford is cutting production of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup after weaker-than-expected electric vehicle sales growth.
While EV sales are growing in the US, the pace is falling well short of the industry’s ambitious timetable and many consumers are turning to hybrid vehicles instead.
Ford sold just over 24,000 Lightnings last year, up 55 per cent from 2022. But dealers are reporting slower sales and rising inventories on the electric truck, which starts at just under USD50,000.
Electric vehicle sales overall grew 47 per cent to a record 1.19 million last year, according to Motorintelligence.com. The EV market share grew from 5.8 per cent in 2022 to 7.6 per cent last year. But EV sales growth slowed toward the end of the year. In December, they rose 34 per cent.
Ford said that about 1,400 workers will be affected by the move to lower F-150 Lightning production, with the Rouge Electric Vehicle Centre transitioning to one shift, effective April 1. Approximately 700 employees will transfer to Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant while other workers will be placed in roles at the Rouge Complex or other facilities in Southeast Michigan. Some employees are expected to take advantage of the Special Retirement Incentive Program agreed to in the 2023 Ford-UAW contract.
“We are taking advantage of our manufacturing flexibility to offer customers choices while balancing our growth and profitability,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement Friday.
Ford said a few dozen employees could be affected at component plants supporting F-150 Lightning production, depending on how many workers apply for the retirement program. The company said it would provide placements for impacted employees in the Detroit area.
Ford also said Friday that it’s creating almost 900 new jobs and adding a third crew at its Michigan assembly plant to meet demand for the Bronco SUV and Ranger midsize pickup truck.
The Ford F-150 Lightning displayed at the Philadelphia Auto Show on January 27, 2023, in Philadelphia. PHOTO: AP
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Women and children are the main victims in Gaza, with some 16,000 killed and an estimated two mothers murdered every hour since Hamas’ revolt on Israel, the UN agency promoting gender equality said Friday.
As a result of the more than 100-day conflict, UN Women added, at least 3,000 women may have become widows and heads of households and at least 10,000 children may have lost their fathers.
In a report released Friday, the agency pointed to gender inequality and the burden on women fleeing the fighting with children and being displaced again and again. Of the territory’s 2.3 million population, it said, 1.9 million are displaced and “close to one million are women and girls” seeking shelter and safety.
UN Women’s executive director, Sima Bahous, said this is “a cruel inversion” of fighting during the 15 years before the Hamas uprising on October 7. Previously, she said, 67 per cent of all civilians killed in Gaza and the West Bank were men and less then 14 per cent were women.
She echoed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and the immediate release of all Israeli captives.
“However much we mourn the situation of the women and girls of Gaza today, we will mourn further tomorrow without unrestricted humanitarian assistance and an end to the destruction and killing,” Bahous said in a statement accompanying the report.
“These women and girls are deprived of safety, medicine, health care, and shelter. They face imminent starvation and famine. Most of all they are deprived of hope and justice,” she said.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says nearly 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, 70 per cent of them women and children. The United Nations says more than a half million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving.
In Israel, around 1,200 people were killed during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war, and some 250 people were taken hostage by militants. More than 100 hostages are believed to still be held captive in Gaza.
Bahous said UN Women had heard “shocking accounts of unconscionable sexual violence during the attacks” by Hamas, and she echoed UN calls for accountability, justice and support for all those affected.
Despite escalating hostilities in Gaza, the agency said women-led and women’s rights organisations continue to operate. It found that 83 per cent of women’s organisations surveyed in the Gaza Strip are at least partially operational, mainly focusing on the emergency response to the war.
But UN Women said its analysis of funding from last year’s flash appeal for Gaza found that just 0.09 per cent of funding went directly to national or local women’s rights organisations.
Bahous said there is a need for much more aid to get to Gaza, especially to women and children, and for an end to the war.
“This is a time for peace,” she said. “We owe this to all Israeli and Palestinian women and girls. This is not their conflict. They must no longer pay its price.”
Palestinians rescue a child from under the rubble after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, October 18, 2023. PHOTO: AP
YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast (AP) — Senegal star Sadio Mané says he is very happy playing club soccer in Saudi Arabia and denied he’s getting less attention there than he would by playing in one of Europe’s “big five” leagues.
“That’s what you think because I’m not in Europe,” Mané told reporters on Friday after scoring Senegal’s third goal in a 3-1 win over Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations. “This is sad for you guys. Because, for you guys, if you don’t play in Europe, it doesn’t matter. I’m not around as a football player.”
Mané played for Liverpool and Bayern Munich before joining Saudi team Al-Nassr last year.
“Fortunately, I can say the Saudi league is a very good league, and watched by everybody in the world, so, for me, as long as I’m doing my best and I’m enjoying myself every single minute, that’s more important,” Mané said. “The rest, for me, doesn’t matter.”
Senegal’s win on Friday secured its progress to the Africa Cup knockout stage with a game to spare.
Despite winning the Bundesliga, Mané endured a difficult season at Bayern after joining from Liverpool in 2022. He won an English Premier League and Champions League with Liverpool.
Senegal’s Sadio Mane celebrate after scoring his side’s third goal during the African Cup of Nations Group C soccer match between Senegal and Cameroon, at the Charles Konan Banny stadium in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, Friday. PHOTO: AP
VIENTIANE (XINHUA) – The Office of the Supreme People’s Prosecutor of Laos reduced the sentences or freed 1,824 prisoners in 2023, including 238 women and 16 foreigners, on the grounds of good behavior during their time in prison. A report on the pardons was presented at a meeting of the Office of the Supreme People’s Prosecutor of Laos, held in Lao capital Vientiane on Tuesday, Lao national TV reported on Friday. The meeting was chaired by Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Security Vilay Lakhamfong, and President of the Supreme People’s Prosecutor Office of Laos, Xaysana Khotphouthone. Speaking at the meeting, Lakhamfong instructed Pardon Committees at various levels and the Secretariats of these committees to carefully consider the criteria for the reduction of prison sentences, according to the report.
LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry dropped his libel lawsuit Friday against the publisher of the Daily Mail tabloid following a punishing ruling in which a judge suggested he might lose at trial.
Lawyers for the Duke of Sussex notified the High Court in London that he would not continue the suit against Associated Newspapers Ltd, one of several cases he had pending in his high-profile battle with the British press.
No reason was given, but it came the day he was due to hand over documents in the case and after a punishing ruling last month in which a judge ordered Harry to pay the publisher nearly GBP50,000 in legal fees after he failed to achieve victory without going to trial.
The action will leave him on the hook to pay the publisher’s legal fees, which the Daily Mail reported to be GBP250,000. A spokesperson for the duke said it was premature to speculate about costs.
Harry, 39, the estranged younger son of King Charles III, has broken ranks with the royal family in his willingness to go to court and it has become the main forum in his efforts to hold the news media accountable for hounding him throughout his life.
Associated Newspapers is one of three tabloid publishers he has sued over claims they used unlawful means, such as deception, phone hacking or hiring private investigators, to try to dig up dirt on him. That case against Associated and another against the publisher of The Sun are headed for trial.
In the sole case that has gone to trial, Harry scored a big victory last month against the publishers of the Daily Mirror when a judge ruled that phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” at Mirror Group Newspapers, and executives at the papers covered it up. He was awarded GBP140,000.
The libel case involved a Mail on Sunday article that said Harry tried to hide his efforts to retain publicly funded protection in the United Kingdom after walking away from his role as a working member of the royal family.
Harry’s lawyers claimed the article attacked his honesty and integrity by purporting to reveal that court documents “contradicted public statements he had previously made about his willingness to pay for police protection for himself and his family” while in the UK. He said the article would undermine his charity work.
The publisher argued the article expressed an honest opinion and caused no serious harm to his reputation.
In March, Harry sought summary judgment — to win the case without going to trial — and tried to knock out the Mail’s defense but a judge didn’t buy it.
Justice Matthew Nicklin ruled on December 8 that the publisher was more likely to prevail in its defence showing that statements issued on Harry’s behalf were misleading and that the February 2022 article reflected an “honest opinion” and wasn’t libelous.
“The defendant may well submit that this was a masterclass in the art of ‘spinning,'” Nicklin wrote, in refusing to strike the honest opinion defense.
Harry also has a lawsuit pending against the government’s decision to protect him on a case-by-case basis when he visits Britain. He claims that hostility toward him and his wife on social media and relentless hounding by the news media threaten their safety. He cited media intrusion for his decision to leave life as a senior royal and move to the United States
Harry’s spokesperson said his focus remains on that case and his family’s safety.
Britain’s Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, waves during the Formula One US Grand Prix auto race at Circuit of the Americas, on October 22, 2023, in Austin, Texas. PHOTO: AP
BOSTON (AP) — State-backed Russian hackers broke into Microsoft’s corporate email system and accessed the accounts of members of the company’s leadership team, as well as those of employees on its cybersecurity and legal teams, the company said Friday.
In a blog post, Microsoft said the intrusion began in late November and was discovered on January 12. It said the same highly skilled Russian hacking team behind the SolarWinds breach was responsible.
“A very small percentage” of Microsoft corporate accounts were accessed, the company said, and some emails and attached documents were stolen.
A company spokesperson said Microsoft had no immediate comment on which or how many members of its senior leadership had their email accounts breached. In a regulatory filing Friday, Microsoft said it was able to remove the hackers’ access from the compromised accounts on or about January 13.
“We are in the process of notifying employees whose email was accessed,” Microsoft said, adding that its investigation indicates the hackers were initially targeting email accounts for information related to their activities.
The Microsoft disclosure comes a month after a new US Securities and Exchange Commission rule took effect that compels publicly traded companies to disclose breaches that could negatively impact their business. It gives them four days to do so unless they obtain a national-security waiver.
In Friday’s SEC regulatory filing, Microsoft said that “as of the date of this filing, the incident has not had a material impact” on its operations. It added that it has not, however, “determined whether the incident is reasonably likely to materially impact” its finances.
Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Washington, said the hackers from Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency were able to gain access by compromising credentials on a test email account. After gaining a foothold, they used the account’s permissions to access the accounts of the senior leadership team and others. The brute-force attack technique used by the hackers is called “password spraying.”
The threat actor uses a single common password to try to log into multiple accounts. In an August blog post, Microsoft described how its threat-intelligence team discovered that the same Russian hacking team had used the technique to try to steal credentials from at least 40 different global organisations through Microsoft Teams chats.
“The attack was not the result of a vulnerability in Microsoft products or services,” the company said in the blog. “To date, there is no evidence that the threat actor had any access to customer environments, production systems, source code, or AI systems. We will notify customers if any action is required.”
Microsoft calls the hacking unit Midnight Blizzard. Prior to revamping its threat-actor nomenclature last year, it called the group Nobelium. The cybersecurity firm Mandiant, owned by Google, calls the group Cozy Bear.
In a 2021 blog post, Microsoft called the SolarWinds hacking campaign “the most sophisticated nation-state attack in history.” In addition to US government agencies, including the departments of Justice and Treasury, more than 100 private companies and think tanks were compromised, including software and telecommunications providers.
The main focus of the SVR is intelligence-gathering. It primarily targets governments, diplomats, think tanks and IT service providers in the US and Europe,
The Microsoft logo is shown at the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, on March 2, 2023. PHOTO: AP
ANN/ THE STAR – Embracing sustainability has become a widespread goal in the fashion industry, spanning across luxury, fast fashion, ready-to-wear and accessories. Brands are making considerable efforts to align with the preferences of today’s eco-conscious consumers.
Hugo Boss, for example, integrated three sustainable outerwear styles into its Autumn/Winter 2024 collection, which debuted in Milan last year.
Comprising two trench coats and a bomber jacket, each is crafted from an innovative fabric that acts as a substitute to oil-based filament yarns such as polyester and nylon.
The HeiQ AeoniQ fabric, a cutting-edge, plant-based material, is combined with bio-based waterproof membranes and Swiss Pima cotton to create a remarkable three-layer textile.
Uniqlo announced last month that it had collaborated with New York’s Fashion Institute Of Technology (FIT) to create an upcycled collection. It includes shirts, jumpsuits, accessories and more.
Three FIT fashion design students, Sam Cho, Bridgette Schaeffer and Nuo Cheng, made use of unsellable and unwearable apparel collected via the Re.Uniqlo recycling initiative.
“Our biggest challenge as a team was creating designs that the Re.Uniqlo studio staff could reproduce and scale,” Schaeffer comments on Instagram.
“The most rewarding part of this collaboration was seeing all of our pieces come together at the final photo shoot.”
Similarly, Levi’s eyewear collection for this season utilised plant base and recycled materials. It is said to be designed for Gen Z consumers.
The collection includes a range of sunglasses made of bio-injected resin, a material that includes bio-based content partially derived from castor oil, resulting in a highly durable and lightweight material.
Malaysian brand Tracey even managed to fashion bags using apple leather, coffee leather and recycled nylon.
“We give a second chance to what has been perceived as waste into a more conscious accessory you can bring along with you,” reads the description on the brand’s website.
Upcycled collections using old clothes or discarded materials are common now. PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/FIT
AFP – At his snow-covered farm in Iowa in the United States, Lance Lillibridge holds a newborn calf in his arms. The animal’s name? DeSantis, in honour of his chosen presidential candidate.
On Monday, when the Midwestern state kicks off the 2024 White House nomination race with its caucuses, Lillibridge said he will choose Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over frontrunner and former president Donald Trump.
The 53-year-old farmer – who lives not far from the town of Vinton, about 48 kilometres northwest of the city of Cedar Rapids – said he backed Trump in the last two elections, but will not cast his vote for him a third time.
“We feel like he kind of left us out,” Lillibridge said of the 77-year-old billionaire, as he stares at his giant corn-filled silos.
He was referring to Trump’s trade war with China, which meant smaller export markets for American farmers, and the Republican’s inconsistent backing of corn-based ethanol, which is primarily produced in the Midwest.
As for the 45-year-old DeSantis, who has been running a distant second to Trump in Iowa polls, Lillibridge said he is “real solid in agriculture” and “supports the biofuel industry”.
Farmer Lance Lillibridge carries a calf named DeSantis. PHOTO: AFPABOVE & BELOW: A close up photo of the calf named DeSantis; and Lillibridge feeds the calves. PHOTO: AFPPHOTO: AFPABOVE & BELOW: Photo shows the farming equipment. PHOTO: AFPPHOTO: AFP
“I feel pretty strongly that he’s the right guy for the job,” said the farmer, who also produces soybeans and raises cattle.
Lillibridge is the leader of Farmers for DeSantis, and has made it his mission to call some 2,000 farmers he knows to try to win their support for the Florida governor.
His main talking point is how he believes DeSantis will defend American agriculture.
He dismisses criticism that DeSantis lacks charisma, recalling that the candidate called him over the summer after he was in a motorcycle accident, “just to see how I was doing”.
“Anybody who says that Ron DeSantis is not personable enough, I will argue with them all day long,” he told AFP.
In Davenport, a two-hour drive from Vinton, Robb Ewoldt recalls how 2017, 2018 and 2019 were “the worst years” for farmers because of Trump’s trade war with China.
After traveling down the Mississippi River, most of Ewoldt’s corn and soybean crop is exported to Asia or Europe.
“We lost a lot of money,” said the 51-year-old Ewoldt, who also voted for Trump in 2016 and again in 2020.
This time around, he said he believes DeSantis is a kindred spirit.
“I think Governor DeSantis shares a lot of values that I have,” Ewoldt said, making note of how the candidate kept schools and businesses open in Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also said he believes the polls – that show Trump with more than 50 per cent support among expected voters in Iowa, and DeSantis hovering at around 15 per cent – are inaccurate.
“I know a lot of conservatives. And I can’t come up with five out of 10 that are going to vote for Trump,” he said.
The answer will come on Monday night, when Iowa voters head to schools, libraries and fire stations to cast their ballots for their preferred candidate.
Will Ewoldt support Trump if he ultimately earns the Republican presidential nomination? He breathes deeply.
“Whoever becomes that nominee, I will support,” he replied, adding: “We have an expression that maybe we have to go to the polls and hold our nose.”
DAVAO (AP) – A landslide set off by days of heavy rain buried a house where people were holding prayers in the southern Philippines, killing at least 10 people, including five children, officials said yesterday.
Two people were injured, and at least one more villager remained unaccounted for following the landslide in a remote mountain village in the gold-mining town of Monkayo in Davao de Oro province, Ednar Dayanghirang, the regional chief of the government’s Office of Civil Defence said.
Three more bodies were found yesterday, after the search was paused mid-afternoon on Thursday due to the risk of another landslide.
“They were praying in the house when the landslide hit,” Dayanghirang told The Associated Press by telephone on Thursday night.
“It’s sad but it’s the reality on the ground.”
People living near the village were ordered to evacuate due to fears of more land and mud slides due to intermittent downpours, Monkayo Mayor Manuel Zamora said.
Days of heavy rains also flooded low-lying villages and displaced more than 36,000 people in Davao de Oro and three other provinces, the Office of Civil Defence said. The weather began to clear yesterday in some areas.
In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest to hit on record, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than five million in the central Philippines.
ABOVE & BELOW: Photos show rescuers retrieving the body of victims after a landslide following heavy rains at Monkayo town in Davao de Oro province, southern Philippines. PHOTO: APPHOTO: AP
AP – The International Committee of the Red Cross has been losing influence, funding and staff, and disparaging remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are just the latest headache for the Geneva-based humanitarian group.
Netanyahu said he intentionally bypassed the Red Cross in helping arrange a shipment into Gaza of medicines for dozens of Israeli hostages with chronic illnesses who have been held by the Hamas for months.
There was no immediate word whether the medicines had gotten to the hostages.
The Red Cross tries to rise above politics, but keeps getting dragged into it, and not just over the conflict in Gaza. It has also faced political pressure from Ukraine, whose government accused it of not doing enough to try to reach Ukrainians – including children.
Here’s a look at the International Committee of the Red Cross and its recent efforts in the Middle East:
WHAT IS THE ICRC?
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an independent and impartial caretaker of the international Geneva Conventions, drawn up in phases in the mid-20th Century, that help ensure the respect of civilians and detainees during conflict.
International humanitarian law that is the bedrock of its work has come under increased strain in recent years, such as from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and now the Middle East conflict that began in October 7, 2023.
ABOVE & BELOW: A Red Cross vehicle carrying hostages; and people gesture from a Red Cross bus carrying Palestinian hostages released from Israeli jails. PHOTO: AP & AFPPHOTO: AP & AFPABOVE & BELOW: Israeli soldiers prepare to check a Palestinian Red Cross ambulance at the entrance of the Tulkarem refugee camp in Tulkarem; and a Palestinian child is treated at a hospital in Gaza. PHOTO: AP & AFPPHOTO: AP & AFP
ICRC has a long history of visiting prisoners of war, to check on their health and conditions of detention and to get word to their families. In recent decades, its representatives have also made visits to hostages – people who are detained but are not technically prisoners of war (POWs).
That’s not an official role, but no other group comes close to having such a responsibility.
The organisation has been under intense financial pressure in recent months and has been cutting jobs, at a time when the number and intensity of conflicts that require its intervention have increased.
At the same time, it sometimes finds its pleas for countries to give it access to prisoners of war and other detainees going unheeded. In places like Yemen, it has had better success in carrying out its role, such as by midwifing prisoner exchanges.
The ICRC is a sister organisation of an umbrella group of Red Cross and Red Crescent organisations that unites national federations and mostly focuses on things like natural disasters, regular medical assistance and blood drives.
WHAT IS ITS ROLE IN THE GAZA CONFLICT?
The ICRC has been striving from the start of the conflict to help ease the suffering of civilians. It helped arrange the release of more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages in November. Images of its operatives in the organisation’s distinctive red-and-white vests escorting freed hostages into Red Cross vehicles were broadcast worldwide.
The organisation has about 125 people in Gaza now, including medical staff and a team responsible for delivering medical assistance for displaced people.
While the United Nations and other aid groups have sent medical aid and other help to beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza, no outside group has been able to get aid to the hostages, including those suffering from asthma and high blood pressure.
A Red Cross statement said it has been “calling for the unconditional release of the hostages as a priority, while also pressing for access to them and the ability to provide medical care”.
It said it has been working to “agree to a mechanism to deliver medicines to the hostages” – who now total more than 130 – and had with the two sides “initiated the conversation in its role as a neutral intermediary”.
The two sides agreed on how much medicine would be sent and by whom under the arrangement by Qatar and France, the Red Cross said, while adding that “the mechanism that was agreed to does not involve the ICRC playing any part in its implementation, including the delivery of medication”.
WHY THE TESTY INTERACTION WITH NETANYAHU?
A video made public last month, in a rare exposition of ICRC conversations with a political leader, showed Netanyahu calling on ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric to exert “public pressure” on Hamas to allow medicines through to the hostages. He turned and pointed to a box labelled as containing medicine for the hostages to make his point.
Spoljaric countered that such a move would be ineffective, and has since emphasised the ICRC’s neutrality.
On Thursday, Netanyahu again took aim at the aid group. He boasted that he purposely bypassed it when working to arrange the transfer of medicines to Gaza, and instead used the services of Qatar, which has mediated between Israel and Hamas.
In explaining his decision, he recalled his previous encounter with the Red Cross president, alleging she refused at the time to help get medicine for hostages into Gaza.
The Red Cross cannot pressure anyone to let it see the hostages if they refuse.
“So we bypassed her via the mediator – in this case the Qatari mediator who promised that he will make sure… the medicine will reach every single hostage who needs it,” he said at a televised prime time news conference.
