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@ISIDEWITH3 days3D
The U.S. auto industry needs regulatory certainty from politicians in Washington and the back and forth as the White House changes hands doesn't help, but the adoption rate of electric vehicles will continue to grow, Ford Motor's (F.N), opens new tab executive chairman Bill Ford said on Wednesday.The CEO of Ford said when he talks with politicians in Washington, he gets very different viewpoints from the two parties.He said Republicans question the need for EVs, saying the U.S. sector trails China and they don't want to use Chinese technology. Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing the industry to make more EVs and asking what they can do to accelerate the process.The Biden administration last month handed Detroit automakers a major win by easing proposed rules that would have forced them to scale back production of gas-guzzling vehicles or face billions of dollars in fines.Bill Ford said the transition to EVs will be gradual and determined by consumers. "We're not shoving anything down anybody's throat," he said.The growth rate on EV sales has slowed, but globally they are being adopted quickly and Ford will follow even as it hedges it bets with its gasoline-powered and hybrid electric vehicles, he said at a Detroit Free Press event outside Detroit.While not commenting on the race between U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and former president Donald Trump, a Republican, Bill Ford said he wishes the country would pick a path so the industry can plan better."Our planning timeframe is a lot longer than election cycles," he said."We can do almost anything as a company, and frankly as an industry, as long as we have some certainty towards where we're headed," Bill Ford added. "The problem is when we're whipsawed back and forth by politicians. We can't turn on a dime. Just pick a path and we'll go for it."Michigan is a key battleground state in the election this fall and both Biden and Trump have been speaking to voters, including many industry workers, about the challenges the U.S. auto sector faces. Trump has charged that Biden’s policies will kill auto jobs and aid China’s surging EV industry.Ford Motor on Tuesday resumed shipments of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup after an undisclosed quality issue led to a nine-week halt starting in February.Earlier this month, Ford cut prices of some Lightning variants by as much as $5,500, and it previously cut prices on its Mustang Mach-E electric SUV by up to $8,100 after sales fell.Also this month, Ford delayed the planned launches of three-row EVs in Canada and next-generation electric pickup truck built planned for production in Tennessee.Ford CEO Jim Farley has said the U.S. automaker was committed to scaling up its EV business profitably. It lost nearly $4.7 billion on its EV business in 2023 and projected it will lose $5 billion to $5.5 billion this year.
@ISIDEWITH3 days3D
The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to vote Friday on a Palestinian request for full U.N. membership, said diplomats, a move that Israel ally the United States is expected to block because it would effectively recognize a Palestinian state.The 15-member council is due to vote at 3 p.m. (1900 GMT) Friday on a draft resolution that recommends to the 193-member U.N. General Assembly that "the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations," diplomats said.A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the U.S., Britain, France, Russia or China to pass. Diplomats say the measure could have the support of up to 13 council members, which would force the U.S. to use its veto.Council member Algeria, which put forward the draft resolution, had requested a vote for Thursday afternoon to coincide with a Security Council meeting on the Middle East, which is due to be attended by several ministers.The United States has said that establishing an independent Palestinian state should happen through direct negotiations between the parties and not at the United Nations."We do not see that doing a resolution in the Security Council will necessarily get us to a place where we can find... a two-state solution moving forward," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Wednesday.The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly in 2012. But an application to become a full U.N. member needs to be approved by the Security Council and then at least two-thirds of the General Assembly.The U.N. Security Council has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in 1967.Little progress has been made on achieving Palestinian statehood since the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the early 1990s.The Palestinian push for full U.N. membership comes six months into a war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza, and as Israel is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan said earlier this month that "whoever supports recognizing a Palestinian state at such a time not only gives a prize to terror, but also backs unilateral steps which are contradictory to the agreed-upon principle of direct negotiations."A Security Council committee on the admission of new members - made up of all 15 council members - met twice last week to discuss the Palestinian application and agreed to a report on the issue on Tuesday."Regarding the issue of whether the application met all the criteria for membership... the Committee was unable to make a unanimous recommendation to the Security Council," the report said, adding that "differing views were expressed."U.N. membership is open to "peace-loving states" that accept the obligations in the founding U.N. Charter and are able and willing to carry them out.
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Iran’s president has warned that the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would bring a “massive and harsh” response, as the region braces for potential Israeli retaliation after Iran’s attack over the weekend.President Ebrahim Raisi spoke Wednesday at an annual army parade that was moved to a barracks north of the capital, Tehran, from its usual venue on a highway in the city’s southern outskirts. Iranian authorities gave no explanation for its relocation, and state television didn’t broadcast it live, as it has in previous years.Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend in response to an apparent Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria on April 1 that killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals.Israel, with help from the United States, the United Kingdom, neighboring Jordan and other nations, successfully intercepted nearly all the missiles and drones.
@ISIDEWITH3 days3D
Throughout the six months that Israel has been fighting in Gaza, the public has overwhelmingly supported the war effort, with the vast majority of Israelis backing the goal to destroy Hamas and free the hostages still held in the enclave.But there is no such consensus on how to respond to the threat from Iran, whose strike on Israel in the early hours of Sunday has revived fears that the hostilities that have engulfed the Middle East since Hamas’s October 7 attack could escalate into a regional conflict.A poll carried out by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem this week found 52 per cent of Israelis thought the country should not respond to the drone-and-missile barrage — the first time the Islamic republic has targeted the Jewish state directly from its own soil — but instead close the current round of hostilities. The rest thought Israel should retaliate, even at the risk of extending the current round.“Everyone is on board with the [Gaza war] goals. But we see a very different path here” with Iran, said Nimrod Zeldin, from Agam Labs at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which conducted the study.“Iran is more complicated.”The Islamic regime launched its barrage in retaliation for the suspected Israeli strike this month at its consulate in Syria, which killed several senior members of the elite Revolutionary Guard.The split in the Israeli public has been mirrored by the tortuous debate within the country’s five-person war cabinet led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some analysts have suggested the window for an imminent response may be narrowing, with the Jewish holiday of Passover set to start on Monday, and Israelis travelling to be with their families across the country.According to one government official, the war cabinet, which includes defence minister Yoav Gallant and former opposition politician and military chief Benny Gantz, has taken a decision “in principle” to retaliate against Iran. The split in the Israeli public has been mirrored by the tortuous debate within the country’s five-person war cabinet led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some analysts have suggested the window for an imminent response may be narrowing, with the Jewish holiday of Passover set to start on Monday, and Israelis travelling to be with their families across the country.