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Tesla halts most output at Shanghai plant, sales dive

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Tesla halts most output at Shanghai plant, sales dive

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) has halted most of its production at its Shanghai plant due to problems securing parts for its electric vehicles, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, the latest in a series of difficulties for the factory.

The automaker’s sales in China had already slumped by 98% in April from a month earlier, data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed on Tuesday, underscoring the hit from China’s hard COVID-19 lockdowns, reported by Reuters.

The company had been aiming to increase output at the plant to 2,600 cars a day as soon as next week, Reuters reported previously. 

Overall passenger car sales for China, the world’s largest auto market, dropped almost 36% in April from a year earlier, the CPCA said. However, sales of battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids – a category China targets for incentives – rose more than 50%, boosted by particularly good performances by BYD and SAIC-GM-Wuling.

Another auto association estimated last week that overall auto sales in China had dropped 48% in April as lockdowns shut factories, limited traffic to showrooms and put the brakes on spending.

Shanghai authorities have tightened a city-wide lockdown imposed more than a month ago on the commercial hub with a population of 25 million, a move that could extend curbs on movement through the month.

Shanghai is in its sixth week of an intensifying lockdown that has tested the ability of manufacturers to operate amid hard restrictions on the movement of people and materials.

Tesla planned to manufacture fewer than 200 vehicles at its factory in the city on Tuesday, according to the memo, far below the roughly 1,200 units per day it had ramped up to shortly after reopening on April 19 following a 22-day closure.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

After reopening, the factory produced 10,757 vehicles by the end of April, selling 1,512 of them, the CPCA said.

That compared to 65,814 cars sold in March and marked the lowest sales tally since April 2020, four months after the factory started delivering China-made cars.

Tesla did not export any China-made Model 3s and Model Ys from the Shanghai plant in April, the data showed.

Two people familiar with Tesla’s operations said earlier that the Shanghai plant suspended work on Monday after it faced difficulties procuring supplies.

Prince Charles delivers Queen’s Speech for the first time in almost six decades

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Prince Charles delivers Queen’s Speech for the first time in almost six decades

Britain’s heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and Prince William took center stage at the opening of parliament on Tuesday, replacing the 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth who missed the grand set-piece event for the first time in almost six decades.

With the Queen forced to withdraw on Monday due to a recurrence of mobility issues, 73-year-old Charles arrived at the Palace of Westminster to read out the government’s legislative agenda, reported by CNN.

The queen, who has missed a number of public engagements since she was hospitalized for a night last October for an unspecified illness, had to issue a ‘Letters Patent’ to authorize Charles and William to carry out her role at the constitutional event.

The event took place at a significant moment in British politics, as the fallout from the “Partygate” scandal continues to haunt Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, said on Monday that if he is fined by police — who are investigating whether or not he broke Covid rules at an election campaigning event — he will resign. Johnson has already been issued with such a fine, a so-called fixed-penalty notice, which he has accepted and paid. Starmer’s intervention has therefore raised serious questions as to whether or not Johnson should resign as Prime Minister.

Traditionally, the leaders of the government and opposition use the Queen’s Speech as a time to put their differences aside and chat amicably as they walk from the House of Commons to the House of Lords. However, Starmer and Johnson had their eyes firmly fixed ahead and exchanged few — if any — words.

Charles, who had attended the opening of parliament alongside his mother in recent years, started reading out each bill by saying: “Her majesty’s government will….”

Prior to the event taking place there was a mixture of confusion among those sitting in the Chamber of the House of Lords as to whether or not Charles would sit beside a ceremonial throne or stand in front of it. When he arrived and sat on the throne there was audible surprise among those watching in person.

The program for the day presented to those who had tickets to sit in the House of Lords had not been updated to reflect the fact that the Queen would not be attending herself, leaving some uncertainty as to exactly how the day’s events would unfold.

The State Opening of Parliament is an event of huge pomp and pageantry which traditionally sees the queen traveling to the assembly in a State Coach, escorted by mounted soldiers in ceremonial uniform, while the Imperial State Crown and other regalia travel ahead in a carriage of their own.

The monarch dons the Robe of State before leading a procession to the House of Lords upper chamber where she sits on a throne and formally opens a new session of parliament, reading a speech written by the government outlining its legislative plans.

The queen has missed the occasion only twice during her 70-year reign — in 1959, and 1963, when she was pregnant with sons Andrew and Edward.

Police shoot man who opened fire on group of children at bus stop

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Police shoot man who opened fire on group of children at bus stop

Atlanta police said a man involved in a domestic dispute at a northwest Atlanta apartment complex opened fire on a group of children waiting at the bus stop Monday morning.

According to WSB-TV, police said they were responding to reports of an armed man in a domestic dispute on Skipper Place NW. When they got to the apartment complex, the man ran outside with a gun.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has identified the shooter as Raphael Trammell, 25.

Police found two guns and a knife at the scene.

Rattley said she was just happy to do her part to get the kids out of harm’s way.

“I had to make sure the kids were safe,” Rattley said.

Most of the children ended up being able to catch their bus to school.

This is the 46th officer-involved shooting in 2022.

Channel 2′s Tom Regan was at the scene, where a woman described how the chaotic scene unfolded. Jalissa Rattley was in her car when she said she saw Trammell walking near the bus stop with his gun in his hand.

“When I saw the man with a gun, I told them to run before he shot and fired,” Rattley said. “I held the horn. I told the children to run. They ran, that’s when he opened fire.”

Rattley said Trammell fired at the children twice, but missed.

Investigators were searching for the suspect when they heard gunshots. An officer confronted Trammell and jumped out of his car to protect the children.

“The officer immediately exited his patrol car and discharged his firearm, striking the subject at least one time,” Deputy Chief Charles Hampton said.

Police were then able to find Trammell, who was wounded, and disarm him. Trammell was taken to the hospital, where he was listed as stable.

The gunman was taken to the hospital and is stable. His identity has not been released. No one else was injured, police said.

This is the second shooting involving a school bus Monday morning. A woman is accused of shooting an elementary school bus with children inside in Gwinnett County. The shootings are unrelated.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called to the scene.

China’s export growth slowed to single digits as virus curbs hit factories

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China’s export growth slowed to single digits as virus curbs hit factories

China’s export growth slowed to single digits, the weakest in almost two years, while imports barely changed in April as tighter and wider COVID-19 curbs halted factory production and crimped domestic demand, adding to wider economic woes.

Exports in dollar terms grew 3.9% in April from a year earlier, dropping sharply from the 14.7% growth reported in March although slightly better than analysts’ forecast of 3.2%. It was the slowest pace since June 2020, reported by Reuters.

Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, does not expect export growth to perk up in May as supply problems persist.

“The contraction of imports is a signal, as many firms’ imports of parts of components probably got disrupted,” Zhang said in a note. “The resumption of production is quite slow at this stage.”

China posted a trade surplus of $51.12 billion in the month, slightly wider than a forecast for a $50.65 billion surplus. The country reported a $47.38 billion surplus in March.

Imports were broadly stable year-on-year, improving slightly from a 0.1% fall in March and a bit better than the 3.0% contraction tipped by the Reuters poll.

The weak figures show China’s trade sector, which accounts for about a third of gross domestic product, is losing momentum as lockdowns across the country ensnared supply chains in major centres like Shanghai, heightening risks of a deeper slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy and beyond.

“The virus outbreaks in China led to huge difficulties in the production chains and the supply chains,” Chang Ran, a senior analyst at Zhixin Investment Research Institute said in a note on Monday. “Meanwhile, some countries in Southeast Asia have transitioned from recovery to production expansion, replacing Chinese exports to some extent.”

Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics, said the main headwind to exports is weakening foreign demand.

“The sharpest falls were in shipments to the EU and U.S., where high inflation is weighing on real household incomes,” he said. “The declines were also especially pronounced in electronics exports which suggest a further unwinding of pandemic-linked demand for Chinese goods.”

Beijing’s extraordinary efforts to curb the country’s largest COVID-19 outbreaks in two years have clogged highways and ports, restricted activity in dozens of cities including Shanghai and forced companies from Apple supplier Foxconn to automakers Toyota and Volkswagen to suspend some operations. read more

Factory activity was already contracting at a sharper pace in April, industry surveys showed, raising fears of a steep slowdown that could also hit global growth.

Shi Xinyu, a foreign trade manager in Yiwu, a commodities trading hub, said only 20-50% of stores in the city are open due to COVID disruptions.

“(The weak import demand came amid) the downward economic cycle and COVID hit,” Shi said. “Life is already hard enough and it happens we’ve got a leaky roof as it rains.”

Additionally, heightened risks from the Ukraine war, persistently soft consumption and a prolonged downturn in the property market are also weighing on growth, analysts say.

With the national jobless rate at a near two-year high, authorities have promised more help to shore up confidence and ward off further job losses in a politically sensitive year.

Some analysts even warn of rising recession risks, saying policymakers must provide more stimulus to reach an official 2022 growth target of about 5.5% if Beijing doesn’t ease its zero-COVID policy.

However, there are few signs of that happening. The country’s top leaders said last week they would stick with their “zero-COVID” policy, stoking worries of a sharper economic downturn.

Oil prices fell as the market balanced impending EU sanctions on Russian oil

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Oil prices fell as the market balanced impending EU sanctions on Russian oil

Oil prices fell in volatile trade on Tuesday as the market balanced impending European Union sanctions on Russian oil with demand concerns related to coronavirus lockdowns in China, a strong dollar and growing recession risks.

According to Reuters, Brent crude was down 69 cents, or 0.6%, at $105.25 a barrel at 1233 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 45 cents, or 0.4%, to $102.64 a barrel.

Both contracts fell by more than $2 per barrel earlier in the session.

In the United States, crude, distillates and gasoline inventories likely fell last week, a preliminary Reuters poll of weekly data showed on Monday.

“Oil markets do look like they have more room to fall in the shorter term,” said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA.

Delays to the EU Commission’s proposal to ban oil imports from Russia have also weighed on futures prices.

“The combination of COVID-related lockdowns in China and worldwide interest rate increases to battle inflation put equity investors on the back foot, strengthened the dollar and significantly raised concerns of economic slowdown,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

The dollar held near 20-year highs, making oil more expensive for holders of other currencies.

The latest data showed China’s export growth had slowed to single digits, their weakest in almost two years, as the country extended lockdowns.

Financial markets are also heeding concerns that some European economies could suffer distress if Russian oil imports were curtailed further, or if Russia retaliated by cutting off gas supplies.

German officials are quietly preparing for any sudden halt in Russian gas supplies, Reuters reported. A halt would trigger a deep recession and cost half a million jobs, a senior economist said in an interview published on Tuesday.

But French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said on Tuesday that EU members could reach a deal this week on Russian oil sanctions.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke over the phone to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban aiming to finalise the European Union’s proposal to ban all Russian oil imports, part of a sixth package of sanctions aimed at Russia, the presidential palace said on Tuesday.

Among the 27 EU member states, Hungary is the most vocal critic of the planned embargo on Russian oil. 

In addition to the recent G7 gradual import ban on Russian oil, Japan, which obtained 4% of its oil imports from Russia last year, has agreed to phase out its Russian oil purchases. 

Brent and WTI futures rose by over $1 per barrel earlier in the session following bearish comments from the Saudi and UAE energy ministers.

Lawyer paid off over $2M of Hunter Biden’s delinquent taxes

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Lawyer paid off over $2M of Hunter Biden’s delinquent taxes

A big-shot Hollywood lawyer reportedly paid off Hunter Biden’s delinquent taxes — which a source told The Post amounted to more than $2 million — as President Biden’s notoriously troubled son awaits the results of a Delaware grand jury’s investigation into his personal finances, reported by NYPOST.

Kevin Morris, an entertainment attorney and novelist who earned a fortune representing the co-creators of “South Park” and won a Tony Award as the co-producer of “The Book of Mormon,” footed Hunter Biden’s overdue taxes totaling over $2 million — more than twice what was previously reported, a source familiar with conversations between the two told The Post.

Hunter Biden has been under investigation for failing to pay taxes since his father was vice president, but in 2018, investigators began probing whether his international business dealings intersected with President Biden’s political career.

In October 2020, The Post exclusively revealed that a hard drive holding the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop that he abandoned at a Delaware repair shop included a cache of emails that detailed how the president’s son used his political leverage in his overseas business dealings.

President Biden is likely to avoid an audit that could reveal whether he made money from Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings after the IRS rejected a whistleblower complaint that alleged the 46th president owes at least $127,000 in taxes, The Post reported last week.

Morris, whom Hunter Biden’s friends call his latest “sugar brother,” has also been funding the 52-year-old’s lifestyle in Los Angeles — including his rent and living expenses, the source said. 

The attorney has also been advising the president’s son on how to structure his art sales, according to the source.

When The Post attempted to contact Morris at his Malibu residence to ask about his dealings with Hunter Biden, his wife slammed the door in the reporter’s face and refused to answer questions.

Author Kevin Morris attends his "White Man's Problem" book release party on June 3, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Morris, an entertainment attorney and novelist, reportedly paid off over $2 million of “sugar brother” Hunter Biden’s delinquent taxes.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Hunter Biden took out a loan to settle his significant 2021 tax bill after he announced he was under investigation for defrauding the Internal Revenue Service.

His up-to-date tax bill could make it more difficult for prosecutors to convict Hunter Biden and hinder their ability to win a lengthy sentence if he was convicted, the New York Times reported.

Tax prosecutors would typically argue that paying an overdue balance wouldn’t affect a fraud case because the evasion still occurred. However, a judge and jury may be more sympathetic toward someone who eventually paid their bill.

Morris is a founding member of the firm Morris Yorn Barnes Levine in Los Angeles, which has represented A-list Hollywood celebrities such as Matthew McConaughey, Ellen DeGeneres, Scarlett Johansson, Liam Hemsworth and Chris Rock. He no longer works at the firm.

In 2014, he published a collection of short stories titled “White Man’s Problems,” and in 2016 published his debut novel, “All Joe Knight,” which was listed as Amazon Best Book of the Month in Literature and Fiction in December 2016.

S. Korea’s new president carves his own route to the top

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S. Korea’s new president carves his own route to the top

 Yoon Suk-yeol seals his surge to the summit of South Korean politics on Tuesday when the man who once dreamt of becoming a pastor, but was nicknamed the ‘fighting cock’ for his tenacity as a prosecutor, is sworn in as president.

Elected in March, the 61-year-old former prosecutor-general only formally entered the cut and thrust of Korean politics when he declared his run for the presidency last June. That came after he was courted by the conservative bloc for showcasing his uncompromising nature by filing bribery charges against a key aide to outgoing President Moon Jae-in – the man who hired him.

“I guess loneliness is what being the president means … You know, former U.S. President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that says ‘The buck stops here’.”

As a prosecutor, his unbending nature and adherence to the rules helped him climb the career ladder at times.

But his record of antagonising powerful people also resulted in several demotions – moments that he has joked gave him time to work on his cooking skills.

His defining ethos? In a 2013 hearing that made waves in Seoul, Yoon told lawmakers, “I am not loyal to any person” – underlining his obedience to law, not those in power.

Described by colleagues as both feisty and gregarious, Yoon ran on a ticket to fight corruption and create a more level economic playing field, while seeking a tougher line on North Korea. His appointment to prosecutor-general in 2019 came after more than two decades in the legal service, jailing many across the national political spectrum for corruption.

According to Reuters, born in 1960 in Seoul, Yoon graduated from a mission elementary school, where he has said he harboured ambitions to be a pastor, before deciding to study law on the advice of his father, a renowned economic professor. But Yoon was late to the prosecutors’ office, passing the bar exam only on his ninth attempt in 1991.

Yoon likes people and socialising over drinks, and still maintains long-standing links with friends who now occupy key government and corporate posts, aides told Reuters.

He values trust among his staff, and had scrapped a plan to send a group of envoys to Washington after a media leak, reviving it only after North Korea broke a moratorium on long-range missile testing in March, two people who worked with his team said. The people declined to be identified because of diplomatic sensitivity.

Recalling his unique path to the highest office, Yoon said in a recent television show: “I wasn’t really anxious, and slept well during the campaign, but since the election, I’ve been struggling to get a good sleep.”

Russia’s ambassador to Poland was splattered with red paint thrown

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Russia’s ambassador to Poland was splattered with red paint thrown

Russia’s ambassador to Poland was splattered with red paint thrown at him by protesters opposed to the war in Ukraine, preventing him from paying respects on Monday at a Warsaw cemetery to Red Army soldiers who died during World War II.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced the attack, saying on her messaging app channel that “we won’t be scared” while the “people of Europe should be scared to see their reflection in a mirror.”, reported by AP.

Ambassador Sergey Andreev arrived at the Soviet soldiers’ cemetery to lay flowers on Victory Day, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Allies. The major Russian patriotic holiday was celebrated with pomp in a parade at Red Square in Moscow.

Protesters also marched in Warsaw on Sunday evening to protest the war, bringing a tank on a tractor and parking it in front of the Russian Embassy. Since the war began on Feb. 24, images of Ukrainian tractors hauling off Russian tanks have been symbols of Ukrainian resistance.

The Soviet cemetery is set amid a vast park on the route linking downtown to the international airport. It is the final resting place of more than 20,000 Red Army soldiers who perished on Polish soil fighting while helping to defeat Nazi Germany.

While Poland has removed some monuments to the Red Army in the years since it threw off Moscow-backed communist rule, it has allowed the cemetery to remain undisturbed. Though Soviet soldiers defeated the Nazis, earlier in the war the Soviet forces had invaded Poland following a secret agreement with the Nazi government, and carried out atrocities against Poles, including mass executions and deportations to Siberia.

As he arrived at the Soviet Military Cemetery in the Polish capital, Andreev was met by hundreds of activists opposed to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The protesters first snatched away a wreath of flowers that he had intended to lay at the cemetery and trampled it. Red paint was thrown from behind at him before a protester standing beside him threw a big blob of it in his face.

The protesters carried Ukrainian flags and chanted “fascists” and “murderers” at him, while some were dressed in white sheets smeared with red, symbolizing the Ukrainian victims of Russia’s war. Other people in his entourage were also seen splattered with what appeared to be red paint.

Zakharova said that “admirers of the neo-Nazis have once again shown their face.” She said that along with the removal of monuments to Soviet army World War II heroes, the attack reflected the “course for the reincarnation of fascism.”

Some Russian commentators suggested that the attack on the ambassador could prompt Moscow to recall him and ask the Polish ambassador to leave.

The Polish government faced criticism for not providing the ambassador with more security, allowing for an incident to occur that Russia could use to depict Poland as hostile to Moscow.

Among the critics was a former interior minister, Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, who said he couldn’t understand why there wasn’t more protection for the ambassador when for weeks “you could feel how May 9 could end in Warsaw.”

Poland’s current interior minister, however, noted that Poland’s government had advised the Russian ambassador against laying flowers at the cemetery, and noted that police allowed him to safely leave the scene.

“The gathering of opponents of Russian aggression against Ukraine, where the crime of genocide takes place every day, was legal,” Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski added. “The emotions of Ukrainian women taking part in the demonstration, whose husbands are fighting bravely in defense of their homeland, are understandable.”

Shanghai tightens its strict lockdown to hit zero-COVID goal by late May

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Shanghai tightens its strict lockdown to hit zero-COVID goal by late May

According to Reuters, Shanghai is tightening its already strict COVID-19 lockdown in a fresh push to eliminate infections outside quarantined areas of China’s biggest city by late this month, people familiar with the matter said.

Curbs will likely vary across the city’s 16 districts as some have already hit the target, but the people said movement curbs will generally remain until the end of May due to fears of a rebound, despite recently falling case numbers in the country’s worst coronavirus outbreak.

“This is to reach ‘zero cases at community level’ as soon as possible and allow the lockdown to be lifted,” said a notice in Xuhui seen by Reuters. It said the curbs would be in place until May 15.

One neighbourhood committee said on its official WeChat account that for the safety of the community it had to move all the occupants of one building and disinfect the area after a resident tested positive.

A video shared thousands of times on social media showed hazmat-suited police arguing with residents who had been told they had to move to quarantine after a neighbour tested positive.

“This is so that we can thoroughly remove any positive cases,” one officer says. “Stop asking me why, there is no why. We have to adhere to national guidelines and the epidemic control policy.”

Reuters could not independently verify the video.

Shanghai has achieved citywide zero COVID outside quarantine areas only twice, on April 30 and May 1. Daily cases have since been in the double digits. City officials have said districts with no cases outside quarantine for three consecutive days were considered to have achieved the goal.

Accounts from residents in several districts as well as social media posts showed the government of the city of 25 million accelerating and expanding an effort to transfer the close contacts of positive cases to central quarantines centres.

Multiple residents said they were being required to move to such facilities, despite testing negative, after cases were found in their buildings, stoking frustrations.

Other residents said they were told on Saturday by their housing compounds they would no longer be able to leave their front doors or estates, or receive deliveries for a week as part of efforts to reach the goal of “zero cases at community level” goal.

The Shanghai government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shanghai is reporting thousands of cases a day, the vast majority in sealed-off areas such as central quarantine facilities, premises under “closed loop” management and housing where residents are barred from leaving their front doors.

Ending community-level transmission outside such areas has been a lockdown turning point in cities such as Shenzhen, which last month reopened public transport and let people go back to work.

But Shanghai has struggled to end community transmission in the face of the infectious Omicron variant. Authorities initially aimed to reach the goal by April 20, Reuters reported last month, but only managed to do so in two districts. 

On Saturday, authorities in Putuo and Changning districts issued notices saying residents of housing compounds classified as the city’s lowest-risk “prevention” areas could no longer leave their compounds.

One resident in the Pudong New Area district, which houses Shanghai’s financial centre, told Reuters he had received a similar notice from his compound.

In Xuhui district, which includes the former French Concession area, residents from nine housing compounds told Reuters they were notified by their neighbourhood committees on Saturday that they would be barred from leaving their front doors or receiving deliveries for at least a week.

For Saturday, Shanghai reported 11 cases outside quarantined areas across five districts.

Officials have provided little clarity on how they eventually will lift the lockdown, warning the public against complacency.

US first lady Jill Biden pays surprise visit to Ukraine

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US first lady Jill Biden pays surprise visit to Ukraine

U.S. first lady Jill Biden paid a surprise visit to Ukraine and held a Mother’s Day meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart, Olena Zelenskyy.

Her visit also comes as dozens are feared dead after reports that a school in the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine has been hit by Russian shelling. According to CNBC, Luhansk is one of the two regions that make up the Donbas, where Russian troops are now concentrating their efforts.

Biden’s visit comes after recent trips to the country by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Meanwhile, the last women, children and elderly people have been evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant, the final holdout for Ukrainians in the besieged port city of Mariupol, according to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister.

More than 170 Ukrainian civilians who were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant and other areas around the besieged port city of Mariupol have arrived in Ukraine-controlled Zaporizhzhia, in the southeastern part of the country.

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