EU border agency says 2022 irregular arrivals highest since 2016
Ministers discuss stepping up returns to states including Iraq
Hardline migration ideas return to fore
Top EU migration official says no money for ‘walls and fences’
STOCKHOLM, Jan 26 (Reuters) – European Union ministers on Thursday sought ways to curb irregular immigration and send more people away as arrivals rose from pandemic lows, reviving controversial ideas for border fences and asylum centres outside of Europe.
EU border agency Frontex reported some 330,000 unauthorised arrivals last year, the highest since 2016, with a sharp increase on the Western Balkans route.
“We have a huge increase of irregular arrivals of migrants,” Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told talks among the 27 EU migration ministers. “We have a very low return rate and I can see we can make significant progress here.”
Denmark, the Netherlands and Latvia were among those to call for more pressure through visas and development aid towards the roughly 20 countries – including Iraq and Senegal – that the EU deems fail to cooperate on taking back their nationals who have no right to stay in Europe.
Only about a fifth of such people are sent back, with insufficient resources and coordination on the EU side being another hurdle, according to the bloc’s executive.
The ministerial talks come ahead of a Feb. 9-10 summit of EU leaders who will also seek more returns, according to their draft joint decision seen by Reuters.
“The overall economic malaise makes countries like Tunisia change from a transit country to a country where locals also want to go,” said an EU official. “That changes things. But it’s still very manageable, especially if the EU acts together.”
‘WALLS AND FENCES’
That, however, is easier said than done in the bloc, where immigration is a highly sensitive political issue and member countries are bitterly divided over how to share the task of caring for those who arrive in Europe.
The issue has become toxic since more than a million people crossed the Mediterranean in 2015 in chaotic and deadly scenes that caught the bloc off guard and fanned anti-immigration sentiment.
The EU has since tightened its external borders and asylum laws. With people on the move again following the COVID pandemic, the debate is returning to the fore, as are some proposals previously dismissed as inadmissible.
Denmark has held talks with Rwanda on handling asylum applicants in East Africa, while others called for EU funds for a border fence between Bulgaria and Turkey – both ideas so far seen as taboo.
“We are still working to make that happen, preferably with other European countries but, as a last resort, we’ll do it only in cooperation between Denmark and, for example Rwanda,” Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad said on Thursday.
Dutch minister Eric van der Burg said he was open to EU financing for border barriers.
“EU member states continue making access to international protection as difficult as possible,” the Danish Refugee Council, an NGO, said in a report on Thursday about what it said were systemic pushbacks of people at the bloc’s external borders, a violation of their right to claim asylum.
While EU countries protest against irregular immigration, often comprising Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa, Germany is simultaneously seeking to open its job market to much-needed workers from outside the bloc.
“We want to conclude migration agreements with countries, particularly with North African countries, that would allow a legal route to Germany but would also include functioning returns,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in Stockholm.
Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Bart Meiejer, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Bernadette Baum
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization has called for “immediate and concerted action” to protect children from contaminated medicines after a spate of child deaths linked to cough syrups last year.
In 2022, more than 300 children – mainly aged under 5 – in Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan died of acute kidney injury, in deaths that were associated with contaminated medicines, the WHO said in a statement on Monday.
The medicines, over-the-counter cough syrups, had high levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol.
“These contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that can be fatal even taken in small amounts, and should never be found in medicines,” the WHO said.
As well as the countries above, the WHO told Reuters on Monday that the Philippines, Timor Leste, Senegal and Cambodia may potentially be impacted because they may have the medicines on sale. It called for action across its 194 member states to prevent more deaths.
[1/4] Logo of Marion Biotech, a healthcare and pharmaceutical company is seen on a gate outside their office in Noida, India, December 29, 2022. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis
“Since these are not isolated incidents, WHO calls on various key stakeholders engaged in the medical supply chain to take immediate and coordinated action,” WHO said.
The WHO has already sent specific product alerts in October and earlier this month, asking for the medicines to be removed from the shelves, for cough syrups made by India’s Maiden Pharmaceuticals and Marion Biotech, which are linked with deaths in Gambia and Uzbekistan respectively.
It also issued a warning last year for cough syrups made by four Indonesian manufacturers, PT Yarindo Farmatama, PT Universal Pharmaceutical, PT Konimex and PT AFI Pharma, that were sold domestically.
The companies involved have either denied that their products have been contaminated or declined to comment while investigations are ongoing.
The WHO reiterated its call for the products flagged above to be removed from circulation, and called more widely for countries to ensure that any medicines for sale are approved by competent authorities. It also asked governments and regulators to assign resources to inspect manufacturers, increase market surveillance and take action where required.
It called on manufacturers to only buy raw ingredients from qualified suppliers, test their products more thoroughly and keep records of the process. Suppliers and distributors should check for signs of falsification and only distribute or sell medicines authorised for use, the WHO added.
Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Christina Fincher
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
The U.S.’s largest auto makers confronted another challenging year in 2022 with supply-chain snarls and poorly stocked dealership lots denting sales results and concerns mounting about an economic downturn.
The Detroit auto maker also retook its U.S. sales crown from
Toyota Motor Corp.
TM -0.65%
, outselling its Japanese rival by about 165,630 vehicles last year.
Toyota had overtaken GM in 2021 as the U.S.’s top-selling auto maker, an upending of the traditional pecking order that was largely due to parts shortages that both car companies viewed as temporary.
Toyota said its U.S. sales were down 9.6% in 2022, and
Hyundai Motor Corp.
closed last year with a 2% decline.
Most other car companies report throughout the day Wednesday.
Ford
plans to report 2022 sales results Thursday.
Industrywide, U.S. auto sales are projected to total 13.7 million vehicles in 2022, the lowest figure in more than a decade and an 8% decrease from the prior year, according to a joint forecast by J.D. Power and LMC Automotive. Sales are expected to remain well below prepandemic levels of roughly 17 million.
WSJ toured Rivian’s and Ford’s electric-vehicle factories to see how they are pushing to meet demand. Illustration: Adam Falk/The Wall Street Journal
The drop-off marks a reversal for a sector that started the year hoping historically low interest rates and an end to parts shortages would fuel a rebound in sales. Instead, vehicles continued to be in short supply as car makers mostly waited for scarce computer chips. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a key supplier of auto parts, added to the supply-chain troubles.
A prolonged shortage of semiconductors created pent-up demand for new vehicles, which meant that cars and trucks went to waiting buyers almost as soon as they hit the dealer lot. The lack of availability left buyers paying top dollar for the rides they could secure, pushing the average price paid for a vehicle in December to a near record high of $46,382, according to J.D. Power.
The record high prices buoyed auto maker profits last year despite shrinking sales volume and insulated the industry from a broader decline in consumer spending.
Now, while some supply constraints are easing, auto executives are confronting other obstacles, such as rising interest rates and soaring materials costs. Inventory levels are bouncing back, putting pressure on car companies to resist the kinds of profit-damaging discounts that have been historically used to counter slowing demand.
Photos: The EV Rivals Aiming for Tesla’s Crown in China
Some analysts caution that it is still too early to tell if rising prices are pushing buyers away. Heavy snowfall in large parts of the northern U.S. weighed on December sales, making it hard to see the impact of higher prices, JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note to clients.
Still, there are early signs that demand might be slowing, even for the hottest car makers.
Tesla Inc.
reported Monday that it fell short of its growth projections last year, in part because of Covid-related shutdowns at its Shanghai factory and changes in the way it manufactures and distributes vehicles.
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Analysts have pointed to decreased wait times for Tesla vehicles as a sign of softening demand. Tesla offered a rare discount on some of its vehicles if buyers agreed to take delivery before the end of 2022.
Electric-vehicle sales accounted for 3% of the U.S. retail market in 2021 and nearly 6% in 2022, according to J.D. Power.
Executives have been investing billions of dollars on new models and factories, in the belief that sales will continue to expand rapidly over the next decade.
But rising prices for raw materials used in lithium-ion batteries pushed up EV prices throughout 2022, and some executives warned of a looming battery shortage.
General Motors cut its EV sales target for 2023 because of a slower-than-expected increase of battery production.
The semiconductor shortage, while easing for some other sectors, such as smartphones and personal computers, remains a challenge for autos, in part because car companies typically use inexpensive, commodity silicon for vehicles. Toyota, citing a lack of chips, cut its production outlook for the current fiscal year through March.
Falling used-car values are also discouraging to potential buyers, who have trade-ins and are looking to use them to offset the higher cost of a new vehicle.
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That bodes poorly for sales this year, as retailers worry that buyers who were unable to buy a car as a result of shortages will now be priced out of the market, according to a survey of dealers conducted by Cox Automotive.
The research site Edmunds expects new-car sales to hit 14.8 million in 2023, a marginal increase from last year but well below prepandemic levels. A combination of rising rates, inflation and economic turmoil could push vehicles out of reach for many buyers, Edmunds said.
WASHINGTON—The Senate Finance Committee has opened an inquiry into whether auto makers including
Tesla Inc.
and
General Motors Co.
are using parts and materials made with forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region.
In a letter sent Thursday, the committee asked the chief executives of eight car manufacturers to provide detailed information on their supply chains to help determine any links to Xinjiang, where the U.S. government has alleged the use of forced labor involving the Uyghur ethnic minority and others.
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The U.S. bans most imports from the region under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The letter to car companies cited a recent report from the U.K.’s Sheffield Hallam University that found evidence that global auto makers were using metals, batteries, wiring and wheels made in Xinjiang, or sourcing from companies that used Uyghur workers elsewhere in China.
According to that report, some car manufacturers “are unwittingly sourcing metals from the Uyghur region.” It said some of the greatest exposure comes from steel and aluminum parts as metals producers shift work to Xinjiang to take advantage of Chinese government subsidies and other incentives.
The U.S. ban on products linked to Xinjiang has already caused disruptions in the import of solar panels made there.
China has called Washington’s claim baseless. It disputes claims by human-rights groups that it mistreats Uyghurs by confining them in internment camps, with Beijing saying its efforts are aimed at fighting terrorism and providing vocational education.
Besides
Tesla
and GM, the letter signed by Finance Committee Chairman
Ron Wyden
(D., Ore.), was sent to
Ford Motor Co.
,
Mercedes-Benz Group AG
,
Honda Motor Co.
,
Toyota Motor Corp.
,
Volkswagen AG
and
Stellantis
NV, whose brands include Chrysler and Jeep.
GM said its policy prohibits any form of forced or involuntary labor, abusive treatment of employees or corrupt business practices in its supply chain.
“We actively monitor our global supply chain and conduct extensive due diligence, particularly where we identify or are made aware of potential violations of the law, our agreements, or our policies,“ the company said.
A Volkswagen spokesman said the company investigates any alleged violation of its policy, saying “serious violations such as forced labor could result in termination of the contract with the supplier.” A Stellantis spokesperson said the company is reviewing the letter and the claims made in the Sheffield Hallam study.
Other companies didn’t immediately provide comments.
“I recognize automobiles contain numerous parts sourced across the world and are subject to complex supply chains. However, this recognition cannot cause the United States to compromise its fundamental commitment to upholding human rights and U.S. law,” Mr. Wyden wrote.
The information requested includes supply-chain mapping and analysis of raw materials, mining, processing and parts manufacturing to determine links to Xinjiang, including manufacturing conducted in third countries such as Mexico and Canada.
General Motors says its policy prohibits forced or involuntary labor, abusive treatment of employees or corrupt business practices in its supply chain.
Photo:
mandel ngan/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The lawmakers are also asking the auto makers if they had ever terminated, or threatened to terminate, relations with suppliers over possible links to Xinjiang, and if so, provide details of the cases.
The committee’s action comes as the Biden administration and bipartisan lawmakers increase their focus on alleged forced-labor practices in China as a key component of their confrontation with Beijing over its economic policy. The United Auto Workers has called on the auto industry to “shift its entire supply chain out of the region.”
The State Department has said more than one million Uyghurs and other minorities are held in as many as 1,200 state-run internment camps in Xinjiang. Chinese authorities “use threats of physical violence” and other methods to force detainees to work in adjacent or off-site factories, according to the department.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection investigated 2,398 entries with a total value of $466 million during the fiscal year ended September, up from 1,469 entries in the previous year and 314 cases in fiscal 2000.
Analysts expect the CBP’s enforcement activity to further increase this year, with a strong bipartisan push for a tougher stance on the forced-labor issue.
The researchers at Sheffield Hallam University found that more than 96 mining, processing, or manufacturing companies relevant to the auto sector are operating in Xinjiang. The researchers used publicly available sources, including corporate annual reports, websites, government directives, state media and customs records.
plans to fold its biggest businesses into three divisions, undertaking one of the biggest reshuffles in the Wall Street firm’s history.
Goldman will combine its flagship investment-banking and trading businesses into one unit, while merging asset and wealth management into another, people familiar with the matter said. Marcus, Goldman’s consumer-banking arm, will be part of the asset- and wealth-management unit, the people said.
A third division will house transaction banking, the bank’s portfolio of financial-technology platforms, specialty lender GreenSky, and its ventures with
Apple Inc.
and
General Motors Co.
, the people said.
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The reorganization could be announced within days, the people said. Goldman is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings Tuesday.
It is unclear how the makeover will shake up Goldman’s senior leadership team, though at least a few executives will have new roles, the people said.
Marc Nachmann,
the firm’s co-head of trading, will slide over to help run the combined asset- and wealth-management arm, they said.
The reorganization is the latest step in Chief Executive
David Solomon’s
push to shift Goldman’s center of gravity toward businesses that generate steady fees in any environment. It also reflects the firm’s struggle to overcome skepticism, from investors and even among some of its own executives, over its ambitions for consumer banking.
The firm’s trading and investment-banking acumen has been Goldman’s calling card for decades, churning out massive profits when the markets favored risk-takers and bold deals. But investors often discounted those successes, reasoning that they are harder to sustain when market conditions turn. And in recent years, Goldman has sought to sharpen its trading arm’s focus on client service.
Following the changes, Goldman’s organizational chart will look more like its peers.
A slide presentation from Goldman’s 2020 investor day offered a glimpse of what a combined banking-and-trading business would look relative to peers. At Goldman, the merged group would have delivered a return on equity of 9.2% in 2019, besting
Morgan Stanley
and
Bank of America Corp.
but below what
JPMorgan Chase
& Co. and
Citigroup Inc.
earned that year.
Bloomberg News earlier reported that Goldman had planned to restructure its consumer-banking arm and was considering combining its asset- and wealth-management businesses.
Goldman’s shares have struggled to keep pace with its rivals, at least by one measure. The firm traded at 0.9 times book value as of June, according to FactSet. That compared with 1.4 times at Morgan Stanley and 1.3 times at JPMorgan.
Goldman has sought to narrow the gap by beefing up the businesses that command higher valuations on Wall Street. Managing wealthy people’s money and overseeing funds for pensions and other deep-pocketed institutions is more profitable than other financial services, and it usually doesn’t put the firm’s balance sheet at risk. And many investors view traditional consumer banking—taking deposits and making loans—as more predictable.
Goldman has invested heavily in building its own consumer bank, and folding the unit into its asset- and wealth-management arm should create more opportunities to offer banking services to wealthy individuals.
Earlier this year, the bank said it aimed to bring in $10 billion in asset and wealth-management fees by 2024.
Auto executives for months have expressed confidence there will be eager buyers for all the vehicles they can build. A worsening economic picture is putting that theory to the test.
The U.S. auto industry is expected to report flat new-car sales for the third-quarter, despite earlier predictions that this year’s depressed selling pace would accelerate in the second half, analysts predict. Most auto makers are scheduled to report third-quarter sales results Monday.
Tight supplies continue to be the big problem, car executives and dealers say, as a shortage of computer chips and other supply-chain snags continue to dog vehicle output and curb sales.
Still, there are signs the backlog of demand built up over the last 18 months could deteriorate as consumers feel the pinch of higher interest rates, analysts say.
“It seems likely that much of the pent-up demand from limited supply is quickly disappearing as high interest rates eat away at vehicle buyers’ willingness and ability to purchase,” said
Charlie Chesbrough,
senior economist with research firm Cox Automotive.
Car companies and dealers say that most new vehicles that get shipped from the factory are quickly snapped up by buyers.
Photo:
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
The firm last week lowered its 2022 U.S. sales forecast, to 13.7 million new vehicles, which would be down 9% from last year. In the five years leading up to the pandemic-plagued year of 2020, the industry sold more than 17 million vehicles annually.
So far, though, car companies and dealers say that most new vehicles that get shipped from the factory are quickly snapped up by buyers.
“There is still really strong consumer demand, and huge replacement demand,” said
Duncan Aldred,
head of
General Motors Co.
GM -3.52%
’s Buick and GMC brands, during an interview at the Detroit auto show last month. “I think that will probably overcome a lot of the economic headwinds.”
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Auto makers and dealers continue to pull in strong profits, as the tight supplies keep prices at or near record highs. The average price paid by U.S. car buyers in the third quarter hit $45,971, up 10% from a year earlier and the most for any quarter on record, according to research firm J.D. Power.
But there are signs that rising interest rates are starting to strain car buyers, which could pressure pricing. The average interest rate paid on a new vehicle purchase hit 5.7% in September, up from around 4% a year earlier, J.D. Power said.
This past week,
CarMax Inc.
KMX 1.32%
shares sank after the used-car retailer flagged that high prices, paired with high broader inflation and rising interest rates, have slowed demand. The company’s profit fell 50% in its most recent quarter and its sales leveled off at 2% growth, both worse than analysts expected.
“This points to some deterioration in per unit pricing and profitability in the coming quarters, as rising interest rates and economic conditions affect demand,” said
Thomas King,
president of the data and analytics division at J.D. Power.
joined forces with labor leaders to oust Chief Executive Officer
Herbert Diess,
who was in the midst of a push to turn the German auto company into a top maker of electric vehicles.
Mr. Diess will be succeeded by
Oliver Blume,
CEO of VW’s sports-car maker Porsche AG and long an ally of the Porsche-Piëch family that controls a majority of VW voting rights. Mr. Blume will retain his job running Porsche, which is slated for an initial public offering this autumn.
The departing chief executive had repeatedly clashed with unions, which hold half the seats on the German equivalent of the company’s board of directors. Until now he had retained the support of the family, heirs to the VW Beetle inventor, Ferdinand Porsche.
Mr. Diess was informed around midday Thursday that the company’s core shareholders and labor representatives had decided to fire him. The broader supervisory board learned of the decision at a meeting at around 4:30 p.m. Friday local time, according to a person familiar with the proceeding.
The sudden ouster comes after renewed internal strife over the slow progress developing core software for the company’s new generation of electric vehicles. The delays have caused the launches of some models to be pushed back, raising doubts among the Porsche-Piëch family about Mr. Diess’s ability to deliver on his promises, people familiar with the situation said.
Herbert Diess is leaving VW as it struggles in developing core software for its new generation of electric vehicles.
Photo:
Ralph Orlowski/Reuters
VW’s leadership crisis has plunged the company’s electric-vehicle strategy into uncertainty and has raised questions about the company’s governance, which is dominated by a triumvirate of family shareholders, the German state of Lower Saxony and the country’s biggest trade union.
“The hope of the supervisory board must be for new group CEO Blume to have more success in guiding the software strategy of the group,” Daniel Roeska, analyst at Bernstein Research, said in a note to clients. “However, it will take months to come up with a new plan, and creating unrest as the group is heading into a challenging 2023 is the wrong time, in our view.”
Mr. Diess couldn’t be reached to comment. Mr. Diess has said that before joining VW, he had turned down a job offer from
Elon Musk,
which has fueled speculation that he could join
Tesla Inc.
if he left VW.
Auto-industry CEOs around the world are wrestling with how best to transition to new technologies—much of which isn’t core to their companies’ expertise and requires different thinking, cost structures and skill sets.
Car executives are under pressure to get ahead of new rivals, many of them in Silicon Valley, which have deeper pockets and are unencumbered by a capital-intensive legacy business focused on making gasoline-powered vehicles.
In Detroit, the leadership at
General Motors Co.
and
Ford Motor Co.
have outlined bold moves in recent years to transform their operations, including the creation of new supply chains for batteries and the hiring of new kinds of talent. Ford this year took the unusual step of splitting its gas-engine and EV operations into two separate divisions, a move that executives have said will help it be more agile in its shift to new technologies.
Meanwhile, investors are aggressively betting on the EV space, trying to figure out who will be the next Tesla.
With gas prices on a wild ride, many consumers are exploring whether buying an electric vehicle could save them money in the long run. WSJ’s George Downs breaks down four factors to consider when buying a new car. Photo composite: George Downs
Mr. Diess has defined the industry’s challenge as shifting from banging metal into cars to developing the skills, resources and vision to create software-defined cars, vehicles that in many ways have more in common with an iPhone than a conventional car. His attempt to catch up with Tesla was hampered by difficulties turning VW into a developer of software, which is the heart of modern electric vehicles and future self-driving cars.
In recent weeks, people familiar with the company said it had rebooted its plan to develop a unified operating system for its cars after trouble delivering the code led VW’s Audi and Porsche brands to postpone the launch of new premium electric models.
It couldn’t be determined whether Mr. Blume would continue to pursue Mr. Diess’s strategy of keeping core software development in-house or whether he would turn to
Alphabet Inc.’s
Google or
Apple Inc.
as some rivals have.
In March, Mr. Blume said he and his management team met senior Apple executives for a meeting at which they discussed a range of potential projects. Mr. Blume disclosed no further details, and it couldn’t be determined what was discussed.
Ferdinand Dudenhöffer,
director of Center for Automotive Research in Duisburg, Germany, said it was to be expected that Mr. Blume would present a new software strategy for the company.
“This big issue of the software-defined car is a huge challenge for conventional auto makers,” Mr. Dudenhöffer said. “Either auto makers will become tech companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft, or they will become dependent on the tech giants.”
Mr. Diess survived several challenges to his position. In December, following a clash with labor representatives, directors stripped him of some of his responsibilities and reshuffled his management team. But this week’s move to push him out came suddenly and wasn’t linked to any single incident, people familiar with the decision said.
At the supervisory-board meeting on Friday afternoon,
Hans Dieter Pötsch,
chairman of the supervisory board and a key ally of the Porsche heirs, presented a deal reached previously with top officials of the IG Metall trade union in a smaller meeting.
The families and union leaders agreed to remove Mr. Diess in the belief that Mr. Blume, 54 years old, who became CEO of Porsche in 2015, would lead with more consensus among management and VW stakeholders, people familiar with the decision said. Mr. Blume, an engineer by training, has long been a favorite of the Porsche-Piëch families and union leaders as a successor to Mr. Diess. But Mr. Blume has repeatedly said he was happy at Porsche.
Once the controlling families decided Mr. Diess had to go, they approached Mr. Blume, people familiar with the family said, and urged him to take the job. Mr. Blume agreed, they said.
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“Blume is seen as someone with a more congenial personality and management style,” one of the people said. “He speaks to his colleagues on the executive board differently and has had success at Porsche.”
According to the people with knowledge of the decision, the Porsche-Piëch family concluded that Mr. Diess’s personality led to repeated conflict within the company and that he didn’t appear to have the software problems under control. While not the only issue that weighed on the family’s mind, the software troubles began to affect new models and eroded the confidence that Mr. Diess could get the issues under control.
Hours before his ousting, Mr. Diess, who will step down on Sept. 1, posted a holiday message to workers ahead of the summer breaks.
“After a really stressful first half of 2022 many of us are looking forward to a well-deserved summer break,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “Enjoy the break—we are in good shape for the second half.”
Mr. Diess joined VW in 2015 from
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
, initially as chief of the VW brand. In that role, he began to lay the groundwork for VW’s electric-vehicle strategy, a plan that has seen VW’s brands, including Porsche, Audi, Seat, Škoda, Lamborghini and Bentley, develop core electric models with a plan to shift fully to EVs this decade.
Under Mr. Diess’s leadership, VW embarked on a plan to build battery cell manufacturing companies around the world to power its new generation of EVs. It recently announced that it would create a new company in the U.S. under the Scout brand to build rugged, off-road electric trucks and SUVs. The move is part of a focus to rebalance the company’s heavy reliance on the Chinese market, where it makes 40% of sales.
While union leaders have acknowledged Mr. Diess’s strategic vision and his achievement in transforming VW’s culture for the EV age, they have questioned his ability to execute, as highlighted by the software problems.
Daniela Cavallo,
the head of VW’s works council, has said Mr. Diess had failed to involve employees in key decisions. She criticized him on his warning to the supervisory board last year that 30,000 jobs at its flagship plant were at stake if VW failed to accelerate its EV shift.
In a statement, Ms. Cavallo said the VW group “wants to emerge strengthened from the historical change in the world of mobility in a leading position. However, it is also our aim that, despite the great challenges, job security and profitability remain equal corporate goals in the coming years.”
Mr. Blume joined Volkswagen in 1994 and has held management positions for the brands Audi, Seat, Volkswagen and Porsche.
“Oliver Blume has proven his operational and strategic skills in various positions within the group and in several brands and has managed Porsche AG from a financial, technological and cultural standpoint with great success for seven years running,” Mr. Pötsch said. VW said Mr. Blume would continue as chief executive of Porsche after a possible IPO.
—Christina Rogers contributed to this article.
Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com and Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com
THE HAGUE, July 22 (Reuters) – The World Court on Friday rejected Myanmar’s objections to a genocide case over its treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority, paving the way for the case to be heard in full.
Myanmar, now ruled by a military junta that seized power in 2021, had argued that Gambia, which brought the suit, had no standing to do so at the top U.N. court, formally known as the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
But presiding Judge Joan Donoghue said all states that had signed the 1948 Genocide Convention could and must act to prevent genocide, and the court had jurisdiction in the case.
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“Gambia, as a state party to the genocide convention, has standing,” she said, reading a summary of the 13-judge panel’s ruling.
The court will now proceed to hearing the merits of the case, a process that will take years.
Gambia took up the Rohingya’s cause in 2019, backed by the 57-nation Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, in a suit aiming to hold Myanmar accountable and prevent further bloodshed.
Gambia Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said outside the courtroom he was “very happy” with the decision and was confident the suit would prevail.
Gambia became involved after his predecessor, Abubacarr Tambadou, a former prosecutor at the U.N. Rwanda tribunal, visited a refugee camp in Bangladesh and said that the stories he heard evoked memories of the genocide in Rwanda.
A representative for Myanmar said that the state would do its “utmost” to protect the country’s “national interest” in further proceedings.
An exhausted Rohingya refugee woman touches the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh, September 11, 2017. Picture taken September 11, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo
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Protesters outside the court’s gates hoisted a red banner with the text “Free Burma” and yelled at cars carrying the junta’s representatives leaving the building after the decision.
A U.N. fact-finding mission concluded that a 2017 military campaign by Myanmar that drove 730,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh had included “genocidal acts”.
Myanmar has denied genocide, rejecting the U.N. findings as “biased and flawed”. It says its crackdown was aimed at Rohingya rebels who had carried out attacks.
While the Hague court’s decisions are binding and countries generally follow them, it has no way of enforcing them.
In a 2020 provisional decision it ordered Myanmar to protect the Rohingya from harm, a legal victory that established their right under international law as a protected minority.
However Rohingya groups and rights activists say there has been no meaningful attempt to end their systemic persecution.
Rohingya are still denied citizenship and freedom of movement in Myanmar. Tens of thousands have now been confined to squalid displacement camps for a decade.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry welcomed the judgment in a statement.
“For the victims living in the camps in Bangladesh as well as in Myanmar, they see the hope that justice will be delivered to them and that the perpetrators in the Myanmar military will be brought to accountability,” said Ambia Parveen of the European Rohingya Council outside the court.
The junta has imprisoned democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who defended Myanmar personally in 2019 hearings in The Hague.
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Reporting by Toby Sterling, and Poppy McPherson in Bangkok; Editing by Peter Graff and Alison Williams
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
“From the Slovakian national team …” Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said as he announced the No. 1 pick in the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bell Centre on Thursday.
Immediately, there came a loud mix of gasps and cheers. The home fans knew that meant the Canadiens were selecting forward Juraj Slafkovsky, not center Shane Wright, the player most expected.
Slafkovsky knew it too.
“I didn’t even hear my name,” he said. “I heard ‘Slovakian.'”
He saw his face on the big screen and got goose bumps. Soon afterward, he walked out underneath the Canadiens’ Stanley Cup banners and retired numbers to pull on the bleu, blanc et rouge — to take the torch from failing hands, suddenly now his to hold it high.
Asked if he was surprised, he said: “Shane was projected No. 1 [for years], so yeah, of course. I’m really happy for that.”
[RELATED: Complete coverage of 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft]
That moment alone would have made this draft one to remember for Montreal. Hughes, less than seven months after he was hired Jan. 19, had another surprise in store, though.
The Canadiens traded defenseman Alexander Romanov and the No. 98 pick to the New York Islanders for the No. 13 pick, then flipped the No. 13 pick and No. 66 pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for center Kirby Dach, who was the No. 3 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
Montreal also selected forward Filip Mesar, another Slovak and a friend of Slafkovsky’s, at No. 26.
Wright, ranked the No. 1 North American skater by NHL Central Scouting, seemed to be the popular pick entering the draft. Some booed Slafkovsky as he walked the red carpet Thursday. At least one wore a “Wright No. 51” Canadiens jersey in the arena. At least three wore T-shirts that said, “WRIGHT CHOICE,” with the “C” made of the Canadiens logo.
The Canadiens didn’t make the Wright choice, but maybe they made the right one.
“I just hope that [the fans] will like me also one day, and I will do everything [to show] that I’m good player and that I actually make some history with Montreal,” Slafkovsky said.
Slafkovsky, ranked the No. 1 European skater by NHL Central Scouting, is a 6-foot-4, 229-pound power forward. He was the most valuable player of the 2022 Beijing Olympics even though he was the youngest in the tournament at 17 at the time, scoring seven goals in seven games to help Slovakia win bronze.
Video: Montreal Canadiens select LW Juraj Slafkovsky No. 1
The 18-year-old impressed Hughes at the 2022 NHL Scouting Combine when Hughes asked him about leaving home at 15 to play in Finland.
“I asked him if he lived in a dorm,” Hughes said. “He said ‘no.’ And I said, ‘So one of your parents moved with you?’ He said ‘no.’ Then I said, ‘How’d you cook?’ And he said, ‘With a stove.’
“He’s very independent. He’s confident without being arrogant, and we think this is a kid not only that has the mindset that we’re looking for, but we also evaluate where he is in his game, what he has in terms of natural abilities and where he could be if we help him along in that process.”
Hughes said the Canadiens were leaning toward taking Slafkovsky on Wednesday morning but wanted to meet him once more. When they met with him Thursday morning, owner Geoff Molson joined Hughes, executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and others. Slafkovksy didn’t read too much into it.
“I didn’t know if Shane had meeting with owner also, so I was like, ‘Maybe he had [a meeting with Molson] also, and it means nothing,'” Slafkovsky said with a laugh. “Yeah, but actually, it meant something.”
Video: Slafkovsky on being selected No. 1 at 2022 NHL Draft
Hughes said the Canadiens didn’t want to give up Romanov, a 22-year-old who averaged 20:24 in 79 games for them last season. But they wanted to get bigger and faster in the middle of the ice, and they added another 6-foot-4 player with potential.
Dach put up 59 points (19 goals, 40 assists) in 152 games for the Blackhawks over three seasons, but he’s still 21. He can grow with the Canadiens core.
“We’re going to invest money in developing hockey players and trying to get the most out of their potential, and we believe Kirby has significant potential,” Hughes said. “And we’re hopeful that with the Montreal Canadiens in this environment, we can bring him along and get him to a point where he’s a pretty special centerman.”
The expectations will be high, the pressure intense. But if they reach their potential, they will be beloved in Montreal.
The fans already began embracing Slafkovsky about 90 minutes after his selection, when he walked up from the draft floor through the stands, then sat down for a TV interview in full view of the crowd. People rose to their feet and gave him a standing ovation, slapping his back, snapping pictures. Finally, they serenaded him.
“Ole! Ole-ole-ole! Ole! Ole!”
Slafkovsky seemed determined to live up to it.
“First overall is something, and you have to prove it,” he said. “So, yeah, I will just think of getting better every second I’m living on this earth.”
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U.S. auto-safety regulators have escalated their investigation into emergency-scene crashes involving
Tesla Inc.’s
TSLA 1.26%
Autopilot, a critical step for determining whether to order a safety recall.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a notice published Thursday that it was expanding a probe begun last August into a series of crashes in which Tesla vehicles using Autopilot struck first-responder vehicles stopped for roadway emergencies.
The agency said it was upgrading its earlier investigation to an engineering analysis after identifying new crashes involving Autopilot and emergency-response vehicles.
NHTSA also said it has expanded its examination of Autopilot to include a wider range of crashes, not only those at emergency scenes. The agency said it would further assess how drivers interact with Autopilot and the degree to which it might reduce motorists’ attentiveness.
Forensic data available for 11 of the crashes showed that drivers failed to take evasive action in the two to five seconds before the collision, the agency said.
The investigation covers an estimated 830,000 Tesla vehicles made from 2014 to 2021, including the Model 3, Model S, Model X and Model Y.
NHTSA said in its filing that it has identified 15 injuries and one fatality related to the crashes.
Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The electric-car maker’s stock was up 2.5% in midday trading Thursday, following news of a strong bounceback in production at its plant in China.
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Autopilot, Tesla’s name for the advanced driver-assistance technology used in its vehicles, is designed to help drivers with tasks such as steering and keeping a safe distance from other vehicles. Tesla instructs drivers using the system to pay attention to the road and keep their hands on the wheel.
The electric-car maker has long maintained that driving with Autopilot engaged is safer than doing so without it. Tesla points to internal data showing that crashes were less common when drivers were using Autopilot. Some researchers have criticized Tesla’s methodology.
In opening its initial probe last year, NHTSA said that it had identified 11 crashes since early 2018 in which a Tesla vehicle using Autopilot struck one or more vehicles involved in an emergency-response situation. In its latest filing, the agency said it discovered six additional crashes involving Teslas and first-responder vehicles where Autopilot was in use.
U.S. safety regulators are probing crashes involving Teslas, suspecting the company’s Autopilot system might be involved. WSJ’s Robert Wall reports on how some motorists may mistakenly think Autopilot is a self-driving feature that doesn’t require their attention. (Video from 3/18/21)
The expanded probe of Autopilot is the latest sign that U.S. auto-safety regulators are getting more aggressive in scrutinizing advanced vehicle technologies that automate some or all of the driving tasks.
NHTSA is getting ready to release new crash data this month that will give the public its first detailed look at the frequency and severity of incidents involving what are known as automated driving or advanced driver-assistance features, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
More than 100 companies are subject to an agency order requiring them to report crashes in which such systems were in use. Among those included are operators of autonomous-car fleets, like
Alphabet Inc.’s
Waymo and
General Motors Co.
’s Cruise LLC.
The technology under scrutiny includes lane-keeping assistance and cruise-control systems that keep a fixed distance behind a leading car, as well as higher-tech systems such as features that can guide a car along highways with minimal driver input.
Autopilot has become a particular focus for U.S. regulators in recent years, prompted by incidents in which drivers have misused the technology, overriding safety functions to operate a vehicle without their hands on the wheel, for example. Some critics also said the term Autopilot risks giving drivers an inflated sense of the system’s capabilities.
NHTSA said in its latest filing that driver use or misuse of Autopilot doesn’t necessarily preclude the agency from determining whether the technology is defective.
“This is particularly the case if the driver behavior in question is foreseeable in light of the system’s design or operation,” NHTSA said. Auto makers are legally required to initiate a recall if a safety defect is discovered in their vehicles.
Separately, NHTSA has opened a broader investigation into several dozen crashes where advanced driver-assistance features are suspected to have played a role. While the probe covers vehicles made by any car company, incidents involving Teslas represent most of the cases under examination, including several with fatalities.