NASA’s Parker Solar Probe makes history with closest pass to the Sun

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

 

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An artist's concept showing Parker Solar Probe.

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Credit: NASA/APL

Operations teams have confirmed NASA’s mission to “touch” the Sun survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024.

Breaking its previous record by flying just 3.8 million miles above the surface of the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe hurtled through the solar atmosphere at a blazing 430,000 miles per hour — faster than any human-made object has ever moved. A beacon tone received late on Dec. 26 confirmed the spacecraft had made it through the encounter safely and is operating normally.

This pass, the first of more to come at this distance, allows the spacecraft to conduct unrivaled scientific measurements with the potential to change our understanding of the Sun.

"Flying this close to the Sun is a historic moment in humanity’s first mission to a star,” said Nicky Fox, who leads the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “By studying the Sun up close, we can better understand its impacts throughout our solar system, including on the technology we use daily on Earth and in space, as well as learn about the workings of stars across the universe to aid in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet.”

Parker Solar Probe has spent the last six years setting up for this moment. Launched in 2018, the spacecraft used seven flybys of Venus to gravitationally direct it ever closer to the Sun. With its last Venus flyby on Nov. 6, 2024, the spacecraft reached its optimal orbit. This oval-shaped orbit brings the spacecraft an ideal distance from the Sun every three months — close enough to study our Sun’s mysterious processes but not too close to become overwhelmed by the Sun’s heat and damaging radiation. The spacecraft will remain in this orbit for the remainder of its primary mission.

“Parker Solar Probe is braving one of the most extreme environments in space and exceeding all expectations,” said Nour Rawafi, the project scientist for Parker Solar Probe at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), which designed, built, and operates the spacecraft from its campus in Laurel, Maryland. “This mission is ushering a new golden era of space exploration, bringing us closer than ever to unlocking the Sun’s deepest and most enduring mysteries.”

Close to the Sun, the spacecraft relies on a carbon foam shield to protect it from the extreme heat in the upper solar atmosphere called the corona, which can exceed 1 million degrees Fahrenheit. The shield was designed to reach temperatures of 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit — hot enough to melt steel — while keeping the instruments behind it shaded at a comfortable room temperature. In the hot but low-density corona, the spacecraft’s shield is expected to warm to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It’s monumental to be able to get a spacecraft this close to the Sun,” said John Wirzburger, the Parker Solar Probe mission systems engineer at APL. “This is a challenge the space science community has wanted to tackle since 1958 and had spent decades advancing the technology to make it possible.”

By flying through the solar corona, Parker Solar Probe can take measurements that help scientists better understand how the region gets so hot, trace the origin of the solar wind (a constant flow of material escaping the Sun), and discover how energetic particles are accelerated to half the speed of light.

“The data is so important for the science community because it gives us another vantage point,” said Kelly Korreck, a program scientist at NASA Headquarters and heliophysicist who worked on one of the mission’s instruments. “By getting firsthand accounts of what’s happening in the solar atmosphere, Parker Solar Probe has revolutionized our understanding of the Sun.”

Previous passes have already aided scientists’ understanding of the Sun. When the spacecraft first passed into the solar atmosphere in 2021, it found the outer boundary of the corona is wrinkled with spikes and valleys, contrary to what was expected. Parker Solar Probe also pinpointed the origin of important zig-zag-shaped structures in the solar wind, called switchbacks, at the visible surface of the Sun — the photosphere.

Since that initial pass into the Sun, the spacecraft has been spending more time in the corona, where most of the critical physical processes occur.

“We now understand the solar wind and its acceleration away from the Sun,” said Adam Szabo, the Parker Solar Probe mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This close approach will give us more data to understand how it’s accelerated closer in.”

Parker Solar Probe has also made discoveries across the inner solar system. Observations showed how giant solar explosions called coronal mass ejections vacuum up dust as they sweep across the solar system, and other observations revealed unexpected findings about solar energetic particles. Flybys of Venus have documented the planet’s natural radio emissions from its atmosphere, as well as the first complete image of its orbital dust ring.

So far, the spacecraft has only transmitted that it’s safe, but soon it will be in a location that will allow it to downlink the data it collected on this latest solar pass.

“The data that will come down from the spacecraft will be fresh information about a place that we, as humanity, have never been,” said Joe Westlake, the director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “It’s an amazing accomplishment.”

The spacecraft’s next planned close solar passes come on March 22, 2025, and June 19, 2025.

By Mara Johnson-Groh
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

TIT FOR TAT

China sanctions US firms over Taiwan military support


By AFP

December 27, 2024


Raytheon's Canadian and Australian subsidaries have been sanctioned in China - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File MARIO TAMA

China on Friday slapped sanctions on seven US companies after Washington’s approval last week of a $571.3 million military aid package to Taiwan, which Beijing said infringed on its “sovereignty and territory”.

Last Friday, US President Joe Biden authorised the drawdown of up to $571.3 million for defence assistance to the self-ruled island, which China regards as its own territory.

Washington’s actions “interfere in China’s internal affairs, and undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, the Chinese foreign ministry said as it announced the sanctions.

The statement also hit out at Washington’s 2025 defence budget, which includes a security cooperation initiative with Taiwan, as well as calls for strengthened defence industrial cooperation with Taipei.

Beijing will freeze the China assets of US defence companies Insitu, Hudson Technologies, Saronic Technologies, Aerkomm and Oceaneering International, as well as Raytheon’s Canada and Australia subsidiaries, the ministry said.

The sanctions, which kick in on Friday, also prohibit the targeted companies from doing business with organisations and individuals inside China.

The United States does not officially recognise Taiwan diplomatically but it is the self-ruled island’s strategic ally and largest supplier of weapons.

China, which has said it will use force to bring Taiwan under its control if necessary, has intensified pressure on the island in recent years.

It has staged three rounds of major military drills since Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te came to power in May.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning warned the United States’ support for Taiwan “will only burn itself”.

“China will continue to take all necessary measures to firmly defend its sovereignty, security and development interests,” Mao said at a press conference.

Friday’s announcement follows previous sanctions declared earlier this month against 13 US firms for selling arms to Taiwan.

DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS

Ex-Olympus CEO found guilty over illegal drugs in Japan


By AFP
December 27, 2024

Olympus Image by Focus35mm CC-BY-SA-4.0

A former CEO of Japanese optical equipment firm Olympus was found guilty on Friday of a drug charge, with a Tokyo court handing down a suspended jail sentence.

German-born Stefan Kaufmann, who became chief executive officer in April 2023, was sentenced to “10 months in prison, suspended for three years”, a Tokyo District Court spokeswoman told AFP.

Kaufmann bought drugs such as cocaine and MDMA on three occasions in Tokyo between June and November 2023, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported, citing the ruling.

Kaufmann resigned in October after the drug allegations emerged.

He first joined the European arm of the Japanese firm in 2003 and became the company’s second non-Japanese president.

Olympus had been in the camera business since 1936, but struggled along with industry rivals after the advent of smartphones.

The company said in 2020 it was selling its struggling camera division to focus on medical equipment such as endoscopes.

Japan has strict drug laws and possession can result in jail time.

In 2017, a German executive working at Volkswagen’s Tokyo office was arrested on suspicion of drug use.

An American Toyota executive was arrested in 2015 on charges that she had a controlled drug — the painkiller oxycodone — mailed to her Tokyo residence.

She was released after several weeks in custody.

Carbon footprint: Putting a ‘steak’ into the heart of the UK’s favourite meals


By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL
December 27, 2024


Steak, fries, and a cocktail. Image (C) Tim Sandle.

With 55 percent of vegans citing climate concerns as the main reason for adopting a plant-based diet, the environmental impact of food choices is an important consideration for many. Meal production and cooking alone can contribute up to 30 percent of a household’s carbon footprint.

Which common British dishes are the biggest environmental offenders?

With a 170 percent spike in searches for “how to reduce your carbon footprint” over the past months, interest in greener habits has surged, according to the firm Confused.com Energy. The company has uncovered which dishes leave the largest environmental mark by analysing their ingredients’ emissions, appliances used in the recipe, as well as the cooking time.

In sourcing the data, recipes and cooking times of each meal were collected through BBC Good Food, the serving size and ingredients were taken from the original recipe and inputted into a free food carbon footprint calculator, My Emissions. The values of the carbon footprint results are based on estimates of the emissions used from farm to store, including packaging and transport. This does not measure the emissions during storing, cooking or disposal of food.

Steak, fries, and a cocktail. Image (C) Tim Sandle.

With 55 percent of vegans citing climate concerns as the main reason for adopting a plant-based diet, the environmental impact of food choices is an important consideration for many. Meal production and cooking alone can contribute up to 30 percent of a household’s carbon footprint.

Which common British dishes are the biggest environmental offenders?

With a 170 percent spike in searches for “how to reduce your carbon footprint” over the past months, interest in greener habits has surged, according to the firm Confused.com Energy. The company has uncovered which dishes leave the largest environmental mark by analysing their ingredients’ emissions, appliances used in the recipe, as well as the cooking time.

In sourcing the data, recipes and cooking times of each meal were collected through BBC Good Food, the serving size and ingredients were taken from the original recipe and inputted into a free food carbon footprint calculator, My Emissions. The values of the carbon footprint results are based on estimates of the emissions used from farm to store, including packaging and transport. This does not measure the emissions during storing, cooking or disposal of food.

Top 10 British meals with high carbon emissions:

Rank	Popular Meals	Energy kWh	Carbon Rating	Carbon Footprint of recipe (gCO2e per serving)	kWh converted to CO2	Total Carbon footprint (gCO2)
1	Steak & Chips	0.9	E	10,131	142	10,273
2	Fettuccine Alfredo	0.3	C	8,421	41	8,462
3	Lasagna	3.3	E	5,769	540	6,309
4	Chilli Con Carne	1.5	E	5,925	243	6,168
5	Burritos	0.8	E	5,924	122	6,046
6	Spaghetti & Meatballs	0.8	E	4,936	122	5,058
7	Scampi & Chips	1.3	E	2,162	213	2,375
8	Toad in the Hole	1.5	D	1,914	243	2,157
9	Bangers & Mash	1.5	C	1,598	236	1,834
10	Vegetable Lasagna	2.5	B	1,390	405	1,795

From the above table and the full dataset, a meal of steak and chips has the highest carbon emissions during the cooking process, with a carbon footprint of 10,273g carbon dioxide per serving. The majority of emissions come from the recipe’s ingredients, as it releases only 142gCO2 during the cooking process.

In second, fettuccine alfredo releases 8,462 grams of carbon dioxide – the same as driving 60.5 kilometres. This dish is in the top 10 for lowest energy usage, at 0.3kWh, taking just 10 minutes in total to cook.

Lasagna is a popular meal despite it needing the most energy of all the meals (3.3kWh) to cook. The Italian dish has a carbon footprint of 6,309g carbon dioxide.

Chilli con carne emits an average carbon footprint of 6,168g carbon dioxide. With a total cooking time of an hour, it uses a total of 1.5kWh of energy costing a total of 9.2 pence per serving.

Another Mexican delicacy, the burrito has an average carbon footprint of 6,046g carbon dioxide which spans to 43.2 kilometres of driving.

Top 5 most energy-efficient meals of Britain:

Rank	Popular Meals	Energy kWh	Carbon Rating	Carbon Footprint of recipe (gCO2e per serving)	kWh converted to CO2	Total Carbon footprint (gCO2)
1	Chicken Casserole	0.625	B	431	101	532
2	Pasta Fagioli	0.875	A	399	142	541
3	Penne all’Arrabbiata	0.3	B	495	49	544
4	Tomato Soup	1.125	A	386	182	568
5	Beans on Toast	0.3917	B	591	64	655

In contrast, there are some dishes with a lower carbon footprint. The meat-base fare may not match the success of vegan and vegetarian fare, but they are substantially lower than others. Chicken casserole ranks as the most energy-efficient of the more popular meals, causing just 532 grams of carbon emissions and using only 0.625kWh of energy.

Pasta fagioli falls second with a carbon footprint of 541g carbon dioxide, three less than penne all’arrabbiata at 544g carbon dioxide.

Membership of UK’s anti-immigration Reform party surpasses Conservatives


By AFP
December 26, 2024


Reform UK leader Nigel Farage hailed a 'historic moment' in British politics - Copyright AL-MASIRAH TV/AFP -

Membership of Britain’s upstart anti-immigration Reform UK party has overtaken that of the centre-right Conservative Party for the first time, the party said Thursday, as Tories disputed the numbers.

Party leader and Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage hailed the figure as a “historic moment”.

Immigration was a major issue at the ballot box at the UK’s July general election which saw the Conservatives ousted after 14 years in power.

The digital counter on the Reform website showed a membership tally ticking past the 131,680 figure declared by the main opposition Conservatives during its leadership election earlier this year.

“The youngest political party in British politics has just overtaken the oldest political party in the world,” wrote Farage on X.

“Reform UK are now the real opposition.”

Party chairman Zia Yusuf said the milestone showed the long “stranglehold on the centre-right of British politics by the Tories has finally been broken”.

The last declared Conservative Party tally was the lowest on record and a drop on 2022, when there were around 172,000 members.

New Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, however, questioned the figures, accusing Farage of “fakery”.

She said Reform’s counter was “coded to tick up automatically”.

Farage responded by saying he would “gladly invite” a firm to “audit our membership numbers” if the Tories did the same.

– Splitting the right –

Reform won five seats in the 650-seat UK parliament in July, though it received roughly 14 percent of total votes cast.

Reform maximised the damage to the Conservatives by splitting the right-wing vote and picking up former Tory supporters in key constituencies.

The Labour Party won by a landslide although Prime Minister Keir Starmer has had a bumpy first five months in power.

An Ipsos opinion poll this month found that 53 percent of Britons said they were “disappointed” in what the Labour government had achieved so far.

British politics has been dominated by the two main parties — Labour and the Conservatives — for decades but commentators have warned that major parties have seen irreversible downturns in their popularity in the past.

In the years after World War I, a divided Liberal Party found itself supplanted by the Labour Party as the main opposition.

The party of 19th-century political giant William Gladstone and World War I leader David Lloyd George never again regained its status as a party of government.

Farage, a supporter of US President-elect Donald Trump, said earlier this month that he was in talks with tech billionaire Elon Musk about donating to his hard-right party.

RIP

Manmohan Singh: technocrat who became India’s accidental PM

By AFP
December 26, 2024


Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, who has died at the age of 92, oversaw far-reaching economic reforms - Copyright AFP/File -

Manmohan Singh’s father may have believed his bookworm son would one day lead India, but the understated technocrat with the trademark blue turban, who died Thursday at the age of 92, never dreamed it would actually happen.

Singh was pitchforked into leading the world’s largest democracy in 2004 by the shock decision of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to turn down the role after leading the party to an upset win over the ruling Hindu nationalists.

He oversaw an economic boom in Asia’s fourth-largest economy in his first term, although slowing growth in later years marred his second stint.

Known as “Mr Clean”, Singh nonetheless saw his image tarnished during his decade-long tenure when a series of corruption cases became public.

As finance minister in the early 1990s, he was hailed at home and abroad for initiating big-bang reforms that opened India’s inward-looking economy to the world.

Known as a loyalist to the Gandhi political dynasty, Singh studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty in the vast nation and never held elected office before becoming PM.

But he deftly managed the rough and tumble of Indian politics — even though many said Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, was the power behind the throne.



– Streetlight studying –



Born in 1932 in the mud-house village of Gah in what is now Pakistan, Singh moved to the holy Sikh city of Amritsar as a teenager around the time the subcontinent was split at the end of British rule into mainly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan.

His father was a dry-fruit seller in Amritsar, and he had nine brothers and sisters.

He was so determined to get an education he would study at night under streetlights because it was too noisy at home, his brother Surjit Singh told AFP in 2004.

“Our father always used to say Manmohan will be the prime minister of India since he stuck out among the 10 children,” said Singh. “He always had his nose in a book.”

Singh won scholarships to attend both Cambridge, where he obtained a first in economics, and Oxford, where he completed his PhD.

He worked in a string of senior civil posts, served as a central bank governor and also held various jobs with global agencies such as the United Nations.

Singh was tapped in 1991 by then Congress prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to reel India back from the worst financial crisis in its modern history — currency reserves had sunk so low the country was on the brink of defaulting on foreign loans.

Singh unleashed sweeping change that broke sharply with India’s Soviet-style state-directed economy.



– ‘History will be kinder’ –



In his first term he steered the economy through a period of nine-percent growth, lending the country the international clout it had long sought.

He also sealed a landmark nuclear deal with the US that he said would help India meet its growing energy needs.

But by 2008 there was growing disquiet among the ruling alliance’s left-leaning parties about the pact, while high inflation — notably food and fuel prices — hit India’s poor hard.

Still, voters remained drawn to his calm, pragmatic persona, and in 2009 Congress steered its alliance to a second term.

Singh vowed to step up financial reforms to drive economic growth, but he came under increasing fire from critics who said he had done nothing to stop a string of corruption scandals on his watch.

Several months before the 2014 elections, Singh said he would retire after the polls, with Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul earmarked to take his place if Congress won.

But Congress crashed to its worst-ever result at that time as the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Narendra Modi, won a landslide.

More recently, an unflattering book by a former aide titled “The Accidental Prime Minister” portrayed him as timid and controlled by Sonia Gandhi.

Singh — who said historians would be kinder to him than contemporary detractors — became a vocal critic of Modi’s economic policies, and more recently warned about the risks that rising communal tensions posed to India’s democracy.

Panama president rules out talks with Trump over canal threat

By AFP
December 26, 2024

A cargo ship passes through the Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal - Copyright AFP/File MARTIN BERNETTI
Juan Jose Rodriguez

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday ruled out negotiations with US President-elect Donald Trump over control of the Panama Canal, denying that China was interfering in its operation.

Mulino also rejected the possibility of reducing tolls for US vessels in response to Trump’s threat to demand control of the vital waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans be returned to Washington.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Mulino told a press conference.

“The canal is Panamanian and belongs to Panamanians. There’s no possibility of opening any kind of conversation around this reality, which has cost the country blood, sweat and tears,” he added.

The canal, inaugurated in 1914, was built by the United States but handed to Panama on December 31, 1999, under treaties signed some two decades earlier by then-US president Jimmy Carter and Panamanian nationalist leader Omar Torrijos.

Trump on Saturday slammed what he called “ridiculous” fees for US ships passing through the canal and hinted at China’s growing influence.

“It was solely for Panama to manage, not China, or anyone else,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!”

If Panama could not ensure “the secure, efficient and reliable operation” of the channel, “then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” he said.



– ‘No Chinese interference’ –



An estimated five percent of global maritime traffic passes through the Panama Canal, which allows ships traveling between Asia and the US East Coast to avoid the long, hazardous route around the southern tip of South America.

The United States is its main user, accounting for 74 percent of cargo, followed by China with 21 percent.

Mulino said the canal’s usage fees were “not set at the whim of the president or the administrator” of the interoceanic waterway, but under a long-established “public and open process.”

“There is absolutely no Chinese interference or participation in anything to do with the Panama Canal,” Mulino said.

On Wednesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social alleged, without evidence, that Chinese soldiers were “lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal.”

Mulino denied that allegation, too.

“There are no Chinese soldiers in the canal, for the love of God,” he added.

Panama established diplomatic relations with China in 2017, after breaking off ties with Taiwan — a decision criticized by Trump’s first administration.

On Tuesday, dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the US embassy in Panama City chanting “Trump, animal, leave the canal alone” and burning an image of the incoming US president.

'That is very different': CNN host fact-checks conservative's Panama claims

Travis Gettys
December 26, 2024 
RAW STORY

CNN

CNN's Sara Sidner fact-checked a conservative panelist's claims about China and the Panama Canal.

Donald Trump threatened to reassert U.S. control over the canal, claiming that China had too much influence over the critical waterway, and conservative commentator Shermichael Singleton argued that Trump was right.

"I don't think it's a sideshow," Singelton said. "There are five principal zone ports in Panama [and] China controls two, the United States doesn't control any. We controlled the Panama Canal completely up until '77. We entered into a mutual agreement with the Panamanian government in 1999, we handed over complete control to them and fast forward to 2023, 2024. Now China controls two of those zones. Trump is mad about it and, in my opinion, Sara, he is right to be mad. The Chinese government, they're not playing checkers here, they're playing 4-D chess to dominate the global stage, and, in my opinion, they're moving in what I would argue is an area and a pace that should concern U.S. leaders, and this idea of the U.S. trying to at least somewhat usurp China's complete dominance in the region isn't necessarily new."

"Members of Congress have been concerned about this," he added. "In the past, there have just been debates about what is the right course of action to sort of minimize China's growing influence in the Panama Canal, and I think it's important for Trump to really put a spotlight on this."

Sidner interjected to set Singleton straight, saying the Chinese government did not have direct control over any Panamanian ports.

"We should talk about the fact that it is a subsidiary of a Hong Kong company [CK Hutchison Holdings] that is in control of, or not in control of, that is administering a couple of ports, but there is an autonomous government agency that controls the canal," Sidner said. "So it doesn't mean that China is in full control."

Singleton conceded that she was correct on the administration of those ports, but he said Trump was right to raise the issue.

"You're right, Sara, to point out that it is a Hong Kong-based company that runs these two ports," he said. "But what if they have one company from China that manages one port and a U.S.-based company that manages another port? I don't think that's necessarily a bad argument for the president-elect to make. It's a very pivotal port for U.S. trade, and so I think, again, to pinpoint this and say, wait a minute, this appears to be unbalanced – I don't think he's necessarily wrong in that regard."

Sidner then lectured her guest and asked why Trump had made public threats before even returning to office instead of engaging in diplomacy.

"He's saying he's going to take back the Panama Canal," Sidner said. "That is very different than why not have these negotiations with the country, with the president, who he has completely pissed off, for lack of a better word, with just throwing this out there that he's going to take over. I mean, it's one of those things that you wonder is, was there not a negotiation that could have happened when he is in the seat of the presidency?"

Watch below or click here-

- YouTubeyoutu.be


Fox News pundit slams Trump buying Greenland as 'ramblings' for 'media attention'

David Edwards
December 26, 2024

RAW STORY

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, U.S. October 11, 2024. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

Fox News pundit Jonathan Kott argued that President-elect Donald Trump's push to take over Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal were just "ramblings" of "things he's seen online."

During a Thursday panel on Fox News, Kott responded to an anonymous lobbyist who claimed Democrats were ready for Biden to leave office.

"I don't think on the Democratic side there's anybody excited for the Biden presidency to be over and the Trump presidency to start," Kott, a Democratic strategist, insisted. "I'd also point out that the void that Trump is filling is just the media void. He and Biden have very different styles. Biden likes to work behind the scenes very quietly."

Kott also addressed Trump's recent expansionist musings.

"I'd also point out Donald Trump has spent the last few days talking about buying Greenland and invading Panama and making Canada a 51st state," the Fox News guest said. "I don't think those are actually like powerful things that a president-elect is doing. That's just like ramblings of things he's seen online or things he wants to do at three in the morning."

"So the void he's filling is just the media attention that we need because we live in a 24-hour news cycle that we always need something," he added. "No Democrat is excited to see the Biden presidency end."

Watch the video below from Fox News or click the link.

Move over Mercedes: Chinese cars grab Mexican market share


By AFP
December 27, 2024


A Chinese-made Haval H6 SUV is seen on Reforma Avenue in Mexico City 

- Copyright AFP ALFREDO ESTRELLA

Yussel GONZALEZ

The growing popularity of Chinese sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks has shaken up Mexico’s luxury car market, hitting sales of traditionally dominant brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

According to industry experts, Mexicans are increasingly switching from traditionally dominant sedans to Chinese vehicles due to a combination of comfort, technology and price.

It is no small feat in a country home to factories of foreign brands such as Audi and BMW, and where until a few years ago imported Chinese cars were stigmatized, as in other parts of the world.

According to the Mexican Association of Automotive Distributors (AMDA), the high-end segment of the market registered a sales drop of 8.1 percent from January to November.

Audi’s sales slumped by 21.9 percent, while BMW, which includes the Mini brand, saw no growth in Latin America’s second-largest economy, home to 129 million people.

Mercedes-Benz suffered a 9.8 percent decline, according to the state-run statistics institute INEGI.

In contrast, Motornation, which sells the BAIC, JMC and Changan brands in Mexico, saw an 8.8 percent increase in sales in the first 11 months of this year, while those of Jetour rose 131 percent, it said.

Chinese firms now control 9.3 percent of the Mexican market, according to the AMDA.

They have brought stiff competition to the pickup truck segment, with many of the features of high-end models offered by premium brands, the association’s president Guillermo Rosales told AFP.

Traditionally, the premium segment included sedan-type vehicles with luxury engines and top-of-the-range features.

However, over the past decade consumer preferences have shifted toward utility vehicles such as pickup trucks, minivans and SUVs.

Asian brands also benefited from an exemption from import tariffs on electric vehicles that was in effect in Mexico from 2020 until October 1.



– ‘Simple arithmetic’ –



As in other Latin American countries, Mexicans are becoming more used to seeing Chinese brands on the streets that were unknown to them until about five years ago.

Miguel Reyes, a 71-year-old retiree, said that choosing a Chinese car over others was “simple arithmetic.”

“I needed a car that had the necessary technology, such as steering assist, to make driving safer,” Reyes said.

As well as the design and comfort, the “competitive” price was another factor, said Reyes, who paid around 550,000 pesos — roughly $27,000 dollars.

A similar model from a traditional brand would have cost him between $40,000 and $50,000, he said.

According to Gerardo Gomez, an expert at the data and analytics company J.D. Power, there are around 30 Chinese brands in Mexico, with vehicles ranging from compacts to luxury cars.

“They can offer you anything at any point in the range.”

BYD offers an electric pickup truck for more than a million pesos ($50,000) but also a compact car for $17,000.

Zeekr, a premium electric brand, sells luxury models for around $40,000.


– Trump tensions –

Chinese cars’ growing presence in Mexico, which is itself a major exporter of vehicles, comes at a time when China is a source of contention between the United States, Mexico and Canada, partners in a regional free trade agreement.

During his campaign, US President-elect Donald Trump suggested that China was building car factories in Mexico to sell vehicles in the United States.

Canadian officials have accused Mexico of being a springboard for Chinese products in the region — a claim denied by Mexican authorities.

Trump has also threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on both Mexico and Canada unless they stop flows of migrants and drugs.

According to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, only seven percent of the components of cars manufactured in the Latin American country are Chinese.

“There’s no evidence from anywhere that proves that Mexico is being used as a springboard” for Chinese products, said Diego Marroquin, a trade policy specialist at the Wilson Center in the United States.

“It’s a political narrative that comes from the United States and now from Canada.”

Sheinbaum said last month that she would propose to the United States and Canada a Chinese import substitution plan, noting that in the case of Mexico alone, the trade deficit with the Asian giant amounted to $80 billion.

Brazil views labor violations at BYD site as human ‘trafficking’

EV SLAVERY

By AFP

December 27, 2024


Chinese auto giant BYD says it has broken its contract with the company employing some of the workers to build its factory - Copyright AFP/File Ina FASSBENDER

Authorities in Brazil said Friday they are probing Chinese auto giant BYD and one of its contractors for suspected “trafficking” of Chinese workers building a factory in the South American country.

Federal prosecutors in Brazil are weighing possible criminal action after labor inspectors found 163 Chinese workers “in slave-like conditions” at the construction site in the northeast state of Bahia, a government statement said.

The workers, employed by BYD contractor Jinjiang Open Engineering, were viewed as “victims of international trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation,” said the statement.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman in Beijing, Mao Ning, said: “We have noted the relevant reports… and are currently verifying the situation.”

She added that Beijing “attaches great importance to protecting laborers’ legitimate rights and interests, and has always required Chinese enterprises to operate in line with the law and regulations.”

On Thursday, BYD and Jinjiang were quizzed by Brazilian government ministries, which said “the companies committed to collaborate in protecting the rescued workers.”

– Allegations denied –

Brazilian officials on Monday said it had found the labor violations at the site, which is being built to be BYD’s largest electric car plant outside of Asia.

Bahia’s regional ministry for works (MPT) ordered construction be suspended at part of the site.

Inspections carried out since November found “degrading working conditions” at the site, including beds in workers’ accommodation lacking mattresses, and one bathroom per 31 workers, an MPT statement said.

The workers, who spent long hours under Brazil’s sun, had “visible signs of skin damage,” the statement said.

The MPT added that it suspected “forced labor,” with workers’ passports confiscated and their employer “retaining 60 percent of their salary.”

After the allegations were made public, BYD’s Brazilian subsidiary said it had broken its contract with the Jinjiang subsidiary responsible for work on the site. It added that it had sent the 163 workers to stay in hotels.

Jinjiang on Thursday — in a statement issued before the online hearing with Brazilian authorities — denied the slavery allegation.

The company said the accusations “seriously damaged the dignity of Chinese people” and claimed it “made our staff feel seriously insulted and that their human rights have been violated.”

A Jinjiang representative told AFP on Friday that the company would hold a press conference in Brazil.