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It is surreal watching the Armenian Genocide happen again

UAW Expands Strike to GM and Ford SUV Plants

This way the total number of UAW members on strike at the three automakers will reach more than 25,000.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union is expanding its strike against the big three U.S. automakers to General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Company SUV plants, according to UAW President Shawn Fain.

Fain told workers during a Facebook Live event that negotiations have not broken down, but "unfortunately, despite our willingness to negotiate, Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress at the table."

More than 7,000 workers at GM's Delta Township plant in Lansing, in the U.S. state of Michigan, and at Ford's assembly plant in Chicago, Illinois, will join the strike.

The GM plant has more than 2,800 employees who manufacture large crossover SUVs such as the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse, while the Ford plant has 5,700 hourly workers who manufacture the Ford Explorer and Explorer police interceptors, as well as the Lincoln Aviator SUV.

With the integration of these additional members into the strike, the total number of UAW members on strike at the three automakers will reach more than 25,000.

Stellantis NV is spared this time from the strike extension following progress made in negotiations, Fain said. Last week, the UAW excluded Ford from a strike extension, noting that there was progress at the bargaining table with the automaker.

The UAW announced its strike at three selected Ford, GM and Stellantis factories on Sept. 14, after its contract with the big three manufacturers expired. By Sept. 22, it extended the strike to 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers across the country after failing to make significant progress in new contract negotiations.

According to the latest updates from the company and the union, Ford has offered a 20 percent wage increase over the four-year contract term, the job security sought by the UAW, restoration of cost-of-living adjustments, an improved profit-sharing formula, elimination of a tiered wage, immediate conversion of temporary workers to permanent status, and a reduction from eight to four years in the time it takes permanent full-time workers to reach the top of the wage scale.

GM and Stellantis have made similar wage offers. The union initially demanded a 46 percent increase in compounded pay over four years and has been reducing the request to 36 percent without compounding.

Russian Telegram says Ukraine is preparing to attack toward Kopani, to the west of the Robotyne bulge. It seems that Ukraine is aware of the risk of encirclement and seeks to strengthen their flanks.

So I did a little swiss update numbers for insurance premium rise is out and it's an average of 8.7% rise, with some insurances going up by 10% this is obviously a huge amount so what are some parties now saying:

SVP (right-wing): social democrats are at fault, in order to keep rising health insurance costs in check we should make immigrants pay more and people asking for asylum should only get the minimum of healthcare.

FDP (market-liberals): Costs are rising because no one wants to do our market-deregulation plan everyone is at fault for not deregulating the market.

SP (SocDems): Lets just give higher subsidies so that that rise gets counteracted.

Middle(right-wing): An 'Insurance-Rate Hammer' i.e. price freeze combined with cutting some healthcare.

Greens(SocDems): Income based insurance premiums make the rich pay more so we have a more social system.

Special mention: Pierre Maudet, former market liberal sicko now independent and member of the federal council of Geneva "The system is no longer transparent the insurance companies are just profiting and people can no longer endure this. We need to put an end to this, as such I propose a switch to public insurance"

Maldives: Opposition candidate wins presidential election

Opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz won the Maldives presidential runoff on Saturday. He secured more than 54% of the vote, beating incumbent Ibrahim Solih, who had 46% after almost all the ballots were counted.

Solih conceded defeat after an official count showed his pro-China rival Mohamed Muizzu in an unassailable lead. "Congratulations to president-elect Muizzu," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Solih prioritized building relations with India during his time in office in sharp contrast to the coalition supporting Muiz that launched an "India out" campaign.

An engineer, Muiz had served as the housing minister for seven years. He was mayor of Male, the capital, when he was chosen to run for president. Muiz's party, the People's National Congress, is viewed as heavily pro-China. He also promised to remove Indian troops from the Maldives and rebalance the country's trade, which he said favored India. His mentor, former President Abdulla Yameen, borrowed heavily from China for construction projects and spurned India. Muiz has vowed if elected to free Yameen, currently serving an 11-year sentence for corruption.

Solih was elected in 2018 on a wave of discontent with Yameen's increasingly autocratic rule, accusing him of pushing the country into a Chinese debt trap. The Maldives is strategically vital in the middle of the Indian Ocean, astride one of the busiest east-west shipping lanes in the world.

Euro zone money supply shrinks as ECB turns off taps

The amount of money circulating in the euro zone shrank by the most on record last month as banks curbed lending and depositors locked up their savings, two tangible effects of the European Central Bank's fight against inflation.

Faced with the highest inflation rates in its nearly 25-year history, the ECB has turned off the money taps by jacking up interest rates to record highs and withdrawing some of the liquidity it pumped into the banking system over the previous decade.

The ECB's latest lending data on Wednesday showed this sharp increase in borrowing costs was having the desired effect and may fuel a debate over whether such a brisk tightening cycle may even push the 20-country euro zone into a recession.

A measure of money supply comprising just cash and current account balances shrank by an unprecedented 11.9% in August as bank customers switched to term deposits now offering much better returns as a result of the ECB's rate hikes.

The ECB's own research shows that a drop in this gauge of money, once it is adjusted for inflation, is a reliable harbinger of recession, although board member Isabel Schnabel said last week it was more likely to reflect a normalisation in savers' portfolios at this juncture.

A broader measure of money that also includes term deposits and short-term bank debt also declined by a record-breaking 1.3%, showing some money was leaving the banking sector altogether -- likely to be parked in government bonds and funds.

"This paints a bleak picture for the euro zone's near-term prospects," Daniel Kral, an economist at Oxford Economics, said. "We now think GDP is likely to contract in Q3 and to stagnate in the final quarter of this year."

Crucially, banks were also creating less money through loans.

Lending to businesses slowed to a near stand-still in August, expanding by just 0.6%, the lowest figure since late 2015, from 2.2% a month earlier. Lending to households rose just 1.0% after 1.3% in July, the ECB said.

The monthly flow of loans to businesses was a negative 22 billion euros in August compared to July, the weakest figure in over two years, when the bloc was suffering through the pandemic.

"This is not good news for the eurozone economy, which is already stagnating and showing increasing signs of weakness," said Bert Colijn, an economist at ING. "We expect broad sluggishness to continue as a result of the impact of restrictive monetary policy on the economy."

Here's a bizarre article I've found:

US steel company makes plans for nuclear fusion

US steel company Nucor and Helion Energy plan to develop a 500-MWe nuclear fusion plant at one of Nucor’s steel manufacturing plants. The agreement between the two companies, which includes an investment by Nucor in Helion, will accelerate the journey towards sustainable, carbon-free industrial manufacturing, said Helion. By deploying 500 MWe of fusion power, they will make history in the steel sector.

Fusion power will revolutionise energy supply for Nucor’s steel manufacturing operations, providing baseload zero-carbon electricity, says the nuclear fusion company. Nucor is already a leader in decarbonising the steel industry and this project reinforces the company’s commitment to becoming the cleanest steel manufacturer globally.

In May, Helion announced it had signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with high-tech giant Microsoft to supply electricity generated from its first fusion power plant.

Nucor CEO Leon Topalian emphasised the significance of the collaboration with Helion: “This project marks a tremendous milestone in the potential for the use of nearly limitless clean electricity for industrial manufacturing. By entering this agreement, we are demonstrating our commitment to be the cleanest steel producer in the world, while setting an example for all manufacturing companies.”

Helion has constructed six working fusion prototypes and is the world’s first private fusion company to achieve 100mn-degree plasma temperatures. The company is currently building its seventh prototype, Polaris, which is expected to be the first to demonstrate electricity production from fusion.

The company has the backing of three rich tech pioneers: Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI; Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz; and Facebook co-founder Reid Hoffman.

Have we forgotten that nuclear fusion isn't able to generate net electricity yet, and isn't even particularly close to doing so? Did that discovery pass me by? Why are there plans being drawn up based on the hypothetical results of the Polaris prototype? Is this just a bazinga-brain thing?

I'm gonna go try and get $50 million from Bill Gates to power his data centers with my perpetual motion machine; I'm on the 20th prototype but I think this one will be the one to crack it