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Tesla makes China boss Tom Zhu its highest-profile executive after Elon Musk

January 3, 2023 Published by

US Top News and Analysis

In this article

Tom Zhu Xiaotong, Tesla’s current executive in charge of China, speaks as a new Tesla experience store opens on Aug. 18, 2015 in Hangzhou, China.

Visual China Group | Getty Images

Tesla’s China chief Tom Zhu has been promoted to take direct oversight of the electric carmaker’s U.S. assembly plants as well as sales operations in North America and Europe, according to an internal posting of reporting lines reviewed by Reuters.

The Tesla posting showed that Zhu’s title of vice president for Greater China had not changed and that he also retained his responsibilities as Tesla’s most senior executive for sales in the rest of Asia as of Tuesday.

The move makes Zhu the highest-profile executive at Tesla after Chief Executive Elon Musk, with direct oversight for deliveries in all of its major markets and operations of its key production hubs.

The reporting lines for Zhu would keep Tesla’s vehicle design and development — both areas where Musk has been heavily involved — separate while creating an apparent deputy to Musk on the more near-term challenges of managing global sales and output.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Reuters reviewed the organizational chart that had been posted internally by Tesla and confirmed the change with two people who had seen it. They asked not to be named because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

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Zhu and a team of his reports were brought in by Tesla late last year to troubleshoot production issues in the United States, driving an expectation among his colleagues then that he was being groomed for a bigger role.

Zhu’s appointment to a global role comes at a time when Musk has been distracted by his acquisition of Twitter and Tesla analysts and investors have urged action that would deepen the senior executive bench and allow him to focus on Tesla.

Under Zhu, Tesla’s Shanghai plant rebounded strongly from Covid lockdowns in China.

Tesla said on Monday that it had delivered 405,278 vehicles in the fourth quarter, short of Wall Street estimates, according to data compiled by Refinitiv.

The company had delivered 308,600 vehicles in the same period a year earlier.

The Tesla managers reporting to Zhu include: Jason Shawhan, director of manufacturing at the Gigafactory in Texas; Hrushikesh Sagar, senior director of manufacturing at Tesla’s Fremont factory; Joe Ward, vice president in charge of Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Troy Jones, vice president of North America sales and service, according to the Tesla notice on reporting lines reviewed by Reuters.

Tesla country managers in China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand continued to report to Zhu, the notice showed.

Zhu does not have a direct report at Tesla’s still-ramping Berlin plant, but a person with knowledge of the matter said responsibility for that operation would come with the reporting line for Amsterdam-based Ward. Ward could not be immediately reached for comment.

Zhu, who was born in China but now holds a New Zealand passport, joined Tesla in 2014. Before that he was a project manager at a company established by his MBA classmates at Duke University, advising Chinese contractors working on infrastructure projects in Africa.

During Shanghai’s two-month Covid lockdown, Zhu was among the first batch of employees sleeping in the factory as they sought to keep it running, people who work with him have said.

Zhu, a no-fuss manager who sports a buzz cut, favors Tesla-branded fleece jackets and has lived in a government-subsidized apartment that is a 10-minute drive from the Shanghai Gigafactory. It was not immediately clear whether he would move after his promotion.

He takes charge of Tesla’s main production hubs at a time when the company is readying the launch of Cybertruck and a revamped version of its Model 3 sedan. Tesla has also said it is developing a cheaper electric vehicle but has not provided details on that plan.

When Tesla posted a picture on Twitter last month to celebrate its Austin, Texas, plant hitting a production milestone for its Model Y, Zhu was among hundreds of workers smiling on the factory floor.

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Allan Wang, who was promoted to vice president in charge of sales in China in July, was listed as the legal representative for the operation in registration papers filed with Chinese regulators in a change by the company last month.

Tesla board member James Murdoch said in November the company had recently identified a potential successor to Musk without naming the person. Murdoch did not respond to a request for comment.

Electrek previously reported that Zhu would take responsibility for U.S. sales, delivery and service.

World Bank seeks more funds to address climate change, other crises: Document

January 3, 2023 Published by

US Top News and Analysis

The World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” report tracked and encouraged improvements in the business climate around the world. Then it got canceled.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The World Bank is seeking to vastly expand its lending capacity to address climate change and other global crises and will negotiate with shareholders ahead of April meetings on proposals that include a capital increase and new lending tools, according to an “evolution roadmap” seen by Reuters on Monday.

The roadmap document – sent to shareholder governments – marks the start of a negotiation process to alter the bank’s mission and financial resources and shift it away from a country- and project-specific lending model used since its creation at the end of World War Two.

The World Bank management aims to have specific proposals to change its mission, operating model and financial capacity ready for approval by the joint World Bank and International Monetary Fund Development Committee in October, according to the document.

A World Bank spokesman said that the document aimed to provide details on the scope, approach, and timetable for the evolution, with regular updates for shareholders and decisions later in the year.

AAA rating to stay

The development lender will explore options like a potential new capital increase, changes to its capital structure to unlock more lending and new financing tools such as guarantees for private sector loans and other ways to mobilize more private capital, according to the document.

But the World Bank Group (WBG) is not ready to bow to demands from some non-profit organizations to abandon its longstanding top-tier credit rating to boost lending, stating: “Management will explore all options that increase the capacity of the WBG whilst maintaining the AAA rating of the WBG entities.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has called for the World Bank and others to revamp their business models to boost lending and harness private capital to fund investments that more broadly benefit the world, such as helping middle-income countries transition away from coal power.

A U.S. Treasury spokesperson declined comment on the World Bank document.

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The bank said proposals under consideration include higher statutory lending limits, lower equity-to-loan requirements and the use of callable capital – money pledged but not paid in by member governments – for lending.

Development experts say this shift would greatly increase the amount of lending compared to the current capital structure, which only utilizes paid-in capital.

“The challenges the world is facing call for a massive step up in the international community’s support,” the bank said in the document. “For the WBG to continue to play a central role in development and climate finance, it will need a concerted effort by both shareholders and management to step up WBG financing capacity.”

Inadequate funding

The roadmap document cautions that a build-up of lending for climate change, health care, food security and other needs may require a capital increase to boost the capacity of the World Bank’s middle-income lending arm, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).

IBRD’s $13 billion capital increase in 2018 “was designed to be prepared for one mid-sized crisis a decade, and not multiple, overlapping crises” including the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the effects of accelerating climate change, the document said. IBRD’s crisis buffers will likely be depleted by mid-2023, it said.

Another option, according to the roadmap, is for World Bank shareholder countries to step up periodic contributions to the lender’s fund for the world’s poorest countries, the International Development Association (IDA), which have declined in recent years despite increasing needs.

The roadmap also offers the option of creating a new concessional lending trust fund for middle-income countries that would focus on global public goods and be similar in structure to IDA, with regular funding replenishments that would be separate from the bank’s capital structure.

“Such a fund may attract donor bilateral resources separate from shareholder budget lines supporting the WBG, and potentially include donors beyond shareholders,” such as private foundations, the bank said.

The bank said that the evolution of its mission to increase climate lending while maintaining good development outcomes will require additional staff and budget resources, which have declined 3% in real terms over the past 15 years.

'Kaleidoscope' adds color to a bland heist story with a you-pick-the-order format

January 3, 2023 Published by CNN

CNN
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The puzzle-like gimmick at the heart of “Kaleidoscope” – watch the episodes in any order that you want – can’t conceal how otherwise uninspired this “Ocean’s Eleven”-esque heist series actually is. Chalk that up in part to stiffly written characters, familiar situations and drawn-out logistical sequences. It’s moderately watchable, but all told, color me unimpressed.

Color plays a prominent role in this limited series, since each of the eight episodes corresponds with a color – red, orange, white, etc. – instead of a number, allowing the audience to essentially choose their own adventure. Details thus unfold differently depending on when they’re consumed, which in theory personalizes the viewing experience.

The big picture, however, is pretty drab, in a story that plays out over a quarter-century: Leo Pap (Giancarlo Esposito), an accomplished thief, spent nearly two decades in prison, and has now assembled a team to pursue an elaborate heist that will also provide him with a measure of revenge.

His target: Billions in bonds (as someone notes, the stuff they were after in “Die Hard”), held by a former associate of Leo’s, Roger Salas (Rufus Sewell), so hence the personal connection. Leo is joined by his partner Ava (Paz Vega) and an assortment of specialists assembled to carry out various specific tasks, although their squabbling (and worse) risks derailing the plan at practically every juncture.

The episodes take place at various key points, from events before Leo went to prison (which requires youth-ifying the principals) to a few weeks before the heist, the big day itself and its aftermath.

Created by Eric Garcia (who in addition to heist movies has cited “Pulp Fiction” and “Memento” as sources of non-linear inspiration), the freedom to snap the component parts together in different ways joins interactivity, a la “Black Mirror’s” “Bandersnatch,” among TV tricks employed to try serving what amounts to old wine in a new bottle. Yet it also has the unintended effect of blunting interest in the characters, who certainly go through some things – there are extremely violent moments – without evoking much of a response.

Nor does it help that there’s an element of sappiness to the underlying story, which has Leo pining for the daughter who grew up without him. While the meticulous planning of the heist adds zest to something like the aforementioned “Ocean’s” series, those intricacies yield less satisfying results when spread out as they inevitably are in this more expansive series format.

Ultimately, consider this another one of those exercises that exhausts most of its ingenuity on the basic concept, hoping that – coupled with Esposito’s steely charms in a leading role – would provide enough of a payoff.

Netflix might well achieve that in terms of people opting to sample the series with its holiday debut, but the rainbow-hued vision behind “Kaleidoscope” turns out to be more intriguing than the pictures that come out of it.

“Kaleidoscope” premieres January 1 on Netflix.

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Stars Behind Bars: Todd and Julie Chrisley’s fate in prison plus other celebrities who have served

January 3, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

Todd Chrisley’s new year is off to a rough start. The reality TV star will report to prison on Jan. 17 and will serve his time at the minimum-security prison Federal Prison Camp Pensacola, according to multiple reports.

Todd and his wife, Julie Chrisley, were sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison during a hearing in November, after the two were convicted of federal tax evasion.

On an episode of the “Chrisley Confessions” podcast, Todd revealed that both he and Julie appealed their tax fraud conviction but are “not allowed” to discuss any further details.

“We cannot discuss the case because the appeal has now been, however they do it, I think it was filed yesterday or the day before yesterday,” Todd shared. “Our attorneys noticed [sic] the courts that they were appealing this.”

TODD AND JULIE CHRISLEY WILL REPORT TO FLORIDA PRISONS IN JANUARY

Todd was convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Julie was convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. She was also hit with wire fraud and obstruction of justice charges.

Celebrity attorney James Leonard Jr. noted that celebrities can sometimes be used by the criminal justice system as an “example.”

“I think that the criminal justice system sometimes dishes out a very heavy hand when the offender is someone of note, whether that be someone that is on television, an athlete or someone that is known to the general public,” he said. “I believe that oftentimes, and it’s unfortunate, but oftentimes the criminal justice system seeks to make an example of individuals like that.”

Leonard Jr. also noted that time behind bars can be “extremely difficult” for celebrities.

“It’s extremely difficult because you are away from your loved ones,” he told Fox News Digital. “You are away from the amenities that you have grown accustomed to, your lifestyle, and it’s very difficult in that sense.”

“The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Jen Shah will learn her fate later this week. Shah’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 6.

Shah pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing. In turn, count two, conspiracy to commit money laundering, was dropped.

“Jennifer Shah was a key participant in a nationwide scheme that targeted elderly, vulnerable victims,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a press release.

“These victims were sold false promises of financial security but instead Shah and her co-conspirators defrauded them out of their savings and left them with nothing to show for it,” the statement continued. “This Office is committed to rooting out these schemes whatever form they take.”

Here are other stars who have served time behind bars:

Martha Stewart spent five months in the minimum-security Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia in 2004.

The celebrity chef was accused of insider trading after she sold off her shares of ImClone Systems stock just one day before the stock plummeted. She was accused of receiving insider information regarding the company’s failure to gain an approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

She was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction and two counts of lying to federal investigators.

Following her prison time, Stewart also spent five months under house arrest and two years of probation.

“Dance Moms” star Abby Lee Miller spent eight months in prison in 2017 after she was convicted of hiding parts of her income.

Miller was charged with 20 counts of bankruptcy fraud, concealing assets and making false bankruptcy declarations. The dance coach apparently hid nearly $775,000 of her income while applying for bankruptcy.

Miller was sent to a correctional facility in California following her conviction. Her sentence was cut short after the reality TV star was diagnosed with spinal cancer.

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Robert Downey Jr. was arrested in 1996 for speeding. The actor was charged with driving under the influence. Police also found heroin, cocaine, crack and a .357 magnum in his vehicle.

Downey Jr. spent time in jail before being released but was later sentenced to federal prison for skipping out on probation.

The actor served one year of his three-year prison sentence.

Lori Loughlin spent two months behind bars due to her involvement in the 2019 college admissions scandal.

Loughlin served her time at a prison in Dublin, California after being convicted of paying $500,000 to have her two daughters admitted to the University of Southern California as rowing recruits.

The “Full House” star’s husband was also convicted in the scandal that included roughly 60 parents, collegiate coaches and more.

“Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days behind bars for her role in the same scandal.

Tim Allen spent two years and four months behind bars after he was found at Michigan’s Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport with more than a pound of cocaine in his possession.

“I just shut up and did what I was told,” he said about serving time during an episode of “WTF with Marc Maron.” “It was the first time ever I did what I was told and played the game… I learned literally how to live day by day. And I learned how to shut up. You definitely want to learn how to shut up.”

Allen claimed he got “used to” the conditions he faced in prison by the eight-month mark.

“I don’t say this lightly and anybody who has been incarcerated [knows], it’s surprising what the human being will get used to,” the comedian continued. “Eventually after eight months, I got used to it. There were okay times. Saturday we got better food. Eventually, I went from a holding cell arrangement to my own cell.”

’60 Minutes’ uses failed doomsday biologist to predict ‘mass extinction’ of humanity

January 3, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

CBS rang in the new year Sunday night with “The Population Bomb” author and biologist Paul Ehrlich continuing to warn Americans about the threat of “mass extinction” on “60 Minutes.”

Journalist Scott Pelley spoke with Ehrlich on the subject of sustainability as Ehrlich repeated his claims that humanity is no longer sustainable as a species due to our increasingly high population.

“The rate of extinction is extraordinarily high now and getting higher all the time,” Ehrlich said.

He explained, “Humanity is not sustainable. To maintain our lifestyle (yours and mine, basically) for the entire planet, you’d need five more Earths. Not clear where they’re gonna come from.”

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In Ehrlich’s 1968 book, he originally predicted widespread famine and the overall end of civilization within the next decade. Although Ehrlich was wrong on several accounts, the program continued to present him as a reputable source.

“The alarm Ehrlich sounded in ’68 warned that overpopulation would trigger widespread famine. He was wrong about that. The green revolution fed the world. But he also wrote in ’68 that heat from greenhouse gases would melt polar ice and humanity would overwhelm the wild. Today, humans have taken over 70% of the planet’s land and 70% of the freshwater,” Pelley remarked.

The segment also included a comment from Ehrlich’s colleague Tony Barnosky claiming that there isn’t a scientist who would state that “we’re not in an extinction crisis.”

“I was alarmed. I am still alarmed. All of my colleagues are alarmed,” Ehrlich said.

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Ehrlich’s comments and “60 Minutes” itself were ridiculed well into Monday for continuing to push the same incorrect predictions after several decades.

Pluribus editor Jeryl Bier tweeted, “even spelled “Ehrlich” wrong…”

“Is this archive footage from the 70s or is Ehrlich still around? Is CBS really this stupid???” American Commitment president Phil Kerpen remarked.

Club for Growth senior analyst Andrew Follett wrote, “’Biologist’ Paul Erlich has been consistently wrong about every prediction he has ever made…And yet media outlets keep having him on…”

Media strategist Gabriella Hoffman commented, “Preservationist environmentalism like this poses a grave threat to people and nature. This thinking undergirds most climate alarmism too. Giving credence to Paul Erlich should instill doubt in one’s credibility.”

“90 years old and still crazy (60 Minutes spelled his last name incorrectly, of course, their usual attention to detail). Ehrlich said humanity was done in the 1970s. We were not done. We will not be done anytime soon, either,” Washington Examiner columnist Nathan Wurtzel tweeted.

“When a 90-year-old man tells you there are too many people, you’re allowed to ask why he’s still sticking around,” Substack writer Jim Treacher joked.

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Ehrlich continued to lament the lack of political action to act on the extinction crisis.

“I know there’s no political will to do any of the things that I’m concerned with, which is exactly why I and the vast majority of my colleagues think we’ve had it; that the next few decades will be the end of the kind of civilization we’re used to,” Ehrlich said.

5 things House Republicans must do in 2023 with new majority

January 3, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

As the 117th Congress came to a close, Americans witnessed the swamp in action as leaders in both parties ignored the will and best interests of the American people by passing a 4,000-page $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill with little to no debate.

Sixty-eight U.S. senators – including 18 Republicans – paved the way for the massive and fiscally irresponsible measure. This happened despite the fact that voters handed the GOP a House majority on Election Day in part to rein in spending.

Watching out-of-touch career politicians reach into the cookie jar one more time before House conservatives take control is just the latest reminder of why Congress has a 27% approval rating. However, tone-deaf legislating by the uni-party in Washington gives the incoming Republican majority in the House an opportunity to present a bold contrast to this reckless behavior.

Here are five big things House Republicans can do to get off on the right foot in 2023 by simply displaying core competency and listening to the American people.

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Be the party of fiscal responsibility

Hardworking citizens understand that federal spending has been out of control for a long time. In 2001, the last time America had a balanced budget, our national debt was $5 trillion. Now, a short two decades later, we’re at an alarming $31 trillion and climbing.

To be sure, the COVID-19 economic rescue packages exploded government spending, but President Biden and the Democrats refused to pull back. This pivotal decision caused the current inflation crisis. The next Congress must get back to basics by passing budgets and returning to a transparent appropriations process that respects taxpayer dollars.

The issue of fiscal restraint is there for the taking for the GOP – it just takes some hard work, leadership and the courage to admit we’re in the midst of an unsustainable debt emergency.

Be the party of reform

It’s not hard to see that government is in dire need of some common sense reforms. Sixty-three percent believe that America is on the wrong track because they see the obvious: Washington is broken and its leaders are making bad decisions.

After the 2020 election, the arrogant triumvirate of Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., abused power, ignored the people and plowed forward as managers of the failed status quo. Now Republicans have a clear opening to pick up the mantle of reform and run with it.

In the first hundred days, the House GOP should make the case for why congressional term limits and balanced budgets are so important and hold votes to get every member of Congress on the record. The American people deserve to know who wants to change Washington and who is content with just managing America’s economic decay.

Be the party of border security

President Biden’s careless policies opened the border and caused the current crisis that is getting worse by the day. Biden’s allies in the mainstream media refuse to cover the issue honestly and have become accomplices of the human catastrophe we’re all seeing on our phones every day.

Now that Republicans are in power, they can do something about it by sparking a much-needed national debate. Every country in the world prioritizes border security and sovereignty except the United States under total Democrat control – this must change immediately as a matter of national security.

House Republicans must adopt a do it all, do it now approach and not relent until the fentanyl that’s killing our citizens stops pouring in from across the border. Holding weekly field hearings at the border could be an effective way to highlight the most alarming issues, and border czar Vice President Kamala Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas should be invited to testify.

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Be the party of accountability

For the past two years, the American people witnessed an unhinged federal government under one-party control and were reminded of why the Founding Fathers set up our system of checks and balances.

And just in the nick of time, House Republicans can start asking the Biden administration some long overdue questions. Every American – regardless of party affiliation – should want to know if President Biden is compromised due to his family’s long-term foreign business deals. Similarly, Americans are entitled to a full accounting of the origins of COVID-19 and an exhaustive investigation of our government’s response to the pandemic – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Lastly, an inquiry must be launched to review the activities of the January 6 Select Committee. The American people deserve to know if a taxpayer-funded congressional committee was operating as a secret Liz Cheney 2024 presidential campaign in disguise as some J6 committee staff members told The Washington Post recently.

Be the party of the forgotten men and women

During the Obama-Biden administration, there was a palpable feeling across the country that the federal government was prioritizing everything but American citizens who work hard and play by the rules. Whether it was amnesty for illegal immigrants, bad trade pacts with foreign adversaries, nuclear deals with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, or obeying every command of mega donor George Soros, Americans grew sick and tired of out-of-touch left-wing elitists. Unfortunately, the Biden White House has learned nothing from recent history. House Republicans should make clear that they will draw a line in the sand and not allow our country to go down the road of socialism any longer.

January 2023 must be a new beginning for America and the blueprint for success isn’t rocket science. House Republicans can start strong just by listening to the American people.

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US Says Not Considering Joint Nuclear Exercises with South Korea

January 3, 2023 Published by [email protected] (William Gallo)

USA – Voice of America

The United States plans to hold table-top drills and expand other areas of defense cooperation with South Korea, but is not considering joint nuclear exercises with Seoul, according to a senior U.S. administration official.

The U.S. announcement came after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in an interview Monday the United States and South Korea were in talks meant to give Seoul a bigger role in the operation of U.S. nuclear forces.

Yoon told the conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper the discussions centered on joint planning and exercises with U.S. nuclear forces — a process he envisioned would have the same effect as “nuclear sharing.”

Asked late Monday whether he was discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea, U.S. President Joe Biden replied, “No.” Biden, who was returning from a trip to the eastern U.S. state of Kentucky, did not elaborate.

In a statement emailed late Tuesday to VOA, a senior U.S. official attempted to clarify the situation by saying that the United States and South Korea are “working together to strengthen extended deterrence, including eventually through table-top exercises that will explore our joint response to a range of scenarios, including nuclear use by the DPRK.”

North Korea — also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — last year launched a record number of ballistic missiles and on Sunday vowed to “exponentially increase” production of its nuclear warheads.

North Korea’s recent actions and statements have caused “increasing concern,” the U.S. official added.

Both the U.S. and South Korean presidential offices later denied any contradiction between the Biden and Yoon comments, noting that since South Korea is not a nuclear weapons state it cannot technically participate in “joint nuclear exercises.”

Though the situation may have arisen partly because of semantics, many analysts suggest it reflects behind-the-scenes tensions between the two allies over how best to involve South Korea in countering the North Korean threat.

Yoon, a conservative, has in the past pushed for Washington and Seoul to enter a NATO-style arrangement in which South Koreans would be trained to use U.S. nuclear weapons in a conflict. For now, it seems South Korea may have to be happy with more cooperation in other areas.

Following a November meeting between Biden and Yoon in Cambodia, both leaders tasked their teams to come up with a plan “for an effective coordinated response to a range of scenarios, including nuclear use by North Korea,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement emailed to VOA.

“As the President said, we are not discussing joint nuclear exercises,” the NSC official added.

In a statement to reporters, South Korean presidential spokesperson Kim Eun-hye defended Yoon’s remarks. “South Korea and the United States are discussing information sharing, joint planning, and subsequent joint implementation plans in relation to U.S. nuclear assets, to respond to North Korea’s nuclear threat,” she said.

The United States has not stationed nuclear weapons in South Korea since the early 1990s, when it pulled tactical nukes from the peninsula as part of a disarmament deal with the Soviet Union. Instead, South Korea is protected by the U.S. “nuclear umbrella,” under which Washington vows to use all its capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to defend its ally.

In the interview Monday, Yoon suggested such ideas were outdated. “What we call ‘extended deterrence’ means that the United States will take care of everything, so South Korea should not worry about it,” Yoon said. “But now, it is difficult to convince our people with just this idea.”

As a presidential candidate in 2021, Yoon said he would ask the United States to either redeploy tactical nuclear weapons or agree to nuclear-sharing. The U.S. State Department quickly shot down the proposal.

Many analysts are skeptical the United States would enter a nuclear-sharing arrangement with South Korea, noting it would go against Washington’s stated global nonproliferation goals as well as its support for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

“South Korean concerns and wishes are understandable, but the U.S. won’t be able to jointly discuss nuclear plans to the degree that Seoul wants. That’s still a bridge way too far,” said Duyeon Kim, a Seoul-based Korea specialist at the Center for a New American Security.

If South Korea participates in table-top exercises, it could learn more about how the U.S. weighs its options in various crisis scenarios, according to Kim.

“Since joint nuclear planning won’t happen and Seoul wants a voice, South Korean leaders like the president could instead unilaterally tell the U.S. president which North Korean targets they’d like him/her to consider in their nuclear plans without expecting a response back,” Kim said.

“It’s conceivable that South Korean fighter jets could someday practice escorting U.S. bombers as one way of doing ‘nuclear sharing’ done by NATO, but it’s hard to imagine the U.S. doing more than that,” she added.

Ankit Panda, a senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, also doubts the United States would be open to including South Korea in nuclear planning.

“Ultimately, the decision concerning whether or not nuclear weapons ought to be introduced into a specific crisis contingency will depend on the president of the United States,” Panda told VOA.

The matter has grown more urgent as North Korea becomes more belligerent and expands its nuclear arsenal.

North Korea is already believed to have enough fissile material to build around 50 nuclear bombs and has a growing number of both short- and long-range weapons that could be capable of delivering them. If Pyongyang can destroy a major U.S. city, some South Koreans fear, Washington may be reluctant to respond to a North Korean attack on the South.

Many South Koreans were also rattled by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who regularly questioned the value of the U.S.-South Korea alliance and even threatened to pull U.S. troops from Korea.

As a result, a growing number of prominent South Koreans have called for the country to acquire its own nuclear deterrent.

According to a poll published Monday by the Seoul-based Hankook Research organization, 67% of South Koreans support the country acquiring nuclear weapons, including 70% of conservatives and 54% of liberals.

Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.

Wickr Me, Amazon's encrypted chat app, stops accepting new users

January 3, 2023 Published by CNBC News

In this photo illustration an Amazon logo is displayed on a smartphone with stock market percentages in the background.

SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Wickr Me, an Amazon-owned encrypted chat platform, stopped accepting new users after Dec. 31 and will shut down completely on Dec. 31 of this year, according to an announcement from the company.

The decision, first announced in November, follows several controversies surrounding the ultra-secure chat app, which allowed users to sign up without a phone number or other potentially identifying information, making it a favorite for security-minded groups including hackers, drug dealers and journalists.

In June, an NBC News investigation revealed that Wickr Me had become a go-to product for many people trading child sexual abuse material. The investigation identified 72 court cases from the past five years in which the defendant allegedly used Wickr (as it’s commonly known) to trade child sexual abuse material. Law enforcement officials and a representative for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children told NBC News at the time that Wickr wasn’t doing enough to detect or report the trading of such material on its platform.

In a statement provided to NBC News in June, an Amazon Web Services spokesperson said: “Amazon is committed to preventing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in every segment of our business, including Wickr, which maintains strict Terms of Use that clearly prohibit illegal activity. We act quickly on reports of illegal behavior, respond immediately to requests from law enforcement, and take the appropriate actions. Anyone found to be in violation of our terms is subject to account termination.”

“Wickr absolutely responds appropriately to, and cooperates with, law enforcement on these critical matters,” the spokesperson said.

In its statement in November, the company explained that it was shutting down Wickr Me to devote more resources and focus toward its business-to-business products, AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise. The post did not mention the business it has with government agencies, including the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.

When NBC News tried to create a new test account on the app on Jan. 1, it displayed a pop-up saying: “Wickr Me will not support new users starting 31-Dec-2022. Wickr Me will be unavailable after 31-Dec-2023.”

Wickr was founded in 2012, applying high-level encryption to a consumer-messaging product. By 2015, the company had raised $39 million in funding. That same year, numerous outlets reported that the Islamic State terrorist organization was using the app to recruit new members. In 2016, one of the first successful prosecutions against someone trading child pornography on the app was reported by the Deseret Morning News.

In June 2021, Wickr was acquired by Amazon Web Services. Since the acquisition, the company had faced questions about its government contracts with agencies like Customs and Border Protection, and attracted attention with its role in records-related scandals in which the app was used to automatically destroy government communications.

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How San Francisco can tackle two of its biggest issues: office vacancies and housing

January 3, 2023 Published by CNBC News

San Francisco is facing its highest office vacancy rate since 1993. Commercial real estate firm CBRE said in a recent report that 27.1 million square feet of a total of 90 million square feet is currently vacant.

“The issue started with the pandemic,” said Colin Yasukochi, CBRE’s executive director at its Tech Insights Center. “Prior to the pandemic, in the city of San Francisco, our office vacancy rate was about 4%. Which meant that 4% of all the space, the millions and millions of square feet of space that we had in the city, were vacant. Today, that number is more like 26%.”

With remote work gaining popularity, the problem is only expected to worsen. San Francisco has been referred to as the work-from-home capital of the United States, with the American Community Survey finding that 46% of employees in San Francisco worked from home in 2021, up from 7% in 2019.

To combat the rising number of office vacancies, one local legislator is pushing to convert empty office buildings into residential buildings. Matt Haney, a Democratic state Assembly member, says tackling the empty office problem could help the city take the much-needed steps it needs to address the housing crisis.

“What we can’t do is just leave these buildings empty. That would be bad for our city’s downtown. It would be a total waste,” Haney said. “There are some obvious things that we can look at, where we can meet some of the other needs that we have and actually solve another problem that we have, and that’s our housing crisis.”

Under the Housing Element, the state of California is mandating that San Francisco build 82,000 new units of housing, including affordable units meant for low-income residents, by 2031. In order to meet that goal, the city needs to build 10,000 units of housing per year starting next year. However, San Francisco Mayor London Breed believes that task is easier said than done due to the lack of support from local legislators.

“It’s going to require that we make some major changes that I know our legislative body is not going to be open to,” Breed said. “But if they don’t, what’s going to happen? State support for affordable housing is going to be taken away. Tax credits and all the things that we enjoy to support the ability for us to build housing in the first place in San Francisco is going to be taken away.”

The latest CBRE report published in early December said that office vacancies reached a nearly 30-year high in the third quarter with a vacancy rate of 25.5%. And those rising vacancy rates are having a major impact on the city’s economy.

“We are facing an over $700 million budget deficit, mostly as a result to the challenges around our empty office spaces, as well as we’re seeing businesses closed in the financial district,” Breed said.

CBRE data revealed that so far in 2022 there have been 42 office conversion completions in the U.S., but only 17% of those have been into multifamily homes, while 46% has been office-to-lab conversions.

“The rents that you can get for a life sciences lab space are much higher than office space. So it makes that conversion financially viable,” said Yasukochi. “We have high demand for residential still, but not at the price that would be required for a developer to be able to do that from a financial perspective.”

Under current market conditions, many developers lack incentives to build housing, and strict housing policies often mean developers go through lengthy processes that can turn a profitable project into one that loses money and time.

However, in many cases developers are already at a point where they are investing in costly upgrades. Office conversion typically takes place in older, Class C buildings in need of major repair and remodeling and often in unfavorable locations. While an office-to-residential conversion may require the stripping of a building, in most cases it’s still much cheaper than building from the ground up.

“The most important thing from a developer standpoint is what makes the most financial sense,” said Marc Babsin, president of Emerald Fund, a real estate development company that completed one of the largest office-to-residential conversions in the city at 100 Van Ness Ave.

“There’s a lot of things that are standing in the way of converting office to residential. The biggest one being that the numbers aren’t working today because construction costs are so high. There are things that the government could do to make it easier,” Babsin said.

The San Francisco mayor said the problem is that it takes a long time to build housing, especially given all the requirements.

“We have so many laws on the books already in terms of height limitations, in terms of open space, in terms of number of units, in terms of everything that you have to do to build,” Breed said. “And then on top of that, we make people go through an insane process which takes an extremely long time.”

While office-to-residential conversion is seen as a step in the right direction to address San Francisco’s housing crisis, it is years away from being a solution. Breed says the city needs to build more housing in any manner.

“We just need all housing,” she said. “You know affordable housing sounds good, but when you go through the process to try and get access to affordable housing in this city, it is hard and it is really, really challenging. And the system that we have tried to repair under state and federal law has been very, very difficult to work under. And so as far as I’m concerned, we need to be as aggressive as we can to get more housing built.”

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Vehicle slams into Manhattan restaurant leaving at least 18 people injured

January 3, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

At least 18 people were injured when a vehicle slammed into a restaurant in Manhattan, an FDNY spokesperson told Fox 5 NY.

At around 9 p.m. Monday evening, emergency workers rushed to West 204th Street and Broadway, where an SUV was seen idle on the sidewalk.

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Pictures from the scene showed an SUV crashed into the side of Inwood Bar & Grill.

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At least 18 people were taken to an area hospital after the crash, but the fire department said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

Police said the SUV ended up crashing into the restaurant after it was either hit by another car and pushed into the building or swerved into the building to avoid a crash, the New York Post reported.