Latest news with #983
TimesLIVE
09-05-2025
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
Nissan abandons plan for $1.1bn EV battery plant in southern Japan
Nissan Motor said on Friday it would abandon a plan to build a $1.1bn (R20,069,224,230) factory for electric vehicle batteries on Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu, marking the latest change of plans for the troubled carmaker. Japan's third-biggest carmaker had announced in January the plan for a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in the city of Kitakyushu that was set to create about 500 jobs with an investment of ¥153.3bn (R19,153,837,500). "Nissan is taking immediate turnaround actions and exploring all options to recover its performance," the company said about the decision, indicating a willingness at Nissan to scale back its domestic market ambitions. "After careful consideration of the investment efficiency, we have decided to cancel the construction of a new LFP battery plant in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture." The Japanese government had earmarked a subsidy of up to ¥55.7bn (R6,983,632,580) for the project. The plant was supposed to start supply in July 2028 or later and have an annual production capacity of 5GWh, materials posted on Japan's industry ministry's website showed. New CEO Ivan Espinosa, who took over from Makoto Uchida last month, is restructuring Nissan's operations. The company is shedding employees, reducing production capacity and closing plants. Nissan said last month it expects a record net loss of ¥700bn (R12,764,640,000,000) to ¥750bn (R94,042,200,000) for the financial year that ended in March due to impairment charges. The company is set to provide its outlook for the financial year and update on its recovery actions when it announces full-year financial results on Tuesday.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
It's past time to officially end state-sanctioned violence in schools
April 30 is International Day to End Corporal Punishment, and this year's theme is 'End State-Sanctioned Violence in Schools.' This is especially timely in North Carolina, since there are two bills (Senate Bill 714 and House Bill 983) in the legislature aimed at deleting the current statute that allows and provides immunity for public school personnel who 'intentionally inflict pain upon the body of a student as a form of punishment' up to the point that 'a student requires care beyond first aid'. (Yes, that's right, this grisly statute is still in place and yes, this is the twenty-first century.) Despite no organized opposition, neither bill is likely to get even a hearing in the legislature. If you'd like the back story, please read on. Virtually all developed countries (and a host of developing countries) prohibit the use of corporal punishment in the public schools. An exception is the United States, which leaves the issue to the states. Currently, 33 states have statutes prohibiting the practice. You already know that North Carolina, along with the entire south, still sanctions violence against public school students. Happily, there is a Tar Heel State anomaly: Taking advantage of permission granted by the state, all 115 local school districts prohibit the use of corporal punishment, and no student has been subject to the practice since 2018! This is essentially because more than 80 studies confirm that corporal punishment does not improve academic outcomes, but IS associated with negative effects on student educational and psychological development. Given this situation, the logical question is why is the state legislature reluctant to even consider honoring local decision-making by prohibiting corporal punishment by statute? The reason is embedded in the legislative process. While surveys of legislators indicate overwhelming support for prohibiting the practice, the process allows just a few legislators to block any bill. For example, the House and Senate Rules Committees, through which all bills must go, each has hundreds of bills waiting for a hearing. By rule, a bill must pass at least one chamber by the self-imposed deadline of May 8. This means most bills will die on that day, simply because the committee chair refused to give a bill a hearing. This will almost certainly be the case with the corporal punishment bills. It is generally thought that laws reflect the norms of a society. With regard to corporal punishment in the public schools of North Carolina, this is clearly not the case. It is comforting that all local school boards and administrations have taken steps to protect students. It is disconcerting, however, that the state legislature continues to tarnish our reputation by declining to remove a statute that no longer reflects who we are.
