Toyota Land Cruiser customers in Japan face four-year wait
Motor industry giant Toyota has warned customers in Japan that they will have to wait for up to four years to take delivery of its new Land Cruiser SUV.
The world's biggest carmaker says the delay is not related to the global chip shortage or the supply chain crisis.
However, it refused to comment on the reasons behind the long delivery time.
Meanwhile, Toyota says it is slowing production at up to 11 plants in Japan due to rising Covid-19 infections among its workers and at parts suppliers
.
"As Land Cruiser is very popular, not just in Japan but around the world, we apologise it is expected to take a long time before we can deliver the product," Toyota said on its website.
"There is a possibility it could take up to four years if you order now. We will continue to shorten the delivery time and we appreciate your understanding."
The company also said "This delay is not related to current semiconductor shortage or supply chain issue."
The BBC understands that there has been strong demand for the new model of the Land Cruiser and that Toyota is considering ramping up production in the medium and long-term.
Launched in 1951, the Land Cruiser is Toyota's longest-selling vehicle, with a total of 10.6 million sold as of August last year.
In recent months - like many of its rival car makers including General Motors, Ford, Nissan, Daimler, BMW and Renault - the firm has been forced to cut vehicle production.
Last month, Toyota announced that it would extend stoppages at some of its factories in Japan as it continued to feel the impact of supply chain issues.
The firm said its components factories in South East Asia had faced disruptions due to the pandemic, with Land Cruiser and Lexus production being hit by the delays.
Earlier last year, the company said it would slash its worldwide vehicle production by 40% in September because of the chip shortage.
Toyota's shares were around 2.7% lower in Tokyo trade on Friday.
The latest announcement came after a surge in cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Japan since the start of this year.
Source - BBC
A Connecticut woman is suing Instagram's parent company Meta and Snap Inc.
Selena Rodriguez, an 11-year-old resident of the town of Enfield, committed suicide last year.
The lawsuit alleges that her death was caused by the potentially dangerous features of the platforms.
The case comes amid growing fears over the impact of social media on children.
According to a statement from the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC) - which filed the suit in California on behalf of Selena's mother, Tammy - the young girl suffered from an "extreme" addiction to Instagram and Snapchat.
Ms Rodriguez confiscated her daughter's devices on multiple occasions, only to have her run away to use social media, according to the SMVLC.
"On multiple occasions, Selena received mental health treatment for her addiction," the statement said. "One outpatient therapist who evaluated Selena remarked that she had never seen a patient as addicted to social media."
Before her suicide on 21 July 2021, Selena had allegedly suffered from sleep deprivation and depression for months, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic began and she spent more time on social media.
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Selena was repeatedly solicited for sexually exploitative content, which she ultimately shared.
The images were then leaked and shared by her classmates, leading to a deterioration of her mental state and eventually to her suicide.
The lawsuit, which was filed in a federal courtroom in California on Friday, alleges that both social media giants "knowingly and purposefully" designed and marketed products that were harmful to a "significant" number of their underage users.
"[The] defendants intentionally created an attractive nuisance to young children but failed to provide adequate safeguards from the harmful effects they knew were occurring on their wholly owned and controlled digital premises," the lawsuit says.
In a statement sent to the BBC, a Snap spokesperson said the company was "devastated" to hear of Selena's death, although it declined to comment on the lawsuit specifically.
"Nothing is more important to us than the wellbeing of our community," the spokesperson said, adding that it helps people communicate with friends "without some of the public pressure and social comparison features of traditional social media platforms".
The spokesperson added that it "intentionally makes it hard for strangers to contact young people" and is working with mental health organisations to provide in-app tools and resources.
Meta - the parent company of Facebook - did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.
The lawsuit comes as US lawmakers and the public have grown increasingly concerned over the impact of social media on young people.
In November, former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen told lawmakers the company was harming children, but alleged that it "won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people".
Afterward, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent a letter to staff - made public on his Facebook page - that the company cares "deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health".
Source - BBC
Netflix faces rocky road after pandemic wins
The number of Netflix subscribers grew to 222 million last year, but the streaming firm is facing a rocky road ahead as the surge of interest it saw during the pandemic fades.
Overall, Netflix added 18.2 million members last year - roughly half the number who subscribed in 2020.
Investors had hoped that pace would start to pick up again.
But the firm's 2022 forecast brought bad news, sending shares down almost 20% in after-hours trade.
The firm said it expected to add just 2.5 million members in the three months to March - far lower than analysts had expected.
"While retention and engagement remain healthy, acquisition growth has not yet re-accelerated to pre-Covid levels," Netflix said, pointing to "Covid overhang and macro-economic hardship" in parts of the world like Latin America.
Netflix, which added 8.3 million subscribers in the last three months of 2021, maintained that there is room to grow, as more and more people switch away from traditional television.
But it admitted that new competition from the likes of Disney, Apple, Amazon and HBO was starting to have an impact.
"Consumers have always had many choices when it comes to their entertainment time - competition that has only intensified over the last 24 months as entertainment companies all around the world develop their own streaming offering," the firm said.
"While this added competition may be affecting our marginal growth some, we continue to grow in every country and region in which these new streaming alternatives have launched."
Netflix is spending billions of dollars on content to keep viewers interested. Hits during the last three months of the year included a new season of The Witcher fantasy television series and the satire Don't Look Up - which has already become the second most popular film ever for the company.
But the firm, which recently raised prices in the US and Canada, is facing rising costs and other challenges - the strengthening of the dollar will cost the firm $1bn alone, it said.
"Squid Games creator Netflix has gone from a fairytale to some difficult viewing when it comes to subscriber forecasts - the most important metric for streaming services," said Laura Hoy, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"The group's forecast for new subscriptions in the current period came in at just over half of last year's figure," she said. "Management blamed a back-loaded content schedule that will see several big releases come out at the end of the quarter, but investors were undeniably spooked by the slower growth forecast."
Revenue increased by 16% for October, November and December, compared to the same period a year earlier, hitting $7.7bn. Quarterly profits increased 12% to $607m. For the year, profits jumped from $2.7bn to $5.1bn, while revenue grew by 19% to $26.7bn.
Source - BBC
Tupac Shakur "Wake Me When I'm Free" museum exhibit opens in Los Angeles
The legacy of the late Tupac Shakur is explored in an immersive museum experience titled "Wake Me When I'm Free," which opened Friday at The Canvas @ L.A. Live in Los Angeles.
Created in collaboration with the Shakur Estate, "Wake Me When I'm Free" is described as "part museum, part art installation, part sensory experience."
In a promo video for the exhibit, the Poetic Justice star is heard in an archival audio clip saying, "I rap about wrongs and injustices that are done to all people, Black, white, women, men... I'm a young Black male so I have more experience with the injustices and problems happening to young Black males."
Tupac adds, "I always go for the underdog. I believe in the underdog. Anybody, no matter who it is, if you are getting beat down, fight back. That's what I believe and I'm telling people through my music that that's what I believe."
The "California Love" rapper was always known as a rebel, which he confirmed with the words "I'm not going to try to assimilate. I'm gonna be myself."
Tupac died on September 13, 1996, six days after being shot while riding in Las Vegas with Death Row Records founder Suge Knight. He was 25 years old.
Source - ABC
Two Canadians have been shot dead and another injured in a Mexican Resort
Two Canadians have been shot dead and another injured after a dispute among guests at a hotel resort near Cancún, Mexico, local security officials say.
Gunfire erupted on Friday at the Hotel Xcaret Mexico in the tourist town of Playa del Carmen, about 70km (45 miles) south of Cancún on the Caribbean coast.
Photos of the suspected gunman were posted online by regional police chief Lucio Hernández Gutiérrez.
The attacker, a hotel guest, is still at large and a manhunt is underway.
CCTV photos show the attacker in a light blue tracksuit. In one photo he is seen holding a gun. In another, he appears to hold a mobile phone and a third photo shows him sitting in a lounge chair.
The police chief said the gun was fired during "an argument among hotel guests".
The Quintana Roo state prosecutor's office said both victims had criminal records. A spokeswoman for Canada's foreign ministry told the BBC: "Global Affairs Canada is aware of reports that Canadian citizens have been affected by an incident in Mexico.
"Consular officials are contacting local authorities to gather more information and stand ready to provide consular assistance." Graphic video posted online shows the incident appears to have unfolded near an outdoor dining area.
There have been a worrying spate of attacks on foreign tourists in the Mayan Riviera region in recent months.
A shootout at a busy beach in Cancún in early November left two suspected drug dealers dead. Four Americans tourists were shot in the attack, which officials determined to be an assassination by a rival gang.
In October, an American and a German tourist were killed in crossfire between two drug gangs in the resort town of Tulum.
The recent crime wave led President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to send 1,500 members of the National Guard to patrol the region.
Source - BBC
UN launches a deadly air strike on Yemen prison
The UN has condemned an air strike on a Yemen detention centre that has killed more than 70 people.
The facility in Saada, a stronghold of the rebel Houthi movement in north-western Yemen, was hit on Friday.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that the "escalation needs to stop".
In a statement on Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in the country denied it had carried out the air strike.
The coalition also said the site was not on a list of targets to avoid that had been agreed with the UN and had not been reported by the Red Cross.
Saudi-led coalition forces have been fighting Houthi rebels since 2015. Tens of thousands of civilians, including more than 10,000 children, have been killed or wounded as a direct result of the fighting.
Millions have been displaced and much of the population stands on the brink of famine.
Hours after the air strike, rescue workers were still pulling bodies out of the rubble, and hopes of finding survivors are fading, says BBC Middle East correspondent Anna Foster.
The exact death toll is unclear. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said at least 70 people were killed, though the number is expected to rise.
Houthi-run television showed pictures from the scene of men clearing debris with their hands and of wounded at a local hospital. MSF said one hospital had received more than 200 casualties.
"There are many bodies still at the scene of the air strike, many missing people," Ahmed Mahat, MSF chief in Yemen, told AFP news agency. "It is impossible to know how many people have been killed. It seems to have been a horrific act of violence.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called for de-escalation.
Further south, three children were killed as they were playing football when an air strike hit a telecommunications facility in the rebel-held port city of Hudaydah, Save the Children aid agency said.
There was a near countrywide internet outage around the same time, which Houthi media blamed on the attack on the telecommunications site.
Saudi Arabia said the coalition had carried out air strikes in Hudaydah.
The coalition has stepped up air strikes since the Houthis carried out a rare drone and missile attack on the UAE on Monday. Three civilians were killed in what was the first deadly attack of its kind in the emirates.
Source - BBC
Second man charged in connection with plot to kill Haitian President
The United States Department of Justice said that a dual Haitian-Chilean citizen has been arrested on charges of his alleged involvement in the assassination of the 53-year-old Haitian President, Jovenel Moise, who was gunned down at his private residence on July 7 last year.
In a statement, the DOJ said that Rodolphe Jaar, 49, had been charged with conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States and providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap.
Jaar is the second individual to be charged and arrested in the United States for his role in the assassination plot.
According to the complaint, which was unsealed on Wednesday, the defendant and others, including a group of approximately 20 Colombian citizens and a number of dual Haitian-American citizens, participated in a plot to kidnap or kill Moise.
“In particular, as alleged, Jaar was present when another conspirator, described as “Co-conspirator #1, secured the signature of a former Haitian judge on a written request for assistance to further the arrest and imprisonment of President Moise,” according to the complaint.
It said that on June 28, 2021, Co-conspirator #1, a dual Haitian-American citizen travelled from Haiti to the United States in furtherance of the conspiracy and provided other individuals with the document, and flew from Florida back to Haiti on July 1, 2021, to participate in the operation against the president.
“As alleged in the complaint, while the plot initially focused on conducting a kidnapping of the Haitian President as part of a purported arrest operation, it ultimately resulted in a plot to kill the president. The complaint alleges that on July 7, 2021, various co-conspirators entered President Moise’s residence in Haiti with the intent and purpose of killing him, and in fact the president was killed.”
The DOJ said that as alleged in the complaint, Jaar was responsible for providing weapons to the Colombian co-conspirators to facilitate carrying out the operation; several of the Colombian co-conspirators also stayed at a residence controlled by Jaar.
After the assassination, Jaar allegedly communicated with Co-conspirator #1 and others to assist the Colombians and Co-conspirator #1 while they were in hiding from Haitian authorities, according to the DOJ statement.
It said Co-conspirator #1 was subsequently arrested by Haitian authorities and remains in custody in Haiti. Jaar was arrested in the Dominican Republic and agreed to travel to the United States. He is currently in custody and appeared in a Miami court on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren Louisin of the Southern District of Florida for his initial appearance.
If convicted of the charges in the complaint, Jaar faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
“A criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” the DOJ added.
Source - CMC
Leader of the opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) resigns
Less than 48 hours after she led the main opposition Democratic Party (DLP) to its second worst defeat in its history, attorney Verla De Peiza has submitted her resignation, media reports here have said.
The DLP lost by a 30-nil margin in Wednesday’s general election that saw Prime Minister Mia Mottley become only the second Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leader to lead a party that has swept all the seats in the Parliament on consecutive occasions.
renada’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell has accomplished the feat on three occasions, with the last occasion being the 2018 general election when his New National Party (NNP) won all 15 seats in the Parliament.
Media reports said that DLP officials were meeting on Friday, a public holiday here in honour of the island’s first prime minister, Errol Barrow, to discuss the resignation
De Peiza, 50, who was elected to the post in August 2018 after the party suffered its first whitewash at the hands of the BLP, had said following the general election results early Thursday morning that “as far as the party is concerned, we will regroup, not tonight, but sometime in the future, and will communicate with you what we are doing.”
Source - CMC
REINWALD LEWIS APPOINTED AS EDUCATION OFFICER
Mr. Reinwald Lewis also has received a new appointment to the post of Education Officer within the Ministry of Education, Labour, Employment and Customer Services.
Mr. Lewis who holds a Diploma in the teaching of History and Science from Mico Teachers College in Kingston Jamaica, upon completing his studies, he served at the Iris Stubbs Primary School in South Caicos for two years from 1991-1993 before leaving the islands to pursue a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History (Second Class Honours, Upper Division) at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.
Returning to the islands in 1996, Mr. Lewis was appointed as a History teacher at the Helena Jones (HJ) Robinson High School and in 2000 was appointed as the Head of the Humanities Department before being promoted to the post of Vice Principal of that school in 2004 and to the post of Principal in 2005.
During the course of his service, Mr. Lewis has completed: a Certificate in School Administration from the TCI Community College; a Master’s of Science in Public Administration and Development (MPAD) from the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, in 2012; participated in TCIG’s 21st Century Principal Course in 2014 and completed a Professional Development Workshop in Educational Leadership and Reflective Practices ran in conjunction with UWI, Cave Hill Campus.
He has also served as the Chairperson of the National Council of External Examinations since 2012; as a member of the Caribbean Association of Principals of Secondary Schools and as one of TCI’s representatives at the CXC’s annual Governance Meetings including the CXC’s Final Accounts Committee between 2017 -2020.
Commenting on his appointment Mr. Lewis said:
“I would like to thank God for the opportunity that I have been blessed with, to continue to serve the course of Education in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
I would also like to thank all those persons who played a role in my development to this point.
It is therefore with a humble and grateful heart that I accept the challenge that this new opportunity presents and look forward to serving in this new capacity!”
Deputy Governor and Head of the Public Service Her Excellency Anya Williams in extending congratulatory remarks to Mr. Lewis said:
“It gives me great pleasure to congratulate Mr. Reinwald Lewis on his appointment to the post of Education Officer within the Ministry of Education, Labour, Employment and Customer Services where he among other things, will serve as the Schools Supervisor with oversight of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) programs here in the TCI.
I would like to commend Mr. Lewis for his 30 years of service to education in these islands; 25 of which to the HJ Robinson High School, including 16 years as its Principal.
During this period, he would have helped to shape many lives here in the islands and for this we and the entire HJRHS family are very grateful.
We wish him all the best on his promotion as he takes on a new journey as an Education Officer here in these islands with wider responsibilities.
Congratulations Mr. Lewis!”
JULIET ARTHUR-THELWELL APPOINTED AS EDUCATION OFFICER
The Office of the Deputy Governor has announced the appointment of Mrs. Juliet Arthur-Thelwell to the post of Education Officer within the Ministry of Education, Labour, Employment and Customer Services.
Mrs. Arthur-Thelwell holds a Diploma in Primary Education (Hons.) from Shortwood Teachers College; a Bachelor’s Degree (Hons.) in School Administration from the University of the West Indies and a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management from Leicester University with plans to commence a PHD in Public Policy Making and Administration in January 2022.
Her journey in the public service began as a Clerical Officer in the year 2000; excelling over the years to various posts in the public service including as the former Human Resource Manager of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force and as the former Principal of the Eliza Simons Primary School in Grand Turk.
Commenting on her appointment Mrs. Arthur-Thelwell said:
“I express appreciation for the opportunity that has been afforded me to serve as an Education Officer within the Department of Education, in the Ministry of Education, Labour, Employment and Customer Services.
I stand on the words of Elizabeth Warren, " A Good Education is a Foundation for a Better Future."
I thank God for his continued blessings and I am elated to further assist with the advancement of our school systems.
Deputy Governor and Head of the Public Service Her Excellency Anya Williams in extending congratulatory remarks to Mrs. Arthur-Thelwell said:
“Congratulations is extended to Mrs. Juliet Arthur-Thelwell on her appointment to the post of Education Officer within the Ministry of Education, Labour, Employment and Customer Services where she will serve as the Schools Supervisor with oversight of the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA).
With over 20 years’ experience in the public service in various fields including education and human resource management, we are certain that Juliet who we are sure will be missed by the Eliza Simons school family, will do well in this new role as she moves on from overseeing one to many different schools in a different capacity.
Congratulations on your promotion Mrs. Arthur-Thelwell!”