AFP

US rental car giant Hertz will buy up to 175,000 electric vehicles from General Motors by the end of 2027, the companies announced Tuesday, as the auto industry grapples with concerns over climate change and petroleum dependency.

First deliveries, which will consist of BOLT EVs and EUVs, should take place in the first quarter of 2023, according to the joint statement.

Subsequent purchases will depend on how fast General Motors (GM) ramps up production of electric vehicles. The automaker says it plans to manufacture one million a year in North America by 2025. 

Hertz will be able to select from GM’s Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac and BrightDrop EV brands, according to the press release.

“With the vehicle choice, technology and driving range we’re delivering, I’m confident that each rental experience will further increase purchase consideration for our products and drive growth for our company,” GM CEO Mary Barra said.

Hertz, which is aiming for one-quarter of its fleet to be comprised of electric vehicles by 2024, has already signed agreements for 100,000 Teslas and 65,000 Polestars, an electric car firm controlled by Sweden’s Volvo and its Chinese owner Geely.

While gasoline-powered cars still dominate US roads, auto giants are unveiling more and more EVs as they pump billions of dollars in investment in a bid to wrest control of a growing market from Tesla and newer upstarts.

In addition to its agreement with Hertz, GM announced Tuesday it has entered into a partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund to ensure that at least 50 percent of its new vehicles sold by 2030 are zero emitting.

The end goal is to eliminate all tailpipe emissions from passenger vehicles sold by GM by 2035, Barra said.

Forty-seven people in the northern US state of Minnesota have been charged in connection with a $240 million Covid relief fraud scheme, officials said Tuesday.

“Today’s indictments describe an egregious plot to steal public funds meant to care for children in need in what amounts to the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme yet,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.

The Justice Department alleged that the defendants diverted tens of millions of dollars disbursed under the Federal Child Nutrition Program to feed needy children during the Covid pandemic.

Among those charged is Aimee Bock, 41, the founder and executive director of Feeding Our Future, a non-profit organization that was a sponsor of the Federal Child Nutrition Program.

“Feeding Our Future employees recruited individuals and entities to open Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout the state of Minnesota,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

“These sites, created and operated by the defendants and others, fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day,” it said.

Instead, they submitted false invoices and fraudulent meal count sheets using fake names of children.

According to the Justice Department, Feeding Our Future claimed to have opened more than 250 sites throughout the state of Minnesota during the pandemic.

“The defendants used the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, residential and commercial real estate in Minnesota as well as property in Ohio and Kentucky, real estate in Kenya and Turkey, and to fund international travel,” the department said.

The defendants face an array of charges ranging from wire fraud to federal programs bribery to money laundering. 

The scandal-hit Golden Globes, one of Hollywood’s most important awards events, are to return to television next year, organizers said Tuesday, after being dumped by broadcasters and shunned by industry figures over ethics lapses.

The awards, voted for by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), have traditionally been seen as second only in importance to the Oscars.

But disquiet grew around the HFPA over accusations of racism, sexism, bullying and corruption, with television rights-holder NBC last year pulling the plug on its annual awards broadcast.

“We are thrilled to announce the return of the Golden Globe Awards on NBC and to hosting the ‘Party of the Year’ for audiences around the world who have been waiting for its return,” said Helen Hoehne, HFPA president.

“The HFPA remains committed to important changes and supporting programs which prioritize diversity, inclusion, and transparency.”

The organization found itself in the spotlight following a 2021 investigation by the Los Angeles Times that showed it did not have a single Black member at the time.

That opened the floodgates for criticism from across Hollywood to burst out into the open, including from A-list stars such as Tom Cruise.

As it sought to stave off attacks, the HFPA — made up of entertainment writers connected to foreign publications — rushed through reforms, including admitting its biggest ever annual intake of new members last year.

It also banned members from accepting lavish gifts and hotel stays from studios courting their votes — a near-constant source of criticism, including from acerbic British comic Ricky Gervais as he hosted the ceremony — and highlighted its philanthropic work.

In a press release on Tuesday, the HFPA said there were 103 new voting members, representing 62 countries.

“Combined with the current HFPA membership, the total Golden Globe Awards voting body is now 52 percent female (and) 51.5 percent racially and ethnically diverse,” the statement said.

– One-year deal –

The show has in the past been broadcast around the world and often featured big name presenters honoring stars from both film and television.

It will return to NBC in a one-year deal, which organizers said will allow them “to explore new opportunities for domestic and global distribution across a variety of platforms in the future.”

Frances Berwick of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming hailed the return to TV.

“We recognize the HFPA’s commitment to ongoing change and look forward to welcoming back the Golden Globes to NBC for its landmark 80th Anniversary in January 2023,” she said.

The Globes went ahead in January this year with neither audience nor media in attendance, dishing out prizes to “The Power of the Dog” and “West Side Story.”

None of the stars were present at the Beverly Hilton, with the ceremony held behind closed doors, and with no livestream, leaving the world to learn of the winners via tweet.

Studios and movie makers largely opted not to openly celebrate their wins, but “West Side Story” star Ariana DeBose acknowledged her award, while cautioning that reforms must continue at the HFPA.

“There is still work to be done, but when you’ve worked so hard on a project — infused with blood, sweat, tears and love — having the work seen and acknowledged is always going to be special,” she tweeted. 

US central bankers opened their two-day policy meeting on Tuesday with another steep interest rate hike seen as a near certainty amid stubbornly high inflation.

American families have felt the squeeze of soaring prices, which have risen at the fastest pace since the early 1980s, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has made it clear officials will continue to act aggressively to cool the economy.

Many economists are expecting a third straight three-quarter point rate hike when the meeting concludes Wednesday, an unprecedented action.

Fed officials have been united in the message that the US central bank cannot risk letting inflation take hold due to the damaging impact on workers and businesses, but analysts warn that the risks of recession are rising.

“The inflation rate will continue to call the tune for the path of monetary policy, despite rising risks of a recession in 2023,” said Kathy Bostjancic of Oxford Economics, who projects a downturn early next year. 

“We see higher-for-longer inflation, more aggressive Fed monetary policy tightening, and negative spillover effects from a weakening global backdrop combining to push the US economy into a mild recession in H1 2023.”

The Fed’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is scheduled to announce its decision at 1600 GMT Wednesday.

Markets have been roiled in recent days by the decidedly hawkish statements from central bankers, and Powell’s press conference after the meeting will be closely scrutinized for information on what he thinks the next steps will be.

– More hikes coming? –

Despite the welcome drop in gasoline prices at the pump in recent weeks, the disappointing consumer price report for August, released last week, showed housing, food and medical costs continued to rise. And when volatile food and energy prices are stripped out, so-called core inflation accelerated.

It is not just current high inflation that concerns policymakers, but the fear that consumers and businesses begin to expect rising prices will become a permanent feature, which could set off a dangerous spiral and a phenomenon called stagflation.

That fear has driven the Fed to front-load its rate hikes, rather than pursuing the more customary course of small, gradual steps over a longer period. 

The US central bank has cranked up the benchmark lending rate four times this year, including two straight three-quarter-point hikes in June and July.

The aim is to raise the cost of borrowing and cool demand — and it is having an impact: Home mortgage rates have now topped six percent for the first time since 2008.

And recent statements from Fed officials indicate more rate hikes are coming, and no cuts until inflation is under control — dousing hopes that had built up in markets following the July policy meeting.

The FOMC also will release the quarterly forecasts from members, which will show how they feel about the direction of the economy and the impact of the policy moves, and how soon inflation will come down.

Moscow-held regions of Ukraine will urgently vote on annexation by Russia, separatist officials said Tuesday, as Kyiv’s troops wrest back territory captured by Moscow’s forces.

Separatist authorities in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, said they would hold the vote over five days beginning Friday this week.

The regions are on the frontlines of a sweeping Ukrainian counter-offensive that has seen Kyiv’s forces retake hundreds of towns and villages that had been controlled by Russia for months.

Their integration into Russia would represent a major escalation of the conflict as Moscow could try to say it was defending its own territory from Ukrainian forces.

Washington, Berlin and Paris denounced the ballots and said the international community would never recognise the results while NATO said the votes marked a “further escalation” of the war.

Kyiv said the “sham” referendums were meaningless and vowed to “eliminate” threats posed by Russia, saying its forces would keep retaking territory regardless of what Moscow or its proxies announced.

Denis Miroshnichenko, a separatist leader in the Lugansk region, said pro-Moscow lawmakers had voted to hold the vote from September 23 to 27.

Shortly afterwards, a news portal associated with separatist authorities in Donetsk said the region would hold a ballot over the same dates.

Large parts of the industrial Donbas area — made up of Donetsk and Lugansk — have been controlled by Moscow-backed separatists since 2014, after nationwide demonstrations ousted a Kremlin-friendly Ukrainian president.

– ‘Restore historical justice’ –

Russia at the time annexed the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea from Ukraine with a vote that was criticised by Kyiv and the West, which imposed sanctions in response.

Ahead of the announcement by separatist and pro-Moscow leaders, Russia’s lower house of parliament drafted new legislation tightening prison time for soldiers who surrender, desert or loot.

Authorities in the southern Kherson region of Ukraine also announced on Tuesday they would hold a vote over the same dates.

“The incorporation of the Kherson region into the Russian Federation will secure our territory and restore historical justice,” said the Moscow-installed head of that region, Vladimir Saldo.

He echoed a phrase used earlier in the day by Russia’s former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev who invoked correcting historical wrongs, but also said the votes would bolster Russian forces.

“Encroachment into Russian territory is a crime and if it is committed, that allows you to use all possible force in self-defence,” Medvedev, now the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said on social media. 

Pro-Moscow authorities in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region — home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant — also announced they would hold a vote on the region’s “territorial allegiance”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, vowed a decisive response from Kyiv.

– ‘Sham’ votes –

“Ukraine will solve the Russian issue. The threat can be eliminated only by force,” Yermak said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz denounced the “sham” votes and said they must be rejected by the international community. French President Emmanuel Macron called them a “travesty”.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the referendums were “an affront to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

“If this does transpire, the United States will never recognize Russia’s claims to any purportedly annexed parts of Ukraine,” he said.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the referendums would change nothing.

“Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories and will keep liberating them whatever Russia has to say,” he said in a statement online.

At the United Nations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a “dignified way out” of the seven-month crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion.

The votes come at a decisive moment.

Ukraine’s forces in the east are now pushing towards the village of Bilogorivka whose capture by Russia in May decimated Moscow’s forces as they crossed the Siverskyi Donets river nearby.

Political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said the vote announcements were a direct result of the success of Ukraine’s counter-offensive in east Ukraine.

Putin, she said, wants to threaten the full use of Russia’s military, including nuclear weapons, in defending Russian territory, including newly annexed regions.

“Putin does not want to win this war on the battlefield. Putin wants to force Kyiv to surrender without a fight,” she said.

The head of Russian state-media group, RT, Margarita Simonyan said the announcements marked either “the eve of our imminent victory or the eve of nuclear war”.

Speaking with newly appointed foreign ambassadors in Moscow on Tuesday ahead of the opening of the UN General Assembly, Putin said that Russia would pursue its “sovereign course.” 

The Russian leader earlier Tuesday met with defence industry representatives and demanded the sector “resolve the problem of the prompt and full provision of defense industry factories with domestically-manufactured components”.