Category News

A general strike against proposed austerity measures in Belgium has grounded flights and halted public transport networks.

Approximately 80,000 people took to the streets in Brussels’s city centre on Tuesday, police said, denouncing potential cuts to social welfare programmes.

Some of the protests devolved into scuffles, as police used tear gas and protesters set off flares and smoke bombs, according to The Associated Press news agency. Several dozen protesters were detained, AP reported.

Some demonstrators carried red prohibition signs with the number 67 on them, in reference to a planned increase in the retirement age. “Right to a pension at 65,” the signs read.

Others sported a picture of conservative Prime Minister Bart De Wever with the caption “wanted for pension theft”.

“We are heading towards a future that doesn’t look good,” one protester, 59-year-old Chantal Desmet, told the AFP news agency. “The government has to take notice.”

Flights cancelled at Brussels International

Walkouts from airport security staff caused all departing flights to be cancelled at the country’s main airport – Brussels International Airport – the facility said, while protests forced cuts on most of Brussels’s underground train, bus and tram lines, according to public transport operator STIB.

The protest is the latest this year against a push by De Wever’s coalition government – which faces a budget deficit that violates EU rules and is trying to find some $12bn in savings – to introduce cuts to pensions and healthcare systems.

But the prime minister’s plans have infuriated the country’s powerful trade unions, which are leading the protest and nationwide strikes.

“What really mobilises people are pensions,” Thierry Bodson, leader of the 1.5 million-member-strong FGTB union, said on the French-language state radio station RTBF.

“This government promised more sustainable jobs and increased purchasing power. Hot air! And once again, everyone is paying, except the rich,” said trade union CSC, as it urged people to join Tuesday’s protest.

The action is ramping up pressure on De Wever, who has pledged to cut deficits without raising taxes but is struggling to finalise next year’s budget.

General Motors will take a $1.6bn hit in the third quarter as it reshapes its electric vehicle strategy following the scrapping of a key federal incentive that is likely to dampen demand.

The carmaker, based in Detroit, Michigan in the US, announced the news on Tuesday.

The company’s disclosure is one of the clearest indications yet that United States automakers are scrambling to adapt their production plans in response to slowing demand for electric vehicles (EVs).

The EV market also faces fresh strain after the administration of US President Donald Trump scrapped a $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles, a key industry support, with auto executives warning of a sharp near-term drop in battery-car sales before an eventual rebound.

In a filing, GM said it expects “the adoption rate of EVs to slow” following recent policy changes, including the termination of certain consumer tax incentives and reduced emissions-rule stringency.

“The charge is a special item driven by our expectation that EV volumes will be lower than planned because of market conditions and the changed regulatory and policy environment,” GM told the  Reuters news agency in a statement.

Carmakers are also working to cushion the impact of Trump’s tariffs, which forced GM to take a $1.1bn hit in the previous quarter.

The company has estimated a bottom-line impact of $4bn to $5bn this year from trade headwinds and said it could take steps to offset at least 30 percent of the blow.

“The charge doesn’t come as a surprise given recent market developments and the fact GM had made probably the most aggressive EV push of any traditional automaker,” said Garrett Nelson, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.

“We think the automakers who chose to invest more heavily in hybrid vehicle development, such as Toyota and Honda, are poised to benefit in the US auto market.”

More charges

Both GM and crosstown rival Ford had launched a programme that would have allowed dealers to offer a $7,500 tax credit on EV leases after the federal subsidy expired, before walking back on those plans.

The carmaker warned of possible further charges as it reassesses capacity and manufacturing footprint.

The changes will, however, not affect GM’s current portfolio of its Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac EVs that are in production.

Charges include a $1.2bn non-cash impairment tied to EV capacity adjustments and $400m for contract cancellation fees and commercial settlements.

GM said the charges will be recorded as adjustments to non-GAAP results for the third quarter, scheduled for early next week.

A federal judge in the United States has ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump has violated a previous court order by implementing a nearly identical policy that again made state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement a condition for receiving grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

On Tuesday, District Judge William Smith in Providence, Rhode Island, wrote that the Department of Homeland Security had done precisely what his September 24 ruling forbade when it imposed new immigration-related conditions that states must accept before they may obtain emergency preparedness grants from FEMA.

In his earlier ruling, the judge had struck down conditions the department originally had imposed on grant awards.

At the time, 20 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia had argued the restrictions were designed to coerce them into adhering to the Republican president’s hardline immigration crackdown.

After Smith’s initial ruling, the administration issued new grant award documents to the states with nearly identical immigration enforcement conditions but with a clause saying they would only become effective if Smith’s ruling was stayed or overturned.

Smith said the “fig leaf conditional nature of the requirement makes little difference” as the administration was again unlawfully forcing the states to agree to assist in federal immigration enforcement or else forgo millions of dollars in funding.

“Defendants’ new condition is not a good faith effort to comply with the order; it is a ham-handed attempt to bully the states into making promises they have no obligation to make at the risk of losing critical disaster and other funding already appropriated by Congress,” Smith wrote.

The judge, an appointee of former Republican President George W Bush, blocked the new conditions from being enforced and required the administration to amend the grant award documents by next week.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The administration had argued it had complied with Smith’s earlier decision and had merely been seeking to preserve its ability to enforce the immigration-related conditions in the event his ruling was later overturned.