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- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
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- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
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- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
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- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
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- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
- Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon to land
- Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
Honda, LG to invest $4.4 bn in US battery plant
Japanese auto giant Honda and South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution announced a joint venture Monday to invest $4.4 billion in a new US electric car battery plant.
The move comes after California last week ruled that all new cars sold in America's most populous state must be zero-emission from 2035, with other US states expected to follow suit.
In a joint statement, the firms said they expected construction of the plant to begin next year, aiming for "mass production of advanced lithium-ion battery cells by the end of 2025".
The tie-up was decided "based on the shared belief that expanding local electric vehicle production and ensuring the timely supply of batteries would put them in the best position to target the rapidly-growing North American EV market", the companies added.
Last month, Japanese electronics giant and Tesla supplier Panasonic announced its own $4 billion investment to build a new battery factory in the United States for electric vehicles.
Panasonic CEO Kazuo Tadanobu said the new plant, the company's second electric battery operation in the United States, was "critical to help meet demand".
Earlier this year, Honda said it planned to invest nearly $40 billion in electric vehicle technology over the next decade as it works towards switching all sales away from traditional fuel cars.
It wants to launch 30 EV models by 2030, with an annual production volume of more than two million units, and aim to have electric and fuel cell vehicles account for 100 percent of all sales by 2040.
The success of Elon Musk's Tesla, built solely on electric vehicles, and growing government pressure to move away from cars with combustion engines, are pushing traditional automakers to speed up the transition to electric.
Washington state's governor has backed a move similar to California, while the European Union has taken steps to ban the sale of gas- or diesel-fuelled cars -- and even hybrids -- by 2035.
China wants at least half of all new cars to be electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen-powered by that time.
X.Cheung--CPN