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☆ Factbox: CCS? CHAdeMO? EV charger terms you need to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Here are the terms and acronyms you need to know to understand the booming EV charger market. LEVEL UPEV chargers are classified in three categories: Level 1, Level 2 and DC fast chargers. CCS AND CHAdeMOThere are three types of DC fast charging systems - Tesla, SAE Combined Charging System (CCS) and CHAdeMO, which all use different plugs. THE U.S. NETWORKThe United States currently has a total of 50,821 public EV charging stations and 130,563 charging ports, DOE data showed. Chargers are distributed very unevenly across the country, with California accounting for nearly 30% of the total charging stations in the country.

☆ Exclusive: Huge chunk of plants, animals in U.S. at risk of extinction
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Brad Brooks | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

REUTERS/Luisa GonzalezFeb 6 (Reuters) - A leading conservation research group found that 40% of animals and 34% of plants in the United States are at risk of extinction, while 41% of ecosystems are facing collapse. Importantly, the report pinpoints the areas in the United States where land is unprotected and where animals and plants are facing the most threats. Nearly half of all cacti species are at risk of extinction, while 200 species of trees, including a maple-leaf oak found in Arkansas, are also at risk of disappearing. The threats against plants, animals and ecosystems are varied, the report found, but include "habitat degradation and land conversion, invasive species, damming and polluting of rivers, and climate change." California, Texas and the southeastern United States are where the highest percentages of plants, animals and ecosystems are at risk, the report found.

☆ Insurers Avoid Picking Up Businesses’ Covid-19 Pandemic Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

“If they assumed incorrectly, the mom-and-pop restaurants shouldn’t be penalized.”Federal appeals courts so far have rejected cases like Consolidated Restaurant’s. In January, the federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled against a range of businesses. With that decision, businesses had seen losses in 11 federal appeals courts, whose jurisdictions span nearly the entire country. Business interruption insurance policies are typically written to address harm to property: For instance, if a water-main break floods a sales floor, or a fire forces a business to close. In June, a Boston federal appeals court rejected a Covid insurance claim by a group of restaurants.

Permanent life insurance can build cash value. Beyond that, how do I use life insurance to build wealth? Financial planners and life insurance agents can help you create a budget to determine how much you can afford. Financial planners and life insurance agents can help you create a budget to determine how much you can afford. Before purchasing any life insurance policy, we recommend meeting with a financial planner or experienced life insurance agent.

☆ Mercedes-Benz says it has achieved Level 3 automation, which requires less driver input, surpassing the self-driving capabilities of Tesla and other major US automakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Mercedes-Benz announced it will introduce its Level 3 autonomous driving system in Nevada. Unlike a Level 2 system, which requires constant supervision from the driver as the vehicle steers and accelerates, Level 3 automation gives drivers more leeway. When The Drive's test pilot put a camera in front of his face, Mercedes's autonomous driving system disengaged. Some critics have also accused the company of misleading its customers by calling the company's autonomous driving system "Full Self-Driving." Spokespersons for Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, and SAE did not respond to a request for comment.

☆ Mercedes is the first automaker to deploy actual
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Mercedes’ Drive Pilot system is designed to work on highways in dense traffic at speeds of less than 40 miles per hour. The Mercedes system is considered Level 3 Automation, as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Even Tesla’s Autopilot and so-called “Full Self-Driving” technologies require that the driver pay attention to the road outside the car at all times. Among other technologies, the Mercedes system relies on lidar, which is similar to radar but uses laser light, rather than radio waves, to detect objects in its surroundings. The Mercedes system also uses a rear-facing a camera in the back window, a microphone to listen for emergency vehicles and road wetness sensors inside the wheel well.

☆ Britain's 2022 car production hits over six-decade low
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SMMT, an automotive trade association in the UK, said 775,014 cars were made in Britain in 2022. UK factories, however, produced a record 234,066 battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrid and hybrid electric vehicles, with combined volumes rising 4.5% year-on-year to account for almost a third of the overall car output. "These (total) figures reflect just how tough 2022 was for UK car manufacturing, though we still made more electric vehicles than ever before," SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said. Total annual output for the domestic UK market rose 9.4%, while exports dropped 14%. In December, the overall car production fell 17.9% over the year earlier, snapping two straight months of growth in output.

☆ UK car production is at its weakest since 1956. And the industry is losing the EV race
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —UK car manufacturing hit a 66-year low in 2022, as the closure of two plants, a global shortage of semiconductors and the effect of Covid lockdowns in China on auto supply chains crippled output. “The relationship between the UK and the EU, especially as you electrify, is still fundamental to the success of UK car manufacturing,” he said. UK factories made a record 234,066 electric vehicles in 2022, almost a third of all UK car production. Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India’s Tata Motors (TTM), are also positive about the prospects for electric vehicle manufacturing in the United Kingdom. “Our continued investment in our UK facilities … will herald an exciting new era of electric car production in the UK,” the company said.

☆ India's top carmaker Maruti's profit doubles on strong demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MRTI.NS) beat quarterly profit estimates and reported improved margins on Tuesday as the country's biggest carmaker benefitted from strong demand for its passenger cars, helped by festive sales. Profit for Maruti, which has over 40% market share in the country's passenger vehicles segment, more than doubled to 23.51 billion rupees ($288.5 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from 10.11 billion rupees a year ago. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 18.81 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Festive demand and improved availability of semiconductors pushed car sales up nearly 23% across companies last quarter, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers has said. Maruti, majority owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T), said vehicle sales rose to 465,911 units in the quarter from 430,668 units a year ago.

☆ India's Maruti tops Q3 profit view on strong passenger car demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MRTI.NS) reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, as the country's biggest carmaker benefitted from strong demand for its passenger cars, sending shares up as much as 2.4%. Profit for Maruti, which has over 40% market share in the country's passenger vehicles segment, came in at 23.51 billion rupees ($288.53 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with 10.11 billion rupees a year ago. Maruti, majority owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T), sold 465,911 vehicles in the quarter, up from 430,668 units the same quarter last year. The company said it had about 363,000 pending orders, out of which about 119,000 orders were for newly launched models. Analysts on average had expected the company to report a profit of 18.81 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

☆ An Apple a day could keep the layoffs away
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For many tech workers, however, this Lunar New Year was tainted with layoff anxiety. Apple is the only Big Tech company that hasn't conducted sweeping layoffs recently. Apple has long been a lone wolf among its Big Tech peers. The chart above shows how more tech workers were laid off in January 2023 than during the first half of 2022 combined. Read four of the memos in full here, from Google Chrome, Google Cloud, Google UK, and its Europe, the Middle East, and Africa offices.

☆ UK’s giga fail is economic not environmental
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The collapse of a key battery manufacturer probably doesn’t compromise the government’s plan for the country to switch to electric vehicles. Its failure, however, knocks some 30 gigawatt hours out of Britain’s future battery manufacturing industry, over half of Britain’s forecast capacity by 2030 according to the Faraday Institution. The government’s plans to phase out new sales of internal combustion engines by 2030 can probably survive, thanks to imports from the likes of China’s BYD (002594.SZ), (1211.HK). But boosting battery production for a domestic industry will be hard, given Britain’s lack of raw materials and trade barriers with Europe. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Hospitals rely on volunteers for $5 billion a year of free work — and some could be violating federal labor laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Lauren Sausser | Kaiser Health News | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The US health system benefits from potentially over $5 billion in free volunteer labor annually. Like paid employees, hospital volunteers typically face mandatory vaccine requirements, background checks, and patient privacy training. Hedges was furloughed for the better part of six months when hospital volunteers were sent home in March 2020. Nonprofit and for-profit hospitals alike benefit from volunteersNonprofit hospitals must follow federal labor laws, too. Nonprofit hospitals are required to provide a benefit to their communities, such as offering charity care, in exchange for their special tax status.

Liza LinLiza Lin covers Asia technology news for The Wall Street Journal from Singapore, focusing mostly on China, the internet, supply chains and surveillance. In 2021, Liza was part of a team at the Journal that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting, for their coverage of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Liza, alongside other Journal reporters, won the Gerald Loeb Award for International Reporting in 2018 for a series of stories on China's surveillance state. Liza is the co-author with Journal colleague Josh Chin of the book "Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control." A Fulbright scholar, she has also worked for Bloomberg News in Singapore and China.

Persons: Liza Lin Liza Lin, Liza, Xi Jinping, Gerald Loeb, Josh Chin Organizations: Wall, New York Press Club, Society of Publishers, Social Control, Bloomberg News Locations: Asia, Singapore, China, Shanghai

☆ How Anti-Abortion Activists Bought Access to the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Katherine Long | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

In exchange for as little as a few thousand dollars in contributions to the nonprofit, these people received easy access to events where Supreme Court justices would be. Supreme Court Historical society trustee Jay Sekulow, center, represented President Trump during the latter's impeachment trial in 2020. Anti-abortion advocates cheer in front of the Supreme Court after the decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores was announced in 2014. Alito did not respond to a request for comment on his involvement in the Supreme Court Historical Society. Supreme Court justices, though, aren't even required to stay within those weak guardrails because no code of ethics governs justices' behavior.

☆ UK car sales hit 30-year low
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The supply constraints saw many manufacturers prioritize the delivery of battery electric vehicles, which enjoyed record sales and overtook diesel cars for the first time in the UK market. Sales picked up in the last five months of the year, allowing the country to reclaim the position of Europe’s second-largest new car market by volume, behind only Germany. According to the SMMT, electric vehicles are now the second-most popular choice for new buyers after gasoline-powered cars. Diesel’s UK market share shrank by 40% on the previous year. In its most recent outlook, published in October, SMMT forecasts 1.8 million new car registrations in 2023, worth about £8.4 billion ($10 billion).

☆ India's utility vehicles sales rise in Dec, demand for entry-level cars muted
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Nandan Mandayam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, Jan 2 (Reuters) - India's top automakers in December reported a double-digit rise in the sale of the more expensive utility vehicles, while entry-level cars saw muted demand despite discounts. Auto sales numbers are keenly watched as they are among the key indicators for assessing private consumption, which has more than 50% weightage in calculating the country's economic growth. Utility vehicles (UV), among the fastest-growing segments, saw a 22.3% rise in sales at Maruti Suzuki India (MRTI.NS) and 62.2% at Mahindra and Mahindra (MAHM.NS). Hero MotoCorp (HROM.NS), the world's largest bikemaker, reported a marginal fall in sales, while Bajaj Auto's (BAJA.NS) two-wheeler sales dropped 22%. The commercial vehicles (CV) segment reported a double-digit growth for December, with sales at industry leaders Eicher Motors (EICH.NS) and Ashok Leyland (ASOK.NS) rising 17.3% and 44.9%, respectively.

☆ Gen Z lacks the communication and networking skills needed for the workforce. Companies need to train them.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Gen Z is falling behind in skills needed to enter the workforce. But experts say soft skills like communication and public speaking, which are more difficult to develop remotely, are holding Gen Z back. Insider spoke with three career coaches who explained the challenges of the Gen Z skills gap. Rezkalla mentioned that Gen Z has a harder time navigating LinkedIn because it's not as refined as other social media platforms. Companies will need to provide trainingThis soft-skills deficiency is not just a Gen Z problem, said career coach Anna Belyaeva.

Jon Bilous/ShutterstockPayout (per donation): usually $8,000 to $14,000Egg donation allows people whose ovaries do not produce healthy eggs to become pregnant using another person's donated eggs. At the NYU Langone Fertility Center in New York City, the compensation per egg donation cycle today is exactly $10,000 and includes a free medical screening. Weill Cornell Medicine outlines the standard steps for egg donation, which requires about a four-week time commitment. During the donation cycle, patients are injected with fertility drugs so that their ovaries make more eggs. You should be aware of the risks involved in the egg donation process before signing up.

The methods for counting COVID deaths have varied across countries in the nearly three years since the pandemic began. CAN CHINA'S COVID DATA BE TRUSTED? With one of the lowest COVID death tolls in the world, China has been routinely accused of downplaying infections and deaths for political reasons. Globally, the study estimated 18.2 million excess deaths in 2021-2022, compared with reported COVID deaths of 5.94 million. China actually cut its accumulated death toll by one on Dec. 20, bringing the total to 5,241.

☆ Beijing braces for surge in severe COVID cases as world watches with concern
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Bernard Orr | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/4] People wearing face masks commute in a subway station during morning rush hour, following the coronavirus disease ( COVID-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China January 20, 2021. China, which uses a narrow definition of what can be classified as COVID fatalities, reported no new COVID deaths for Dec. 20, compared with five the previous day. Severe cases rose by 53 across China on Tuesday, versus an increase of 23 the previous day. China does not provide absolute figures of severe cases. Blood clots, heart problems and sepsis - an extreme body response to infection - have caused countless deaths among COVID patients around the world.

LONDON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - India has been one of the strongest sources of global energy consumption growth in 2022 as the country's economy rebounded from the disruption and lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Generation has rebounded so fast it is now less than 1.5% below the pre-pandemic trend for 2015-2019, based on data from India's Central Electricity Authority. Chartbook: India energy consumptionManufacturing production has been gradually declining since the second quarter, based on estimates published by the Reserve Bank of India. As the country's external environment becomes increasingly adverse, energy consumption is likely to grow much more slowly in 2023. Related columns:- India's electricity shortage erased by renewables growth(Reuters, Nov. 25)- Dollar shock threatens global economy (Reuters, Sept. 29)- India's coal and electricity supplies are more comfortable this autumn (Reuters, Sept. 28)- John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst.

The agency did not respond to requests for comment on its record monitoring animal research experiments nationally. The USDA inspector general has published at least three reports since 2014 critical of the agency’s lax oversight, though its criticism dates back to the 1990s. Neuralink says on its website that it champions animal welfare and tries to reduce animal testing where possible. Two academic studies conducted in 2009 and 2012 found that animal research committees approved between 98% and 99% of experiments proposed by researchers. Envigo was made to sign the consent decree giving up the beagles only after the USDA inspector general and the Justice Department investigated and found evidence of inhumane treatment.

☆ Fact Check-There is no proof ultrasounds harm babies or mothers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

There is no evidence to suggest that ultrasound examinations during pregnancy are dangerous to fetuses, as some social media posts have falsely said. Experts contacted by Reuters said there were no signs of any increases in deaths or distress among babies or mothers who had standard ultrasounds or the more powerful Doppler ultrasound under medical supervision. A Doppler ultrasound also uses sound waves, but can also check blood flow. “Animal studies cannot be used as evidence as the ultrasound effects cannot be scaled and a small animal will suffer from much greater effects than human babies,” he said. Studies of ultrasounds used in human pregnancies have not found evidence of danger to the health of babies or mothers.

☆ America's lack of boardroom diversity isn't just a PR problem, it's a business problem that will make companies more vulnerable in a downturn
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

More than a dozen companies had no board members of color, according to the report, which relied on 2021 data. Along with a few partner organizations, Watts launched a program in August to help companies interview and select more board members from underrepresented backgrounds. Bessie Watts of Vista Equity Partners is working on a program to increase the pipeline of board members from underrepresented backgrounds. More CEOs are embracing not just the moral case for board diversity, but the business case, as well, Watts said. "We're able to meet and help support board members with valuable new insight."

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