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☆ EU and US green arms race misses bigger picture
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Rebecca Christie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

BRUSSELS, March 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The European Union’s pushback on aggressive U.S. green production incentives is taking shape. In pushing back against Washington’s green industrial aid, Europe has a case for deploying trade and state-aid means in the short term to support its green industries. An expensive green arms race with its allies would be the wrong road to go down. The European Union on March 9 announced that it would loosen state aid rules up until 2025 to give member states more scope on green technology subsidies. Other responses to the 2022 U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $369 billion in green technology subsidies, are in the works.

☆ Brussels to curb imports of Chinese green tech -FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 15 (Reuters) - The European Union is planning to introduce restrictions on the import of green technologies from China, reducing the chances of Chinese companies winning public contracts and creating additional barriers for buyers seeking subsidies, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Public procurement bids using products from a country with more than 65% EU market share would be downgraded, the report said, citing a draft of the Net Zero Industry Act seen by the newspaper. The European Commission's trade directorate is, however, concerned that the proposed revisions to the public procurement rule book may violate international law, people familiar with the matter told FT.On Tuesday, Financial Times had reported that the European Union was seeking fresh ways to monitor how European companies invest in production facilities overseas, in an attempt to limit China's ability to acquire new technologies from the West. Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler and Marguerita ChoyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Sierra Space taps veteran Boeing lobbyist to helm new government strategy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - Sierra Nevada Corp's space unit, Sierra Space, has tapped Boeing's former top lobbyist to lead a new, more aggressive government relations shop as the company courts government customers for its planned commercial space station. Tim Keating, a veteran political strategist who pushed Boeing through numerous procurement campaigns for over a decade, joined Sierra in early March as its Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President of Global Government Operations, Keating told Reuters. Sierra Space, owned by billionaire couple Fatih and Eren Ozmen, is one of a handful of space industry players attempting to build a private space station that NASA hopes will replace the two decade-old International Space Station by 2030. "It wasn't really the emphasis, and now we're going to build out a team," Keating, who was also senior vice president of global government relations at Honeywell, said in an interview. Partnering with billionaire Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Sierra sees NASA and other countries' space agencies as crucial early customers for its planned space station, a massive orbital research lab and tourist destination dubbed Orbital Reef.

☆ India-Russia defence firm eyes $200 mln missile deal with Indonesia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Devjyot Ghoshal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The company has been in protracted negotiations with Indonesia and details about the size and timeline of a potential deal have not been previously reported. "I have a team right now in Jakarta," Rane told Reuters in an interview, adding that a deal could be in place within the year. "The defence forces of Indonesia are extremely interested." A spokesperson for the Philippine Department of National Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Western-led sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have not impacted BrahMos production or planning, said Rane.

☆ Silk-FAW drops plan to build Italian plant for electric sports cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The facility was part of a wider plan to invest more than a 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to build electric cars in Italy under the Hongqi brand. The document includes acknowledgement by the Emilia-Romagna region of Silk-FAW's decision. Silk-FAW did not respond to a request for comment via the company's website. Two sources close to the matter said Italian prosecutors were investigating the Silk-FAW project. Silk-FAW did not respond to a separate request for comment on the matter via the company's website.

☆ How self-service data analytics can deliver better business insights more quickly
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Bob Violino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

That's exactly what self-service analytics is designed to do. Self-service analytics tools allow business users who are not trained in analytics or data science to perform queries and generate reports on their own, with minimal or no need of support from the IT department. Unfortunately, even with all the advances in products, analytics has not penetrated enterprises as much as it could, Menninger said. Two technical advances are helping improve self-service analytics, Menninger said. "With self-service analytics, we can consume and analyze multiple years of data, compared to previous spreadsheet-based data-wrangling methods that were limited to just 90 days of data."

☆ Biden wants $886 billion defense budget with eyes on Ukraine and future wars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Mike Stone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The total amount of the 2024 budget proposal is $28 billion more than last year's $858 billion. Congress has passed an annual defense budget for more than 60 years. Biden's budget request also speeds the Department of Defense's pace for buying the stealthy F-35 fighter jet to 83. The 2023 budget request asked for 61 F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin and Congress increased that number to 77. The budget would benefit the biggest U.S. defense contractors including Lockheed, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and General Dynamics Corp (GD.N).

☆ Venture Capital Investors Are Trying to Take Over Pandemic Response
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

Private capital has been eyeing public health for years. Several founders and investors told me that the failure of Kleiner's fund made Silicon Valley wary of investing in pandemic preparedness. Venture investors love that kind of thing. Public health and private industryWhen COVID hit, Charity Dean was the assistant director of the California Department of Public Health. In the end, almost every pandemic-related product created by Silicon Valley will ultimately require the government as a primary customer.

Iran has acknowledged sending drones to Russia but said they were sent before Russia's February 2022 invasion on Ukraine. Moscow has denied its forces used Iranian drones in Ukraine. The U.S. move on Thursday comes after the United States has accused China of considering supplying arms to Russia and warned Beijing against such a move. Moscow and Tehran have moved to forge closer relations after Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, prompting sweeping Western sanctions. Russia and Iran, which is also under Western sanctions, are among the world's largest oil exporters.

☆ Canada's top general concerned military lacks capacity to lead Haiti mission
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Steve Scherer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

OTTAWA, March 9 (Reuters) - Canada's top general said he was concerned that his country's armed forces, already stretched thin by support for Ukraine and NATO, do not have the capacity to lead a possible security mission to Haiti. Canada over the past year has spent more than C$1 billion ($724 million) in military assistance to Ukraine. The armed forces are struggling with recruiting and donations to Ukraine have cut into some military stocks, Eyre said. Canada's military is "actively planning" expanding to brigade strength in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's defense mission in Latvia, called Operation Reassurance, which it leads, Eyre said. Canada Defence Minister Anita Anand on Thursday announced plans to purchase portable anti-tank missile systems, counter uncrewed aircraft systems, and air defence systems for the Latvian mission.

HOUSTON, March 6 (Reuters) - Guyana's coming auction of offshore oil exploration blocks has lured at least 10 companies including Shell, Petrobras and Chevron, to consider the decade's hottest oil region, people close to the matter said. Guyana also has begun direct negotiations on the 14 blocks and other areas with governments that have state-controlled oil companies. The proposed rules will nearly double the government's take from oil production to 27.5% of royalties and profit oil, plus a new 10% corporate tax, compared to Exxon's main contract. "We believe it is asymmetric now, and a bit in favor of the companies," Jagdeo said. The Exxon group can use 75% of the oil production to offset a variety of costs, including construction of its new Guyana headquarters.

☆ China leans on coal amid energy security push
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Andrew Hayley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Soaring global energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and domestic supply disruption have prompted Beijing to step up its focus on energy security in recent years. Fluctuating output from renewable plants, however, has led policymakers to lean on reliable and easily dispatchable coal power to shore up the country's baseload supply. "The energy security narrative is still going strong," said Greenpeace China policy advisor Li Shuo. Concerned about supply shortages amid high global prices, the planner pledged to "strictly control the expansion of projects to replace coal with natural gas". "(We shall) develop sound mechanisms to adjust urban end-user prices of natural gas in step with procurement costs," the report said.

LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - The European Union's executive body is set to provide permits, regulatory support and easier access to public and private funding for certain strategic green technologies, according to a draft document seen by Reuters. Certain technologies, such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), were not included in the draft as potential candidates for the support scheme. The rules would also support auctions to deploy renewable energy sources, adapt innovation funds and provide easier access to public-private procurement. If the goals aren't achieved by 2030, the European Commission will propose "additional measures aimed at covering the identified gaps," the draft says. The European Commission declined to comment on the draft document, which an industry source said was expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Summary Customs delays, tariff uncertainty and soaring global demand have hiked solar costs and delayed projects as the U.S. weans itself off Chinese dependence. The Biden administration's Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act (UFLPA) prevents the import of goods produced using forced labour in China’s Xinjiang Province, including much of the polysilicon used in solar panels. UFLPA checks have blocked panel imports at the U.S. border, delaying projects and driving up project costs. CHART: Solar manufacturing capacity by country, regionSource: International Energy Agency's Report on Solar PV Global Supply Chains, August 2022The UFLPA requires visibility into labour practices along the solar value chain. Lightsource bp has contracted for more than 20 million solar panels through 2028 and is considering imports from Southeast Asia, Turkey and India, Smith said.

☆ The Twitter leaders Elon Musk put in place keep quitting or getting fired. See who's left and who's recently been hired, including engineers from Google's DeepMind and a Tesla superfan.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

About half of the 20 people who reported to Elon Musk after his takeover have left Twitter. Musk has hired some new people, including engineers who may be working on an AI project. Elon Musk's Twitter is ruled by chaos. None have been directly replaced, the people familiar said, although Musk has also hired some new people from outside his companies. Below is a complete list of who Musk set as his direct reports, including those who have already left the company.

☆ Defence contractors target Australia as it gears up to counter China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Jamie Freed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The firms are pushing for billions of dollars' worth of purchases expected after Australia's long-awaited defence strategic review (DSR) is made public next month, setting out the force structure and equipment required over the next decade. The government's aim is to "speed up the acquisition cycle" and move as quickly as possible once the review is public, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy told reporters on Wednesday. Australia ranked 12th globally in military spending in 2021 at $31.8 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Lockheed was selected last year alongside Raytheon Technologies Corp (RTX.N) to accelerate the manufacture and delivery of guided weapons to Australia. In-country assembly, and eventually manufacturing, are a focus of the project that aims to build local stockpiles, said Ken Kota, vice president of Lockheed's Australian defence strategic capabilities office.

☆ Meet the top 8 lawyers helping startups patent artificial intelligence and comply with rules on privacy and safety
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AI startups must secure patents and manage concerns about bias, safety, and security risks. Artificial-intelligence startups are continuing to draw venture-capital support, pulling in some $72 billion in 2022, according to data from PitchBook. For one thing, AI poses questions around the kind of privacy and safety issues that can be subject to regulation and government oversight. Meanwhile, novel uses of AI technology have already brought unusual legal questions up to the courts. That kind of work also often leads to more work for regulatory, litigation and other attorneys with expertise in AI technology, who can advise on procurement contracts, risks involving software, and cybersecurity.

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Situation in besieged Bakhmut worsens; Belarus says it can produce 'any type of weapon' with Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday that Russia and Belarus are capable of producing "any type of weapon" and can export such products to 57 countries around the world, circumventing sanctions on weapons production. "Despite unprecedented sanctions pressure, we produce sufficient quantities of weapons and military equipment to meet the needs of the Belarusian army. are concerned, kudos to those who preserved the legacy of the Soviet Union, and therefore, together with Russia, we are capable of manufacturing any type of weapon," Lukashenko added. The U.S. has warned Beijing against giving weapons to Russia as Moscow looks for other sources of military hardware. Belarus has sought to stay out of actively participating in the war while assisting Russia in terms where it can, having allowed Russia to launch its initial invasion of northern Ukraine from Belarusian territory.

☆ The US military created an illusion of success in Afghanistan by handling tasks it was supposed to train Afghan troops to do, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A new watchdog report details how Afghanistan's security forces collapsed in August 2021. It said the US handled tasks that it was supposed to be training Afghan troops how to do. Washington lacked the political will and effort to actually develop an Afghan security force in a "war-torn and impoverished country," which is a monumental task. Additionally, the report placed blame on the Afghan government, which it said was riddled with corruption that trickled down into the military. "However, nothing affected morale more than the realization in February 2021 that US military forces were leaving."

☆ A post-Erdogan Turkey could come in from the cold
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Hugo Dixon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The six-party coalition challenging the ruling AK Party plans to stamp out inflation, which official figures put at 58%. The six-party coalition should probably do this pre-emptively to gain extra economic credibility, though it seems unlikely to do so. These have soared following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, as some Western goods now go to Russia via Turkey. Nathalie Tocci, a former special adviser to two EU foreign policy supremos, shares this view. But it is not too early to think about how to bring Turkey in from the cold if he loses.

☆ U.S. cyber official praises Apple security and suggests Microsoft, Twitter need to step it up
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Jen Easterly, nominee to be the Director of the Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on June 10, 2021 in Washington, DC. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly held up Apple as a positive example of accountability and transparency for its security practices during a speech delivered Monday at Carnegie Mellon University. In doing so, Easterly said, "Apple is taking ownership for the security outcomes of their users." By contrast, Easterly said there are low MFA adoption rates at Microsoft and Twitter. "By providing radical transparency around MFA adoption, these organizations are helping shine a light on the necessity of security by default," Easterly said, per her prepared remarks.

☆ Space Force is taking a 'mutual fund approach' to buying rocket launches
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Earlier this month the Space Force kicked off the process to buy five years worth of launches, under a lucrative program known as National Security Space Launch Phase 3. The U.S. military is preparing to buy another round of rocket launches from companies next year, and Space Force leadership says they're taking a new "mutual fund approach" to the acquisition strategy. But, with a number of companies bringing rockets to market, Space Force is splitting NSSL Phase 3 into two groups for about 70 launches. Space Force leadership named several companies that can now compete in the dual-track process, including Rocket Lab , Relativity and ABL Space. Separately, Space Force is closely watching the growing demand for commercial launches.

☆ Moderna misses on earnings as costs rise from surplus production capacity, lower Covid shot demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Moderna on Thursday missed earnings expectation for the fourth quarter, as costs rose from surplus production capacity and lower demand for its Covid-19 vaccine, the company's only product on the market. Moderna reported quarterly earnings of $3.61 per share, a 68% decrease from the same period in 2021 when it booked $11.29 per share. Moderna has signed contracts for $5 billion in Covid vaccine deliveries for 2023. Moderna estimates U.S. market volume in fall 2023 will be 100 million doses, said Arpa Garay, the company's chief commercial officer. Garay said Moderna will leverage the infrastructure it already has in place for Covid to launch the RSV vaccine.

That money was to be given in $2 billion annual installments of Foreign Military Financing, or FMF, grants over five years. Republicans accused Biden's administration of failing to advocate strongly enough for the Taiwan grants, given that his fellow Democrats controlled both the Senate and House last year. "Securing FMF funding is always a challenge given the tight budget constraints, even for priority partners like Taiwan," said Eric Lee of the Project 2049 Institute think tank. "I would prefer to see a revival of FMF grants, but with clear strings attached," said Michael Hunzeker, a Taiwan military expert at George Mason University. Grants to buy specific weapons could be made on condition of Taiwan showing further moves toward asymmetric defense, he said.

Feb 21 (Reuters) - Medtronic Plc (MDT.N) said on Tuesday it expects inflation in various markets to hit its profit in the next fiscal year after the medical device maker beat earnings estimate for the third quarter on strong demand for its heart and diabetes devices. While inflation in many countries has eased in recent months, the management expects a delayed improvement in its earnings as its costs remain high. "VBP has affected us more than many of our competitors, given the size and breadth of our business in China. Stifel analyst Rick Wise expects Medtronic to get past pricing pressure in China in "the not too distant future". Reporting by Leroy Leo and Mariam E Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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