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☆ BP’s German wind option risks multiple blowbacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( George Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

But Germany also aims to raise as much cash as possible from selling wind power development rights. But wind projects around the world have been hit by turbine makers like Siemens Gamesa and Vestas (VWS.CO)hiking prices in 2022 by 30%. Shaking down the private sector is fine, but not if you’re left with no wind projects. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsFollow @gfhay on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSOil majors BP and TotalEnergies have won a 7 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind site auction in Germany worth 12.6 billion euros ($13.96 billion). BP’s initial payments totaling 678 million euros, equivalent to 10% of the bid amount, will be paid by July 2024.

Persons: Bernard Looney, TotalEnergies, Looney, TotalEnergies ’, Patrick Pouyanné, Bernstein, you’re, BP, Aimee Donnellan, Pranav Kiran, Streisand Neto Organizations: Reuters, BP, Bernstein Research, Siemens, Reuters Graphics Reuters, TotalEnergies, Federal, Thomson Locations: Germany, Berlin, U.S, Heligoland, Baltic, Ruegen, Europe, TotalEnergies

☆ NATO's opportunity, a green energy backlash and France's streets
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

As NATO reshapes its strategy in response to Russia’s campaign, access to new member Finland and hopeful applicant Sweden opens ways for allies to watch and contain Moscow. In Texas, a local government effort to build a federally subsidized clean hydrogen hub is sparking opposition from environmental groups worried about the project’s voracious water demand. Plus, Pacific countries worry about a planned water release from Fukushima and the latest in France. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Organizations: Apple, Google, Reuters, NATO, Thomson Locations: Finland, Sweden, Moscow, In Texas, Fukushima, France

☆ Paris city government to study to what extent humans and rats can live together
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Joshua Berlinger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Paris CNN —Can humans and rats live together? Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is forming a committee to study “cohabitation” – to what extent humans and rodents can live together – one of her deputies said Thursday during a city council meeting. Boulard had called upon the city government to outline a more ambitious plan against the proliferation of rats in public spaces. The study is being financed by the French government, though the city of Paris is a partner in the project. She added that she was asking the French High Council on Public Health to weigh in on the debate.

Persons: Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, –, Anne Souyris, Paris, Geoffroy Boulard, Boulard, Hidalgo, ” Boulard, Souyris, ”, Paris Animaux Zoopolis, “ Organizations: Paris CNN, Paris Mayor, Paris, Republican, Twitter, French High Council, Public Health, “, CNN Locations: Paris, PAZ

☆ Energy Tax Credits, Meant to Help U.S. Suppliers, May Be Hard to Get
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Lydia Depillis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The law offers tax credits that could cover up to 70 percent of a renewable energy project’s cost if it checks several boxes meant to support American workers and communities. The resulting frustration is emblematic of the current stage of climate action: an eye-straining haze of technical rule-making that reflects a tension between urgency and ensuring that the benefits of the energy transition are widely shared. Wally Adeyemo, the deputy secretary of the Treasury, expressed confidence that in combination, the rules would strike that balance. “It isn’t about any one rule, it’s about an ecosystem of rules that have been created under the I.R.A. that put us in a position to go from a country that had underinvested in the clean energy transition to being at the head of the pack.”

Persons: Biden, —, Wally Adeyemo, Mr, Adeyemo Organizations: Treasury Locations: United States

☆ The double-decker airplane seat is back. Here’s what it looks like now
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Francesca Street | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

It might not sound particularly appealing on paper, but 23-year-old airplane seat designer Alejandro Núñez Vicente believes double-level seating is the future of economy flying. You may have seen a photo of Núñez Vicente’s Chaise Longue Airplane Seat prototype floating around the internet. Núñez Vicente envisages an airplane cabin in which the Chaise Longue is in the center, flanked by two rows of regular airplane seating. He says he designed the Chaise Longue to solve the airplane seat conundrum – not make it worse. The earlier iteration of the Chaise Longue Airplane Seat at AIX 2022.

Persons: Germany CNN —, Alejandro Núñez Vicente, Núñez, ” Núñez Vicente, ”, Núñez Vicente, they’ve, he’s, “, “ It’s, it’s, ” Alejandro Núñez Vicente, ’ ”, Núñez Vicente’s, Francesca Street, CNN Núñez Vicente, Clara Service Soto, van, didn’t, you’re, “ there’s, Service Soto, “ We’re, Vicente, He’s Organizations: Germany CNN, CNN Travel, Aircraft, legroom, 1OFF, CNN, AIX, Clara, Service, “ Locations: Hamburg, Germany, “, Madrid, Spain, Europe

☆ Saudi Soccer League Creates Huge Fund to Sign Global Stars
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Tariq Panja | Ahmed Al Omran | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deals involved were private. League officials also did not respond to requests for comment about the plans. The project comes on the heels of a surprisingly strong performance by Saudi Arabia at last year’s men’s World Cup in Qatar. The team’s run included a stunning victory over the eventual champion, Argentina, which stoked pride on the Saudi streets and in the halls of power in Riyadh. The project’s goal is not so much to make the Saudi league an equal of century-old competitions like England’s Premier League or other top European competitions, but to increase Saudi influence in the sport, and perhaps boost its profile as it bids for the 2030 World Cup.

Persons: Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema, Garry Cook, Cook Organizations: Saudi, Real Madrid, British, Nike, Manchester City, United Arab Emirates, League, England’s Premier League Locations: Argentina, French, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Saudi, Riyadh

☆ Walmart Finds AI—With Human Control—Is Useful for Cybersecurity
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( James Rundle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Generative AI systems like ChatGPT might enhance that ability further. “There’s scale, and then there’s Walmart scale,” he said, speaking at the WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Forum held virtually Wednesday. Its cybersecurity tools generate around 6 trillion data points annually, and it blocks 8.5 billion malicious bots a month. It’s also a problem for human analysts, who can’t comb through the information they need quickly enough. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Cybersecurity news, analysis and insights from WSJ's global team of reporters and editors.

Persons: Rob Duhart, Duhart, It’s, ”, ‘, We’ve, James Rundle Organizations: Walmart, Red Team Locations: james.rundle

☆ Manchin's Mountain Valley Pipeline would get the green light debt ceiling deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Ella Nilsen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The conservative Democrat from West Virginia, who has been critical of the Biden administration’s environmental goals, praised the White House and congressional Republicans this week. “All of a sudden, [the White House] did their job, they negotiated. Manchin has been critical of Biden's climate goals, but praised the White House and congressional Republicans this week for their work on the debt ceiling deal. White House officials backed Manchin’s effort last year, and climate and energy officials – including White House senior adviser John Podesta and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm – voiced support for approving the pipeline more recently. A Hail Mary effort to remove itThere could be a last-ditch effort to undo the pipeline piece of the debt ceiling bill.

Persons: CNN — Sen, Joe Manchin’s, Virginia –, Manchin, Kevin McCarthy, ” Manchin, “, Joe Biden’s, Justin Pearson, Kent Nishimura, Biden, ”, Abdullah Hasan, West Virginia’s Marcellus, James Van Nostrand, John Podesta, Jennifer Granholm –, Chuck Schumer, Mary, Sen, Tim Kaine, “ Sen, Kaine Organizations: CNN, Democratic, Democrat, Biden, White, Republicans, West, Appeals, Fourth Circuit, Keck, Environmental, Los Angeles Times, West Virginia University, White House, Energy, DC, Senate, Virginia Democrats, House, Republican, Kaine Locations: West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, clawing, West, Utica, Texas

☆ North Korea spent the pandemic building a huge border wall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

As the pandemic began, North Korea moved to seal its northern borders, tightening control over informal trade routes and making escape harder for defectors. Nov. 16, 2019 Minimal security features visible along North Korea’s border with Russia. Food shortages in North Korea have worsened in recent months, due in part to the border closures, according to international experts. Still, he said, there were reports of foreign shows such as the South Korean hit “Squid Game” finding their way into North Korea. “It's all the more reason for the international community to step up efforts to support North Korean rights,” he said.

☆ Lawmakers Crack Down on Wind-Turbine Lights That Flash All Night
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Shannon Najmabadi | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A wind farm project’s lights can be seen from a house in Marshall County, Kan. VIDEO: Gayla RandelFor pilots flying over rural America, a string of red lights flashing along the horizon is a warning that there might be a wind farm ahead. But for many residents on the ground, the lights are an eyesore that has ruined their view of the night sky and disrupted the bucolic stillness that defined their counties.

☆ What Cheetahs, Armadillos and Whales Revealed About Human DNA
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Carl Zimmer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It has been 20 years since scientists put together the first rough draft of the human genome, the three billion genetic letters of DNA tightly wound inside most of our cells. Today, scientists are still struggling to decipher it. But a batch of studies published in Science on Thursday has cast a bright light into the dark recesses of the human genome by comparing it with those of 239 other mammals, including narwhals, cheetahs and screaming hairy armadillos. By tracing this genomic evolution over the past 100 million years, the so-called Zoonomia Project has revealed millions of stretches of human DNA that have changed little since our shrew-like ancestors scurried in the shadows of dinosaurs. These ancient genetic elements most likely carry out essential functions in our bodies today, the project found, and mutations within them can put us at risk of a range of diseases.

☆ Ocean census aims to discover 100,000 marine species
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Researchers have embarked on an ambitious global initiative to discover and record marine life hidden in the world’s oceans. Ocean Census aims to identify 100,000 unknown species in the next 10 years, allowing scientists to better understand and protect the deep-sea ecosystem. The initiative builds on past projects such as the Census of Marine Life, which concluded in 2010 and identified 6,000 potential new ocean species. Ocean Census will also help to identify how marine ecosystems are responding to the climate crisis, and assess how marine life could adapt to a warmer climate. The project is being led by Nekton, a UK-based marine science and conservation institute, and funded by The Nippon Foundation, a nonprofit foundation based in Japan.

☆ Barack Obama goes to work in first trailer for his new Netflix docuseries
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

That’s the question former President Barack Obama is asking in his new Netflix docuseries, “Working: What We Do All Day.”The four-part series, narrated by Obama, “explores the ways in which we find meaning in our work and how our experiences and struggles connect us on a human level,” according to a Netflix description of the project. “Working: What We Do All Day” is directed by Caroline Suh, with Barack and Michelle Obama among the project’s executive producers. Luke Starcher and President Barack Obama in "Working: What We Do All Day." Ben Solomon/NetflixThe series is a joint production between Concordia Studio and Higher Ground, which was founded by the Obamas in 2018. Their company has released more than 10 film and television titles, including the 2020 Oscar-winning documentary feature, “American Factory.”“Working: What We Do All Day” premieres May 17 on Netflix.

☆ What Was Twitter, Anyway?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Willy Staley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Dorsey had nurtured the basic idea of Twitter for years — a site that would be like AOL Instant Messenger’s “away message” for anywhere, or “a more ‘live’ LiveJournal,” as he put it in a post on Flickr. But Williams, who created Blogger and sold it to Google for millions, came to see something else in Twitter: To him, its potential lay in its ability to create a running record of what was going on in the outside world. Dorsey was insistent that it was the latter: “You’re talking about your status as you look at the fire.”To Dorsey, the fact that Twitter creates a record of the world would be an incidental byproduct of all this status-sharing. He posted it to Twitter with a brief caption. Dorsey and Williams were correct to identify this as a conflict, even if they could not design or engineer it away.

☆ U.S. and China wage war beneath the waves – over internet cables
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +28 min

Three of China’s state-owned carriers – China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), China Mobile Limited and China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd (China Unicom) – had committed funding as members of the consortium, which also included U.S.-based Microsoft Corp and French telecom firm Orange SA, according to six people involved in the deal. China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and Orange did not respond to requests for comment. China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom were resolutely behind HMN Tech, which had come in with a bid of around $500 million. China Telecom and China Mobile threatened to walk off the project, taking tens of millions of dollars of investment with them. Among them is China Telecom, which had previously won authorization to provide services in the United States.

ConocoPhillips had sought to build up to five drill sites, dozens of miles of roads, seven bridges and pipelines. The Interior Department approved the project with three drill pads after saying last month that it was concerned about the greenhouse gas impacts of Willow. Its Bureau of Land Management last month recommended a "preferred alternative" that includes three drill sites and less surface infrastructure than originally proposed. The decision comes after the Biden administration on Sunday announced new protections for Alaskan land and water. Environmental groups criticized the Biden administration, saying it was trying to have it "both way" on climate change.

☆ Three Years Into Covid, We Still Don’t Know How to Talk About It
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jon Mooallem | Photographs Ashley Gilbertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +53 min

It will play out and reverberate for years or decades, Hagen told me. “The pathological normal,” Hagen calls it: a patchwork of homespun, bespoke realities, each one invested in a different story about what exactly happened when Covid ruptured the story of our lives. garb.”More than once, life seemed to be attaining “an uncanny resemblance to normal life,” as one man put it. But because we don’t totally understand where that experience has delivered us, we don’t know the right gloss to give it. “The days are strange,” one public-school teacher told Milstein toward the end of his first interview, in May 2020.

☆ Elon Musk pledged transparency at Twitter. But he’s walling off researchers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But Twitter’s changes erecting a paywall for API access may jeopardize all that, Tromble and other researchers said. Undermining the fight against botsMusk has framed Twitter’s API restrictions as part of his wider effort to stamp out spammy, automated accounts. Ironically, however, Musk’s looming changes to the Twitter API might make it harder to study bot behavior on Twitter. API access has provided a critical resource for that work. “The researchers who were signed up to the program have heard nothing from the company in months, since Musk’s acquisition.”Adding to Twitter’s scrutiny by regulatorsBeyond the immediate impact to researchers, Twitter’s transparency issues could land the company in hot water with policymakers.

☆ China says it successfully cloned 3 highly productive ‘super cows’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

They were cloned from highly productive cows from the Holstein Friesian breed, which originated in the Netherlands. The chosen animals are capable of producing 18 tons of milk per year, or 100 tons of milk in their lifetimes. The scientists made 120 cloned embryos from the ear cells of the highly productive cows and placed them in surrogate cows, according to the Technology Daily. Jin Yaping, the project’s lead scientist, called the birth of the “super cows” a “breakthrough” that allows China to preserve the very best cows “in an economically feasible way,” the state-run newspaper Global Times reported. But some highly productive cows are not identified until the end of their lives, making it difficult to breed them, Jin said.

☆ They Poured Their Savings Into Homes That Were Never Built
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Isabelle Qian | Agnes Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +13 min

We talked to four people who emptied their life savings and took out huge loans for homes that have not been completed. “It was a simple dream — to have a home, a family,” Mr. Tang said. Mr. Tang, who works in a restaurant, sold a small place he had out in the countryside. “When I think about the unfinished apartment, it’s as if I’m falling from heaven to hell, ” Mr. Tang said. Homeowners atop one of the unfinished apartment towers call for construction to fully resume.

☆ Sun Cable project: Billionaires' feud over Australia-Singapore cable escalates
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The proposed Sun Cable project would see a subsea cable stretch from Darwin to Singapore. A statement from Cannon-Brookes’ private investment arm, Grok Ventures, suggested all investors except Forrest’s investment arm Squadron Energy remain committed to the cable. Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance, says the export of green hydrogen (hydrogen generated from renewable energy) is at least a decade away. “The market for green hydrogen exports has sort of deflated quite dramatically when people realize there’ll be a decade or two before you can actually ship green hydrogen anywhere overseas,” he said. For example, Xlinks plans to run a cable almost as long and powerful from Morocco to the United Kingdom.

Therefore, experts say, hiring Black teachers is necessary to address the racial disparities that lead to poor educational outcomes and criminalization for Black children. Furthermore, advocates say that Black students who don’t have Black teachers are less likely to become teachers themselves, so commitments to diversifying the industry must start early on in the classroom. The Black Teacher Project in Oakland, California, works with Black teachers to “reimagine schools as communities of liberated learning,” the Project’s website reads. It also teaches educators how to implement restorative practices in their classrooms and invites them to retreats to foster community among Black teachers. “Therefore, the Black Teacher Project’s motto is ‘Every child deserves a Black teacher.’”

Work is finally underway on the world’s largest radio astronomy observatory. Known as the Square Kilometre Array, the mega telescope consists of huge clusters of dishes and antennas spread across remote parts of South Africa and Western Australia. The Square Kilometre Array has been called one of the biggest scientific projects of the 21st century. A journey to deliver the world’s largest scientific instrument,” she said in a statement. The South African component will consist of nearly 200 dishes, expanded from the 64-dish MeerKAT telescope that already exists on the site.

☆ Abandoned Greek airport to be transformed into a 600-acre coastal park
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Nell Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

Tegel Projekt GmbH/Atelier Loidl Kai Tak International Airport, Hong Kong -- With a runway that protruded into the sea, Kai Tak International Airport in Hong Kong once had one of the most arresting approaches in the world. PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/AFP via Getty Images Hellinikon International Airport, Athens, Greece -- Hellinikon was once the only international airport in Athens, Greece, before Hellinikon was once the only international airport in Athens, Greece, before closing down in 2001 . Developer LAMDA is looking to complete the first phase of construction in 2025 courtesy LAMDA Development Stapleton International Airport, Denver, Colorado -- A photo of Stapleton International Airport from 1963. The grounds of the old airport became the 125-hectare (309-acre) Quito replaced its main airport with another bearing the same name. RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP/AFP via Getty Images Downsview Airport, Toronto -- Downsview Airport in north Toronto was once a Canadian Air Force base.

Persons: Sasaki, ”, Michael Grove, Eero Saarinen, Kai, Kok, FREDERIC J . BROWN, Kai Tak, PHILIPPE LOPEZ, Hellinikon, Milos Bicanski, Ken Tillis, Lisa Martine, Sean Gallup, Maja Hitij, RODRIGO BUENDIA, Eleni Myrivilli, …, Aleksandra Kazmierczak, it’s, we’re Organizations: CNN, Ellinikon International, Games, Charleston Waterfront Park, Newcastle University, Tegel Airport, Tegel Projekt, Kai Tak International Airport, Kai Tak International, Getty, Foster + Partners, AFP, Stapleton International Airport, Denver International Airport, Denver, Getty Images, Airport, CNN Galeville Army, Galeville, United States Military Academy, West, Wildlife Refuge, Fish and Wildlife, Wildlife, Nazi, Maja, Mariscal Sucre International Airport, Old Mariscal Sucre International, Downsview, Canadian Air Force, Downsview Airport, City, Resilience, European Environment Agency, Development, Ellinikon Locations: Athens, Greece, Ellinikon, Boston, Charleston, Beijing, American, Grove, Berlin, Hong Kong, AFP, Europe, Hellinikon, Denver , Colorado, Central, New York, Ulster County , New York, Germany, Quito, Ecuador, Toronto, Downsview Park, Canada, Downsview, City of Athens, ”

☆ Indonesia’s green step not yet a leap for mankind
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( George Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

That’s where the private sector comes in, and why Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) are a potential game changer. More significantly, seven international banks, including HSBC (HSBA.L), (0005.HK), Citigroup and Bank of America (BAC.N), have promised to match that amount. International Finance Corporation figures show that “concessional” finance extended by public bodies at below-market rates can often attract 10 times its own level in private finance. The GFANZ working group will need to ensure Jakarta is sticking to its side of the decarbonisation bargain. The GFANZ group includes Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Macquarie, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Standard Chartered.

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