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☆ Singapore pushes for green data centers as growing AI demand strains energy resources
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-30 | by ( Sheila Chiang | In Sheilachiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

SINGAPORE — Singapore is pushing for green data centers as the explosive demand for artificial intelligence puts a strain on energy resources. The city-state launched a green data center roadmap on Thursday to support its ambitions for the digital economy as demand for AI and computing grows. The roadmap aims to provide at least 300 megawatts of additional capacity in the near term, with more through "green energy deployments." Plans to provide additional data center capacity include raising energy efficiency of all data centers in Singapore, deploying energy-efficient IT equipment as well as offering incentives or grants for resource efficiency. The AI boom has boosted demand for data centers which house large amounts of data required to train and deploy AI models, making them extremely energy intensive.

Persons: Janil Puthucheary, IMDA, Tony Blair Organizations: State for Communications, Media Development Authority, Tony Blair Institute for Global Locations: SINGAPORE — Singapore, Singapore

☆ The cost of climate policies: Hard-pressed consumers are pushing back
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

In a 2022 Pew survey covering 19 countries in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, climate change was named the top global threat. Aira UK“There is no trade-off between (installing a heat pump), saving the planet and at the same time saving the pockets of consumers,” CEO Martin Lewerth told CNN. “If you’re living outside Scandinavia and you want a heat pump, it’s not a hassle-free experience,” Lewerth acknowledged. “There is no scenario in which delay is the cheaper option with climate change,” said Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the LSE. “If we’d invested more in renewable energy… energy bills wouldn’t have gone up so much, which disproportionately impacted on poor households,” Valero at the LSE told CNN.

Persons: ”, ” Brett Meyer, Tone, Tony Blair, ” Langengen, Meyer, Anna Valero, Keith Mayhew, Oliver Blume, doesn’t, Rishi Sunak, Kelley, Martin Lewerth, Sunak, ” Lewerth, “, Bob Ward, we’d, ” Valero, Tim Jackson Organizations: London CNN, Times Radio, Tony, Tony Blair Institute for Global, Pew, London School of Economics, Political Science, CNN, HSBC, carmakers, Volkswagen, Grantham Research, LSE, ”, Swiss, Confederation of British Industry, Centre, Prosperity, University of Surrey Locations: London, Europe, North America, Asia, Pacific, Greece, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, “, Norway, Sweden, Aira, Essex, Swedish, Britain, Scandinavia, Grantham, Ukraine

☆ The biggest winners — and losers — in the coming AI job apocalypse
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Emil Skandul | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In fact, as other long-term trends take hold, many of these working-class roles are poised for a job explosion. While manufacturing jobs as a whole are expected to stay flat, spending in this industry has boomed to $200 billion each year, tripling in the past five years. "What characterizes the physical labor jobs that are safe for the next five or 10 years are things that are in an unpredictable physical environment," Kweilin Ellingrud, a McKinsey Global Institute director, told me. Instead of replacing these jobs, AI will likely benefit specific roles by making it easier to do the most routine parts of the job. He added: "There are these jobs that are in a middle ground where the physical work may remain but the supervision might be more exposed."

Persons: plumbers, Philip Levine, there's, Mark Muro, barometers, OpenAI, Ellingrud, Muro, Emil Skandul, Tony Blair Organizations: Ford, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Brookings Institution, Accenture, Bureau of Labor Statistics, McKinsey, McKinsey Global Institute, Research, Tony Blair Institute Locations: American, America

[1/4] Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport to attend the Third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, October 16, 2023. Ten years on, the most senior EU leader expected to attend the third Belt and Road (BRI) Summit this week is Hungary's populist Viktor Orban, who will join guests including Russia's Vladimir Putin and a minister of the Afghan Taliban. Other analysts say economic slowdown both in China and globally, and rising commodity prices, have also cast a pall over the initiative. Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization think tank, said the BRI had "greatly pushed forward global awareness about the infrastructure deficit". "It's not perfect, but it’s a process, and people are gradually realising it's so important: we need to build infrastructure.

Persons: Joko Widodo, Ken Ishii, Putin, Orban, Britain's, Viktor Orban, Russia's Vladimir Putin, Xi, Jinping, Matthew Erie, they've, Raffaello Pantucci, Ruby Osman, Tony Blair, Osman, Wang Huiyao, Wang, Joyce Zhou, Vineet Sachdev, Antoni Slodkowski, Don Durfee, Robert Birsel Organizations: Beijing Capital International Airport, Forum, REUTERS Acquire, Initiative, University of Oxford, Reuters, Washington, American Enterprise Institute, S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Tony, Tony Blair Institute for Global, Global Development Initiative, Monetary Fund, Sri, Center for, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Italy, Xi's, BEIJING, Western Europe, EU, Taiwan, United States, Ukraine, Erie, CHINA, America, Africa, Russia, Kazakhstan, Congo, Singapore, China's, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Center for China

[1/4] Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport to attend the Third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, October 16, 2023. Ten years on, the most senior EU leader expected to attend the third Belt and Road (BRI) Summit this week is Hungary's populist Viktor Orban, who will join guests including Russia's Vladimir Putin and a minister of the Afghan Taliban. Such Western doubts have coincided with Xi's assertive leadership and a deterioration in ties over trade, human rights, COVID-19 and Taiwan. Other analysts say economic slowdown both in China and globally, and rising commodity prices, have also cast a pall over the initiative. "It's not perfect, but it’s a process, and people are gradually realising it's so important: we need to build infrastructure.

☆ Finland's Ex-PM Marin to Join Blair Think Tank, Leave Parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's former Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who narrowly lost an election in April and stepped down from the leadership of her party last week, plans to leave parliament and join the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, she said on Thursday. Based on her new position, Marin is formally asking permission to resign from parliament, her centre-left Social Democrats party said. The London-based policy think tank is led by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "I feel that this assignment is such that it will benefit the whole of Finland as well," Marin told reporters. Marin was the world's youngest prime minister when she took office in 2019 aged 34, attracting attention around the globe and helping lift Finland's profile at a turbulent time.

Persons: Sanna Marin, Tony Blair, Marin, Anne Kauranen, Terje Solsvik, Frances Kerry Organizations: Tony, Tony Blair Institute for Global, Social, British, NATO Locations: HELSINKI, London, Finland, COVID, Ukraine

☆ Finland's ex-PM Marin to join Blair think tank, leave parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FILE PHOTO-Finland's Social Democrats Party Chair, former Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin waves from the stage before her resignation speech at the Party Congress of the Socialdemocrats of Finland in Jyvaskyla, Finland, September 1, 2023. Based on her new position, Marin is formally asking permission to resign from parliament, her centre-left Social Democrats party said. The London-based policy think tank is led by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "I feel that this assignment is such that it will benefit the whole of Finland as well," Marin told reporters. Marin was the world's youngest prime minister when she took office in 2019 aged 34, attracting attention around the globe and helping lift Finland's profile at a turbulent time.

Persons: Marin, Ulander, Sanna Marin, Tony Blair, Anne Kauranen, Terje Solsvik, Frances Kerry Organizations: Finland's Social, Chair, Party Congress, REUTERS, Rights, Tony, Tony Blair Institute for Global, Social, British, NATO, Thomson Locations: Finland, Jyvaskyla, London, COVID, Ukraine

☆ The Return of Tony Blair
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Stephen Castle | More About Stephen Castle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A decade and a half after Tony Blair left Downing Street, one issue still defines the former British prime minister in the eyes of many Britons: his disastrous decision to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. When Mr. Blair was given a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II last year, more than a million people signed a petition demanding the honor be rescinded. Today, with the Labour opposition sensing rising power under the stewardship of its leader, Keir Starmer, Mr. Blair is suddenly, and rather remarkably, back in favor. For Mr. Starmer, embracing Mr. Blair sends a political message, underscoring Labour’s shift to the center. But the former prime minister also has charisma and communication skills that Mr. Starmer lacks, assets that could be useful as a general election approaches.

Persons: Tony Blair, Blair, Queen Elizabeth II, Keir Starmer, Starmer Organizations: British, Labour Party, Labour, Tony, Tony Blair Institute for Global Locations: U.S, Iraq

☆ AI is going to eliminate way more jobs than anyone realizes
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Emil Skandul | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

We didn't see the internet coming, but AI is within viewThe adoption of groundbreaking technology is often hard to predict. The World Economic Forum estimated 83 million jobs worldwide would be lost over the next five years because of AI, with 69 million jobs created — that leaves 14 million jobs that will cease to exist during that timeframe. In the US, the knowledge-worker class is estimated to be nearly 100 million workers, one out of three Americans. The small and large compounding effects of productivity growth across many industries are central to the growth trajectory and the long-run effects of AI. This is an alarmingly trivial amount for an economy of $25 trillion GDP and over 150 million workers.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Joseph Schumpeter, Bill Gates, David Letterman, Paul Krugman, Erik Brynjolfsson, —, Brynjolfsson, Robert Solow, Robert Gordon, provocatively, It's, Gordon, David Autor, Maria Flynn, Flynn, –, Georgia –, Emil Skandul, Tony Blair Organizations: McKinsey, Newsweek, Stanford University, Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, Economic, International Labor Organization, Organization for Economic Co, Development, MIT, Congressional, Office, Department of Labor, Tony Blair Institute Locations: Washington, Singapore, New York, Georgia

☆ Why Everyone Is Moving to Florida: Jobs, Economy, Cost of Living, Taxes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Emil Skandul | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

For other states to compete, they will need to pay attention to what Florida is doing right. Floridians pay no income tax and fewer taxes overall than people in states like New York, California, or Massachusetts. But a low tax rate isn't the only thing people care about. Despite having a budget half the size of New York's and a larger population, Florida, by many metrics, is able to do significantly more with the taxes it collects. Florida is also outshining New York and other major population centers in tackling the soaring cost of housing.

☆ Remote Work Is Gutting Downtowns, Will Cost Cities $453 Billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Emil Skandul | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Even 2 1/2 years later, most city downtowns aren't back to where they were prepandemic. Without more-robust policies to address failing downtowns, cities are going to start hurting. The increased cancellations of office leases have cratered the office real-estate market. Since 2016, only 112 commercial office spaces in the US have been converted, while 85 projects are underway or have been announced, according to CBRE's data. The birth of the central social districtTo avoid a commercial real-estate apocalypse, cities will need to streamline conversions.

☆ Iran's state media denies abolition of 'morality police' as three-day strike begins
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty ImagesSome Western media outlets are facing backlash from Iranian activists over headlines printed Sunday saying that Iran was abolishing its "morality police." Many Iranian anti-government activists now feat it will distract from three days of major strikes around the country. What's more, the higher branches of Iran's government have not confirmed it, and Iranian state media has denied any abolition of the morality police. "In reality morality police have been inactive since protests started, but there is no substantive news on their future." "This disinfo was propagated today to distract media attention from the 3 days of major protests in Iran which begin tomo.

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