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Indian panel backs developer claims against new solar tax

India’s Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has backed a compensation claim by developers for a tax imposed on new solar power projects. It said the new levy constituted a “Change in Law” by parliament, and required authorities to return what had already been paid. Developers Parampujya Solar Energy and Wardha Sola sought the ruling, saying the enactment of the goods and services tax in July 2017 increased their costs.

https://mercomindia.com/tax-act-of-parliament-extra-cost-change-in-law-cerc/

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has observed that the enactment of Goods and Services Tax (GST) that came into effect from July 1, 2017, will be covered under the clause of ‘‘Change in Law’.’ The commission was hearing a petition filed by Parampujya Solar Energy Pvt. Limited (PSEPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Green Energy Limited, and Wardha Solar (Maharashtra) Private Limited (WSPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of PSEPL. The petitioners had requested the commission to declare the imposition of GST as an event under ‘Change in Law’, and direct the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), which were the respondents in the case, to pay the petitioners the amount claimed under ‘Change in Law’. Quoting the PPA, the petitioners claimed that they meet the conditions prescribed in the Article 12 for claiming Change in Law, which says that a Change in Law results in any additional recurring/non-recurring expenditure by the developer or any income to the developer. Moreover, they cited an earlier order of the CERC which held that if an event qualifies as a ‘‘Change in Law’,’ then the due compensation must follow. However, the respondents, in this case, have argued about the scope and applicability of Article 12 of the PPA and said that in the present PPA, there is no clause dealing with the specific relief under the construction period and therefore, the entire basis of ‘Change in Law’ provision does not arise. It further argued that the relief for taxes is admissible in case of – “any change in tax or introduction of any tax made applicable for the supply of power by the solar power developers (SPD) as per the terms of this agreement (PPA).” Therefore, the scope for Change in Law is restricted to the taxes which are imposed for the ‘supply of power’ and other than that the conditions for relief are not admissible. To this, the petitioners have submitted that the commission has allowed ‘Change in Law’ event under a similar PPA by holding the phrase “for the supply of power” which will include inputs required for such generation and supply of power to the DISCOMs. The commission observed that it has already cleared that any tax levied through an Act of Parliament after the cut-off date which results in the additional expenditure by the petitioner is covered as ‘Change in Law.’ Previously, it also made it clear that any tax or application of the new tax on ‘supply of power’ covers the taxes on inputs required for such generation and supply of power to the DISCOMs. Therefore, the present case is no different and the enactment of GST laws will be covered as ‘Change in Law.’ The petitioners argued that after the introduction of GST, a tax slab of 5% to 28% had been introduced concerning goods and services required for the execution, construction, and operation of solar power projects. Previously, these were either exempted or fell under lower tax slabs. Therefore, new taxes have impacted the overall project costs. For example, a service tax of 15% was being levied on operations and maintenance (O&M) expenses. However, after the GST, a rate of 18% is levied on O&M costs. However, respondents have argued that it is the responsibility of the petitioners to account for the cost and risk for designing, constructing, erecting, commissioning, completing and testing the power project and mitigating the effect of change.

Online auction for the Rrules discovered from the New Father of Baseball?

The American pastime of baseball has a new founding father, thanks to documents held in private hands which are being put up for auction. The ‘Laws of Base Ball’, written in 1857 by Daniel Lucius "Doc" Adams predate the game’s existing founding papers by three years, and have been verified by Major League Baseball's official historian John Thorn. The new documents lay out rules such as the game’s length and number of players. As yet, there are no plans to remove a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame in New York, stating Alexander Cartwright was the founder of baseball.The auction last until the 23rd of April

http://www.espn.co.uk/mlb/story/_/id/15155678/laws-base-ball-papers-sale-establish-new-father-modern-baseball

Dan Imler of SCP Auctions discusses the importance of documents outlining the rules of baseball, which will be auctioned off later this month. (2:29) LOS ANGELES -- Modern baseball may have found its birth certificate, and with it a new birth date -- and new founding father. Coinciding with the start of the major league season, a set of game-changing documents went up for sale this week. Their authenticity and significance are verified by experts that include John Thorn, Major League Baseball's official historian. The 1857 documents titled "Laws of Base Ball" establish the essentials of the modern game: The distance of the base paths is 90 feet, the length of the game is nine innings and nine players are in the field. And they do it three years earlier than the 1860 birth date now recognized. "He's the true father of baseball and you've never heard of him." MLB historian John Thorn, on Daniel Lucius "Doc" Adams The documents were authored by Daniel Lucius "Doc" Adams, making him the founding father of America's pastime, not Alexander Cartwright, who now is credited. "He's the true father of baseball and you've never heard of him," Thorn, a consultant on the sale of the papers, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. Southern California-based SCP Auctions put the documents on sale Wednesday in an auction that lasts until April 23. There have been five bids so far, and the current highest bid is $146,410, according to the auction house. Adams was the president of the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club, which hosted a convention of 14 New York-area clubs to codify the rules of "Base Ball." (It was two words then; it evolved into "base-ball" in the ensuing decades, and finally "baseball.") Credit for baseball's basic tenets now lies with Cartwright, whose plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, calls him the father of the modern game. He was not involved in the 1857 meeting. Hall of Fame spokesman Brad Horn said there are no plans to change or remove Cartwright's plaque. "Plaques are cast at the time of an individual's election and rely on best information available at the time of an individual's induction," Horn said in an email Thursday. "The Hall of Fame Gallery features a plaque that calls the visitor's attention to this point." Horn said there were no immediate plans to acknowledge Adams' contributions, but it is something that would be considered as the historical consensus changes. "We always want to take a longer lens approach," he said. The documents have not been lost or hidden in recent years, but no one quite realized their significance. The owner, whose name has not been released by the auction house, paid $12,000 for them at a 1999 auction of historic documents of all kinds, but they were sold with no known authorship and minimal description. They were kept in a desk drawer until about six months ago, when the buyer approached SCP Auctions. Their significance slowly emerged after forensic, handwriting and historical analysis. "It just got better and better and more and more compelling," said Dan Imler, vice president of SCP Auctions. "It was just mind-blowing once we fully realized what we had." The documents capture the game at a crossroads, when rules for "base ball" were arbitrary. Thorn suggests the game could easily have evolved into having nine pitchers and one batter instead of the opposite, and it did come very close to having seven or 12 innings instead of nine. Thorn said newspaper accounts and other documents have suggested 1857 as the founding year and that Adams was responsible. But they didn't carry the weight of documents that stipulate specific rules. "I call these improbable survivors," Thorn said. "It's finding what you could not have imagined might have existed."

S4 Capital Content, data, tech focus a more 'nimble' strategy

S4 Capital's focus on content, data and technology makes it a more nimble response to the "complex and too expensive" traditional ad agency, according to Avi Dan, CEO of agency search consultants Avidan Strategies.

https://www.prmoment.com/category/blog/the-communications-briefing-week-ending-1-february-2019

31st January 2019 PR news this week, with thanks to Early Morning Media Industry PRCA Board of Management appoints Instinctif deputy chair Deputy chairman of InstinctifPartners Richard Nichols has been appointed to the Board of Management of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA). Mr Nichols said: “I am naturally delighted to be joining the Board of Management and to be working alongside industry peers as the PRCA celebrates its 50th anniversary, and to be playing a role as part of the PRCA championing best practice as our industry continues to grow and evolve.” PRCA S4 Capital: The future of advertising? Forbes looked at the history of Sir Martin Sorrell’s involvement with WPP, from his purchase of the company in 1985, his acquisition of hundreds of marketing and advertising agencies, through to his departure as chief executive last April. Within a month of leaving, he formed a new investment vehicle, S4 Capital, which rather than target earn-out based acquisitions, acts more like a private equity firm. Avi Dan, chief executive of agency search consultants Avidan Strategies, said S4’s focus on content, data and technology and a more nimble, flexible approach, is “the sweet spot of what clients want from their agencies”, adding that it represents the answer to complaints “that the traditional ad agencies are too complex and too expensive”. Forbes Gideon Spanier: don’t overplay trend towards in-housing Gideon Spanier said in the Evening Standard, that although David Jones, the founder of You & Mr Jones, a marketing tech group, is “overly pessimistic” in warning that agency holding companies such as WPP risk ending up “like Kodak” – which went bankrupt after failing to keep up with industry trends – he is correct in identifying in-housing as a threat. Companies such as Unilever, Vodafone, Barclays, TSB and GoCompare are bringing digital marketing services in-house, giving them greater control and reducing costs and complexity. Despite this trend, Mr Spanier also noted that such teams are unlikely to become magnets for the best creative talent in the industry; he quotes BBH co-founder Sir John Hegarty, who recently explained why he couldn’t imagine working in-house on one brand: “You will spend your whole life working on f***ing baked beans.” Evening Standard Stars pledge transparency on Instagram endorsement rules Former Made in Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh is one of 16 celebrities and influencers who have pledged to be more transparent about their promotional posts on Instagram, following a crackdown from the Competition and Markets Authority. Under consumer protection law, influencers are required to state clearly if they have received payment for products they endorse, either in gifts, money, or loan of the products. Others who have promised to follow the rules are along with Chung, Ora and Mackintosh are: Mario Falcone, Alexandra "Binky" Felstead, Goulding, Holly Hagan, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Michelle Keegan, Iskra Lawrence, Megan McKenna, Chloe Sims, Louise Thompson, Dina Torkia, and James Chapman. Separately, the FT’s Andrew Hill writes that the marketing of the Fyre Festival, whose collapse is detailed in two documentaries on Netflix and Hulu, serves to highlight the unchecked power of online stars to generate a buzz around a project. Heart.co.uk Financial Times Media companies shed workers BuzzFeed is laying off 15% of its staff, or more than 200 jobs, amid a deteriorating climate for online publishers who have struggled to sustain fast growth in digital advertising sales in a tough battle with Alphabet’s Google and Facebook. BuzzFeed founder and chief executive Jonah Peretti said restructuring “will reduce our costs and improve our operating model so we can thrive and control our own destiny, without ever needing to raise funding again.” Meanwhile, Verizon Media Group, the portfolio of media brands that includes Yahoo, AOL and The Huffington Post, is laying off 7% of its workforce, a person familiar with the move has told CNBC. The layoffs affect around 800 employees of the Verizon division, and follow company-wide buyouts in December. A spokesperson for Verizon described the restructuring as a "strategic step toward better execution of our plans for growth and innovation into the future." Financial Times Wall Street Journal CNBC CNN The Times Campaigns Men still given prominence over women in adverts Men are almost 40% more likely than women to be featured prominently in adverts, new research from Kantarreveals. After conducting a study titled 'AdReaction: Getting Gender Right', the company concluded that women appear in 67% more adverts than men; but that when women appear in adverts alongside men, the men are 38% more likely to be displayed in a prominent manner. "Women may feature more often because many brands attempt to target women as the main household purchaser. But as we have learnt, sometimes this may be misguided," the company stated. "What is clear is that greater prominence of men in advertising is likely a marker of historical precedent”. Kantar also found that, globally, 76% of female consumers and 71% of male consumers believing the way they are portrayed in advertising is completely out of touch. The Independent Marketing Interactive Big guns get ready for Superbowl 2019 In the lead up to the 2019 Super Bowl, one of the world's most-watched sporting events, Katie O'Malley profiled some of the best adverts of the year so far. Pepsi has released its long-awaited Super Bowl LIII commercial, starring Cardi B, Steve Carell and Lil Jon, she noted, whilst crooner Michael Bublé has returned to star in PepsiCo’s debut Super Bowl advert and actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Jeff Bridges have teamed up to star in Stella Artois’ Super Bowl advert. The cost of a 30-second advert during the game climbed above £3.7m ($5.05m) last year, according to research, with spending on the night soaring 87% over the last decade. Meanwhile, More About Advertising praises DDB’s ad for Skittles for Super Bowl LIII on 3 February, which features Michael C. Hall, noting that it fits into a tradition of self-referential ad spots for the big game, including P&G’s “It’s a Tide ad” from last year. The Independent More About Advertising Political Brits angrier since Brexit vote, Edelman says Britons have become "angrier about politics and society" since the 2016 EU referendum, according to a new survey by PR agency Edelman, leaving the UK feel "deeply divided and uneasy with itself." With one in six Britons found to have fallen out with relatives or friends over the issue of leaving the EU, Ed Williams, Edelman's UK and Ireland chief executive and EMEA vice chairman, commented: "Brexit has exposed fractures that have split families and divided friends, made us meaner and angrier as a society, and stoked fears of violent protest and civil disorder." Politico Labour wants to cage Tony the Tiger Cartoon characters such as Tony the Tiger and Coco the Monkey would be removed from children’s breakfast cereal box fronts under a Labour government, the party’s deputy leader has said. Speaking at an Advertising Association conference, Tom Watson, who is also shadow secretary for digital, culture, media and sport, said refined sugar is “every bit as deadly” as tobacco, and that the advertising industry’s tactic of using playful characters to appeal to children is “grossly irresponsible”. A third of children are leaving primary school obese or overweight, and 23% of five-year-olds have one or more decaying, missing or filled tooth. A Kellogg’s spokesman said: 'We think people know that we’ve been working hard to offer healthier choices in the morning – we’ve slashed sugar in Coco Pops by 40%, removed high-sugar Ricicles from sale and dropped the sugar in Rice Krispies too.” The Independent Daily Mail Reputational risk Facebook launches lobbying spree Facebook is advertising over 50 jobs related to public policy, from counter-terrorism specialists to "crisis communications" staff. Duties will include providing "input" into "regulation policy," shaping public opinion, and influencing "the next generation of data protection legislation." Successful applicants will also help define Facebook's own rules and policies. The company is seeking to hire lobbyists, policy experts and spin doctors as it prepares for a regulatory onslaught from global governments. Meanwhile, in some of his first public comments since joining the social media network as vice president of global affairs and communications, Sir Nick Clegg has asserted that Facebook should pay more tax in Europe. The former deputy prime minister said it was "unbalanced" that most of Facebook's tax bill is paid in the US "even though the vast majority of Facebook's users are outside the United States". The Daily Telegraph BBC NewsFinancial Times The Guardian This briefing has been prepared by Early Morning Media. If you are interested in a customised bespoke news briefing for you or your client across any vertical, please contact [email protected]

More plastic recycling, use of e-fuels could cap methanol demand

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has said continued commitments to the increased use of e-fuels along with developments in plastic recycling could put a cap on demand for methanol despite forecasts that it was set to grow. The IEA said demand for methanol, used in chemicals and fuel production, could peak by 2045, with growing plastic recycling, falling demand for liquid fuels and rising demand for EVs and hydrogen fuel as the main reasons.

https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2020/09/10/10551231/growth-of-plastics-recycling-could-help-cap-methanol-demand-iea

LONDON (ICIS)–The development of plastics recycling and the potential drop in liquid fuels demand on the back of the development of clean energy sources such as hydrogen could cap methanol demand in the next decades, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. This would only be achieved if commitment to those reforms remains strong, it added. Demand for methanol, a key intermediate in chemicals and fuels production, had been expected to continue to grow continuously well into the future. However, under the IEA’s sustainable development scenario – a roadmap developed by the agency for the world to reach net-zero emissions by 2070 – consumption could peak in the mid-2040s. The key drivers for methanol demand to peak would be the growth of the plastics recycling sector and reduced usage of liquid fuels in the transport sector as the electric vehicle (EV) sector and clean hydrogen power continue to grow, according to the IEA. “Additional plastic recycling reduces the need for methanol production,” the Paris-headquartered agency said in its energy technology perspectives report, released on Thursday. Fuel applications account for around a third of methanol production, and under the agency’s sustainable development scenario, liquid fuel use would be largely extinct under that timeline.

Lime introduces longer passes amid changing transport patterns

Lime is introducing daily and monthly passes to its LimePass subscription service, in response to a change in users’ mobility behaviour amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The options are being rolled out across cities in 18 countries, including the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and South Korea, with other markets expected to be included by the end of June.

https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/101011/lime-expands-limepass-subscriptions-include-daily-and-monthly-passes/

Lime expands LimePass subscriptions to include daily and monthly passes 17 SHARES Posted: 19 June 2020 | Intelligent Transport | Lime is expanding its LimePass subscriptions to include new daily and monthly pass options as more people look for alternative transport modes post-COVID-19. Lime has introduced new daily and monthly passes to its LimePass suite of micromobility subscription services, as people in cities the world over look for more personal mobility solutions in the wake of COVID-19. The new LimePass options will be introduced in cities across the US, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, with rollouts in remaining global markets scheduled for late June. In a statement, Lime said that the new LimePass offerings are “designed to meet the needs of a rapidly growing number of micromobility riders, simplifying commutes and rewarding those who depend on electric scooters and bikes for their day-to-day transportation needs”. Speaking about the LimePass expansions, Will Lee, Principal Product Manager at Lime, said: “With local economies recovering and cities adapting to a new world, our latest LimePass offerings make commuting more affordable than ever, giving riders more ways to access safe, socially distanced and sustainable transportation. It’s important that we don’t overwhelm our streets with increased personal car use and congestion, and our hope is this new range of LimePass products can meet the evolving needs of riders and help everyday commuters and new users get the most out of micromobility.” The news follows a number of significant recent announcements from Lime, which is seeking to relaunch Jump services in cities after it acquired the brand from Uber.

Chinese edtech app, Xuebajun, in $100m series C funding round

Xuebajun, a Chinese education mobile app that answers students' questions via robots and online teachers, has secured $100m in a series C funding round. The mobile app allows students to submit uploaded pictures of questions that are answered by robots and online teachers free of charge. By digitising educational content and using robotics, students can be helped with their most urgent needs, Xuebajun said in a statement. Along with existing investors, China Merchants Capital, EasyCapital and Wanxin Media participated in the most recent funding round. Xuebajun raised $50m in a series B funding round in 2015, and $5m in 2014.

https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2017/01/23/china-merchants-capital-co-leads-100m-round-in-online-education-start-up

China Merchants Capital and EasyCapital, a Shanghai-based RMB fund focused on early investments in technology, media, and telecommunications sector in China, have led a US$100 million series C round in Xuebajun, an education mobile app allowing students to upload questions and get answers from both its robots and online teachers.

Adele takes relationship with Skepta to next level as he meets her showbiz pals

After the two musicians are alleged to have enjoyed 'a string of dates', Adele is now said to have let Skepta meet her showbiz pals, including James Corden and writer Laura Dockrill.It's claimed Adele, 31, brought Corden and Dockrill along when she went to Skepta's 37th birthday party at the Crystal Maze Experience in London last month.The same year Adele shared a picture of Skepta - real name Joseph Junior Adenuga Jr - to her official Instagram account.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/adele-takes-romance-grime-star-20528461

The Hello singer is said to be enjoying a romance with the Shutdown rapper following her split from husband Simon Konecki earlier this year Adele takes romance with grime star Skepta to next level as he 'meets her showbiz pals' Adele's relationship with grime star Skepta is said to be getting serious with rumours that she's now introduced him to her friends. Last month it was reported that the Hello! singer was dating fellow Tottenham native Skepta following her split from husband Simon Konecki. After the two musicians are alleged to have enjoyed 'a string of dates', Adele is now said to have let Skepta meet her showbiz pals, including James Corden and writer Laura Dockrill. Image: Getty) Getty) Image: ABACA/PA Images) ABACA/PA Images) It's claimed Adele, 31, brought Corden and Dockrill along when she went to Skepta's 37th birthday party at the Crystal Maze Experience in London last month. A source told The Sun: "No one saw it coming but there's a whirlwind romance going on between Adele and Skepta. "It's been a bit of a brief fling so far. But these are two people who very much care about each other very much as friends so it's very exciting times. Image: Daily Record) Daily Record) Image: PA) PA) "The fact Skepta has met Laura and James seems like a positive sign. Everyone wants the best for them both." Adele and Skepta have spoken fondly of each other in the press in the past and made their mutual appreciation clear on social media. Speaking to ES Magazine in 2016, Skepta said: "Adele texts me all the time and keeps me in check. She speaks to me about how things are going." Image: WireImage) WireImage) Image: Getty Images) Getty Images) The same year Adele shared a picture of Skepta - real name Joseph Junior Adenuga Jr - to her official Instagram account. "Tottenham Boy," she wrote, followed by a heart emoji. Skepta reshared the message and wrote "love you" with a red rose emoji. Recalling the incident to IBTimes UK, Skepta later said: “She gassed me up. One day I was just chilling and she [tweeted] a picture that said ‘Tottenham boy’ and she’s from Tottenham as well. Image: WireImage) WireImage) “I was actually going to quit music that day, that was one of the sickest things ever. She’s like the lady of Tottenham.” In April this year it was reported Adele had split from Simon Konecki, with whom she shares a son. She has since filed for divorce.

Sirane develops recyclable packaging for frozen foods

UK based Sirane has developed a range of recyclable plastic film packaging suitable fo a range of products, including frozen foods. Traditionally packaging for goods requiring a high barrier cannot be recycled due to the multiple layers on laminate used. The recently launched RePEat range is made from pure polyethylene meaning it can be recycled using a LDPE recycling stream.

https://packagingeurope.com/new-repeat-film-offers-a-recyclable-pe-packaging-solution/

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French police kill armed man in Charlie Hebdo anniversary attack

French police shot dead a man carrying a meat cleaver as he attempted to enter a police station in the capital, Paris, on the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack. The man approached a police station in the Goutte d’Or area of the city, reportedly shouted Allah Akbar (God is great), was carrying a mobile phone, and held a piece of paper bearing an image of ISIS’s flag with claims of responsibility by the militant group written in Arabic. He also wore what turned out to be a fake suicide belt. The incident, which is reportedly being investigated as an act of terrorism, occurred at 11.30am, a year to the minute since the Charlie Hebdo attack. Police have not confirmed the man’s identity but news reports suggest that he was Sallah Ali, a homeless man who was born in Morocco in 1995. France remains in a state of emergency following the 13 November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/07/french-security-under-scrutiny-after-hebdo-anniversary-attack

The French capital was once again forced to nervous high alert on Thursday after officers shot dead a man who tried to enter a police station in Paris wielding a meat cleaver and wearing a fake suicide vest on the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack. The man was carrying a piece of paper marked with the Islamic State flag and an “unequivocal” claim of responsibility hand-written in Arabic, the Paris prosecutor said. Investigators matched his fingerprints to those on file for a man convicted of theft in 2013. At that time he was homeless and had identified himself as Sallah Ali, born in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1995, a source close to the investigation told AFP. But police had not yet officially confirmed the man’s identity. The man approached the police station in the Goutte d’Or area, in Paris’s northern 18th arrondissement, between the Gare du Nord train station and the Sacre Coeur cathedral, at 11.30am – one year almost to the minute since the gun massacre at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo which left 12 people dead. Dressed in jeans and a padded jacket, he brandished a butcher’s knife while shouting “Allahu Akbar”, before being shot by police, the prosecutor said. Police union representatives said officers outside the police station had ordered the man to stop as he approached. But he continued towards them and reached into his jacket, so they fired. The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said the officers had been “obliged to open fire”. Bomb disposal teams rushed to the site after the man was seen to be wearing a pouch under his coat with a wire hanging from it. The area was sealed off and residents were told to close windows and stay away from balconies. Two nearby schools were closed with the children inside, as a precaution. But the device was found to be a fake and contained no explosives. The man, who had acted without covering his face, was carrying a mobile phone but no identification papers. The incident is being investigated as a terrorist “attempted murder” of public officials in authority, the prosecutor said. The attempted meat cleaver attack came just as the French president, François Hollande, was making a speech to security forces in a ceremony on the other side of the city at the Paris police HQ to mark the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo killings. Francois Holland speech on terrorism. Guardian The sombre commemorations have been accompanied by questions over potential security failings. On 7 January 2015, the offices of Charlie Hebdo were invaded by two French brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, who opened fire with Kalashnikovs killing 12 people, including some of France’s best known satirical cartoonists. The magazine was a known target supposedly under heavy state protection. The brothers then shot dead a police officer in the street before fleeing Paris by car and resurfacing two days later to take hostages at a printer’s premises outside the capital. On 8 January, their accomplice, Amedy Coulibaly, shot dead a policewoman in the south of Paris and the next day killed four people in a bloody hostage-taking at a kosher grocery. The three-day killing spree by men born raised and radicalised in France stunned the country and led to soul-searching about the state of French society and the ability of security services to keep tabs on known jihadi suspects. Yet only 10 months later, on 13 November, Paris suffered its deadliest terrorist attacks since the second world war when 130 people were killed as gunmen and suicide bombers targeted Paris bars, a rock gig at the Bataclan concert hall, and the national stadium. Most of the men who carried out the January and November attacks were known to French security services. Several had either travelled abroad to fight with Islamist jihadi or had been prevented from doing so. The widow of the police protection officer, Franck Brinsolaro, who died at Charlie Hebdo’s offices while on duty guarding the editor-in-chief, Stéphane Charbonnier (Charb), filed a legal complaint this week over security failings. “For me, Franck was sacrificed,” she told French radio. “He saw the dysfunction, he rued the lack of security at the offices, he said people could slip through.” This week the paper Le Canard Enchaîné reported testimony to police saying that three months before the Charlie Hebdo attack a worker in the building had seen a man he later identified as Chérif Kouachi. Kouachi, in a car outside the building, had told him to warn the newspaper’s team about criticising the prophet Muhammed and said “we’re watching them”. Charlie Hebdo’s police protection officers passed the account to their superiors but it was not clear if the information was properly dealt with by the authorities. Likewise, Le Monde this week obtained the police testimony of a jihadi who returned to France from Syria in June 2015 and was interviewed by police. He said the man, Abdelhamid Abaaoud – who would later coordinate part of the 13 November attacks, including the gun massacre at the Bataclan rock gig – had spoken to him about “finding an easy target, a concert for example, where there are [a lot of] people”. He said Abaaoud had said: “Imagine a rock concert in a European country, if we gave you arms, would you be prepared to fire into the crowd?” This testimony to police came five months before the Bataclan was attacked in exactly this manner. Documentaries to mark the anniversary have highlighted internal rivalries within security and intelligence services; it could mean the services might not have been properly sharing information. In his speech to the security forces Hollande hinted at intelligence failings that might have allowed the Charlie Hebdo attacks to take place, as he called for all branches of the security services to cooperate more closely. “Faced with these adversaries, it is essential that every service – police, gendarmerie, intelligence, military – work in perfect harmony, with the greatest transparency, and that they share all the information at their disposal.” Hollande is taking a hard line on security issues. The government intends to give more powers to police, including increased rights to carry weapons, more powers to stop and search people and to search homes without oversight by judges. Some magistrates have complained that the measures transfer too much power from the judicial investigations process to the police. The political stakes are high for Hollande in the run up to next year’s presidential election. He was the least popular French president on record before the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and is now trying to rebuild his presidential image. The French political debate is now more than ever focusing on issues of national identity. Hollande is under fire within his own Socialist party, accused of appropriating the ideas of the far-right by proposing to strip French citizenship from citizens with dual nationality convicted of terrorist crimes.

CGN completes 260 MW solar project at Chinese fishery

China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) has begun operations at a 260 MW solar facility at a fishery in the Chinese province of Anhui, less than 100 days after the project broke ground. The plant, China's biggest unsubsidised scheme to date at 400 hectares, features string inverters supplied by Huawei, and was constructed by CGN's New Energy Holdings. It has a private power purchase agreement for CNY0.3844 ($0.054)/kWh in place.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/03/27/chinese-fishery-hosting-260-mw-of-unsubsidized-solar/

China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) has commissioned a 260 MW PV plant at a fishery in Dangtu county, in the Chinese province of Anhui. According to CGN, the plant was built by its CGN New Energy Holdings unit and is selling power through a private PPA at a price of RMB 0.3844 ($0.054) per kWh. The project covers a water surface of more than 400 hectares. According to its owner, construction began in mid-September and took only 98 days to complete. This week, Huawei revealed more details about the largest unsubsidized solar plant ever built in China to date. The company provided its string inverters for the facility. It said that the project was the first such installation to be approved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in 2019. The plant uses an overhead large platform on which all equipment foundations are set and was deployed with 88,866 pipe piles. The developers had to face several challenges, including high requirements for fishery-solar integration and the need for piling and routing cables for water-based operations. Huawei added thatO&M activities at the site will be particularly expensive and time-consuming, while noting how it also presents risks for a drop in module performance stemming from potential induced degradation (PID). Huawei's proprietary technology to build a virtual neutral point through solar inverter circuits was used to mitigate the risk of PID effects. “Compared with traditional solutions that use resistors or inductors to build the neutral point, Huawei's PID suppression technology represents a major upgrade as it reduces compensation losses and ensures safety throughout the process,” the company stated. “As a result, energy yield increases by more than 2% while supporting a larger array of more than 5 MW.” Popular content The plant was built with Huawei SUN2000 inverters, configuring each megawatt with 80 maximum power point trackers (MPPTs). “This minimizes the impact of PV module mismatch caused by shading, inappropriate direction, and other factors, and improves the system efficiency, ensuring high energy yields,” the manufacturer said. The water-based solar plant also relies on a communication solution provided by Huawei itself: the MBUS broadband power line communication technology. According to the company, it enables the transmission of signals from the module arrays over the power lines with a transmission rate of 115 kbit/s. China outlined its plan to spur the development of subsidy-free projects at the beginning of last year. In May, the Chinese government introduced its Mandatory Renewable Energy Consumption Mechanism, which from this year is imposing a mandatory requirement for the purchase of renewable energy on state, provincial and private grid operators, as well as electricity retailers, industrial entities with their own power generation facilities, and large electricity consumers involved in bilateral energy trading.

Pinterest features allow users to buy groceries from platform

Pinterest's shoppable ad format has allowed it to be a source of online grocery shopping for users. Users can turn to the platform for recipe ideas and inspiration before being directed to third-party online retailers such as Walmart and Basketful to purchase ingredients. The company says it has seen a spike in searches for cooking tips and what to do with leftovers on its platform during the coronavirus outbreak.

https://nrf.com/blog/pinterest-enters-online-grocery-foray

Talk about good timing. Pinterest had just started with a new shoppable ad format before the world screeched to a halt. Yet with everyone stuck at home, online grocery sales shot through the roof. The investments the company had made over the past year looked pretty prescient as hungry people turned to Pinterest first for an idea, then for the supplies to create the masterpiece. Arthur Sevilla, Pinterest’s head of global vertical strategy, told Adweek that over a six-week period this spring, the number of U.S. consumers using online to groceries has been “more than we’ve seen in the last six years.” It’s not just Pinterest seeing that. Supermarket News, citing Coresight Research, reports that online grocery sales in the U.S. grew 22 percent in 2019 and look to top 40 percent in 2020. Another report from grocery consultant Brick Meets Click and research firm Symphony RetailAI found that grocery sales reached $5.3 billion in April. Customers have to decide what they want to cook before they buy, though, and Pinterest is uniquely positioned there. Shoppers turn to the platform when they need “cooking tips” — a term that spiked by 411 percent among members of Generation X, compared with the same time last year, or inspiration for “leftovers” — a term that jumped 191 percent. With a hungry and willing audience, shoppable ads was an obvious step. Pinterest users can find something interesting on a shoppable ad and click to a third-party site which ties directly to a digital basket. Companies like Walmart and Basketful fulfill the grocery order, making it easier to find what’s needed to turn leftovers into dinner. Pinterest has taken on other shoppable initiatives as ecommerce has skyrocketed. In June, the site launched search results directly from its Lens results: Users can snap or upload a photo and see shoppable pins based on in-stock ads. Each pin links directly to the checkout page on the retailer’s site.

Waymo agrees deal to buy 'thousands' more self-driving minivans

Alphabet's self-driving unit Waymo is to buy "thousands" more autonomous minivans from Fiat Chrysler to dramatically expand its fleet. Waymo already has 600 of carmaker's minivans and deliveries of the Chrysler Pacifica minivans will start by the end of the year. Neither firm would reveal the exact number of vehicles or the amount of money trading hands as part of the agreement, but the deal is estimated to be worth at least eight figures.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/30/16948356/waymo-google-fiat-chrysler-pacfica-minivan-self-driving

Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, has reached a deal with one of Detroit’s Big Three automakers to dramatically expand its fleet of autonomous vehicles. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced today that it would supply “thousands” of additional Chrysler Pacifica minivans to Waymo, with the first deliveries starting at the end of 2018. Neither Waymo nor FCA would disclose the specific number of vehicles that were bought, nor the amount of money that was trading hands. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the 2018 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivan starts at $39,995. A thousand minivans would cost $40 million, so this was at the very least an eight-figure deal. Waymo currently has 600 of FCA’s minivans in its fleet, some of which are used to shuttle real people around for its Early Rider program in Arizona. The first 100 were delivered when the partnership was announced in May 2016, and an additional 500 were delivered in 2017. The minivans are plug-in hybrid variants with Waymo’s self-driving hardware and software built in. The companies co-staff a facility in Michigan, near FCA’s US headquarters, to engineer the vehicles. The company also owns a fleet of self-driving Lexus RX SUVs that is has been phasing out in favor of the new minivans. (The cute “Firefly” prototypes were also phased out last year.) A sign that both Waymo and FCA are happy to keep working with each other The partnership is non-exclusive, but its a sign that both Waymo and FCA are happy enough to continue working with each other. The Pacifica satisfies Waymo’s need for a vehicle that can be used to move a good number of people at once. (The Pacifica can hold up to 8 passengers.) And FCA gets to look good standing next to one of the world’s biggest tech giants with some of the best self-driving technology around. FCA is also a member of a self-driving technology partnership with BMW, Intel, and Mobileye. “In order to move quickly and efficiently in autonomy, it is essential to partner with like-minded technology leaders,” said the automaker’s CEO Sergio Marchionne in a statement. “Our partnership with Waymo continues to grow and strengthen; this represents the latest sign of our commitment to this technology.” (Of course, the famously quotable Marchionne paints a more realistic portrait in his IRL interviews. For example, he told Bloomberg a few weeks ago, “This business has never been for the fainthearted. The technology changes that are coming are going to make it probably more challenging than it’s ever been.”)

LSE in talks with Euronext over sale of its French clearing business

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is in exclusive talks with rival EuroNext, over the sale of the LSE's French clearing arm, LCH. The deal comes after the LSE expressed concerns over the EU regulator's position on clearing, and would be crucial to the success of LSE's mega-merger with the Deutsche Boerse. A spokesperson for EuroNext confirmed the talks were taking place, but added: "there can be no certainty that these discussions will lead to a transaction."

http://www.cityam.com/255944/london-stock-exchange-enters-into-exclusive-talks-euronext

London Stock Exchange enters into exclusive talks with Euronext over sale of French clearing business The London Stock Exchange Group has entered into exclusive discussions with rival Euronext over the sale of its French clearing business. And the deal for LCH SA, which could be crucial to the success of the London Stock Exchange’s mega-merger with Deutsche Boerse, could still be agreed this side of Christmas, City A.M. understands. The London Stock Exchange announced in September that it was exploring the sale of LCH SA, which has been valued at between €400-600m (£337-505m), in anticipation of concerns around clearing from the EU competition regulator. Read more: London Stock Exchange seeks to wrap up LCH sale as regulatory battle looms And the European Commission confirmed last week to the exchanges that it would be focusing its investigation into the merger on clearing. Euronext has always been seen as the favourite in the race for LCH SA, although US firms including CME Group and Nasdaq were also linked with a move for the company. Announcing the exclusive talks with Euronext this morning, the London Stock Exchange said: There can be no certainty that this will lead to any transaction or as to the terms upon which any transaction might proceed. Read more: JP Morgan Cazenove to oversee sale of London Stock Exchange’s clearing arm Euronext confirmed the exclusive talks in a statement this morning: At this stage, there can be no certainty that these discussions will lead to a transaction, or as to the terms on which a transaction, if any, might be agreed. Any transaction would be conditional on the successful closing of the merger between LSEG and Deutsche Boerse and other conditions. A further announcement will be made in due course. City A.M. first reported that the London Stock Exchange was aiming to agree a deal, which would be dependent on completion of its merger with Deutsche Boerse, for LCH SA before Christmas last month. Once this deal is agreed, the European Commission can consider it as part of its merger investigation, which it is due to complete by 6 March next year.

Bitcoin is a victim of Ddos attack

DD4BC is one of the latest weapons in an arms race between cybercriminals and cybersecurity. A bitcoin gambling business and an unnamed bank have reportedly become the targets of  DDoS attacks,  stand to lose as much as $100,000 per hour, threatening to take down their customer websites and negating the institution's reputation unless they pay a large bitcoin ransom, as reported by Neustar. The group begins with ransom emails that state their demands on the victim’s server to show their power. If the victim continues to ignore the emails,  the demanded figure will be raised. The victim will be released, after one-time payment is made.

http://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/the-latest-victims-of-ddos-attacks-banks-and-bitcoin-xt/

While banks are increasingly evaluating the merits of Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term technology, they are typically not mentioned in the same sentence as Bitcoin XT, the controversial proposal to increase Bitcoin's block size. Today, however, they have the unfortunate privilege of sharing at least one thing in common: both have reportedly become targets of DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks. These involve an attacker, from distributed points of origin, attempting to overwhelm a central server with enough requests to knock it out of service. In the wilder days of 2013 -14, and to an extent, even today, such attacks were a common problem faced by bitcoin exchanges and other services. In those cases, the strategy was to overwhelm the system so as to break down its defenses that protect precious assets, such as bitcoin wallets. The elementary damage is simply the downtime experienced by the website. According to Neustar, cited by Bloombergin a piece on the latest wave of attacks hitting banks, large enterprises stand to lose as much as $100,000 per hour. There is also reputational damage inflicted when customers begin to question the service's reliability. Indeed, at least two companies- a bitcoin gambling business and an unnamed bank- have caved in during the latest 'DD4BC' attacks. An acronym for "DDoS for Bitcoin", the gang threatens to take down websites if a bitcoin ransom isn't paid by a certain time. Demands range from 25 BTC ($6,150) to 100 BTC ($25,000). And the attackers are not forgiving. After an initial attack to prove their capabilities, the victim is warned that a full-scale version will be unleashed if payment is not received within 24 hours. "But if you ignore us, and don't pay within 24 hours, long term attack will start, price to stop will go to 100 BTC and will keep increasing for every hour of attack," say the attackers, via e-mail. Once payment is made, the victim is ostensibly off the hook. "Remember this: It's a one-time payment. Pay and you will not hear from us ever again! We do bad things, but we keep our word." DD4BC is one of the latest weapons in an arms race between cybercriminals and cybersecurity. A popular iteration reported earlier this year was ransomware such as CryptoLocker that locks a victim's files, threatening to render them permanently encrypted if a bitcoin ransom isn't paid. In all cases, Bitcoin is the trusted agent for payment, leaving the attackers practically anonymous and not apprehendable, and the payment irreversible. ADVERTISEMENT Bitcoin XT Gets Its Turn The heated, at times ugly issue of Bitcoin's block size may have stooped even lower. MIT Technology Review reports that several supporters of Bitcoin XT were DDoS'ed. Satoshilabs, which operates Slush Pool, was reportedly hit. It received a message that the attack would only end once it turns off its support for Bitcoin XT. Support for the implementation is expressed by miners, but it is believed that the number has dwindled lower due to such attacks. ChunkHost, a web Hosting Hosting Hosting refers to the location of a broker’s technology stack. This is one of the most crucial elements of a brokerage that helps prevent the company from losing money due to being unable to mitigate latency risks.Brokers or exchanges are traditionally very vulnerable to latency arbitrage due to the speed with which financial markets move. The traditional datacenter locations for forex brokers are all centered at Equinix facilities around the globe. What Are the World’s Foremost Data Centers?Sin Hosting refers to the location of a broker’s technology stack. This is one of the most crucial elements of a brokerage that helps prevent the company from losing money due to being unable to mitigate latency risks.Brokers or exchanges are traditionally very vulnerable to latency arbitrage due to the speed with which financial markets move. The traditional datacenter locations for forex brokers are all centered at Equinix facilities around the globe. What Are the World’s Foremost Data Centers?Sin Read this Term company, reportedly had a client who was attacked for switching Bitcoin ATM software to Bitcoin XT. Several others reportedly complained online after experiencing such attacks. Bitcoin XT supporters have alleged censorship on forums such as reddit, and have proposed various measures to get around it.

Aon tool allows clients to assess Bexit business risk

Insurance broker Aon has launched Brexit Navigator, a three step solution to help organisations quantify the impact of Brexit risk exposures and redesign risk management and risk financing structures. Available to clients who have operations or business interests in the UK, the interactive tool will help them "measure and respond to risks and opportunities created by Brexit," according to Eddie McLaughlin, chief commercial officer.

http://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insurance-age/news/2480072/aon-launches-brexit-tool?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IA.All.A.LU_15&utm_source=IA.DCM.Live_Updates

Three step solution aims to help organisations asses the impact of Brexit. Aon has launched Brexit Navigator, a three step process designed to help organisations quantify the impact of Brexit risk exposures and redesign risk management and risk financing structures. The broker stated that Brexit Navigator is supported by an interactive tool that presents scenario-based insights for goods, capital, services and people, in order to help assess the impact of Brexit. According to Aon the solution is available to organisations globally that have operations and business

Robots will not replace advisors in the near future: CS exec

Robo-advisers in the fintech sector will support, not replace, the human workforce, according to Marco Abele, head of digital private banking at Credit Suisse Switzerland. His comments come after some of the bank's advisers piloted the use of tablets with speech recognition earlier this year, explaining the devices freed up advisers to "focus on clients". Abele said: "We want the technology to be the perfect support for our advisers." Robo-advisers currently manage around $20bn globally, a figure expected to rise to $450bn by 2020.

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/29660/robo-advisors-not-ready-to-replace-humans---credit-suisse-exec?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=finextrafeed

A wave of new digital tools will complement, not replace, finacial advisors, according to senior Credit Suisse exec Marco Abele, who says it's not yet time to worry about the rise of the robo-advisors. In an inhouse Q&A, Abele, who is head of digital private banking at Credit Suisse Switzerland, insists that digital and analog are "not binaries" and that new technology will help advisors by taking on repetitive admin, leaving more time for clients. Some of the bank's advisors began piloting new technology this summer, using tablets with speech recognition that takes over documentation, freeing up staffers to focus on clients. The tablet also gives advisors virtual access to experts who can be digitally brought in to answer any questions. "What is special about it is that we did not roll out a ready-to-use solution but rather one that the client advisors themselves can help to design. Ultimately, we want the technology to be the perfect support for our advisors," says Abele. This means that advisors are not likely to be replaced by robots in the near future. Despite much hype, independent robo-advisors only manage around $20 billion around the world, although this is expected to rise to $450 billion by 2020. Abele notes that most of these platforms are focused exclusively on exchange traded funds, making them inadequate for many clients, while they are also geographically limited - many of them in the US, which is not "consistent with the security requirements" of most Swiss clients. Even when automated advisors overcome these problems, humans will still have a place, with the technology allowing them to offer tools to less wealthy people - something another Swiss Bank, UBS, has started doing in the UK. More generally, Abele calls fintech firms "no small phenomenon" but is sceptical on their chances of replacing banks, largely because they focus on only a part of the value chain. He suggests that cooperation is the best route for both sides. But banks must still be vigilant: "The generation of today's 15- to 35-year-olds seeks out the offer that suits them best. Whether that offer comes from a 160-year-old bank or a social network is completely irrelevant. We have to offer the best solution or they will go somewhere else."

The Future of Robots:

Robots are paving the way to an easier life. Worldwide industrial robot sales increased 29%. The Boston Consulting Group states that robots currently perform about 10% of all manufacturing tasks, but in 2025 that will jump to 25%.

https://secure.wealthdaily.com/105384?device=c&keyword=robotics&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-_j1BRDkARIsAJcfmTHqXNB9m7Al1Z4vXTa3kkhEqe_cFjEyCJfj83bOOROlprSgl0ys4nAaAhCLEALw_wcB

Simply sign up to receive our free Wealth Daily newsletter and we'll immediately email you our new investor report. June 12th, 2023 Robots are paving the way to an easier life. They're being built to enhance our everyday lifestyles, whether it be by driving us to the places we need to go, cleaning our houses for us, providing the medical care that we need, or producing the products that we love at a quicker rate. Innovation and enthusiasm in the robotics market is exploding right now. Companies want to be ahead of the newest technology and want to be the first to put out a successful robot, in order to give them the opportunity to see significant sales. International Federation of Robotics reported that worldwide industrial robot sales increased 29%. In 2014 229,261 industrial robots were sold, which is the highest level ever recorded in one year... and that increase is just in industrial robot sales. New technology and new ideas are creating a competitive industry. Companies have never wanted to establish themselves more than right now. They want to have the opportunity to gain a strong lead within the industry and reap the benefits of this surging market. Here are some promising projections for the future of robots: Tractica, a market intelligence firm, has forecast that the industry will grow from $28.3 billion worldwide to $151.7 billion in 2020. The Boston Consulting Group states that robots currently perform about 10% of all manufacturing tasks, but in 2025 that will jump to 25% Business Insider Intelligence reports that there will be a $1.5 billion market for consumer and business robots by 2019. There's no doubt that robotics is and will be a huge part of our future. This erupting market is about to see unimaginable growth, so don't miss out on grabbing a hold of the market while you still can. After all, this industry could make your future a wealthy one. For those of you who want in on the action, we're offering our latest, limited-time-only report “3 Robot Stocks to Buy Today” completely free of charge. Inside you'll find: The growth of industrial robots The growth of robots for personal and private use Demand for robots in medical technology How the military is using robots for defense and security Three of our favorite robot stocks Simply enter your email in the box below to receive your report immediately. There's no cost or obligation whatsoever.

Afghanistan vs West Indies, Only Test Day 2: Live Cricket Score

Score 213/5 Batsman Shamarh Brooks79(146b 12*4 1*6) Bowler Yamin Ahmadzai 8-3-18-0 12:36 IST: 60.6: Y Ahmadzai to Brooks, Flighted delivery on middle, Brooks keeps it out.Score 204/5 Batsman Shane Dowrich34(72b 5*4 0*6) Bowler Yamin Ahmadzai 7-2-17-0 12:27 IST: 58.6: Y Ahmadzai to Dowrich, Full delivery on middle, Dowrich flicks it to mid-wicket.Score 204/5 Batsman Shamarh Brooks75(136b 11*4 1*6) Bowler Rashid Khan 24-5-83-2 12:22 IST: 57.6: R Khan to Brooks, The batsman shows the full face of the bat and defends the ball off the back foot.

https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/cricket/story/afghanistan-vs-west-indies-only-test-day-2-live-cricket-score-lucknow-updates-1623197-2019-11-28

11:02 IST: Afghanistan skipper, Rashid Khan admits that they have been struggling in the longer formats, especially with the bat. Feels if they improve in that area, they have the potential to trouble good teams. Hopes to recover from their mistakes. Adds that the team needs more exposure in ODIs and Tests as that will stand them in good stead. Feels that playing more and more longer formats will help them the most. Praises Amir Hamza on his debut and commends the job that he did for them but also states that they missed the services of Mohammad Nabi in this match. Feels that they are not taking the innings deep with the bat and that is what they need to improve upon. Tells that overall it was quite disappointing for them and they will try to improve. States that their main focus from hereon will be on the Asia Cup and ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

Intense heatwaves and deadly fires sweep across Europe

Europe is enduring an intense heatwave with forest fires, drought, record temperatures and disrupted services. A state of emergency has been declared in Greece after 74 people were killed by wildfires. Fires have also hit Sweden, Finland, Norway, Latvia and the Spanish island of Mallorca. The UK is experiencing its longest heatwave since 1976 and has also seen grass fires. Hannover airport in Germany was closed after a runway was damaged by extreme heat, France has put the Paris and north region on an orange alert for heatwaves and 12 bridges in Amsterdam are closed because of expanding metal.

https://www.businessinsider.nl/photos-greece-europe-fires-2018-7/

An intense heat wave is sweeping over Europe, triggering deadly fires across the region. In Greece, a state of emergency was declared on Monday as huge forest fires killed 74 people across several towns and sent thousands running to escape flames devastating entire villages. But Greece isn’t the only European country sweltering. Roaring temperatures and weeks of drought contributed to several major wildfires across Sweden over the last week and, according to AccuWeather, Madrid, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and Stockholm are expected to have their highest temperatures of the year this week. Map showing fires and at-risk areas in northern Europe: pic.twitter.com/RdbXTWQvVy — AFP news agency (@AFP) July 23, 2018 This is every country in Europe battling fires right now: Greece is experiencing its worst fire crisis in more than a decade. Foto: Fire fighters are seen amid smoke as a wildfire burns in Kineta, near Athens, Greece, July 23, 2018.sourceREUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis Wildfires are raging in regions around Athens and have affected numerous towns including Mati, Kineta, Rafina, and Melissi. Hot, dry temperatures exacerbated by high winds caused flames to spread throughout the region on Monday. "It's like we're at war," a Greek firefighter told local media. On Tuesday, the bodies of 26 adults and children were found close to the sea in Mati, and appear to have died sheltering each other from the fire. Source: The BBC Sweden's unusually high temperatures have caused several fires to break out. Foto: In this photo taken on Wednesday, July 18, 2018, smoke billows from a fire outside Ljusdal, Sweden.sourceMaja Suslin/TT via AP Almost 100 people were forced to leave their homes as more than 80 wildfires ripped through the country over the last week. The number of fires in the region were reduced to around 20 by Tuesday, but in that time Sweden lost an estimated 25,000 hectares of forest. The country usually experiences mild weather, and generally lacks the resources required to deal with large fires. The government has reached out for help from the military and other nations as fires spread above the Arctic Circle. On Monday, European nations sent hundreds of firefighters to tackle the worst blazes that Sweden has ever seen. Source: The Local While England's record heat wave has turned the country from green to brown in satellite photos. Foto: A firefighter carries a water hose past sheep close to scorched moorland as it burns during a moorland fire at Winter Hill, near Rivington, Britain July 1, 2018.sourceREUTERS/Phil Noble You can't help but have noticed the lack of rain in many areas over the last 10-12 weeks. It's even changed the way the UK looks from space! pic.twitter.com/T4Cjm8GMH3 — Met Office (@metoffice) July 18, 2018 Britain is continuing to experience its longest heat wave since 1976. Weather has also been unseasonably dry, with just two inches of rain falling between June 1 and July 16, making it the direst summer ever. Satellite photos released by the country's national weather service shows the country has been so hot and dry that it has turned from green to brown. The conditions have been blamed for several wildfires which have spread across northwestern England over the last month. Source: The Washington Post In Norway, a firefighter was killed trying to contain one blaze. Foto: Children watch a bonfire at the sailing club at a party to celebrate Midsummer on June 21, 2008 in Longyearbyen, Norway.sourceChris Jackson/Getty Images Norway experienced its hottest temperatures on record in May, and at least 40 separate forest fires raged across the country earlier this month. On July 15, a firefighter was killed trying to containa a blaze in Nes, a municipality outside of Oslo. Source: The Local In Finland's northern region, fires have destroyed woodlands close to the Russian border. Foto: Fire departments and volunteers work to control a forest fire in Pyharanta, Western Finland July 19, 2018.sourceRoni Lehti/Lehtikuva via Reuters A wildfire that crossed the border in Inari, one of Finland's largest municipalities, caused the border crossing between Finland and Russia to be shutdown on Friday. Several fires threatened Finland's northernmost Lapland region, and one fire burned 6 hectares of forest near the region's capital of Rovaniemi. Rovaniemi is a popular tourist destination and is best known for its Santa Claus village. A popular tourist island in Spain experienced forest fires. Foto: A man jumps into the Arga River while cooling off during a hot summer day, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Monday, July 23, 2018.sourceAP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos Mallorca, one of Spain's islands in the Mediterranean, experienced a blaze over the weekend. The fire burned through over 5 hectares of land, and over 100 people were evacuated as a precaution, local media reported. Latvian officials met on Monday to discuss tackling fires that had been burning for several days. Foto: Firefighters extinguish fire at a home for the elderly and disabled in the town of Alsunga, about 180 km (110 miles) west of Riga, Latvia, Friday, Feb. 23 2007.sourceAP Photo Fires have raged in Latvia for nearly a week, and destroyed over 1,o00 hectares of forest. Officials on Monday confirmed that EU members stated would be called on for international assistance to extinguish a fire in the western Talsi district. Dry weather and strong winds made it difficult for firefighters to extinguish the blaze, which was first reported on July 17. In Germany, extreme heat has caused airport closures. Foto: A visitor takes a drink from a bottle of water on July 18, 2018 in Berlin, Germany.sourceAdam Berry/Getty Images A runway at Germany's Hannover airport was damaged by extreme heat, forcing the airport to close. The closure was expected to last until Wednesday, pending repairs. The temperature is predicted to continue to continue to climb this week, with a top of 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday. Source: Associated Press And France has been put on a heatwave alert. Foto: Arnaud Caron, a French farmer drives an old Mc Cormick F8-413 combine as he harvests his last field of wheat, in Vauvillers, northern France, July 23, 2018.sourceREUTERS/Pascal Rossignol France's national weather agency placed areas in the Paris region and country's north on an orange alert for heatwaves until Wednesday. Northern France is in the core of the heat wave, according to AccuWeather, and those in the region will be continue to be athigh risk for heat-related illnesses. And in the Netherlands,12 bridges have been closed due to heat. Foto: A boat cruises past a bridge on a canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands, July 24, 2018.sourceREUTERS/Yves Herman High temperatures have caused metal to expand, which have affected the functioning of bridges across Amsterdam. 12 bridges will remain closed for the duration of the heatwave, local media reported Tuesday. The Netherlands institute for public health also issued a warning that the country's air quality will be worsened by the heat. Source: The Times

China to loan Ivory coast XOF336bn for electricity, water

The Ivory Coast Council of Ministers has ratified a 2019 loan of XOF335.7bn ($5.5m) from the Exim Bank of China, set to be used to fund drinking water schemes in 12 towns, and the 112 MW Gribo Popoli hydroelectric project. It was reported the Ivorian government was mandated to select a Chinese company to oversee the projects.

https://www.afrik21.africa/en/ivory-coast-exim-bank-of-china-lends-e511-7m-for-water-and-electricity/

The government of Ivory Coast held its first 2020 Council of Ministers on Wednesday, January 8. This was an opportunity to promulgate several decrees, some of which ratified the two loan agreements on the part of Exim Bank of China. The two loans were granted to the Ivory Coast by the Chinese development bank in 2019 to finance several drinking water and electricity projects. Regarding drinking water, Exim Bank of China granted 166.3 billion CFA francs (‘253.5 million) to the State. The funds will be used to finance the project to strengthen the drinking water supply in twelve towns: Bouaflé, Daloa (centre-west), Divo, Grand-Lahou (south), Katiola (centre-north), Mankono, Boundiali, Odienné, Séguéla, Touba (north), Sassandra (south-west) and Tanda (east). As a result of this project, surface water treatment plants (rivers), ground and elevated reservoirs and pipelines will be built. In the towns concerned by the project, water networks will be extended. According to the government, the new facilities will benefit 3 million people. Funds for the Gribo Popoli dam The other decree signed by the government of Ivory Coast ratifies a loan of 169.4 billion CFA francs (‘258.2 million). This sum is earmarked for the implementation of the Gribo Popoli hydroelectric project. Unsurprisingly, the Ivorian government has entrusted its construction to the Chinese company Sinohydro. “This project on the Sassandra River downstream of the Soubré dam site will increase the share of hydroelectric power generation in the generating fleet by 112 MW of power and 580 GWH of output. It will also help to reduce the average cost of kWh generated across the entire park,” explains Sidi Touré, spokesman for the government. The overall hydropower project developed in the south of Ivory Coast will require an investment of €276.6 million. The availability of the funds will allow construction work to start, which will last 40 months. Jean Marie Takouleu

Volcanic rocks could be used as a sustainable concrete additive

Kuwaiti scientists and MIT engineers have discovered that pulverised volcanic rock has useful properties to concrete structures, reducing the "embodied energy" or energy needed for creating concrete. The research found that it took 16% less energy to establish a pilot neighbourhood of 26 concrete buildings with 50% volcanic ash when compared to traditional Portland cement mixes. However, concrete strength is traded for embodied energy when the process is used, making refinement necessary for higher-strength requirement projects such as high rise buildings or lower strength requirement projects such as traffic blocks. The process could lessen concrete production's environmental footprint.

https://techxplore.com/news/2018-02-cities-future-built-locally-volcanic.html

MIT engineers working with scientists in Kuwait have found that volcanic rocks, when pulverized into a fine ash, can be used as a sustainable additive in concrete structures. MIT engineers working with scientists in Kuwait have found that volcanic rocks, when pulverized into a fine ash, can be used as a sustainable additive in concrete structures. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT engineers working with scientists in Kuwait have found that volcanic rocks, when pulverized into a fine ash, can be used as a sustainable additive in concrete structures. In a paper published online in the Journal of Cleaner Production, the researchers report that, by replacing a certain percentage of traditional cement with volcanic ash, they can reduce a concrete structure's "embodied energy," or the total energy that goes into making concrete. According to their calculations, it takes 16 percent less energy to construct a pilot neighborhood with 26 concrete buildings made with 50 percent volcanic ash, compared with the energy it takes to make the same structures entirely of traditional Portland cement. When they ground volcanic ash down to increasingly small particle sizes, the researchers found that a mixture of the finer powder and Portland cement produced stronger concrete structures, compared with those made from cement alone. However, the process of grinding volcanic ash down to such fine particles requires energy, which in turn increases the resulting structure's embodied energy. There is, then, a tradeoff between a concrete structure's strength and its embodied energy, when volcanic ash is used. Based on experiments with various concrete and volcanic ash mixtures, and calculations of the resulting structure's embodied energy, the researchers have mapped out the relationship between strength and embodied energy. They say engineers can use this relationship as a blueprint of sorts to help them choose, for instance, the percent of cement they would want to replace with volcanic ash to produce a given structure. "You can customize this," says Oral Buyukozturk, a professor in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). "If it is for a traffic block, for example, where you may not need as much strength as, say, for a high-rise building. So you could produce those things with much less energy. That is huge if you think of the amount of concrete that's used over the world." Buyukozturk is joined on a paper by an interdisciplinary team of researchers, including research scientist Kunal Kupwade-Patil and undergraduate Stephanie Chin of CEE, former doctoral student Catherine De Wolf and Professor John Ochsendorf of MIT's Department of Architecture, Ali Hajiah of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, and Adil Al-Mumin of Kuwait University. A natural additive Concrete is the most abundantly used material in the world, second only to water. The manufacturing of concrete involves first blasting rocks such as limestone out from quarries, then transporting the rocks to mills, where they are further crushed and treated under high temperature through various processes resulting in the production of cement. Such energy-intensive processes create a significant environmental footprint; the production of traditional Portland cement accounts for about 5 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. To cut down on these emissions, Buyukozturk and others have been looking for sustainable additives and alternatives to cement. Volcanic ash has several sustainable advantages as an additive in manufacturing concrete: The rocky material, which lies in ample supply around active and inactive volcanoes around the world, is naturally available; it is typically considered a waste material, as people typically do not use it for any widespread purpose; some volcanic ashes have intrinsic, "pozzolonic" properties, meaning that, in powder form, the ash with a reduced amount of cement can naturally bind with water and other materials to form cement-like pastes. "Cement production takes a lot of energy because there are high temperatures involved, and it's a multistage process," says Chin, who with Kupwade-Patil led much of the group's experimental work as a student in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) with Buyukozturk. "That's the main motivation for trying to find an alternative. Volcanic ash forms under high heat and high pressure, and nature kind of does all those chemical reactions for us." The team looked first at how much energy it would take to make concrete from a mixture of cement and volcanic ash, versus cement alone. To do this, the researchers consulted several databases in which others had calculated the embodied energy associated with various industrial processes, such as the energy that goes into crushing rock or curing cement. The researchers picked through the databases to assemble the individual processes associated with producing traditional cement and cement containing 10 to 50 percent volcanic ash. They then went into the lab, where they manufactured small samples of concrete with various percentages of volcanic ash, as well as samples made only of Portland cement. Chin and her colleagues subjected each sample to standard tests of strength, such as compressing the structures until they began to crack. Then they mapped out each sample's strength against its calculated embodied energy. According to their results, replacing 50 percent of traditional cement with volcanic ash with an average particle size of 17 micrometers can bring down concrete's embodied energy by 16 percent. However, at this particle size, volcanic ash can compromise concrete's overall strength. Grinding the ash down to a particle size of about 6 micrometers significantly increases concrete's strength, as smaller particles provide more surface area with which water and cement can chemically bind. Cities of ash The team extrapolated its results to see how structures made partly with volcanic ash would affect concrete's embodied energy at the scale of entire buildings and neighborhoods. The researchers focused on a neighborhood in Kuwait with 13 residential and 13 commercial buildings, all made with traditional Portland cement, mostly imported from Europe. With the help of their collaborators in Kuwait, they flew a drone over the neighborhood to collect images and measurements. They also consulted local authorities, who provided them with additional information on each building system. Using all this information, the team calculated the neighborhood's existing embodied energy, and then calculated how that embodied energy would change if buildings were made with concrete composed of various percentages of volcanic ash, which is in ample supply in the Middle East. As with their experiments in the lab, they found that a neighborhood's infrastructure can be made with considerably less energy if the same buildings are built with concrete made from a cement mixture that is 30 percent volcanic ash. "What we've found out is that concrete can be manufactured with natural additives with desired properties, and reduced embodied energy, which can be translated into significant energy savings when you are creating a neighborhood or a city," Buyukozturk says. This research was supported in part by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. The project was conducted as part of the Kuwait-MIT signature project on sustainability of Kuwait's built environment for which Buyukozturk was the principal investigator. Undergraduates share authorship In a second paper, which will soon appear in the ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, co-authors Chin and Maranda L. Johnston, also a former UROP student, explore the binding mechanism involved when Portland cement is replaced with finely ground volcanic ash. The team used various techniques including synchrotron X-Ray diffraction at Argonne National Laboratory to examine the microstructure of hardened cement pastes. They found the finer-sized volcanic ash particles produced nanometer-scale products within the cement paste as it hardened, which helped to densify the matrix as it cured. "Our work provides a basis for the engineers to optimize their mixes with natural additives according to their specified requirements," Kupwade-Patil says. "It has become in a way a tradition in my laboratory to involve freshman and other UROP students in high-level multidisciplinary research leading to journal publications," Buyukozturk says. "This learning experience is an important part of our educational system." More information: Kunal Kupwade-Patil et al. Impact of Embodied Energy on materials/buildings with partial replacement of ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) by natural Pozzolanic Volcanic Ash, Journal of Cleaner Production (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.12.234 Journal information: Journal of Cleaner Production This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.

Ride1Up launches electric bike with 43.5 km/h maximum speed

San Diego-based electric bicycle manufacturer Ride1Up has unveiled its 700 Series model, capable of speeds of up to 27 mph. On sale for $1,449, the e-bike features a 700 Wh frame-integrated Samsung battery, offering a 30 to 60 mile range, a rear motor with peak power of 1,000 W, Shimano hydraulic disk brakes and 100 mm travel suspension forks. Despite low levels of advertising, Ride1Up reported healthy demand for the 700 Series, which has been credited to its strong specifications and low to mid-range price tag.

https://electrek.co/2020/01/10/ride1ups-new-27-mph-flagship-e-bike-is-now-hitting-the-road-in-the-us/

As electric bicycle manufacturers continue to compete in the rapidly expanding electric bicycle market, companies are offering higher-end electric bikes with increasingly affordable prices. San Diego-based Ride1Up’s new flagship e-bike, the 700 Series, is a prime example of the next generation of high-value electric bicycles. And unlike a lot of the vaporware we see, this bike is already making deliveries. Ride1Up 700 Series electric bike The Ride1Up 700 Series was announced in November, creating quite a stir in the e-bike community. The bike went on sale for just $1,449, yet offered components that are normally found on electric bikes well into the $2,000-$3,000 range. Not only did the Ride1Up 700 Series come with a top speed of 27 mph (43.5 km/h), but it packed in a 700 Wh Samsung battery integrated into the frame. That large battery can provide between 30 to 60 miles (51-102 km) of range, depending on whether you use pedal assist or the hand throttle. The rear hub motor is rated for 1,000 W of peak power. Stopping is achieved by dual Shimano hydraulic disk brakes. A 100-mm travel suspension fork up front and a pair of Schwalbe Super Moto 2.4-inch tires provide a smooth ride. Front and rear LED lights, full-color display, metal fenders, and a 50-lb capacity rear rack all come standard. Two different frame styles are available to fit riders from 5’0″ to 6’4″ (1.52 m to 1.93 m). To summarize, we’re talking about a 1,000 W e-bike with hydraulic brakes, long-range integrated battery, Class 3 speeds, and high-end components included standard, all for a lower price than some of the leading budget and mid-range e-bikes in the industry. We caught up with Ride1Up owner Kevin Dugger to learn about deliveries. Despite already getting out the first 200 bikes, Kevin explained how one of the biggest struggles so far has been increasing production capacity of the Ride1Up 700 Series to meet the demand. We have received a lot of interest in the 700 Series model and its clean look. The feedback we’re getting indicates that people seem to really like the upgrades it offers. We haven’t even really advertised it because we haven’t yet had the production volume to keep up with demand, so we didn’t want to end up outselling our inventory too dramatically. Kevin also described how he was even surprised that the 700 Series has done so well compared to the company’s 500 Series e-bike, which offers a smaller battery and fewer features, but also hits Class 3 speeds and is priced at just $1,099. We’ve had the chance to review another of one Ride1Up’s e-bikes in the past, and will be getting on a 700-Series soon to do a full review. So make sure you keep checking back here on Electrek for the latest in e-bike news and reviews. Until then, let’s hear what you think about the Ride1Up 700 Series e-bike. Do you think we’ll see the market head further toward value-oriented e-bikes this year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

EM bond issuances showed sharp increase in 2019

Emerging markets green bond issuances rose by 21% to $52bn last year, while global green issuances reached a record $240bn, equating to 3% of all bonds issued in 2019, according to a report by Amundi and the International Finance Corporation. It said China led the pack, issuing $34bn, while east Asia and the Pacific made up 81% of emerging market green bonds. Analysts said, despite the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, green bonds demonstrated "potential signs" of resilience for emerging markets, enabling investors to access long-term capital.

http://www.fundsglobalasia.com/news/emerging-market-green-bond-issuances-rise-21

Green bond issuance in emerging markets saw a sharp increase in 2019, rising to US$52 billion – a 21% increase, according to a joint report published by Amundi and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).Over the same period, the global green market saw a record $240 billion in issuance. The figure accounts for 3% of total global bonds issued in 2019.Since 2012, 35 emerging markets have issued green bonds with five making their debut offerings last year, according to the Amundi-IFC Emerging Market Green Bond Report.Of the emerging markets, China was the largest issuer of green bonds last year with more than $34 billion – something it has done each year since 2016. East Asia and the Pacific account for 81% of total emerging market green bond issuance.With the coronavirus pandemic affecting every facet of life, Amundi noted that “emerging market economies have far less room for fiscal and monetary manoeuvring, and as shown by early indicators, will be disproportionately hit by the Covid-19 crisis. Today, both green bond issuers and investors face the challenge of overcoming current market turbulence.“However, responsible investors with long-term allocations to emerging markets can collaborate with issuers through green bonds and ESG funds to unlock long-term capital and help issuers become more resilient.”Yerlan Syzdykov, global head of emerging markets at Amundi, acknowledged that assessing the long-term consequences of the current public health crisis is challenging and that barriers remain to scaling green bonds.However, he noted, “momentum is building with more investors seeking to align their investment strategies with environmental considerations. Our research indicates that the green bond phenomenon, especially in emerging markets, shows potential signs of resilience during these unprecedented times.”

Dedicated airspace given to drone testing in China

Local authorities in China have granted permission for testing of industrial drones in dedicated airspace over the Shenyang aviation testing base. Previous agreements for airspace in China for testing unmanned aerial craft have focused on 'civilian' drones which are required to fly below 150 meters. The new agreement allows for testing of drones with a much higher limit of 3,000 meters. The market for drones in China is expected to reach approximately $11bn by 2025.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-24/278222.shtml

Northeast China's Liaoning Province has obtained dedicated airspace for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, at the Shenyang general aviation industry base, local authorities said Monday. "Industrial drones will be allowed to conduct test flights below an altitude of 3,000 meters in the airspace," said Liu Guoyin, deputy director with the administration committee of the base. Liu said that the previous drone test flight bases in the country mainly target civilian drones, which are required to fly below 150 meters. The Shenyang general aviation industry base was built in 2010 in Faku County with an area of 68 square kilometers. It has built facilities such as runways, terminals and parking aprons, attracting 20 aviation firms. The overall market for drones is expected to reach 75 billion yuan (around 11 billion U.S. dollars) by 2025 in China, according to an iResearch report last year. In the booming drone market, researchers and manufacturers need a dedicated place to host test flights for their products. In late August, Shanghai also set up a test flight base for civilian drones. Liu said the airspace for industrial drones in Shenyang aviation base will help it become an industrial cluster for producers of unmanned vehicles.

Google’s DeepMind plans NHS patient forums as it pushes into healthcare

Google-owned start-up DeepMind has invited the general public to offer their thoughts on its work with the National Health Service. The "patient engagement forums" will take place at Google's King's Cross office in London, and will be streamed on YouTube, alongside a live Twitter Q&A. DeepMind's Mustafa Suleyman wants to be more "open and transparent", and is inviting patients of any hospital to come and "ask us questions, give us feedback, make suggestions." DeepMind has announced it is working with three London hospitals on a kidney monitoring app called Streams, and is using machine learning to help Moorfields Eye Hospital detect early signs of eye disease.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/google-deepmind-is-going-to-start-meeting-nhs-patients-at-its-london-office-2016-7

DeepMind cofounder and head of DeepMind Health Mustafa Suleyman. Google DeepMind An AI research lab owned by Google is going to start meeting NHS patients as it looks to be more open and transparent about how it helps doctors and clinicians to do their jobs. DeepMind, as the startup is known, intends to hold four patient meet ups a year at Google's new London office in King's Cross, with the first "patient engagement forum" taking place in September in an event that will be streamed on YouTube, alongside a live Twitter Q&A. The patient meet ups are taking place because DeepMind wants to get the public on side as it looks to expand its relationship with the NHS. The events will give members of the public the opportunity to ask DeepMind staff about its NHS partnerships and to learn how the Google-owned company intends to improve their healthcare. Founded in 2011 by Demis Hassabis, Mustafa Suleyman and Shane Legg, DeepMind faced criticism from privacy campaigners and some patients after it emerged in May that it had access to millions of NHS patient records for a kidney monitoring project. Some 148 patients opted out of that Google DeepMind/NHS partnership, according to the BBC. "One of the things that we’ve learned from that experience was to make sure that we have not just nurses and doctors leading everything that we do but patients themselves involved at every step of the way," Suleyman told BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday. The first patient engagement forum will be held on September 20. The "patient engagement forums" will take place at Google's new London office. BNP Paribas Suleyman added: "Any patient is welcome. They don’t have to be a patient at one of the hospitals that we’re collaborating with. They’re invited to come and look at what we’re doing in more detail, ask us questions, give us feedback, make suggestions about things that we can improve, or new features that we might want to add, or new products that we might want to build, and generally tell us what they think about us being involved in healthcare and having access to data." DeepMind has publicly announced that it is working with the NHS on two main projects. The first is a kidney monitoring app called Streams, which is designed to help clinicians working across three London hospitals operated by the Royal Free Trust to detect early signs of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients. The second involves helping Moorfields Eye Hospital to detect early signs of eye diseases that can eventually lead to blindness with its machine learning technology. A review panel has also been set up to monitor DeepMind's work with the NHS. The panel held its first meeting at the start of summer.

Power Producer Association pleads for intervention on unpaid dues

The Association of Power Producers has called on India's Ministry of Power to intervene in the government of Madhya Pradesh's dispute with independent power producers over unpaid capacity charges due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The organization has maintained that, during the outbreak, the Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company issued force majeure notices and refused to pay the power producer's capacity charges despite their having been deemed essential services. The Ministry of Power in April noted that capacity and transmission charge payments would be required, regardless of the pandemic.  

https://www.saurenergy.com/solar-energy-news/power-producers-seek-payment-of-rightful-dues-to-ipps-from-mp-govt

The Association of Power Producers (APP) in a written letter has urged Power Minister RK Singh to advise Madhya Pradesh (MP) government to again consider its decision of denying payment of rightful dues of independent power producers (IPPs). According to the letter, quoted PTI, “on behalf of independent power producers (IPPs), we request your intervention to advise the Government of Madhya Pradesh to reconsider this decision of denying the rightful dues of capacity charges to the IPPs, which you will appreciate is highly unjust, illegal and arbitrary.” Number of IPPs which supply power to Madhya Pradesh via Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Ltd (MPPMCL) have been facing “arbitrary and discrimination action with regard to payment of capacity charges by MPPMCL,” the letter said. Moreover, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, Torrent Power, Lanco Amarkantak, BLA Power, MB Power, Jhabua Power, are among those IPPs which supply power to the state, and there are at least 10,000 people employed in such IPPs in MP. In case of liquidity crunch these IPPs will not be able to pay even salaries of staff, the association claimed. On further explaining the severe cash crunch situation of IPPs, the association further added that non-payment of capacity charges to IPPs would not only jeopardize their debt service obligations leading to the creation of a fresh set of NPAs within the banking system but may also lead to non-payment of salaries and wages and the possibility of retrenchment, as none of them has adequate reserves to tide over the coronavirus crisis. This is in the wake of Force Majeure notices issued by MPPMCL on March 30, 2020, taking cognizance of NDMA (National Disaster Management Act) Order on March 24, 2020, the day lockdown was announced, reported PTI. However, IPPs responded by stating that State Electricity Corporations like MPPMCL and Electricity Generating Companies came under essential services and therefor Force Majeure could not be invoked. Despite this, MPPMCL on April 8, 2020, issued another FM notice dated March 31, 2020, in which it said either they will not schedule the power and declared capacity will not be accepted from these IPPs or they will accept declared capacity only to the extent power is scheduled from the plants, the association pointed out. Moreover, MPPMCL further said no capacity charges would be payable by them for power not scheduled by MPPMCL irrespective of Declared Capacity of IPPs till further notice, APP said in the letter. This notice was issued in backdate despite Ministry of Power having clarified vide circular on April 6, 2020, that “Obligation to pay for capacity charges as per the PPA (power purchase agreement) shall continue, as does the obligation to pay for transmission charges”, it said. The RLDC / SLDC (regional and State load dispatch centres), as applicable, have accepted the declared capacity as given by these IPPs, entitling them to claim capacity charges, it added. Despite this, MPPMCL has refused to process the bills of these IPPs and is denying them their rightful claim over the capacity charges, APP said. Notably, the body stated that MPPMCL has decided to pay the capacity charges to the State and PSU generators, including NTPC, while denying the same to IPPs, under the cover of Force Majeure. “As you are well aware, the country is going through difficult times due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the fragile financial health of the IPPs have forced many of them to undergo financial restructuring while others are at the verge of becoming NPAs,” the association said. APP further added that “the same has been acknowledged by the central government, which has declared a relief package to address hardship faced by IPPs. Unfortunately, during this critical and challenging time, MPPMCL is attempting to deny legitimate & contractual payments.” “While we have already been representing at various forums, the discrimination by the coal companies, Railways and other authorities in dealing with IPPs, this action of MPPMCL has taken brazen discrimination to another level and maybe the last straw that breaks the IPPs back,” APP said in the letter. This is significant as PM Modi, during a detailed review meeting held on Thursday evening on the power sector with the Power Ministry and MNRE, emphasized the need for improving the financial sustainability of the power sector in order to solve the issues prevailing in the sector especially the power distribution sector. PM also pointed out that the problems in the power sector, especially of the electricity distribution segment, vary across regions and states. He further suggested the Power Ministry that instead of looking for a one-size-fits-all solution, the Ministry should put in place state-specific solutions to incentivize each state to improve its performance.

Shopify and Pinterest launch new channel allowing merchants to target platform’s 350M+ monthly users

May 2020 saw Pinterest launch a new Shopify channel making it easier for Shopify's 1 million merchants to attract new customers and grow sales on the site. Starting in the US and Canada with plans for further global expansion, the partnership demonstrates Pinterest's desire to streamline its shopping capabilities as consumers increasingly come to Pinterest and other social media sites for inspiration. Pinterest is offering new advertisers a $100 advertising credit when they publish their first ad through Shopify.

https://news.shopify.com/shopify-and-pinterest-launch-new-channel-allowing-merchants-to-target-platforms-350m-monthly-users

Merchants in 29 markets can now leverage the discoverability of Pinterest's 450M+ monthly users Updated: June 1, 2022 ​ ​Pinterest and Shopify have expanded our partnership to Japan. ​ ​Updated: April 21, 2021 We’ve expanded our partnership with Pinterest to 27 additional markets*. Shopify merchants across the world can now use Shopify’s Pinterest channel to turn their products into Pins and tap into the reach of Pinterest’s 450M+ monthly users. Discoverability is top of mind for Shopify merchants, and social commerce presents a powerful opportunity for independent businesses to grow their audience. Shopify’s 2021 Future of Commerce report found that 54% of younger consumers globally discover brands via social media. Over the last year in particular, Shopify merchants have recognized that they need to show up wherever their customers are spending time—from February 2020 to February 2021, Shopify saw installs of our social commerce channels grow 76%. With Pinterest users generally showing high purchase intent—83% of weekly Pinners have made a purchase based on content they saw from brands on Pinterest—the expansion of Shopify’s Pinterest channel to 27 new markets will increase the potential for both discovery and sales for more than 1.7 million Shopify merchants worldwide. “The future of commerce is commerce everywhere,” said Lola Oyelayo-Pearson, Director of UX, Channels and Financial Services at Shopify. “At Shopify, our job is to make this possible by giving merchants the ability to market and sell in multiple places while removing the complexity of managing various channels. By expanding our partnership, merchants across the world can now access the Pinterest channel to create targeted, audience-building campaigns all without leaving Shopify.” "Integrating Pinterest with Shopify as a marketing channel has been a great awareness and audience building opportunity for us. We get significant traffic from Pinterest,” said Deepica Mutyala, CEO and Founder at LIVE TINTED. “LIVE TINTED creates products that are innovative and meant to simplify your beauty routine, which makes Pinterest's audience perfect. People on Pinterest are looking for hacks and education around products and beauty routines. Being able to directly link products onto Pins makes it easy for people to learn about us through fun content, see how to use our products, and then shop seamlessly in one go." In addition to expanding the Pinterest channel globally, we’ve also added dynamic retargeting ads. Merchants can now build intuitive marketing campaigns that automatically cater to individual consumers. Using the Pinterest channel, merchants can now develop and deploy marketing campaigns that target consumers in geographies outside of their own as demand for cross-border commerce grows, including the ability to create localized product feeds that target individual markets using Pinterest’s new multi-feed support for catalogues. “Pinterest is an inspiring place to shop and we're excited to expand our partnership with Shopify to help merchants in 27 more countries grow their shopping presence on Pinterest globally,” said Bill Watkins, Global Head of Mid-Market and Small Business Sales at Pinterest. “Small and medium businesses in particular have the opportunity to thrive on Pinterest because they connect with consumers in a positive environment when they are early in their decision-making journey and full of purchase intent. With the retail ecosystem profoundly evolving over the past year, we’re committed to supporting merchants of all sizes by providing them with a quick and easy access to our shopping features without the need to edit code or deploy resources so they can inspire consumers for what to do or buy next.” *New markets include the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Brazil, Greece, Hungary, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Malta, Australia, and New Zealand. May 7, 2020 Shopify and Pinterest launch new channel allowing merchants to target platform’s 450M+ monthly users It’s no secret that visual discovery is an incredibly powerful tool for independent businesses to promote their brands and help shoppers find their products. Today, Pinterest is launching a new Shopify channel to make it easier for merchants to attract new customers and grow sales. The Pinterest community has high shopping intent, with over 83% of weekly pinners having made a purchase based on a pin they liked. The new channel will allow U.S. and Canadian merchants to tap into this audience to seamlessly turn existing products from their store into “Product Pins” on Pinterest, as well as add a shop tab to their profile on Pinterest, for free organic promotion. Shopify merchants can also promote their pins as a paid ad, bringing customers directly into their brand’s online store for purchase. The Pinterest channel adds to the growing list of tools already available within Shopify Marketing, making it easy for merchants to manage all of their marketing in one place within Shopify. Pinterest has more than 350 million monthly active users turning to them for inspiration. Given that these users tend to conduct unbranded searches, Shopify’s goal is to help the Pinterest community find the products and companies that inspire them. This new integration allows merchants to reach more shoppers, and helps customers discover brands they love. This is a big win in the constant quest to gain loyal customers.

S. Africa: ANC losing due to faltering economy, corruption, rising unemployment

South Africa's ruling ANC party is set to receive its first major rebuke from voters since coming to power more than twenty years ago. Early signs in the municipal elections indicate significant gains for the Democratic Alliance in three of the country’s main urban centres. Concerns over a failing economy, high unemployment and corruption allegations surrounding president Jacob Zuma have caused large numbers of voters to leave the ANC. The party's majority has fallen below 50% in Pretoria and Johannesburg, which could mean it would be forced to form a coalition.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/04/south-africa-elections-anc-takes-early-lead-but-may-lose-grip-on-cities

South Africa’s urban voters have used local elections to hand the ruling ANC party the first major rebuke at the polls since it swept to power after the end of apartheid over two decades ago. Early results from the municipal elections show huge gains for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in three of the country’s main urban centres. Voters frustrated by flagging economic growth and high unemployment, worried about the looming threat of recession, and frustrated by graft allegations that have dogged the president, Jacob Zuma, have abandoned his party in huge numbers. With vote counting ongoing, the ANC had an overall majority nationwide but had slipped below 50% in the capital Pretoria and the commercial centre Johannesburg, suggesting it would be forced to form a coalition to rule. In the Nelson Mandela municipality that includes Port Elizabeth, the DA was leading 50% to 39% with 79% of the vote counted. The loss of political control over the lives of millions, and urban budgets of billions of dollars will be a huge blow to a party so convinced of its right to rule that the general-secretary recently declared it had a mandate from God. “Simply to form a coalition in Pretoria, the capital, would be an embarrassment,” independent analyst Daniel Silke told Agence France-Presse. “What it really will say is that few results are certain in South African politics any more and that the certainty the ANC has enjoyed for so long would simply be negated.” Preliminary results are not expected until late on Thursday, but with over two-thirds of the votes counted, opposition parties were celebrating what increasingly looked like a rout of the ruling party and a clear criticism of its controversial leader. “We have shown some incredible growth,” Mmusi Maimane, the DA’s first black leader, told 702 radio. “We call this the change election because we felt that it was a referendum on Jacob Zuma as a national figure, but we also had a referendum about the future of South Africa.” Radical new party the Economic Freedom Fighters claimed a small but significant slice of the vote in the first local elections it has contested, potentially making it a kingmaker in areas that need to form coalition rule. A record number of voters, over 26 million, registered for the election, with rival parties apparently mobilising supporters to sign up and then attend polling stations far more effectively than the ANC. “I just voted DA for change,” said Claire King, 30, in Port Elizabeth’s central business district. “I just think we now need change in our country. Let’s give the DA a chance and see what happens.” The ANC has never won less than 60% of the vote since the country’s first multiracial vote in 1994, when Mandela was sworn in as president. So even if it manages to win an overall majority, the results are likely to strengthen critics of Zuma who are calling for his early resignation. His term is due to end officially in 2019, when the country will hold national elections, but many in the ANC fear he is too deeply tainted after a string of corruption scandals and want him to step aside for a new leader. Calls for him to resign mounted after a recent court finding that he spent government money on improvements to his private home. The constitutional court ordered him to repay more than half a million dollars to the state. Critics also say he has been too close to a wealthy business family of Indian origin, with several senior politicians alleging that the Guptas were involved in senior cabinet appointments. Concerns about management of the economy, particularly after he swapped finance ministers twice within a week, have eaten into confidence. There are hopes that a poor election result will force the ruling party to focus more on promoting economic growth. “A very weak outcome for the ANC, getting less than a 55% national vote share and losing three metros, would likely be viewed as a market positive,” said the Nomura emerging market analyst Peter Attard Montalto.

Monetising esports via multiple revenue streams

From a relatively niche global market worth US$194m in 2014, esports saw its total revenues leap five-fold, to US$980m in 2019. Spending on esports is projected to surge at a compound annual rate of 18.3% between 2018 and 2023 to reach almost US$1.8bn. Revenue streams are generated through franchising, media rights, fan payment models, sponsorships and advertising, and betting.

https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/technology/publications/monetising-esports.html

Media rights Just as is the case for traditional sports, media rights are a natural — and potentially substantial — source of revenues for esports. Our Outlook projections show media rights will be the fastest-growing source of esports revenues between 2018 and 2023, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.0% to reach US$506m. Although this projection is encouraging for esports organisations, physical sports’ varying experiences with media rights may present some valuable lessons. After 2006, when live coverage of England’s home cricket test matches moved from free-to-air television to pay-TV satellite channel Sky, the number of viewers declined significantly. More positively, English Premiership football’s move to Sky — and the sale of the US rights to NBC — has been seen as a resounding success on all counts, making the product even better while also boosting its global profile and profitability. Given the right approach, the same can happen in esports, triggering a virtuous circle of rising revenues and an improving product. New access and monetisation models could also emerge: By way of example, Sky’s no-contract Now TV streaming service now offers a “day pass” for live football. Going forward, there’s the clear potential for one or more of the FAANG global tech platforms (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) to pick up esports and take it to a global mainstream audience. Fan payment models Consumers are a relatively small but expanding source of revenues for esports. According to the Outlook, the consumer contribution to esports will rise at a CAGR of 14.4% through 2023, reaching US$254m, while esports ticket sales will rise at a 17.3% CAGR to US$129m. Together, these consumer revenue streams will be bigger than streaming advertising but less than media rights. How will esports realise this consumer opportunity? Charging for top-tier events makes commercial sense, even if the fee is just a token amount: a fan may well be prepared to pay US$20 a year to watch NBA or La Liga their favorite esports league. But questions remain, even in long-established sports, about who they pay this money to and whether they feel they’re getting the value for it. That said, some fans may regard additional content such as behind-the-scenes access and stories as more valuable than the main live event. In the spring of 2019, Riot Games introduced the US$15 Pro View pass for fans of League of Legends (LOL) esports, which enables viewing of multiple streams and creation of personalised fan experiences. Revenues from the pass are split between regional LOL leagues and teams. What’s clear is that if esports can identify the right consumer payments models and implement them correctly, fans will stay on board. There’s a useful precedent in the way video gaming revenue has boomed with in-game purchase models. Gamers are happy to pay for features that enhance their experience and allow them to customise it. Sponsorships and advertising Sponsorship is currently the single biggest source of revenues for esports, and the Outlook forecasts that it will retain that position over the coming five years, growing at a CAGR of 16.3% to US$598m in 2023. Rather than grabbing the first sponsorship deal that comes along, companies are increasingly looking for additional value — value that might include access to other markets or hard-to-reach consumers, access to other companies that the investor has invested in, or access to infrastructure. This added value flows both ways — to sponsors and to esports businesses. Toyota’s partnership with Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch League included a documentary-style video series called “Access Granted” featuring Toyota vehicles. For a traditional sports club, an esports sponsorship could present an ideal entry point for getting into a new market such as China.

Kingfisher B&Q completes reopening all 288 stores

UK shoppers have flocked to the nation's 288 B&Q stores after the company reopened them, despite the ongoing lockdown, after the government deemed DIY stores "essential" businesses. B&Q said it was implementing strict safeguards to protect staff and shoppers, from limiting in-store customer numbers and sanitising trolleys to maintaining social distancing.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-b-q-reopens-all-288-stores-despite-the-country-still-being-in-lockdown-11981160

DIY retailer B&Q has fully reopened all 288 of its retail stores - despite the UK still being in lockdown. The company has gradually opened the doors of its sites across the country, with its final two outlets reopening on Thursday after stores closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown introduced in March. Customers have visited the stores in their droves, leading to long queues outside, due to the coronavirus social distancing measures put in place. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:18 B&... queue? Long lines as hardware chain reopens DIY stores have been listed as "essential" by the government, meaning they are allowed to remain open during the lockdown, but some people have been concerned over the impact of opening the stores - such as increased traffic. Rival shops Wickes and Homebase have also begun to reopen their stores over the past few days, as retailers look to start recouping their losses. B&Q said it is "strictly limiting the number of customers in store at any one time", as well as introducing new safety measures, such as trolley sanitising stations. Floors display markers signifying two metre gaps, while the now contactless-only checkouts have been fitted with Perspex screens to protect staff. Graham Bell, chief executive officer of B&Q, said: "Our highest priority is to keep our colleagues safe at work and our customers safe while shopping. "In all our stores, we have strict social distancing measures in place. Advertisement Podcast Due to your consent preferences, you’re not able to view this. Open Privacy Options :: Listen to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker "Customers are adhering to these, helping us to offer a shopping environment that is safe for everyone, while we help them to look after their homes and gardens, as well as their wellbeing. "Whether shopping in our stores or online, we continue to ask all our customers to follow the government's social distancing guidelines and to shop responsibly only when they need to."

Jacksonville expands testing, educational initiatives on AVs

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is extending the scope of its autonomous vehicle (AV) project with further testing and educational programmes before a public rollout. Working in conjunction with Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ), JTA will deploy its Ultimate Urban Circulator (UUC) Test & Learn Program at FSCJ's commercial driving licence test track, as well as add AV technology courses to the college's curriculum. The UUC project will eventually be brought to downtown Jacksonville and other areas of north-east Florida, adding a connected network of AVs to the region's transportation portfolio.

https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/100369/jacksonville-autonomous-vehicle-project-expanded/

Jacksonville autonomous vehicle project expanded 13 SHARES Posted: 4 June 2020 | Sam Mehmet (Intelligent Transport) The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) has expanded an autonomous vehicle programme as it prepares to roll out CAVs on public roads and develop the workforce of tomorrow. Credit: Jacksonville Transportation Authority The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) and Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) have agreed to expand the JTA’s autonomous vehicle programme through new testing and educational initiatives on FSCJ campuses. The JTA Board of Directors approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with FSCJ that includes: The expansion of the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U 2 C) Test & Learn Program to FSCJ’s Commercial Driver’s License Test Track on the school’s Cecil Center Campus C) Test & Learn Program to FSCJ’s Commercial Driver’s License Test Track on the school’s Cecil Center Campus The development of an autonomous vehicle deployment or “Agile Plan” on an FSCJ campus And the development of curriculum and educational initiatives relative to autonomous vehicles, and related technology. “As we continue to develop our autonomous vehicle programme, it is vital that higher education and the workforce of tomorrow is included in that conversation,” said JTA Chief Executive Officer, Nathaniel P. Ford Sr. “Being able to access FSCJ’s test track and other facilities will also allow us to expand our testing programme, as we push forward with the U2C project.” The JTA is currently developing the U2C programme, a connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) network planned for Downtown Jacksonville and eventually expanding to other key areas in Northeast Florida. Through four initial phases, the U2C aims to leverage the existing Skyway infrastructure and expand that network through ground-level connections and convert those structures to support autonomous vehicles. The first phase, the Bay Street Innovation Corridor, is fully funded. “Our community is leading the way to the future of autonomous vehicles,” said FSCJ President, Dr. John Avendano. “This partnership will provide innovative educational opportunities to the workforce in order to prepare our students for the next generation of automotive technology.” As part of the efforts to integrate and socialise CAV technology, the JTA has also developed a strategy to incorporate community partners and local institutions like FSCJ through the development of a series of “Agile Plans.” An Agile Plan comprises low-speed CAV circulators at specific locations where there is a unique transportation need, while fulfilling a core principal of connecting people with emerging technologies. Additionally, as the JTA continues to innovate through the U2C project, senior members of the Authority’s Automation division are planning to begin developing a curriculum and other educational initiatives in conjunction with FSCJ faculty that will focus on autonomous vehicles and other innovative technologies to prepare the workforce of the future.

African countries look to prevent mobile money fraud

East African Countries including Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan are working together to carry out a common SIM card registration framework, to help tame crime that is perpetrated using mobile phones. Officials from the four nations met in Nairobi and discussed about harmonisation of their legal frameworks to develop a common SIM card registration system. A statement signed by the four officials stated that, the four governments would interconnect national identification (ID) systems. “SIM card registration has been primarily necessitated by the need to ensure that ICT networks, particularly mobile telecom services, are secured from misuse for criminal activities,” said Francis Wangusi, Kenya’s Communications Authority director general. “The new framework will help deal with fraud as the region strives to realise financial inclusion for the citizens,” said Joseph Tiampati, the ICT Principal Secretary.  

http://afkinsider.com/103927/east-african-countries-move-to-tame-mobile-money-fraud/

From Business Daily East African nations are working to reach a common SIM card registration framework to help tame crime that is perpetrated using mobile phones. Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan met in Nairobi Thursday where they discussed harmonisation of their legal frameworks to develop a common SIM card registration system. “SIM card registration has been primarily necessitated by the need to ensure that ICT networks, particularly mobile telecommunications services, are secured from misuse for criminal activities,” said the Communications Authority director-general Francis Wangusi. DEAL WITH FRAUD “The new framework will help deal with fraud as the region strives to realise financial inclusion for the citizens,” said Joseph Tiampati, the ICT Principal Secretary. A statement signed by Kenya’s ICT Secretary Fred Matiang’i, Uganda’s John Nasasira, Jean Philbert Nsengimana of Rwanda and South Sudan’s Rebecca Joshua Okwachi states that the four countries would interconnect national identification (ID) systems. Mr Wangusi said the ID cards will then be linked to SIM cards of mobile users as in the case of Kenya. In the new arrangement, Uganda for instance will recognise a Kenyan registered SIM card from its end and trace the owner in case it is used to commit a crime. The region last year reached a deal that saw the cost of cross-border calls between member countries drop. The member countries are now working to also have common charges for data and mobile money services with Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan on the.

$4.5bn of FX trades compressed by LCH ForexClear

LCH ForexClear’s new compression service has been used to reduce members notional trades by $4.5bn with Citi and Standard Chartered among the first to use the service. The FX clearing service recorded a record activity in July, compressing $8.7tn in notional, an 87% YoY increase.

https://www.thetradenews.com/lch-forexclear-compresses-4-5-billion-cleared-notional/

LCH has helped its ForexClear members reduce notional outstanding by $4.5 billion, with Citi and Standard Chartered among the first participants to actively compress their trades through the service. The London-based clearinghouse’s ForexClear service allows clearing members and their clients eliminate offsetting trades to reduce notional outstanding and the number of lines in a portfolio. “Growth in FX clearing volumes has led to demand for solutions that drive down notional outstanding and contribute to greater capital and operational efficiency,” said Tamaryn Nuttall, head of ForexClear product at LCH. “We expect uptake of compression services to accelerate significantly over the coming year as clearing volumes continue to grow and as we expand our compression offering.” LCH ForexClear’s compression also covers both standard and blended rate solo compression. The FX clearing service saw a record activity in July this year, after LCH cleared $8.7 trillion in notional from 1.26 million trades, representing a 87% increase year-on-year. “Having seen the benefits of compression in our rates business, we’re delighted to be an early adopter of compression at ForexClear. It’s an effective way to reduce our notional outstanding and improve operational efficiency,” added Matt Turner, director of balance sheet management at Standard Chartered Bank. Earlier this month, LCH processed its first swaption trades executed by Deutsche Bank and Nomura through its non-cleared derivatives clearing service SwapAgent. Both investment banks completed the trades, one in Euro and the other in US Dollars, which were brokered by ICAP and processes by IHS Markit’s MarkitSERV.

Facebook's most important exec outside the US talked to us about how the site is still cool among teens and why she's not afraid about the rise of ad blocking

Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's vice president for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, talks to Business Insider about Facebook and the advertising industry. 

http://uk.businessinsider.com/facebook-vp-nicola-mendelsohn-on-teenagers-ad-blocking-cannes-and-advertising-2015-6?r=US

Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook VP EMEA. Facebook Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's vice president for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, is beaming even more so than usual when Business Insider arrives at the company's HQ and congratulates her on receiving her CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) which was announced just a couple of days prior to our meeting. Mendelsohn was among the recipients in the Queen's birthday honors list, and was awarded for her services to the creative industries. Alongside her day job at Facebook she is also co-chair of the Creative Industries Council, a joint forum between the creative industry and the UK government. She was "surprised" when she first received her royal letter in the post and says she still has no idea who nominated her for the honor (anyone can nominate, and nominations are reviewed by various government departments.) Regardless, her mom is "absolutely thrilled" and while Mendelsohn says she probably won't be adding "CBE" after her name, she is a grateful recipient. We also met with Mendelsohn ahead of another major landmark in her career. This week she celebrates her two-year anniversary at Facebook, having joined the company from London-based ad agency Karmarama, which she founded in 2008. Mendelsohn, who has spent the last two years out on the road meeting and building teams across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, told us about some of the nuances of the huge market she is responsible for — the ubiquity of mobile payments in Kenya and women in Saudi Arabia using Facebook to export goods, for example. Speaking of women, she's a huge champion of diversity in the workplace, and told us about some of the initiatives she has been running within Facebook to promote equality. Mendelsohn also countered the accusation often thrown at Facebook that it is losing its appeal among teens, with some evidence from her own "sneaky focus group." And she gave us her opinion on one of the biggest threats to digital advertising right now: the rise of ad blockers. Below is a lightly edited version of our conversation. BUSINESS INSIDER: It's hard to believe it's been two years since you joined Facebook, but time obviously flies and you've clearly achieved a lot since then. LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 02: Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's VP of EMEA view the exhibits during Create UK launched by the Creative Industries Council at Facebook Headquarters on July 2, 2014 in London, England. Ian Gavan/Getty Images for Facebook NICOLA MENDELSOHN: It definitely does! It literally was two years ago this week. Or as we call it here, my "Faceversary." BI: So what do you do on your Faceversary? NM: I don't know! I'll let you know. People will send me lots of nice messages on Facebook. BI: And cupcakes and things? NM: I hope so! BI: So tell me a little bit about how your role has changed over that time. You're still in the same role, but I imagine what you're doing now is vastly different from two years ago. Facebook's user base has grown massively over the past two years. Facebook Investor relations NM: Well in some ways it has but in some respects there are a lot of similarities. I mean there’s a huge number more people that have joined the Facebook platform, and since then Facebook has changed as a business. Now we’re a whole family of apps and services. We didn’t have advertising on Instagram then. Instagram then was 100 million people, now its’s 300 million people. Facebook has grown. If I think about the UK, it’s grown from 33 million people to 37 million people. So you can see the growth in people coming on and spending time with us. We also didn’t have WhatsApp, we didn’t have Oculus, we didn’t have Messenger broken out. So it’s changed quite a lot in a short period of time. But probably the biggest change we’ve seen, and I’ve seen, is the speed of mobile adoption in that period. Which I think nobody could have predicted quite how quickly people and businesses are transitioning more and more time spent on to mobile, because that’s how much time people are spending on mobile. BI: And what about the actual business set-up here? You’ve had an office move (from Covent Garden to Euston) recently. Have you added more people? Has the mix of people changed? LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 02: Anya Hindmarch, Bian Cox and Nicola Mendelsohn Create UK launched by the Creative Industries Council at Facebook Headquarters on July 2, 2014 in London, England. Ian Gavan/Getty Images for Facebook NM: More people have joined in London but also in other parts of the world. That’s been exciting and we’ve obviously hired more people. So when [you last interviewed me, back in 2013] Steve Hatch (Facebook’s UK and Ireland director) hadn’t joined — it’s fantastic to work with Steve. Recently, I hired two more people, Ari Kesisoglu (director of Turkey, Israel, Middle East, and Africa) and Paola Bonomo (director of Benelux, France, Spain, and Italy) who are two of my direct reports as well. BI: You travel at least once a week across the region you are responsible for. Back when you first joined, the Middle East and Africa were almost unchartered territories from a commercial point of view. How has that region grown over that time? NM: Every week I’m in a different country and that’s brilliant because I can get to spend time with our clients, I get to spend time with our teams, and really learn on the ground how we’re helping businesses grow, and seeing the work and people. I have spent a lot of time in the Middle East and also in Africa doing the same thing: listening, talking, and learning. What we’re seeing is really exciting. In the Middle East and Africa now we are up to 191 million people that are coming on to Facebook. Eight-five percent of them are coming on through mobile and that’s a massive change. We’re seeing that increase of people coming on to technology who have never been using technology before, and in many ways Africa is a mobile continent. In some ways Africa is far more advanced than we see in the UK. I was in Nairobi, Kenya, earlier this year and their whole payment system there is mobile. M-Pesa is unbelievable. So you can be walking down the streets of a market, and the market will be no different to something that you could have been in a thousand years ago, but everyone is trading by using their mobile phone. And you kind of go, "well how come I can go shopping on the streets of London and it’s unfathomable [to be able to do that]?" So there’s a lot we can learn from being over there. But we are also seeing some really sophisticated use of advertising over there in terms of how people are utilizing Facebook and Instagram as well. So we have set up the Creative Accelerator program [which helps brands and agencies make their ads work on every mobile device and connection] as one of the areas to really help with that. Coca-Cola's Facebook Creative Accelerator campaign in Kenya. Facebook In Kenya in particular we did some great work with Coca-Cola, which was a way of really harnessing the power of the creativity of the platform and how you can tell stories at scale in a different way, never mind what the device is, you can adapt it to the device. So that was good to be on the ground to understand and see, and in the Coca-Cola case there was an 18% increase in brand recall. BI: In terms of how people use Facebook or indeed the wider internet, what are people in developing regions doing better than we are already, perhaps because they’re not being held back by archaic ways of using technology because they skipped it and went straight to mobile? NM: On the Kenya trip we met a woman called Isabella who was utilizing the Instagram platform to sell dresses: she has a fashion business called Fashion 254. Now we haven’t even got an Instagram advertising product in that market yet, but she’s finding ways to be creative. Similarly, in Saudi Arabia, I met with a number of female entrepreneurs through an organization called Glowork, and they’re utilizing Facebook to sell through. There are very different rules and laws within that country and they have found the internet as a way of connecting to the world. They have found Facebook as a way to connect with their friends, families, businesses they are interested in. So what they talked about was that Facebook gave them a gateway to the world that they wouldn’t have had otherwise — [and also using Facebook as a vehicle to help export their goods overseas.] BI: A lot of your ad products in regions like Africa, the Middle East, and India are aimed at users with feature phones, who may not have good — or any — internet connection. I was at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March when Mark Zuckerberg was speaking, and he was very adamant that Facebook and Internet.org [Zuckerberg's initiative to connect developing countries to the internet for free] are two very separate things. But at the start it didn’t really seem like that, it seemed like Internet.org was a very much Facebook-led program. Do you personally get involved with Internet.org still, for example, or is it simply not under your job description? BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 02: Founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg walks onto the stage prior to his keynote conference during the first day of the Mobile World Congress 2015 at the Fira Gran Via complex on March 2, 2015 in Barcelona, Spain. David Ramos/Getty Images NM: So I’m certainly very passionate about it because it’s part of the Facebook mission, to make the world more open and connected, so that people can share more. One of the barriers to doing that is the lack of connectivity in some parts of the world. Internet.org is a collection of different groups, organizations, NGOs, that have come together to try and bring connectivity to the world. So one of the things that will be part of the Internet.org initiative is the Facebook app that comes on. Why? Because if you try to explain what the internet is to people, it’s very complicated. Whereas if you say would you like to connect with your friends, then that’s much more simple. But they are kept very, very separate. BI: When you look at the differences between the US and Europe for Facebook form a commercial perspective, there still is a massive discrepancy there. ARPU [average revenue per user] in the US and Canada is more than double Europe. But yet we do have quite a sophisticated ad market here, even if advertising on Facebook launched here later. What kind of work are you doing to close up that gap, and is that a priority for you? Facebook Investor Relations NM: Actually, my biggest priority is making sure our clients are getting the best return on investment they can make. That is the only thing I care about. I do not want to take a single pound, euro, or sheqel from a client if it doesn’t give them a strong return. And one of the big changes we have seen is the investment that we’ve made on the measurement side so we can really demonstrably track the impact Facebook advertising is having. And it is. Across all of the measures that any client or agency would measure by, Facebook is being proved to contribute very significantly to the bottom line across all verticals and across all countries. So that’s the thing I care about, that’s the thing that all the people are here are working on is: What are we doing to change the business [for clients]. It’s just as simple as that. BI: One of the first big changes you made early on was launching the first ever Facebook Women’s Conference. How is that working out? NM: We have carried on with that. Diversity in all of its guises is massively important here, and to me personally as well, as you know. We now have an annual Women’s Leadership Day. All the women come from EMEA and I made a pledge in December that for the next year, wherever I went, I would do a women’s event — either for women in the office or for women and external people, whatever the office wants. Last week I was in Italy and we sat with two women who had been small business entrepreneurs. One of them had built their business Buru Buru from a team of 12 people in three years selling Italian product, I mean who doesn’t love Italian produce to be honest — the fashion, the design? And they were sharing their story with us. Men and women came to that but it was designed to be billed as a women’s event. I took all the women in the office here to the House of Lords and we had a very inspirational speech from [Mediacom UK CEO] Karen Blackett [OBE] who was incredible and she wowed us all. Then for International Women’s Day, all the offices in the region held different sorts of events. The event we did here was [in conjunction with] Theirworld, a charity run by Sarah Brown [also the wife of former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown] which campaigns for free education for all children around the world, girls and boys. Lorraine Candy [Elle editor in chief] was also involved. Also some inspirational young women talking about setting up businesses through different programs like Apps for Good and that was amazing. We had about 250 women who came to that event. BI: Lots of different initiatives there. What kind of impact do they have on the business? NM: I think it gives women, specifically on the women point, but across any of the areas we are talking about, I think it gives people the confidence that this is a company that’s interested in people for their whole selves, that’s there to help people progress, and to do so in an environment that’s conducive to to whatever their needs, wants, and desires are. All business today is about having the best people, attracting the best people, keeping the best people, and I think the more that you look at people as their whole lives the better. BI: You’ll have seen recently Tom Knox, the new president of [UK advertising trade body] the IPA, put forward his agenda for the year recently. And one of the initiatives he’s pushing is for every advertising agency in the UK to publish their employee gender diversity numbers, to be displayed in an annual league table. What do you think about this? Do you think it’s a positive thing for businesses? LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 23: Facebook, VP EMEA Nicola Mendelsohn speaks during The Facebook Creative Talks Part 1, as part of Advertising Week Europe, Piccadilly, on March 23, 2015 in London, England. Tim Whitby/Getty Images for Advertising Week NM: I think it’s brilliant idea that he’s publishing those lists because the lists will be a snapshot of where things are now, because maybe people haven’t thought about it, and if you haven’t thought about it then maybe you won’t do something about it. We are very conscious [of diversity] here. One of the outputs I think we’ve seen is that we do have more women in senior positions now. Some of the senior hires I’ve made recently are women. And I think it’s important that companies know where they are, where they stack up, and therefore what kind of plans they might need to put in place to bring in a more diverse workforce. Why does that matter? Why does that matter here? Because if we are looking after 1.4 billion people, then you want to be sure that the people looking after those people are reflective of those people. Because people think in different ways. Men and women do think differently in different respects. And so we want to be making sure that the platform we are creating best reflects the people that are using it. But I think that’s true for any business. I think it’s a global issue that is true for every business, including Facebook. We’re not happy with our numbers either. BI: One of the other things you introduced not long after you joined Facebook was the first “Facebook client council” outside of the US [made up of senior UK marketers from both brands and agencies to give Facebook advice on how it can build out a better product for them.] Where are you at with it now? NM: We now have a number of councils: The UK client council, which Steve Hatch is running, I have the EMEA council, and we’re meeting in Cannes — can you believe it’s going to be my thirteenth Cannes! Which is very exciting, I love Cannes! — we are also going to be setting up a creative one as well. And it’s something we’ve carried on around the world. We now have an India one, a Brazil one, and a global one. BI: And these councils give you brutal, honest feedback about what’s working for Facebooks and what’s not. What kinds of discussions have been coming up recently? Back in 2013 those were around advertising measurement, but I guess those conversations have moved on a bit now? NM: First of all, I’m incredibly grateful for the time they give to us because they definitely make us better, and they have influenced the product and changed the product as a results.The insights they have provided, their needs and desires [outside of the US] have absolutely [influenced product decisions in Menlo Park.] The biggest focus I think at the moment is on creative. With these incredibly rich canvases that we have — and the fact that video on mobile has just exploded in the last year. We’ve gone from 1 billion video views to 4 billion video views a day [on both desktop and mobile on Facebook.] They ask: can we make the work better? We want to tell stories at scale on this rich creative canvas, what can you share with us, teach us? And, vice versa: What’s working well for them? How we can improve? Those are some of the areas that are really making a difference. Kevin Bacon stars in an EE Facebook video ad campaign. Facebook/EE So you see campaigns like from [UK mobile carrier] EE [its marketing director, Spencer McHugh, sits on the UK client council] with Kevin Bacon where they created very bespoke different pieces of film especially for Facebook which made a demonstrable difference to their business. BI: The next EMEA council meeting is being held at Cannes, the biggest advertising event of the year. What has Facebook got planned there? NM: Cannes is incredibly important to us and it is one of my favorite weeks of the year. It always has been. It's a week of inspiration and all about creativity. Given my background, it’s something that speaks to every fiber I have in me. We will be talking a lot about mobile and that big shift, because it’s something that clients want us to talk about, we’ll be talking about creativity at scale on both Facebook and Instagram, and we will be down the "Hackaway," our space this year. There we’ll be looking to hack some of the questions people have got for us, to share best practices we are seeing at the moment. We will also be saluting the winners of the Facebook Creative Studio Awards. It was a record year for entries, and a lot actually from the emerging markets, which is really exciting to see. [There was also a] 70% increase in video submissions coming through. I bet you a lot of that work will also win at Cannes. [The Facebook Creative Studio Awards] are sort of becoming like the BAFTAs to the Oscars, you can see what’s coming on the shortlists going forward. BI: One of the things I’m really looking forward to seeing at Cannes is Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, who is delivering a keynote. Snapchat has a user base of very engaged millennials, and that’s why they can command these huge advertising rates for what is very un-targeted advertising. I haven’t heard the Facebook and teenagers question being asked very much recently publicly but it’s something that always comes up in conversation. You're growing your audience massively, but teenagers are being swayed by other apps. So the "Facebook losing its cool among teenagers" argument, is it true? Is it not? Are they still engaging with Facebook as much as they were? Are your new users millennials, or older people? Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel will be vying with Facebook for advertisers' attention at the Cannes Lions advertising festival later this month. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong globalwebindex Q1 2015 NM: I think [our new users] are everybody [of all ages]. I have my own sneaky focus group: Three of my four children are teenagers. They are definitely still on Facebook, very much so. Why are they there? Because they are their real selves. The personal identity is absolutely crucial to them. So if you [as a teenager] want to have a night out, and see all your friends, and discuss where you’re going to go, what you’re going to wear — and I’m telling you that’s what teenagers do because I watch it quite a lot — they do it on Facebook. Now, do they do other things? Of course they do, they’re teenagers. They experiment, they go to other places. They spend a lot of time on Instagram. We see a lot of young people coming on to Instagram. And, of course they use other things, that’s what teens do! But we have very high usage with teenagers on both Facebook and Instagram. BI: The big debate started after Facebook admitted in its annual report a couple of years ago that usage was going down among teenagers. Was that just an anomaly at that time? NM: We haven’t released anything else. BI: I wanted to get your thoughts on something that has been sparking a lot of debate in the advertising and publishing industry over the past couple of months: The rise of ad blocking. There have been lots of interesting movements in this area recently: The launch of the Adblock Plus Android browser which can apparently block Facebook ads, a carrier-backed plan to block ads at a network level, Apple looks like it is going to allow ad blocking on iPhones, and so on. What’s Facebook’s or your personal stand on the rise of ad blocking? Ad blocking is on the rise. PageFair/Adobe NM: I’ll give you my personal view on it. I love advertising, I always have. I have built my career out of advertising, and I think people, on the whole, love advertising too. If you have conversations with people, one of the things that has linked us as a common experience has been the advertising we’ve enjoyed throughout our lives. When advertising is relevant, humorous, entertaining, informative, helps you to discover, it’s the most amazing thing in the world. We’re all heading off to Cannes, and we’re again about to see the most amazing advertising in the world, which, for me, has always been an inspiration. And that’s one of my definite things to always do at Cannes: To ensure I look, study, and understand what is the best of the best of the world at the moment. There’s always something you learn from it. And usually there’s something being bought as a result. So I love advertising. BI: So does the advertising industry, then, need to do a better job to say how great advertising can actually be to change the mindset of the ad blockers' users? NM: You’ll have to speak to [IPA president] Mr Knox about that! * We also asked Mendelsohn whether she had any response to the news that Facebook is being taken to court by Belgium's privacy commission because it allegedly violated European privacy laws by tracking users on other sites via its "like" and "share buttons. A Facebook spokesperson responded (via an e-mailed statement): "We were surprised and disappointed that, after the CBPL had already agreed to meet with us on the 19th June to discuss their recommendations, they took the theatrical action of bringing Facebook Belgium to court on the day beforehand. Although we are confident that there is no merit to the CBPL’s case, we remain happy to work with them in an effort to resolve their concerns, through a dialogue with us at Facebook Ireland and with our regulator, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner."

Barriers to cycling

The main barrier to cycling in the UK is the perception that our roads are too dangerous and uncomfortable, largely due to high volumes and high speeds of motor traffic. This is the so-called "subjective safety" problem. While some people try to address this problem by explaining that the absolute risk of injury and death while cycling is very low, this approach somewhat misses the point.

https://www.cycling-embassy.org.uk/wiki/barriers-cycling

This page is a draft under construction. It is a widely editable wiki page and should not be assumed to be official Cycling Embassy policy. There are a number of reasons why people chose modes other than a bicycle for journeys in the UK. However, the main barrier to cycling in this country is the perception that our roads are too dangerous and uncomfortable, largely due to high volumes and high speeds of motor traffic. This is the so-called "subjective safety" problem. While some people try to address this problem by explaining that the absolute risk of injury and death while cycling is very low, this approach somewhat misses the point. Safety is a problem of danger while subjective safety is a problem of fear: the causes and solutions to the two problems are not necessarily exactly aligned. A roller coaster ride, for example, shows that fear is not exactly the result of danger. Those issues are explained in more detail in other sections of the website, and in our "canards" pages. The purpose of this page is to document the evidence on barriers to cycling, particularly subjective safety. National Travel Survey, 2020 release The National Travel Attitudes Survey (NTAS) found that 66% of adults over the age of 18 agreed that "it is too dangerous for me to cycle on the roads". The figure was even higher for women, at 71%. Thornton et al, 2010 Thornton et al produced a report for the Department for Transport in July 2011, "Climate Change and Transport Choices". The report presented findings from a large survey of public attitudes relating to climate change and transport, the findings from which were published in an interim report and dataset in December 2010. In the survey population, 90% were physically capable of cycling, and 92% had "learnt to cycle" at some point in their lives. Just over half of those capable of cycling actually owned or had access to a bicycle. 12% of the survey population used a bicycle at least once a week, and 25% at least once a year; however, use of a bicycle as a main mode of transport -- such as commuter and shopping journeys -- reached only 5%, even in the population of bicycle owners. (This is similar to the findings of the National Travel Survey.) Rate of cycling varied by age, sex, and location. The survey population were asked whether they had considered making more journeys by bicycle. 62% had never considered, 24% had considered but rejected without trying, 6% had considered but rejected or lapsed after trying, 5% were considering but had yet to make a decision or try, and just 3% had successfully converted some travel to cycling. However, when presented with the statement "I'm not the kind of person who rides a bicycle", more than half disagreed, indicating that many more could make the switch if barriers to cycling were removed. Those who are able to cycle were then asked to rate five statements about their feelings of safety and cycling. When presented with the statement "it's too dangerous for me to cycle on the roads", nearly two thirds agreed, with only a quarter actively disagreeing. Almost a half of the respondents said that they simply will not cycle on roads. Agreement with the statement "it's too dangerous for me to cycle" rose with age, and was significantly higher from women, with almost three quarters of women agreeing to around half of men. The results applied equally to urban and rural dwellers. DfT, 2013 - British Social Attitudes Survey The British Social Attitudes Survey on 'Public Attitudes to Transport' found that 61% of respondents felt that it is too dangerous for them to cycle on the roads. This figure rose to 67% for 'non cyclists' (people who had not ridden a bike at least once in the previous 12 months) and fell to 48% for 'cyclists' (people who had ridden a bike at least once in the previous 12 months). 69% of women surveyed stated that it is too dangerous for them to cycle on the roads, compared to 53% of men. This difference held for 'cyclists' too - 55% of female cyclists stated it is too dangerous for them to cycle on the roads, compared to 43% of male cyclists. The survey also found that age has a strong effect on willingness to cycle on British roads. There was, however, no general antipathy to cycling in principle as a mode of transport - 40% of those surveyed agreed (or strongly agreed) that many of the journeys under 2 miles that they currently make by car could 'just as easily' be made by bike. Basford et al, 2002 (DfT study) A report for the Department for Transport (2002), entitled 'Drivers's perceptions of cyclists'. This report summarised previous attitude studies as follows - The earlier attitudes work revealed that one of the main reasons for people dismissing cycling as a genuine form of transport was fear of actual and perceived road danger. CTC et al, 1997 In 1997 a group from the Cyclists Touring Club, C-PAG and Southampton City Council sought to understand existing and potential cyclists' perspectives on cycling and barriers to cycling (PDF). They asked potential cyclists to rate a number of statements: Hills and weather are also given as barriers to cycling; however these barriers are localised, affecting only a minority of journeys, and only the subjective safety barrier explains the more general trend of low cycling rates. Transport for Greater Manchester, 2011 A TfGM online survey open to all participants and publicised through TfGM's online channels received 490 responses. Most questions were concerned with secure cycle parking, but one asked specifically what the barriers to cycling in Greater Manchester are: Sustrans survey, 2012 A survey carried out by Sustrans in 2012 found that the majority of British people (56%) felt urban roads were unsafe to cycle on. However, the same survey found that sixty five per cent of those that don't cycle regularly would be more likely to cycle on the roads if they were made safer through changes like lower speed limits, more marked cycle lanes and more care taken by drivers and other cyclists. YouGov survey commissioned by Ofo (dockless bike share company), 2017 The survey found that Over two-thirds of Brits that have learnt to ride a bike say the biggest barrier to cycling for work purposes is feeling unsafe on the roads. TfL, 2010 A 2010 Transport for London study, 'Analysis of Cycling Potential', found that 'safety, traffic and lack of facilities are the greatest barriers' to uptake amongst existing infrequent cyclists, and also that For all groups, including frequent cyclists, safety was the most significant barrier to cycling in general and for specific trips. This suggests that, in order to realise the remaining potential from existing frequent cyclists, practical measures to increase safety and improve the provision of facilities will be the most effective. TfL, 2014 These findings were again confirmed by a TfL report from 2014, Attitudes to Cycling. This study found that Safety concerns remain the key deterrent to cycling, far more so than concerns about lack of fitness or cycling ability with 80% of those surveyed ranking safety as their number one barrier. Safety was also cited as the main reason why respondents were cycling less, and also as the main barrier to cycling to school more often. Even amongst those who were already cycling, safety was the number one reason for not cycling more, with 'no significant difference' in attitude between regular and occasional cyclists. These findings were repeated in TfL's 2015 survey. Ryley, T., 2004 A study of Edinburgh households and their attitudes to cycling, entitled Identifying the Population Segments Most Likely to Cycle. Ryley conducted extensive travel behaviour surveys with 997 households in West Edinburgh. The survey found that off-road cycle lanes were more popular than those on-road, and 53% respondents agreed “safety fears of traffic prevent them from cycling more often in Edinburgh". Pooley et al, 2011 The Understanding Walking and Cycling Report was a major study undertaken over three years by a project team of academics from Lancaster University, Oxford Brookes University, and the University of Leeds. It found three major barriers to cycling (and walking) - safety concerns; difficulty of fitting walking and cycling into household routines; and abnormality. While the report discovered that 'attitudes to walking and cycling are mostly positive or neutral' amongst the general population, many people who would like to walk and cycle more fail to do so for a combination of these reasons. In particular, the study found a number of negative associations with cycling, including the need to negotiate difficult road junctions, cycling being a bad experience using existing roads and desire for more cycle lanes to feel safer, which together indicate notable safety concerns. Indeed poor safety was one of the key reasons for not cycling expressed by approximately 80% of respondents Further it is clear that traffic is a major deterrent for all but the most committed cyclists. Potential cyclists, recreational (off-road) cyclists and occasional cyclists are dis- couraged from using their bicycles for everyday urban journeys because of their fear of cars and heavy goods vehicles Three TRL reports: Davies et al (1997) A TRL report entitled Attitudes to cycling: a qualitative study and conceptual framework. According to the majority of respondents, the most important factor contributing to non-cycle use, other than car dependence, was the fear of danger from motor vehicles. Driver behaviour and traffic speed were cited as the most dangerous factors. This fear was often expressed as cyclists’ general vulnerability to a number of factors, including weather, embarrassment and fumes as well as danger. It was difficult to disentangle concerns about danger (the risk of being injured) from more general feelings of the unpleasantness of cycling in the noise, fumes and stress of busy traffic. Pearce at al (1998) A TRL report entitled Cycling for a healthier nation. Despite any health gains to be obtained from cycling, the fear of traffic will remain as one of the biggest barriers to encouraging more people to benefit from reduced illness. Gardner (1998) A TRL report entitled Transport implications of leisure cycling. The main barrier to more utility cycling by leisure cyclists is their fear of traffic. 'Traffic' features as the most prominent 'dislike' about cycling in this survey of leisure cyclists. Brake survey, 2012 A survey of 1,550 commuters by road safety charity Brake found that two-thirds of people think UK roads are not safe enough for cycling. The same survey also found that 35% of commuters would switch to cycling if roads were less dangerous. Brake survey, 2015 A 2015 survey of 1,301 11-17 year olds in secondary education and colleges. It found that BBC Survey, 2014 A 2014 survey conducted for the BBC by ComRes found that 52 per cent agree with the statement that it is “too dangerous to cycle on the roads in my local area”. The poll also revealed that older Britons were more likely than their younger counterparts to believe the roads were too dangerous: 61% of those aged 65 and over, compared to 45% of 18 to 24 year olds. Only 34 per cent thought that their local roads were well designed for cycling. London Cycling Campaign Survey, 2014 A survey conducted on Twitter and Facebook by the London Cycling Campaign found that 73% of respondents who do not regularly cycle would cycle during a Tube strike "if there was less danger from motor traffic." Northern Ireland Executive, 2014 A 2014 survey carried out by Northern Ireland's Department for Regional Development asked respondents what would discourage them from cycling for short trips of under 3 miles, from a list of options. 42% of respondents did not have access to a bicycle. 28% chose 'traffic/danger' as their main reason for not cycling for short trips; 22% chose 'poor cycling infrastructure'; 19% chose 'inconsiderate car drivers'. In total, therefore, 69% of respondents felt that hostile conditions - either in the form of traffic danger, or poor infrastructure - were their main barrier to cycling for short trips. More analysis on the NI Greenways blog, including the percentage changes from the previous survey in 2011 - Winters & Teschke, 2010 A study of cycling potential in Vancouver, examining in particular the design preferences of the 'near market' for cycling. Respondents showed a strong preference for physical separation from motor traffic, as shown in the graph, below. Sanders, 2016 Study in the San Francisco area which showed that both people cycling and people driving reported greater comfort with separation of these two modes. both drivers and bicyclists are more comfortable on roadways with separated bicycling facilities than those with shared space. In particular, roadways with barrier-separated bicycle lanes were the most popular among all groups, regardless of bicycling frequency. Striped bicycle lanes, a common treatment in the United States, received mixed reviews Aldred et al, 2016 A systematic literature review of stated preferences for cycling infrastructure types, examining whether those preferences vary by age and gender. Differences in preferences were quantitative rather than qualitative; that is, preferences for separated infrastructure were stronger in some groups than in others, but no group preferred integration with motor traffic. Thus, in low-cycling countries seeking to increase cycling, this evidence suggests focusing on the stronger preferences of under-represented groups as a necessary element of universal design for cycling. Mertens et al., 2016 A study of environmental preferences (i.e. desired cycling infrastructure types) for transport cycling amongst adults. The most decisive intervention was physical separation by means of protected cycleway. ... results indicated that cycle path type (i.e. a good separated cycle path) is the most important environmental factor for all participants and certainly for individuals who did not cycle for transport. Furthermore, only negligible differences were found between the importances of the other micro-environmental factors (i.e. traffic density, evenness of the cycle path, maintenance, vegetation and speed limits) regarding the two at risk subgroups and that providing a speed bump obviously has the least impact on the street’s appeal to cycle for transport. To add -

Saudi Arabia extends ceasefire in Yemen: Foreign Secretary statement

On Friday 24 April, Saudi Arabia announced an extension of its unilateral ceasefire in Yemen, first announced on 8 April, for one month. Raab calls for an end to all hostilities and for Yemen to engage with the UN's proposals for a political solution.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/saudi-arabia-extends-ceasefire-in-yemen-foreign-secretary-statement

On Friday 24 April, Saudi Arabia announced an extension of its unilateral ceasefire in Yemen, first announced on 8 April, for one month. The UK supports the call from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on 25 March for all parties in Yemen to immediately cease hostilities and do everything possible to counter a potential coronavirus outbreak. The UK welcomes the positive response to the UN and Saudi ceasefire initiatives by the Government of Yemen and calls on the Houthis to reciprocate. The UK urges both sides to respond positively to UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths’ proposals, which offer the best chance for the peace that Yemenis need so urgently. We are also providing life-saving UK aid to help those in desperate need and to mitigate the dreadful prospect of coronavirus exacerbating Yemen’s dire humanitarian crisis. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: This is another important step towards the permanent ceasefire Yemenis need. The Government of Yemen and the Houthis must immediately cease all hostilities and engage constructively with the UN’s proposals. This is a precious opportunity for peace in Yemen and should not be wasted. Further information Follow Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Twitter @DominicRaab and Facebook Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn Media enquiries For journalists Email: [email protected]

Extra police to use Tasers after 50% increase in officer assaults

Now, following a review, the number of Taser trained officers will rise up to 650 across the force by 2021.The increase will see the number of patrol officers trained in the use of Taser rise to 45 per cent.Chief Constable Marsh added: “We know from the last time we increased the number of Taser trained officers by 15 per cent that it led to a decrease in the number of overall Taser deployments.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/extra-police-trained-use-tasers-3434864.amp

The number of police trained to use Tasers across Avon and Somerset is to increase – following a 50 per rise in the number of assaults on officers. Latest figures show the number of assaults on police has risen by 54 per cent over the last two years. Now, following a review, the number of Taser trained officers will rise up to 650 across the force by 2021. Tasers - what are they and when can police use them? Taser is a less-lethal, double shot self-defence weapon (the X2 model) used by trained officers to temporarily incapacitate a violent or potentially violent person, who poses a danger to themselves or other people nearby. Chief Constable Andy Marsh said: “The safety of officers is paramount and it’s vital we equip them with the skills and tools required to carry out their jobs effectively and without fear of harm. “Policing can be dangerous and while we regularly deal with difficult and hostile situations, no-one should come to work in fear of being assaulted. “It’s vital we take an evidence-based approach in deciding how many officers carry Tasers based on the current threat and risk levels. “A recent review of this assessment has found we need to increase the number of Taser trained officers by 204, to a total of 650 by April 2021.” Taser trained officers are deployed evenly across the force area and with different operational units in line with the assessment The increase will see the number of patrol officers trained in the use of Taser rise to 45 per cent. There are also Taser trained officers in neighbourhood, roads policing and other specialist frontline roles. All officers equipped with Taser are highly trained and undergo a rigorous selection process. The training focuses on use of force, decision making, officer safety training and first aid. (Image: Scott Heppell/PA Wire ) Avon and Somerset is one of the first forces in the country to introduce de-escalation training to all frontline staff, which gives officers the skills to defuse hostile situations through negotiation. Chief Constable Marsh added: “We know from the last time we increased the number of Taser trained officers by 15 per cent that it led to a decrease in the number of overall Taser deployments. “Increasing the number of Taser trained officers is not the only way we can better protect our officers and communities from harm.” A national review is currently also underway looking at the safety of police officers. Chief Constable Marsh added: One thing I’m focussing on is ensuring Body Worn Video footage showing assaults on officers taking place is shown to the courts in every case, regardless of whether the defendant pleads guilty or not. “We need to ensure the deterrents are there to prevent these assaults from happening in the first place.” (Image: Photo: Steve Pope) The force’s Scrutiny of Police Powers Panel (SOPP), which is an independent panel made up of people from across our communities, will continue to review body worn video in order to monitor and scrutinise the use of police powers - including cases involving use of Taser. Police Federation Chair Andy Roebuck said: “As a federation, we welcome this uplift as we believe officer and staff safety is a top priority. “I’ve spoken with numerous officers who’ve been assaulted and they tell me of the impact that it has on them and their families. Show more “This can be emotional and psychological, as well as physical. No police officer or staff member should have to go home and explain their injuries to their loved ones. “We’ve been working with the constabulary to prevent and deter assaults on staff. Show more "This uplift is just one important measure which we believe will enhance trust and confidence from our staff and our communities. "We’ll continue to work with the constabulary on a range of other measures aimed at deterring those who commit offences like this.” If you would like to see all the latest news from in and around Bristol, you can check back on Bristol Live's homepage.

Pod Point, Volkswagen to deploy Tritium chargers at Tesco sites

EDF-owned Pod Point has partnered with Australian EV charging manufacturer Tritium to install its 50 kW Veefil-RT fast-chargers at UK supermarkets. Pod Point intends to roll out almost 3,000 EV charging points to 60 Tesco supermarkets by the end of the year in a deal with Volkswagen. The Tesco deal includes free 7 kW AC plugs, 50 kW DC fast-chargers and 22 kW AC "destination" chargers. The 50 kW fast-chargers can add 40 km of driving range in 10 minutes.

https://thedriven.io/2020/03/10/tritium-partners-with-pod-point-to-offer-ev-charging-at-uk-supermarkets/

Electric vehicle fast chargers designed and manufactured by Australia’s Tritium could soon feature at UK supermarkets under a deal inked with charging provider Pod Point to become its preferred supplier. Pod Point, which was recently acquired by the UK arm of French energy major EDF, is the official supplier of charging points to major auto brands in the UK and Norway, with some 69,000 already rolled out. Pod Point in December announced an extensive rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure to Tesco supermarkets in a deal with VW that will see nearly 3,000 charging bays across 60 stores installed by the end of 2020. Charging bays under the agreement will include free 7kW AC plugs and at certain locations, 50kW DC fast chargers which will be complimented by 22kW AC “destination” chargers. Tritium’s status as preferred supplier to Pod Point means that its 50kW Veefil-RT units – chosen for their small footprint, reliability and ease of use – will be preferentially offered to new and existing customers, including Tesco. “EV adoption is accelerating rapidly in the UK and we’re making sure the charging infrastructure is in place to sustain the awesome growth trend that we’re seeing,” said Erik Fairbairn, Pod Point CEO and founder in a statement. “We decided to work with Tritium because their products are reliable, easy to install and have a small physical footprint. We also liked that it’s easy to add custom branding to the units too.” The 50kW chargers, which can add 40km of driving range in around 10 minutes, complement the slower AC chargers that would typically be used by visitors using car parks for a number of hours. (While a 2-3kW at home charger is known as a “trickle charger”. 7kW chargers can add 40km range an hour, and 22kW chargers can add up to 120km range an hour). “DC fast charging is a key part of the UK charger mix, especially for drivers who need to re-charge quickly on long journeys or in emergencies, and for commercial vehicles that can’t trickle charge because they don’t park often,” says Fairbairn. Tritium director of business development in Europe, Jeroen Jonker, says the first rapid chargers under the agreement with Pod Point had already been installed prior to the deal’s signing. “Pod Point values this ease of installation and roll-out speed, and we are focused on ensuring a long-term supporting relationship with Pod Point,” said Jonker in a statement. “Pod Point’s clients also appreciate that our charger has the world’s smallest footprint, enabling charger deployment on their parking lots without sacrificing premium real estate.” With the UK ban on selling new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars now brought forward from 2040 to 2035, the need for public charging infrastructure will increase, says Tritium’s country manager for the UK and Ireland, Kevin Pugh. “Electric vehicle interest was already increasing, and when you combine that with the Government’s amended deadline it’s clear we’ll see electric vehicles become the norm sooner rather than later,” Pugh said in a statement. “However, not everyone in the UK has access to off-street parking, and as such drivers aren’t always able to recharge at home and overnight. This needs to be addressed with publicly available, reliable and plentiful charging infrastructure, and one of Tritium’s core goals is to make EV charging more convenient than re-fuelling. “As diesel, petrol and hybrid vehicles are phased out, Pod Point’s rollout will be key to addressing this concern and ensuring drivers can charge whenever they need to. Our chargers can be fitted with contactless credit card readers to facilitate ad hoc payment, an increasingly important requirement in the UK market.”

Avaamo secures $14.2m to expand AI-powered chatbot service

Enterprise chatbot platform Avaamo has raised $14.2m in funding for its artificial intelligence (AI)-based conversational computing technology. The investment will be used to grow the firm’s sales and marketing. Intel Capital led funding, and was joined by Ericsson Ventures, Mahindra Partners, Wipro Ventures and WI Harper.

https://venturebeat.com/2018/05/08/enterprise-chatbot-platform-avaamo-raises-14-2-million-round-led-by-intel-capital/

Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here. Enterprise chatbot startup Avaamo announced today that it has raised $14.2 million as the company seeks to expand its artificial intelligence-based chat service. The round was led by Intel Capital, but also included investment from Ericsson Ventures, Mahindra Partners, Wipro Ventures, and WI Harper. The company has now raised a total of $23.5 million since coming out of stealth in 2014. Partner Arun Chetty led the investment for Intel Capital and has joined Avaamo’s board. “Avaamo’s conversational intelligent assistants are already deployed globally in more than 40 countries and even greater global expansion is on the horizon as enterprises seek an AI-based conversational computing solution to improve last mile automation,” said Ram Menon, cofounder and CEO of Avaamo, in a statement. Menon founded Avaamo in 2014 with Sriram Chakravarthy, a former colleague from Tibco. The pair decided to specialize in conversational interfaces that leverage “deep-learning software” to target enterprise users, with a particular focus on supply chain, HR, sales support, claims processing, and insurance advisory. Event Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now Over the past three years, the company claims it has developed a more sophisticated interface to better handle customer questions in those industries. The latest funding will be used primarily to expand sales and marketing.

USAID will send $38m to combat DRC Ebola outbreak

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will send $38m to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), several neighbouring countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) to help tackle the Ebola outbreak. It comes after the WHO issued a global health warning on the crisis. USAID confirmed 2,592 cases in the region and around 1,743 related deaths, as of 22 July. USAID has spent $136m since the outbreak began in August 2018, according to its press release. 

https://www.axios.com/usaid-send-38-million-combat-drc-ebola-virus-41b5b623-d5f1-43a5-83d7-6147e37a96ae.html

Medical staff in protective gear prepare to enter an isolation area at an Ebola treatment centre in Goma. Photo: Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images USAID will send more than $38 million to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, several of its neighboring countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat Congo's ongoing Ebola outbreak, per a Wednesday press release. The numbers that matter: WHO issued a global health warning earlier this month on the Congo's Ebola outbreak. As of July 22, there were 2,592 confirmed cases of Ebola in the region and at least 1,743 related deaths, per USAID. Last week, there were 2,428 confirmed cases and 1,604 confirmed deaths. The risk of the deadly virus spreading outside the region remains low, according to WHO's global health warning on July 17. Details: USAID will send $15 million of its new assistance package to WHO, per Wednesday's press release. The U.S. is also funding "critical preparedness efforts" in Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. USAID's $38 million will also fund training for health care workers, enhanced surveillance for the disease, the promotion of safe burials and food, among other efforts. USAID has spent more than $136 million since the beginning of the outbreak in August 2018, per Wednesday's press release. Go deeper: WHO amps up global Ebola warning after spread to big Congo city

Covid-19 impact to delay 3 GW of renewable installations: WoodMac

Solar installations could fall by 2.9 GW or almost a quarter in 2020, while 400 MW of wind schemes could be held over into 2021, amounting to an 11% drop in planned installations for the year, as a consequence of lockdowns prompted by the Covid-19 outbreak, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie. It said regions such as Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, which have the most potential for renewable projects, are also among the top 10 states worst hit by the virus outbreak.

https://www.pv-magazine-india.com/2020/04/06/woodmac-predicts-indias-renewables-installation-to-fall-by-a-fifth-due-to-lockdown/

Unfortunately, the states with the highest solar and wind installation potential are the worst hit by Covid-19. India could see over 21.6% or 3 GW of solar and wind installations being delayed with supply and labour disruptions caused due to the current lockdown—according to a new report by Wood Mackenzie. The analyst expects annual solar installation to fall by 2.9 GW—a 24.8% reduction—resulting in 2020 outlook being revised to 8.9 GW. In wind sector 400 MW capacity addition could get delayed into 2021, equating to a downgrade of 11% in 2020 installation. Unfortunately, the Indian states with high solar and wind potential have reported the highest coronavirus infection rates. On the solar front, the states of Karnataka (2.0 GW), Tamil Nadu (1.6 GW) and Rajasthan (1.7 GW)—which together accounted for 55% of solar PV installations in 2019—are among the top ten worst hit states. The state of Gujarat, which delivered 58% or 1.4 GW of new added wind capacity in 2019, is also one of the top ten worst hit states by coronavirus infections. Solar India’s solar PV installations shall be hit hard as the industry is heavily dependent on Chinese PV module imports (80% of total volume) which has been disrupted due to the coronavirus. Senior analyst Rishab Shrestha said: “Current supply and labour disruptions will have an outsized negative impact on 2020 installations. Q1 is expected to be strongly impacted with a potential 60% year-on-year quarterly downgrade, or 1.2 GW, down from about 3 GW in Q1 2019. “We remain cautious on the outlook for the second half of the year as supply and logistics bottlenecks linger. Consequently, our full year downgrade stands at 2.9 GW, a 24.8% reduction resulting in a revised 2020 outlook of 8.9 GW of solar PV installations.” Wind Wood Mackenzie principal analyst Robert Liew said: “The timing of the lockdown is unfortunate as Q1 is typically one of the busiest periods for wind project installations. The lockdown will delay some projects until summer, and if the lockdown is extended past April, wind farm construction could be further delayed into the monsoon season, where wind installations are typically at their lowest.” With over 3 GW of wind projects under construction scheduled for 2020 completion, supply and labour disruptions from the current lockdown could delay 400 MW into 2021, equating to a downgrade of 11% for 2020. Impact on cash flows Both analysts agree that current support measures by the government to mitigate the downturn are warranted, but if the virus situation continues to escalate and the lockdown is extended, there will be severe financial impact on utility companies. Consequently, solar PV and wind installation developers’ cash flows will also be affected, and corporate bank loans for new project development could slow to a trickle.

Apple calls Australian banks' request to bargain over Apple Pay a detriment to consumers, mobile wallet adoption

Apple has submitted a document to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission stating that the efforts by Australia’s 3 largest banks to stall consumer adoption of Apple Pay and other mobile wallets will stagnate innovation and harm consumers. The banks however disagree with these claims, stating that appropriate barriers will allow other integrated wallets to work alongside Apple Pay.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/08/29/apple-calls-australian-banks-request-to-bargain-over-apple-pay-a-detriment-to-consumers-mobile-wallet-adoption

If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy Article Hero Image Apple in a recent filing with Australia's antitrust watchdog slammed a request from the country's three top banks for collective negotiations over third-party access to Apple Pay NFC technology, saying a threatened boycott would not only harm consumers, but hinder mobile wallet adoption and innovation. Apple's submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission comes as the body decides whether to allow banks in the region power to negotiate terms for access to iPhone's mobile wallet hardware. The response was made public on Monday and follows an initial letter to the ACCC filed earlier this month. Australia's "big-three" banks, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corp, along with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, initially lodged their application to negotiate in July. Among the numerous contingencies afforded as part of the request are terms for offering third-party mobile wallet services on Apple devices, the ability to charge consumers fees for using Apple Pay and a narrow set of security guidelines drafted by the banks. "Apple expects that, if the boycott and collective negotiation conduct were permitted to occur, the banks involved will advance in lockstep with the slowest, least willing member of their cartel," Apple said. "This delay is likely to harm consumers and slow the pace of innovation for mobile wallets in Australia." The banks are looking to stall consumer adoption of Apple Pay and other mobile wallet solutions with onerous authorization stipulations, a process that stifles competition, Apple says. Further, the banks are asking the ACCC for three years to negotiate amicable terms, a period Apple suggests was designed to create yet another artificial barrier to adoption. Attached to — and cited frequently — in the lengthy response is a report from Dr. Christopher Pleatsikas, an economist based in San Diego, Calif., who provides an almost point-by-point rebuttal of the banks' request. For its part, the banks say Australians have been moving to contactless payments systems long before Apple broke onto the scene, a spokesman for the banks told AppleInsider in an emailed statement. The banks claim they, along with Australia's merchants and payments processors, have played an integral role in the rollout of touchless solutions. "Apple's submission to the ACCC makes it clear that Apple does not want to give iPhone users the ability to choose an integrated third party wallet of their own preference," the spokesman said. "Unlike users of Samsung and Android, Apple is blocking access to the NFC function and wants to leave iPhone users with no choice but to use Apple Pay. Their submission to the ACCC claims this lack of choice is in the best interest of Australian consumers. The applicants disagree. Instead, they want to negotiate with Apple so there is an opportunity to offer other integrated wallets alongside Apple Pay." Retailers and payments associations have, in fact, filed in support of joint negotiations, citing market stimulation, security and payments fees transparency, among other consumer issues.

Euro at risk from Italy's financial and political crisis

There are mounting questions over whether Italy might leave the euro. Unlike Germany, Italy has suffered a disastrous economic performance since the euro's introduction, and with mounting migration concerns and with the belief the EU left it to cope on its own has changed Italian attitudes to the EU. The new Italian government wants radical changes but their programme is a full assault on EU orthodoxy. Furthermore, Moody's warns it will cut Italy's credit rating, making it harder to service its debts. If Italy falls into a debt crisis it is big enough to throw the entire eurozone into disarray.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/if-italy-exits-the-euro-it-could-be-the-end-of-the-single-currency-20180529-p4zi39.html

You might think that it would be fitting if the European Union were to come to a sticky end because of Italy. After all, the agreement that established the entity that we now call the European Union was signed in Rome. For several decades after that 1957 treaty, Italy was one of the strongest supporters of the European project. Having endured first fascism and then, after the war, unstable and ineffectual government, it suffered none of the angst about the loss of sovereignty that plagued British debates about joining the European Community. Moreover, in the early years of the union, Italy prospered. At one point its GDP overtook the UK's, an event that was widely celebrated in Italy as "il sorpasso", the surpassing, or, if you like, the overtaking. But the overtaking did not last long. Indeed, since the euro was formed in 1999, the Italian economy has grown by a mere 9 per cent, or less than 0.5 per cent per annum. Over the same period, the UK economy has grown by 42 per cent.

Euro at risk from Italy's financial and political crisis

There are mounting questions over whether Italy might leave the euro. Unlike Germany, Italy has suffered a disastrous economic performance since the euro's introduction, and with mounting migration concerns and with the belief the EU left it to cope on its own has changed Italian attitudes to the EU. The new Italian government wants radical changes but their programme is a full assault on EU orthodoxy. Furthermore, Moody's warns it will cut Italy's credit rating, making it harder to service its debts. If Italy falls into a debt crisis it is big enough to throw the entire eurozone into disarray.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/28/news/economy/italy-euro-government-elections/index.html

Relief among investors that Italian populists had failed to form a government quickly gave way on Monday to concerns that new elections could become a vote on the future of the euro. Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Sunday refused to accept the nomination of a euroskeptic finance minister, prompting the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and far-right League party to give up trying to form an administration, at least for now. The euro edged higher early Monday along with Italian stocks and government bonds. They had come under heavy pressure in recent weeks because of fears that the populist parties' program of €100 billion ($118 billion) in tax cuts and spending pledges could leave Italy in breach of rules governing the European currency. "Mattarella has made it clear that he will not allow any policy that could put Italy on a slippery slope towards a major confrontation with the [European Union] that could potentially jeopardize Italy's euro membership," wrote Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank, in a research note on Monday. Related: The three biggest risks to global investors But the market gains evaporated quickly as investors focused on an uncertain future for Italy, a founding member of the euro currency and its third largest economy. The main Italian stock market index was down by about 2.5% in late afternoon trading. "The electoral process is back to square one with a lot of ill will," said Kit Juckes, a currency strategist at Societe Generale. "New elections are now more likely ... and the election itself is in danger of turning into a de facto referendum on euro membership." Years of stagnation and a lack of reform have pushed Italy's government debt above €2 trillion euros ($2.3 trillion), equivalent to more than 130% of annual economic output. That's the third highest level of indebtedness in the world after Japan and Greece. Related: Japan's longest growth streak in decades has come to an end Protecting the 'savings of Italians' Mattarella said it was his duty to block the finance minister's appointment to protect the "savings of Italians." "The uncertainty in our position in the euro has alarmed international and Italian investors and savers, who have invested in our government bonds and in our industries," Mattarella said Sunday. "The surge of the [bond] spread, day after day, increases our public debt and it reduces government spending on social programs. The losses in the the stock market, day after day, burn the resources and savings of our industries and of those who have invested. And they amount to concrete risks for our fellow citizens and for Italian families," he added. Italy has been without a government since elections in March. Former International Monetary Fund official Carlo Cottarelli will now lead a caretaker administration until new elections later this year or in early 2019. As a country that uses the euro, Italy has agreed to abide by EU budget rules designed to keep the currency stable. During the March election campaign, the populist parties called for those rules to be scrapped and talked about holding a referendum on the euro or leaving the European Union. Those explosive pledges were missing from their draft government program, but analysts say they could now be revived as the populist parties blame Italy's political establishment for denying them the right to govern. "It is also likely that the next election campaign will feature significantly stronger anti euro and euroskeptic tones," wrote Wolfango Piccoli, co-founder of Teneo Intelligence, in a research note Sunday. "The League leader Matteo Salvini has already said that the next vote will be a 'referendum' to free Italy from the 'slavery regime' imposed by the [eurozone], Berlin, the markets and the [bond] spread," he added. Related: 'Impossible position': Brexit is going nowhere fast Too big to fail? There's a huge amount at stake for Italy, and Europe. Ratings agency Moody's warned Friday it could cut Italy's credit rating -- already just two notches above "junk" status -- because the populists' plans risked weakening its fiscal position and stalling efforts to reform the economy. A rating downgrade would make it more costly for the Italian government to service its debts and raise the cost of new borrowing. Italy plans to issue about 250 billion euros ($292 billion) in bonds this year, according to Reuters. Related: Turkey's economy at risk as currency hits record low Unlike Greece, which is just beginning to emerge from eight years of international bailouts, the Italian economy is big enough to throw the entire eurozone into disarray if it suffers a debt crisis. It accounts for about 15% of eurozone GDP and 23% of the region's government debt. Greece has just over 3% of eurozone public debt. A louder campaign in Italy against Europe will keep investors on edge. "Even if the immediate risk of having a euroskeptic finance minister in Italy has now been at least postponed, Italian uncertainties will continue to weigh heavily on sentiment in Italy and -- to a lesser extent -- its eurozone neighbors in coming months," wrote Berenberg's Schmieding.

Marsh & McLennan profit buoyed by overseas gains

Marsh & McLennan's second quarter profits rose on the back of higher revenues from subsidiary companies Marsh and Mercer. Marsh & Mclennan's 5% overall increase in revenue was driven by a 9% increase across Europe, Middle East and Africa and 5.7% rise in the US and Canada.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/marsh-mclennan-profit-buoyed-by-overseas-gains-2016-07-28

Marsh & McLennan Cos. said its second-quarter profit rose, helped by revenue gains abroad and in North America. Marsh & McLennan--the professional-services firm that is the parent of a number of companies, including the insurance-brokerage Marsh and consulting firm Mercer--said it posted $1.54 billion in revenue for its consulting business during the quarter, up 4% from last year, and reflecting a 3% rise in revenue for Mercer to $1.08 billion. The company's risk-and-insurance-services arm posted a revenue increase of 6% to $1.85 billion. Marsh's revenue grew 6% in the quarter to $1.56 billion, helped by revenue growth in international operations. Revenue in its Europe, Middle East and Africa segment jumped to $479 million from $439 million, while U.S. and Canada revenue rose to $804 million from $760 million. For the quarter ended June 30, Marsh & McLennan posted income of $472 million or 90 cents per share, up from last year's $419 million, or 77 cents a share. On an adjusted basis, earnings were 91 cents a share, up from 80 cents. Revenue rose 5% to $3.38 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected 90 cents in per-share earnings, on revenue of $3.37 billion. Shares were recently down 0.4% at $66.22 in afternoon trading. Write to Brittney Laryea at [email protected]

Gambia seeking partner to develop 150 MW solar park

The Gambian government and the Economic Community of West African States have launched a tender for a partner to provide technical assistance for a 150 MW solar project. The successful company will be responsible for preparing a feasibility study, secure land for the project, assisting in the issue of permits to independent power producers for power purchase agreements with the National Water & Electricity Company, and to connect power lines from the solar project to a substation. The government has earmarked a 225-hectare piece of land in Soma for the facility.

https://www.afrik21.africa/en/gambia-government-seeking-a-consultant-for-a-150-mw-solar-project/

The Gambia wants to implement a 150 MW solar project to increase the capacity of its electricity grid. For this purpose, the government, with the support of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is launching a call for tenders to select a consultant for technical assistance for the project. The company selected as a result of this call for tenders will have the primary responsibility for preparing the feasibility study for the project. It will also have to ensure that the land is available for the construction of the future solar power plant. The Gambian government has already identified a 225-hectare plot of land in Soma, a town in central Gambia, near the border with Senegal. This is a strategic site as it is located near a 225/30 kV OMVG substation under construction. A two-phase solar project The consultant selected following the Gambian government’s tender will help to issue permits to independent power producers (IPPs) for the negotiation and signing of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the National Water & Electricity Company (Nawec), which provides water and electricity utilities in Gambia. To reduce the cost of electricity purchase, the Gambian government will set up an auction mechanism. This mechanism should also include the right for IPPs to have access to land for the construction of the solar power plant. Finally, the consultant will prepare the lines that will connect the future solar photovoltaic power plant to the substation. The government plans to implement this project in two phases. The first is the construction of a solar photovoltaic power plant that will be able to supply 80 MW. It will be commissioned in 2021. With an expected capacity of 70 MW, the second phase will be completed in 2025. The solar park will have a battery storage system with a capacity ranging from 100 Mwh to 150 MWh. The device will allow the plant to supply electricity after sunset. This storage capacity could be extended “according to the needs of the network”. This solar photovoltaic project is part of a renewable energy programme launched with great fanfare by the government with the support of its partners, including the World Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB). For its implementation, the two donors released $164 million in March 2019 to support the Gambian government. Jean Marie Takouleu

** Frozen chips maker McCain Foods to furlough staff at Whittlesey factory as demand falls

Frozen chips giant McCain Foods, which has 1,600 staff at its factories in Funthams Lane, Whittlesey, and Grantham, Hull, and Scarborough, says it will reduce its production until demand returns. It says the call for its frozen potato products is up from supermarkets and other food retailers but the fall in sales from restaurants and pubs has left overall demand significantly down.

https://www.potatopro.com/news/2020/frozen-chips-maker-mccain-foods-furlough-staff-whittlesey-factory-demand-falls

A leading food maker in Whittlesey is to furlough some staff after a slump in demand from restaurants and pubs forced to close by COVID-19 pandemic. Frozen chips giant McCain Foods, which has 1,600 staff at its factories in Funthams Lane, Whittlesey, and Grantham, Hull, and Scarborough, says it will reduce its production until demand returns. It says the call for its frozen potato products is up from supermarkets and other food retailers but the fall in sales from restaurants and pubs during the coronavirus crisis has left overall demand significantly down. A spokesperson for McCain Foods (GB): “As the UK’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products, McCain is the branded category leader in both the retail sector and the out of the home sector, where we supply a significant proportion of the country’s restaurants, pubs, and other foodservice outlets.” “While we continue to see strong sales of our products in supermarkets and retailers across the country, as a result of the shutting down of the hospitality sector, total demand has been significantly reduced.” “In response to this, we will be temporarily scaling back production to match reduced demand and will be furloughing some employees as part of the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.” “These temporary measures are to preserve jobs and ensure a sustainable business in the long term. We remain committed to all our employees and ongoing operations in the UK and, when customer demand dictates that full production resumes, we look forward to welcoming our employees back.” “All furloughed employees will maintain their existing salaries and we would like to thank all of our team for their commitment and understanding during these extraordinary times.” “We continue to work closely with our customers and partners to ensure the supply of our much-loved retail products for people to enjoy at home up and down the country.” “The health and safety of employees will remain our number one priority and additional measures are in place across all sites in line with government guidance.”

Clean Energy Fuels boosts sales with string of RNG deals

California's Clean Energy Fuels has signed a slew of new and renewed contracts, from Los Angeles to Pennsylvania, totalling more than 20 million gallons of its Redeem renewable natural gas (RNG), made from organic waste. Among them is a 10-year contract to fuel the City of Sacramento's rubbish trucks, a deal with logistics firm Alpha Lion for 16 new RNG trucks via Clean Energy's Zero Now programme, and a five-year service agreement with the City of Anaheim.

http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/17363/clean-energy-inks-deals-for-20-million-gallons-of-rng

By Clean Energy Fuels Corp. | September 14, 2020 ADVERTISEMENT Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced new and extended contracts for more than 20 million gallons of Redeem renewable natural gas (RNG) to accommodate the continued demand across key business segments for the ultra-low carbon fuel produced from organic waste. Alpha Lion, which carries mail for the U.S. Postal Service between the Northwest United States and Southern California, is adding 16 new natural gas trucks to its fleet through Clean Energy’s Zero Now program and is expected to use over 700,000 gallons of Redeem annually. The program will provide significant fuel savings and have a positive impact on Alpha Lion’s environmental impact in the region. Zero Now is a program that brings the price of a heavy- or medium-duty natural gas truck at parity with a diesel truck while offering a guaranteed fuel discount for the duration of the agreement. Alpha Lion will also participate in Clean Energy’s Zero Now TouchPoint program, in partnership with the Natural Gas Vehicle Institute (NGVi), to provide Alpha Lion with first-class hands-on customer service pertaining to their purchase of new natural gas heavy-duty vehicles. The City of Anaheim has signed a five-year service agreement for municipal vehicles that will consume an approximate 500,000 gallons of Redeem RNG. “From waste to transit to trucking, fleets are discovering that RNG is a proven solution that can significantly decrease the impact of harmful emissions and reduce greenhouse gases,” said Nate Jensen, Clean Energy’s senior vice president, renewables fuels. “RNG offers price stability, lowers maintenance costs, and can reduce carbon emissions 70 percent or more, providing a clean and cost-effective alternative to diesel fuel.” News in Solid Waste Clean Energy has been awarded a contract to build a fueling station that will accommodate both fast- and time-filling for the City of Sacramento, along with a long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) agreement, to fuel more than 100 natural gas refuse trucks with an anticipated 8 million gallons of RNG for the next 10 years. Clean Energy has entered into a network fuel agreement with Athens Services in Los Angeles to support its growing CNG refuse fleet. Athens will utilize the Clean Energy network of public stations throughout Southern California and is expected to consume over 1 million gallons each year. The City and County of Sacramento have extended their RNG supply agreement with Clean Energy. Clean Energy provides RNG to three different LNG stations in the region, for a total annual consumption expected to exceed 1.2 million gallons. The County of Denver has signed a three-year service agreement for its CNG station, which provides fuel to over 30 CNG refuse trucks for an expected 750,00 gallons. Clean Energy signed a two-year contract with LA County Sanitation to dispense LA County’s locally generated RNG at its public station in Carson which uses an estimated 720,000 gallons of RNG. Tidewater Fibre in Virginia has extended its service contract renewal for 50 refuse trucks using an approximate 500,000 gallons per year. Suffolk County in New York has inked a long-term service agreement for 15 utility trucks for an anticipated 120,000 gallons of CNG. The City of Lexington, Kentucky, has signed a contract for a 15-truck time-fill and defueling hose upgrade and services, for an estimated 150,000 additional gallons per year. The City of Philadelphia extended its fuel agreement for refuse trucks to continue fueling at Clean Energy’s Philadelphia Airport station while its private 40-truck station (being built by Clean Energy) is completed at the end of the year. The contract is for 16 refuse trucks for an estimated 100,000 gallons. Noble Environmental in Pennsylvania has purchased a CNG mobile unit, along with monthly services, to fuel its CNG refuse trucks until Clean Energy completes construction of a permanent station. Republic Services Expands Station Capacity and Footprint Clean Energy is completing the construction of a Republic Services combination time-fill/fast-fill station in Sacramento, California, that will fuel 80 solid waste trucks to support growing operations in the Sacramento region. The station will fuel an expected 1.1 million gallons of Redeem through 2023. In Las Vegas, Clean Energy is expanding Republic Services’ largest natural gas truck yard in the country, adding 92 time-fill fueling spots. The station will provide approximately 3.2 million gallons of Redeem per year, which will increase by 837,000 gallons when at full capacity. Clean Energy has increased station capacity at Republic Service stations in San Diego and in Chula Vista, CA, resulting in additional volume of an estimated 400,000 gallons of Redeem per year. Clean Energy has signed an agreement to build a station for Republic Services in Freemont, California, to accommodate 66 new trucks in the coming years that will result in an approximate increase of 600,000 gallons. Movement in Transit Clean Energy has signed a new agreement to operate and maintain the City of Phoenix transit bus facilities, which dispense an estimated 4.8 million gallons of natural gas per year. Clean Energy was awarded a station upgrade contract to install new equipment for the West County Transportation Authority, Santa Rosa, California, along with a long-term service agreement, during which the fleet of 39 school buses are expected to fuel with 800,000 gallons of Redeem. Access Services has deployed 20 newly certified CNG Dodge Promasters in partnership with its contractors for paratransit service in Southern California. Clean Energy signed a fueling agreement with Southland Transit, an Access Services contractor, for an expected 800,000 gallons of Redeem. Clean Energy has signed an RNG contract with the California Department of General Services for the benefit of Solano County Transit (SolTrans), California for its fleet of 19 buses for an anticipated 600,000 gallons of Redeem. The City of Gardena, California, has inked a network fueling contract for 18 CNG transit buses at the Clean Energy station at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). This first round of CNG buses will fuel with an expected 150,000 gallons of RNG annually. The City of Lodi, California, has signed a multi-year contract for an estimated 246,000 gallons of Redeem to power 37 buses and city fleet vehicles. After obtaining grant funding to migrate its buses to clean RNG, Anaheim Union High School in California has signed a contract with Clean Energy for an estimated 135,000 gallons of Redeem to fuel 15 new school buses.

TAG Heuer grow carbon nanotubes to develop new watches

TAG Heuer has developed a method of creating watch hairsprings by growing them using a carbon composite material. Guy Semon, founder of the TAG Heuer Institute, said the company uses chemical vapour deposition to manufacture spirals of carbon nanotubes and amorphous carbon, taking four hours to make 300 hairsprings. Semon said the process could eliminate the need for external hairspring suppliers as well as offer TAG a sales outlet to other watchmakers.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/tag-heuer-carbon-nanotubes

The TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph, and its carbon-nanotube balance spring WIRED/TAG Heuer “I don’t know what you’d say it is that we’re doing, but it isn’t really watchmaking,” says Guy Semon, admiring a multi-million dollar scanning electron microscope recently installed in his research facility at TAG Heuer’s Swiss headquarters. Down a hallway, an entire room has just been readied to receive a much larger transmission electron microscope – the kind of machine that can see individual atoms. The fast-expanding facility, where every whiteboard, window and compatible surface seems scrawled upon with equations, goes under the grand title of the TAG Heuer Institute. Semon, its founder, is nevertheless low-key in his description of his latest activities there. “It’s a combination of mathematics and cooking,” he shrugs. The former naval pilot and aeronautical engineer, 57, has been cooking up remarkable horological advancements at TAG Heuer for some years. His successes include a series of super-watches using new technologies to push ever higher oscillating frequencies – and therefore timing precision – in chronographs (up to 5/10,000ths of a second in 2012’s Mikrogirder); the development of the firm’s Connected Watch, the most significant Swiss entry into the smartwatch market thus far; and the creation of a tourbillon watch selling for under £10,000 (most tourbillons go for five times that at least).

Chinese automotive marketplace Tuanche.com files $150m IPO in US

China-based Tuanche.com has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a bid to raise up to $150m. The automotive marketplace will use the funds to expand technologies including data analytics. Tuanche.com comprises two online platforms, one that matches dealers with new car buyers, and another that serves as an auction platform for used cars. In addition, the company offers "auto shows", giving customers physical access to cars. The IPO is underwritten by Maxim Group and AMTD Asset Management.

https://kr-asia.com/chinas-tuanche-com-files-for-150m-us-ipo

Chinese automotive marketplace Tuanche.com (团车, meaning group buying cars) filed Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for initial public offering and is looking to raise up to US$150 million. Maxim Group LLC and AMTD Asset Management are the main underwriters for this IPO. The Beijing-based firm aims to use the proceeds to further its reach in the automotive space by expanding and also strengthening its technologies such as its data analytics capabilities, and information technologies. Founded in 2010, the firm is an omnichannel automotive marketplace offering both so-called integrated marketing solutions and virtual dealership services for China’s automobile market via both online and offline channels. Specifically, it has two types of online platform – one for new cars to match auto dealers with prospective car buyers and the other is an online used car auction platform. Offline channels are auto shows that provide customers with physical access to a wide range of automobiles. Tuanche.com operates in 121 cities as of end June 2018 and currently serves more than 10,000 industry customers. In terms of user numbers, it has 13.3 million monthly unique visits and a gross merchandise value (GMV) of RMB 30b (US$4.3b), according to its prospectus. As for Tuanche.com’s business model, its revenue comes from three main sources – auto shows, group-purchase facilitation, and virtual dealership. It is important to mention that while a commission is charged group-purchase facilitation and virtual dealership, auto show sales performance pay no fee for their sales. Only a rental fee is required when participants rent their respective booths at offline events. Tuanche.com is also seeing strong growth both for its number of auto shows as well as the number of transactions on its platforms. The former jumped by 1,069% from 26 in 2016 to 304 in 2017, while the latter increased by 86% year-on-year from 111,689 to 207,506 during the same period. This could be, in part, a consequence of the steady growth in China’s car sales – both new and used cars – market over the past 4 years. And the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9% is forecasted to continue up to 2022 per market researcher iResearch data. Narrowing losses Overall, the firm has managed to contain rising operating expenses as revenue rises and has since managed to shrink its losses over the past 2+ years. This could be a positive sign to instil confidence amongst investors amidst wide market volatility, in addition to a positive growth forecast in China’s automotive industry. A relative nobody Though claiming to be the third largest automotive marketplace in China in terms of both volume and GMV of new automobiles sold in 2017, Tuanche, comparing to Nasdaq-listed Uxin or recently funded Chehaoduo, which are both household names made through commercials, is relatively lesser known in the market. However, the company, commencing business in 2010, has a long history that goes back to the first group buy tide in China. It started as one of the vertical group buying services targeting new car sales, managed to survive the Chinese group buy bubble burst, and pivoted to reduce its reliance on group buying facilitation and to expand virtual dealership business. The iResearch report might have casted a forecasted rosy picture for new car sales in China, however, Chinese new auto market sagged in July. Facing a challenging market and competitive rivals like Uxin, Chehaoduo, and Renrenche, Tuanche still has a lot need to prove. Editor: Ben Jiang

Maersk Tankers to purchase six LR2 new builds from Dalian

The board of directors of Danish firm Maersk Tankers has given the go-ahead for the purchase of six LR2 new builds from China's Dalian Shipyard. The move, part of a wider plan to buy 10 LR2 vessels, enables Maersk to meet customer demand with a renewed fleet and maintain its position in the LR2 sector. The ships are set to be operational in 2020, and market conditions will determine whether the option to build the other four is exercised.

https://www.ship-technology.com/news/maersk-tankers-buy-six-lr2-newbuildings-dalian-shipyard/

Maersk Tankers chief strategy officer Soren Meyer. Credit: Maersk Tankers A/S. Maersk Tankers is set to purchase six LR2 new buildings from China’s Dalian Shipyard, after the company’s board of directors approved the vessel order that is already under contract with the yard. The order is part of a deal that includes options for a total of ten LR2 new buildings. It is expected to enable Maersk Tankers to renew its existing fleet to meet its customers’ demands and maintain a strong market position in the LR2 segment. According to the company, the latest investment will benefit from the current market as it offers competitive asset prices. Maersk Tankers chief strategy officer Soren Meyer said: “Once delivered, the vessels will be under Maersk Tankers’ commercial, technical and corporate management. “This increases the scale of the fleet we manage and provides vessel data, contributing to our strategy of delivering industry-leading commercial performance.” “Deliveries of the vessels are expected to be completed over a period of two years, with the first vessels scheduled to enter the fleet in 2020.” Deliveries of the vessels are expected to be completed over a period of two years, with the first vessels scheduled to enter the fleet in 2020. Depending upon the market condition, Maersk Tankers plans to exercise the options to order the remaining four vessels. Maersk Tankers currently operates a total fleet of 161 product tanker vessels across five segments, including Intermediate, Handy, MR, LR2, and Aframax. Out of its total fleet, the company owns 80, charters 23, and commercially manages 58 vessels.

Port of Seattle reaches 10-year RNG contract with US Gain

The Port of Seattle Commission has agreed a $23m 10-year contract with US Gain for renewable natural gas (RNG) in a bid to reach its target of halving carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 a decade early. The deal will enable the port to buy fuel to heat 55% of the Seattle-Tacomo International Airport and its entire bus fleet. The RNG will come from a landfill site outside Washington state because most of Washington's landfill sites supply RNG to California. The Port of Seattle will take its first delivery of RNG on 1 October.

https://www.bioenergy-news.com/news/port-of-seattle-commission-approves-rng-supply-contract-with-u-s-gain/

Port of Seattle Commission approves RNG supply contract with U.S. Gain The Port of Seattle Commission has approved a 10-year supply contract with U.S. Gain for renewable natural gas (RNG). The move will enable the port to reach its 2030 goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50% almost a decade early. The 'long-sought major milestone' was voted on at the Commission meeting on 14 April. The $23 million (€21.1 million) contract allows the port to purchase enough fuel to heat 55% of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and to power 100% of its bus fleet to reach its 50% port-wide carbon reduction goal. SEA will be the first airport in the country to utilise RNG for heating, according to the Commission. The first fuel delivery is expected on 1 October. Commission vice-president Fred Felleman and founding chair of the Energy and Sustainability Committee said: "The Commission vote is another example of the port's environmental leadership, even in hard times. While it's critical that immediate attention is given to recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, we must continue to reduce our carbon footprint if we are to avoid the long-term economic and human costs associated with the climate crisis." Natural gas accounts for 75% of the port's annual climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions. This contract with U.S. Gain will result in the reduction of around 11,000 tons of emissions the port directly produces from its own operations, and those from the energy it purchases. According to the Commission, this reduction is equivalent to heating 4,000 Seattle homes or taking 2,400 passenger vehicles off the roads each year. "We are honoured to supply RNG to SEA and applaud them on achieving such an incredible milestone, well ahead of schedule," said Bryan Nudelbacher, director of RNG Business Development at U.S. Gain. "RNG is the immediate solution to reduce thermal and transportation-related carbon emissions and because of this, we're committed to developing new RNG projects that expand access to others seeking sustainability wins, like SEA." The port's RNG supply comes from a landfill outside Washington state, as most large in-state landfills already capture and sell their RNG as electricity or transport fuel to California markets. California state legislation provides price incentives for low carbon fuels, according to the Commission, making it more lucrative for renewable fuel providers. Over the past three years, the port has 'strongly supported' legislation creating a state-wide Clean Fuel Standard for Washington, which would help to create new incentives for businesses to produce these fuels for Washington. The port utilised RNG in 2014 but supply was transferred out of state due to the financial incentives in California. Once Washington has a clean fuel standard in place, the Port says it will no longer pay a premium for RNG or other renewable fuels used for transport.

Porsche’s $680m factory expansion moves towards EV production

Porsche has said it is moving closer to beginning EV production at its Leipzig plant in Germany as a €600m ($680m), 75,500 sqm expansion continues. Porsche has invested more than €1.3bn in the factory over five expansions since its opening in 2000. When complete, all-electric, hybrid and petrol cars will be built under the same roof.

https://thedriven.io/2020/07/08/porsche-1-billion-factory-readies-to-build-electric-vehicles/

Construction work on Porsche’s €600 million ($A973,980) expansion of its Leipzig manufacturing facility continues apace as it moves towards the beginning of electromobility production, according to the German automotive giant. “Over the past few weeks, we have reached some important milestones on our way to becoming an electromobility site”, Gerd Rupp, Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche Leipzig GmbH, said on Tuesday in a company press release. “The period of time between now and the start of production of the next Macan generation is certainly going to be a challenge. However, it is also an opportunity to future-proof the plant and to prove ourselves as a team.” Porsche’s Leipzig production facility, home of its Panamera and Macan brands, saw the laying of a new body shop back in March 2019. Measuring in at 75,500 square metres, the expansion will enable Porsche Leipzig to begin developing “purely electric vehicles,” according to Albrecht Reimold, member of the executive board for production and logistics at Porsche AG, including the third-generation Taycan, which was unveiled back in October. This is the fifth plant extension at Porsche Leipzig and, since the initial ground-breaking ceremony in February 2000, Porsche has invested more than €1.3 billion into the facility. “Porsche in Leipzig has evolved from an assembly plant to a technology driver for the entire European automotive industry,” said mayor of Leipzig, Burkhard Jung, who visited the site earlier this month in lieu of the official topping-out ceremony, which was cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. “The milestones for developing the drive technologies of the future are being set right here in Leipzig.” In addition to the development of an entirely new, electromobility-focused body shop, Porsche Leipzig’s assembly line is also being significantly modified and the existing production line is also being expanded, scheduled to fit in with the upcoming summer plant shutdown. Upon completion of the expansion and redevelopment, three types of drive types will be produced on a single factory line – petrol, hybrid, and purely electric vehicles – giving Porsche Leipzig maximum flexibility in the manufacturing of new vehicles. Porsche Leipzig has been producing hybrid vehicles for a decade now and is also home to Europe’s most powerful fast charging park. Porsche unveiled in Februaryl its EV fast charging park at the Porsche Leipzig customer centre which offers a total capacity of 7MW which can charge some models up to 100 kilometres of range in only five minutes. Boasting twelve rapid charging points with 350 kW DC and another four 22 kW AC charging points, the charging park is open 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, for customers of any and all vehicle brands. “Our employees have years of experience in dealing with alternative drive types. They can’t wait to start working on electric vehicles in addition to our hybrid models”, said Gerd Rupp. “We think it’s important to involve the entire workforce in the upcoming change so we have already initiated the qualification measures for the purely electric Macan.” Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.

Beach Point Capital increases stake in Watchstone insurtech

Beach Point Capital Management has increased its stake in Watchstone Group from 11.96% to 12.04% via its recent purchase of 35,000 shares in the insurance technology firm. As Watchstone’s share price was 185.50p on 28 October, the Insurance Times has estimated the transaction to have cost £64,925.   Please can you check the numbers - seems like a very small investment (£64k?) is it worth reporting? 

http://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/investor-boosts-stake-in-former-quindell/1420142.article

Investment management firm Beach Point Capital Management has taken its shareholding in Watchstone Group to more than 12% after buying 35,000 shares in the insurance technology firm. Watchstone was known as Quindell before its rebrand a year ago. Beach Point, Watchstone’s biggest shareholder, now owns 12.04% of the company, up from 11.96% before the transaction on 28 October. Watchstone’s share price was 185.50p on 28 October, suggesting Beach Point has invested a further £64,925 in the insurance outsourcer.

What Is CRISPR?

CRISPR technology is a simple yet powerful tool for editing genomes. It allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function. Its many potential applications include correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases and improving crops. However, its promise also raises ethical concerns.

https://www.livescience.com/58790-crispr-explained.html

CRISPR is a powerful tool for editing genomes, meaning it allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function. It has many potential applications, including correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases, and improving the growth and resilience of crops. However, despite its promise, the technology also raises ethical concerns. In popular usage, "CRISPR" (pronounced "crisper") is shorthand for "CRISPR-Cas9." CRISPRs are specialized stretches of DNA , and the protein Cas9 — where Cas stands for "CRISPR-associated" — is an enzyme that acts like a pair of molecular scissors, capable of cutting strands of DNA. CRISPR technology was adapted from the natural defense mechanisms of bacteria and archaea, a domain of relatively simple single-celled microorganisms. These organisms use CRISPR-derived RNA , a molecular cousin to DNA, and various Cas proteins to foil attacks by viruses . To foil attacks, the organisms chop up the DNA of viruses and then stow bits of that DNA in their own genome, to be used as a weapon against the foreign invaders should those viruses attack again. When the components of CRISPR are transferred into other, more complex, organisms, those components can then manipulate genes, a process called "gene editing." No one really knew what this process looked like until 2017, when a team of researchers led by Mikihiro Shibata of Kanazawa University in Japan and Hiroshi Nishimasu of the University of Tokyo, showed for the very first time what it looks like when a CRISPR is in action. Related: Genetics by the numbers: 10 tantalizing tales Key components of CRISPR DNA is a double-stranded molecule whose "rungs" are made up of one of two base pairs: adenine paired with thymine or cytosine paired with guanine. (Image credit: Shutterstock) CRISPRs: The term "CRISPR" stands for "clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats" and describes a region of DNA made up of short, repeated sequences with so-called "spacers" sandwiched between each repeat. When we talk about repeats in the genetic code, we're talking about the ordering of rungs within the spiral ladder of a DNA molecule. Each rung contains two chemical bases bound together: A base called adenine (A) links up to another called thymine (T), and the base guanine (G) pairs with cytosine (C). In a CRISPR region, these bases appear in the same order several times, and in these repeated segments, they form what's known as "palindromic" sequences, according to the Max Planck Institute . A palindrome, like the word "racecar," reads the same forward as it does backward; similarly, in a palindromic sequence, bases on one side of the DNA ladder match those on the opposing side when you read them in opposite directions. For example, a super simple palindromic sequence might look like this: Side 1 - GATC Side 2 - CTAG Short palindromic repeats appear throughout CRISPR regions of DNA, with each repeat bookended by "spacers." Bacteria swipe such spacers from viruses that have attacked them, meaning they incorporate a bit of viral DNA into their own genome. These spacers serve as a bank of memories, which enables the bacteria to recognize the viruses if they should ever attack again. You can also think of spacers like "Wanted" posters, providing a snapshot of the bad guys so they can be easily spotted and brought to justice. Related: Going viral: 6 new findings about viruses Rodolphe Barrangou and a team of researchers at Danisco, a food ingredients company, first demonstrated this process experimentally. In a 2007 paper published in the journal Science, the researchers used Streptococcus thermophilus bacteria, which are commonly found in yogurt and other dairy cultures, as their model, according to the Joint Genome Institute , part of the U.S. Department of Energy. They observed that after a viral attack, the bacteria incorporated new spacers into their CRISPR regions. Moreover, the DNA sequence of these spacers was identical to parts of the virus genome. The team also manipulated the spacers by removing them and inserting new viral DNA sequences in their place. In this way, the researchers were able to alter the bacteria's resistance to an attack by a specific virus, confirming CRISPRs' role in regulating bacterial immunity. CRISPR RNA (crRNA): CRISPR regions of DNA act as a kind of bank of viral memories; but for that stored information to be useful elsewhere in the cell, it must be copied, or "transcribed," into a different genetic molecule called RNA. Unlike DNA sequences, which remain lodged inside the DNA molecule, this CRISPR RNA (crRNA) can roam about the cell and team up with proteins — namely the molecular scissors that snip viruses to bits. RNA also differs from DNA in that it's only one strand, rather than two, meaning it looks like just a half of a ladder. To build an RNA molecule, one part of the CRISPR acts as a template and proteins called polymerases swoop in to construct an RNA molecule that is "complementary" to that template, meaning the two strands' bases would fit together like puzzle pieces. For example, a G in the DNA molecule would get transcribed as a C in the RNA. Each snippet of CRISPR RNA contains a copy of a repeat and a spacer from a CRISPR region of DNA, according to a 2014 review by Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, published in the journal Science. The crRNA interacts with the Cas9 protein and another kind of RNA, called "trans-activating crRNA" or tracrRNA, in order to help bacteria fend off viruses. Cas9: The Cas9 protein is an enzyme that cuts foreign DNA. The protein binds to crRNA and tracrRNA, which together guide Cas9 to a target site on the virus's DNA strand where the protein will make its cut. The target DNA that the Cas9 will cut through is complementary to a 20-nucleotide stretch of the crRNA, where a "nucleotide" is a building block of DNA that contains one base. Using two separate regions or "domains" on its structure, Cas9 cuts both strands of the DNA double helix, making what is known as a "double-stranded break," according to the 2014 Science article. There is a built-in safety mechanism that ensures that Cas9 doesn't just cut just anywhere in a genome. Short DNA sequences known as "protospacer adjacent motifs," or PAMs, serve as tags and sit adjacent to the target DNA sequence. If the Cas9 complex doesn't see a PAM next to its target DNA sequence, it won't cut. This is one possible reason that Cas9 doesn't ever attack the CRISPR region in bacteria, according to a 2014 review published in Nature Biotechnology . How does CRISPR work as a genome-editing tool? Here's a breakdown of how Crispr gene-editing works. (Image credit: ttsz via Getty Images) Genomes encode a series of messages and instructions within their DNA sequences, and genome editing involves changing those sequences, thereby changing the messages they contain. This can be done by inserting a cut or break in the DNA and tricking a cell's natural DNA repair mechanisms into introducing the targeted changes. CRISPR-Cas9 provides a means to do so. In 2012, two pivotal research papers were published in the journals Science and PNAS , describing how the bacterial CRISPR-Cas9 could be used to chop up any DNA, not just that of viruses. In this way, the natural CRISPR system could be transformed into a simple, programmable genome-editing tool. To direct Cas9 to snip a specific region of DNA, scientists can simply change the sequence of the crRNA, which binds to a complementary sequence in the target DNA, the studies concluded.In the 2012 Science article, Martin Jinek and his colleagues further simplified the system by fusing crRNA and tracrRNA to create a single "guide RNA." Thus, genome editing requires only two components: a guide RNA and the Cas9 protein. "Operationally, you design a stretch of 20 base pairs that match a gene that you want to edit," and from there, one can figure out what the complementary crRNA sequence would be, George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, told Live Science. Church emphasized the importance of making sure that the nucleotide sequence is found only in the target gene and nowhere else in the genome. George Church Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and MIT George Church leads Synthetic Biology at the Wyss Institute. Church is widely recognized for his innovative contributions to genomic science and his many pioneering contributions to chemistry and biomedicine. In 1984, he developed the first direct genomic sequencing method, which resulted in the first genome sequence. He helped initiate the Human Genome Project in 1984 and the Personal Genome Project in 2005. "Then the RNA plus the protein [Cas9] will cut — like a pair of scissors — the DNA at that site, and ideally nowhere else," Church explained. Once the DNA is cut, the cell's natural repair mechanisms kick in and work to piece the DNA back together, and at this point, edits can be made to the genome. There are two ways this can happen: According to the Huntington's Outreach Project at Stanford University, one repair method involves gluing the two cuts back together. This method, known as "non-homologous end joining," tends to introduce errors where nucleotides are accidentally inserted or deleted, resulting in mutations that could disrupt a gene. In the second method, the break is fixed by filling in the gap with a sequence of nucleotides. In order to do so, the cell uses a short strand of DNA as a template. Scientists can supply the DNA template of their choosing, thereby writing-in any gene they want, or correcting a mutation. Who discovered CRISPR? Researchers found first found the characteristic nucleotide repeats and spacers of Crisprs in the gut bacteria called E. Coli, shown here as a cluster in a scanning electron micrograph image. (Image credit: Callista Images/Getty Images) Scientists originally discovered the CRISPRs in bacteria in 1987, but they didn't initially understand the biological significance of the DNA sequences, and they didn't yet call them "CRISPRs," according to Quanta Magazine . Yoshizumi Ishino and colleagues at Osaka University in Japan first found the characteristic nucleotide repeats and spacers in the gut microbe Escherichia coli , and as the technology for genetic analysis improved in the 1990s, other researchers found CRISPRs in many other microbes. Francisco Mojica, a scientist at the University of Alicante in Spain, was the first to describe the distinct characteristics of CRISPRs and found the sequences in 20 different microbes, according to a 2016 report in the journal Cell. At one point, he dubbed the sequences "short regularly spaced repeats" (SRSRs), but he later suggested that they be called CRISPRs instead. The term CRISPR first appeared in a 2002 report , published in the journal Molecular Microbiology and authored by Ruud Jansen of Utrecht University, with whom Mojica had been in correspondence. In the following years, scientists also discovered Cas genes and the function of Cas enzymes, and they figured out that the spacers in CRISPRs came from invasive viruses, Quanta reported. Among these pioneering researchers was Jennifer Doudna, a professor of biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology at the University of California, Berkeley, who went on to share the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Emmanuelle Charpentier, director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens. The two scientists are credited with adapting the bacterial CRISPR/Cas system into a handy gene-editing tool, Live Science previously reported. Related: Nobel Prize in Chemistry: 1901-Present Charpentier initially discovered tracrRNA while studying the bacteria Streptococcus pyogenes, which causes a range of diseases from tonsillitis to sepsis. Having uncovered tracrRNA as a previously unknown component of the CRISPR/Cas system, Charpentier began collaborating with Doudna to recreate that system in a test tube. In 2012, the team published their seminal work in the journal Science, announcing that they'd successfully simplified the molecular scissors into a gene-editing tool. Some thought that biochemist Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute might also earn the Nobel for his own, separate work with the CRISPR system, Science Magazine reported . Zhang demonstrated that the CRISPR system works in mammalian cells, and based on this work, the Broad Institute earned the first patent for the use of CRISPR gene-editing technology in eukaryotes , or complex cells with nuclei to hold their DNA. How has CRISPR been used? (Image credit: KEITH CHAMBERS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images) In 2013, researchers in the labs of Church and Zhang published the first reports describing the use of CRISPR-Cas9 to edit human cells in an experimental setting. Studies conducted in lab dish and animal models of human disease have demonstrated that the technology can effectively correct genetic defects. Examples of such diseases include cystic fibrosis, cataracts and Fanconi anemia, according to a 2016 review article published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. These studies have paved the way for therapeutic applications in humans. In the realm of medicine, CRISPR has been tested in early-stage clinical trials as cancer therapy and as a treatment for an inherited disorder that causes blindness. It's also been investigated as a strategy for preventing the spread of Lyme disease and malaria from viral vectors to people, and it's also been studied in animal models of HIV as a way to rid infected cells of the virus, Live Science previously reported . One research team in China attempted to treat a human patient's HIV using CRISPR, and while the treatment wasn't successful in curing the infection, the gene therapy also didn't cause any harmful effects, Live Science reported . "I think the public perception of CRISPR is very focused on the idea of using gene editing clinically to cure disease," said Neville Sanjana of the New York Genome Center and an assistant professor of biology, neuroscience and physiology at New York University. "This is no doubt an exciting possibility, but this is only one small piece." Related: 10 amazing things scientists just did with CRISPR CRISPR technology has also been applied in the food and agricultural industries to engineer probiotic cultures and to vaccinate industrial cultures (yogurt, for example) against viruses. It is also being used in crops to improve yield, drought tolerance and nutritional properties. One other potential application is to create gene drives , a genetic engineering technique that increases the chances of a particular trait passing on from parent to offspring; this kind of genetic engineering derives from a natural phenomenon, where specific versions of genes are more likely to be inherited. Eventually, over the course of generations, the trait spreads through entire populations, according to the Wyss Institute . Gene drives could be used for various applications, such as eradicating invasive species or reversing pesticide and herbicide resistance in crops, according to a 2014 report published in the journal Science . During the COVID-19 pandemic, the CRISPR-Cas9 system has been used to develop various diagnostic tests for the viral infection, BBC News reported . In addition, CRISPR has recently been used in the following ways: In April 2017, a team of researchers released research in the journal Science that they had programmed a CRISPR molecule to find strains of viruses, such as Zika, in blood serum, urine and saliva. On Aug. 2, 2017, scientists revealed in the journal Nature that they had removed a heart disease defect in an embryo successfully using CRISPR. On Jan. 2, 2018, researchers announced that they may be able to stop fungi and other problems that threaten chocolate production using CRISPR to make the plants more resistant to disease. On April 16, 2018, researchers upgraded CRISPR to edit thousands of genes at once, according to research published by the journal BioNews. However, despite its wide range of uses, the tool is not without its drawbacks. "I think the biggest limitation of CRISPR is it is not a hundred percent efficient," Church told Live Science. That means, in a given experiment, CRISPR may successfully edit only a percentage of the targeted DNA. According to the 2014 Science article by Doudna and Charpentier, in a study conducted in rice, gene editing occurred in nearly 50% of the cells that received the Cas9-RNA complex. Meanwhile, other analyses have shown that depending on the target, editing efficiencies can reach as high as 80% or more. The technology can also create "off-target effects" when DNA is cut at sites other than the intended target. This can lead to the introduction of unintended mutations. Furthermore, Church noted, even when the system cuts on target, there is a chance of not getting a precise edit. He called this "genome vandalism." Potential risks and ethical concerns of using CRISPR The many potential applications of CRISPR technology raise questions about the ethical merits and consequences of tampering with genomes. And in particular, a slew of ethical debates flared up in 2018 when He Jiankui, formerly a biophysicist at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, announced that his team had edited DNA in human embryos and thus created the world's first gene-edited babies. He was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison and fined 3 million yuan ($560,000) for practicing medicine without a license, violating Chinese regulations on human-assisted reproductive technology and fabricating ethical review documents, Live Science previously reported . But even after his sentencing, He's experiments raised questions about how the use of CRISPR should be regulated going forward, especially given that the technology is still fairly new. Related: Here's what we know about CRISPR safety Illegal experimentation in human embryos represents an extreme misuse of CRISPR, of course, but even seemingly ethical uses of the technology could carry risks, scientists say. In general, making genetic modifications to human embryos and reproductive cells such as sperm and eggs is known as germline editing. Since changes to these cells can be passed on to subsequent generations, using CRISPR technology to make germline edits has raised a number of ethical concerns. Variable efficacy, off-target effects and imprecise edits all pose safety risks. In addition, there is much that is still unknown to the scientific community. In a 2015 article published in Science, David Baltimore and a group of scientists, ethicists and legal experts note that germline editing raises the possibility of unintended consequences for future generations "because there are limits to our knowledge of human genetics, gene-environment interactions, and the pathways of disease (including the interplay between one disease and other conditions or diseases in the same patient)." In the 2014 Science article, Oye and colleagues point to the potential ecological impact of using gene drives. An introduced trait could spread beyond the target population to other organisms through crossbreeding. Gene drives could also reduce the genetic diversity of the target population, potentially hampering its ability to survive. Other ethical concerns are more nuanced. Should we make changes that could fundamentally affect future generations without having their consent? What if the use of germline editing veers from being a therapeutic tool to an enhancement tool for various human characteristics? To address these concerns, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine put together a comprehensive report with guidelines and recommendations for genome editing. Although the National Academies urge caution in pursuing germline editing, they emphasize "caution does not mean prohibition." They recommend that germline editing be done only on genes that lead to serious diseases and only when there are no other reasonable treatment alternatives. Among other criteria, they stress the need to collect data on the health risks and benefits and to maintain continuous oversight during clinical trials. They also recommend that, after a trial concludes, trial organizers should follow up with the participants' families for multiple generations to see what changes persist in the genome over time. Additional resources Watch this animation from TEDEd to learn how CRISPR lets scientists edit DNA. to learn how CRISPR lets scientists edit DNA. Listen to Jennifer Doudna deliver her Nobel Lecture after winning the prize in 2020. after winning the prize in 2020. Read about the ongoing battle over CRISPR patents in Science Magazine . This article includes additional reporting by Alina Bradford, Live Science contributor. Originally published on Live Science.

Tenants spend more of their income on housing costs than homeowners

The housing ratio - the total housing costs as a percentage of disposable income - was higher for tenants in the Netherlands than for homeowners last year. Tenants spent 38.1 percent of their disposable income on housing costs, while homeowners spent an average of 29 percent.

https://nltimes.nl/2019/04/04/tenants-spend-income-housing-costs-homeowners

The housing ratio - the total housing costs as a percentage of disposable income - was higher for tenants in the Netherlands than for homeowners last year. Tenants spent an average of 38.1 percent of their disposable income on housing costs, while homeowners spent an average of 29 percent, Statistics Netherlands reported on Thursday. The housing ratio for tenants increased by 2 percent between 2012 and 2015, and did not increase further after that. For homeowners, the housing ratio decreased by 3 percent between 2012 and 2015, and decreased a further 0.4 percent between 2015 and 2018. According to the stats office, the increased difference in living ratio for tenants and homeowners is not explained by a larger difference in average income, but due to a larger difference in housing costs between the two groups. The total housing costs for tenants increased by an average of 14 percent compared to 2012. The increase is entirely due to higher rents, according to the states office. The level of additional housing costs, like municipal taxes and energy costs, remained relatively stable since 2012, and the average amount of housing allowance had a decreasing effect on tenants' housing costs in 2018. The average housing costs for homeowners were 5 percent lower in 2018 than in 2012. This is thanks to lower gross mortgage expenditure, partly due to lower interest rates, stricter mortgage regulations and decreasing mortgage debt among homeowners. Households that are among the 20 percent lease prosperous in the Netherlands on average have a higher housing ratio than the 20 percent most prosperous households. Homeowners from the 20 percent least prosperous households on average spend 48.1 percent of their disposable income on housing costs, tenants spend an average of 42.2 percent. Among the 20 percent most prosperous households, homeowners spend an average of 22.6 percent of their disposable income on housing costs, tenants 35.4 percent. The housing ratio in the Netherlands' four large cities are higher than the national average. The housing ratio for tenants in The Hague is just over 41 percent, in Amsterdam it's 40.5 percent. In Rotterdam and Utrecht the housing ratio for tenants is 38.4 and 39.3 percent respectively. For homeowners the housing ratio is 32 percent in Amsterdam, 30 percent in Rotterdam, 30.7 percent in The Hague, and 28.9 percent in Utrecht. While the housing ratio for homeowners in Utrecht is just lower than the 29 percent national average, the absolute amount is still high. This is mainly due to the higher average disposable income of Utrecht homeowners. The absolute housing costs in Utrecht is 1,069 euros, just slightly below the 1,128 euros average in Amsterdam.

Airtel Payments Bank set to extend pilot to southern states

Airtel Payments Bank is expanding services to southern states in India less than two weeks after a pilot launch in Rajasthan. The bank's CEO, Shashi Arora, said that states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka have large rural markets where banking services could be provided to the financially excluded or unbanked population. Airtel is rolling out 20,000 outlets in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and around another 15,000 in Karanataka, offering services including including eKYC-led onborading, cash deposits, cash withdrawals. The bank opened over 100,000 savings accounts within two weeks of rolling out in Rajasthan.

http://indianexpress.com/article/business/banking-and-finance/airtel-payments-bank-set-to-extend-pilot-to-southern-states-4421419/

In Rajasthan, Airtel Payments Bank is rolling out pilot services across 10,000 Airtel retail outlets, which also act as banking points. In Rajasthan, Airtel Payments Bank is rolling out pilot services across 10,000 Airtel retail outlets, which also act as banking points. Having opened over one lakh savings accounts within a fortnight of launch of its pilot services in Rajasthan, Airtel Payments Bank is gearing up to extend the services to southern states starting this week. “We are getting into South India within a week… a couple of states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka,” Airtel Payments Bank CEO Shashi Arora told PTI. Airtel Payments Bank is the first payments bank in India to go live. Arora said these states have a deep rural market where the opportunity to offer banking benefit to financially excluded and the unbanked population is large. “We would be rolling out with about 20,000 retail outlets in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana combined, and another 15,000 or so, in Karanataka,” he said.

Australia, Singapore strengthen tie with supercomputing agreement

Singapore and Australia are set to boost their high-performance computing communities after the National Supercomputing Centre of Singapore and Australia's Pawsey Supercomputing Centre signed a memorandum of understanding. The wide-ranging agreement aims to deliver "better, faster, and more innovative scientific outcomes" for both nations, focusing on areas including nanotechnology, medical research and the petroleum industry. Pawsey said it was the first of many such international agreements.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/australia-singapore-supercomputing-agreement-signed/

NSCC CEO Professor Tan Tin Wee and Pawsey's data technical specialist Mark Gray sign MOU Image: Supplied Australia's Pawsey Supercomputing Centre has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) of Singapore that will see both facilities work together on supercomputing, networking, data analytics, scientific software applications, and visualisation. According to Pawsey, the MOU between the two facilities marks the start of their collaboration plan, which is aimed at delivering "better, faster, and more innovative" scientific outcomes for the benefit of both Australia and Singapore. Based in Perth, the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre is a national supercomputing joint venture between the CSIRO, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, and the University of Western Australia. It focuses on areas such as nanotechnology, radio astronomy, high energy physics, medical research, mining and petroleum, architecture and construction, multimedia, and urban planning. The MOU is expected to enable the flow of knowledge between both centres, with Pawsey noting such knowledge transfer will in turn benefit the high-performance computing community within each country. "The two supercomputing centres will collaborate in areas such as strategy, best practice and shared experiences in planning, defining, administering, and supporting industry engagement, outreach activities, training, and stakeholder management," Pawsey continued. "Governance matters on resource access and sharing, resource allocation, export control, infrastructure accreditation; user support tools and methods; HPC software development and cybersecurity will also be considered." See also: In pictures: The world's 25 fastest supercomputers (TechRepublic) Both parties have plans in the pipeline which include joint initiatives to optimise researchers' activities, such as training and code optimisation, the Australian centre said. "The proximity of the two facilities, similarities in storage solutions, but mostly creative thinking approach to problems, have driven Pawsey's interest in crystallising this relationship with NSCC," Pawsey acting executive director Ugo Varetto said. "We are convinced that this type of initiative will enhance the services each centre provides, therefore researchers and their outcomes will be impacted. By working together, we aim to continue accelerating scientific discoveries in these two nations for the benefit of humanity". While this is the first international agreement entered into by the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, the centre said more will soon follow. RELATED COVERAGE HPE's SGI scores AU$1.5m CSIRO supercomputing contract SGI will be replacing the decommissioned Fornax system at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in Western Australia. Medical imaging at the 'speed of light': Nvidia's Clara supercomputer Nvidia CEO and founder Jensen Huang said science needs super-charged computers, so that's why his company is building them. NCI scores Raijin replacement and aims for top 25 supercomputer National Computer Infrastructure at the Australian National University has picked up AU$70 million for an upgraded supercomputer. It takes two to Tango: eRSA partners with Dell EMC for new research supercomputer The non-profit IT service provider has welcomed a new high-performance computer and research cloud infrastructure, Tango. Swinburne reaches for the sky with AU$4m astronomical supercomputer The Dell EMC-powered supercomputer will be used by the university to power a new age of gravitational wave astrophysics, building on Albert Einstein's theory 100 years on. Supercomputers coming soon to an office near you (TechRepublic) Supercomputers are to ordinary servers as race cars are to street vehicles. Burst processing and cognitive applications are examples of tech that will be in the data centers or desktops of tomorrow.

Sticky online advertisements haunt India's internet users

Almost half of India's internet users feel their online experience is being ruined by "intrusive and uncontrolled" advertising, according to a survey by Kantar TNS. Taking in 70,000 respondents across 54 countries, the study found 21% of Indian 16-24-year-olds actively ignored ads, while 53% said they trusted what other people online said about brands. Zoë Lawrence, APAC digital director at Kantar TNS said the survey revealed people wanted content that "integrated seamlessly into the platform, enhancing rather than interrupted the use of it."

http://qz.com/795546/sticky-online-advertisements-haunt-indias-internet-users/

Indians clearly do not like being stalked by online advertisers. And advertisers would be well-advised to avoid that path lest they lose credibility. Nearly half of India’s internet users feel they are “constantly followed” by online advertisements, according to a survey by research consultancy Kantar TNS. That’s 13% more than the global average of 34%. Advertisement “…The menace of intrusive and uncontrolled online advertising is ruining the consumer experience in India,” said Anusheel Shrivastava, executive director at Kantar TNS India, in the report. TNS surveyed some 70,000 consumers in 54 countries asking for their views on online advertisements and promotions. India has the world’s second-largest population of internet users after China, according to a report published in August by NASSCOM (pdf), an IT industry body. Clearly, digital advertisers are in a hurry to chase these users, even if it means intruding their online experience. However, constant, in-your-face advertisements are affecting internet users’ opinion of promotional content. Advertisement About 21% Indians aged between 16 and 24 actively ignore social posts or content from brands on the internet, according to the survey. More than half (53%) of these internet users admitted that they trust what people say online about brands—not what brands themselves claim—much more than sources such as newspapers, brand websites or even television advertisements. They trust sources such as celebrities and influencers (bloggers and peers), it noted. Kantar suggests that instead of chasing them with plain ads, advertisers need to think of alternative ways to woo potential consumers, especially on social media where users are increasingly spending more time. That’s because consumers are demanding content that is “integrated seamlessly into the platform, enhancing rather than interrupting the use of it,” said Zoë Lawrence, APAC digital director at Kantar TNS. The online advertising market in India is still in its infancy. Digital advertising constitutes roughly 12% of overall online spends in the country. By December 2016, online advertising market in the country is expected to touch Rs7,044 crore, according to a July 2016 report by industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and research agency IMRB. India’s advertising market is pegged at Rs50,000 crore with half of the spends going to television. But if advertisers want more bang for their buck, perhaps they need to rethink their strategy to attract the Indian consumer.

Faraday Future, US Hybrid working on advanced electric powertrain

Faraday Future and US Hybrid have partnered to accelerate the development of an advanced powertrain system for commercial medium to heavy-duty EV buses and lorries. The companies are working to reduce vehicle weight and cost while increasing the efficiency of the EVs. Faraday Future and US Hybrid are developing EV solutions in support of California's push towards zero-emission commercial vehicles.

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/03/20200307-ff.html

EV developer Faraday Future and US Hybrid Corporation are collaborating to advance the use of FF’s electric propulsion system in new energy products currently under development by US Hybrid. FF is committed to the development of EV solutions along with US Hybrid to support California’s drive towards zero emissions for commercial vehicles. The collaboration between these two companies will work to expand the use of FF’s technology—first developed for passenger vehicles—into the commercial vehicle space with new and exciting solutions. Specifically, the partnership with US Hybrid will provide cost effective, efficient, lightweight, advanced powertrain systems for commercial medium- and heavy-duty (MD/HD) shuttle buses and drayage trucks. The partnership synergizes FF’s investment in advanced powertrain systems and US Hybrid’s experience in MD/HD vehicle powertrain designs utilized on battery and fuel cell electric buses and trucks. The FF propulsion system is a modular system that can support different customer needs. The motor drive units can be used in one-, two- and three-motor configurations, while FF’s high energy battery strings can be combined in any number that the customer and vehicle specs require. US Hybrid specializes in the design and manufacture of power conversion systems for MD/HD electric, hybrid, and fuel cell commercial buses and trucks to enable them to become more reliable and fuel-efficient, with lower emissions and better responsiveness.

Vaping tax for young people may lead to rise in cigarette smoking

There is a growing concern that taxing e-cigarettes in the US may result in a rise in cigarette smoking among the young. The surging popularity of vaping among young Americans is driving lawmakers to use one of their favorite tools to discourage unwanted behavior: taxes.In December, the Massachusetts legislature passed a 75 percent tax on all e-cigarettes. Twenty states have already done so, along with the District of Columbia, and several more are considering similar policies. The House Ways and Means Committee passed a bill last year that would make federal tobacco taxes apply equally to cigarettes and vaping products that deliver nicotine, the addictive drug in tobacco.Taxes have proved effective in reducing cigarette smoking. But what if a vaping tax actually encouraged smoking instead of reducing it?A new study suggests that these new taxes have the potential to do just that — by discouraging adult smokers from considering nicotine vapin

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/upshot/vaping-tax-effect-smoking.html?te=1&nl=dealbook&emc=edit_dk_20200107

“By decreasing the extent to which people use e-cigarettes, you decrease quitting of conventional cigarettes,” said W. Kip Viscusi, a professor of law, economics and management at Vanderbilt University, who was not involved in the research but has studied tobacco policy extensively. The research was conducted by Henry Saffer, Michael Grossman, Daniel L. Dench and Dhaval M. Dave, who used data from a detailed census survey about tobacco use to measure what happened to the smoking rate. Their goal was to find out whether e-cigarettes helped adult smokers quit smoking cigarettes, which are linked to a wide range of illnesses and are estimated to contribute to one in five deaths in the United States. It’s possible, they figured, that vaping might encourage more people to smoke, by providing a new way to try nicotine for the first time. It might also cause people who might have quit to just keep smoking, by providing a second way to get nicotine where smoking is restricted. The natural experiment of the Minnesota tax helped them measure what some overall effects really were. When Minnesota made vaping more expensive, they found, smokers kept smoking instead of switching to e-cigarettes. A longstanding decline in adult smoking in the state slowed way down, while smoking in states that hadn’t imposed big vaping taxes continued to fall. The researchers concluded that making e-cigarettes more expensive discouraged Minnesota smokers from trying them and caused fewer of them to switch away from smoking. By measuring the difference in the trends, the researchers estimated that Minnesota caused around 32,000 more adults to keep smoking cigarettes. The paper didn’t include close measures of whether people who stopped smoking completely quit nicotine, the most healthful possible outcome for smokers. While it is clear that most vaping products are safer than cigarettes, it is not yet clear by how much. New research is emerging that vaping products may cause some long-term lung and heart disease. And a recent poisoning outbreak associated mainly with THC, in which 55 people died, suggests that there can be acute health risks for some users.

Juventus, AC Milan cancel pre-match press conferences

Juventus FC and AC Milan cancelled their pre-match press conferences ahead of recent fixtures against Inter Milan and Genoa CFC, respectively, due to Italy’s coronavirus outbreak.

https://www.france24.com/en/20200228-juventus-ac-milan-cancel-pre-match-pressers-amid-serie-a-coronavirus-lockdown

Milan (AFP) – Advertising Read more Juventus have called off their pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday's Serie A clash against title-rivals Inter Milan because of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. The match is among five Serie A games in the north of the country, which has been hardest hit by the virus, and will be played behind closed doors. The other four are Udinese against Fiorentina, AC Milan at home to Genoa, Parma against SPAL and Sassuolo versus Brescia. "In compliance with the restrictions currently in force, Maurizio Sarri's conference, on the eve of the Juventus v Inter match, will not take place," the Serie A champions said in a statement. Milan said "in compliance with the measures" they would not be holding a press conference before their game against Genoa in the San Siro on Sunday. City rivals Inter Milan's Europa League game against Bulgarian club Ludogorets also took place behind closed doors in the San Siro on Thursday. Italy has the largest coronavirus outbreak in Europe with 650 people infected and 17 deaths. Four Serie B matches will also be played behind closed doors -- Cittadella versus Cremonese; Chievo against Livorno; Venezia hosting Cosenza and Virtus Entella welcoming Crotone. Meanwhile, a 22-year-old player from Italian third division club US Pianese is recovering in hospital in Siena after testing positive for coronavirus. "At the moment, excluding the infected player who is hospitalised, all the players, technicians and managers are in quarantine," the Tuscan club said in a statement. © 2020 AFP

Around 1.3 GW of Irish projects eligible for RESS first round

The Republic of Ireland's renewable electricity project pipeline has expanded to approximately 6.9 GW, of which roughly 1.3 GW is eligible for participation in the country's Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS). The deadline for applications has been extended to 30 April due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The first auction will boast a 300 GWh carve-out for solar, and could include projects from 36 companies, according to Solar Power Portal research. Two-thirds of the projects have capacities under 5 MW. The remainder comprises larger projects, of which 10% have capacities greater than 20 MW.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/blogs/ireland_gets_closer_to_starting_large_scale_solar_ambitions

UPDATE: Shortly after this blog was published, the deadline for applications for the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme was pushed back until 30 April 2020 in light of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. The text below has been amended to reflect the new date. Applications for the long-awaited Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) opened in the Republic of Ireland on 9 March 2020 and will be open until 30 April 2020. The total pipeline of projects in the Republic of Ireland has now reached nearly 6.9GW and, after years of uncertainty, there are approximately 1.3GW of projects eligible to participate in the first round auction. The successful projects will then be part of the first phase of ground-mounted solar construction in the Republic of Ireland. This article discusses projects that make up this pipeline and the opportunity for solar deployment in Ireland in the coming years. The data presented is taken from the March edition of the Republic of Ireland Solar PV Opportunity Tracker Report. Details on how to access the report can be found through the link here. Our in-house market research team has been tracking the Irish solar PV market since 2016 when the initial subsidy announcements were made. Throughout 2015 and 2016, planning and grid applications were submitted for solar farms and the pipeline of projects began to grow rapidly. We saw lots of familiar names from the UK solar industry entering the market, and also wind developers with experience of developing projects in Ireland in addition, other Irish companies who saw solar as an opportunity started to submit projects. However, four years on and we are just seeing the beginning of the RESS and it is thought that construction will begin on successful projects in later 2020 or early 2021. In the initial phase of applications, the first step was to submit a grid application; delays with processing applications meant that queues formed for the busiest substations. The anticipation of the potential subsidy meant that many speculative applications were submitted that didn’t go on to a full planning application. In an effort to reduce queues and spread grid upgrade costs, ESB introduced the Enduring Connection Policy (ECP) which aims to process applications in batches in order to plan the capacity better. Projects applying for a grid connection under the ECP must have planning permission in order to reduce the number of speculative projects. Initially it was assumed that projects participating in the RESS would need both planning permission and a grid connection contract, this was confirmed in the RESS terms and conditions. The chart below shows planning applications by year; we can see a large number being submitted in 2016 and 2017, dropping significantly in 2018 and 2019.

Iphone X facial recognition tricked by 3D mask

Security researchers have managed to bypass the facial recognition feature on the iPhone X using a 3D mask. A team at Vietnamese company Bkav created a 3D-printed model of a face from stone powder, with 2D printed eyes attached. A video released by them shows their researcher enrolling his real face on the system's security settings, then using the model successfully to unlock the iPhone. A spokesman for Bkav says the experiment proves the system is not sufficiently secure to be used for business transactions. Other users have claimed the system can be tricked by identical twins.

http://www.ibtimes.co.in/cybersecurity-experts-again-fooled-iphone-x-face-id-3d-mask-751026

Since the launch of the iPhone X earlier this month, lots of people have been attempting to fool the Face ID, the new biometric recognition feature which is the primary security feature of the device. So far Face ID has been tricked by twins, children and even by a 3D mask. Earlier this month the Vietnamese security company Bkav has fooled Apple's Face ID with a mask costing less than $150. They have uploaded a video featuring Face ID accessed by a mask, but there were several questions about the unlocking methods used in the video, so Bkav is back with another video but this time their evidence is more compelling. Bkav explains in the new video that the new mask is made of stone powder with 2D infrared images of eyes taped over the mask. Thus, to Face ID, the mask mimics a real face with eyes, which cost approximately $200 to produce. While in their previous video Bkav researchers didn't show the process of how long it took from that point to opening an iPhone X with the mask. But in the new video, they have shown the entire process, the researcher enrols his face with the Face ID and unlocks the device normally with his face and then immediately unlocks the iPhone X with a 3D-printed visage constructed of stone powder, with 2D-printed eyes stuck on. This mask appears to be unlocking the iPhone right away. Every time the tried the mask flawlessly fools the Face ID security feature of the iPhone X. Bkav claims that the materials and tools used to create the mask are "casual for anyone" and that Face ID is "not secure enough to be used in business transactions," The researchers named their mask the "artificial twin," as it was similar to the way an identical (or close to identical) sibling could unlock an iPhone X. Indeed, video evidence of such trickery has emerged since the launch of the iPhone X. When Touch ID was first introduced in the iPhone 5S in 2013 there were many similar demonstrations of how it could be fooled with a fake fingerprint. But there are very fewer chances of these methods being used to unlock the device widely in the real world. Apple has made so many changes to improve their Touch ID over the years, to make it faster and more accurate, and similar improvements will be made to Face ID in the future to make to more accurate. In the meantime, Face ID can still be fooled by twins or a complicated facial replication process. Here is the video.

UK food firm Princes linked to migrant worker abuse

Princes, the UK food firm, has become the latest company to be implicated in an enquiry into the abuse of migrant workers picking tomatoes in Italy. Princes Industrie Alimentari, owned by Princes, purchases tomatoes from supplier, De Rubertis, which was last year accused by an Italian prosecutor of “absolute exploitation” of workers. Abdullah Muhammed, a Sudanese immigrant, died from a heart attack whilst working for De Rubertis. Princes, the largest UK distributor of tomatoes, which also supplies France and Germany, is owned by the Mitsubishi Corporation.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jan/12/italian-tomatoes-food-firm-princes-linked-to-labour-abuses-inquiry

The British food company Princes has become the latest firm linked with an investigation into labour abuses involving migrant workers who pick tomatoes in southern Italy for the plates of British and European consumers. Princes Industrie Alimentari, owned by Princes, buys tomatoes from De Rubertis, a supplier whose workers were described last October by Italian prosecutor Paola Guglielmi as labouring under “conditions of absolute exploitation”. The comments were made in the course of an investigation into the death of a seasonal labourer, Abdullah Muhammed. The 47-year-old legal Sudanese immigrant suffered a heart attack while working in the fields of Nardó, in southern Italy, in July 2015. The allegation against De Rubertis was that Muhammed’s life could have been saved if he had been allowed to go to hospital. Labour abuses listed in the court documents included working for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, without breaks, with minimal pay and no access to medical staff. Princes, owned by the Mitsubishi Corporation, is the main UK distributor of tomatoes and supplies products to France and Germany, with brands such as Napolina. In a statement to the Guardian, Princes said its own audits of the De Rubertis farm in 2016 and 2017 “did not reveal any evidence of illegality”. “We hold human rights in the highest regard and oppose any form of forced or illegal labour. PIA [Princes Industrie Alimentari SrL] is a strictly compliant organisation and proactive in ensuring our supply chain complies with Italian legislation and our own ethical standards. We can confirm that since 2016 we have sourced tomatoes from the De Rubertis farm and that our own due diligence measures have not found any evidence of illegality,” the statement said. In October, the Guardian revealed that two Italian food companies, Conserve Italia and Mutti, were named by the Italian prosecutor as benefiting from exploitation in the country’s hugely lucrative tomato industry. Conserve Italia said it immediately stopped its relationship with De Rubertis after allegations were made in the Guardian and several Italian newspapers. The company issued a statement condemning the mistreatment and exploitation of workers in today’s society and has also said it will take legal action against its former supplier “to protect its interests”. Mutti said it would continue to foster a close relationship with all its suppliers and underlined both its commitment to fight “any exploitation of workers” and its push to mechanise tomato harvesting, thus reducing reliance on human labour. After the Guardian’s original article about the Italian prosecutor’s investigation, the three biggest Italian labour unions responded in a joint press release: “The attacks by certain press outlets against the ethics of the Italian food chain, particularly against a sector of excellence like the tomato sector, are unjustified and spurious.”

VW to pay £1bn in US over emissions cheating scandal

Volkswagen (VW) has agreed a $1bn compensation settlement in relation to the final 80,000 vehicles affected by the emissions-cheating scandal in the US. The settlement, which still requires judicial approval, will apply to diesel vehicles, including Porsche and Audi models. It will cover buyback, repair and cancelled leases and will also see $225m given to a fund for pollution mitigation. A criminal investigation by the country’s Justice Department remains ongoing, as does a civil lawsuit by customers, both of which could result in further penalties.

http://www.france24.com/en/20161221-vw-volkswagen-reaches-1bn-compensation-deal-with-us-over-emissions-scandal

USA Volkswagen has reached a $1 billion agreement with US authorities on a compensation deal for the last 80,000 vehicles affected by its emissions-cheating scandal in the United States, officials said Tuesday. Paul J Richards / AFP | This file photo taken on September 29, 2015 shows the logo of German car maker Volkswagen at a dealer in Woodbridge, Virginia. Advertising Read more However, a Justice Department official said a criminal investigation is ongoing, and charges may still be filed against the company -- which could bring new penalties. Nor does the agreement settle the civil lawsuit brought by car owners, which US Judge Charles Breyer said is close to resolution and would involve "substantial compensation." Another hearing Thursday could provide further details of that case. The agreement announced Tuesday, which still needs a judicial green light, would apply to 2009-2016 3.0-liter diesel models including Porsche and Audi vehicles equipped with software designed to defeat emissions tests. The $1 billion amount will cover buyback, repair and cancelled leases for the affected models, as well as $225 million for a fund to mitigate pollution, Cynthia Giles, a senior official with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), told reporters. At the end of October, a US court endorsed a record-setting $15 billion compensation deal covering almost half a million 2.0-liter VW diesel cars. The new agreement "is another important step forward in our efforts to make things right for our customers," a Volkswagen spokeswoman said in a statement. "We are committed to earning back the trust of all our stakeholders." Volkswagen has admitted to installing defeat device technology on 11 million cars, including 600,000 in the United States. The software detects when the car is being tested and turns on required emissions controls, but turns them off during normal driving conditions. This means the cars would emit up to nine times or more above the required limits of pollutants. Criminal investigation ongoing US Assistant Attorney General John Cruden called the settlement "another significant step in holding Volkswagen accountable for cheating Americans out of the promise of cleaner air by selling vehicles equipped with defeat devices." Cruden told reporters in a conference call that the agreement does not cover any criminal or civil cases against VW. No criminal charges have been filed so far, but "there has been criminal investigation going on." The new agreement, which Breyer must approve by January 31, is similar to the previous settlement in that owners of older models -- those between 2009 and 2012 and referred to as the generation 1 vehicles -- can opt to have cars repurchased or repaired, or cancel their leases at no cost. Newer models -- generation 2 -- likely can be brought into compliance with current emission standards, the officials said. If a fix is approved, that would spare VW from having to buy the cars back from owners. Giles said VW is expected to propose a fix soon, and the EPA would move to approve it "very promptly." "Our priority has been to fix ongoing pollution problem," she said. "It appears very possible the newer vehicles can be fixed." Cruden said VW is required to achieve an 85 percent recall rate for the affected cars, and could face further penalties if it falls short of the target. Clean up fund VW also is required to put $225 million into a fund for projects to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx), the pollutant at the heart of the scandal. This is in addition to the $2.7 billion in the fund from the prior settlement. The mitigation trust fund will be administered by an independent trustee, officials said. Beneficiaries, which may include states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and Indian tribes, may obtain funds for designated NOx reduction projects. Giles stressed that NOx is a very harmful pollutant that creates smog and soot, and can increase asthma in children. In a separate settlement with the state of California, the German auto giant agreed to provide at least three new models of electric vehicles for sale in the state -- including at least one SUV model -- before 2019. It must add a second electric SUV model by 2020 and keep these electric models on the market through at least 2025. The company also agreed to pay $25 million by July 1 to support the use of zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs) in California. (AFP) Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe

Wagamama, Mastercard partner for 'walk out and pay' app

Three years after being the first restaurant to launch Mastercard Labs’ Qkr! platform, wagamama and the card company are pioneering another world first: wagamamago. The free service, available on iOS and Android, connects to a Masterpass digital wallet, enabling customers to walk in, order their food, eat and leave, while payment is automatically deducted. "No more waving your hand in the air, trying to catch the waiter’s eye, once you’re ready you just go, and... the receipt emailed directly", said Richard Tallboy, CIO, wagamama. The service also supports bill-splitting and phone orders.

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/31840/wagamama-partners-mastercard-for-walk-out-and-pay-app

Diners at pan-Asian restaurant wagamama will soon be able to save valuable minutes thanks to a new app, developed with Mastercard, that lets them pay for their meal by simply walking out of the building. In what Mastercard claims is a world first for a restaurant chain, the app will offer customers the ability to walk in, order, eat and walk out without even needing to hit a pay button. UK-based wagamama was the first restaurant to use Mastercard Labs’ Qkr! pay-at-table platform in 2015 but is now also using Mastercard APIs for its own-brand option that makes ordering and payments even more seamless. By connecting to a Masterpass digital wallet, payment can be taken automatically from the app without the need to hit a pay button. Available for free on iOS and Android, wagamamago also allows customers to order more items from their phone, split the bill and order takeaway. Research shows that it takes an average of 12 minutes between asking for the bill to leaving the restaurant, and customers are four times less likely to recommend a restaurant if they have had a bad ‘bill experience’. Richard Tallboy, CIO, wagamama, says: "We wanted to bring truly frictionless payment to restaurants as we know waiting for the bill is frustrating, why shouldn’t you be able to get up and go when you are ready: well, now you can. "No more waving your hand in the air, trying to catch the waiter’s eye, once you’re ready you just go, and customers are automatically charged with the receipt emailed directly. Getting the bill is the last thing a customer experiences and it was important that this be quick and stress free for our customers." Jennifer Macrae, VP, innovation, Mastercard, adds: “We want to make payments easier than ever, whilst also keeping them secure. We are bringing our digital ordering and payment technology - Qkr - into an app tailor-made for wagamama’s loyal customers."

BMW to introduce geofencing for hybrid models

BMW has introduced an eDrive Zone tool that automatically switches a hybrid vehicle to EV mode when entering a city using geofencing and GPS technology. The vehicles will include an audio alert to notify when the electric drive starts and stops. In addition, features such as interior cooling and seat, steering wheel, mirror and rear window heating will be controllable remotely via smartphone. Starting this summer, mild-hybrid engines will be offered on 51 models including the 7 Series, X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 models.

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/manufacturer-news/2020/06/01/bmw-adds-automatic-ev-mode-switching-to-phevs-in-city-centres

BMW has introduced a new eDrive Zone feature on its plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models, which allows the car to automatically switch to EV mode in city centres. BMW eDrive Zone will be a standard feature of all plug-in hybrid models of the BMW 3 Series, BMW 5 Series and BMW 7 Series as well as the BMW X5. The digital service uses geo-fencing technology via GPS to identify designated areas. eDrive zones of this kind are currently designated in some 80 cities throughout Europe. When the service is activated, each available eDrive Zone on the navigation map is graphically highlighted in the Control Display: a message appears to inform the driver that the vehicle will automatically switch to electric driving mode as soon as it enters an eDrive Zone. From summer 2020, plug-in hybrid models will also be fitted with an integrated drive-ready sound for electric power as standard. This means that both starting and stopping the electric drive will be accompanied by a distinctive acoustic signal. There has been an expansion of the range of preconditioning functions too, which is also a standard feature. Depending on the equipment fitted, more functions will be available that can be activated remotely by smartphone, in addition to interior cooling and heating. In future it will be possible to include the seat, steering wheel, exterior mirror and rear window heating systems in the preconditioning for heating the interior, as well as heating of the cameras for the driver assistance systems. The update package also includes an expansion of mild-hybrid engines across the BMW range. From August 2020, mild-hybrid engines will be fitted to 51 models, including the new in-line 6-cylinder diesel engines in the BMW 7 Series and in the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7. The mild-hybrid powertrains are already offered in the 3 Series and 5 Series. It consists of a 48-volt starter generator that enables particularly intensive braking energy recuperation along with an additional battery to store the electricity that is generated in this way. The 48-volt battery not only supplies the electrically operated vehicle functions, it also makes its energy available to generate additional drive power. For this purpose the current flows back to the starter generator, which now takes on the role of an electric drive. This reduces the load on the combustion engine, allowing it to run as often as possible in an efficiency-optimised load range. The generator creates an electric boost during acceleration, providing an additional output of 11hp to support power delivery during start and acceleration.

Twitter expands Lite app in 21 countries

Twitter Lite is now available in 45 countries after the social media site expanded it to 21 new markets, including Argentina and India. The service minimises data usage, uses less space on devices and loads quicker on slower networks, making it more accessible. Lite features include letting users save tweets for later, when they have a stronger internet connection, and control which images and videos load by tapping "Load image" or "Load video". Other countries where the service has been rolled out include Romania, Jordan, Kenya and Guatemala.

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/323556/

Launched last year, Twitter Lite is designed to be accessible to more people by minimizing data usage, loading more quickly on slower networks and taking up less space on devices. To overcome geographical and socioeconomic barriers to growth, Twitter is expanding its Lite app in 21 additional countries. Now available in more than 45 countries, new additions include India, Indonesia, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic Along with people of lesser means, the expansion is designed for all users tweeting, regardless of the location. “Wherever you are, we want to make Twitter your go-to place to find out what’s happening,” Jesar Shah, a product manager at Twitter, notes in a new blog post. advertisement advertisement Among other features, Lite users can control which images and videos load on their mobile phones simply by tapping the “Load image” or “Load video” tabs. Also, a Bookmarks feature lets users save Tweets for later -- for when they have more data or a better Web connection. Additional countries being added to Lite’s list include Belarus, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Romania, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Yemen and Zimbabwe. Beating Twitter to the punch, Facebook launched a “Lite” version of its flagship app back in 2015.

Traditional IOT on oil rigs are being better utilised

The latest gateway technology is allowing oil and gas companies to improve their use of the internet of things. John Geiger, Vice President Business Development of technology company MACHFU, said conventional systems allowed producers to be linked to their assets but not all firms were fully connected throughout their entire operations. Internet of things platforms like the OPC United Architecture together with applications gateways provide improved data and can be joined to traditional infrastructure without costly new equipment. Geiger said connectivity and convergence was largely dependent on the acceptance and installation of industrial IOT platforms and new application gateways.

https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/digital-oilfield/16052018/optimising-iot-edge-to-enterprise-connectivity-in-oil-and-gas-production/

John Geiger, Vice President Business Development, MACHFU, shows how Conventional IoT approaches to enterprise/edge connectivity in oil and gas production are being upstaged by new application gateway technologies. Like many industrial areas, the oil and gas industry is in the midst of an industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) evolution. Every oil and gas producer is connected to the their assets, but not all are fully connected from edge to enterprise. And even fewer are able to easily integrate their legacy implementations with new IoT deployments. The IIoT evolution enables scalability, and stresses interoperability, creating an interconnected, rapidly evolving ecosystem of solutions and analytics that enable better process control and broader business insights to emerge. Gathering data from industrial devices at the edge (sensors, alarms, controllers, equipment, valves and actuators) is key to unlocking these insights. The edge data is pushed up to the cloud, independent from legacy systems like SCADA, then interconnected with data pulled from SCADA, permitting a broader, system-wide application of analytics to occur. Getting big data can pose big challenges Oil and gas executives can definitely get on board with having access to better analytics generated from industrial IoT big data. But frequently system-wide implementation can pose serious issues, which until resolved, will slow or impede moving forward with a full plant IIoT application. Some of the more important concerns regarding implementing plant-wide IIoT are these questions: a) Will our systems that have gotten us to where we are today need to be undone? b) Will our hardware need to be replaced, and if so, at what cost? c) Will our existing SCADA functionality be interrupted? d) Will custom embedded solutions need to be reengineered for each of our thousands of edge devices to make them IoT compatible? These are tough questions for those charged with transitioning their plants’ legacy systems to full IIoT connectivity, largely because the answer to each of these questions is ‘yes’. That is, if conventional IoT approaches to enterprise/edge connectivity are being implemented. Recently released application gateway technology, however, has now diffused these issues for oil and gas production, enabling highly-scalable enterprise infrastructures with plug-and-play simplicity, that maintain existing SCADA functionality, and without the need to replace existing hardware. Application gateway technology The emergence of IIoT platforms – such as the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) widely adopted by oil and gas producers – and the use of application gateways are enabling the collection of more data in a timely fashion. Figure 1: The application gateway enables new applications The new IIoT application gateways cost-effectively provide wireless and wired connectivity that enable the unification of modern web-based applications and traditional SCADA infrastructure. They also virtually eliminate the need for costly new equipment. Here’s an overview of how these new gateways support oil and gas producers – with a focus on MACHGateway® from MACHFU, a good example of how these new devices perform. High-volume edge data collection In traditional oil and gas applications, specific data from a single operation is monitored and collected by SCADA, which then issues commands to control that single operation. For example, well data is used to optimise the output of a single well. With today’s IIoT platforms, that same well data can be used in several applications including overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), loss, waste, production efficiency, and even identifying if differences of efficiency exist between wells on the pad. Within this framework, data should no longer be polled just for a specific application. It should be collected to a big-data cloud database which is designed to efficiently provide information to different applications that are requesting data. This means that as much higher resolution data as feasible should be gathered from the oil pad and made available in a common format, to allow for broader usage and analytics. Application gateways, like MACHGateway, are enabling this high-volume collection of edge data, in addition to uninterrupted SCADA polls. With the gateway, control can be initiated from SCADA, the cloud or from a tablet in a mobile field force. This applies to remote configuration and management updates as well. No interruption of SCADA Traditional SCADA uses centralised back office systems to gather information from remote devices. These systems use polled architectures on serial connections developed 30 years ago, before the advent of the Internet and high-performance processing, that is taken for granted today. New IIoT architectures are removing the limitations of these older polled systems, and bridging existing devices to leverage IIoT systems that move intelligence to the network edge. The MACHgateway collects data locally by polling the device, and maintaining device connectivity with existing SCADA systems. Such gateways constantly poll devices at the edge, assessing the system state every second, compared to a traditional 15 minute or longer SCADA polling interval. The data gathered is used to create a data model that can be easily understood by other applications and translated to other protocols, allowing the data to be shared in real time with the ecosystem of emerging IIoT applications. Plug-and-play at the edge As opposed to traditional approaches for industrial edge connectivity, which are based on developing custom embedded solutions that require reengineering for each device, application gateways, including MACHGateway, leverage the new high-performance hardware platforms using a hardware-independent Android/Linux-based software platform. Application gateways simultaneously leverage chip/module-based connectivity solutions that are lowering wireless connectivity costs. These gateways provide many features that simplify the development of edge applications by reducing the time to create and integrate them, reducing development time from months or years, to weeks or even days. This enables innovative edge applications to be created and rapidly integrated to existing infrastructure and IIoT applications. In addition, new applications and business models can be continuously created over the life of the system. Improved security SCADA systems that tie together decentralized facilities, such as oil and gas, were designed to be open, robust, and easily operated and repaired, but not necessarily secure. Concerns about SCADA systems being vulnerable to cyberwarfare and cyberterrorism attacks have increased the need for heightened security within the IIoT. In October 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a rare warning that sophisticated hackers were targeting energy and industrial firms. Some of the attacks against nuclear, energy, aviation, water and critical manufacturing industries had successfully obtained credentials for accessing the computer networks of their targets. Application gateways, being based on Android technology, have defense-in-depth security built across the layers of the communications stack all the way up to the application layer. Consequently, they implement the best practices of IT security, considerably exceeding that provided by SCADA systems. Figure 2: Application gateways permit secure management with the cloud The MACHGateway, for example, was built from the ground up with security in mind. The platform has a secure sandbox for different applications, each with its own crypto-technology for data and sharing of data between applications. Importantly, however, the security built into this gateway does not put a heavy burden on the system. Embracing connectivity In the oil and gas industry, the challenge to enable connectivity and convergence is largely dependent upon the acceptance, implementation and performance of industrial IoT platforms and the new application gateways. These open the door to simpler IoT accessibility from edge to enterprise, with improved asset utilisation, higher process efficiency and productivity, and lower cost of operation.

Brazil permits Boeing-Embraer merger

Boeing and Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer have agreed the terms of their $5.26bn joint venture, and said they were now waiting for clearance from the Brazilian government. Under the deal, Boeing would take an 80% stake in Embraer’s commercial division, taking it into the market for aircraft with fewer than 150 seats. The Brazilian company’s military aircraft business was excluded. Embraer was privatised in 1994, though the government retained a stake. Industry commentators said the joint venture was a response to the partnership between European firm Airbus and Bombardier of Canada.

https://timesofoman.com/article/617833/Business/Aviation/Boeing-Embraer-forge-on-with-tie-up-after-Brazil-suspension-reversed

Sao Paulo: US planemaker Boeing and Brazil's Embraer said on Monday that they have approved the terms of a partnership to create a joint venture now worth $5.26 billion — more than when they first announced it in July. "The transaction remains subject to approval by the Government of Brazil, after which Embraer and Boeing intend to execute definitive transaction documents," the two companies said in a statement. The news comes a week after a Brazil appeals court overturned a "hasty" suspension ordered by a lower court days earlier that would have prevented the outgoing Brazilian government of taking any concrete decision of the proposed tie-up. Embraer, the third-largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, was founded as a state group in 1969 before being privatised in 1994, although the Brazilian government retains a "golden share" giving it the right to veto strategic decisions for the company. Boeing 'control' Under the planned deal, Boeing is to take an 80 per cent stake in Embraer's commercial business, thus allowing it to offer planes with capacity of up to 150 seats — a market in which Boeing currently does not compete. Embraer's military aircraft business was excluded to overcome Brazilian government opposition to giving up a national champion to a foreign entity. The deal initially valued the joint venture at $4.75 million. But Monday's statement said Boeing's 80-per cent stake would be worth $4.2 billion, making the whole of the merged operation worth nearly $5.3 billion. "Once the transaction has closed, the commercial aviation joint venture will be led by Brazil-based management, including a president and chief executive officer," the statement said. "Boeing will have operational and management control of the new company, which will report directly to Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing chairman, president and chief executive officer." It said the partnership "would position both companies to accelerate growth in global aerospace markets." Synergies would reduce costs by $150 million annually by the third year, it said. Embraer shares shot up five percent in beginning of trade following the joint statement. Boeing's eye on Airbus In their original July announcement of the joint venture, the planemakers said they expected to wrap up the transaction by the end of 2019. The tie-up is seen as a response to a similar strategic partnership announced in October 2017 between Boeing's European arch-rival Airbus and Canada's Bombardier. The Brazilian and US companies are creating another joint venture to promote their defence products and services, especially Embraer's KC 390, a military transport aircraft vehicle. Monday's statement said that operation — which will see Boeing hold a controlling 51-per cent stake — was also subject to approval by Brazil's government and Embraer's board. The Boeing-Embraer rapprochement was struck under Brazil's outgoing President Michel Temer, who leaves office in two weeks' time. He is to be succeeded by Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right politician with close ties to the military who previously had a long record as a nationalist and protectionist when it came to Brazil's economy. But he changed tack to win over voters and investors in the run-up to his October election by advocating privatisations, and encouraging foreign investment.

Europe targets 50%-plus energy use from renewables, nuclear

Just over half of Europe’s electricity generation must come from renewables and nuclear by 2050. European Commission energy head Ditte Juul-Jorgensen said the amount of energy from electricity had to be 53% by the 2050 zero-emissions deadline. The strategy is set for approval on 12 December, with the European Green Deal expected to set out details in March 2020. Meanwhile industry consortium Electrification Alliance has asked the European Commission to change its tax policies, which it says subsidises fossil fuels, and to invest in smart electricity grids, research and innovation.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/electricity/news/europe-needs-to-double-electricity-share-to-meet-climate-goals-eu-official/

The European Green Deal to be unveiled in early 2020 will pursue a strategy of increasing the share of electricity in the EU’s energy mix, the new head of the European Commission’s energy department told a conference in Brussels Wednesday (6 November). “First assessments show we need to double the share of electricity in energy consumption by 2050,” Ditte Juul-Jørgensen said at an event organised by the Electrification Alliance, an industry consortium. The commission has envisioned this transition as critical to its plan to get the EU to net-zero emissions by 2050. 53% of Europe’s energy needs would be met by electricity generated from renewables and nuclear by mid-century according to the strategy. It is hoped that EU countries will approve the 2050 plan at the next European Council summit on 12 December. Poland and its Eastern European allies, which have vetoed the plan up till now, may drop its opposition in exchange for funding through a just transition fund. The European Green Deal, expected in March, would then set out a plan for meeting this goal. Gas and sector integration Juul-Jørgensen, whose words are being closely watched in Brussels for signs of where energy policy might be going in the new Commission, said that cleaner fossil fuels will have a role to play in generating this electricity in the medium-term. “We need to distinguish between different fossil fuels,” she said. “They all have a significant carbon imprint, but if you compare greenhouse gas emissions from different types, there are differences. There are less emissions coming from gas than from coal, if we have methane leaks under control.” ‘We need this dinosaur’: EU lifts veil on gas decarbonisation strategy As the new European Commission of Ursula von der Leyen prepares to take office, one of its key priorities will be to deliver on a new market design for gas that will have EU decarbonisation objectives at its core. And natural gas of fossil origin will play a significant part, officials say. She said one of her main areas of focus to achieve this increase in electricity share will be sector integration. “Since I took over my job on 1 August everyone’s been talking to me about sector integration and coupling as a way to build the green transition.” At the event, the nine organisations in the alliance signed a declaration calling on the Commission to change EU’s energy taxation regime, which critics say is subsidising fossil fuels and penalising electricity. They also called for investing in smart electricity grids, mainstreaming direct electrification in the heating, cooling and transport sectors, and increasing EU research and innovation funding in the next seven-year budget to €120 billion, as demanded by the European Parliament. The Commission has proposed €98 billion. “Electrification must be the dominant way forward in the clean energy transition – and European businesses are prepared to pave the way,” said Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation, one of the signatories. “This, hand in hand with the European Green Deal, is a unique opportunity to carve out the EU’s leadership on climate action and decarbonisation on the global stage”. Researcher: Lowering electricity taxes is cheapest way of meeting EU climate goals The energy transition will hit the poor hardest unless it’s balanced by a shift in taxation, says Christian Egenhofer. The EU needs to acknowledge this and get started by lowering taxes on electricity to achieve the EU’s carbon reduction goals at least cost, he argues. Financing Juul-Jørgensen said she views financing as the biggest obstacle to achieving the electrification goal. The Commission has identified two means of financing the green transition – 25% dedicated climate financing in the next seven-year EU budget, and dedicated climate lending from the European Investment Bank. Talks are currently underway to either give the entire EIB a climate remit, or equip it with a significant dedicated funding tool. Juul-Jørgensen said there is now agreement within the European Council on dedicating 25% of the next long-term budget to climate, but there is disagreement about the taxonomy to be used in determining what can count toward that quota. “For energy policy it’s easier, we can count the emissions that we do,” she said. “There’s a difference between a coal plant and a wind farm. But for my colleagues working in sectoral [departments], like agriculture and industry, the benefits are sometimes indirect. There’s a challenge in making sure we get it right. But the mainstreaming targets we’ve set ourselves will help clarify this.” MEP Larrouturou: ‘Entire S&D group wants guarantees on financing European Green Deal’ Incoming EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen should take an extra month or two to negotiate a coalition agreement with the European Parliament, including a new finance-climate pact to support the energy transition, says Pierre Larrouturou, adding he will not vote for the new Commission without additional climate cash. [Edited by Frédéric Simon] Read more with EURACTIV

MGM Resorts cuts 18,000 jobs

MGM Resorts International has laid off 18,000 of its 70,000 employees who were furloughed during the Covid-19 pandemic. MGM Resorts, which has been hit hard by the decline in visitors to its Las Vegas casinos, said health benefits for furloughed staff would be extended until 30 September, while long-standing employees brought back to work before Q4 2020 would maintain their seniority.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/28/mgm-resorts-sends-separation-letters-to-18000-furloughed-employees.html

MGM Resorts International said Friday it is sending separation letters to 18,000 U.S. employees who were furloughed during the coronavirus pandemic, making their job cuts permanent for now. MGM's Empire City remains closed in New York state, as does its Park MGM in Las Vegas. Casinos in Las Vegas, where MGM has an outsized presence on the Strip, continue to be especially affected by declines in tourism and travel, restrictions on capacity, the lack of fans at sports events, and negligible conference and group business. At the start of this year, the company employed 70,000 workers in the U.S. "Nothing pains me more than delivering news like this," CEO Bill Hornbuckle wrote in the separation letter to employees. "The heart of this company is our employees and the world-class service you provide. Please know that your leadership team is working around the clock to find ways to grow our business and welcome back more of our colleagues."

BitCoinIRA Debuts Bitcoin Investments for Retirement Accounts

BitcoinIRA, launched on Tuesday, offers bitcoin investment for individual retirement accounts (IRAs) with Edmund C. Moy, former Director of the United States Mint, serving as the company's Chief Strategist. Traditional investment assets depend on the strength of the dollar, however BitcoinIRA are offering an alternative investment with a lower risk of collapse and protection against an unpredictable market, allowing the investors to possess actual bitcoins in a private and anonymous IRA-designed securitised wallet. BitcoinIRA's partnership with startup BitGo is set to facilitate the secure storage of the digital currencies and ensure the safe access of Bitcoin for its customers.

http://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/bitcoinira-debuts-bitcoin-investments-retirement-accounts/

BitcoinIRA, a service that offers Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term investing for American individual retirement accounts (IRAs), was officially launched today in California. The firm establishes its credibility in a market known for security issues by having Edmund C. Moy, the former Director of the United States Mint, serve as its Chief Strategist. Moy says: “Bitcoin is unique in that it’s a completely decentralized currency. Thanks to its truly global nature, it has a lower risk of collapse than more traditional investment assets, which depend on the strength of the dollar. I’m thrilled to be working with BitCoinIRA at the forefront of this exciting new market.” The new world of Online Trading Online Trading Online trading represents the trading of fiat currencies, digital currencies, commodities, stocks and indices, where traders and investors intend to make a profit, via the purchase or sale of the aforementioned products. This is done through an electronic network, made accessible by brokers in the form of an online trading platform or hub.Online trading continues to see a rapid growth year on year, due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the number of brokers offering their services, with more mone Online trading represents the trading of fiat currencies, digital currencies, commodities, stocks and indices, where traders and investors intend to make a profit, via the purchase or sale of the aforementioned products. This is done through an electronic network, made accessible by brokers in the form of an online trading platform or hub.Online trading continues to see a rapid growth year on year, due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the number of brokers offering their services, with more mone Read this Term, fintech and marketing – register now for the Finance Magnates Tel Aviv Conference, June 29th 2016. The firm explains its “Bitcoin IRA” is different from other bitcoin investment options because it allows investors to possess actual bitcoins in an IRA-designed security wallet and not a derivative. “This is a pioneering event in the retirement industry. For the first time ever, IRA owners can hold actual bitcoin in a private and anonymous securitized wallet. This will pave the way for more alternative investments for years to come. We are thrilled to be a part of this moment in history,” says Chris Kline, Chief Operating Officer at BitCoinIRA. For an added sense of security, BitCoinIRA has entered into an exclusive partnership with Silicon Valley based startup BitGo. "We are humbled that BitGo's treasury management and policy controls will facilitate the secure storage and safe access of digital currencies for BitCoinIRA and its customers. We look forward to the growing use of digital currencies and the portfolio diversification for retail and institutional customers alike," said Jonathan Silverman, Director of Strategic Initiatives for BitGo. “In these increasingly uncertain economic times, digital currencies like bitcoin will continue to grow in appeal and value. BitCoinIRA offers a way for people to protect themselves against a volatile and unpredictable market," added Moy. Last year Moy gave a lecture at the Bitcoin Investor Conference in Las Vegas called "Why The World Is Ready For A New Monetary System:"

Westpac: stressed agri loans rose 26 basis points over December quarter

Westpac New Zealand says the stressed chunk of its agri lending rose 26 basis points over the December quarter as dairy farmers were hit by the brunt of low dairy payouts. It added that it sees opportunity for targeted growth and deepening relationships (cross selling) in the agri sector, including via transactional banking, and its insurance, wealth and financial markets units.

http://www.interest.co.nz/business/80474/westpac-says-stressed-agri-loans-increased-26-basis-points-during-december-quarter

Westpac New Zealand says the stressed chunk of its agri lending rose 26 basis points during the December quarter as dairy farmers felt the brunt of low dairy payouts. In a presentation to investors in its Australian parent Westpac Banking Corporation, Westpac NZ says 4.18% of total committed agri lending was stressed as of December 31, 2015, up 26 basis points from three months earlier. At the same time, 0.34% of total committed agri exposures was impaired, which was unchanged over the quarter. "(The) rise in stress in (the) agri portfolio principally related to (the) low dairy payout," Westpac NZ's presentation says. "Agri is 7.9% of (the total) portfolio with dairy approximately 70% of (the) total agri portfolio," the presentation says. The bank says it sees opportunity for targeted growth and deepening relationships (cross selling) in the agri sector, including via transactional banking, and its insurance, wealth and financial markets units. Westpac NZ put its agri market share at 12.4% at January this year, up from 12% as of September 2014. Westpac NZ's presentation came the same day Fonterra cut its forecast Farmgate Milk Price for the current 2015/16 season by 25 cents to $3.90 per kgMS. Combined with the forecast earnings per share range of 45-55 cents, this means a total forecast available for payout of $4.35-$4.45 per kgMS, meaning a forecast cash payout of $4.25-$4.30 per kgMS for a fully shared-up farmer after retentions. DairyNZ has a breakeven milk price estimate for the average New Zealand dairy farmer of $5.25 per kg/MS. Farmers are currently looking at three consecutive seasons of below breakeven payouts. According to the Reserve Bank, dairy debt stood at $37.9 billion at June last year, representing about 10% of total bank lending. A December Reserve Bank Bulletin article estimated 49% of the dairy sector had negative cash flow in the 2014-15 season. Cash flow pressures were tipped to increase, with about 80% percent of farmers, representing nearly 90% of sectoral debt, expected to have negative cash flow in the 2015-16 season. The Bulletin article applied a stress-testing model to assess the potential rise in dairy sector non-performing loans (NPLs), based on the Reserve Bank's understanding of actual bank behaviour. The assumption made was that banks continue lending to farmers in negative cash flow unless their loan to value ratio (LVR) is above 90% and future periods of positive cash flow appear unlikely. "The vast majority of dairy farms remain viable under the base stress scenario, with NPLs rising to 7.8% of original exposures by 2018-19. The worst case scenario features a slow recovery in the payout and a sharp decline in land values, resulting in NPLs increasing to around 44%. While this scenario presents a highly challenging environment for the dairy sector, our results suggest that losses for the banking system as a whole would be manageable," the Reserve Bank article said. The chart below comes from Westpac NZ's presentation Elsewhere in the presentation Westpac NZ says enhancing its brand is a "significant" opportunity. Research apparently indicated that Westpac NZ's brand lacked meaning and consistency. Thus the bank is now "leveraging brand strengths of "trust," "astute," and "strong." Westpac NZ has a new brand proposition of "it's time" that's designed to build on perceived brand strengths with early results positive, according to the bank. Westpac NZ's currently using recently retired All Blacks captain Richie McCaw in its advertising. *This article was first published in our email for paying subscribers early this morning. See here for more details and how to subscribe.

Grattan sets out new climate change policy for Australia

A Grattan Institute report suggests Australia could build investor confidence and unite political ideals on climate policy by establishing a carbon market. The political debate on policy is viewed by some experts as the cause of delayed industry investments in low carbon and renewable technologies, setting the nation behind on meeting future emission targets. The Grattan researchers list three stages towards a new policy platform that both parties might support, and that would drive down emissions; firstly, tighten baselines to be in line with Australia’s 2020 target to cut emissions below 2005 levels, next allow companies with emissions below the baselines to earn permits that could then be sold to companies exceeding those levels, then reduce the baselines to zero and replace them with government auctioned permits, lower the 100 kt CO2 p.a. threshold and expand the policy to cover businesses in more sectors. Australia would then have a policy capable of adapting to new future targets that may emerge.  

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/apr/11/climate-change-plan-thinktank-suggests-policy-both-sides-of-politics-can-embrace

A climate change policy that could be both effective, and potentially supported by both major parties, has been proposed by the Grattan Institute in a new report that tries to find a pragmatic solution to the decade of toxic political debates on the issue. Media reports have emerged suggesting Labor would adopt a policy of opening an inquiry into Australia’s energy industry, and shutting down the oldest and dirtiest power stations to lower emissions and create more demand for renewable energy. The Grattan Institute report notes an economy-wide price on carbon would be the best possible policy– reducing emissions at the lowest possible cost – but it says a stable policy environment where successive governments stopped ripping up old policies and starting again was needed. Without that, businesses could be reluctant to make long term investments in lower carbon technology, Tony Wood, lead author on the report told Guardian Australia. “Pragmatism and urgency demand a practical, next-best approach,” Wood said. Current Coalition Direct Action climate policies are projected to result in increased greenhouse gas emissions, albeit at a level that might allow Australia to meet its 2020 targets because of accounting rules. But new or strengthened policies would be needed to meet the 2030 or 2050 targets, the report finds. Those policies came into effect after the Coalition was elected and ripped up the previous Labor government’s climate policies. Meanwhile, the Labor party continues to have an emissions trading scheme at the centre of its policy, which would again result in wholesale change to the current policy framework. The Grattan Institute report described this process as a policy bonfire and proposed a framework that “builds on the Coalition’s current climate policies while maintaining direction towards the long-term target”. The report argues the government should take three steps. In addition to paying polluters to reduce emissions, the Direct Action policy includes a “safeguard mechanism” which can put limits on individual large polluters. The report argues these limits should be strengthened, forcing reductions on the big emitters in line with Australia’s targets. In order to make sure the reductions are achieved at the lowest possible cost, the report argues the government should auction tradeable permits that allow businesses to emit more, but still keep the overall national targets. Finally, to achieve zero net emissions, it argues the safeguard mechanisms should be expanded to cover smaller emitters too, and progressively reduce the allowed caps to zero, resulting in all emissions being a result of the tradable permits. Wood didn’t call this an emissions trading scheme but noted in the report that the above plan “shows how a future Labor government could take the Coalition’s policy framework and move to its preferred emissions trading model”. Today the Australian reported the Labor party was preparing to announce its carbon policies to take to the election, and they would include the launching of an inquiry into the electricity market, that could be charged with developing a plan to shut down the oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power stations. In a speech to the Sydney Institute in March, Mark Butler, the federal environment spokesman for Labor, said it were considering this. He said in his consultations with a wide range of groups, including the electricity industry, there was widespread support for a policy would shut down the “the more heavily polluting older coal fired power stations in this country.” “We are considering those views very closely at the moment as we finalise our election policy,” he said. AGL, Australia’s biggest emitter and owner of some of the country’s dirtiest power stations, has called for just such a policy. Critics have suggested it would then look for compensation payments from the government. Such a policy would also increase wholesale energy prices for generators like AGL. Conservation groups in Australia have supported policies that would shut down coal, because it will decrease the oversupply of electricity in the market, increasing demand for renewables . Wood said such a policy could sit on top of the sort of policy his report advocated, but said it wasn’t the most efficient way to reduce emissions. “The objective is to reduce our emissions in the lowest cost way” and a carbon price would ensure that, he said. “I can understand that if you can’t get a stable, predictable carbon price, then you do something ... like regulation, but I think regulation is always the last card.”

Grattan sets out new climate change policy for Australia

A Grattan Institute report suggests Australia could build investor confidence and unite political ideals on climate policy by establishing a carbon market. The political debate on policy is viewed by some experts as the cause of delayed industry investments in low carbon and renewable technologies, setting the nation behind on meeting future emission targets. The Grattan researchers list three stages towards a new policy platform that both parties might support, and that would drive down emissions; firstly, tighten baselines to be in line with Australia’s 2020 target to cut emissions below 2005 levels, next allow companies with emissions below the baselines to earn permits that could then be sold to companies exceeding those levels, then reduce the baselines to zero and replace them with government auctioned permits, lower the 100 kt CO2 p.a. threshold and expand the policy to cover businesses in more sectors. Australia would then have a policy capable of adapting to new future targets that may emerge.  

http://www.afr.com/opinion/road-map-points-way-to-stable-climate-policy-20160410-go2tnr

Labor, by contrast, remains committed to emissions trading and to providing 50 per cent of electricity from renewables. It has yet to commit to a post-2020 target. In the short term, reverting to a cap and trade scheme, while it is the best policy, is another flip-flop, and probably politically toxic at present. Having been fatally wounded in 2013, Labor won't want to revisit the "great big tax" territory in a hurry. Whoever wins the 2016 election can expect pressure to ramp up: from the changing climate, from businesses seeking predictability for investment and from the international community. New and tougher targets are likely to emerge. A way forward Grattan Institute's new report, Climate Phoenix: a sustainable Australian climate policy, offers a way forward. It provides a road map from current policies to where we need to be: meeting emissions targets with efficient, stable policies that have bipartisan support. The road map sets out three steps the government of whichever political stripe should take. First, it should tighten the emissions limits (baselines) of the safeguard mechanism to force leading companies to reduce their emissions in line with Australia's agreed targets. This makes substantial reductions possible and – importantly – visibly links those reductions to the targets. Second, it should provide incentives for low-cost emissions reduction by auctioning tradeable permits that would allow companies to emit above the baselines but within the target trajectory. This would maintain the overall direction of climate policy while targeting the cheapest possible emissions reductions. Advertisement Third, the government should expand the safeguard mechanism to cover more facilities and reduce the baselines to zero, when all emissions will have to be covered with permits sold at auction. This step creates an efficient structure capable of adapting to meet whatever future targets emerge. The road map has been designed to adapt developments in climate science, technology and political pressures, and the timing of each step will depend on these developments. Both sides of politics can adopt it while maintaining their policy principles. A Coalition government should stick to its existing policy framework, strengthening it over time. A Labor government should adopt the Coalition's policy framework, building on it in a stable and predictable way as it moves to its preferred policy option of emissions trading. Bipartisanship and the long-term stability it offers is vital. Only a policy road map with broad bipartisan support can give the confidence essential for long-term investment in low-emission technologies. The phoenix of myth represents hope reborn. It has been too easy to dwell on the short-term political game in recent years, rather than the hard work of building a sustainable, low-emissions economy. Our road map shows how our leaders can revive a practical, bipartisan climate change policy that can take us where we need to go. Tony Wood is director of the energy program at the Grattan Institute.

Grattan sets out new climate change policy for Australia

A Grattan Institute report suggests Australia could build investor confidence and unite political ideals on climate policy by establishing a carbon market. The political debate on policy is viewed by some experts as the cause of delayed industry investments in low carbon and renewable technologies, setting the nation behind on meeting future emission targets. The Grattan researchers list three stages towards a new policy platform that both parties might support, and that would drive down emissions; firstly, tighten baselines to be in line with Australia’s 2020 target to cut emissions below 2005 levels, next allow companies with emissions below the baselines to earn permits that could then be sold to companies exceeding those levels, then reduce the baselines to zero and replace them with government auctioned permits, lower the 100 kt CO2 p.a. threshold and expand the policy to cover businesses in more sectors. Australia would then have a policy capable of adapting to new future targets that may emerge.  

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/climate-phoenix-38267

Climate change policy has reached an impasse. The government is committed to its current policy of purchasing emissions, which needs strengthening to meet harder emissions reduction targets beyond 2020. But the best policy – a price on carbon through emissions trading – looks as far away as ever, in spite of it being favoured by the Labor Party. Strong objections from within the Coalition, in addition to the absence of broad public support when Australia introduced a carbon price in 2012, will make reintroducing carbon pricing – and making it stick – very difficult for some time. Grattan Institute’s new report, Climate Phoenix: A sustainable Australian climate policy, sets out a roadmap to get past this impasse. The roadmap builds on the Coalition Government’s existing framework, allowing the Coalition to stay committed to its policy. But the roadmap does more than that. It strengthens the policy in a way that gives it real teeth, transforming it into a policy that could be adopted by the Labor party. Grattan’s proposal is not perfect policy. It is not meant to be. It is pragmatic. If past climate change policy debates have taught us anything, it has been that pursuit of the perfect or near perfect has not produced good results. Emissions are rising again and the transition to a low-carbon economy has hardly begun. The Government’s current emissions reduction policy offers no guarantee it can turn these trends around. Most importantly, the chopping and changing of policies has left business in the dark, and the chance of it investing in the low-emissions technologies we need seriously diminished. To provide certainty to business and the community, we need a policy that both parties can support. Only then can Australia’s climate policy become stable and sustainable. The perfect policy is pointless if it is unwound after a couple of years. What, then, does a pragmatic policy look like? The starting point is the government’s existing policy: the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) and its associated Safeguard Mechanism. The Safeguard Mechanism sets limits – or baselines – to the emissions of Australia’s largest-emitters. The idea, to stop these companies increasing their emissions just as the government is purchasing emissions reductions, is sensible. But the baselines are set too high. The first step the government needs to take is to reduce baselines in line with Australia’s 2030 emission reduction target. The government would then encourage low-cost emissions reductions through the auctioning of permits to emit. Baselines would be reduced to levels below where they would need to be to meet Australia’s target. Permits – the right to emit one tonne of greenhouse gases – would be auctioned to fill the gap. Such a policy would reduce emissions more cheaply than simply paying companies to emit less. The final step is to replace baselines with permits and increase the number of businesses covered by the scheme. Baselines would be reduced to zero and all emitters would have to buy permits for their emissions. Australia would then have a policy that could be adjusted to meet the tougher targets that are inevitable in the future. This approach covers all the largest emitters in Australia, except for electricity generators. In the electricity sector we propose an intensity baseline scheme. Under this scheme, high-emitters such as brown coal plants are penalised – they have to pay for their emissions. On the other hand, low or no emissions producers, such as renewables, are rewarded – they generate credits which they can sell. An intensity baseline scheme encourages the switch from high to low-emissions generation, which will help the transition to a low-carbon electricity sector without the need for further government intervention. Importantly from a political perspective, an intensity baseline scheme lessens the impact on electricity prices. If Australia’s main political parties support this roadmap, they must both get started and maintain momentum for the long haul. There are plenty of hurdles to overcome. Rising emissions at present are hardly an endorsement of the Coalition Government’s policy. But Labor will want to avoid any discussion that threatens a rerun of the ‘carbon tax’ debate. Keeping climate change out of the limelight during the upcoming election may actually create a window of opportunity, particularly if both parties can avoid ruling out options. A large opportunity beckons after the election. Whoever wins, the Government will need a strong and politically saleable climate change policy, ideally supported by the Opposition. Going it alone is not an option. This roadmap provides a way forward that both parties can and should embrace. David Blowers is Energy Fellow at the Grattan Institute.

Burford Capital one step closer to US Listing

Burford Capital has received NYSE approval to list its shares on the US exchange and begun the administrative preparation necessary for a dual listing, ahead of receiving regulatory clearance from the SEC. The shares spiked 4% on the news before settling around 2% higher.

https://www.financemagnates.com/institutional-forex/burford-capital-updates-on-sec-approval-for-us-listing/

Burford Capital Limited (LON: BUR), a finance and asset management company, announced on Monday that it has received approval from the New York Stock Exchange Stock Exchange A stock exchange, also known as a securities exchange or bourse represents is a facility where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities.This includes shares of stock, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or other financial instruments. By extension, stock exchanges can also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of such securities and instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividendsStock exchanges have developed into a permanent fixture in the fin A stock exchange, also known as a securities exchange or bourse represents is a facility where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities.This includes shares of stock, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or other financial instruments. By extension, stock exchanges can also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of such securities and instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividendsStock exchanges have developed into a permanent fixture in the fin Read this Term (NYSE) to list its shares on the Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term and is now waiting for a green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Burford is already listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), meaning the possible listing on the US market will be the second listing for the company. The latest update came after the company filed a registration statement with the US market regulator in July to list its ordinary shares. It is to be noted that the company is not intending to issue new shares for the US market. However, the regulator did not provide any comment or approval on the firm’s listing application. The company also detailed that it has already initiated a 'multi-week period of administrative preparation' that is necessary for the US listing while it is waiting for the regulatory approval. “To enable trading on both the NYSE and AIM, certain mechanical and administrative matters will need to occur,” the LSE notification stated. “In particular, all shareholders will need to elect whether they wish future trading of their Burford shares to settle through CREST or DTC.” A Solid Rally on the London Market The announcement also impacted the market performance of Burford stocks as it jumped by 4.36 percent, as of press time, on the London exchange since the market opened. Notably, the company also faced the market wrath due to the Coronavirus-induced sell-off, but is strongly rallying upward since gaining over 100 percent. Burford is also going to reveal its detailed financials for the first half of the 2020 financial year next month, which will shed some light on the company’s numbers and show if the stock rally is echoing the business performance.

Heart Cells Could Serve as New Drug Screen for COVID-19 Treatment

A study by scientists at Gladstone Institutes explains how SARS-CoV-2 inflicts damage on heart cells. Their findings could be used as a novel way to test and screen drugs that could help mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in the heart.

https://www.hospimedica.com/covid-19/articles/294784372/heart-cells-could-serve-as-new-drug-screen-for-covid-19-treatment.html

Visit expo > Gold Supplier Multi-Purpose Multi-Tissue Ultrasound Phantom - Model 040GSE Ultrasound Phantom New S80 Multi-Parameter Patient Monitor New DRX-LC Detector Flat Panel Detector (FPD) New MDT CT Injector Syringe CT Injector Syringe A study by scientists at Gladstone Institutes (San Francisco, CA, USA) explains how SARS-CoV-2 inflicts damage on heart cells, and shows the virus’s unexpected effects on the structure of heart cells in the lab, as well as in heart tissue from COVID-19 patients.Their findings could be used as a novel way to test and screen drugs that could help mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in the heart, as well as other tissues susceptive to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The team exposed the cells to varying doses of SARS-CoV-2 and found that the virus only productively infected the cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells, meaning that it could enter those cells and make new copies of itself. The team observed that when they exposed cardiomyocytes to SARS-CoV-2, the sarcomeres in some of the cells appeared to be diced into small, regularly sized fragments. Typically, sarcomeres - units of the muscle fibers in heart cells - are organized into long filaments aligned in the same direction. These sarcomeres control the coordinated contraction of heart cells to produce the normal heartbeat. The scientists also noted that the nuclear DNA seemed to be missing from many of the heart cells. Without DNA, cells can no longer perform any normal functions.To understand whether these changes to cells in culture were relevant to COVID-19 in humans, the researchers sought out heart tissue from COVID-19 patients. What they saw corroborated the structural changes they saw in the lab. Remarkably, even in patients who had not been diagnosed with COVID-19 related heart disease, there was evidence of structural abnormalities in the heart muscle cells. In addition to providing more insight into the impact of COVID-19 on the heart, the team’s model could be used as a novel way to test and screen drugs that could help mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in the heart, as well as other tissues susceptive to SARS-CoV-2 infection.“Heart muscle cells are highly infectible, and we have very visually distinct signs of infection,” said Gladstone Senior Investigator Bruce R. Conklin, MD, who is also a professor of medicine, cellular and molecular pharmacology, and ophthalmology at UCSF. “Since we can easily see the effects of infection, we can use these cells as a first screen to find drugs that could shut down the virus or prevent it from taking over the cells.”

Siemens partners VSI for AV technology development

VSI Labs and Siemens Digital Industries Software will partner to accelerate the development of AV hardware and software systems, in a collaboration that will include the creation of digital twin simulations. The main aim is to prove equivalence between digital twin technology and a physical platform, thus increasing confidence in the modelling methodologies, Siemens said. Siemens' PAVE360 platform will be used to test and validate advanced components in the VSI Labs Capability Demonstrator, with an initial focus on system on a chip, electronics, sensor and mechanical levels of the demonstration vehicle.

https://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/news/siemens-vsi-labs-car-technology/

Siemens Digital Industries Software and VSI Labs are set to join forces to advance the development of autonomous car technology. As part of the partnership, digital twin simulations will be created by leveraging Siemens’ PAVE360 platform to validate and test all processors, electronics, sensors and systems powering the VSI Labs Capability Demonstrator. The advanced AV development demonstrator features components from automotive technology leaders and was integrated by VSI solutions engineers. Siemens business Mentor IC Verification senior vice-president Ravi Subramanian said: “The primary objective of this partnership is to demonstrate equivalence between Siemens’ industry-leading digital twin technology and a physical platform, thereby increasing confidence in digital twin-based modelling methodologies well in advance of the existence of a physical vehicle. “This collaboration with VSI has the potential to significantly advance the AV space with the creation of a high-fidelity autonomous vehicle digital twin that simulates the interaction and combined power of the most advanced AV components and technologies in the world.” The PAVE360 pre-silicon autonomous validation environment from Siemens can deliver a comprehensive platform for multi-supplier collaboration across the automotive ecosystem. It is also capable of extending simulation capabilities beyond processors for creating digital twins. They include automotive hardware and software sub-systems, full vehicle models, fusion of sensor data and traffic flows. Furthermore, as part of the collaboration, Siemens and VSI Labs will partner on multiple engineering projects. They will initially start with the validation of Digital Twin technology for systems functionality across the electronics, System-on-Chip (SoC), sensor and mechanical levels of the VSI demonstrator vehicle. VSI Labs president and founder Phil Magney said: “Siemens’ PAVE360 is a unique and powerful environment that we believe will substantially enhance our ability to analyse, test and deploy the hardware, software and connectivity systems necessary to support advanced safety and automated driving systems.”

Exposure to catastrophe events puts insurer AmTrust at risk

Analysts have highlighted concerns over property and casualty insurer, AmTrust Financial, as it is exposed to both natural and man-made catastrophe events, of which there have been an unusual number of late, such as the hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Indeed, Fitch rating agency say that 2017 will be one of the costliest catastrophe years ever on record. Furthermore, AmTrust has been hit by rising expenses mainly because of higher losses and loss adjustment expenses, interest expenses, acquisition and other underwriting expenses, which will end up restricting its operating margin expansion, hampering results and limiting growth.

http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2017/11/21/2017-to-be-one-of-the-costliest-catastrophe-loss-y?ref=rss

October's wildfires in northern California will be the costliest ever in the U.S., Fitch Ratings reports. (Photo: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) The October wildfires that devastated northern California’s Napa and Sonoma counties are expected to be the costliest wildfire loss in U.S. history, according to Aon Benfield. The latest insured loss estimate is $8 billion, and the overall economic losses are expected to be considerably greater. The impact on insurance company ratings may not be as severe, however. A new report from Fitch Ratings says that, based on recent assessments, no U.S. reinsurance companies in its rated universe are expected to be downgraded as a result of losses from the California wildfires alone.

Exposure to catastrophe events puts insurer AmTrust at risk

Analysts have highlighted concerns over property and casualty insurer, AmTrust Financial, as it is exposed to both natural and man-made catastrophe events, of which there have been an unusual number of late, such as the hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Indeed, Fitch rating agency say that 2017 will be one of the costliest catastrophe years ever on record. Furthermore, AmTrust has been hit by rising expenses mainly because of higher losses and loss adjustment expenses, interest expenses, acquisition and other underwriting expenses, which will end up restricting its operating margin expansion, hampering results and limiting growth.

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/amtrust-financials-exposure-to-cat-loss-raises-concern-cm880676

As a property and casualty (P&C) insurer, AmTrust Financial Services, Inc.AFSI is exposed to both natural and man-made catastrophe events. The company has been incurring inclement weather-related losses over a considerable period of time. In the first nine months of 2017 catastrophe loss amounted to $103.3 million, mainly stemming from the hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and two major earthquakes in Mexico. Given the unpredictable nature of such calamities, the Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) P&C insurer might experience catastrophe loss in the near term as well. It is important to note that being a P&C insurer, AmTrust Financial cannot avoid the aftermath of such catastrophe events, which in turn pose a threat to weigh on the company's underwriting profitability. Irrespective of catastrophe mitigation techniques deployed by the company, exposure to weather-oriented disasters inevitably makes its earnings volatile. This apart, the company has been experiencing escalating expenses, primarily due to higher losses and loss adjustment expenses, interest expenses, acquisition and other underwriting expenses. This in turn will restrict the operating margin expansion, thereby hampering the company's overall results and limiting its growth. Moreover, high level of debt has led to an increase in interest burden, which in turn has weighed on the margin expansion. Southbound Estimates : The stock has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings being revised 32.3% downward over the last 60 days. While the same for 2018 has declined nearly 21.5% over the same time frame. This is reflected in the company's Zacks Rank as well. An Underperformer : Shares of AmTrust Financial have plunged 66.2% year to date, significantly underperforming the industry 's 11.7% rally. We also apprehend substantial catastrophe loss as well as rising expenses to throw tough at the company's overall functioning. Weak Surprise History : AmTrust Financial has missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last three quarters with an average negative surprise of 0.72%. Style Score : AmTrust Financial has a Growth Score of F. The Growth Style Score analyzes the growth prospects for a company, and also evaluates its corporate financial statements. Therefore, the P&C insurer's Growth Score does not raise too much optimism amongst the investors. Stocks to Consider Some better-ranked stocks from the insurance industry include Radian Group Inc. RDN , Prudential Financial, Inc. PRU and NMI Holdings, Inc. NMIH , each holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here . Radian Group offers mortgage and real estate products plus services in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in three of the last four quarters with an average beat of 4.52%. Prudential Financial provides insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services in the United States and internationally. The company delivered positive surprises in three of the last four quarters with an average beat of 0.16%. NMI Holdings provides private mortgage guaranty insurance services in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in one of the last four quarters with an average beat of 11.72%. Zacks' Hidden Trades While we share many recommendations and ideas with the public, certain moves are hidden from everyone but selected members of our portfolio services. Would you like to peek behind the curtain today and view them? Starting now, for the next month, I invite you to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time from value to momentum...from stocks under $10 to ETF to option movers...from insider trades to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises (we've called them with 80%+ accuracy). You can even look inside portfolios so exclusive that they are normally closed to new investors. Click here for Zacks' secret trade>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Radian Group Inc. (RDN): Free Stock Analysis Report Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU): Free Stock Analysis Report AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. (AFSI): Free Stock Analysis Report NMI Holdings Inc (NMIH): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Man Utd fans split over struggling Solskjaer - the divide could be like Arsene Wenger’s last days at Arsenal

THE most unpalatable part of Arsene Wenger’s demise at Arsenal was the way in which the fans turned on each other.1 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could suffer the same fate as Arsene Wenger Those loyal to Wenger for his past successes could not bear calls for his head.Ole Solskjaer has so much credit in the bank with Red Devils supporters that they are understandably reticent about turning on one of their own.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/10131570/man-utd-solskjaer-arsene-wenger-arsenal/

THE most unpalatable part of Arsene Wenger’s demise at Arsenal was the way in which the fans turned on each other. Disputes openly broke out in The Emirates. They actually became the main story. 1 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could suffer the same fate as Arsene Wenger Those loyal to Wenger for his past successes could not bear calls for his head. Others saw their club losing more and more ground on traditional title chasing rivals and called for change. It is starting to get a bit like that now with Manchester United. Ole Solskjaer has so much credit in the bank with Red Devils supporters that they are understandably reticent about turning on one of their own. Having said that it is some time since the song ‘Ole’s at the wheel’ was sung loud and proud. Indeed it is now used by others to ridicule his reign with various videos of out of control vehicles posted on social media. [pod_component pod_component_config_id="20190523-facebookplugin-ihH1mgKLm" pod_component_config_url="https://www.thesun.co.uk/nu-sun-pod-component-config-prod/20190523-facebookplugin-ihH1mgKLm.json" pod_component_config_loader_url="https://www.thesun.co.uk/nu-sun-pod-loaders-prod/1.59.4/componentLoader.js?81975" src="https%3A%2F%2Fiframe.thesun.co.uk%2Fnu-sun-pod-widgets-prod%2Fiframe-pod.html%3Fid%3D20190523-facebookplugin-ihH1mgKLm%26script%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fnu-sun-pod-loaders-prod%2F1.59.4%2FcomponentLoader.js%3F81975%26config%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fnu-sun-pod-component-config-prod%2F20190523-facebookplugin-ihH1mgKLm.json" height="150"] But as fingers are now being pointed this way and that in the blame game, division is starting to grow. Solskjaer still has enough weight of the faithful support base behind him to drown out growing rumblings. But for how long? Louis van Gaal got booed by United supporters on the day he lifted the FA Cup. The difference with Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and David Moyes, however, is that they came from outside and the farewell’s did not exactly bring a tear to the eye. With Solskjaer that would be very different, he is very much one of their own and nobody wants to see one of the nicest guys in the game going the same way as his predecessors. A Tweet I put out asking United fans whether he should stay or go saw the majority wanting him to remain in the Old Trafford hot seat. [pod_component pod_component_config_id="bWMArKDIZ" pod_component_config_url="https://www.thesun.co.uk/nu-sun-pod-component-config-prod/bWMArKDIZ.json" pod_component_config_loader_url="https://www.thesun.co.uk/nu-sun-pod-loaders-prod/1.66.0/componentLoader.js?128805" src="https%3A%2F%2Fiframe.thesun.co.uk%2Fnu-sun-pod-widgets-prod%2Fiframe-pod.html%3Fid%3DbWMArKDIZ%26script%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fnu-sun-pod-loaders-prod%2F1.66.0%2FcomponentLoader.js%3F128805%26config%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fnu-sun-pod-component-config-prod%2FbWMArKDIZ.json"] Man Utd fans should Ole stay or go? I say stay what do you think? — Neil Custis (@ncustisTheSun) October 14, 2019 Still there were those who felt he was just not up to the job, others who questioned his managerial pedigree and some who shrugged and asked what the alternative would be if he did go. Most preferred to point fingers at board level for the current demise. Even the players are getting an easy ride of it right now. Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and the owning Glazer family are the main targets for the fans' ire. It seems a long time ago that Woodward was being asked for selfies in Charles De Gaulle airport the morning after United had beaten PSG. In his defence he has made sure big money has been available for each manager since Sir Alex. So there has been no lack of support there. He does not decide on transfer targets alone. There is a team around him and a manager to consult of course. Plus did anyone really think a player of the calibre of Alexis Sanchez would be so bad or Romelu Lukaku become so quickly disillusioned? Still someone has to be to blamed and the money the Glazers have taken out of the club due to the debt incurred by their takeover will never be forgotten. It is not as big an issue when you are getting to Champions League final but it is when the club hits its lowest point in three decades. I personally think Solskjaer should be given at least another two transfer windows to build his team. That is unless of course the club finds itself in a relegation battle - which is perfectly possible. The question is, for how much longer will Ole’s knee slide at the Nou Camp keep the dissenters quiet. [pod_component pod_component_config_id="s8qZMRgPS" pod_component_config_url="https://www.thesun.co.uk/nu-sun-pod-component-config-prod/s8qZMRgPS.json" pod_component_config_loader_url="https://www.thesun.co.uk/nu-sun-pod-loaders-prod/1.66.4/componentLoader.js?68163" src="https%3A%2F%2Fiframe.thesun.co.uk%2Fnu-sun-pod-widgets-prod%2Fiframe-pod.html%3Fid%3Ds8qZMRgPS%26script%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fnu-sun-pod-loaders-prod%2F1.66.4%2FcomponentLoader.js%3F68163%26config%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fnu-sun-pod-component-config-prod%2Fs8qZMRgPS.json"]

China adds to nuclear fuel reserves on price weakness

Uranium prices have fallen to less than a quarter of the levels seen in 2007 when China first began stockpiling, with demand expected to outstrip domestic supply in coming years. A move to increase reserves could boost depressed global prices. "We have been importing over the last few years when the price has been low," said Sun Qin, chairman of the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation, adding that the time was right to build up stockpiles, cheap prices enabled China to buy mining assets while discouraging exploration.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/china-nuclear-fuel-cycle.aspx

China's Nuclear Fuel Cycle (Updated August 2021) China has become self-sufficient in most aspects of the fuel cycle. China aims to produce one-third of its uranium domestically, obtain one-third through foreign equity in mines and joint ventures overseas, and to purchase one-third on the open market. China's two major enrichment plants were built under agreements with Russia but much current capacity is indigenous. China’s R&D investment in nuclear technologies is very significant, particularly in high-temperature gas-cooled and molten salt-cooled reactors. China has stated it intends to become self-sufficient not just in nuclear power plant capacity, but also in the production of fuel for those plants. However, the country still relies to some extent on foreign suppliers for all stages of the fuel cycle, from uranium mining through fabrication and reprocessing, but mostly for uranium supply. As China rapidly increases the number of new reactors, it has also initiated a number of domestic projects, often in cooperation with foreign suppliers, to meet its nuclear fuel needs. The national policy is to obtain about one-third of uranium supply domestically, one-third from Chinese equity in foreign mines, and one-third on the open market. Increasingly, other stages of the fuel cycle will be indigenous. Uranium demand in 2020 is expected to be over 11,000 tU (with 58 reactors operating), in 2025 about 18,500 tU (for 100 reactors) and in 2030 about 24,000 tU (for 130 reactors). UxC reports that China imported over 115,000 tU over 2009-14, notably 25,000 tU in 2014 and 10,400 tU to July in 2015. With annual consumption currently about 9000 tU, much of this will be stockpiled. China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) maintains a strong monopoly on the nuclear fuel cycle in China, notably the front end, forcing China General Nuclear Power (CGN) to work around this, principally with international ventures, some involving large capital outlays. With the merger of SNPTC and CPI to form SPI in 2015, so that SNPTC took over all the nuclear-related business of CPI to function as an active subsidiary of SPI, SNPTC said it intended to get into both uranium mining and fuel fabrication. CNNC is also the main operator in the fuel cycle back end, evidenced by a series of agreements with Areva for a reprocessing plant. That in November 2015 was part of a wider agreement in relation to all aspects of the fuel cycle, and foreshadowing an intention to take equity in Areva NC (now Orano), in connection with evolving agreements to build a reprocessing plant based on Areva technology. Following Areva’s restructuring, a new framework agreement between what is now Orano and CNNC was signed in February 2017, covering “the whole industrial chain of the nuclear fuel cycle.” In particular it supports plans for construction of a reprocessing plant in China. The commitmment was reaffirmed in January 2018 through the signing of an MoU. As well as a long-standing close relationship with France, China has a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement (‘123 agreement’) with the USA from 1985 which was renewed in 2015. This is a prerequisite for nuclear trade in plant and materials that involves the USA. Domestic uranium resources and mining CNNC is the only current supplier of domestic uranium. CGN has responded energetically to this situation through its subsidiary China Guangdong Nuclear Uranium Resources Co Ltd (CGN-URC) as described below. China now claims to be “a uranium-rich country” on the basis of some two million tonnes of uranium, though published known in situ uranium resources were 366,000 tU to $130/kg at 1/1/15, of which 173,000 tU were reasonably assured, and in situ inferred resources were 193,000 tU in the 2016 edition of the 'Red Book', which are modest in relation to the country's needs. New discoveries in the north and northwest in sandstones, and deep hydrothermal ones in southeast China have raised expectations. There is also potential in lignite, black shale and phosphates. Over 2013-14 about 71,000 tU was added to known resources in northern China – in the Yili, Erlian, Erdos, Songliao and Bayingebi basins as well as Longshoushan – and 29,000 tU in southern China in the Rouoergai and Dazhou uranium fields. The 2016 Red Book tabulates 366,000 tU in 21 deposits in 13 provinces, 39% of the total in Inner Mongolia, 21% in Jiangxi, 14% in Xinjiang and 12% in Guangdong. As of 2012, 35% of resources were in sandstone deposits mainly in the north and northwest, 28% in vein/granite deposits in central and southeast China, 21% in volcanic deposits in the southeast, and 10% in black shale in the southeast. Most known resources are at less than 500m depth. Domestic production was 1616 tU/yr in 2015, enough for about 7000 MWe, apart from new cores. This was approximately 530 t from sandstone by ISL, 620 t from granite-related ore and 450 t from volcanic-related ore. All production is acid-leached. By international standards, China's ores are low-grade and production has been inefficient. The nuclear power companies are not depending on the national goal of sourcing one-third of uranium domestically, and are ramping up international arrangements to obtain fuel. Operating uranium mines in China Minea Province Type Nominal capacity tonnes U/yr (planned) Started Yining Xinjiang In-situ leach (ISL) 480 (800) 1993 Lantian Shaanxi Underground, heap leach 100 1993 Benxi Liaoning Underground, block leach 120 1996 Qinglong Liaoning Underground, heap leach 100 (200) 2007 Fuzhou Jiangxi Underground, mill 350 (500) 1966 Chongyi Jiangxi Underground, heap leach 200 (300) 1979 Shaoguan Guangdong Underground, heap leach 200 (300) 2008 Total 1550 (2320) China National Uranium Corporation (CNUC or CUC), a subsidiary of CNNC, operates these mines. Pilot testing is under way on the Shihongtan deposit in the Turpan-Hami basin of Xinjiang, and the western portion appears suitable for ISL. A uranium-molybdenum mine is being developed at Guyuan, Hebei province, in granites. Other uranium deposits with abundant reserves but with complex mining and milling technologies are the subject of pilot tests and feasibility studies, such as the Dongsheng and Erlian sandstone deposits in Inner Mongolia. The former, in the Ordos/Erdos Basin, has an estimated 30,000 tonnes of uranium in a palaeochannel system, the latter is unsuitable for ISL due to low permeability. An underground uranium mine at Hengyang in Hunan is on stand-by. The mine, which started up in 1963, has a nominal production capacity of 500-1000 tU/yr. CGN subsidiary China Guangdong Nuclear Uranium Resources Co Ltd (CGN-URC) was set up in 2006 to be responsible for CGN's fuel supply, and in particular to undertake uranium exploration and mining, uranium trade, and management of fuel processing for CGN. It is pursuing the second stage of a planned three-stage development, with diversification of supplies and integration of front-end services. A third stage will involve new technology as well as consolidation of its role as viable supplier. It aims to free up international trade and bring about better logistics. CGN-URC has been undertaking uranium exploration in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and also in Guangdong, via CGN-URC Guangdong Uranium Ltd. In May 2011 CGN-URC announced that it was developing two 500 tU/yr mines on these deposits, to operate from 2013, but this venture appears to have stalled. Mineral exploration CNNC's Geological Survey Bureau and the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology are the key organisations involved with a massive increase in exploration effort since 2000, focused on sandstone deposits amenable to ISL in the Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia regions, and the granite and volcanic metallogenic belts in southern China, including the Xiangshen uranium orefield. In northern China, the exploration is focused on previously discovered mineralisation spanning the Yili, Turpan-Hami, Junggar and Tarim basins of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, and the Erdos/Ordos, Erlian, Songliao, Badanjili and Bayingebi basins of Inner Mongolia. The Ordos basin itself covers over 250,000 sq. km of Shaanxui, Shanxi, Gansu and Inner Mongolia and contains major coal units as well as commercial gas reservoirs and some oil. It starts just north on Xi’an in Shaanxi province and extends nearly to Baotou near the Mongolian border. By 2012 this had become the premier uranium region of China, right across its north. In 2008 significant deposits were discovered in the Yili basin of Xinjiang, including J3, and then in the Ordos basin Nalinggou, Darong and (in 2012) Daying were discovered. Daying is expected to become China’s largest uranium resource and in late 2014 was being described by the Geological Survey Bureau as ‘world class’. Also in the Erlian basin the Bayanwula deposit, a roll front deposit with biogenic origins, was identified. In the Songliao basin in the east of Inner Mongolia the Qianjiadian deposit was identified, and in 2017 CNNC announced "a breakthrough in sandstone-type uranium ore exploration," and expects a new orebody – with an overall length of more than 10 km – to develop into a large uranium deposit. CNNC Inner Mongolia Mining Industry LLC based in Baotou is responsible for overseeing natural uranium geological prospecting, scientific research and project management in the middle and western parts of Inner Mongolia. Its Mining Business Division is focused mainly evaluating the Nalinggou and Bayanwula projects by the end of 2015. The Division is also setting up regional headquarters in Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Xinjiang. Some northern uranium mineralization is interbedded with coal deposits, giving rise to concerns about mining efficiently, and about the amount of radioactivity in coal as burned in some northern power stations. The Daying uranium deposit in Inner Mongolia is evidently in this category, with separate layers of coal and uranium ore in sandstone palaeochannels extending over many kilometres. The coal resource is major. In March 2013 CNNC signed an agreement with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SINOPEC) to set up the joint venture of CNNC and SINOPEC Uranium Resources Co. Ltd to accelerate the exploration for uranium resources, starting with the Chaideng area of Inner Mongolia. The Chaideng prospecting region of Dongsheng Coal Field is in the northeast of the Ordos Basin. In August 2014 CNNC signed an agreement with Shenhua Group to recover uranium from a mine near Ordos city. In March 2016 it signed a broader strategic agreement. Shenhua is the largest coal mining company in China. The Dongsheng group of uranium deposits is located in south-central Inner Mongolia, about 100 km south of Baotou and on the northern edge of the Ordos Basin. Uranium ore bodies are mostly in area of 200 sq. km hosted by fluvial sandstones in the Zhiluo Formation as a regional redox front, and to a lesser degree within the Yan'an Formation, which has coal-bearing strata. Individual tabular and roll-front ore bodies are several tens to one hundred metres long, up to 20 m thick, and have average ore grades of 0.02 to 0.05%U. They plunge from 75 to 185 m deep, following the dip of the Zhiluo formation. International uranium sources Increasingly, uranium is imported from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Canada, Namibia, Niger and Australia. In 2012 imports were 12,908 tU, and in 2013 China imported 18,968 tonnes of uranium for $2.37 billion from five countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Australia, Namibia and Canada) according to China’s General Administration of Customs. Anticipated need in 2015, including new cores, was 8160 tU. International sources are both from Chinese equity in mines and uranium bought on the open market. Chinese equity in uranium mines in other countries Company Country Mine Equity % Start production with China equity CNUC Niger Azelik 37.2 + 24.8 ZXJOY 2010 but now closed Niger Imouraren 25+, more pending On hold Namibia Langer Heinrich 25+, more pending 2014 Namibia Rössing 68.6 2019 Kazakhstan Zhalpak 49? 2017? CGN-URC Namibia Husab 90 2016 Kazakhstan Irkol & Semizbai 49 2008, 2009 Uzbekistan Boztau black shales 50 Uncertain Canada Patterson Lake 19.99 2023 CNNC initiatives abroad With the prospective need to import much more uranium, China Nuclear International Uranium Corporation (SinoU) was set up by CNNC to acquire equity in uranium resources internationally. It set up the Azelik mine in Niger and has agreed to buy a 10% share of Areva’s Imouraren project there for €200 million. It is now consolidated into CNUC. In January 2014 it bought a 25% stake in Paladin’s Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia for $190 million, entitling it to that share of output. In November 2018, it bought Rio Tinto’s majority stake (68.6%) in Namibia’s Rössing mine. It has investigated prospects in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Namibia, Algeria and Zimbabwe. Canada and South Africa are also seen as potential suppliers for SinoU. About 2007 it bought a share (49%?) in the Zhalpak mine in Kazakhstan, and a joint venture with Kazatomprom was set up to develop it. Sinosteel Corporation holds minor equity in explorer PepinNini Minerals Ltd in Australia and has 60% of a joint venture with PepinNini to develop a uranium deposit in South Australia. Sinosteel is also involved with exploration on Quebec and Krygystan. In 2010 CNNC contracted with Cameco for 8865 tU through to 2025. In March 2009, CNNC International, a 70% subsidiary of CNNC Overseas Uranium Holding Ltd and through it, of CNUC, agreed on a $25 million takeover of Western Prospector Group Ltd which controlled the Gurvanbulag deposit in Mongolia, very close to the Chinese border. Western Prospector and its Mongolian subsidiary, Emeelt Mines, undertook a definitive feasibility study which showed that the project was barely economic, on the basis of 6900 tU reserves averaging 0.137% U. With radiometric sorting the head grade would be 0.152%U and the mine could produce 700 tU/yr for nine years. Mine development cost would be about $280 million. In June 2012 CNNC Mongolia Project Co announced an agreement with the Mongolian government's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) to develop Gurvanbulag, following three years of feasibility studies and preparation. In August 2014 CNNC said that the government had approved its recent feasibility study, and negotiations towards a joint venture company with NEA continued. In November 2015 CNNC International reported that all exploration work was complete and that it awaited a mining licence. It then expected to form a project JV with the government, which would hold 51% leaving CNNC International Ltd. with 49% of the project. CNNC has been searching for uranium in Jordan. CGN initiatives abroad CGN subsidiary China Guangdong Nuclear Uranium Resources Co Ltd (CGN-URC) set up in 2006 has uranium imports and investment in overseas sources of supply as part of its remit. It has been active in securing foreign supplies of uranium. In September 2007, two agreements were signed in Beijing between Kazatomprom and CGN on Chinese participation in Kazakh uranium mining joint ventures and on reciprocal Kazatomprom investment in China's nuclear power industry. These came in the context of an earlier strategic cooperation agreement and one on uranium supply and fuel fabrication. This is a major strategic arrangement for both companies, with Kazatomprom to become a major uranium and nuclear fuel supplier to CGN. A framework strategic cooperation agreement was then signed with CNNC. A CGN subsidiary, Sino-Kazakhstan Uranium Resources Investment Co, has invested in two Kazakh uranium mines: Irkol and Semizbai, while CNNC is investing in another: Zhalpak. In April 2015 CGN Mining Co Ltd purchased the Sino-Kazakh shares, so it now holds 49% of the Semizbai-U JV. In November 2010 CGN signed a long-term contract with Kazatomprom for 24,200 tonnes of uranium through to 2020. In May 2014 CGN contracted with Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining & Metallurgy for $800 million worth of uranium to 2021. In 2013 Uzbekistan exported 1,663 tonnes of uranium (U 3 O 8 ?) to China. In November 2007 CGN signed an agreement with Areva to take a 24.5% equity stake in its UraMin subsidiary (now Areva Resources Southern Africa), and for China to take half the output, but this did not proceed.* * Uramin was proposing mines in Namibia, South Africa and Central African Republic. In October 2008, Areva announced that a further 24.5% would be taken up by other 'Chinese sovereign funds', though it would remain the operator. China also agreed to buy more than half of the uranium from UraMin over the lifetime of the three deposits – the total quantity involved was to be over 40,000 tU to 2022. However, production from those mines, Trekkopje, Ryst Kuil and Bakouma respectively has not yet materialized, and at the end of 2009 Areva’s reported 100% equity in the company, with no Chinese equity. CGN-URC has embarked upon a 50-50 joint venture with Uzbekistan's Goskomgeo focused on black shales the Sino-Uz Uranium Resources Co Ltd (or Uz-China Uran LLC), in particular the Boztau uranium exploration project in the Central Kyzylkum desert of the Navoi region of Uzbekistan. Over 2011-13 CGN-URC was to develop technology for the separate production of uranium and vanadium from these black shale deposits with a view to commencing production from 2014. In May 2014 Goskomgeo said CGN-URC planned to start mining in 2014, with production being sold to China. In 2012 CGN-URC, through a Hong Kong subsidiary Taurus Minerals (60% CGN, 40% China-Africa Development Fund), took over Kalahari Minerals PLC and then Extract Resources Ltd, giving it ownership of the massive Husab project in Namibia, with 137,700 tU measured and indicated resources and a further 50,000 tU inferred resources at Rossing South. The cost was about $2.2 billion. Swakop Uranium is the development company owned by Taurus, except for a 10% share held by the government’s Epangelo Minerals. Mine development commenced in April 2013, production commenced at the end of 2016, ramping up to 5500 tU/yr. In July 2014 CGN Global Uranium Ltd (CGU) was incorporated in the UK to sell Husab uranium on the world market, though most production will be for CGN. In 2015 CGN paid C$82.2 million for a nearly 20% stake in Fission Uranium Corp, making it the first direct Chinese investment in a Canadian uranium developer. An offtake agreement will entitle CGN to up to 35% of Patterson Lake South production at a 5% discount on prevailing spot market prices. In mid-2010, CGN signed a framework agreement with Cameco under which the two companies would negotiate long-term uranium purchase agreements and potential joint development of uranium resources. In November the Cameco sale of 11,200 tonnes of uranium through to 2025 was confirmed. Then, in November 2010, CGNPC signed a $3.5 billion, ten-year contract with Areva for supply of 20,000 tonnes of uranium. Alternative sources of uranium In 2007 CNNC commissioned Sparton Resources of Canada with the Beijing No.5 Testing Institute to undertake advanced trials on leaching uranium from coal ash out of the Xiaolongtang power station in Yunnan province, in the southwest. The Lincang ash contains 160-180 ppm U – above the cut-off level for some uranium mines. The power station ash heap contains over 1700 tU, with annual arisings of 106 tU. Two other nearby power stations burn lignite from the same mine. A joint venture company Yunnan Sparton New Environ Tech Consulting Co. Ltd. (SNET), 60% owned by Sparton, has been set up to operate the secondary recovery programs. No results were evident by mid-2011, or since. Nuclear fuel industrial parks Two industrial parks for nuclear fuel are planned – a northern one in Hebei near Beijing, and one in the south, probably Guangdong province. They will each include uranium conversion, enrichment, and fabrication facilities to support China's goal to become the centre of Asian nuclear fuel preparation and manufacturing. Also, sales of Hualong reactors are envisaged as being with a supply of fuel. About CNY 80 billion is being invested in the two parks. In May 2013 CGN and CNNC announced that their new China Nuclear Fuel Element Co (CNFEC) joint venture would build a CNY 45 billion ($7.33 billion) complex in Daying Industrial Park at Zishan town in Heshan and Jiangmen city, Guangdong province. This nuclear fuel industrial park was to be established during the 12th Five-Year Plan and be fully operational by 2020. However, in July 2013 the plan was abruptly stalled. The 200 ha park was to involve 1000 tU/yr fuel fabrication as well as a conversion plant (14,000 t/yr) and an enrichment plant, close to CGN’s Taishan power plant. The plan is being implemented at Cangzhou in Hebei province – the North Park – and a new site being sought in Guangdong – the South Park. Conversion Information on China’s conversion capacity is uncertain. The World Nuclear Association's (WNA's) 2019 edition of The Nuclear Fuel Report has 9965 tU/yr as reference case requirements for 2020, rising to 13,201 tU/yr in 2022 and 24,710 tU/yr in 2030. Conversion requirements are of the same order. A conversion plant at Lanzhou in Gansu province of about 1000 tU/yr started operation in 1980 but may now be closed. A 5000 t/yr plant is reported there, operating at about 80% capacity, and a 9000 t/yr one is reported as under construction and due on line in 2017 or 2018. Another conversion plant at Diwopu, Jiuquan, near Yumen in northwest Gansu province, is run by CNNC 404 company and is about 500 tU/yr. China Nuclear Fuel Corp is building a plant at Hengyang in Hunan province. UxC quotes this as 3000 tU/yr, with construction permit issued in October 2014 and operation expected in 2018. The head of Kazatomprom visited this in mid-2016. New conversion capacity was proposed with the new China Nuclear Fuel Element Co (CNFEC) plant at Daying Industrial Park in Heshan and Jiangmen city, Guangdong province. It was quoted at 14,000 t/yr by 2020 but plans for this location were cancelled in July 2013. The new location of the complex is Cangzhou in Hebei province in the north, due to commence production in 2018 and ramp up to full capacity after 2020. However, the Guangdong government wants to revive the original project and CNNC is looking for a southern site for part of the capacity. Ux Consulting comments that if all these plans are realized by 2030, China will have a total conversion capacity about 31,000 tU/year, which can match an enrichment capacity about 23 million SWU/year, sufficient to feed about 180 GWe of PWR capacity. Enrichment and enriched uranium imports In 2010 China needed 3600 tU and 2.5 million SWU of enrichment. The WNA Nuclear Fuel Report has demand in 2020 at 15,000 tU (natural) and about 8 million SWU. Enrichment requirements rise to about 13 million SWU in 2025 and 19.6 million SWU in 2030. All enrichment capacity is inland, in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. China aims for a fully independent enrichment capability including R&D, engineering, manufacturing and operating. A Russian centrifuge enrichment plant at Hanzhun/Hanzhong, SE Shaanxi province, was set up under 1992, 1993 and 1996 agreements between Minatom/Tenex and CNEIC covering a total 1.5 million SWU/yr capacity in China at two sites. The first two modules at Hanzhun came into operation in 1997-2000, giving 0.5 million SWU/yr as phases 1 & 2 of the agreements. In November 2007, Tenex undertook to build a further 0.5 million SWU/yr of capacity at Hanzhun, completing the 1990s agreements in relation to the Hanzhun plant. This was commissioned ahead of schedule in mid-2011 and has operated reliably since. A north expansion project at Hanzhun was then built over 2012-14, with 1.2 million SWU/yr capacity using indigenous technology. The full agreement for the main $1 billion Hanzhun plant was signed in May 2008 between Tenex (Techsnabexport) and China Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation. The site, or at least two phases of it, is under IAEA safeguards. Up to 2001 China was a major customer for Russian 6th generation centrifuges, and more of these were supplied in 2009-10 for Hanzhun, under phase 4 of the agreement. The Lanzhou enrichment plant in Gansu province to the west started in 1964 for military use and operated commercially 1980 to 1997 using Soviet-era diffusion technology. A Russian centrifuge plant of 500,000 SWU/yr started operation there in 2001 as phase 3 of the above agreements and it replaced the diffusion capacity. Subsequent expansion is based on indigenous centrifuge technology, about 2.5 million SWU of which was operating in mid-2015. Two 0.5 million SWU units (CEP 2&3) and one 1.2 million SWU unit (CEP 4) comprise the indigenous additional capacity. CEP 4 is due to start full commercial operation in 2016. Another and larger diffusion enrichment plant, Plant 814, operated at Heping, Sichuan province, from 1975 to 1987 for military purposes. It was indigenously built, about 200-250,000 SWU/yr capacity, but its continued operational status and purpose is uncertain, possibly including fuel for naval reactors. It appears to have been upgraded about 2006. A new 0.8 million SWU/yr centrifuge plant was then built at Emeishan nearby, operating from about 2013. A second 0.8 million SWU/yr plant is under construction there. China Uranium Enrichment Capacity Plant Province Annual capacity (million SWU) 2015 Projected capacity 2020 Hanzhun Shaanxi 2.2 2.2 Lanzhou Gansu 3.56 6.52 Heping 814 Sichuan 0.4 (uncertain) 0.4 Emeishan Sichuan 0.8 (part built) 1.6 - 2.4 Estimated total 5.7 - 7.0 10.7 - 12.0 Sources: World Nuclear Association Nuclear Fuel Report, September 2015; Harvard Kennedy School study, August 2015 . UxC estimates 2015 capacity at 4.5 million SWU. China has developed its own centrifuge technology at Lanzhou, and the first domestically-produced centrifuge was commissioned there in February 2013. An estimated 4.1 million SWU capacity has been built using indigenous Chinese centrifuge technology. Further enrichment capacity was planned with the new China Nuclear Fuel Element Co (CNFEC) plant at Daying Industrial Park in Heshan city, Guangdong province. It was quoted at 7 million SWU/yr by 2020. However plans for this location were cancelled in July 2013. The new location of the complex is Cangzhou in Hebei province in the north. It is due to commence production in 2018 and ramp up to full capacity after 2020. The Guangdong government wants to revive the original project, and a southern site is being sought. CGN-URC contracts fuel fabrication services from CNEIC on behalf of its operational power generation companies. There has been some minor export of enrichment services, and in April 2014 a new initiative was reported, and export delivery of 1 million SWU was estimated for 2014 (unconfirmed). Enriched uranium Much of the enriched uranium for China's reactors has come from outside the country, and some still does so in connection with early fuel loads for foreign-sourced reactors. A contract with Urenco supplied 30% of the enrichment for Daya Bay from Europe. Under the May 2008 enrichment agreement Tenex is to supply (from Russia) 6 million SWU as low-enriched uranium product from 2010 to 2021 for the first four AP1000 reactors, this apparently being related to completion of the Hanzhun enrichment plant. It is expected to involve $5 to 7 billion of LEU and possibly more. Enriched uranium for the first four AP1000 reactors is being supplied by Tenex from Russia, under the 2008 agreement. Fuel fabrication CNNC is responsible for fuel fabrication in China, utilising some technology transferred from Areva, Westinghouse and TVEL. Fuel fabrication plants are inland, in Sichuan and Inner Mongolia. Demand in 2013 was about 1300 tU in fabricated fuel, and by 2020 this will rise to about 1800 tU – though precise levels fluctuate due to demand for initial core loads in new reactors. Fuel Fabrication in and for China Location Company Type of fuel Capacity Yibin, Sichuan Jianzhong Nuclear Fuel, China Nuclear Fuel South PWR VVER 800 t/yr 100 t/yr Baotou, Inner Mongolia China Nuclear Fuel North PHWR PWR 200 t/yr 200 t/yr total 800 t/yr by 2020 Baotou, Inner Mongolia CNNC Baotou Nuclear Fuel Company Ltd AP1000, CAP etc 800 t/yr Baotou, Inner Mongolia INET? HTR 300,000 fuel pebbles Oskomen, Kazakhstan Ulba-FA (CGN & Kazatomprom) PWR 200 t/yr CNNC's main PWR fuel fabrication plant at Yibin, Sichuan province, was set up in 1982 (though based on a 1965 military plant) to supply Qinshan 1. It is operated by CNNC subsidiary China Jianzhong Nuclear Fuel (JNF), with its subsidiary China Nuclear Fuel South, and by October 2008 was producing fuel assemblies with 400 tU/yr. It reached 800 tU/yr of PWR fuel and 100 tU/yr VVER fuel* by the end of 2013 and plans indicate at least 1000 tU/yr by 2020. It supplies Qinshan, Tianwan, Fuqing, Ningde, Hongyanhe and Yangjiang and is contracted to produce Hualong One fuel for Fuqing 5&6. It has started producing the locally-designed CF3 fuel assemblies, with the first loaded in Qinshan II-2 CNP-600 in mid-2014. It has certified Kazakhstan's Ulba Metallurgical Plant as a source of pellets. After proving at Qinshan, in 2019 full-scale production of CF3 fuel for Hualong reactors began. * VVER fuel fabrication at Yibin began in 2009, using technology transferred from TVEL under the fuel supply contract for Tianwan. (First core and three reloads for Tianwan 1&2 were from Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant in Russia – 638 fuel assemblies, under the main contract.) By August 2010, Yibin had produced 54 VVER-1000 fuel assemblies which were being loaded into Tianwan 1&2. In November 2010, TVEL contracted with Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation (JNPC) and the China Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation (CNEIC) to supply six fuel reloads for Tianwan 1, and the technology for fuel to be produced at Yibin thereafter, for about US$ 500 million. TVEL certified the plant to manufacture the new TVS-2M fuel for Tianwan in April 2014. The two units run on 18-month refueling cycles. CNNC set up a second civil fuel fabrication plant run by China North Nuclear Fuel Co Ltd (CNNFC) at Baotou, Inner Mongolia, in 1998, based on a military plant there dating from 1956. This has become a major R&D base, producing the most types of fuel. It fabricates fuel assemblies for Qinshan's CANDU PHWRs (200 tU/yr) and 200 tU/yr for older PWRs. Areva has assisted the plant to qualify for production of modern fuel. In 2012 the plant became the Northern Branch of China Nuclear Fuel Element Co Ltd., or simply China Nuclear Northern, though the original company name continued being used. The plant is ramping up from 400 tU/yr to 800 tU/yr production over 2013 to 2020 for PWR and PHWR fuel. In 2008 SNPTC agreed with both fuel companies (Jianzhong and Northern) to set up CNNC Baotou Nuclear Fuel Company Ltd to make fuel assemblies for China's AP1000 reactors (first cores and some re-loads of the initial units are supplied by Westinghouse). In January 2011 a $35 million contract was signed with Westinghouse "to design, manufacture and install fuel fabrication equipment that will enable China to manufacture fuel" for AP1000 units. This production line was commissioned in 2015, at 400 tU/yr for phase 1. Phase 2, also 400 tU/yr, was completed in October 2016 and commissioned in June 2017. CNNC signed a contract with Sanmen Nuclear Power Company in January 2017 to provide refuelling components for the second, third and fourth operating cycles of units 1&2 of the Sanmen plant. Early in 2016 a prototype fuel assembly for the CAP1400 was produced. In 2015, now as a subsidiary of SPI, SNPTC declared a strong interest in pellet and fuel manufacturing for its AP and CAP reactors, with associated R&D. A new fuel production line at Baotou to make the 9% enriched fuel spheres for the Shidaowan HTR-PM high temperature reactors in Shandong province was completed in May 2015 at a cost of almost CNY 300 million. It started production in March 2016, ramping up to a capacity of 300,000 fuel pebbles per year. By July 2017 it had produced 200,000, transitioning to full commercial operation. NNSA licensed the project in February 2013. It is based on a trial production line developed by INET at Tsinghua University to produce 100,000 spherical fuel elements per year, and INET is involved in the new plant. (In March 2011 a contract was signed with SGL Group in Germany for supply of 500,000 machined graphite spheres for HTR-PM fuel load by the end of 2013.) Qualification irradiation tests of fuel elements were completed in December 2014 at the High Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands. In May 2013 CNNC and CGN announced that they would build a new China Nuclear Fuel Element Co (CNFEC) plant at Daying Industrial Park in Heshan and Jiangmen city, Guangdong province, and it would have 1000 tU/yr capacity by 2020. Construction was due to start in 2013, but in July the plan for this location was abruptly cancelled. Some of this capacity is likely to be built at Cangzhou in Hebei province. The CNY 45 billion industrial park was also to involve a conversion plant and an enrichment plant. CGN in joint venture with Kazatomprom is building the 200 t/yr Ulba-FA fuel fabrication plant in Kazakhstan to produce AFA 3G fuel assemblies for its French-designed reactors. CGN-URC holds 49% of the Ulba-FA JV. In order meet its goal of being self-sufficient in nuclear fuel supply, additional fuel production capacity will be required. However, the EPR fuel for Taishan being supplied to CGN by Framatome, comprising the two first cores and 17 reloads, will be fabricated in France. Also the VVER fuel for Tianwan 3&4 is being supplied by Russia’s TVEL until 2025, and it will help to equip the Yibin plant to produce from then, under a $1 billion contract with Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation (JNPC) and the China Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation (CNEIC).* In 2019 TVEL was also contracted to supply fuel for Tianwan 7&8 and Xudapu 3&4. In 2018 TVEL and CNEIC were considering joint construction of a VVER fuel fabrication plant in Ukraine. * TVEL's TVS-2M fuel offers the possibility of an extended 18-month operating cycle and is used in Russia's Balakovo and Rostov power plants. After pilot operations using six TVS-2M assemblies at Tianwan 1, the design was licensed in China, and Tianwan 1&2 were converted to 18-month operating cycles from 2014. Units 3&4 are to run on the fuel from their first core loadings onwards. CGN-URC contracts fuel fabrication services from CNFSC and CNFNC, and retails these to its operational power generation companies. CNNC and Areva have set up a 50-50 joint venture to produce and market zirconium alloy tubes for nuclear fuel assemblies. The joint venture, CNNC Areva Shanghai Tubing Co. (CAST), started production at the end of 2012, and was expected to ramp up from 300 km of tubes per year to 1500 km in 2015, supplying both Yibin and Baotou fuel fabrication plants. A further agreement in 2013 may extend this JV to producing the zircaloy itself, at 600 t/yr by 2017. Fuel cycles A standard 18-month fuel cycle is the normal routine for Daya Bay, Ling Ao, and early M310 to CPR-1000 reactors. This has average burn-up of 43 GWd/t, with maximum of 50 GWd/t. An Advanced Fuel Management cycle using fuel with gadolinium burnable poison is implemented at Ling Ao phase II, Hongyanhe, Ningde, and Yangjiang, giving average 50 GWd/t and maximum 57 GWd/t through to CPR-1000+. Moving to recycling fuel in PWRs is the next step, though with limited advantage compared with longer-term goal of using fast neutron reactors with MOX and advanced reprocessing. This will be electrometallurgical reprocessing (pyroprocessing) coupled with some sort of partitioning. Reprocessing, recycling Establishing significant reprocessing capacity is seen as vital both for management of domestic used fuel and as a service export in connection with selling reactors overseas. Late in 2015 CNNC said it estimated that 23,500 tonnes of used fuel will have been discharged from reactors by 2030 and 15,000 tonnes of that would be in dry cask storage. When 50 GWe is operating, up to 2000 t used fuel will be discharged each year. Most of the civil back-end facilities are currently in Gansu province. CNNC Ruineng Technology Co Ltd was set up by CNNC in November 2011 to industrialise used fuel reprocessing technology and mixed oxide (MOX) fuel production to close the fuel cycle. This will involve both local initiatives and the planned Areva plant. It will also be responsible for storage and management of used fuel. A pilot reprocessing plant using the Purex process was constructed from 2006 at Lanzhou Nuclear Fuel Complex in Gansu province. It completed hot commissioning in 2010 to reprocess about 50 tonnes of used fuel over 2013-15. A demonstration used fuel treatment plant, with a capacity of 200 tonnes of used fuel per year, is being built in Gansu Nuclear Technology Industrial Park in Gansu province by CNNC Longrui Technology Company, which was set up in March 2015. It is expected to start operation in 2025. It is reported that a second 200 t/yr plant started construction about the end of 2020. A large (800-1000 t/yr) commercial reprocessing plant based on indigenous advanced technology was planned to follow and begin operation about 2020, but the 800 t/yr Areva project will apparently displace it. A second 800 t/yr plant was to follow. The planned Areva (now Orano) reprocessing plant was first mooted in November 2007, when Areva and CNNC signed an agreement to assess the feasibility of a reprocessing plant for used fuel and a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication plant in China, representing an investment estimated then of €15 billion. The 800 t/yr reprocessing plant was then envisaged to be in Jinta county, north of Jiayuguan in Gansu province, employing proven French technology and operated by Areva. Design, construction and commissioning was expected to take ten years from 2010. In November 2010, an industrial agreement on this was signed, which Areva said was "the final step towards a commercial contract" for the project. In April 2013 a further agreement was signed with Areva, setting out the technical specifications for the 800 t/yr plant. Then in March 2014 another agreement on the matter was signed, to continue planning the project and completing a business case for it. In June 2015 a further agreement "formalizes the end of technical discussions, defines the schedule for commercial negotiations and confirms the willingness of both groups to finalize the negotiations in the shortest possible timeframe," according to Areva. In September CNNC said that it was selecting a site and that construction was expected to start in 2020 to be completed in 2030. China Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation (CNPE) was seeking seismic studies of coastal sites for the plant on behalf of CNNC Ruineng Technology Co Ltd. In November 2015 another Areva-CNNC agreement was signed for the 800 t/yr plant, referencing Orano’s La Hague plant and envisaging a cost of CNY 100 billion ($15.7 billion). CNNC would be responsible for building the plant but with Areva NC (now Orano) responsible for technical aspects. A coastal site in Jiangsu province was suggested, so that used fuel could be transported on ships (rather than a 3000 km road or rail trip inland to Gansu, though public and local government support there is strong). In July 2016 Lianyungang city in Jiangsu was mentioned as likely for the 3km2 site, close to the Tianwan nuclear power plant, but in August public protests caused local government to back away from the proposal. A final contract had been envisaged in 2017 with construction from 2020, possibly including a MOX plant. In addition to the reprocessing plant, the site would also house a used fuel storage facility with the capacity to hold 3000 tonnes of fuel initally, and possibly 6000 tonnes eventually. An associated high-level liquid waste vitrification facility is also planned. It is estimated that another 800 t/yr plant will be required every ten years to match nuclear growth. Technology for recycling uranium recovered from used nuclear fuel from Chinese PWRs for use in the Qinshan Phase III Candu units is being developed (see section below on Recycled uranium in PHWRs; thorium in PHWRs). Mixed oxide fuel A small experimental mixed oxide (MOX) fuel plant was built in 2008, giving experience at 500 kg/yr. In October 2010, GDF Suez Belgian subsidiary Tractabel, with Belgonucleaire and the nuclear research centre SCK-CEN signed an agreement with CNNC to build a pilot mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication plant in China. Belgium has experience in MOX fuel development and production dating back to 1960, including 20 years of industrial MOX production at Belgonucleaire's 35 tonne per year Dessel plant from 1986 to 2006 (see section on Fuel cycle in the information page on Nuclear Power in Belgium). MOX has been in use in Belgium's nuclear power plants since 1995. CNNC’s Gansu Nuclear Technology Industrial Park has a MOX plant (estimated at 20 t/yr) associated with the initial 200 t/yr demonstration reprocessing plant under construction. Fuel for the Xiapu 1 CFR-600 fast reactor is expected to be HEU from Russia, but Xiapu 2 may run on domestically-produced MOX. Fuel for the BN-800 reactors (referred to as Chinese Demonstration Fast Reactors – see section below on Fast neutron reactors) earlier planned to be built at Sanming would have been MOX pellets, initially made in Russia. China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) earlier envisaged two 40 t/yr MOX fabrication plants in operation from about 2018. A 50 t/yr MOX reprocessing plant is under consideration for operation by 2030. This may be part of the Areva NC (Orano) reprocessing plant contract. Waste management When China started to develop nuclear power, a closed fuel cycle strategy was also formulated and declared at an International Atomic Energy Agency conference in 1987. The used fuel activities involve: at-reactor storage; away-from-reactor storage; and reprocessing. CNNC has drafted a state regulation on civil used fuel treatment as the basis for a long-term government programme. There is a levy of CNY 2.6 cents/kWh from the fifth year of commercial operation of each reactor, to pay for used fuel management, reprocessing, and the eventual disposal of separated HLW. Based on expected installed capacity of 50 GWe by 2020, the annual used fuel arisings will amount to about 1,300 tonnes at that stage, the cumulative total being about 14,000 tonnes then. The two Qinshan Phase III CANDU units, with lower burn-up, will discharge 176 tonnes of used fuel annually. Storage of used fuel and disposal of HLW A centralised used fuel storage facility has been built at Lanzhou Nuclear Fuel Complex, 25 km northeast of Lanzhou in central Gansu province. The initial stage of that project has a storage capacity of 550 tons and could be doubled. However, most used fuel is stored at reactor sites, in ponds. It or an intermediate-level waste repository there is 10-20 m underground. The only dry storage operating is at Qinshan, and this is being expanded. CNNC Everclean Co Ltd is responsible for used fuel transport from nuclear power plant sites to Lanzhou Nuclear Fuel Complex, and storage there. Some used fuel – over 100 fuel assemblies per year – is transported 3700 km by road from Daya Bay to Gansu province for storage. According to the State Administration for Science, Technology and National Defense Industry (SASTIND), this quantity needs to increase to 600 assemblies per year. In June 2018 CNNC Everclean contracted with Holtec International to supply its HI-STAR 100MB casks by 2020. In 2016 it had bought four NAC-STC casks for high-burnup fuel, and in January 2018 Spain's ENSA also supplied a cask. Following reprocessing, separated high-level waste will be vitrified, encapsulated and put into a geological repository some 500 metres deep. Site selection and evaluation has been under way since 1986, focused on three candidate locations in the Beishan area of the Gobi desert in Gansu province. All are in granite. The site for the Beishan underground research laboratory 400-560 metres deep was announced by the NNSA in September 2019. In June 2021, under the 14th Five-Year Plan, construction of the underground laboratory started, with a view to 50 years of operation after seven years' construction. It is to have 2.39 million square metres of gross floor space, with 13.4 km of tunnels. Estimated cost is CNY 2.7 billion ($420 million). The Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology (BRIUG) is leading the project. In the light of research here, the final repository would be constructed from 2040 with demonstration disposal. Acceptance of high-level waste into a national repository is anticipated from 2050. All this is taking place under the 2006 R&D Guidelines for Geological Disposal jointly published by China Atomic Energy Authority, Ministry of Science &Technology, and Ministry of Environmental Protection. The International Atomic Energy Agency has also been advising on the project since 1999. In mid-2014 construction started on a vitrification plant for HLW in Sichuan, where 800 m 3 of liquid waste was reported to be stored already. It will use German technology and plant from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. It is entirely for military waste, but the technology may be usable later for civil waste. The regulatory authorities of high-level radioactive waste disposal projects are Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) and the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA). The China Atomic Energy Agency (CAEA) is in charge of the project control and financial management. CNNC deals with implementation, and four CNNC subsidiaries are key players: Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology (BRIUG) handles site investigation and evaluation, engineered barrier study and performance analyses, with the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) undertaking radionuclide migration studies. The China Institute for Radiation Protection (CIRP) is responsible for safety assessment, and the China Nuclear Power Engineering Company (CNPE) works on engineering design. Low- and intermediate-level waste Industrial scale disposal of low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW) is at three sites: near Yumen, northwest Gansu province; at the Beilong repository in Gunagdong province near the Daya Bay nuclear plant; and at Feifengshan, Sichuan province. Two of these are run by CNNC Everclean Co, the other by a CGN subsidiary. These are the first three of five planned regional LILW disposal facilities. China LILW disposal sites Site name Location Operator Storage capacity planned Storage capacity actual Functions Xibei Center, Northwest Gansu province (CNNC 404 plant) CNNC Everclean Co. 200,000 m 3 20,000 m3 Includes waste from local military facilities. Beilong Center Guangdong province Guangdong Daya Bay Nuclear Power Environmental Protection Co. 80,000 m3 8800 m3 5 km away from Daya Bay. Dedicated to waste from Daya Bay and Ling Ao units. Feifeng Mountain Sichuan province CNNC Everclean Co. 180,000 m3 20,000 m3 As a testing facility. Decommissioning The China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIEA) 15 MWt HWRR-II heavy water research reactor that started up in 1958 was shut down at the end of 2007 and decommissioned. Heavy manufacturing industrial parks Two significant industrial parks focused on nuclear manufacturing were announced in 2010 and are being set up. The first is a nuclear technology base near Nanjing in Jiangsu province, known as the Nanjing Jiangning district Binjiang Development Zone, and part of the China Nuclear Binjiang Production Base inaugurated in 2003 which includes a research facility for nuclear-grade concrete. China Huaxing Nuclear Construction Company (HXCC) committed to build this on the banks of the Yangtze River about 300 km west of Shanghai, in three phases to 2015. Nanjing is a transport hub, and the overall 51 square kilometre development zone will be served by a new river port including a bulk cargo terminal and 12 deep-water piers. The zone will feature as its centrepiece a $146 million factory for pre-assembled structural and equipment modules for CPR-1000 and Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. The modules, weighing up to nearly 1000 tonnes each in the case of AP1000, can then be taken by barge to construction sites. Currently AP1000 modules are made by Shandong Nuclear Power Equipment Manufacturing Co. which has the capacity to support construction of two reactors per year. HXCC is the main civil engineering contractor for China Guangdong Group. The second is the China Haiyan Nuclear Power City, launched by CNNC at Haiyan, Zhejiang province, on the Yangtze delta about 120 km southwest of Shanghai and close to the cities of Hangzhou, Suzhou and Ningbo. As well as having the nuclear power plants in the Qinshan complex nearby, Haiyan hosts the headquarters of 18 leading Chinese nuclear equipment suppliers and branch offices of all the major Chinese nuclear design institutes and construction companies. The new China Haiyan Nuclear Power City will cover 130 square kilometers and has a 10-year budget of $175 billion, according to reports. It is expected to have four main areas of work: development of the nuclear power equipment manufacturing industry; nuclear training and education; applied nuclear science industries (medical, agricultural, radiation detection and tracing); and promotion of the nuclear industry. The Haiyan Nuclear Power City is entitled to all the preferential benefits granted to national economic and technological zones and national hi-tech industrial zones. Enterprises in the industrial park will enjoy priority for bidding quota, bidding training, qualification guidance and specific purchasing with CNNC. The concept is based on the French equivalent in the Burgundy area, and French suppliers will be involved at Haiyan, as will CGNPC. As well as these major industry centres there is a factory for AP1000 modules set up at Haiyang, on the coast, and another in central Hubei province to support inland AP1000 projects and later the CAP-1400 derivatives. A further centre, the Taishan Clean Energy (Nuclear Power) Equipment Industrial Park, opened in February 2010 in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong province, and is expected to become a centre for nuclear power equipment manufacturing, initially supplying hardware and services to nearby nuclear power projects. The planned development will eventually cover about 45 sq km and include design, R&D and technical services. The initial 3.1 sq km phase of the park costing CNY 2 billion was followed by a second 2.4 sq km phase. Targets call for manufacturers at the park to have 45% of the nuclear equipment market in Guangdong and produce goods worth CNY 22 billion by 2020 while playing a leading role in R&D and maintenance of nuclear power equipment. The park also plans to produce CNY 20 billion in goods not related to the power industry by 2020. Research & development Initial Chinese nuclear R&D was military. A water-cooled graphite-moderated production reactor for military plutonium started operating in 1966, located at the Jiuquan Atomic Energy Complex some 100 km northwest of the city of Jiuquan in Gansu province, north-central China. The area is mainly desert and very remote. In the early 1980s it was decided to convert it to dual-use, and plutonium production evidently ceased in 1984. Reprocessing was onsite. Another, larger, plutonium production reactor with associated facilities was in a steep valley at Guangyuan in Sichuan province, about 1000 km south. It started up about 1975 and produced the major part of China's military plutonium through to 1991. In November 2013 China National Nuclear Power Company, Ltd. (CNNP) joined two of the nuclear-related research programs run by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in the USA. These are the Nuclear Maintenance Application Center (NAMC), which develops technologies, systems, and guides to drive improvements in nuclear plant maintenance activities; and the Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) program, which develops technologies and procedures to quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively inspect and characterize nuclear component condition and inform strategic decisions on whether and when to replace, repair, or continue operation. CNNP said that it “will expand its engagement with EPRI soon to become a full member in all of its nuclear research programs.” Earlier in 2013 EPRI had signed agreements with CGN and SNERDI. Research Reactors Apart from military facilities, China has about 19 operational research reactors, and a report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) in June 2013 asserted their good condition and safety, along with that of the country’s power reactors. The 125 MW light water High-Flux Engineering Test Reactor (HFETR) has been run by the (Southwest) Leshan Nuclear Power Institute of China at Jiajiang, Sichuan province, since 1979. Early in 2007, this was converted to use low-enriched uranium, with the help of the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). At least one of the five research reactors in Sichuan province was near the epicentre of the May 2008 earthquake. The China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIEA) near Beijing undertakes fundamental research on nuclear science and technology and is the leading body in relation to fast neutron reactors, as well as other research reactors. Its 15 MWt HWRR-II heavy water research reactor started up in 1958 and was shut down at the end of 2007. An updated version of this was supplied to Algeria and has operated since 1992. CIEA built the new 60 MWt China Advanced Research Reactor (CARR), a sophisticated and versatile light water tank type unit with heavy water reflector which started up in May 2010, reaching full power in March 2011, and it also built the 65 MW China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) which started up in July 2010. (see subsection below on Fast neutron reactors). In October 2010, the Belgian nuclear research centre SCK-CEN signed an agreement with the China Academy of Sciences to collaborate on the Belgian MYRRHA projectb, which China sees as a way forward in treating nuclear wastes. Reactor and fuel cycle development In 2008, SNPTC and Tsinghua University set up the State Research Centre for Nuclear Power Technology, focused on large-scale advanced PWR technology and to accelerate China's independent development of third-generation nuclear power. A 200 MWt NHR-200 integral PWR design for heat and desalination has been developed by Tsinghua University's Institute of Nuclear Energy Technology (INET) near Beijing. It is developed from the 5 MW NHR-5 prototype which started up in 1989. The NDRC is strongly supporting R&D on advanced fuel cycles, which will more effectively utilise uranium, and possibly also use thorium. The main research organisations are INET at Tsinghua University, China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIEA), also near Beijng, and the Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC) at Chengdu, which is the main body focused on the PHWR technology and fuel cycles. INET has been looking at a wide range of fuel cycle options including thorium, especially for the Qinshan Phase III PHWR units. NPIC has been looking at use of reprocessed uranium in Qinshan's PHWR reactors. CIAE is mainly involved with fast reactor R&D. China's R&D on fast neutron reactors started in 1964. In November 2018 CNNC opened the new Research Centre for Nuclear Fuels and Materials in Beijing. CNNC said it marked “an important milestone in the development and production of high-performance nuclear fuels and materials, as well as high-performance nuclear reactor cores to realize the effective and efficient development of nuclear energy,” in an advanced nuclear science industrial system. A report from NEA says that in Jiangxi a CNEC affiliate, Nuclear Construction Clean Energy Co. Ltd, has signed an agreement with Ruijin government to set up Jiangxi Ruijin Nuclear Power Preparatory Office. According to the agreement, Nuclear Construction Clean Energy Co would look for a site to construct a high temperature gas cooled reactor. Thorium molten salt reactor programme The China Academy of Sciences (CAS) in January 2011 launched a programme of R&D on thorium-breeding molten salt reactors (Th-MSR or TMSR), otherwise known as liquid fluoride thorium reactors (LFTRs), claiming to have the world's largest national effort on these and hoping to obtain full intellectual property rights on the technology. The unit they are building is said to be similar to the 7 MWt Oak Ridge test MSR which ran 1965-69 in the USA with U-235 then U-233 fuels. The timeline for full commercialisation of TMSR technology was originally 25 years, but is reported to have been dramatically shortened, which may be reflected in increased funding. The TMSR Research Centre was reported to have a solid-fuel MSR prototype under construction at Shanghai Institute of Nuclear Applied Physics (SINAP, under the CAS) originally with 2015 target for operation, then 2020, but it may have been shelved. This is also known as the fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor (FHR) in Generation IV parlance, or Advanced HTR (AHTR). A 2 MWe accelerator-driven sub-critical liquid fuel prototype is also being developed at SINAP to demonstrate the thorium cycle. In March 2016 a strategic cooperation agreement to develop accelerator-driven advanced nuclear energy systems (ADANES) was signed between China General Nuclear (CGN) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). SINAP has about 600 staff and 200 graduate students undertaking basic R&D on MSRs including that on molten salt manufacture and loop technology, R&D of the front end and back end of the Th-U fuel cycle, R&D of high-temperature durable materials, and R&D of safety standards and licensing. It is also establishing specifications for nuclear-grade ThF 4 and ThO 2 for MSRs. It has subcontracted some work on molten salt coolants to the Fangda Group. However, reports in late 2016 suggest that the availability of pure Li-7 is a constraint on progress. (See also information paper on Lithium.) China plans for the TMSR-SF to be an energy solution for the northwest half of the country, with lower population density and little water. The application of water-free cooling in arid regions is envisaged from about 2025. SINAP has two streams of MSR development – solid fuel (TRISO in pebbles or prisms/blocks) with once-through fuel cycle, and liquid fuel (dissolved in fluoride coolant) with reprocessing and recycle. A third stream of fast reactors to consume actinides from LWRs is planned. The aim is to develop both the thorium fuel cycle and non-electrical applications in a 20-30 year time frame. The TMSR-SF stream has only partial utilization of thorium, relying on some breeding as with U-238, and needing fissile uranium input as well. It is optimized for high-temperature based hybrid nuclear energy applications. SINAP aimed at a 2 MW pilot plant (to be TMSR-SF1) initially, though this has been superseded by a simulator (TMSR-SF0) to be followed by a 10 MWt prototype (TMSR-SF1) before 2025. A 100 MWt demonstration pebble bed plant (TMSR-SF2) with open fuel cycle would follow, then a 1 GW demonstration plant (TMSR-SF3). TRISO particles will be with both low-enriched uranium and thorium, separately. stream has only partial utilization of thorium, relying on some breeding as with U-238, and needing fissile uranium input as well. It is optimized for high-temperature based hybrid nuclear energy applications. SINAP aimed at a 2 MW pilot plant (to be TMSR-SF1) initially, though this has been superseded by a simulator (TMSR-SF0) to be followed by a 10 MWt prototype (TMSR-SF1) before 2025. A 100 MWt demonstration pebble bed plant (TMSR-SF2) with open fuel cycle would follow, then a 1 GW demonstration plant (TMSR-SF3). TRISO particles will be with both low-enriched uranium and thorium, separately. The TMSR-LF stream is claimed to use a fully closed Th-U fuel cycle with breeding of U-233 and much better sustainability with thorium but greater technical difficulty. It is optimized for utilization of thorium with electrometallurgical pyroprocessing. SINAP is building a 2 MWt pilot plant (TMSR-LF1) initially, then plans a 10 MWt experimental reactor (TMSR-LF2) by 2025, and a 100 MWt demonstration plant (TMSR-LF3) with full electrometallurgical reprocessing by about 2035, followed by a 1 GW demonstration plant. stream is claimed to use a fully closed Th-U fuel cycle with breeding of U-233 and much better sustainability with thorium but greater technical difficulty. It is optimized for utilization of thorium with electrometallurgical pyroprocessing. SINAP is building a 2 MWt pilot plant (TMSR-LF1) initially, then plans a 10 MWt experimental reactor (TMSR-LF2) by 2025, and a 100 MWt demonstration plant (TMSR-LF3) with full electrometallurgical reprocessing by about 2035, followed by a 1 GW demonstration plant. A TMSFR-LF fast reactor optimized for burning minor actinides is to follow. The TMSR-LF1 reactor body incorporating reactor vessel, graphite and metal internals and fuel salt loops was shipped from Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Equipment Co at Lingang to site in Wuwei Park, Gansu province in November 2020 and installed the following month. Also in December the FLiBe cooling salt preparation plant with 150 kg/batch capacity was commissioned. It is being built by SINAP and Shanghai Construction Engineering Group. The reactor is expected to start up in September 2021. SINAP sees molten salt fuel being superior to the TRISO fuel in effectively unlimited burnup, less waste, and lower fabricating cost, but achieving lower temperatures (600°C+) than the TRISO fuel reactors (1200°C+). Near-term goals include preparing nuclear-grade ThF 4 and ThO 2 and testing them in a MSR. The TMSR-SF programme is proceeding with preliminary engineering design in cooperation with the Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC) and Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research & Design Institute (SNERDI). Nickel-based alloys are being developed for structures, along with very fine-grained graphite. Two methods of tritium stripping are being evaluated, and also tritium storage. The 10 MWt TMSR-SF1 will have TRISO fuel in 60mm pebbles, similar to HTR-PM fuel, and deliver coolant at 650°C and low pressure. Primary coolant is FLiBe (with 99.99% Li-7) and secondary coolant is FLiNaK. Core height is 3 m, diameter 2.85 m, in a 7.8 m high and 3 m diameter pressure vessel. Residual heat removal is passive, by cavity cooling. A 20-year operating life is envisaged. The TMSR-SF0 simulator is one-third scale, with FLiNaK cooling and a 400 kW electric heater. The 2 MWt TMSR-LF1 is only at the conceptual design stage, but it will use fuel enriched to under 20% U-235, have a thorium inventory of about 50 kg and conversion ratio of about 0.1. FLiBe with 99.95% Li-7 would be used, and fuel as UF 4 . Residual heat removal is passive, by air cooling. The project would start on a batch basis with some online refuelling and removal of gaseous fission products, but discharging all fuel salt after 5-8 years for reprocessing and separation of fission products and minor actinides for storage. It would proceed to a continuous process of recycling salt, uranium and thorium, with online separation of fission products and minor actinides. It would work up from about 20% thorium fission to about 80%. Beyond these, a 400 MWt/168 MWe liquid-fuel MSR small modular reactor is planned, with supercritical CO 2 cycle in a tertiary loop at 23 MPa using Brayton cycle, after a radioactive isolation secondary loop. Various applications as well as electricity generation are envisaged. It would be loaded with 15.7 tonnes of of thorium and 2.1 tonnes of uranium (19.75% enriched), with one kilogram of uranium added daily, and have 330 GWd/t burn-up with 30% of energy from thorium. Online refuelling would enable eight years of operation before shutdown, with the graphite moderator needing attention. The US Department of Energy (especially Oak Ridge NL) is collaborating with the Academy on the program, which had a start-up budget of $350 million. Australia’s Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is also involved, along with the American Nuclear Society (ANS) on safety standards for the solid fuel TMSR, and with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) on material processing standards. Structural materials for MSRs must demonstrate strength at high temperatures, be radiation resistant and also withstand corrosion. Following joint research on alloys, ANSTO announced in February 2017 that NiMo-SiC alloys – prepared from nickel molybdenum metal powders with added silicon carbide particles – have superior corrosion resistance and radiation damage resistance. A number of NiMo-SiC alloy specimens containing varying amounts of silicon carbide were prepared in SINAP laboratories before being characterised at ANSTO. They possess superior mechanical properties owing to the precipitation, dispersion and solid-solution strengthening of the NiMo matrix. The strength of these alloys stems from the combination of dispersion strengthening by SiC particles, precipitation strengthening by Ni 3 Si and solid-solution strengthening by Mo as NiMo. The primary reason that American researchers and the China Academy of Sciences/ SINAP are working on solid fuel, salt-cooled reactor technology is that it is a realistic first step. The technical difficulty of using molten salts is significantly lower when they do not have the very high activity levels associated with them bearing the dissolved fuels and wastes. The experience gained with component design, operation, and maintenance with clean salts makes it much easier then to move on and consider the use of liquid fuels, while gaining several key advantages from the ability to operate reactors at low pressure and deliver higher temperatures. Recycled uranium in PHWRs; thorium in PHWRs Early in 2008, CNNC subsidiary the Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC) signed an agreement with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) to undertake research on advanced fuel cycle technologies such as recycling recovered uranium from used PWR fuel and Generation IV nuclear energy systems. The initial agrement developed into a strategic agreement among AECL (now Candu Energy), the Third Qinshan Nuclear Power Company (TQNPC), China North Nuclear Fuel Corporation and NPIC in November 2008, and subsequently one in July 2014 between Candu Energy’s parent company, SNC-Lavalin, and TQNPC and China North’s parent company, CNNC. (Initially the project seemed to include DUPIC (direct use of used PWR fuel in Candu reactors), the main work on which so far has been in South Korea, but it differs in that here, plutonium is removed at the reprocessing plant for use in fast reactors – see Figure below.) The partners jointly developed technology for recycling uranium recovered from used nuclear fuel from other Chinese reactors (PWRs) with up to 1.6% fissile content (but typically 0.9%) for use in the Qinshan Phase III Candu units. The first commercial demonstration of this was in unit 1 of Qinshan Phase III, using 12 fuel bundles with recycled uranium (RU/RepU) blended with depleted uranium (DU) to give natural uranium equivalent (NUE), similar to normal Candu fuel (0.7% U-235). It behaved the same as natural uranium fuel. Subject to supply from reprocessing plants, a full core of NUE was envisaged from 2014. Purchase of RU and DU, design and safety analysis, modification of fuel fabrication line, and licence application were planned in 2013. Full core implementation in both Candu reactors is expected in 2018. In August 2012 a follow-on agreement among the parties (Candu Energy having taken over from AECL) focused on undertaking a detailed conceptual design of the Advanced Fuel Candu Reactor (AFCR), which is described as "a further evolution of the successful Candu 6 and Generation III Enhanced Candu 6 (EC6), optimized for use of recycled uranium and thorium fuel," or as “the fuel-flexible adaptation” of the EC6. This was directed towards "a pre-project agreement for two AFCR units in China, including site allocation and the definition of the licensing basis." Initially the two Qinshan units could be modified to become AFCRs (see above), and beyond that the first AFCR new build project is envisaged in China. One 700 MWe AFCR can be fully fuelled by the recycled uranium from four LWRs’ used fuel. Hence deployment of AFCRs will greatly reduce the task of managing used fuel and disposing of high-level wastes, and will reduce China’s fresh uranium requirements. In November 2014 an expert panel hosted by the China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA) made a positive recommendation on the AFCR, praising the reactor's safety characteristics and saying that AFCR technology forms a synergy with China’s existing PWRs and that it is positioned to “promote the development of closed fuel cycle technologies and industrial development,” which is consistent with the overall strategy of nuclear power development in China. Immediately following this, a framework joint venture agreement between CNNC and Candu Energy was signed to build AFCR projects domestically and develop opportunities for them internationally. In September 2016 an agreement among SNC-Lavalin, CNNC and Shanghai Electric Group (SEC) was to set up a joint venture in mid-2017 to develop, market and build the AFCR, with NUE fuel. Two design centres are envisaged, in China and Canada, to complete the AFCR technology. This could lead to the construction of two AFCR units in China. The July 2014 agreement also provides a framework for collaboration between SNC-Lavalin and CNNC on uranium mining projects in China, “and the pursuit of international project opportunities in various high-growth sectors and markets.” This was supplemented by a November 2014 MoU between Natural Resources Canada and China’s NEA. Phase one of the earlier AECL agreement was a joint feasibility study to examine the economic feasibility of utilizing thorium in the Qinshan Phase III PHWRs. (Geologically, China is better endowed with thorium than uranium.) This involved demonstration use of eight thorium oxide fuel pins in the middle of a Canflex fuel bundle with low-enriched uranium. In July 2009, a second phase agreement was signed among these four parties to jointly develop and demonstrate the use of thorium fuel and to study the commercial and technical feasibility of its full-scale use in CANDU units. This was supported in December 2009 by an expert panel appointed by CNNC and comprising representatives from China’s leading nuclear academic, government, industry and R&D organizations. That panel also unanimously recommended that China consider building two new CANDU units to take advantage of the design's unique capabilities in utilizing alternative fuels. Like its 2014 successor, the expert panel comprised representatives from China’s leading nuclear academic, government, industry and R&D organizations. In particular it confirmed that thorium use in the Enhanced Candu 6 reactor design is “technically practical and feasible”, and cited the design’s “enhanced safety and good economics” as reasons it could be deployed in China in the near term. In 2017, a thorium-optimised AFCR is envisaged for deployment about 2030. Geologically, China is better endowed with thorium than uranium. HTR demonstration: HTR-10 A 10 MWt high-temperature gas-cooled demonstration reactor (HTR-10) was commissioned in 2000 by the Institute of Nuclear Energy Technology (INET) at Tsinghua University near Beijing. It reached full power in 2003. It has TRISO fuel particles compacted with graphite moderator into 27,000 spherical fuel elements each 60mm diameter (as a pebble bed). Each fuel element contains 5g UO 2 enriched to 17%, and burn-up is 80 GWd/t. It has ten control rods in the graphite side reflector, with seven absorber ball units as secondary reactivity control, and passive heat removal. It reaches an outlet temperature of 700°C for the helium coolant at 3 MPa and may be used as a source of process heat for heavy oil recovery or coal gasification. It is similar to the South African PBMR (Pebble Bed Modular Reactor) intended for electricity generation. In 2004, the reactor was subject to an extreme test of its safety when the helium circulator was deliberately shut off without the reactor being shut down. The temperature increased steadily, but the physics of the fuel meant that the reaction progressively diminished and eventually died away over three hours. At this stage a balance between decay heat in the core and heat dissipation through the steel reactor wall was achieved, the temperature never exceeded 1600°C, and there was no fuel failure. This was one of six safety demonstration tests conducted then. Initially the HTR-10 has been equipped with a steam generator producing steam at 435°C coupled to a 2.5 MWe steam turbine power generation unit. However, second phase plans are for it to operate at 950°C and drive a gas turbine, as well as enabling R&D in heat application technologies. This phase will involve an international partnership with Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), focused particularly on hydrogen production. Commercial HTRs: Shidaowan HTR-PM, Ruijin or Wan'an A key R&D project is the demonstration Shidaowan HTR-PM of 210 MWe (two reactor modules, each of 250 MWt) which is being built at Shidaowan in Shandong province, driving a single steam turbine at about 40% thermal efficiency. The size was reduced to 250 MWt from earlier 458 MWt modules in order to retain the same core configuration as the prototype HTR-10 and avoid moving to an annular design like South Africa's PBMR. Each reactor has a single steam generator with 19 elements (665 tubes) producing steam at 566°C. The fuel is 8.5% enriched (520,000 elements) giving 90 GWd/t discharge burn-up. Core outlet temperature is 750ºC for the helium, and steam temperature is 566°C. Core height is 11 metres, diameter 3 m. There are two independent reactivity control systems: the primary one is 24 control rods in the side graphite reflector, the secondary one six channels for small absorber spheres falling by gravity, also in the side reflector. China Huaneng Group, one of China's major generators, is the lead organization in the consortium with China Nuclear Engineering & Construction Group (CNEC) and Tsinghua University's INET, which is the R&D leader. Chinergy Co. is the main contractor for the nuclear island. Projected cost is US$ 430 million, with the aim for later units being US$ 1500/kWe. The EPC contract was let in October 2008 and construction started in December 2012, with completion expected in 2017. The engineering of the key structures, systems, and components is based on Chinese capabilities, though they include completely new technical features. CNEC is the lead organisation regarding HTR technology. The HTR-PM will pave the way for larger units based on the same module. The 600 MWe Ruijin units will effectively be three HTR-PMs. INET is in charge of R&D, and is aiming to increase the size of the 250 MWt module and also utilise thorium in the fuel. The HTR programme aims at exploring co-generation options in the near-term and producing hydrogen longer-term. Eventually it is intended that a series of HTRs, possibly using Brayton cycle with helium directly driving the gas turbines, will be factory-built and widely installed throughout China. Following the agreement on HTR industrialization, cooperation between CNEC and Tsinghua University in 2003, in March 2014 a new agreement between Tsinghua University and CNEC was described by CNEC as an important milestone in HTR commercialisation. CNEC is responsible for the HTR technical implementation, and becomes the main investor of HTR commercial promotion at home and abroad. In July 2016 CNEC signed an agreement with CGN to promote HTRs. In January 2016 CNEC signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah City for Nuclear and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE) to build a high-temperature reactor in that country, based on the HTR-PM. In August 2016 CNEC signed an agreement with BATAN to develop HTRs in Indonesia. At the end of 2014 the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG), which operates the High Flux Reactor (HFR) at Petten in the Netherlands, completed a "multi-year qualification irradiation project" for the fuel elements produced by INET for the reactor, focused on fission gas release. In March 2005, there was an agreement between PBMR of South Africa and Chinergy Co. of Beijing. PBMR Pty Ltd had been taking forward the HTR concept (based on earlier German work) since 1993 and was planning to build a 125 MWe demonstration plant. Chinergy Co. was drawing on the small operating HTR-10 research reactor at Tsinghua University which is the basis of the HTR-PM demonstration module which also derives from the earlier German development. The 2005 agreement was for cooperation on the demonstration projects and subsequent commercialisation, since both parties believed that the inherently safe pebble bed technology built in relatively small units would eventually displace the more complex light water reactors. In March 2009, a new agreement was signed between PBMR, Chinergy and INET, but PBMR then ran out of funds. Russia is pursuing its interest in HTR development through collaboration with China, OKBM being responsible on their side. Fast neutron reactors China's R&D on fast neutron reactors started in 1964. A 65 MWt sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor – the Chinese Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) – at the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) near Beijing, started up in July 2010.1 It was built by Russia's OKBM Afrikantov in collaboration with OKB Gidropress, NIKIET and Kurchatov Institute. It was grid connected at 40% power (8 MWe net) in July 2011, and ramped up to full 20 MWe power in December, then passed 'official' checks in October 2012. However, it operated only 682 hours to October 2015. After its first major overhaul, the unit completed 1320 hours of low-power operation test research in 2019 and into 2020. The CIAE announced that CEFR completed its first cycle of trial operation and commissioning tests in mid-2020. It said that this provided a solid basis to proceed with the reactor’s operating phase. It has negative temperature, power reactivity and sodium void coefficients. Its first fuel loading was UO 2 , reported to be high-enriched (65%), but ongoing fuel is MOX (25% Pu) with burnup of 60 GWd/t. Core outlet temperature is 530°C. It uses 260t of sodium in the two-loop primary circuit, and 48 t in secondary circuits. Steam temperature in tertiary circuits is 480°C. Coefficients of temperature reactivity and power reactivity are both negative. The CFR600 demonstration fast reactor (CDFR) is the next step in CIAE's programme, with construction start having been planned for December 2017 at Xiapu in Fujian and operation envisaged from about 2023. This will be 1500 MWt, 600 MWe, with 41% thermal efficiency, using MOX fuel with 100 GWd/t burn-up, and with two sodium coolant loops producing steam at 480°C. Later fuel will be metal with burn-up 100-120 GWd/t. Breeding ratio is about 1.1, design operating lifetime 40 years. This was CIAE's 'project one' Chinese Demonstration Fast Reactor (CDFR).* It is to have active and passive shutdown systems and passive decay heat removal. In June 2018 an intergovernmental agreement with Russia provided for Rosatom to help with construction of the CFR600 and to supply equipment and services, including MOX fuel production. A fuel supply contract to cover seven years' operation was signed with TVEL Electrostal in January 2019. * In October 2009, an agreement was signed by CIAE and China Nuclear Energy Industry Corporation (CNEIC) with Russia's Atomstroyexport to start pre-project and design works for a commercial nuclear power plant with two BN-800 reactorsc (see section on Sanming in the information page on Nuclear Power in China). These reactors are referred to by CIAE as 'project 2' Chinese Demonstration Fast Reactors (CDFRs), with construction originally to start in 2013 and commissioning 2018-19. In contrast to the intention in Russia, these would use ceramic MOX fuel pellets. The project was expected to lead to bilateral cooperation of fuel cycles for fast reactors. However, according to the Beloyarsk plant Director late in 2014, "The main objective of the BN-800 is [to provide] operating experience and technological solutions that will be applied to the BN-1200," and no further Russian BN-800 units are planned. The China BN-800 project shows no signs of proceeding. The CFR1000 will be a commercial unit (CCFR, Chinese Commercial Fast Reactor) of 1000-1200 MWe. Subject to a 2020 decision to proceed, construction start could be in December 2028 and operation from about 2034, with metal U-Pu-Zr fuel and 120-150 GWd/t burnup. An earlier design of this, the CDFR1000, was to be a three-loop 2500 MWt pool-type, use MOX fuel with average 66 GWd/t burn-up, run at 544°C, have breeding ratio 1.2, with 316 core fuel assemblies and 255 blanket ones, and a 40-year life. It is to have active and passive shutdown systems and passive decay heat removal. Some of these features may be in the CFR1000. MOX is seen only as an interim fuel, the target arrangement is metal fuel in closed cycle. The MOX fuel will come from conventionally reprocessed fuel, both PWR and FNR. Metal fuel will enable breeding ratio over 1.2 and will use electrometallurgical reprocessing (pyroprocessing). U-Pu-Zr fuel is also envisaged with 120 GWd/t burn-up and breeding ratio of 1.5, or less with minor actinide and long-lived fission product recycle. Broadly, 40 GWe of FNR capacity (with conversion ratio of 1) is envisaged by 2050, increasing markedly thereafter and displacing PWR capacity. PWR capacity in China is expected to level off at 200 GWe about 2045, and fast reactors progressively increase from 2030. One scenario with MOX fuel has 200 GWe of fast reactors by 2075, another has 300 GWe with metal fuel by 2055 and 1400 GWe by 2100. A CIAE projection has FNR capacity overtaking PWRs by 2055. Another fast reactor technology being pursued is the travelling-wave reactor (TWR). CGN and Xiamen University were reported to be cooperating on R&D for this. The Ministry of Science & Technology, with CNNC and SNPTC, were initially skeptical of it.* In January 2013 a prototype TWR-P was being discussed as a TerraPower-SNERDI joint project, and in December 2013 a US Federal Register notice said that the USA had negotiated an agreement with China “that would facilitate the joint development of TWR technology,” including standing wave versions of it. In September 2015 CNNC and TerraPower signed an agreement to work towards building a prototype 600 MWe TWR-P unit at Xiapu in Fujian province, over 2018 to 2025. Phase 3 of the TWR project was to be over 2019-32 with design and construction of a commercial TWR-C of about 1150 MWe. * The original TWR design was a fast reactor using natural or depleted uranium packed inside hundreds of hexagonal pillars. In a 'wave' that moves through the core at only one centimetre per year, the U-238 is bred progressively into Pu-239, which is the actual fuel. However, this design was radically changed to become a standing wave reactor with the fuel shuffled in the core. In September-October 2017 Terrapower signed a 50:50 joint venture agreement with CNNC to set up the Global Innovation Nuclear Energy Technology Co Ltd. It named CNNC’s China Tianjin TWR Investment Company (CTTIC) as its affiliate. This is possibly the same company as China Nuclear Traveling Wave Reactor Investment (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. At about the same time CNNC subsidiary China National Nuclear Power Company Ltd (CNNP) established a joint venture project company, CNNC Hebei Nuclear Power Co. Ltd, with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan ($150 million) to develop travelling wave reactors. The new entity was 35% owned by CNNP, with Shenhua Group holding 30%, Huadian Fuxin Energy Limited Co. holding 15%, and Zhejiang Zheneng Electric Power Co. and Jiantou Energy Investment Co. holding 10% each. In August 2020 CNNP announced that it would dissolve the TWR project company, along with the China Nuclear Traveling Wave Reactor Investment (Tianjin) Co. Ltd. since political developments with the USA made it impractical to proceed. In October 2017 Terrapower announced that it had signed a 50:50 joint venture agreement with CNNC to set up the Global Innovation Nuclear Energy Technology Co Ltd. This involves R&D by CNNC's China Tianjin TWR Investment Company. China is part of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) and in 2008 signed the system arrangement for sodium-cooled fast reactors, and has proceeded to the system integration & assessment (SIA) project arrangement for this design, with CIAE taking the lead. As well as close Russian involvement in China’s fast reactor program, there is a 2008 cooperation protocol with France, involving CIAE and CEA at Cadrache and focused on France’s Astrid and China’s CFR600 plans. CIAE announced first criticality of its Qixing (Venus) III zero-power lead-bismuth fast reactor in October 2019, and said that marked the start of core physics R&D on the reactor type as well as a transition from basic research to the engineering stage. (Qixing I is a fast subcritical accelerator-driven system used for research into the transmutation of waste; Qixing II is a lead-cooled zero-power fast reactor.) In March 2018 CGN signed an agreement with Ansaldo Nucleare of Italy to cooperate in designing the initial lead-cooled fast reactor of the China Lead-based Reactor (CLEAR) series. The CLEAR development plan will include three phases, the first being a 10 MWt lead-bismuth eutectic-cooled research reactor (CLEAR-I), with both critical and subcritical modes of operation. Ansaldo Nucleare previously led the development of a Generation IV lead-cooled fast reactor design, the 600 MWe ELSY (European Lead-cooled System) or European Lead Fast Reactor (ELFR). In November 2018 a new international group was launched by the China Academy of Sciences: the Cooperative Alliance for Small Lead-based Fast Reactor (CASLER). South Korea is working on lead-bismuth cooled designs of various sizes which would run on pyroprocessed fuel, and provided the first chairman of CASLER. The lead-cooled reactors are expected to be the first Generation IV types commissioned, before 2030. Light water reactors CNNC has been developing an ACP1000, which has led to an ACP100 modular small reactor for electricity, heating and desalination. An ACP600 is also being developed. CGN has been upgrading its CPR-1000 to the Generation III ACPR1000 with Chinese intellectual property rights. The NEA then ordered these later 1000 MWe designs to be rationalised, the result of which was the Hualong 1000 or ACC1000. In this the ACP1000 core design prevailed, though it was less mature. Some features of the ACPR1000 are incorporated, at least in the CGN version. The CNNC and CGN versions will be very similar but not identical, and each organisation will maintain much of its own supply chain. Fuller details of these numerous LWR designs are in the information paper on Nuclear Power in China. CNNC’s Nuclear Power Institute of China based in Chengdu is working on supercritical water-cooled reactor (SCWR) designs, both pressure vessel and pressure tube types. Two conceptual designs with thermal and mixed neutron spectrum cores have been established. It is reported to be working on a demonstration unit which could be operating in 2022. Accelerator-driven systems In connection with the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) collaboration, the China Academy of Sciences (CAS) started in 2011 a new effort to develop an ADS. The China LEAd-based Reactor (CLEAR) was selected as the reference reactor. Cobalt-60 production China has started production of the medical and industrial radioisotope cobalt-60 using CNNC's Candu 6 power reactors at Qinshan. This will be China's first domestic production of the isotope. Candu reactors are also used to produce cobalt-60 at Wolsong in South Korea, Bruce in Canada and Embalse in Argentina. The core of a Candu 6 has stainless steel adjusters that help to shape neutron flux to optimise power output and ensure efficient burn up of uranium fuel. The normal cobalt in these can be replaced with cobalt-59, which absorbs neutrons to become Co-60. After about 15 months the stainless steel 'targets' with Co-59 are withdrawn for processing. The development is part of China’s 11th Five Year Plan, and should lead to the production of 220 petabecquerels (PBq) of Co-60 per year – enough to satisfy 80% of Chinese needs. The addition will boost global production by around 10%. Wastes Early in 2012 it was reported that Changsha Boiler Plant Co Ltd in Hunan province in collaboration with Shenzhen-based China Nuclear Power Technology Research Institute (CNPRI) was starting to build a plasma furnace or reactor for "transmuting nuclear wastes". No details were supplied. Non-proliferation China is a nuclear weapons state, party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) under which a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been in force since 1989, with the Additional Protocol in force since 2002. China undertook nuclear weapons tests in 1964-96. Since then it has signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, although it has not yet ratified it. In May 2004, it joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). The NSG membership gives rise to questions about China's supply of two small power reactors to Pakistan, Chashma 3&4. Contracts for Chashma units 1&2 were signed in 1990 and 2000, before 2004 when China joined the NSG, which maintains an embargo on sales of nuclear equipment to Pakistan. The agreement for units 3&4 was announced in 2007, and signed in October 2008. China argues that units 3&4 are 'grandfathered', under arrangements which are consistent with those for units 1&2. In 2013 contracts were signed for two Hualong One reactors to be built near Karachi. China has a bilateral safeguards agreement with Australia, and peaceful use agreements for nuclear materials with Canada, USA, Germany and France. The Canadian one is very similar to Australian bilateral safeguards agreements. China uses Australian-obligated nuclear material only at nuclear facilities covered by its safeguards agreement with the IAEA. However, uranium conversion facilities are before the 'starting point' for IAEA safeguards procedures and are not included in IAEA safeguards agreements with nuclear weapons states. In accordance with long-standing international principles of accounting for nuclear material, on receipt of Australian natural uranium oxide concentrate in China an equivalent quantity of converted natural uranium in the form of uranium hexafluoride will be added to the inventory of a facility designated for safeguards – e.g. an enrichment plant. This will have exactly the same effect as if the natural uranium oxide had moved through the conversion plant, and will ensure that after receipt in China, such material remains in a facility designated for safeguards and listed under the bilateral agreement at all times. All imported nuclear power plants – from France, Canada and Russia – are under IAEA safeguards, as is the Russian Hanzhun centrifuge enrichment plant in Shaanxi. A significant number of military production reactors and other plants, with the related Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, are in Sichuan province. Notes & references Notes a. The Fuzhou mine in the southeastern Jiangxi province is in a volcanic deposit, as is Quinglong. Xinjiang's Yili basin in the far west of China, in which the Yining (or Kujiltai) ISL mine sits, is contiguous with the Ili uranium province in Kazakhstan, though the geology is apparently different. The other mines are in granitic deposits. Source: Uranium 2009: Resources, Production and Demand, OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency (2010). [Back] b. MYRRHA (Multipurpose Hybrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications) will be a sub-critical assembly relying on accelerated neutrons to achieve periods of criticality in a low-enriched uranium core. As well as being able to produce radiosiotopes and doped silicon, Myrrha's research functions would be particularly well suited to investigating transmutation. Earl in 2010, the Belgian government approved its share of funding of the facility at SCK-CEN's Mol site in northern Belgium. Belgium is to contribute 40% towards the €960 million ($1.3 billion) investment the project will require, but SCK-CEN is looking to set up an international consortium to ensure additional financing. Myrrha itself is scheduled for operation in 2023, but a reduced power model, Guinevere, became operational at Mol in March 2010. [Back] c. This October 2009 agreement followed a call 12 months earlier by the Russian-Chinese Nuclear Cooperation Commission for construction of an 800 MWe demonstration fast reactor similar to the OKBM Afrikantov design being built at Beloyarsk 4 and (then) due to start up in 2012. In June 2009 Rosatom and CNNC had signed an agreement for construction of two BN-800 demonstration reactors in China, and St Petersburg Atomenergoproekt (now Atomproekt) said it was starting design work on a BN-800 reactor for China. [Back] References 1. Criticality for fast reactor, World Nuclear News (22 July 2010); Chinese fast reactor nears commissioning, World Nuclear News (7 April 2009) [Back] General sources China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group website China National Nuclear Corporation website Dynabond Powertech Country Analysis Briefs: China, Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy Uranium 2011: Resources, Production and Demand, "Red Book", OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency (2012) Z. Zhang and S. Yu, Future HTGR developments in China after the criticality of the HTR-10, Nuclear Engineering and Design, Volume 218, p249 (2002) J. Qiu, Status and plans for nuclear power in China, World Nuclear Fuel Cycle 2006 Xu Mi (CIAE), 2010, Fast Reactor Technology Development for Sustainable Supply of Nuclear Energy in China, CINS Beijing (November 2010) Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) of the Australian Government and Westpac Institutional Bank, The Westpac – BREE China Resources Quarterly, Southern summer ~ Northern winter 2014 (February 2014) Hui Zhang, China’s Uranium Enrichment Capacity: Rapid Expansion to Meet Commercial Needs, Project on Managing the Atom Discussion Paper No. 2015-03, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School (August 2015) Zhang Donghui, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Nuclear Energy and Fast Reactor Development in China (May 2015) Xiao Min, CGN, Status and Perspective of Spent Fuel Management and Fuel Cycle in China, World Nuclear Association's Fuel Cycle Plenary session (September 2013) Hongjie Xu et al, Thorium Energy R&D in China, ThEC13 conference, CERN (October 2013) Yang Hongyi, CIAE & CNNC, Fast Reactor Progress and Cooperation with French (November 2015) Hongjie Xu, SINAP, Status and Perspective of TMSR in China, presented at the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) Molten Salt Reactor Workshop at the the Paul Scherrer Institute on 24 January 2017

Thousand Fell launches fully recyclable sneaker

Start-up Thousand Fell have launched a fully recyclable sneaker retailing for $120. The shoes are sold with a pre-payed shipping label and customers receive a $20 voucher towards their next pair when the shoes are returned for recycling. Designed to be easily disassembled so they can be taken apart, every component is recycled or composted.

https://www.thecut.com/2019/11/thousand-fell-launches-with-recyclable-vegan-sneakers.html

Photo: Vanessa Granda Few shoes are workhorses quite like plain white sneakers are: The kind you can throw on while you’re walking to the bodega, or wear to work, or walk five miles across the park in. There’s no shortage of plain white sneakers out there, but there is definitely a need for more sustainably made ones. Enter Thousand Fell, a new, recyclable brand of sneakers. Co-founders Stuart Ahlum and Chloe Songer decided from the beginning that they didn’t want their shoes to be sent to a landfill. “If we were going to launch a new brand then we needed to focus on rethinking the complete method of consumption,” Chloe said. “For us this means not only sustainable sourcing at the beginning of the supply chain and material innovation, but also accounting for the waste generated by a product when its lifetime is up.” The first recyclable sneaker I heard of was Adidas’s Futurecraft.Loop, which is a running shoe made of one single type of plastic (Adidas just recycled it’s first batch this month). Thousand Fells’ shoes, in contrast, are made of a leatherlike material made from post-consumer plastic and coated with bio-resin made from corn waste, with a rubber sole. When I first saw the shoes, I could hardly believe they weren’t real leather. They’re smooth, and look good after several months of wear. When your pair is worn out, you can send them back to the brand, and get $20 off of your next pair of shoes. The shoes are “ready for disassembly,” according to co-founder Stuart Ahlum. Every part of the shoe can be recycled, upcycled, or biodegraded (the biodegradable parts disintegrate in less than a year). It isn’t an exact 1:1 ratio – one old shoe won’t be turned into one other new shoe. It’s more like several old shoes can be recycled into a new shoe. But the idea is that you’ll love your white sneakers so much, wear them for 10,000 steps every day, return them to the brand to be recycled, get a new pair, and repeat. And that process – even though it involves buying new products – will be a bit kinder to the planet than buying new shoes every year and sending the old ones to landfill. The shoes retail for $120, and are available now on the Thousand Fell site. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission.

Savari's V2X software adopted by three OEMs

Savari has announced that its V2X Software Stack has been adopted by three original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) for use in new vehicles this year. The unnamed firms include two leading global automotive manufacturers and one leading OEM in Asia, accounting for roughly 15% of the global market share for automotive sales in 2019, according to Savari. The market for Vehicle-to-Everything technology, which enables direct, near-instantaneous communication between vehicles, roadside infrastructure and pedestrians, is projected to reach $6.4bn by the end of 2023.

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/01/20200107-savari.html

Savari announced that two leading global automotive manufacturers and one leading OEM in Asia have committed to implementing the Savari V2X Software Stack in new automobiles beginning in 2020. Together, these automotive OEMs account for more than 30% of the US market share and roughly 15% of the global market share for automotive sales in 2019. As a result, Savari’s V2X software will be operating in roughly one in three new cars domestically, and one in seven cars worldwide. Working alongside the broad automotive and telecom ecosystems, Savari expects its V2X, cellular-compatible technology to deliver numerous benefits to drivers and communities around the world, including enhanced safety, higher levels of automated driving, lowered environmental impact, traffic efficiency and more. Vehicle-to-Everything communications technology enables direct, nearly instantaneous communications between vehicles, roadside infrastructure and pedestrians. According to Markets Reports World, the global V2X Communication System market is projected to reach $6.43 billion by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of 14.32% during 2019-2023. Savari’s V2X Software Stack is both radio-technology and radio-hardware-vendor agnostic. It supports both DSRC and C-V2X and is integrated with the major chipset providers. Additionally, Savari’s V2X Software Stack is POSIX-compliant and available on major operating systems including Linux and QNX. With a focus on smart cities V2X, Savari works closely with road and city authorities, and has developed applications that are broader in scope than many developers, encompassing infrastructure-to-phone and vehicle-to-phone applications, as well as Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I). Savari also announced it has completed a critical certification for its C-V2X equipment: The EU Radio Emissions Directive (RED) testing for its MobiWAVE on-board-units and StreetWAVE road- side-units. RED testing is required for deploying any radio-based device in Europe and requires passing stringent requirements for mission-mode transmission and reception. The technology must not interfere with other radio devices in both the spectral and physical vicinity or emit spurious radio transmissions. In addition to acquiring this critical certification, Savari’s software is also compliant with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT); CEN, one of three European Standardization Organizations recognized by the European Union; and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which is responsible for developing and defining voluntary standards in Europe. Savari was the first stack provider to have joined and supported the 5GAA (5G Automotive Association), an international cross-industry organization of companies from the automotive, technology, and telecommunications industries. Most recently, Savari’s MobiWAVE on-board unit successfully completed ETSI C-V2X Plugtests performed in partnership with 5GAA.

** What's next for litigation funders and the class actions industry

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services has completed its inquiry into litigation funding and the regulation of the class action industry. The Inquiry received over 90 submissions and heard from a range of witnesses, including litigation funders, superannuation funds, law firms (plaintiff and defendant), insurance bodies and legal academics. Many submissions opposed the lifting of the ban on contingency fees.

https://www.allens.com.au/insights-news/insights/2020/08/Whats-next-for-litigation-funders-and-the-class-actions-industry/

Litigation funding in the spotlight 8 min read The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (the Committee) has now completed its inquiry into litigation funding and the regulation of the class action industry (the Inquiry). The public hearings saw strong support for the regulation of litigation funders and opposition to the lifting of the ban on contingency fees. The Inquiry is set to publish its final report in December 2020. In this Insight, we identify the key themes arising from the Inquiry, which we expect to be a focus of the Inquiry's final report and recommendations. We also outline the practical implications of the recently introduced legislation giving effect to the announcements made earlier this year regarding the regulation of litigation funders and the introduction of contingency fees in Victoria. The Inquiry In May 2020, the House of Representatives referred the Inquiry to the Committee – the third government-led inquiry of this kind. You can read more about the terms of reference of the Inquiry here. The Inquiry received over 90 submissions and heard from a range of witnesses, including litigation funders, superannuation funds, law firms (plaintiff and defendant), insurance bodies and legal academics. Allens' submission to the Inquiry In our submission to the Inquiry, we expressed the following views: increased regulation of the litigation funding industry is desirable – preferably through an Australian Financial Services Licence ( AFSL ) regime tailored to the circumstances of litigation funders. This is particularly so given the rapidly increasing number of class actions in Australia (read more in our 2020 Class Action Risk Report); ) regime tailored to the circumstances of litigation funders. This is particularly so given the rapidly increasing number of class actions in Australia (read more in our 2020 Class Action Risk Report); the current ban on contingency fees should not be lifted (although that step has since been taken in Victoria); common fund orders and similar arrangements should not form any part of Australia's class action regime. They do not increase access to justice or facilitate fair and equitable outcomes for plaintiffs; and class closure orders are important in facilitating settlement and allowing for finality to be achieved for plaintiffs, group members and defendants. Allens has previously made submissions to the Australian and Victorian Law Reform Commissions, which examined similar issues to those canvassed by the current Inquiry. Submissions and public hearings There were some key themes arising from the public submissions made to the Inquiry: Regulation of litigation funders : The submissions received by the Inquiry were overwhelmingly supportive of the regulation of litigation funders by way of an AFSL regime. However, we and others raised concerns about the appropriateness of the managed investment scheme ( MIS ) regime under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ( Corporations Act ) as the mechanism for regulating litigation funding arrangements. : The submissions received by the Inquiry were overwhelmingly supportive of the regulation of litigation funders by way of an AFSL regime. However, we and others raised concerns about the appropriateness of the managed investment scheme ( ) regime under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ( ) as the mechanism for regulating litigation funding arrangements. Lifting of the ban on contingency fees : Many submissions opposed the lifting of the ban on contingency fees for similar reasons to those we identified in our submission, including that such arrangements raise conflicts of interest for lawyers by creating an incentive to settle early rather than to act in the best interests of the plaintiff and group members. A number of public submissions expressed the view that, in the event that the ban on contingency fees was lifted, courts should have the power to reject, vary or amend the terms of contingency agreements. : Many submissions opposed the lifting of the ban on contingency fees for similar reasons to those we identified in our submission, including that such arrangements raise conflicts of interest for lawyers by creating an incentive to settle early rather than to act in the best interests of the plaintiff and group members. A number of public submissions expressed the view that, in the event that the ban on contingency fees was lifted, courts should have the power to reject, vary or amend the terms of contingency agreements. Economic impacts of class actions: We and others supported a review of the continuous disclosure rules in the Corporations Act, including the introduction of a fault-based regime and a due diligence defence. However, others (in particular, plaintiff firms) strongly opposed any reform to these laws. The Committee conducted five public hearings throughout July and August. The key themes emerging from those hearings included: general support of litigation funding as a key mechanism for access to justice – but with reform needed to better regulate funding arrangements and the potential conflicts of interest between litigation funders and the acting law firm; support for litigation funders being subject to an AFSL regime to improve transparency and accountability in the litigation funding industry; support for increased involvement by ASIC in the regulation of litigation funders and class actions, to alleviate the regulatory burden on the courts; and a variety of views about the power of the courts to make common fund orders. Further regulatory developments since the Inquiry commenced Regulation of litigation funders On 24 July 2020, the Corporations Amendment (Litigation Funding) Regulations 2020 (Cth) (the Amending Regulations) commenced. The Amending Regulations give effect to the announcement made on 22 May 2020 by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg that litigation funders operating in Australia will be required to hold an AFSL and comply with the MIS regulatory regime under the Corporations Act. Read more about that announcement here. The Amending Regulations will only apply to class action litigation funding schemes1 entered into on or after 22 August 2020, limiting disruption to proceedings already on foot. In summary, the key effects of the changes include that: litigation funders must obtain an AFSL and comply with the AFSL obligations in order to offer, or provide financial product advice in relation to, an interest in a litigation funding scheme. 2 This includes making a litigation funding agreement available to potential group members; This includes making a litigation funding agreement available to potential group members; a litigation funding scheme is very likely to constitute a MIS. Additionally, if the scheme meets the registration requirements in Chapter 5C of the Corporations Act, the scheme will need to be registered as a MIS and, correspondingly, will be subject to the requirements in Chapter 5C of that Act. Those requirements include that the scheme be operated by a Responsible Entity (which must be a public company that holds an AFSL authorising it to operate a registered MIS) and must have a scheme constitution and compliance plan; a funder or other person that offers, issues or recommends an interest in a litigation funding scheme to retail investors will be subject to the product disclosure requirements in Part 7.9 of the Corporations Act (including the requirement that a Product Disclosure Statement be given and requirements that apply when advertising the litigation funding scheme); and the anti-hawking provisions, which regulate unsolicited offers to issue or sell financial products, and related provisions will now apply to litigation funding schemes. These changes are intended to subject litigation funders to greater regulatory supervision with the goal of improving accountability, disclosure, conflict management and protections for group members. In our submission to the Inquiry, we recommended that further steps be taken to tailor the AFSL and MIS regimes to the specific circumstances of litigation funding, particularly with respect to financial adequacy, reporting and conflict management. We said that some legislative or regulatory intervention to modify the application of the MIS regime may be needed to ensure effective regulation of litigation funding arrangements. The need for this tailoring of the MIS regime to suit the litigating funding context is recognised in the Explanatory Statement that has since been released for the Amending Regulations, which notes that ASIC may need to consider whether the changes should be supplemented by exemptions and modifications made under an ASIC instrument. ASIC indicated in its appearance before the Inquiry that it was considering this, and ASIC has since conducted a roundtable on potential exemptions and modifications.3 We also expressed the view in our submission to the Inquiry that there should be increased court supervision of litigation funders (including an express statutory power to vary disproportionate or excessive funding commissions as part of any settlement approval) and of the relationships between funders and lawyers. Neither of these matters is addressed by the Amending Regulations. Contingency fees introduced in Victoria For reasons set out in detail in our submission to the Inquiry, we oppose the use of contingency fee arrangements in Australia. However, on 1 July 2020, the Justice Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments Act 2020 (Vic) came into effect, allowing lawyers to charge contingency fees for class actions in Victoria. As a result of the Bill being passed, in Victoria, a representative plaintiff in a class action can now apply to the court for an order that the legal costs payable to the law practice representing the plaintiff and group members be calculated as a percentage of the amount of any award or settlement that may be recovered in the proceeding. There is no statutory limit on the percentage amount that the law practice may recover – the Opposition's proposal to cap such fees at 35% was defeated. Whilst we consider it necessary to have adequate checks and balances on, among other things, the amount of fees charged by a law firm using a contingency fee arrangement, we opposed the use of a statutory cap. In our view, having such a cap may simply encourage plaintiff firms acting on a contingency fee basis to use the cap as a default rate, rather than a maximum. The new regime gives the court the power during the course of the proceeding to amend a group costs order, including, but not limited to, amending any percentage ordered. We support the court having this power to vary the percentage ordered as a more appropriate check on the appropriateness of the fees being charged than a statutory cap. Together with the New South Wales Supreme Court and the Federal Court, the Victorian Supreme Court has long been a preferred jurisdiction for Australian class actions. As a result of contingency fees now being allowed in Victoria (and not being allowed in any other Australian jurisdiction), we may well see an increase in class actions filed in Victoria compared to New South Wales and the Federal Court, with entrepreneurial plaintiff firms seeing Victoria as a more desirable and lucrative jurisdiction in which to file proceedings. Next steps The Committee is due to produce its final report in December 2020. We will continue to report on key developments in this area. The recent changes to contingency fees in Victoria and the application of the AFSL and MIS regimes to litigation funders takes some of the steam out of the current Inquiry. In light of these developments, we expect that the Inquiry's final report will focus on whether contingency fees should be permitted in class actions in the Federal Court, and the broader economic impacts of the class action regime, including the operation of the continuous disclosure regime in the context of shareholder class actions.

Food brands plan for second wave increasing inventory levels

Packaged food manufacturers in the US are responding to the threat of a second wave of the coronavirus by increasing inventory levels. Premium frozen food maker Saffron Road is buying 50% more materials and supplies that before than pandemic and plans to increase its rate of stockpiling later in the year in anticipation of a Q4 surge in demand, CEO Adnan Durrani told FOX Business.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/packaged-food-brands-prepare-for-second-wave

In anticipation of a second wave of coronavirus, many packaged food companies are doubling down on inventory and preparing for more people to eat meals at home. GENERAL MILLS ADDS MORE OUTSOURCING PARTNERS AS IT AIMS TO MEET PACKAGED-FOOD DEMAND “We are anticipating for a potential surge in the fourth quarter,” CEO of Saffron Road Adnan Durrani told FOX Business. “And whether or not that happens we will be preparing for it.” In gearing up for a potential second wave, Saffron Road, the leader of clean-label brands of premium frozen meals, has informed its facilities to continue to stock up on all the materials and supplies. The company is buying 50 percent more inventory than before and will increase its purchases later this year in the case there is another spike in demand correlated with rising COVID-19 cases. The company, also a leader in world cuisines, has done everything from putting containers with basmati rice and containers of coconut milk from Thailand in the water to stepping up its orders in packaging and overseas contracting with the facilities that produce the cardboard boxes. TRADER JOE'S TO UPDATE PACKAGING FOR INTERNATIONAL FOODS “We feel like this is a time for us to not only deliver these products and to make sure they’re in stock in store so consumers can have their health needs and their product expectations met,” Durrani said. “But also because we feel like this is an opportunity to grow the brand and get stronger household penetration.” General Mills Inc. has also felt the effects of more consumers eating at home. Stocks in this Article GIS GENERAL MILLS INC. $81.26 -1.03 (-1.25%) In its fourth-quarter earnings announcement, the leading food company reported accelerated net sales growth due to the uptick in home food demand. Some of the categories that grew the most were also those most affected by at-home eating including meals, baking goods and cereal. As a result, the Minneapolis-based company will focus on making sure that staple items like Cheerios, Betty Crocker cake mixes and Nature Valley granola bars remain on grocery store shelves to prepare for a potential virus resurgence. CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC BOOSTS COMFORT FOOD SALES “There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted our business over the last few months. General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call. "We’ve seen an unprecedented increase in demand for food at home and a corresponding decrease away-from-home food demand.” General Mills expects to incur incremental operational costs to manufacture more products in external supply chains and to continue transporting some shipments in less-than-full truckloads in order to quickly service customer orders. The company will also work with new third-party manufacturing partners. Shifting consumer food purchases reveal new eating habits as more people prepare meals at home. Growth in areas like frozen meals and healthy eating have forecasted insight into leading pandemic staples and forced some packaged food companies to hone in on certain products. Frozen meal sales have surged for Saffron Road, for example. CORONAVIRUS CAUSED FOOD PRICES TO SKYROCKET During the last 4 months, there has been a steady 30 percent to 35 percent increase in frozen meal sales compared to last year, according to a report put out by Refrigerated and Frozen Foods. According to an April consumer survey conducted by the American Frozen Food Institute, 60 percent of consumers said that they are purchasing more frozen food items because of a longer shelf-life, while 58 percent of consumers said they were stocking up in case of potential food shortages. “We’ve seen that refrigerated entrees have really declined dramatically, and I think the main reason for that is because you don’t have folks going into the stores as much or returning to them as much,” Durrani said. “After seeing that refrigerator entrees declined dramatically, we pulled out of a few tests we had run with Costco earlier this year.” GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE On top of that, 72 percent of Americans have bought frozen meal brands that they have never tried before. As a serendipitous byproduct of that, Saffron Foods picked up thousands of new consumers, and the brand’s stockpiling on inventories to as many retailers possible back in January enabled the brand to reach consumers on a new scale. “The inventory issue is something that luckily we have been ahead of in January and February,” Durrani said. “And we are continuing to go full throttle with our production moving forward.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Cancer therapy holds great promise

The development of a new cancer treatment named CAR-T therapy could signal a medical breakthrough, according to experts. The therapy involves significant alterations to the patient's immune system, however, and as such carries severe and dangerous side effects.

https://www.statnews.com/2016/08/23/cancer-car-t-side-effects/

A cancer cell (in white) being attacked by two cytotoxic T cells (in red). CAR-T therapy aims to harness and accelerate this natural immune response to attack tumors. Soon after she received the treatment, Karen Koehler’s brain swelled. Her blood pressure plummeted. As she fell into a coma, her husband and sister sat at her bedside — urging the doctors to keep pushing her farther along the razor’s edge between life and death. Koehler was undergoing a promising — and terrifying — experimental therapy that her oncologists hoped could rid her body of cancer entirely. It’s called CAR-T therapy, and it works by engineering the patient’s own immune cells to attack cancer. advertisement One of the hallmarks of CAR-T: It has to nearly kill you if it’s going to save you. The treatment induces such sudden and severe side effects that it can take a small army of top specialists to keep patients alive while their newly engineered immune systems attack their cancer cells. The result: CAR-T remains so risky, so complex, and so difficult to manage that experts warn it’ll be years before it’s available to most patients who would stand to benefit — even though two drug makers, startup Kite Pharma and pharmaceutical giant Novartis, are racing to get their versions of the therapy approved by the the Food and Drug Administration as early as next year. “The thing is, cellular therapies are extraordinarily complex drugs,” said Dr. Michael Milone, a CAR-T scientist at University of Pennsylvania. advertisement CAR-T has so far been tested on hundreds of patients, mostly with blood cancers; solid tumors pose more of a challenge. Proponents say it’s just about ready for prime time. But it’s still quite early, cautioned Bruce Levine, a gene therapy professor at University of Pennsylvania. (Both Levine and Milone are working with Novartis on its CAR-T therapy.) “We’re in the Model T phase,” Levine said. An infusion of Frankenstein cells CAR-T therapy, short for chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, works like this: Physicians draw a patient’s blood and harvest her cytotoxic T cells — that is, cells that are already circulating in her body and are designed to attack infected or malignant cells. The cells are re-engineered in a lab so they can learn how to attack her particular cancer. The patient is then usually treated with chemotherapy to wipe out some of her existing immune cells, to give the engineered ones more room to replicate. The therapy itself consists of an infusion: The Frankensteinian T cells are fed back into the patient’s bloodstream, where they proliferate and work furiously to kill tumor cells. A single T cell can wipe out up to 100,000 cells. But here’s the rub: Adding hyperactive T cells can cause the body’s immune response to go haywire. Patients often wind up with a condition called cytokine release syndrome, which occurs when T cells excrete huge quantities of cytokines — small proteins involved in cell signaling. A “cytokine storm” can cause severe fevers, nausea, extreme fatigue, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, and organ swelling. In other words, it feels like the worst imaginable case of flu — which, of course, can be devastating in a patient already weakened by cancer and chemotherapy. “The more tumor you have in your body, the more severe the cytokine release syndrome,” Milone said. As the tumors go away, the cytokines go away, and symptoms subside. A number of rudimentary tools are being used to temper the side effects of a CAR-T infusion, including steroids and drugs more typically used to treat juvenile arthritis. But few physicians have a grip on how to appropriately treat cytokine release syndrome, because it’s so rare in everyday practice, Milone said. A second complication associated with some CAR-T therapies is neurotoxicity: Patients often experience memory loss, hallucinations, and swelling of the brain. Researchers still don’t know much about what causes the neurotoxicity, but it’s already proven deadly. Last month, three patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia enrolled in a Juno Therapeutics CAR-T clinical trial died from complications including neurotoxicity, prompting the FDA to temporarily halt the trial. Juno attributed the deaths in part to one of the chemotherapy drugs, fludarabine, given to patients before they received their infusion of engineered cells. After Juno rewrote the trial protocol to eliminate that drug, the FDA allowed it to restart. “I think we have made significant progress with cytokine release syndrome,” said Steve Harr, chief financial officer of Juno Therapeutics. “But we have a lot more to do with neurotoxicity.” Juno now hopes to get its drugs approved as early as 2018. On their own, cytokine storms and neurotoxicity are both highly dangerous. Karen Koehler was hit with both. When vomiting is good news A teacher and avid golfer who lives in New Jersey, Koehler was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2011. It’s a form of blood cancer that’s often fairly benign, and for the first few years, doctors advised her to simply keep checking in — no therapy needed. “I felt healthy, but doctors basically told me I had this nuclear bomb in my body,” said Koehler, who is now 59. “I just didn’t know if or when it would go off.” Still, she carried on, even naming her blood cancer “Lucy and Ethel,” which has the letters “CLL” in it. But in 2014, her cancer suddenly changed, from seemingly innocuous to terminal. She was told that chemotherapy wouldn’t work in her case, and was given a maximum of two years to live. Stunned, Koehler began looking for options. A physician told her that an experimental therapy called CAR-T was working wonders for other patients with her specific cancer, and she enrolled in a trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Engineering the cells to infuse them back into the patient can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. In Koehler’s case, her blood was drawn in October 2014, and she didn’t receive the therapy until February 2015. She was fitted with a catheter under her arm on a Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, she was given two days of chemotherapy — a combination of the drugs fludarabine and cytoxan. Koehler didn’t have any reaction at that point. “The big joke through all of this was how good I looked,” she said. “My husband is bald, so I can’t tell you how many times I was sitting in hospital, and doctors would start talking to him, instead, because he was bald.” Newsletters Sign up for The Readout Your daily guide to what’s happening in biotech. Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy On Tuesday, she got her “bag of cells” infused. It was no big deal, either — she sat there, chatting, as nurses bustled in and out to check her vitals. An hour later, she started getting sick. She knew it was a sign that her immune system was kicking into overdrive. “When I started throwing up, I thought, ‘Oh my god, this is great,’” Koehler said. Then, it wasn’t. Her heart started beating erratically. Her blood pressure dropped. Then brain swelling. Delirium. A coma. They moved her to the intensive care unit. And that’s where she stayed, for eight days. Her husband and her sister, a nurse, told the doctor to “take her as far as you can take her,” Koehler said. They didn’t want to stop the process prematurely, and risk not killing all of the cancer. “But I got to the brink, and they said enough,” Koehler said. Doctors gave her an infusion of steroids, which shuts down the T cells that cause the cytokine storm — and also halts their aggressive attack on the cancer. When she came to, Koehler just remembers being confused. Thanks, most likely, to the effects of the fludarabine, she had frequent, severe hallucinations. She imagined the nurses were selling blood next door. That she was on a TV show about golf. “That stuff was scary — I knew the hallucinations were just a bad dream, but they seemed so real,” she said. All told, Koehler was in the hospital for three weeks. Her costs were covered by insurance and by Juno, since she was part of its clinical trial. But the costs for treating future patients could be enormous, with potential bills running hundreds of thousands of dollars. Harr, the CFO of Juno, has seen estimates as high as $500,000 to $750,000 — though said that doesn’t necessarily reflect how Juno will price its own CAR-T therapy. Koehler’s hallucinations persisted for several weeks after she left the hospital, as did the confusion. But the treatment worked: By March 28, she was able to make it down to Florida for a family reunion. She golfed nine holes. Karen and Dave Koehler are grateful that her experimental CAR-T therapy beat back her cancer. Cancer Research Institute A ‘suicide switch’ to turn off the therapy Koehler’s experience shows just how tantalizing CAR-T is: A year and a half after the treatment, she remains free of cancer. Dr. Stephanie Goff, a surgeon at the National Cancer Institute who’s working with Kite on its treatments, said CAR-T seems to work in about half of patients with lymphomas and leukemias who have run out of other treatment options, though some studies suggest the response rate is higher in certain patient populations, such as children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. But the side effects Koehler experienced, and the enormous amount of expertise it took to manage them, illustrate the risks of expanding the therapy to a broad patient population. So far, it’s been tested in just a handful of academic hospitals, including the University of Pennsylvania and Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York. To bring CAR-T mainstream, biotech scientists are working avidly to find ways to minimize side effects. Houston-based Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, for instance, is designing two switches to help control the deployment of T cells. One is triggered by a drug called rimiducid, which turns on a “suicide switch” in the T cell, causing it to die. The second works more like a gas pedal that can control how fast the cells proliferate in the body and attack the tumors, Bellicum chief executive officer Tom Farrell said. The goal: To be able to control the patient’s response and to minimize side effects. Ziopharm Oncology, working with biopharma behemoth Intrexon, has a similar plan in mind. It’s developing what Dr. Laurence Cooper, the company’s chief executive officer, describes as “remote-controlled T cells.” The idea is that the CAR-T cells it infuses will only be “turned on” to fight against the cancer if the patient is also given a drug called veledimex. If a patient’s doing poorly in response to the therapy, doctors can stop giving him veledimex. Where Bellicum uses the “suicide switch” to kill the T cells, Ziopharm — which is based in Boston — tries to mute them, but leave them alive, so they can be reactivated later if the patient is able to tolerate further treatment. “It’s a shame to use the ‘suicide switch,’ because you’ve taken a really good medicine and eliminated that from the person’s body,” Cooper said. Bringing CAR-T to the mainstream To learn more about CAR-T, physicians say it has to be used more broadly. “If we can get cellular therapy out of academic institutions, and out into mainstream medicine, we’ll have more understanding of its power,” said Goff, the National Cancer Institute surgeon. But that’s tricky because of the side effects. Education is critical: When any company rolls out a new therapeutic, part of its duty is to teach physicians how to appropriately use the product. This is exceptionally important with CAR-T therapy, said Dr. David Chang, chief medical officer of Kite Pharma. “I don’t want to sugarcoat the adverse events for CAR-T therapies,” Chang said. Newsletters Sign up for Daily Recap A roundup of STAT's top stories of the day. Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy However, he said, CAR-T is meant to be a one-time therapy: After an intense burst of treatment, patients ideally recover from their cancers and go on to lead relatively normal lives. This “really is moving away from the paradigm of repeat chronic treatment we’ve become accustomed to in oncology,” he said — so he thinks with training, it could someday become fairly routine in hospitals across the country. “I don’t think this is a treatment that we foresee will be limited to comprehensive cancer centers or specialized hospitals,” Chang said. Others aren’t so sure, at least not yet: “Whether this will be technology that’s specific to boutique, high-end academic centers, or technology that can be used in community hospitals if people learn how to infuse them in a safe manner — we just don’t know yet,” said Dr. Renier Brentjens, director of cellular therapeutics at Memorial Sloan Kettering, who is working with Juno on its CAR-T treatment. As for Koehler, these days she feels good — for the most part. Her energy levels are better than they were before the CAR-T therapy, and the cancer-free diagnosis has kept her spirits aloft. But she needs regular infusions of immunity-boosting drugs, because her new T cells are still killing off other immune cells. Koehler can’t work, and she still gets sick very easily. Despite the agonizing side effects, she said she’d do it all again. “When we realized I had a nuclear bomb in my body, we were very scared,” she said, “and when we learned that I was cancer-free, all I could think was, ‘How blessed am I?’” Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Dr. David Chang’s title and Juno’s assessment of the patient deaths in its clinical trial. The credit for the photo of Karen Koehler was also inaccurate.

Preventing ransomware attacks by targeting bitcoin and cryptocurrency

Experts have said that action may be required against cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin that are difficult to trace and often used to pay criminals behind cyber-attacks. This comes as recent months have seen an increase in reports of ransomware as well as a report detailing that hackers employing such software are capable of netting $7, 500 per month. Some banks have reportedly begun maintaining stockpiles of 50-100 bitcoin to deploy in case of ransomware attacks.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/preventing-ransomware-attacks-by-targeting-bitcoin-and-cryptocurrency-2016-9?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=referral?r=US&IR=T

David S. Kris speaking at a CSIS panel event in September 2016. CSIS Many crimes can be solved by following the money, and that may hold true for the growth of ransomware attacks — though the money itself may be different. Countering the increasing use of ransomware — malware that attacks computers and networks and encrypts files, which criminals then demand payment in order to decrypt — may require action against hard-to-trace cryptocurrencies like bitcoin that are often used to pay the criminals behind the attacks, according to David S. Kris, former assistant attorney general at the US Department of Justice's national-security division. "I think the way to attack this — and I think the way you’re probably going to see some legal change over the next few years — is on the other end, with respect to the payments," Kris said during the question-and-answer session of a Center for Strategic and International Studies panel event. "And as I understand it — again, without having studied it too extensively — is that, you know, fintech is what is enabling this, cryptocurrency," Kris added. Reports of ransomware use have increased considerably in recent months. "In the last six to 12 months, this has just gone so aggressively to the business environment," Marcin Kleczynski, CEO of cybersecurity company Malwarebytes, told Business Insider in August. "We see companies from 25 people all the way to 250,000 people getting hit with ransomware." An Osterman research survey sponsored by Malwarebytes found that 54% of businesses surveyed had come under attack from ransomware in the 12 months through August 2016. Malwarebytes Tech firm Kaspersky Lab said this summer that the number of victims attacked was growing at an alarming rate — up from 131,000 in 2014-2015 to 718,000 in 2015-2016, according to AFP. Some researchers have seen a 3,500% increase in the web infrastructure needed to run ransomware campaigns. According to Kleczynski, some banks have begun stockpiling bitcoin — which currently trades about about $600 to one — in case of a ransomware attack. "I talked to a couple of banks, and they say they have 50-100 bitcoin ready at all times in a wallet to deploy if a ransomware attack hits," he told Business Insider's James Cook. A report this summer found that hackers employing ransomware could pull in as much as $7,500 a month. And while individual victims are usually only hit with demands for a few hundred dollars, the likelihood that they will pay has made ransomware an appealing venture for hackers. And financial-services firms and individual people aren't the only potential targets. A NASCAR team admitted to paying hackers after its computers where hit with a ransomware attack. In August, security researchers demonstrated a ransomware attack on a smart thermostat, raising the possibility that Internet of Things devices will come into the crosshairs. Hackers have reportedly stolen $65 million worth of Bitcoins from a major Hong Kong exchange Bitfinex, which has now suspended all transactions © AFP/File Philippe Lopez The appeal of ransomware has no doubt been burnished by cryptocurrencies like bitcoin coming into the mainstream. "I personally would not be surprised to see over the next few years increasing regulation that maybe makes it more challenging for these kinds of anonymous, substantially untraceable — I don’t want to say it’s completely untraceable — payments to be made," Kris said during the CSIS event. "I think probably where you’re going to see legal change is in the area of the payment scheme. That may be wrong, but that’s sort of what I expect." However authorities choose to counter the use of ransomware, it's unlikely the threat will go away any time soon. "The extortion model is here to stay," a Kaspersky Lab expert said in a statement about rising ransomware attacks on Android users.

Malware and CryptoLocker attacks on corporate sphere escalated during 2015

In its year-end review, international software security group Kaspersky Lab, revealed that attempted malware infection affected a majority of PCs in the workplace, with 58% becoming infected, marking a 3% year-on-year increase. Alongside this, CryptoLocker attacks doubled. These attacks see cybercriminals demand ransoms from Trojan-infected PC users. Kaspersky expects these trends to continue with the focus on office-oriented applications. Notably, cybercriminals are developing more targeted tactics, gathering intelligence on the companies and their employees that they are looking to hit. Banks, investment funds and financial instrument handlers (such as exchanges) continue to be badly affected, but the report suggests that cybercriminals are diversifying and moving into new sectors such as telecommunications.

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3018842/security/kaspersky-ransomware-doubled-last-year-shifted-focus-to-enterprise.html

A majority of PCs in the workplace were struck by “at least one attempted malware infection” last year, cybersecurity company Kaspersky said in an overview of corporate threats observed throughout 2015 released last month. Well over half, or 58%, of PCs were infected. That’s a gain of 3% over 2014. Meanwhile, CryptoLocker attacks doubled, Kaspersky says in its press release about the report. CryptoLocker attacks are when a trojan-infected PC user receives a ransom demand to decrypt files, stop a denial of service attack, or other onerous result if the ransom isn’t paid. And “cybercriminals don’t always honor the agreement once the ransom has been paid,” Kaspersky says. Big trouble this year? Research continues to suggest that cybersecurity will be a big issue in 2016. One in three “business computers were exposed at least once to an Internet-based attack” last year, Kaspersky estimated. And the enterprise is currently the focus of these assaults. Office-oriented applications were exploited “three times as often as in consumer attacks,” Kaspersky says in the release. Not an accident Unlike hacking of old, today’s hackers have been gathering intelligence on target companies. “These attacks were found to be carefully planned, with cyber-attackers taking time to investigate a target company’s contacts and suppliers, and even the personal interests and browsing habits of individual employees,” according to the security outfit. In other words, it’s no longer just kids in bedrooms with a laptop and too much time on their hands. Mobile increasing too USB sticks and other local threats, such as media devices, also increased last year. A 7% uptick in the Android arena emerged as more hackers realized data was attainable off mobile devices as well as the traditional PC in the work environment. CryptoLockers The ransomware trojans, called CryptoLocker, were detected on over 50,000 machines in the corporate environment in 2015. That was twice the rate found in the previous year, and more than on consumers' devices. The reason for the enterprise-weighted targeting? It’s probably because corporate powers are more likely to pay the ransom with no questions asked. Individuals could be more inclined to put up an argument—or just give up. It’s the money Banks, investment funds, and financial instrument handlers like exchanges were hit hard, Kaspersky says. It reckons one hacker group raked in $2.5 million to $10 million per successful attack. It wasn’t just traditional banks facing losses, though. Bitcoin was targeted heavily too, Kaspersky writes. Point-of-Sale Kaspersky, as one might expect, reckons its products help. It says that over 11,000 attempts to infiltrate Point-of-Sale terminals in 2015 were blocked by Kaspersky products. Seven “families of programs designed to steal data from PoS terminals” were brand new in 2015. The security outfit thinks that there are currently 10 “families” of programs hunting for access to the terminals. Moving on Just like their corporate brethren, hackers have started to operate by hedging and diversifying. The Chinese Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) is one that has “switched targets from companies involved in computer games to those in pharmaceuticals and telecommunications,” Kaspersky says. APTs are stealthy and continuously exploiting processes run over a period of time. The Winnti Group is also diversifying. It’s gotten into pharmaceuticals. Cat and mouse And where’s it all headed this year, one might ask? Well, enterprises are now taking security more seriously. There are probably fewer IT employees who aren’t viewing it as a risk now. And that likely means law enforcement is catching on, too. So expect more nabs if the cat gets the mouse. “We expect tougher safety standards from regulators, which could lead to more cybercriminals being arrested in 2016,” Yury Namestnikov, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Labs, says in the press release.

TRIG snaps up 212 MW Swedish onshore wind farm for $235m

The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) has bought the Jädraås wind farm in Sweden, adding just over 212 MW of operational onshore wind capacity to its portfolio. The project has been acquired from Arise and Sydvastanvind, controlled by European renewables investment group Platina Energy Partners, for €207m ($235m). It means that over a third of TRIG's portfolio by value is now outside of the UK. 

https://quoteddata.com/2019/03/trig-buys-jdras-wind-farm-sweden/

Sectors TRIG buys Jadraas wind farm in Sweden – The Renewables Infrastructure Group (“TRIG”) has exchanged contracts to acquire a 100% interest in the Jädraås wind farm, an operational onshore wind farm with a capacity of 212.85MW for a consideration of approximately EUR207 million on an unlevered basis. The wind farm is located near Ockelbo, north of Stockholm and is being acquired from Arise AB and Sydvastanvind AB (controlled by Platina Energy Partners LLP). The acquisition will be funded by the company’s acquisition facility and is expected to complete in March. Jädraås is comprised of 66 Vestas V-112 turbines of 3.225MW capacity each and has been operational since May 2013. Jädraås benefits from an all-inclusive long term O&M contract with Vestas and a strong operating track record. Jädraås will represent approximately 11% of the Company’s portfolio on a committed investment basis. Renewables in Sweden benefit from green certificates, but the substantial majority of revenues come from power sales. Jädraås has hedging agreements in place fixing power prices for 70% of expected power generation until the end of 2023, and for approximately 50% of the green certificates until the end of 2027. Following the acquisition, 34% of TRIG’s portfolio value is in assets outside the UK, measured on a committed investment basis. TRIG continues to manage its currency exposure to non-sterling assets by hedging approximately 50% of the valuation of such assets. Richard Crawford, director, Infrastructure at InfraRed Capital Partners, said: “Jädraås is our second investment in Sweden and represents an expansion of our presence in the Nordic market. With power price hedging in place for most of expected generation for the next 5 years and attractive unlevered returns, this acquisition complements our existing portfolio very well, whilst increasing our exposure to one of Europe’s most attractive regions for renewable energy development.” TRIG : TRIG buys Jadraas wind farm in Sweden

itBit and Euroclear partner to tackle settlement services for the London Gold Market

Euroclear and itBit have partnered to launch Paxos, a new company that will use Euroclear's Bankchain technology to create next generation settlement services for the London gold market. Bankchain is a private network of trusted participants that clears, tracks and settles trades in close to real-time. The blockchain technology will be available to financial institutions as a cloud-based platform-as-a-service, and Paxos CEO, Charles Cascarilla, claims that the platform is "just the beginning" of the partnership's venture into blockchain-based settlements.

http://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/itbit-spinoffs-its-bankchain-service-under-new-brand-paxos/

The leadership team behind the New York based institutional Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term exchange and Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term technology company itBit has unveiled a new company named Paxos - inspired by a technical computer science term that represents a process for reaching consensus. Take the lead from today’s leaders. FM London Summit, 14-15 November, 2016. Register here! In June itBit has been selected by Euroclear group to explore opportunities for creating a next generation settlement service for the London gold market. itBit revealed that Euroclear has partnered with it because of its proprietary blockchain infrastructure technology and product, Bankchain. The Bankchain service is a private network of trusted participants that clears, tracks and settles trades in close to real-time. Now the technology is transferred under the brand of Paxos, and Bankchain will be the company’s flagship service - which will be offered to financial institutions as a cloud-based platform-as-a-service (PaaS). Charles Cascarilla, CEO and co-founder, Paxos “Increasingly, the financial services industry is embracing the transformative potential of blockchain technology. Paxos is making that potential a practical reality,” said Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla. “Our collaboration with Euroclear to create a trusted blockchain settlement infrastructure for gold is just the beginning, and an important first for the industry.” The company will obviously not comment on the matter but we can safely assume that this spin-off was made to disassociate the service for bitcoin which is still controversial for some established financial firms to even appear to work with. In recent years we have seen a clear trend of ventures dropping the 'Bit' or 'Coin' part of their names as they transitioned to blockchain development.

UK to assess road readiness for connected and autonomous cars

A £1m ($1.25m) project will assess the readiness of the UK road network, including roadworks and lane markings, for the safe operation of autonomous and connected cars. The Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: Infrastructure Appraisal Readiness project is being conducted by Highways England and Loughborough University, in collaboration with construction company Galliford Try, the winner of an innovation and air quality contest run by Highways England in 2019. The project comes after a recent Insurance Institute of Highway Safety report suggested the safety benefits of AVs might be much lower than expected and may only prevent one-third of accidents.

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/latest-fleet-news/connected-fleet/2020/07/07/1m-project-to-assess-motorways-for-self-driving-vehicles

Highways England and Loughborough University are launching a new £1 million project to understand the challenges connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) could face on motorways. Roadworks and lane markings will be included in the assessment to see whether existing road infrastructure, which was designed for conventional vehicles, is ready for the safe and efficient operations of CAVs. Professor of Intelligent Transport Systems, Mohammed Quddus, the principal investigator on the project, said: “To date there is significant investment and advancement in Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. “It is, however, not known whether existing road infrastructure, which was designed for conventional vehicles, is ready for the safe and efficient operations of CAVs.” The project – Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: Infrastructure Appraisal Readiness (CAVIAR) – also involves construction company, Galliford Try. It was announced as a winner in Highways England’s innovation and air quality competition last year, receiving the £1m grant from the Government company’s innovation and modernisation designated fund. Professor Quddus continued: “Although CAVs are designed with existing infrastructure in mind, ensuring they are safe to operate on motorways will require evaluating how road layouts affects their operational boundaries such as their ability to sense lanes and make appropriate decisions.” This new project comes as a new report says self-driving vehicles may not offer the safety improvements often touted. A study released in America last month by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS), found the perceived safety benefits of autonomous vehicles could be significantly lower than commonly believed by the wider CAV sector. It claimed self-driving vehicles might prevent only one-third of crashes if automated systems drive too much like people - read more in the June digital edition of Fleet News. CAVIAR will examine whether self-driving vehicles can safely navigate through roadworks.Real-world data from different lane configurations will be collected and fed into the simulation models to calibrate and examine how CAVs respond to dynamic lane changes. Digital maps representing dynamic lane configurations will be transmitted to CAVs in advance for informed routing decisions. In terms of lane markings, the platform will be utilised to understand how environmental conditions affect a CAVs ability to detect lane markings, such as snow, and low lighting – for example at night. For merging and diverging scenarios, inconsistencies in geometric configurations will be appraised to examine whether CAVs are able to merge safely from the local road network (low speed) to the motorway network (high speed). Loughborough University will lead the work on the development and validation of the simulation platform. John Mathewson, senior ITS advisor at Highways England, said: “Our fund is all about stimulating innovation and supporting research and trials to ensure the UK remains ready to adopt cutting edge technology. “This research will build on our understanding and give us further insight into how connected and autonomous vehicles would operate on England’s motorways and major A roads and what challenges they may face. “It is a great example of partnership working between academia and industry. The results could help us shape how we invest in future road design and maintenance.”

Sunseap and StarHub to offer 100% PV supply to Singapore

Renewable-energy company Sunseap and telco StarHub have joined forces to provide households in Jurong, Singapore the option to receive their energy from solar sources. Through Singapore’s Open Electricity Market, the two firms will enable customers to switch from their existing supplier and sign up to a green energy plan. They will offer two services: Green Life, a 100% clean energy plan that will offer electricity from Sunseap’s solar systems at the usual regulated electricity rates; and Green Save, which offers 5% clean energy at a 20% discount from the standard tariff.

https://www.pv-tech.org/news/sunseap-and-starhub-to-offer-up-to-100-solar-energy-supply-to-singaporeans

Singapore-based renewable energy firm Sunseap and info-communications and mobile network company StarHub have partnered to offer customers in the region of Jurong, Singapore, the chance to purchase solar power without having to install their own systems. The two firms have entered Singapore’s Open Electricity Market so that, starting in April, households in Jurong will be able to switch from their existing electricity supplier and use up to 100% solar energy. The initiative starts with a soft launch by the Energy Market Authority in Jurong, with plans to open up to the whole of Singapore in the second half of the year. StarHub and Sunseap are focusing on trying to make switching supplier as easy as possible for conusmers. They will offer two services named Green Life and Green Save. Green Life is a 100% clean energy plan where customers will receive electricity fully produced by Sunseap’s solar systems at no additional cost. Electricity will be charged at the usual regulated electricity tariff. Under the Green Save plan, customers will receive 5% clean energy and enjoy 20% discount off the regulated tariff.

** Oracle and Salesforce targeted in €10bn GDPR lawsuit backed by profit-making litigation fund

The Privacy Collective is capitalising on newly liberalised UK rules allowing class-action-style lawsuits to go ahead. All costs and expenses of the claims will be funded by a litigation funder in return for a commission, which is based on a percentage of the compensation awarded in favour of the class.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/14/privacy_collective_sues_oracle_salesforce_gdpr/

Salesforce and Oracle are to face a GDPR lawsuit in London and the Netherlands that could cost them up to €10bn in fines, a legally aggressive privacy campaign group has claimed to The Register. The suit, which alleges the ad-tech subsidiaries of the American giants are in breach of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, is to be formally commenced in the Netherlands today. A campaign group calling itself the Privacy Collective is capitalising on newly liberalised UK rules allowing class-action-style lawsuits to go ahead. It is to be alleged that Oracle's Bluekai and Salesforce DMP (formerly Krux) were misusing consumers' data by aggregating information collected from differing websites. That information was bundled up into profiles used to help them sell more effectively. Although the group's website discloses very little about who is behind it, it does reveal: "All costs and expenses of the claims (including any court fees, lawyers and experts) will be funded by a litigation funder in return for a commission, which is based on a percentage of the compensation awarded in favour of the class of claimants." The litigation funder is Innsworth Advisors. Ian Garrard, its MD, said in a canned statement: "The development of class action regimes in the UK and the availability of collective redress in the EU/EEA mean Innsworth can put money to work enabling access to justice for millions of individuals whose personal data has been misused." This is the same model used by Richard Lloyd, the public face of a campaign suing Google in London for up to £3bn over the so-called Safari Workaround. That workaround let Google plant ad-tracking cookies on Apple devices, despite efforts by Apple to prevent that from happening. Dr Rebecca Rumbul of the Privacy Collective told The Register: "We're looking at informed consent. Bluekai would collect data not just on one particular site but other sites too and then aggregate that data. The key thing is, under GDPR who is the data processor legally? You should be able to figure that out." The business model of commercial litigation funders is simple: they spend a certain amount in legal fees and then get their money back with interest if the legal team wins the case. In the past, England and Wales' courts refused to let many group litigation actions go ahead unless every member of the group (class, if you're American) had precisely the same claim. Google failed to get Richard Lloyd's class definition thrown out of the Court of Appeal, setting a commercially valuable precedent. People interested in releasing their personal data to the Privacy Collective, a "foundation established pursuant to Article 3:305a of the Dutch Civil Code" in order to hear more about the case, are able to do so on the collective's website. Oracle sent a statement from EVP and general counsel Dorian Daley: "The Privacy Collective knowingly filed a meritless action based on deliberate misrepresentations of the facts. As Oracle previously informed the Privacy Collective, Oracle has no direct role in the real-time bidding process (RTB), has a minimal data footprint in the EU, and has a comprehensive GDPR compliance program. Despite Oracle's fulsome explanation, the Privacy Collective has decided to pursue its shake-down through litigation filed in bad faith. Oracle will vigorously defend against these baseless claims." Salesforce told us: "We design and build our services with privacy at the forefront, providing our corporate customers with tools to help them comply with their own obligations under applicable privacy laws – including the EU GDPR – to preserve the privacy rights of their own customers. "Salesforce and another data management platform provider have received a privacy-related complaint from a Dutch group called The Privacy Collective. The claim applies to the Salesforce Audience Studio service and does not relate to any other Salesforce service. Salesforce disagrees with the allegations and intends to demonstrate they are without merit." ®

** Litigation funding for class actions promotes access to justice, but contingency fees are problematic

Litigation funding can promote access to justice, spread the risk ofcomplex litigation and improve the efficiency of litigation, the Law Council of Australia says. The Law Council also opposes any additional regulation of Australian legal practitioners. Legal practitioners are already among the most regulatedprofessionals in the country.

https://www.medianet.com.au/releases/189759/

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Ivanka Trump shoes slated for production at China factory despite brand's denial

Shoes for the Ivanka Trump brand, owned by the daughter of US PResident Donald Trump, were scheduled to be made at the Chinese factory being investigated by activists for labour abuses, two months after the brand said they were no longer manufactured there. The latter company statement was issued a week after Hua Haifeng, Li Zhao and Su Heng, were arrested while working for New York-based non-governmental organisation China Labor Watch. "Ivanka Trump HQ is committed to only working with licensees who maintain internationally recognised labour standards,” said Abigail Klem, president of Ivanka Trump.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/21/ivanka-trump-shoes-slated-for-production-at-china-factory-despite-brands-denial

When three activists investigating labour abuses at a factory that makes Ivanka Trump shoes in China were arrested, the brand stayed silent for a week and then attempted to distance itself from the controversy by saying it had been months since its products were manufactured there. But production tables reviewed by the Guardian contradict public statements made by the brand owned by Ivanka Trump, the daughter of the US president, Donald Trump. They show that Ivanka Trump shoes were still scheduled to be made at the factory two months after the brand said they had stopped. The case highlights the pitfalls of having a president and his relatives in the White House while maintaining business interests around the world. Trump herself has remained silent on the case but the US state department did call for the activists to be released. China’s foreign ministry quickly rebuffed the US, saying, “other countries have no right to interfere”. The men, Hua Haifeng, Li Zhao and Su Heng, have been arrested on suspicion of “illegal use of eavesdropping and secret photography equipment” after they went undercover in factories making products for international fashion brands. In the wake of the arrests, Hua’s wife has been interrogated by police and his lawyer has been told by the authorities not to speak to the media. After the three men were arrested, the brand waited a week before releasing its only public statement, defending working standards and saying: “Ivanka Trump brand products have not been produced at the factory in question since March”. But a 14 April production table from the factory in Ganzhou in southeast China show nearly 1,000 shoes were slated to be manufactured between 23 and 25 May. The order was set to be delivered by 30 May. Material for clothing and shoes is typically ordered months in advance. In response to questions from the Guardian, Ivanka Trump’s brand did not refute the information contained in the production tables. “Ivanka Trump HQ is committed to only working with licensees who maintain internationally recognised labor standards across their supply chains,” Abigail Klem, president of Ivanka Trump, said in a statement. “Our licensees and their manufacturers, subcontractors and suppliers must comply with all applicable local and international labor laws, and the legal and ethical practices set forth in our vendor code of conduct.” Klem did not respond to questions about previous statements contradicted by factory productions tables. She also declined to respond to questions about how the brand ensures standards are maintained or about the fate of the three arrested labour activists. Marc Fisher, the company that licenses the Ivanka Trump brand to make shoes, declined to comment. The factory in Ganzhou, owned by Huajian Group, also declined to comment on the production timetables or arrested activists. Ivanka Trump no longer leads the business that bears her name, turning over day to day operations to Kelm, but the first daughter maintains an ownership stake. The three detained activists, who worked for New York-based NGO China Labor Watch, were preparing to release a report that showed a host a labor violations at the factory, which also makes shoes for brands such as Coach, Karl Lagerfeld and Kendall + Kylie. Those abuses include paying below China’s legal minimum wage, managers verbally abusing workers and “violations of women’s rights”. The arrests were the first for China Labor Watch in its 17 years of investigating labour conditions in factories across China, including companies like Apple and Samsung. But the Chinese government has launched a wide-ranging crackdown on civil society since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, and foreign NGOs have also come under increased scrutiny. A new law requires them to register with police and find local NGOs as partners, with many Chinese organisations wary over political repercussions. The three arrested activists’ ties to the New York-based NGO may now complicate their cases. Police have accused the men of “giving information to foreign organisations with the goal of receiving payment”, according to local news reports.

Sinclair Pharma Sculptra for a bikini-ready booty

People who want to ensure they have curves in all the right places some the summer are turning to Sinclair Pharama's dermal filler Sculptra for help. The injectable treatment, which can be used to plump flesh on the face or give a boost to the derriere, takes less than an hour to administer with little or no recovery time required.

https://www.insideedition.com/how-get-bikini-ready-booty-your-lunch-break-44588

With beach season already in full effect, some women are getting bikini ready on their lunch hour. Lindsay Brodowski, 23, recently visited plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Davis in Cherry Hill, N.J., with the goal of a plumper booty, and was back at work within an hour. Dr. Davis used filler called Sculptra that is injected through a small incision. “You can see how the butt is starting to get more projection," he told Inside Edition. In total, the whole procedure took just 45 minutes. "As soon as we're done, she can put clothes on and go back to work, Dr. Davis said. "She doesn’t have to worry about pillows or standing up. You can see there's a bump up right where she wanted it to be." Brodowski, who was awake the whole time, checked out the progress, quickly realizing the procedure was a success. “It looks great," she said. "I can see a difference. I can feel a difference. A little more volume there." After the procedure, she went right back to work. RELATED STORIES