IT'S CHEAPER THAN COAL

Explainer: Cleaner but not clean - Why scientists say natural gas won't avert climate disaster
Valerie Volcovici, Kate Abnett, Matthew Green


(Reuters) - Natural gas produces half as much carbon dioxide (C02) when burned than coal, but that doesn’t make it harmless. Climate scientists say that rising production of natural gas is emerging as one of the biggest drivers of climate change, and that plans for industry expansion could hobble efforts to stabilize the Earth’s climate.

FILE PHOTO: Pressure is released from a natural gas well on the property of Harlen Rowe in Salyersville, Kentucky, U.S., February 28, 2020. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston/File Photo/File Photo

The U.S. energy industry plans to invest hundreds of billions of dollars building pipelines and terminals in coming years to ramp up exports of natural gas in supercooled liquefied form, known as LNG.

In January 2020, the American Petroleum Institute (API), a powerful lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, launched its “Energy for Progress” advertising campaign. The campaign has described natural gas as a “clean” or “environmentally friendly” energy source that has lowered CO2 emissions in the United States. [nL8N2F40CW] It also says that increasing global exports of U.S. gas “offers a solution to help lower the world’s carbon footprint.”

Reuters ran these claims by a dozen scientists and energy experts, and also sought their responses to other questions about the effects of natural gas on climate change.

ISN’T NATURAL GAS BETTER FOR THE CLIMATE THAN COAL?

Burning natural gas produces about half as much CO2 as coal to produce the same amount of energy. It also produces far fewer pollutants that can harm human health.

In the United States, natural gas from the country’s fracking industry has helped drive a dramatic reduction in the use of coal to generate electricity. Overall, U.S. CO2 emissions have fallen 15% from their 2007 peak, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Not all of that reduction can be attributed to natural gas; also contributing were such factors as increased energy efficiency and the growing use of renewables.

ISN’T SOME IMPROVEMENT OVER COAL BETTER THAN NOTHING?

Yes, but to limit the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5C - the most ambitious goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement - scientists say emissions must be reduced to net zero by 2050, which leaves far less room for use of fossil fuels of any kind.

Emissions globally need to fall by about 7.6% a year between now and 2030 to meet the 1.5C target, according to the U.N. Environment Programme.[nL4N2862JR] Last year, U.S. emissions fell by about 2.9%, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency.


But emissions from the natural gas industry, particularly in the United States, are now growing so rapidly that the sector “is quickly becoming one of the biggest, if not the biggest, challenges to address climate change,” said Pep Canadell, a senior research scientist at CSIRO Climate Science Centre in Canberra, Australia.

In November, a U.N.-backed team of researchers found that the world was on track to produce 70% more natural gas in 2030 than would be compatible with the 1.5C goal.[nL8N27Y2AL]

“Most of the new gas production isn’t supplanting coal - it’s supplementing it. It’s answering demand for new energy,” said Rob Jackson, a professor at Stanford University who chairs the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that tracks greenhouse gas emissions.[nL1N2BP17V]
WHAT IS THE DANGER OF METHANE IN NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION?

Climate scientists are concerned about another greenhouse gas that leaks into the atmosphere during natural gas production: methane. Methane has a warming effect up to 80 or 90 times more powerful than C02 over a 20-year timescale. [nL2N2EL21I]

In April, a study published in the journal Science Advances found that the amount of methane being released in the natural gas and oil-rich Permian basin between New Mexico and Texas was double federal estimates. Two further studies, published in July, highlighted the role of the U.S. oil and gas industry in driving a rise in global methane emissions to the highest levels on record.



FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with managers and executives during a visit to the Cameron LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) Export Facility in Hackberry, Louisiana, U.S., May 14, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week rolled back regulations to curb methane emissions in the oil and gas industry - a move supported by API.[nL1N2FF260]

Many companies say they have been doing more to find and fix methane leaks. API’s website points to industry initiatives and innovations to “capture as much methane as possible.”

WHAT ABOUT GAS AS A TEMPORARY “BRIDGE FUEL” TO A CLEANER FUTURE?

The industry often portrays natural gas as a vital “bridge” to help utilities shift from a reliance on coal-fired power to cleaner sources of energy.

Advocates of natural gas argue that gas-fired power plants can provide continuous electricity, backing up wind and solar operations that run more intermittently. Until batteries or other forms of energy storage become cheaper and more accessible, natural gas should serve as a complement to renewables, they say.

Climate scientists are increasingly concerned, however, that plans to massively expand the industry mean that using natural gas as a “bridge” could end up locking the world into a high-carbon and fast-warming future.


In a report published in June last year, Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based non-profit that analyses the fossil fuel industry, estimated that the oil and gas industry plans to spend $1.3 trillion to build a global infrastructure to boost the trade in liquefied natural gas, with most of these investments planned in North America. Were they all to go ahead, the climate impact of the projects - including the effects of methane leaks - would exceed that of all coal-fired power plants under construction or in pre-construction planning worldwide, the report said.

COULD TECHNOLOGY MITIGATE THE CLIMATE IMPACT OF NATURAL GAS?

In theory, yes. Carbon can be captured and stored underground through a process known as carbon capture and storage (CCS). The oil and gas industry has stressed the potential benefits of CCS technology in tackling emissions.

But the progress of that approach has been slow. Corinne Le Quere, a leading climate scientist at Britain’s University of East Anglia, told Reuters that “the industry and governments repeatedly fail to invest substantially in this technology, with the practical result that gas emissions continue to go straight to the atmosphere.”


Valerie Volcovici reported from Washington, D.C., Kate Abnett from Brussels and Matthew Green from London. Additional reporting by Andrew R.C. Marshall in London. Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Julie Marquis

In the run-up to U.S. election, drilling lobby promotes natural gas as 'clean'CHEAPER THAN COAL
Valerie Volcovici, Andrew R.C. Marshall, Matthew Green


WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - America’s biggest oil and gas lobby group is ramping up its advertising spending ahead of the November election to persuade voters that natural gas is a climate-friendly fuel, according to ad buying data.



A person views an online advertisement that ran on Facebook and was paid for by the American Petroleum Institute as part of their Energy For Progress campaign to cast natural gas as climate-friendly, in this illustration picture taken August 6, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar/Illustration

The campaign by the American Petroleum Institute (API), targeted at younger voters and some tight congressional races, is part of a global battle by the drilling industry to assuage growing fears over the role of natural gas in driving climate change.

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden last month unveiled a $2 trillion plan to transition the American economy away from fossil fuels, including natural gas, if he beats incumbent Donald Trump, who is a drilling advocate. Biden’s plan would support climate litigation against polluters who conceal information about environmental and health risks.

In the three weeks following Biden’s climate announcement on July 14, API increased its spending on Facebook ads to an estimated average of $24,000 a day. That’s about six times its average daily spending in the preceding six months, according to an analysis by InfluenceMap, a non-profit group whose data on lobbying is used by institutional investors.

(See graphic on API Facebook spending here)

Those ads mainly target a younger audience including 25-to-34-year-olds, according to a separate analysis by Bully Pulpit Interactive Media conducted on behalf of Reuters.

Meanwhile, API has spent an estimated $3.1 million on TV ads between Jan. 1 and Aug. 16, according to data from analytics firm iSpot, an increase of 51% over the same period in 2019

GREEN  CAPITALISM 
Exclusive: GM bets on electric Cadillacs and micro-vans to reverse China slide
Norihiko Shirouzu

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - General Motors (GM.N) is overhauling its Chinese line-up with a greater emphasis on electric cars and smart-driving technology to stem a slide in sales after more than two decades of growth in a country that contributes nearly a fifth of its profit.


FILE PHOTO: A new Cadillac XT6 SUV of GM is presented during the media day for Shanghai auto show in Shanghai, China, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

GM’s new China boss Julian Blissett told Reuters it would renew its focus on luxury Cadillacs, roll out bigger but greener sports-utility vehicles (SUVs) and target entry-level buyers with low-cost micro electric vehicles (EVs).

He said new technologies such as EVs and cars with near hands-free driving for highways would play a key role in GM’s China initiatives, which are part of a push to regain momentum lost in the face of intense competition and shifting tastes.

Blissett, who replaced China veteran Matt Tsien this year, spoke to Reuters ahead of GM’s Tech Day event in Shanghai later on Wednesday, where he and Chief Executive Mary Barra are expected to announce some of the new technology and product rollout plans.

“This market is rapidly electrifying. Cadillac is on a path to very heavy electrification. Buick is also going to heavily electrify,” said Blissett, adding that GM’s Chinese brands Baojun and Wuling would also go down the electric route.

“The market is changing dramatically. So the concept of standing still in China doesn’t work.”

GM sells its Chevrolets, Buicks and Cadillacs in China as well as its local brands Wuling and Baojun and has been one of the foreign success stories in the world’s biggest auto market along with Germany’s Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE).

But GM sales have taken a hit, falling to 3.1 million vehicles in 2019 from a record 4 million in 2017.


A slowdown in China’s economy and the resulting weakness in its auto market have been a big factor behind GM’s sales slump, but analysts say competition has become fierce too.

Toyota (7203.T), Volkswagen and Honda (7267.T) have been eating into GM’s business while Chinese automakers such as Geely (0175.HK) and Great Wall (601633.SS) are making better-quality cars that can compete more effectively with the global giants.

GM is also facing competition from Tesla (TSLA.O) while Lynk & Co and Polestar, brands affiliated with Volvo, have rolled out sleek eye-catching designs that Chinese consumers crave.
BACK TO 4 MILLION

In 2017, GM China had a 14.3% share of overall sales of 28.2 million vehicles. By 2019, that had fallen to a share of 12.2% out of 25.4 million cars.

Blissett said the key objective of its strategy was to get back to sales of 4 million vehicles a year as soon as possible.

“Our business is a high engineering cost, high capital cost business, so, without scale, it’s quite difficult to make money. We do need to return to that,” he told Reuters.

He said he could not give a precise timeframe for when GM would hit its goal because of the uncertainty about how fast economies around the world recover from the coronavirus fallout.


Some GM officials have admitted privately that its brands, especially Chevrolet, have been slow to introduce more SUVs in China as they became increasingly popular.

However, both Buick and Chevrolet now have four SUVs each and Cadillac has three, Blissett said.

Analysts have also said the promotion of its top-end Cadillac brand came at the expense of Buick and Chevy sales, and that it failed to match rivals with their sleeker designs.

Blissett said GM would sell bigger SUVs, many of them electric, for its Chevy, Buick and Cadillac brands, though traditional gasoline-powered SUVs still offered GM “huge opportunities” to boost sales in China.

GM also wants to transform Wuling into a brand more focused on micro, electric “people-mover” vans, he said.
ELECTRIC REVOLUTION

“In the next five years, more than 50% of our capital and engineering deployment will go towards electrification and autonomous-drive technology. That should give you an indication where GM is betting on its future,” GM’s Blissett said.

“Chinese consumers are very embracing of technology, be that technology on the phone, be that e-commerce, be that intelligent driving technology, be that electrification. Although Europe and the U.S. have fairly significant plans on a governmental and market point of view, the electrification of cars is going to happen much faster here in China,” he said.

“We intend to be right in the heart of that market. So, we will heavily play in the EV space. And that’s the reason why we are investing as we are.”


Slideshow (3 Images)

GM’s Wuling and Baojun brands have borne the brunt of falling sales over the past two years as lower-income consumers bought fewer cars in the face of slower growth and as competition from Chinese rivals at the entry level intensified.

There are signs of life at Wuling, however, with sales up 9.7% in the second quarter of 2020.

GM hopes its new Wuling MINI EV launched this year, a micro two-door car, and a series of similar cars in the pipeline, will help it win back share. Before EV subsidies, the MINI EV can cost as little as 28,800 yuan ($4,150) for a basic model.
‘WINNERS AND LOSERS’

To be sure, GM has made blunders, such as equipping some compact cars with unpopular three-cylinder engines. That hit GM sales significantly and it had to resurrect a four-cylinder gasoline engine for some models.

Still, analysts said much of the body blow GM’s brands took in China has come from local brands that have significantly improved the quality of their cars and as Japanese and German rivals boosted sales despite a weaker overall market.

Beijing’s emphasis on greener vehicles has also significantly pushed up the costs associated with the designing and manufacturing cars, which have combined to trigger a shake-up of China’s auto industry.

Already, small Chinese brands such as Lifan have gone out of business while French carmaker PSA (PEUP.PA) has scaled back its operations significantly and Renault (RENA.PA), which is in a global alliance with Nissan (7201.T), packed up and left.

“There is a revolution going on in the industry,” said Blissett. “There are also winners and losers in the global brands. The trend is actually for the local brands to lose share if you look at the total trend. Luxury is a gain in share.”


Analysts expect the consolidation in the auto industry to continue unabated in the coming years, with more failures, and also more mergers and acquisitions.

China auto industry expert Michael Dunne said if GM failed to manage its numerous brands in China properly, one might end up becoming a casualty.

“The introduction of Cadillac has had the effect of knocking Buick down a notch in the eyes of Chinese consumers,” he said. “Buick is tilting more towards where Chevy plays, and as a result the two brands are crowding each other and are now throwing weaker punches.”


Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by David Clarke

Thai police seek protesters who urged change to monarchy

Panarat Thepgumpanat, Patpicha Tanakasempipat


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai authorities have issued arrest warrants for six activists who took part in a demonstration at which students issued a 10-point call for reform of the monarchy last week, police said on Wednesday as students called more protests.

FILE PHOTO: Anon Nampa, one of the leaders of recent anti-government protests, does a three-fingered salute after being granted a bail, outside the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand August 8, 2020. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa/File photo

The charges against the six were not over the demands made at the protest by thousands of people at Thammasat University on Aug. 10, but for breaching internal security and measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus as well as computer crimes.

The six include Panusaya Sithijirawattankul, 21, the student who read out a manifesto demanding reform of the monarchy. They also include Anon Nampa, who made the first public call for royal reform and has also been charged over earlier protests.

“They can hand themselves in today or whenever but shouldn’t bring a crowd,” Police Lieutenant General Amphol Buarabporn told Reuters.

“If they don’t hand themselves in, we can arrest them when they’re spotted.”

Student-led protests have taken place almost daily for more than a month to demand the departure of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former junta leader, a new constitution and an end to the harassment of activists.

Some students have also called for reforms to curb the powers of King Maha Vajiralongkorn over the constitution, the armed forces and the palace fortune - touching a subject that had long been taboo in Thailand.

Insulting the monarchy can lead to a 15-year jail sentence, but Prayuth has said the king had requested no prosecutions under the lese majeste laws for now.

The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society will file a complaint against exiled academic Pavin Chachavalpongpun for creating a Facebook group deemed critical of the monarchy, ministry spokesman Putchapong Nodthaisong told Reuters.

The group, called Royalist Marketplace, has more than one million members.

“We have filed a request to Facebook to delete the entire group, but the platform hasn’t been cooperative,” Putchapong said. “So the ministry is now going to use the Computer Crime Act.”

The ministry has been ramping up efforts to curb online content it deems critical of the monarchy.

It has filed thousands requests this year to restrict or remove content deemed illegal, including perceived insults to the monarchy, on social media platform Facebook and Google’s video service YouTube.

“The ministry’s action is the crudest form of information censorship. It goes against the freedom of expression that we are all entitled to,” Pavin told Reuters.

“We protest against the ministry’s action and urge Facebook to ignore its call for the sake of democracy and the support for freedom of speech.

Two of the six activists wanted over the Aug. 10 rally are among three who have already been arrested once and bailed for the organisation of earlier protests.


Prayuth has said that young people have the right to protest, but that the rally at which the calls for royal reform was made “went too far”.

Prominent right-wing activists plan to meet on Wednesday in Bangkok to discuss way to counter the student-led protests.

High school students are also planning to rally at the Ministry Education on Wednesday following a string of pro-democracy demonstrations at schools across the country.

QUEBEC 

Canada's hardest-hit province for COVID-19 launches plan to combat second wave
FILE PHOTO: Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) medical personnel arrive at Villa Val des Arbres, a seniors' long-term care centre, to help amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Montreal, Quebec, Canada April 20, 2020. REUTERS/Christinne MuschiMONTREAL (Reuters) - The Canadian province of Quebec on Tuesday announced plans to tackle earlier mistakes in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, while preparing its health sector against a possible second wave of coronavirus in the autumn.

Quebec, once the country’s hardest-hit province for COVID-19, will boost public health sector hiring, reduce screening delays, and ensure staff like orderlies can no longer work at multiple long-term care facilities, a practice previously blamed for spreading the virus, Health Minister Christian Dubé told reporters.

Canada has flattened its curve of coronavirus cases since the spring, but some of the country’s 10 provinces have reported higher numbers of COVID-19 infections recently, as the economy restarts and restrictions on social gathering are relaxed.


Schools across Canada will be reopening in autumn.

Quebec accounts for about half of Canada’s 122,872 total coronavirus cases and more than half of its 9,032 deaths. But the once hard-hit province only reported 46 new cases and two deaths in the last 24 hours, according to government data.

“We have done an appraisal of this first wave so we can now establish the solution to be implemented in view of a potential second wave,” Dubé said.


There will no longer be movement of workers, other than nurses under certain conditions, between seniors’ homes, where most of the province’s 5,727 COVID-19 deaths took place.

Under the plan, Quebec will also invest C$106 million ($80.58 million) in public health to allow for the hiring of 1,000 workers to do contact tracing and infection control.

RUSSIA UNDER PUTIN 20 YEARS OF PROTEST

https://putin20.imrussia.org/assets/files/IMR_Putin-20-years-protests_eng.pdf
This first report examines the protest dynamics in Russia over the last 20 years. Under Vladimir Putin’s rule, protests in Russia have transformed from being driven by economic grievances to being motivated by political demands, while local issues have also remained important to participants. As public demonstrations have evolved, so too has the regime’s response. Since 2012, the Kremlin has introduced an array of measures to restrict participation in protests and clamp down more severely on unsanctioned rallies. Despite these efforts, as research has shown, the public appetite for protest is growing, with more people blaming Putin personally for the country's many problems.

Protest patterns reflect the political system in which they take place. By clearly describing the frequency, volume, and nature of protest, as well as regime responses to it, one might be able to gain a better understanding of the world’s most high-profile authoritarian regimes.

U.S. Oil Deal in Syria Angers the Kremlin

THE KURDS GET THEIR WAY

18 August 2020 Ksenia Svetlova

In early August, the U.S. firm signed a surprise deal with the Syrian Kurds to revamp oil fields in northeastern Syria. The deal clearly irritated Moscow, which doesn’t hide its intentions to gain control over oil production in the country and prop up Bashar Assad’s heavily oil-reliant regime. As the Syrian economy continues to deteriorate, U.S.-Russia tensions in the region are likely to grow.

Syria's oil-rich Deir el-Zour province is currently under control of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Photo: Sgt. Arjenis Nunez (jcs.mil).


About two years following the U.S. announcement to withdraw from Syria, American oil companies based in the northeast of the country continue to operate and sign agreements with the Kurdish leadership of the Syrian Democratic Forces. Both Syria’s Bashar Assad and his Kremlin backers are not happy.

Russia’s gaining control over the northeastern regions of Syria would signify control over the entire country, weaken other players, and open up access to rich natural resources such as gas, oil, and phosphates. In addition, the Kremlin lusts after the important transport hub located in this area, which is used both to export Syrian gas to Europe and to connect trade routes between Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey, and Syria. As of now, all of these advantages remain out of the Kremlin’s reach.

It is, perhaps, for these reasons that when, in early August, the U.S. company Delta Crescent Energy LLC signed a 25-year-long agreement with the Syrian Kurds to modernize the oil fields in northeastern Syria, the news provoked a particularly angry reaction from the Kremlin. According to media reports, one of the clauses in this deal prohibits the Syrian Democratic Forces from sharing profits from oil production with Assad’s regime (which remains under U.S. sanctions).

Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Security Council, Vassily Nebenzia, once again called on the U.S. to end its “occupation of the Syrian oil fields,” and accused it of using “barbaric methods [of oil production] that could lead to an ecological disaster in northeastern Syria and Iraq.”

Profits from oil production in northeastern Syria are currently estimated at about $40 million per month. The United States has no intention of handing this source of income over to the Assad regime. To protect the oil fields in the region, it is building special units that include the Kurds, the Arabs (cooperating with the Syrian Democratic Forces), and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), whose purpose is to fend off the attacks of pro-Iranian militias operating in the oil-rich province of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria.

Most of the Syrian oil is in fact concentrated in the northeastern parts of the country, which are controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces. In 2011, the Al-Omar field—Syria’s largest oil field—produced about 80,000 barrels of oil per day, with about 40,000 barrels added by the Al-Tanak field. The two largest fields in the Deir al-Zour and Al-Hasakah provinces rendered about 200,000 barrels of oil per day, or roughly half of all oil production in Syria.

Oil revenues are Syria’s main source of income. In 2008, oil production in the country peaked at about 406,000 barrels per day, but by 2018, as a result of the war, it had dropped to only 24,000 barrels per day (not accounting for the black oil market).

During the war, most of Syria’s oil resources came under Kurdish and American control. This turn of events had serious consequences for Iran, which failed to retain control over the Al-Qa’im border crossing—one of the major supply routes across the Middle East. As a result, transportation flows between Iran, Iraq, and Syria have been disrupted. In addition, Iran is now facing Russian competition for lucrative energy contracts with Damascus, and Russian oil companies have already been granted exploration rights in Syria’s internal waters. The Syrian Ministry of Energy estimates its offshore gas reserves at about 250 billion cubic meters. However, as Lebanese experience has recently shown, exploration rights do not necessarily translate into profits.

What are the possible scenarios regarding the fate of the oil fields in northeastern Syria?

Clearly, Russia will not give up its efforts to help Bashar Assad regain control over the northeast of the country—both to get access to the oil fields and to stabilize the Syrian economy. However, the U.S. presence in the region and its willingness to defend the oil fields together with the Kurds signal that the current U.S.-Russia friction in Syria will intensify. Last time Russia tried to take over oil fields in the northeast was in 2018—a failed attempt that resulted in the U.S. killing of several hundred Russian mercenaries. As the Syrian economy continues to deteriorate, Russia might make another try.

A Russian takeover of Syria’s northeastern regions (about a third of the country’s territory) is possible only in two cases: if the U.S. decides to end its presence and withdraw its troops from this area or if the interested parties—including the Syrian Democratic Forces, the central government in Damascus, and its Russian partners—reach an agreement as to how to divide the oil profits. With regard to the U.S. policy, much will depend on the outcome of the presidential election this November.

* This article was originally published on the website of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (Israel).

THE ULTIMATE BETA TESTER
INTERNET EXPLORER IS DEAD AS MICROSOFT KILLS OFF 25-YEAR-OLD BROWSER


The browser will no longer be supported by the company from 17 August, 2021

Adam Smith
@adamndsmith
10 hours ago

Microsoft has finally killed Internet Explorer

The browser will be finished on 17 August, 2021, the company said.

In a blog post, Microsoft explained that the Microsoft Teams web app will no longer support Internet Explorer 11 – the most recent and final iteration of the browser - from November 30, 2020.

The remaining Microsoft 365 apps and services will end support for the browser next year.

Replacing the browser is Microsoft Edge, the computer giant’s new browser which relies on Chromium open-source software, developed by Google for Google Chrome. That gives Edge more features than Internet Explorer.

There is an older version of Edge which does not use Chromium; that version will also be phased out on 9 March 2021.

Read more

With many websites and applications still using Internet Explorer, Microsoft is trying to avoid having two active browsers at once.

Instead, Microsoft Edge’s Internet Explorer Legacy mode means that users can stay on one browser – to “seamlessly experience the best of the modern web in one tab while accessing a business-critical legacy IE 11 app in another tab”, the company says.

The closure of Internet Explorer, and Microsoft’s non-Chromium browsers, has been on the cards for years. Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10 were discontinued in 2016, while Microsoft Edge was introduced one year before, in 2015.

The move towards Chromium for Microsoft’s browser, compared to its previous proprietary browser, has larger ramifications for the future of the open internet. Those concerns have become more pressing in recent months because of, among other things, the fallout between the US government and TikTok.

Chromium is now the basis of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Avast Secure Browser, and Opera.

This means that Google has greater influence when it comes to what features are developed, practises accepted, and which usability concerns are deemed vital.

Nonetheless, the new Edge browser includes a range of features that differentiate it from others like Google Chrome.

This includes turning on tracking protection by default, which blocks both advertisements and almost all third-party tracking code.

Famous alien-hunting telescope slashed to pieces in mysterious midnight accident

By Brandon Specktor - Senior Writer 8/14/2020
Arecibo Observatory’s main collecting dish, which is among the world’s largest single-dish radio telescopes, was badly damaged when a cable snapped on Monday, Aug. 10. (Image credit: University of Central Florida)The Arecibo Observatory — a gargantuan telescope in Puerto Rico famous for scouring the cosmos for asteroids and alien life — went quiet this week, following a devastating accident that left the telescope's reflector dish in pieces.

On Monday (Aug. 10) at approximately 2:45 a.m. local time, a metal cable at the facility snapped, slashing through the radar dish and tearing open a 100-foot-long (30 meters) hole, according to a statement from the University of Central Florida, which operates the National Science Foundation-owned facility. The snapped cable also smashed through several other cables and platforms that support the dish, causing debris to rain down on the ground below and making it harder for technicians to access the site.

"We have a team of experts assessing the situation," Francisco Cordova, the director of the observatory, said in the statement. "Our focus is assuring the safety of our staff, protecting the facilities and equipment, and restoring the facility to full operations as soon as possible, so it can continue to assist scientists around the world."

Arecibo began operating in 1963 from the bottom of a natural sinkhole in Puerto Rico. At the time of its completion, Arecibo was the world's largest single-dish telescope, stretching 1,000 feet (305 m) in diameter. While you may not know the telescope by name, you might know it by sight, thanks to the 1997 movie "Contact." That film's protagonist is an astronomer working at Arecibo, who hopes to make first contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. (The observatory's gargantuan reflector dish also stole the show at the end of the 1995 James Bond flick, "GoldenEye.")

Though we're still waiting for that epic first DM from aliens, Arecibo has played a central role in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) since the 1970s. In 1974, astronomers used the radio telescope to transmit a binary code toward a dense cluster of stars 25,000 light-years away, hoping the message might get picked up by another technologically-advanced civilization. (It wasn't).

SETI experiments have remained a key part of the observatory's agenda — and so has planetary defense. Arecibo's Planetary Radar Project, part of NASA's Planetary Defense program, is responsible for detecting and studying near-Earth objects, such as asteroids, that could pose a threat to our planet.

That project, along with all other Arecibo projects, has been suspended due to the damage. But Arecibo has bounced back from damage before, including the fallout from earthquakes and Hurricane Maria, and this accident will hopefully be no exception. Still … it would be a lousy time for the aliens to finally return our call.

Originally published on Live Science.

What does the Pentagon's new UFO task force mean? Experts weigh in.

By Leonard David 8/18/2020

U.S. Navy videos of alleged UFO sightings were previously available but had not been officially declassified.(Image: © U.S. Navy)

If you're a fan of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and alien visitation, this is manna from heaven.

Three videos showing U.S. Navy pilots encountering mysterious, fast-moving objects emerged in 2017 and 2018. The videos were made public due to reporting by The New York Times and efforts by To The Stars Academy, a research, development and media center for cutting-edge science and technology.

One of the UAP videos was taken in November 2004, and the other two were shot in January 2015. All were captured by Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet jets with pilots utilizing Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) technology, hardware that detects heat and creates images.

The three released UAP videos are called "Gimbal," "GoFast" and "FLIR1" (also known as the "Tic Tac" video).

Related: 7 things most often mistaken for UFOs

New task force

Last week, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced the creation of a task force to analyze and understand the "nature and origins" of UAPs. The Department of the Navy, under the cognizance of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, will lead the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF).

The mission of the UAPTF "is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security," DoD officials said in a brief statement released on Friday (Aug. 14).

But before you set up greeting signs and start tossing out welcome mats for the incoming aliens, a little perspective and context are in order. I asked some UFO specialists what they thought of the newly announced task force.

Cautiously optimistic


"The formation of a task force on UFOs is another welcome development in the recent renewed interest and attention to these reports by government agencies and political actors," said Mark Rodeghier, president and scientific director of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies in Chicago.
Without further details, it's impossible to judge how well-positioned the task force will be to seriously investigate reports, Rodeghier added, "but I remain cautiously optimistic for now."

Rodeghier said he understands the need for secrecy. However, "I would hope that as much information as possible is released to the public so we can all be informed on this potentially world-shattering subject," he told Inside Outer Space.

Related: UFO watch: 8 times the government looked for flying saucers

Reasons for the DoD to care

"I have no doubt that military intelligence services around the world have always been interested in ‘UFO reports' — whether or not a real 'unexplainable' phenomenon is behind a few of them."

That's the view of Jim Oberg, a noted space journalist, historian and a debunker of a slew of UFO sightings. He's an admitted "lifelong space nut" and professional rocket scientist whose career includes 20-plus years at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

There are many non-extraterrestrial reasons why the Defense Department is interested in UFO reports, Oberg said.
First, to identify and ameliorate instrumental "funnies" in new sensory technology, to make sure we don't accidentally misinterpret or overlook future readings.
Second, to determine how detection "funnies" might be deliberately induced by hackers and real enemies, and what we can do to frustrate such efforts.
Third, to deliberately induce anomalous targets into the range of our own new detection/tracking technology, as a way of testing it.
Fourth, to test enemy detection systems with deliberate pokes to identify exploitable weaknesses.
Fifth, to assess which reports from within or near adversary nations are indicators of their classified military testing and operations that we need insight into.
Sixth, to determine which detections (at home or abroad) accidentally reveal highly classified operations of our own that might be revealed to enemy nations that are also looking for such indications, so as to improve our masking, misdirection and stealth.
Seventh, in so far as observations of UFO reports from adversary nations are indicators of leaked observable clues to military capabilities, to do nothing to provoke such regimes from curtailing their own news media coverage of the "pseudo-UFOs." Never announce how such innocent (to them) news items can be exploited.
Eighth, in so far as our own domestic UFO reports may be authentic indicators of classified military activities, to purposefully create camouflage and masking reports to distract, confuse or lull foreign observers and analysts.

"Perceptive observers of the UFO scene over the last two-thirds of a century have noted a telltale feature of the evolution of reports," Oberg said. "Their nature has been changing, keeping uncanny pace with the progress in human observation and detection technologies."

Oberg added that, year by year, the "old UFOs" fade away just before the advent of new technologies that would have unambiguously documented them come online, to be replaced by a new flavor of "anomalies" that precisely match the limits of vision of new technologies.

Related: 5 bold claims of alien life

Not open-ended and ongoing

"I don't think this [task force] is as significant as some people are suggesting," said writer and UFO skeptic Robert Sheaffer. "It's just a response to all the publicity generated by To The Stars leaking the three Navy infrared videos, which the Pentagon later released."

In the military, a task force is something that is put together to deal with a specific situation or problem, Sheaffer said. It is expected to produce a report and recommendations concerning that issue and is disbanded when such work is complete.

"So, this is not something open-ended and ongoing, like Project Blue Book. It does not suggest an ongoing government interest in unidentified objects," Sheaffer observed. Conducted by the United States Air Force, Project Blue Book appraised the UFO situation starting in 1952 and officially closed down in 1970.
Intruding into their sandbox

Military operations areas (MOAs) are clearly designated on aviation maps, and civilian aircraft are generally supposed to avoid them, Sheaffer pointed out.

Most of the recent Pentagon comments about "unidentified objects" mention "range incursions," Sheaffer added — i.e., unknown objects that seem to be entering one of these MOAs.

"So, it seems that the military is worried about unidentified objects that might be intruding into their sandbox. If unidentified objects turn up elsewhere, the military doesn't care," Sheaffer said. "The 'Tic Tac' and 'Gimbal' videos appear to show distant jets, which are probably well outside the MOA, quite far away. The military is investigating out of an abundance of caution, and a sensitivity to criticism."

Temper expectations

Sarah Scoles is author of the recently published book, "They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers" (Pegasus Books, 2020).

"First, I'd say that the establishment of a task force to investigate and understand UAP makes sense and could, if done systematically and scientifically and transparently, provide data useful in interpreting pilots' sightings," Scoles told Inside Outer Space.

And it also makes sense, she said, that the Department of Defense — whose job it is, of course, to protect the U.S. from threats — is undertaking this endeavor.

"However, I think those expecting big, exotic conclusions from the task force would do well to temper their expectations," Scoles said. "If you look at what the official announcement actually says, it's not quite as extraordinary as it might seem at first glance."

Boundary-crossing objects

Last week's three-paragraph DoD release, Scoles added, uses language similar to that of other, previous statements about UAPs. For example, a September 2019 statement from Joseph Gradisher, spokesman for the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare defining "UAP," reads, "The 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena' terminology is used because it provides the basic descriptor for the sightings/observations of unauthorized/unidentified aircraft/objects entering/operating in the airspace of various military-controlled training ranges."

Scoles said that "UAP" technically could include aircraft or objects that are simply unauthorized, as well as aircraft or objects that cannot be immediately identified. "That means that, if a pilot sees something they cannot explain, but someone else explains it a few hours later, it could still fall under the definition of UAP."

The task force press release uses very similar wording to talk about DoD interest.

"It very specifically states that the DoD is concerned with boundary-crossing by objects that are — right when an observer sees them — unidentified," Scoles said. "It says nothing so specific about objects that remain forever unidentified and mysterious. It certainly says nothing nor implies anything about alien aircraft."

But, like all things UFO, Scoles concluded, "vague and somewhat weaselly wording leaves enough room for people to interpret this latest development very differently."

Leonard David is author of "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" (National Geographic, 2019). A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This version of the story published on Space.com.

2 COMMENTS
jaaronsan 18 August 2020 16:58
Please check out YouTuber Anton Petrov's What Da Math -"Here Is What We Know About These Pentagon UFO Videos". In it he has excellent explanations for the well used videos showing UFO's.
Remember, the U stands for Unidentified! It does not automatically mean that aliens have crossed the vast distances to give us a thrill here on Earth.
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Valentine Michael Smith 18 August 2020 19:12
"So, it seems that the military is worried about unidentified objects that might be intruding into their sandbox. If unidentified objects turn up elsewhere, the military doesn't care," Sheaffer said.
Duh. What we expect from a human organization (xeno, yo), and in particular from those who have a penis.