NGO'S ARE THE STATE

Oxfam workers suspended amid sexual exploitation claims

2 April 2021, 14:41

Two Oxfam aid workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been suspended as part of an investigation into allegations of bullying and sexual misconduct. Picture: PA
 

By Kate Buck@katebuck96

Two Oxfam aid workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been suspended as part of an investigation into allegations of bullying and sexual misconduct.

The inquiry comes just a few weeks after the charity's statutory supervision status was lifted, following reforms prompted by a 2019 report into conduct by its staff after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

An Oxfam spokesperson said in a statement: "We can confirm we have suspended two members of Oxfam staff in the DRC as part of an ongoing external investigation, which we set up last November, into allegations of abuses of power, including bullying and sexual misconduct.

"The Charity Commission for England and Wales were notified at the start of the investigation and we have kept them informed about its progress.

"We are acutely aware of our duty to survivors, including in supporting them to speak out safely. We are working hard to conclude the investigation fairly, safely and effectively."

The inquiry comes just a few weeks after the charity's statutory supervision status was lifted, following reforms prompted by a 2019 report into conduct by its staff after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Picture: PA

Oxfam has been active in the DRC since 1961, with its work focused primarily on humanitarian projects such as providing long-term access to clean drinking water.

The Times reports the allegations against Oxfam staff in the country are outlined in a 10-page letter sent to charity bosses in February.

The letter reportedly details allegations against 11 people and is signed by more than 20 current and former Oxfam staff, with claims ranging from sexual harassment and intimidation to systemic fraud and corruption.

Oxfam has been under the spotlight in recent years after the Charity Commission determined in 2019 it had not fully disclosed allegations staff working in disaster zones had sexually abused children. The watchdog also cited a "culture of poor behaviour" among Oxfam GB staff sent to help victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Allegations included that child prostitutes were used by staff, including at Oxfam premises on the crisis-hit Caribbean island, and that safeguarding measures to protect the vulnerable were inadequate.

Statutory supervision of the charity was lifted in February after it implemented a majority of the 100 recommendations prompted by the inquiry.

A spokeswoman for the Charity Commission told The Times: ""We have been actively liaising with the charity on its investigations into allegations of misconduct in the DRC and have been receiving regular updates and assurances on the steps it is taking to address the concerns."

Pentagon pal Microsoft to supply US Army with 120,000+ HoloLens units in contract somehow worth 'up to $22bn'

Gives Blue Screen of Death a whole new meaning

Chris Williams, Editor in Chief Wed 31 Mar 2021 // 

---

Microsoft has agreed to supply at least 120,000 production units of its HoloLens augmented-reality headsets to the US Army.

In 2018, the software giant signed a $480m contract to supply 100,000 prototypes of the techno-goggles to Uncle Sam. This first batch of hardware was intended to "increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy."

And now, the software giant has announced it's moving on from the prototype phase to a production run and field deployment of its headgear, dubbed the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS).

GI 3DO .. Microsoft's snap of a US soldier wearing its HoloLens-based headgear

Microsoft told the AP newswire the contract could be worth up to $21.9bn over the next decade; the deal is set at five years and can be extended another five. That dollar figure may be on the optimistic side given that the IVAS project was assigned $1.1bn in funding, and Congress cut that by 20 per cent.

The HoloLens 2 carries a $3,500 price tag at Microsoft's online store.

"The IVAS headset, based on HoloLens and augmented by Microsoft Azure cloud services, delivers a platform that will keep soldiers safer and make them more effective," said the Windows goliath's technical fellow Alex Kipman.

"The program delivers enhanced situational awareness, enabling information sharing and decision-making in a variety of scenarios."

US Department of Defense to fling $1.76bn at Microsoft

READ MORE

The US Army's statement goes into specifics: stating the equipment is made up of "high-resolution night, thermal, and soldier-borne sensors integrated into a unified heads-up display." The kit features "augmented reality and machine learning to enable a life-like mixed reality training environment" so that Close Combat Force personnel can also "rehearse before engaging any adversaries."

In short, the gear is supposed to help soldiers fight as well as train, we're told.

In 2019, Microsoft landed the Pentagon's $10bn decade-long, winner-takes-all JEDI cloud deal, a move that Amazon continues to protest.

And so today's news isn't out of the ordinary: Redmond provides all sorts of services to the US military.

While Big Tech workers wrestled with the morality of supplying powerful AI and data analytics systems to governments, Microsoft president Brad Smith argued succinctly at one point: "We believe in the strong defense of the United States and we want the people who defend it to have access to the nation’s best technology, including from Microsoft." ®

Sponsored: Protect and recover your NAS and unstructured data

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Deliveroo's IPO Slump Casts Doubt Over London's Post-Brexit Ambitions

Published on Apr 2 2021 5:50 AM in Technology tagged: Trending Posts / London / Deliveroo / SPACed

Deliveroo's share price plunge on its London stock market debut has put a question mark over Britain's ambitions to become a home for fast-growing tech companies following its departure from the European Union, investors and analysts say.

Shares in the food delivery company slumped as much as 30% on Wednesday in one of the biggest first day falls for a stock in London. They were down another 2.2% on Thursday.

Many of the reasons for the brutal decline are likely to be company-specific, according to a dozen interviews by Reuters of venture capital (VC) investors, bankers, analysts and tech executives.

But some said it also highlighted shortcomings in the London market and that - whatever the cause - it would deal a blow to Britain's efforts to attract more top tech companies.

"The volatility facing Deliveroo's share price is a setback for the UK's ambitions to convince more VC-backed tech businesses to list," said Nalin Patel, EMEA Private Capital Analyst at PitchBook.

"Deliveroo's decision to list on the LSE (London Stock Exchange) will come under scrutiny given its disappointing debut and the fact that Europe-based tech companies have predominantly listed in the U.S. in recent years."

'Should Have SPACed'

One source close to some Deliveroo board members said some directors felt the loss-making company should have merged with a special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) in New York - an increasingly popular way for firms to go public without an initial public offering (IPO).

"It's not great for London, to be honest. The feeling is that Deliveroo should have SPACed to New York where investors understand and accept the risk associated with pre-revenue businesses," the source said.

A Deliveroo spokeswoman declined to comment.

'Strong Start'

The LSE declined to comment on Deliveroo, but said the exchange had had a strong start to the year for listings.

"The positive activity demonstrates the ability of UK capital markets to support dynamic companies across all sectors and from around the globe," said Murray Roos, head of capital markets at LSE Group.

Attracting European technology companies has long been an goal for the LSE. Those ambitions became more pressing after Brexit, with London wanting to retain its position as a major global financial hub without access to EU markets.

The LSE, British government officials and bankers all launched a charm offensive to persuade Deliveroo to list in Britain.

Traditionally, European tech companies, such as music streaming firm Spotify, have chosen a New York listing to access the world's biggest tech investment community and an entrepreneur-friendly listing regime.

Britain's finance ministry declined to comment on the Deliveroo IPO but said the country had "a long track record of attracting the best companies in the world".

'Unique Cocktail Of Factors'

Several VCs and entrepreneurs said Deliveroo's flop had more to do with company-specific factors than London.

Some questioned whether Deliveroo's recent growth could be sustained when coronavirus lockdowns are eased and worried its reliance on a gig-economy model might run into legal problems.

"There are specific issues for Deliveroo - workers rights, how much of the recent growth will unwind post-lockdown," said Rob Moffat, a partner at Balderton Capital.

"I wouldn't get too into a read across for upcoming IPOs."

Some bankers also said the deal had little relevance to the IPO pipeline.

"It's a sign that ESG (environmental, social and governance) concerns are very important to investors' minds," said Andreas Bernstorff, head of equity capital markets at BNP Paribas. "If you combine that with the expensive valuation and governance, there was a unique cocktail of factors at play on this deal."

Still, some investor objections to Deliveroo could be read as a lower tolerance among British fund managers to entrepreneur-led growth firms with weaker corporate governance.

Heavyweight investors Aberdeen Standard Life, Aviva, Legal & General Investment Management and M&G all publicly stated their intention to stay away from the IPO. Unequal voting rights enjoyed by Deliveroo founder Will Shu were one of the reasons.

The Hut Group opted for a similarly unequal, dual-class share structure last year, and other IPO candidates are reportedly considering the same.

A listing review commissioned by UK finance minister Rishi Sunak has recommended such structures be allowed in London without restriction, but some investors are opposed.

As a result, some equity capital bankers believe British companies will once again look at the New York option.

"There is no shortage of SPACs to choose from," one said, referring to the record number of SPACs raising money in the United States and looking for acquisitions, many in Europe.

UK online car seller Cazoo Holdings Limited said this week it was opting for a SPAC deal to list in New York.

Whether Deliveroo becomes a lesson on IPO execution or on venue, or just a natural unwinding of some of the froth around tech IPOs in recent years, remains unclear.

"It may be in part a reaction to the drumbeat of negativity around the first day IPO pop, which has led some issuers to demand overly aggressive IPO pricing," said Matt Harris, a U.S.-based partner at Bain Capital Ventures.

"While you could argue that the drop in price means that Deliveroo raised money at an admirably low cost of capital, I doubt they are rejoicing about it."

NFTs: Why digital art has such a massive carbon footprint

by Peter Howson, The Conversation

APRIL 2, 2021

Credit: George Chairborn/Shutterstock

How much would you be willing to pay for a one-of-a-kind work of art? For some collectors, the limit lies somewhere in the region of hundreds of millions of dollars. What about a work of art that has no tangible form, and exists only as a digital token that's no more "real" than a JPEG file? Welcome to the strange world of crypto art collectibles, also known as NFTs.

Like Bitcoin, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are cryptocurrencies. But whereas individual bitcoins all have the same value, NFTs are more like baseball cards. Each token has a different value and they can't be used to buy things. They exist on your computer as digital representations of artworks, songs, films and games, among other things.

NFTs have been around since 2017, when the first mainstream experiment in crypto-collectibles emerged: CryptoKitties. The average price for one of these cat cards was about US$60 back then. But that's chicken feed compared to current takings. Rights to a single digital image recently sold at auction for US$69.3 million (£50.2 million). CryptoPunk 7804 (a crudely drawn alien with a pipe) sold for US$7.5 million. A house on Mars was purchased for US$500,000. A digital house that is, not one that you might live in. Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, recently sold his first ever tweet as an NFT for just under US$3 million.

"But how can someone buy a tweet?", you may ask. After all, anyone's free to click on, look at, print out and frame the tweet as many times as they like.

When you buy an NFT, you're buying a unique certificate of ownership, which is locked away on an immutable distributed database known as a blockchain. The creator of the artwork generally retains the copyright and in most cases, you own little more than bragging rights. Creators are also likely to pass the costs for creating your NFT files (or "minting" them) on to you (around US$100 as I write this).

Most of the time, what you'll also be responsible for is an enormous carbon footprint.


Counting the carbon cost of NFTs

Because they depend on a blockchain, NFTs use a lot of energy. Most creators still use Ethereum, a blockchain secured using a similar proof-of-work system to Bitcoin. This involves an energy-intensive computer function called mining. Specialist mining computers take turns guessing the combination to a digital lock (a long string of random digits). The computer that correctly guesses the combination wins a reward paid in a cryptocurrency called Ether. The digital lock resets roughly every 15 seconds, and the competition continues. Ethereum uses about 31 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity a year, about as much as the whole of Nigeria.

It's very difficult to calculate exactly how much responsibility the NFT industry should take for Ethereum's carbon emissions. Ethereum was going to run with or without NFTs. But with the growing demand for digital art, NFT buyers and sellers are becoming liable for an increasing share of Ethereum's total energy use, and some artists are starting to think twice.

The French digital artist, Joanie Lemercier, recently canceled the sale of six works after calculating the associated energy costs. The sale would use, in just ten seconds, enough electricity to power the artist's entire studio for two years.

ArtStation, a site for digital artists to showcase their portfolios, recently developed an NFT marketplace. But within hours of telling the world about the planned launch, widespread condemnation on social media forced ArtStation to scrap the project.

Alternative technologies exist that enable NFT markets without the carbon headache. Sidechains use negligible amounts of energy to process NFTs because these transactions occur on a more centralized platform where costs (and carbon footprints) are much lower.

Damien Hirst is due to release a collection of NFTs called The Currency Project using the Palm sidechain. Hirst will still be accepting payment in Bitcoin though, so his NFTs could still come with hefty carbon baggage.

Taking artistic license with climate solutions

NFT enthusiasts argue that the increasing popularity of blockchain technology, with its voracious appetite for energy, provides incentives for upgrading energy grids from fossil fuels to renewable sources. Similar arguments have been made by the airline industry: in order to fund the efficiency innovations that could make aviation greener, people should fly more, not less. For NFTs, evidence shows this approach is unlikely to work. Due to the competitive nature of proof-of-work mining, booming NFT markets are encouraging the construction of reliable coal-fired power stations, so that crypto miners don't have to suffer intermittent access to renewable generation.

Some NFT creators are trying to have their crypto-cake and eat it by using carbon offsets. Buying offsets funds conservation work, with each carbon credit purchased equivalent to one ton of carbon saved, which is either stored in a tree or theoretically prevented from escaping into the atmosphere through some sort of industrial innovation. The Offsetra company provides an emissions calculator and sells carbon credits to offset emissions caused by NFT transactions. The NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway recently auctioned eight carbon net-negative NFTs "inspired by Earth and the climate crisis". The artworks received 60 carbon credits. Each offset was itself an NFT.

NFT carbon credits (or any carbon credits for that matter) depend on clever accounting and a belief that carbon, like NFTs on a blockchain, can be immutably locked away in trees forever. It cannot. Nifty's website explains that offsets make sense for neutralizing our unavoidable emissions, "after we've done all attainable actions" to reduce our carbon footprint.

But does acquiring bragging rights to a digital image that anyone with an internet connection can enjoy constitute an unavoidable part of one's carbon footprint?


Explore furtherWhat is an NFT? Non-fungible tokens explained
Provided by The Conversation

Soil carbon capture project is first of its kind in the world

First Milk, Nestlé and Agricarbon launch pioneering soil carbon project

By Maureen Hodges @DancingSheep1

Farming and Rural Affairs Editor

News1st April

Pioneering project: First Milk


ONE of the leading players in the Cumbrian dairy industry, First Milk – together with Nestlé and Agricarbon – have this week announced the launch of a pioneering soil carbon capture project – the first of its kind in the world.

The project, which establishes a comprehensive and scientifically robust soil carbon baseline for First Milk farms, will use state-of-the-art machinery to carry out intensive soil carbon analysis at a fraction of the usual costs.

The approach allows soil carbon sequestration to be quantified over time to support the net zero ambitions of First Milk farmers and customers alike.

The initial phases of the project are being conducted in partnership with Nestlé, which is supporting this as part of its climate journey road map.

The project will see high intensity, field-by-field soil carbon stock quantified across 40 farms, with the intention to extend this to 100 First Milk farms by the end of 2021.

The project is being guided by Dr Helaina Black, a leading soil-ecologist and honorary associate at the James Hutton Institute.

Mark Brooking, sustainability director, said: “Just last week we announced a major development to our First4Milk sustainability programme that has seen us commit to net zero by 2040, to the launch of regenerative action plans for all our members, and to sequestering 100,000t of carbon in soils per annum by 2025.

“Moving forward, we’ll be working with all of our farmer members and external advisers, using this data to understand soil carbon levels and inform the development of practical regenerative plans for farms that capture additional soil carbon through sequestration, whilst maintaining and enhancing productivity and efficiency.”

Robin Sundaram, responsible sourcing manager, Nestlé UK, added: “Climate change is one of the biggest threats to society and we are using our size, scale and reach to tackle climate change as part of our net zero road map.

"We have committed to supporting farmers in our supply chain to implement regenerative agricultural practices to improve soil health and increase soil carbon sequestration.

“This pioneering project will enable us to build a scientifically-robust baseline dataset on soil carbon levels, allowing us to accurately determine the effectiveness of regenerative practices over time in capturing additional soil carbon.”

Annie Leeson, from Agricarbon, added: Agricarbon’s baseline will provide the ideal foundation for First Milk farmers to demonstrate their commitment to proactive soil stewardship and the soil carbon sequestration they can achieve as a result.”

Russian activists issue report on rights abuses in Syria

Russian human rights activists have released a report that chronicles alleged war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law during the 10-year conflict in Syria

ByThe Associated Press
2 April 2021, 

MOSCOW -- Russian human rights activists released a report Friday that chronicles alleged war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law during the 10-year conflict in Syria.

Activists from the Memorial Human Rights Center, the Civic Assistance Committee and other groups interviewed over 150 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, several European nations and Russia.


The organizations analyzed accounts of arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial executions, the use of prohibited weapons against civilians, starvation, sexual violence and other abuses.

The authors said their goal was to fill an information vacuum in Russia regarding the conflict in Syria. They said many Russians remain unaware of the scope of human rights violations and war crimes even though Moscow has waged military action in Syria since 2015.

Russia's military involvement has shored up Syrian President Bashar Assad's rule and allowed his government to reclaim control over much of the country.

“The ongoing violence in Syria and the continued failure to secure justice for those harmed make it more critical than ever that the Russian public is informed about the grave human rights abuses that have occurred in Syria over the last decade, including those committed under Russia’s watch and, since 2015, with its participation,” the report said.

The authors wrote that the Syrian government's military operations conducted jointly or with support from the Russian air force had a “clear pattern of indiscriminate and targeted attacks that did not correspond to the presence of military targets.” The Russian military has staunchly denied striking Syrian civilians.

Given Moscow's role in keeping Assad in power, the activists urged the Russian government to “use its influence on Syrian authorities to end arbitrary arrests, torture and degrading treatment in prisons, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances...(and) support the immediate release of those arbitrarily detained and reveal the fates of the disappeared."

They also called on Russian civil society to build contacts with the Syrian public to conduct joint investigations and prevent rights abuses.

The war in the shadows: Challenges of fighting terrorism in Xinjiang

TERRORISTS OR OPPRESSED & REPRESSED 

UIGHYAR MINORITY

2-Apr-2021
CGTN




Xinjiang, in the far western land of China, hosted one of the world's first and most important trade routes known as the Silk Road, which linked ancient Chinese civilization to the West through the Eurasian continent.

The land of fortune, however, has not always enjoyed tranquility. Thousands of terrorist attacks from 1990 through 2016 killed large numbers of innocent people and hundreds of police officers. Horrific stabbings and bombings wrecked the land, leaving its people in shock, grief and panic. The damage was incalculable while stability in the region quickly deteriorated. Authorities have been trying hard to restore peace to this land.

In CGTN's first three documentaries on fighting terrorism in Xinjiang, we presented never-before-seen footage documenting the frightening tragedies in Xinjiang and the resilience of its people.

The fourth exposé "The war in the shadows: Challenges of fighting terrorism in Xinjiang" – the last of the tetralogy – exposes the extremist thinking and the challenges facing China's efforts to tackle terrorism inside and outside Xinjiang.

It gives answers to these questions: Why has violent terrorism continued to plague Xinjiang? For those who were once known as "Two-faced people" among the legal and political elites in Xinjiang, how much damage have they done to anti-terrorism efforts in the region? How come poisonous education materials alleging ethnic victimization and "Turkic heroes" have been used for 13 years in primary and middle schools? Why must we stop the invisible hand of foreign advocacy abetting violent terrorism infiltrating our country?

The documentary reveals the methods used by extremist and separatist forces including the "Two-faced people" among the region's high-ranking officials, as well as how music and videos advocating violent terrorism and inciting ethnic hatred penetrated the region. Plus, it also tells of the very hardship police officers have been mired in for decades.

Over the past four years, violence has largely been contained, giving way to rapid urbanization and economic growth. Safety and tranquility never come easy. But it's only a preliminary victory in China's fight against terrorism.

The documentary is 55 minutes long and consists of four parts: "The network," "Enemies within," "The textbooks," and "The black hands."

We present you with the first three documentaries — each under an hour — below.

Watch: Fighting terrorism in Xinjiang

Watch: The black hand — ETIM and terrorism in Xinjiang

Watch: Tianshan: Still standing – Memories of fighting terrorism in Xinjiang

 Xi Jinping calls for efforts to peak carbon emissions, achieve carbon neutrality

Updated 22:15, 02-Apr-2021

CGTN

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called on the nation to follow the path of green development and strive to peak carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality as scheduled. 

President Xi made the remarks while attending an annual voluntary tree-planting activity in Beijing.  

China aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, Xi announced at the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video link last September.

Read more:

China gears up for people-centered, green, high-quality development

15 years on: In China, green is new gold

President Xi planted six saplings of different types of trees and talked with some children participating in the activity, encouraging them to strive for all-round development.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's voluntary tree-planting campaign, Xi noted. In 1981, the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, launched a nationwide voluntary tree-planting campaign and stipulated that every able-bodied citizen above 11 should plant three to five trees each year.

Thanks to the efforts made by people across the country over the past four decades, China has topped the world in forest resource increase, and the living environment in both urban and rural areas is becoming more and more beautiful, Xi said.

But compared with the goal of building a Beautiful China and the people's new expectations for a good life, forest and grassland resources nationwide are still inadequate in both quantity and quality, he stressed, calling for continuous efforts to plant trees.

Improving the ecological environment is necessary for promoting high-quality development as China enters a new development stage, he said. Greater efforts must be made to promote green development and make China a global pioneer in this regard, he added.

The nation should firmly adhere to the idea that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," he said.

Xi stressed the need to increase the area and quality of forests and the carbon sequestration capacity of the ecological system. The nation should make more efforts to fulfill the goals of peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality and make greater contributions to maintaining the ecological security of the world, he said.

(Cover: Saihanba State Forest Park in Chengde, north China's Hebei Province. /Xinhua)

Massive chip shortage exposes vulnerability in the global supply chain

Yu Jing, Li Ruikang

CGTN

Last week, Stellantis, Nissan and Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio joined an array of other car manufacturers in announcing new production cuts as the global supply of semiconductor chips is running short.

A by-product of the COVID-19 pandemic, looming behind the announcements is a global supply chain crisis that's increasingly taking its tolls on businesses that bank their growth on electronization.

How it all started

As the car market took a hit during the height of the global pandemic, semiconductor orders placed by automakers plummeted. Chip manufacturers thus shifted the focus of their product line to accommodating industries like video game and computer where demand was on the rise due to sweeping stay-at-home orders.




Hi1710 BMC management chip, seen on a Kunpeng 920 chipset designed by Huawei's Hisilicon subsidiary, is on display at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, May 29, 2019. /Reuters


But as pandemic-induced lockdowns ease worldwide and demand for vehicles has bounced back, car manufacturers are rushing to the now-preoccupied chip foundries for supply, but to no avail.

Given that the entire semiconductor business is built-to-order and that there is an incredibly long lead time due to the complexity of making chips, car makers are either finding themselves put to the back of the line or not expecting the delivery of their semiconductor orders anytime soon.

The shortage has sent shock waves throughout the entire supply chain – car makers run out of chips; chip makers run out of equipment; equipment makers ran out of raw materials, Wang Xiaolong, research director at ICwise, a Shanghai-based market research company in semiconductor and electronics industry, told CGTN.

For vehicles, semiconductor chips are indispensable parts that power up systems ranging from in-car entertainment to driver assistance. The number of semiconductors needed in one vehicle could be as many as hundreds.

But automotive chips, compared with chips for consumer products, are harder to come about through research and development, Wang noted. They must be able to withstand heat, be able to endure under much greater forces and must be highly reliable under all circumstances.




RAM memory chips are seen in this illustration photo, June 21, 2017. /Reuters


The failure to secure chips has sent car manufacturers scrambling to deliver their products. With plants temporarily shut down and production halted, the companies are expected to endure considerable losses this year.

Ford, which recently halted production at two car plants, said it may lose up to $2.5 billion in its 2021 profit, while General Motors said the chip shortage could cost it $2 billion in earnings.

But automakers are not the only ones hit by the chip shortage. Anticipating that the chip supply will keep running short for some time, companies from other sectors have embarked on panic buying, driving up stock prices in the semiconductor industry and increasingly pinching chip capacity.

What was initially a crisis exclusive to the vehicle industry has evolved to one that affects all businesses needing chips in production.

China's path to seeking self-sufficiency in chips

The global chip shortage has pushed carmakers in China to come to see the importance of semiconductor independence. From traditional carmaker Geely to new energy vehicle giant Nio, Chinese automakers are now rushing to design their own chips, but few have achieved the ability of commercial production.




Newly manufactured cars are seen at a port in Dalian, Liaoning Province, China, April 10, 2020. /Reuters


China's resolve to pursue semiconductor independence can stretch back to June 2014, when the State Council announced the establishment of a national investment fund dedicated to the development of semiconductors. Since then, hundreds of policy funds have been established to support the industry, while venture capitalists also turned to investing heavily in semiconductor startups.

According to China Semiconductor Industry Association, China's integrated circuit sales increased by 17 percent in 2020, reaching 884.8 billion yuan ($134.9 billion). But still, the industry is heavily reliant on foreign companies. In 2020, China bought $350 billion worth of foreign integrated circuits, 14.6 percent more than the year before.

A major barrier to achieving semiconductor independence is that China relies on foreign companies for chip-making equipment and design software, Wang noted, so that even if China achieves major progress in chip design, it lacks the equipment to produce them for domestic use.

BYD, one of China's biggest electric vehicle (EV) makers, has long committed to developing its own semiconductors. During the chip shortage, the company said its self-designed chips can not only meet its own demands but also be supplied to others, but analysts have raised doubt about it as the type of chips BYD makes does not necessarily resolve the crying needs.

Nevertheless, the firm has been able to make so-called insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), an integral silicon component in EVs' power management system that's at the core of BYD Semiconductor, for all its vehicles, marking a great leap in the traditionally foreign-dependent sector and a stride towards self-sufficiency.

In 2019, BYD had a share of 18 percent of the IGBT produced in China, while the rest was largely produced by foreign suppliers.




A BYD electric car at the Auto China 2016 in Beijing, China, April 25, 2016. /Reuters


Last year, a large number of chip-related companies sprang up across China, incentivized by the strong state support. According to data from Qichacha, the number of chip-related companies in China increased by 22,800 in 2020, an increase of 195 percent from the previous year.

But still, most of the chip-related companies focus on the downstream operations in the supply chain, instead of the upstream, noted Wang, which means foreign companies that have the stranglehold on raw materials and equipment for chip manufacturing still have a major say over China's chip production.

Late last year, the U.S. Commerce Department imposed restrictions on China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation from acquiring U.S.-based parts and technologies that are required to produce advanced chips that are 10 nanometers or below. It has also imposed similar restrictions on Chinese smartphone maker Huawei.

"We need to enhance supply chain security from a holistic perspective," Wang noted. "Chips, raw materials, equipment, design tools… every single part of the supply chain is critical to China's pursuit of semiconductor independence."

4

Satellite images show the Ever Given sitting in an artificial lake off the Suez Canal, where its hull will be inspected for seaworthiness


Michelle Mark
Thu, 1 April 2021, 

A radar image taken by the Sentinel-1 satellite shows the Great Bitter Lake on March 31. The Ever Given is the bright ship on the lake's eastern side. Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies


The Ever Given once stuck in the Suez Canal is in an artificial lake with its 18,000 containers.


The giant container ship is awaiting a hull inspection that will decide if it can continue sailing.


In the meantime, a backlog of 422 ships has resumed traffic in the Suez Canal.

Three days after the Ever Given container ship was dislodged from the Suez Canal, it remains anchored in an artificial lake, its future route uncertain.

The ship, operated by the Evergreen Marine Corporation, had been en route to Rotterdam, Netherlands, when it ran aground in the canal on March 23. It remained wedged horizontally for six days, blocking a major global shipping route and becoming an international spectacle.

A spokesperson for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages the Ever Given, told Insider the ship is due for a "hull inspection" and will remain in the Great Bitter Lake until it's completed.

Evergreen said in a statement that the upcoming inspection "will determine whether the ship can resume its scheduled service" to Rotterdam.

In the meantime, traffic along the Suez Canal has resumed, though the Suez Canal Authority chairman told reporters on Monday the backlog of 422 ships would take several days to clear.

Another satellite image from Maxar Technologies shows a line of ships steadily making their way down the canal on March 31:

Shipping traffic in the Suez Canal has resumed, after the Ever Given was dislodged on March 29. Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies

The Ever Given initially got stuck in the canal due to high winds from a sandstorm.

SOME WOULD DISAGREE

Ship captain's 'clumsy manuevers' caused Ever Given 

to get stuck in Suez Canal: report

         CGTN

The "clumsy maneuvers" from the captain of the mega-ship Ever Given caused it to swerve radically before running aground in Suez Canal, Italian media Nova Agency reported on Friday, citing two officials of the Suez Canal Authority.

 It was ultimately freed thanks to a combination of dredging operations that removed the sand and mud from underneath the ship's hull, and tugboats that pulled and pushed the ship into position.

The vessel is one of the world's largest container ships - it's roughly the same length as the Empire State Building and can carry up to 20,000 containers. The debacle cost the global economy an estimated $400 million per hour.

Read the original article on Business Insider