UK

Animal rights protesters disrupt McDonald’s distribution centres

The group are demanding McDonald’s commit to becoming fully plant-based by 2025.

Protesters release a yellow smoke canister outside a McDonalds distribution site in Basingstoke, Hampshire / PA

By John Besley
7 hours ago

McDonald’s has apologised to customers for “any disappointment caused” due to blockades by animal rights protesters at four of the fast food chain’s UK distribution centres.

Animal Rebellion, who claim the action will impact roughly 1,300 restaurants, are using trucks and bamboo structures at distribution sites in Hemel Hempstead, Basingstoke, Coventry and Heywood, Greater Manchester, to stop lorries from leaving depots.

The group is demanding McDonald’s commit to becoming fully plant-based by 2025.

Animal Rebellion protester suspended from a bamboo structure outside a McDonalds distribution site in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, which is being blockaded to stop lorries from leaving the depot. / PA

A McDonald’s spokesman said: “Our distribution centres are currently facing disruption.

“We are assessing the impact on deliveries to our restaurants and to menu items.

“We apologise to our customers for any disappointment caused.”


Animal Rebellion said they intend to remain at the sites for at least 24 hours, causing “significant disruption” to the McDonald’s supply chain.

In a video posted on Twitter, a protester in Coventry said the demonstration “feels like the absolutely right thing to do”.




Animal Rebellion

@RebelsAnimal
BREAKING NEWS (pls share!). Around 50 Animal Rebellion activists are *right now* blockading @McDonaldsUK entire UK distribution network to its 1300 UK restaurants for its role in the climate emergency, #Amazon deforestation, and animal suffering. We must switch to #plantbasedfood


10:09 PM · May 21, 2021


She added: “We are in the middle of a climate and ecological emergency and we are still consuming huge quantities of meat on a scale that is just not sustainable for our planet.”

Greater Manchester Police said officers at a demonstration in Heywood are helping to “maintain safety whilst facilitating the right to peaceful protest” and “there is minimum disruption to the local community”

. 

PA

James Ozden, a spokesman for the protest group, said the action is aimed at calling out the animal agriculture industry for its part in the global climate crisis.

He said: “The meat and dairy industry is destroying our planet: causing huge amounts of rainforest deforestation, emitting immense quantities of greenhouse gases and killing billions of animals each year.

“The only sustainable and realistic way to feed ten billion people is with a plant-based food system. Organic, free-range and ‘sustainable’ animal-based options simply aren’t good enough.”

Animal rights group blockades McDonald's 

UK distribution centres

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Animal rights group blockades McDonald's UK distribution centres

Animal Rebellion activists blockade McDonald's distribution centre in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

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Animal rights group blockades McDonald's UK distribution centres

Animal Rebellion activists blockade McDonald's distribution centre in Coventry

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Animal rights group blockades McDonald's UK distribution centres

Animal Rebellion protesters outside a McDonald's distribution site in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire



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Animal rights group blockades McDonald's UK distribution centres

Animal Rebellion protesters outside a McDonald's distribution site in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

 Almost 200,000 people join ‘free Palestine’ protest in central London Saturday 22 May 2021 

Read more:

 https://metro.co.uk/2021/05/22/palestine-protest-almost-200000-people-march-through-central-london-14628158/?ito=newsnow-feed?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

IEA's net-zero call to action raises concerns in Asia

The International Energy Agency's recommendations for reaching net zero emissions by 2050, are 'dizzyingly ambitious', according to Japan's MUFG

Wind turbines near a coal-fired power station in Garzweiler, western Germany. The direct implications of the IEA's call to halt upstream projects is a shrinking of global oil supplies by more than 8% annually. AFP

The International Energy Agency's calls for fossil fuel resources to remain unexploited in order to reach net-zero targets by 2050, has been rebuffed by some of the world's top oil consumers in Asia.

The Paris-based agency's roadmap to carbon neutrality calls for no new investment in fossil fuel supply projects and no further final investment decisions in new unabated coal plants, which uses the fuel without lowering its carbon impact.

However, for many of the world's fossil fuel-consuming economies in Asia, a rapid shift away from hydrocarbons comes in the way of industrialisation plans.

Japan, which pledged to go net-zero last year, is the fifth-largest consumer of crude and the world's fourth-largest importer of the fuel.

IEA urges countries to halt fossil fuel investments to achieve net-zero targets

IEA lowers global oil demand forecast as key consumers grapple with pandemic

The country with the world's third largest economy "needs to protect its energy security including a stable supply of electricity, so we will balance this with our goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050", Akihisa Matsuda, the deputy director of international affairs at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) told Reuters.

The report's suggestions to reach carbon neutrality "is not necessarily in line with the Japanese government's policy", he added.

The report also raised concerns in Australia, which continues to commit to coal and gas investments.

"The IEA report doesn't take into account future negative emission technologies and offsets from outside the energy sector – two things that are likely to happen and will allow vital and necessary future development of oil and gas fields," Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association chief executive Andrew McConville told the agency.

The IEA report comes as developed nations such as the US, turn their backs on fossil fuels.

The US has frozen new exploration activities on federal lands and has rejoined the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit emissions to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. It also plans to halve emissions from 2005 levels by 2030.

A number of countries adopted positions on carbon neutrality last year after movement restrictions to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a record fall in carbon emissions.

The IEA's recommendations for reaching net zero emissions by 2050, are "dizzyingly ambitious", Ehsan Khoman, director, head of emerging markets research - Emea at Japan's MUFG Bank said on Thursday.

The direct implications of the IEA's call to halt upstream projects is a shrinking of global oil supplies by more than 8 per cent annually.

"The IEA’s recommendations may prove challenging to transpire at the speed and magnitude as it’s NZE [net zero emissions] trajectory necessitates, and instead could be designed to provide clarity around the practicalities of increased climate ambition," Mr Khoman said.

However, others such as Joeri Rogelj, director of research, Grantham Institute, Imperial College London said that the IEA's roadmap is not the most ambitious.

Its call to action on reaching net-zero targets is, however, far from being the most conservative and is more than a token effort, he added.


Published: May 20, 2021 03:43 PM

Fewer insurers willing to take on fossil fuel companies


By Karen Graham
Published May 21, 2021

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) plant site in the oil sands of Alberta, Canada
THE SITE HAD TWO FATALITIES DURING CONSTRUCTION

Oilsands companies are finding it more difficult to insure their facilities in Northern Alberta, Canada, with insurers citing both the financial and climate risk of fossil fuel industries and the oilsands in particular.

Added to the dilemma is a recent report by the International Energy Agency that concluded there is no more room for coal, oil, or gas if the world intends to meet net-zero emissions by 2050.

The fight to stop the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion from Alberta to British Columbia, on Canada’s West Coast made national and international news recently, according to CBC Canada.

Things got dicey, with the Crown corporation behind the project seeking to protect the names of the insurance companies backing the controversial development.

The Canada Energy Regulator had to step in and side with the Crown Corporation after demonstrators blocked the entrances to a number of insurance companies in Vancouver, demanding they stop selling insurance to fossil fuel companies.

“It’s certainly a sign that the pressure on the insurance companies is working,” said Elana Sulakshana, with the Rainforest Action Network, an environmental organization based in San Francisco.

Over the past several years, three insurance companies from Europe – Axa, Zurich, and Swiss Re have announced plans to stop insuring Canadian oil sands projects, and reduce or entirely eliminate investments in the oil and gas sector.

Many insurers are backing away from oil sands projects

Allianz announced earlier this month a tightening of its coal policy globally, and new restrictions on its business with the oil sands industry, drawing praise from environmental groups.

According to the announcement, oil sands projects and new oil sands pipelines will be excluded, as well as companies that make more than 20 percent of their revenues from oil sands.

Regine Rechter, an energy campaigner at Urgewald said, “An exclusion of oil sands companies is overdue; many other insurers have already implemented this in recent years.”

And even the Crown Corporation made it clear in its application that over the years, pressure from environmentalists was making it harder and more expensive to find enough insurance, threatening the viability of the project.

The Insurance companies are quick to cite their reasons for pulling out of oil sands investments. Number one is the financial risk involved as well as climate regulations and societal pressure.

These risks “could result in significant loss of value (‘stranded assets’) for the most carbon-intensive businesses,” wrote AXA in 2017, calling the oilsands “a particularly carbon-intensive form of energy.”


In this article:Alberta Canada, climate regulations, Environmental Activism

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/fewer-insurers-willing-to-take-on-fossil-fuel-companies/article#ixzz6vcHJ3nHo

Op-Ed: Major deal – G7 to cease coal finance this year

By Paul Wallis
Published May 22, 2021

The North Antelope Rochelle opencut coal mine. — Photo: Peabody Energy. (Creative Commons 4.0)

Well, it had to happen sooner or later, but sooner is much better. By ending finance, the G7 is effectively phasing out coal. Coal is a glutton for money, as well as a global-scale problem for emissions. China, the world’s largest polluter, wasn’t part of this deal. That said, if it sticks to 19th-century energies, that has some global ramifications, too.

Credit where it’s due – The coal agreement is a first, even if many would say it’s a few decades late. At a time of massive global upheaval, some strategic policy coherence is more than welcome. The next stage is a UN summit in November to make this a truly global initiative. If adopted, coal is gone as an energy source.

Getting rid of coal also equates to a massive hit to global pollution, the key factor in the G7 decision. Coal releases a virtual smorgasbord of pollutants. The sheer scale of this pollution is truly mindboggling, in the billions of tons per year. Coal power plants also release a lot of secondary pollution, like contaminated water, etc.

Interestingly, one of the under-mentioned comments on this new approach was that reliance on fossil fuels was a factor in the decision. “Reliance” is an old issue, but it has become much more of a working equation in the future of energy as resources dry up and/or become uneconomic.

…But what about the huge financial stakes in coal?

There’s an easy answer to that question, and it couldn’t be more obvious. As any one of millions of recyclable carbon products, coal could be very useful. Black coal is almost pure carbon. It can be turned into almost literally anything, including the non-toxic new resins, 3D printing, etc.

Carbon, in fact, is one of the most widely-researched products on the planet. From basics to advanced carbon nano products, there’s a future sitting there waiting to go when the coal industry wakes up. The value for the coal will increase, ironically. That’s because any other possible use of coal other than as fuel adds value and doesn’t destroy the resource.

Well, it had to happen sometime. Somebody got something right. Let’s hope the nuts and conspiracy morons don’t get in the way.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/op-ed-major-deal-g7-to-cease-coal-finance-this-year/article#ixzz6vcRQHJo4

G7 countries agree to end state financing for coal power plants this year

Steam rises from the cooling tower of the coal-fired power 

plant Datteln 4 of Uniper in Datteln, western Germany, May 30, 2020. 

© Ina Fassbender, AFP

Text by:NEWS WIRES

The Group of Seven wealthy nations on Friday agreed to end state financing of coal-fired power plants by the end of this year, and to "mostly decarbonise" electricity supplies in the 2030s.

Ahead of a leaders meeting in Britain next month, G7 countries' climate and environment ministers also reaffirmed their commitment to keep temperature rises below 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, following a two-day virtual meeting.

Scientists say any increases beyond that will trigger uncontrollable climate change.

"Recognising that continued global investment in unabated coal power generation is incompatible with keeping 1.5C within reach, we stress that international investments in unabated coal must stop now," the ministers said.

UK lawmaker Alok Sharma, who is president-designate of the COP26 UN climate summit to be held in Glasgow in November, said the consensus was "a clear signal to the world that coal is on the way out".

The move follows a recommendation from the International Energy Agency earlier this week that all future fossil fuel projects must be scrapped if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and limit warming to 1.5C.

German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze called the agreement "an important step forward" that gave credibility to industrialised nations to urge others to follow suit.

Her French counterpart, Barbara Pompili, said it "sets the stage for a radical transition towards clean energy", hailing Japan, which had resisted, for getting on board.

The G7 countries -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and Britain -- are home to major carmakers, and further agreed to "significantly accelerate" the shift away from petrol in the transport industry within the decade.

Fossil fuels should also be mostly phased out from G7 countries' electricity supplies by the 2030s.

The grouping reiterated that it aimed to eliminate "inefficient fossil fuel subsidies" by 2025 and encouraged all countries to follow suit.

Meanwhile it vowed to "champion" new global biodiversity targets, including conserving or protecting at least 30 percent of global land and at least 30 percent of the global ocean by 2030 to halt, and reverse biodiversity loss.

'Vague'

Nations around the world committed under the 2015 Paris accord to keeping the global temperature increase to under two degrees Celsius and ideally closer to 1.5C by 2050.

However, many of the largest emitters have so far failed to do so and countries have not even agreed on a unified rulebook governing how the Paris agreement works in practice.

Sharma said earlier this month that the upcoming COP summit -- the biggest climate talks since the Paris talks -- were "the last hope" of realistically keeping to the targets.

All G7 nations now have 2030 emissions reduction targets, aligned with 2050 net zero aims.

The German government recently raised the ambition on its emissions reduction targets after a landmark ruling by the country's top court declared a flagship climate protection law "insufficient".

Under the new targets, the government expects to slash emissions by 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, going further than the current 55 percent reduction target.

Germany is also aiming to be carbon neutral by 2045, five years earlier than previously planned.

Environmental activists broadly welcomed the commitments struck Friday, but urged wealthy countries to produce more detailed plans and timeframes.
 
"The commitment on ending international coal funding is a real positive and leaves China isolated globally with its ongoing international financing for the most polluting fossil fuel," said Rebecca Newsom, of Greenpeace UK.

"Unfortunately though, too many of these pledges remain vague when we need them to be specific and set out timetabled action."

Nick Mabey, chief executive of the E3G climate think-tank, said the agreements provided "real momentum" ahead of COP26, pinpointing the deals around investment in coal and other fossil fuels as particularly significant.

"It puts the burden on any fossil fuel development now to prove that it's 1.5C compatible," he told the BBC.

(AFP)

Terrifying moment wall of dust hits Russian city
Duration: 00:55 



A severe sandstorm covered the southern Russian city of Astrakhan in thick dust on Wednesday. According to officials, it's the first time that the phenomenon has occurred in the region.

 KameraOne

THE  CORRUPT CATHOLIC EMPIRE
Cardinal Pell eyes a Vatican scandal he suspected long ago

ROME (AP) — Cardinal George Pell is enjoying his first Roman spring since being exonerated of sex abuse charges in his native Australia: He receives visitors to his Vatican flat, sips midday Aperol spritzes at the outdoor cafe downstairs and keeps up religiously with news of a Holy See financial scandal that he suspected years ago.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Pell, who turns 80 in June, is buoyed by the perks of being a retired Vatican cardinal even as he tries to put back together a life and career that were upended by his criminal trials and 404 days spent in solitary confinement in a Melbourne lockup

“I’ve become very Italian,” Pell tells a visitor one morning, referring to his daily routine checking coronavirus cases in Italy. “I check the stats every day. But I’m regional: I go immediately to Lazio,” which surrounds Rome.

Pell left his job as prefect of the Vatican’s economy ministry in 2017 to return home to face charges that he sexually molested two 13-year-old choir boys in the sacristy of the Melbourne cathedral in 1996.

After a first jury deadlocked, a second convicted him and he was sentenced to six years in prison. The conviction was upheld on appeal only to be thrown out by Australia’s High Court, which in April 2020 found there was reasonable doubt in the testimony of his lone accuser.

Pell and his supporters strongly denied the charges and believe he was scapegoated for all the crimes of the Australian Catholic Church’s botched response to clergy sexual abuse. Yet victims and critics say Pell epitomizes everything wrong with how the church has dealt with the sex abuse problem and have denounced his exoneration.

Pell spoke to The Associated Press ahead of the U.S. release of the second volume of his jailhouse memoir, “Prison Journal, Volume 2,” chronicling the middle four months of his term. The book charts his emotional low after the appeals court upheld his initial conviction, and ends with a sign of hope after Australia’s High Court agreed to hear his case.

“Looking back, I was probably excessively optimistic that I’d get bail,” Pell says now, crediting his “glass half-full” attitude to his Christian faith.

Pell still has many detractors — he freely uses the term “enemies" — who think him guilty. But in Rome, even many of his critics believed in his innocence, and since returning in September he has enjoyed a well-publicized papal audience and participates regularly in Vatican events.

Pell had returned to Rome to clean out his apartment, intending to make Sydney his permanent home.

But he never left. As Italy's COVID-19 resurgence hit, Pell spent the winter watching as the scandal over Vatican corruption and incompetence that he tried to uncover as Pope Francis’ finance czar exploded publicly in ways he admits he never saw coming.

For the three years that Pell was in charge of the Vatican’s finances, he tried to get a handle on just how much money the Secretariat of State had in its asset portfolio, what its investments were and what it did with the tens of millions of dollars in donations to the pope from the faithful.

He largely failed, as his nemesis in the Secretariat of State, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, blocked his efforts to impose international accounting and auditing standards. But now Becciu has been sacked, Francis has stripped the secretariat of its ability to manage the money and Vatican prosecutors are investigating the office's 350 million euro investment in a London real estate venture.

No indictments have been handed down after two years of investigation. But in court documents, prosecutors have accused an Italian broker involved in the London deal of trying to extort the Holy See of 15 million euros in fees, and they have accused a handful of Vatican officials of involvement.

Those same court documents, however, have made clear the entire venture was approved by top officials in the Secretariat of State, and witnesses say Francis himself approved a “just” compensation for the broker. Yet only low-ranking Vatican officials and external businessmen are known to be under investigation.

Pell said he is heartened that Vatican prosecutors are on the case, given the tens of millions of euros that were lost in the deal. But he expressed concerns about possible problems in the investigation and wondered if the truth will ever come out.

He noted a British judge recently issued a devastating ruling against the Vatican in a related asset seizure case against the broker, Gianluigi Torzi. The judge said Vatican prosecutors had made “appalling” omissions and misrepresentations in their request for judicial assistance, and his ruling essentially dismantled much of their case against Torzi.

“He used the word ‘appalling’ about the level of competence,” Pell said. The issues flagged in the British ruling are “a matter for concern,” said Pell, for whom matters of due process are particularly dear.

“It’s a matter of basic competence and justice," Pell said. “We must act within the norms of justice.”

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press

Lethbridge College researcher receives more than $230K for sugar beet project
Eloise Therien 16 hrs ago

Alberta Innovates, the province's largest research and innovation agency, has selected a Lethbridge College researcher as one of eight recipients of a financial award through its Smart Agriculture and Food Digitization and Automation Challenge.

© Courtesy: Lethbridge College Sugar beets at the Rogers and Lantic factory in Taber.

WHEN I WAS AT THE U OF L WE HAD A CREW THAT WORKED BUILDING THE 150 FOOT TOWER FOR THE PLANT, IT WAS UNIV STUDENTS VS THE RODEO COWBOYS WHO ALSO WORKED ON THE CONCRETE CREW WHEN EVER WE HAD SHIFTS.

"The (challenge) was launched by Alberta Innovates to really help find projects that develop smart technologies that have the potential to sustainably increase productivity on (a) farm, and reduce the cost of production for industry -- or increase the overall value of agri-food products," said Natisha Stashko, the executive director of Smart Agriculture and Food at Alberta Innovates.

"For this particular competition, we received 49 applications, which was great to see the capacity that we have in Alberta and looking at the agriculture technology space," she said.

Read more: Earlier-than-normal sugar beet harvest begins in southern Alberta

Chandra Singh, the applied research chair in agricultural engineering and technology at Lethbridge College’s Centre for Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CARIE), will use the $236,083 awarded to his project to explore how to improve sugar beet storage through automation and wireless technology.

"This wireless sensing technology will help us to collect the actual real-time sugar beet temperature data," Singh explained, adding that unpredictable southern Alberta weather can harm the product with the way it is currently stored.

"What it does -- the heating cooling cycle of those outdoor piles, they're not covered, not sealed," he said.

"It goes through the thawing (and) freezing cycle, and that damages the crop."

Singh added that the sensors will be able to notify a fanning system when to turn on in order to maintain a target temperature.

Video: Southern Alberta sugar beet farmers unable to harvest nearly half of 2019 crop

"This process will be completely automated, so you don’t have to have people going out and physically checking the piles," he said.

The total cost of the project is $404,733, and will take place over three years in collaboration with the Alberta Sugar Beet Growers (ASBG) and Lantic Inc., the country's only sugar beet processing facility located in Taber, Alta. Technical support will be provided by Calgary’s OPIsystems.

"Storage has always been a challenge for us, so our goal with this whole research is for us to better understand what's happening in the piles so that if there is spots where we're maybe seeing some deterioration of beet condition, we can actually remove those from the piles sooner," said ASBG executive director Melody Garner-Skiba.

"We're really hopeful that with this work we can see some interesting changes that will help us move the industry forward through better extraction."

Singh said he plans to have a prototype ready for this year's harvest, with the research concluding in three years.

MEDIA CONCENTRATION MONOPOLY CAPITALISM

Tribune shareholders approve hedge fund Alden's bid

Shareholders of Tribune Publishing, one of the country’s largest newspaper chains, approved a $630 million takeover bid by hedge fund Alden Global Capital on Friday, the company said in a brief statement. Alden, which already owned nearly one-third of Tribune, stands to take full control of the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and other Tribune papers.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Through its Digital First Media chain, Alden owns the Boston Herald, Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News.

Tribune offered little additional detail beyond the fact that it expects the deal to close on May 25. In a statement, Alden said the move “reaffirms our commitment to the newspaper industry" and its focus on retooling publications so they can ”operate sustainably over the long term."

The Alden deal is just the latest major acquisition of a newspaper company by an investment firm dedicated to maximizing profits in distressed industries. The collapse of print advertising as readers migrated to digital publications has rocked the traditional newspaper business. Publishers have shut down more than 2,000 papers over the past 15 years and half of newsroom jobs have disappeared.

Investment firm owners are often criticized for valuing profits over the mission of local journalism, and Alden is no exception.

The deal drew opposition from many of the company’s journalists in an unusual spate of employee activism. They set up rallies, tried to find local buyers and begged for a rescue in their own newspapers. They had rooted for a higher bid from hotel mogul Stewart Bainum in the belief that it would be better for local journalism, although that never came to fruition. They lobbied Tribune's No. 2 investor, Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, to vote no and scuttle the deal.

In a blog post, the president of the union representing Tribune journalists lamented that Tribune's shareholders had “ let everyone down ” by approving the deal, but said the union would “continue to hold Alden Global Capital accountable.”

Confusion arose earlier in the day when a spokeswoman for Soon-Shiong said he “abstained” from the vote. According to Tribune’s April 20 proxy statement, which states that approval of the deal required the votes of at least two-thirds of shares not owned by Alden, an “abstain” vote counted the same as an “against” vote.

Neither Tribune nor its board made any public comments on vote result until late in the day Friday. In its statement, Tribune effectively confirmed earlier reporting attributed to unnamed Tribune officials that Soon-Shiong’s ballots were submitted without the “abstain” box checked, and so were counted as “yes” votes toward the Alden takeover in accordance with the instructions on the ballot. Tribune did not name Soon-Shiong directly, but said that proxies from “one of the company's largest shareholders” were submitted in this fashion.

Soon-Shiong's representative, Hillary Manning, said the billionaire viewed Tribune as a “passive investment” and that he is focused on the “revitalization” of the L.A. Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune, which he bought from Tribune in 2018. Soon-Shiong stands to gain about $150 million from his Tribune stake.

Legal experts agreed that if Soon-Shiong left his ballot blank, he likely did so deliberately.

One possibility, said Andrew Verstein, a UCLA School of Law professor, is that Soon-Shiong intended to vote yes but didn’t want to take flak for that vote. “If you say yes, people yell at you for selling out the newspaper," he said.

Alden became Tribune’s largest shareholder in 2019. The union representing Tribune’s journalists says the hedge fund’s cost cuts have already led to shrinking newsrooms and closed offices. A 2020 report from the University of North Carolina’s journalism school said the combination of Alden and Tribune would be the country’s second-largest newspaper publisher by circulation, behind Gannett.

Tribune itself is no stranger to cost cuts and shrinking newsrooms. After emerging from bankruptcy in 2012, it split from its TV broadcasting arm in 2014 and since then has bought and sold papers including the Los Angeles Times (sold), the San Diego Union-Tribune (bought and then sold) and the New York Daily News (bought, then hit with layoffs that cut its editorial staff in half ). Its annual revenue has fallen by more than half since 2015, and by the end of 2020 its number of full- and part-time employees stood at 2,865 people, just 40% of its headcount five years earlier.

Overall, publishers have shut down more than 2,000 papers over the past 15 years; half of newsroom jobs have disappeared.

Investment firms have played a significant role in consolidating the industry as online competition drew away readers' attention and ad dollars. Hedge fund Chatham Asset Management bought newspaper chain McClatchy in an auction last year following the company's bankruptcy, beating a bid from Alden. A newspaper company managed by private equity firm Fortress bought Gannett in 2019 with a high-interest loan from another private equity firm. The newspaper company, which retained the Gannett name and is publicly traded, has since ended the management arrangement with Fortress.

An expected higher bid for the whole company from the hotel mogul Bainum never fully materialized after he was unable to find a buyer for the Chicago Tribune. Hansjörg Wyss, a billionaire from Wyoming who had expressed interest in owning the Chicago Tribune, joined Bainum's bid, then subsequently dropped out. He did not say why.

Prior to his bid for all of Tribune, Bainum struck a side deal to buy Baltimore Sun Media from Tribune for $65 million via a nonprofit. In a statement, Bainum said that while his efforts to buy Tribune have “fallen short,” his focus now is on Baltimore and Maryland, where he is “evaluating various options” to create nonprofit newsrooms.

__

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Alden would gain control of the Los Angeles Times in a successful bid for Tribune. The newspaper is owned by Tribune’s No. 2 investor, Patrick Soon-Shiong, and is not part of the Alden deal.

Tali Arbel, The Associated Press