Global oil CEOs stress need for fossil fuels despite push for cleaner energy


A view of a quiet registration desk for the World Petroleum Congress in Houston, Texas, U.S. on December 5, 2021 as organizers grappled with the fallout of new virus travel restrictions

Mon, December 6, 2021
By Liz Hampton and Sabrina Valle

HOUSTON (Reuters) -A global energy conference devoted to future technologies and low-carbon strategies kicked off in Houston on Monday with top executives from energy companies affirming the need for more oil for decades to come.

The World Petroleum Conference's four days of discussion started with chief executives from global giants Exxon Mobil Corp, Saudi Aramco, Chevron Corp and Halliburton Co all promoting the need to deliver oil and gas globally even as the world transitions to cleaner fuels.

World fossil fuel demand has rebounded sharply in 2021, with natural gas already at pre-pandemic levels and oil nearing levels reached in 2019. As demand has soared, economies in Europe and Asia have had to face power and heating supply shortages, forcing them to scramble for fuel or limit demand, and prices have surged. At the same time, numerous large oil-producing countries have not been able to keep up with output targets.

"The world is facing an even more chaotic energy transition," said Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser. "Energy security, economic development and affordability are clearly not receiving enough attention. Until they are, and we clear the gaps in the transition strategy, the chaos will only intensify."

Large global majors, especially those based in Europe, are limiting exploration and production in an attempt to shift to renewable power development and as governments promote efforts to cut carbon emissions to deal with rising worldwide temperatures.

Anders Opedal, CEO of Norway's Equinor, said energy companies have a responsibility to bring down emissions and provide energy. "We will need oil and gas for many years to come but with reduced emissions," he said.

Exxon is targeting net zero greenhouse gas emissions from its U.S. Permian assets by 2030, as part of a plan to reduce upstream emissions.

"The fact remains, under most credible scenarios, including net zero pathways, oil and natural gas will continue to play a significant role in meeting society's need," Exxon CEO Darren Woods said at the conference.

More than 80% of the world’s energy demand is supplied by oil and gas, said Stephen Green, Chevron's head of North America exploration and production. Chevron is committed to reducing carbon emissions until "game changing technologies" allow a lower carbon energy environment, Green said.

"The world will continue to need energy to get us through the transition," he said.

FIRST MOVERS

U.S. officials took the opportunity to talk about President Joe Biden's clean energy agenda while insisting on the need to address high fuel prices. The Biden administration has had a strained relationship with the fossil fuel industry in its first year in office.

Oil majors need to "step on to the plate" and be part of the climate solution, said David Turk, deputy U.S. Secretary of Energy. "First movers will have significant advantages."

Washington will not "stand in the way" of companies willing to increase domestic oil production as the industry tries to fully recover, he said.

"We need to make sure everyone has affordable, reliable and resilient energy," he said.

The conference was sapped of some of its star power at the outset due to COVID-19 travel restrictions that forced OPEC's secretary general and energy ministers from top oil producing nations like Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Qatar, to bow out, along with the CEOs of BP , Sonatrach and Qatar Energy.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba, Marianna Parraga, Sabrina Valle and Liz Hampton; editing by Jason Neely and Marguerita Choy)

BlackRock, Saudi asset manager Hassana sign deal for Aramco's gas pipelines


 General view of Aramco tanks and oil pipe at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal

Mon, December 6, 2021
By Saeed Azhar

DUBAI (Reuters) -Saudi Aramco said on Monday it has signed a $15.5 billion lease-and-leaseback deal for its gas pipeline network with a consortium led by BlackRock Real Assets and state-backed Hassana Investment Co.

Gulf oil producers are looking at sales of stakes in energy assets and raising cash through long-term leases, capitalising on a rebound in crude prices to attract foreign investors.

Earlier this year Aramco sold a 49% stake in its oil pipelines to a consortium led by U.S.-based EIG under a similar structure for $12.4 billion.

As part of the latest transaction, a newly formed subsidiary, Aramco Gas Pipelines Co, will lease usage rights in the state energy firm's gas pipelines network and lease them back to Aramco for a 20-year period, it said.

In return, Aramco Gas Pipelines Co will receive a tariff payable by Aramco for the gas products that will flow through the network, backed by minimum commitments on throughput.

Aramco will hold a 51% majority stake in Aramco Gas Pipeline Company and sell a 49% stake to investors led by BlackRock and Hassana, the asset management arm of the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI).

Other bidders in the race included EIG and Brookfield, sources told Reuters earlier.

"The deal unlocks additional value from Aramco's diverse asset base and has attracted interest from a wide range of worldwide investors, highlighting the compelling investment opportunity," it said in a statement.

Aramco will continue to retain full ownership and operational control of its gas pipeline network, and the transaction will not impose any restrictions on its production volumes, it said.

GREENWASHING BLUE HYDROGEN FROM NATURAL GAS

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a statement Aramco and Saudi Arabia "are taking meaningful, forward-looking steps to transition the Saudi economy toward renewables, clean hydrogen, and a net zero future".

He added: "Responsibly-managed natural gas infrastructure has a meaningful role to play in this transition."

Saudi Aramco has increased its focus on hydrogen and renewables as it moves to net-zero carbon by 2050.

(Additional reporting by Davide Barbuscia and Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by Jan Harvey)

Amazon is making its own shipping containers — and waiting as little as 2 days outside ports

Grace Kay
Mon, December 6, 2021, 

Brendan McDermid TPX Images of the Day/Reuters

Amazon has been making its own shipping containers and chartering its own ships since 2018.


Today, Amazon uses its own transportation network for 72% of its shipments.


Amazon's strategy allows it to bypass port delays that can span up to two months.

Amazon has been making its own shipping containers and chartering private ships to avoid major bottlenecks in the supply chain.

While the majority of retailers have been forced to wait for months-on-end with goods trapped at sea, Amazon has been able to bring goods into ports in a matter of days. Ocean freight analyst Steve Ferreira told CNBC that last month an Amazon cargo ship only waited outside a port for two days. Meanwhile, ships at the nation's largest port have waited for up to two months.

Amazon has been building up its transportation network for years — inadvertently preparing for a supply-chain crisis. 

In 2018, the company began making its own 53-foot shipping containers in China. The navy blue containers are embossed with Amazon's signature arrow logo and travel primarily on ships that are chartered solely for the company.

In its first year, Amazon Logistics shipped over 5,300 containers from Beijing to ports in California and Washington state. Since, Amazon has progressed to the point that it is shipping over 10,000 of its own containers per month and ranks among the top five transportation companies in the Trans Pacific, according to Ferreira.

Since the pandemic started, shipping container prices have surged from under $2,000 to over $20,000. Containers are also in short supply, as port delays tie up millions of shipping containers at sea. The Amazon-made containers ensure the company can prioritize where the containers are needed most without having to send them back to Asia after each delivery.

The e-commerce giant has also chartered its own bulk freighters for several years, a strategy that has come in handy this year. With its own ships, Amazon can easily choose which ports to visit and avoid backlogged ones in favor of smaller ports like the Port of Houston or the Port of Everett in Washington state, CNBC reported.

When Amazon first began building its transportation ecosystem, the company used it to ship less than 47% of its goods. Since, the network has grown to engulf about 72% of Amazon shipments, according to SJ Consulting Group. An Amazon spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on its transportation strategy.

Last month, Bloomberg reported that Amazon has thrown about $4 billion into side-stepping major shipping delays. The publication noted that Amazon had begun sending out shipments in half-empty trucks to allow for more timely deliveries and brought on about 150,000 more seasonal workers through boosting pay and offering $3,000 signing bonuses.

Other companies like Walmart and Home Depot have followed Amazon's lead this year. The retailers have pivoted to anything from chartering their own bulk freighters to flying in goods or using smaller ports, but Amazon has an advantage inasmuch as its transportation network has a longer history.

Plastic has a far bigger carbon footprint than previously believed

Rob Waugh
·Contributor
Mon, December 6, 2021

Plastic pellets - most of the CO2 emissions come from plastic production (Getty)

The problem of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans is well-known - but a new study has shown that plastic has a far worse carbon footprint than previously believed.

The problem is that plastic is often made in coal-based newly industrialised countries such as China, India, Indonesia and South Africa.

The energy and process heat for the production of plastics in these countries comes primarily from the combustion of coal.

The researchers say that the global carbon footprint of plastics has doubled since 1995, reaching 2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2015.

This represents more than 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is more than previously thought.

Over the same period, the global health footprint of plastics from fine particulate air pollution has increased by 70 percent.

Read more: Melting snow in Himalayas drives growth of green sea slime visible from space

The researchers looked at the greenhouse gas emissions generated across the life cycle of plastics - from fossil resource extraction, to processing into product classes and use, through to end of life, including recycling, incineration and landfill.

The production phase of plastics is responsible for the vast majority - 96% - of the carbon footprint of plastics.

Livia Cabernard, a doctoral student at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy (ISTP) at ETH Zurich, says, "So far, the simplistic assumption has been that the production of plastic requires roughly the same amount of fossil fuel as is contained in the raw materials in plastic — above all petroleum," says.

"The plastics-related carbon footprint of China's transport sector, Indonesia's electronics industry and India's construction industry has increased more than 50-fold since 1995.”

"Even in a worst-case scenario in which all plastics are incinerated, their production accounts for the lion's share of total greenhouse gas and particulate matter emissions.”

Read more: A 1988 warning about climate change was mostly right

Burning plastics is causing a pollution problem on British beaches, with campaigners warning that beaches are being inundated by a form of plastic pollution which looks exactly like rocks.

The so-called ‘pyroplastics’ are believed to be remnants of plastic which has been burnt or melted, researchers say.

Hilary Rowlands, a founding member of Tywyn Beach Guardians in Gwynedd told North Wales Live, “It’s only when you pick them up, and feel how light they are, that you realise they are not stones at all,”

“There’s not a single beach I’ve combed where I haven’t come across them. Sometimes they are covered in oil or impregnated with the toxins that come from burning plastic.

“It’s all dangerous, both to the environment and the marine life.

“The longer-term concern is that they will break down into microplastics and threaten marine food chains.”

Read more: Why economists worry that reversing climate change is hopeless

Researchers began to analyse the ‘rocks’ in recent years after people spotted them on beaches in Cornwall - initially thinking they were real pebbles.

The lumps of plastic also weather like real rocks, and shed microplastic into the environment.

Some of the lumps could be as much as half a century old, according to Andrew Turner of the University of Plymouth.

Turner writes, ‘Pyroplastics are derived from the burning of plastic. Some may look like various burnt pieces of plastic amalgamated together, while others look remarkably like pebbles once they have been eroded down by the elements.

‘They have probably been in existence since we started burning plastic to dispose of it (perhaps 80 years or so). Some of the now restricted chemicals we find in pyroplastics suggest they have been around since at least the 1960s.

‘Burnt plastic on beaches is likely to be derived from many sources, including burning waste on the beach itself, collapse of old landfill sites, historical burning of waste at sea and contemporary burning of plastic waste on small island states.’

Pyroplastics are found worldwide, with samples having been found on Atlantic beaches in Spain and the Pacific beaches of Vancouver.

PETTY PURGE
O'Toole asks House to investigate toxic workplace allegations against Tory MP Shannon Stubbs

Stubbs' staff say they felt pressured to paint her house, but the MP says she is being targetted for calling for a leadership review of Erin O'Toole

The Canadian Press
Stephanie Taylor
Publishing date: Dec 06, 2021 • 

Shannon Stubbs, Member of Parliament for Lakeland, in a 2019 file photo. 

Greg Southam-Postmedia


OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has asked the House of Commons to probe allegations that one of his MPs, Shannon Stubbs, created a toxic work environment for her staff.

But the move has prompted other Conservatives, including those who want O’Toole ousted as leader, to come to the defence of the Alberta MP, who had called for a review of his leadership following the party’s election loss in September.

O’Toole said Monday he learned of the allegations, first reported by the Globe and Mail, last week while touring in Quebec. The Canadian Press has confirmed one allegation in the report, that some of Stubbs’ employees felt pressured to paint a room in her house.

Stubbs’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but she told the Globe the house-painting was a gift. She denied any wrongdoing, saying she felt targeted for calling for a review of O’Toole’s leadership.

David Parker, a former staffer who worked in Stubbs’ office for almost a year beginning in 2016, told The Canadian Press it was clear that for the MP, “nothing was good enough, ever.”

I’ve set an expectation on all my MPs that we will have a professional and respectful workplace environment

Three other former staff members, who spoke to The Canadian Press on the condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals, alleged that Stubbs would openly criticize colleagues in the office, send texts overnight and make belittling comments.

The Canadian Press has not reviewed those alleged communications.

O’Toole said Monday he asked the House of Commons to look into the matter because the allegations are of a serious nature, and he expects his MPs to behave professionally.

“As I’ve been leader for a year, I’ve set an expectation on all my MPs that we will have a professional and respectful workplace environment,” he said in response to the allegations.

Others, however, came to Stubbs’ defence.

Gregory Loerts, who currently works in her office, tweeted Monday that Stubbs is “wonderful to know personally.”

“The work has been challenging, but extremely rewarding.”

Former Conservative cabinet minister Gerry Ritz tweeted Monday that “Shannon is a great MP.”

Jordan Paquet, a former staffer who worked in Stubbs’ office for four months beginning in October 2020, told The Canadian Press he had a positive experience. While it was a busy, he said, the pair got along well and that Stubbs displayed a passion for her work, behaved respectfully and would offer feedback that was constructive.

Stubbs has so far been the lone Conservative MP to publicly call for O’Toole’s performance to be reviewed by party members within six months.

Outside their first post-election caucus meeting in October, Stubbs said O’Toole flip-flopped on some key Conservative policy positions and that the grassroots deserved to have a say if the leader intended on making more changes to the party.

Alissa Golob, co-founder of anti-abortion organization RightNow, which has been fiercely critical of O’Toole walking back promises he made to protect the conscience rights of health-care professionals, tweeted Monday that the leader was embarking on a “witch hunt.”

Australia live news update: NSW education minister says teacher strike ‘disingenuous’

Elias Visontay (now) and Matilda Boseley (earlier) 

NSW teachers strike closes nearly 400 public schools

Thousands of New South Wales public school teachers have rallied at NSW parliament as part of a campaign of statewide industrial action to push for better pay and conditions.

Teachers from Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains gathered at Hyde Park in Sydney’s city centre on Tuesday, before marching to parliament.

Many of those on strike were wearing red T-shirts and carrying placards supporting the NSW Teachers Federation, which organised the action that closed almost 400 state schools for 24 hours.

The teachers say the government has failed to address unsustainable workloads, uncompetitive salaries and staff shortages.

They want a pay increase up to 7.5% a year to reverse the decline in teachers’ wages compared with other professions.

Related: NSW teachers strike as train and bus services services hit by industrial action

FIFTH WHEEL

Switzerland Approves Assisted ‘Suicide Capsule’

Barbie Latza Nadeau

Mon, December 6, 2021

Switzerland has just legalized a new way to die by assisted suicide. The country’s medical review board has just given authorization for use of the Sarco Suicide Pod, which is a 3-D-printed portable coffin-like capsule with windows that can be transported to a tranquil place for a person’s final moments of life. 

Conventional assisted-suicide methods have generally involved a chemical substance. Inventor Philip Nitschke of Exit International told the website SwissInfo.ch that his “death pod” offers a different approach. “We want to remove any kind of psychiatric review from the process and allow the individual to control the method themselves,” he said. “Our aim is to develop an artificial-intelligence screening system to establish the person’s mental capacity. Naturally there is a lot of skepticism, especially on the part of psychiatrists.”

The pod can be activated from inside and can give the person intending to die various options for where they want to be for their final moments. “The machine can be towed anywhere for the death,” he said. “It can be in an idyllic outdoor setting or in the premises of an assisted-suicide organization, for example.”

To qualify to use the pod, the person who wants to die must answer an online survey that is meant to prove whether they are making the decision of their own accord. If they pass, they will be told the location of the pod and given an access code.

Once inside, the person intending to end their life will have to answer pre-recorded questions and press a button that will start the process of flooding the interior with nitrogen, which will quickly reduce the oxygen level inside from 21 percent to 1 percent. “The person will get into the capsule and lie down,” he said, adding, “It’s very comfortable.”

He said the person will likely feel disorientated or euphoric. “The whole thing takes about 30 seconds,” he said “Death takes place through hypoxia and hypocapnia, oxygen and carbon dioxide deprivation, respectively. There is no panic, no choking.”

In 2020, around 1,300 people died by assisted suicide in Switzerland, almost all by ingesting liquid sodium pentobarbital, which puts a patient into a deep coma before killing them. Assisted suicide is also legal in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Canada.

The Sarco Suicide Pod is expected to be operational in 2022. The company has made three prototypes, but one was not “aesthetically pleasing” so it will not be used, it says. The company has not yet announced how much it will cost to use the service. 

Coral reefs of western Indian Ocean at risk of collapse: study


The findings warn that reefs along the eastern coast of Africa and island nations like Mauritius and Seychelles faced a high risk of extinction unless urgent action was taken (AFP/TONY KARUMBA)

Nick Perry
Mon, December 6, 2021

Rising sea temperatures and overfishing threaten coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean with complete collapse in the next 50 years, according to a groundbreaking study of these marine ecosystems.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Sustainability on Monday, warned that reefs along the eastern coast of Africa and island nations like Mauritius and Seychelles faced a high risk of extinction unless urgent action was taken.

For the first time, researchers were able to assess the vulnerability of individual reefs across the vast western reaches of the Indian Ocean, and identify the main threats to coral health.


They found that all reefs in this region faced "complete ecosystem collapse and irreversible damage" within decades, and that ocean warming meant some coral habitats were already critically endangered.

"The findings are quite serious. These reefs are vulnerable to collapse," lead author David Obura, founding director at CORDIO East Africa, a Kenya-based oceans research institute, told AFP.

"There's nowhere in the region where the reefs are in full health. They've all declined somewhat, and that will continue."

The study, co-authored with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, assessed 11,919 square kilometres of reef, representing about five percent of the global total.

Reefs fringing picturesque island nations like Mauritius, Seychelles, the Comoros and Madagascar -- popular ecotourism destinations heavily reliant on their marine environment -- were most at risk, researchers said.

- 'Double whammy' -

Coral reefs cover only a tiny fraction -- 0.2 percent -- of the ocean floor, but they are home to at least a quarter of all marine animals and plants.

Besides anchoring marine ecosystems, they also provide protein, jobs and protection from storms and shoreline erosion for hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

Obura said healthy reefs were "very valuable" and their loss would prove "a double whammy".

"For biodiversity, but also all sorts of coastal economies that depend on reefs," he said.

Climate change posed the biggest threat to coral health overall in the western Indian Ocean, where scientists say seawater temperatures are warming faster than in other parts of the globe.

Oceans absorb more than 90 percent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, shielding land surfaces but generating huge, long-lasting marine heatwaves that are pushing many species of corals past their limits of tolerance.

But along the east coast of continental Africa from Kenya to South Africa, pressure from overfishing was also identified in this latest study as another major scourge on reef ecosystems.

This underscored the need to urgently address both global threats to coral reefs from climate change, and local ones such as overfishing, Obura said.

"We need to give these reefs the best chance. In order to do that, we have to reduce the drivers, reverse the pressure on reefs," he said.

In October, the largest ever global survey of coral health revealed that dynamite fishing, pollution but mainly global warming had wiped out 14 percent of the world's coral reefs from 2009 to 2018.

np/amu/yad

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Sampdoria president resigns after arrest in bankruptcy case

Mon, 6 December 2021

Massimo Ferrero has resigned as president of Serie A club Sampdoria. (AFP/MARCO BERTORELLO)

Sampdoria president Massimo Ferrero has resigned after his reported arrest on Monday for alleged involvement in fraudulent bankruptcy cases, the Italian Serie A club announced.

"We learned with great surprise of the arrest of Massimo Ferrero (...) for bankruptcy cases which date back many years," Genoa-based outfit said in a statement.

"It is important to clarify that these matters have absolutely nothing to do with the (club) management."

"To protect at best" the interests of Sampdoria, Mr. Ferrero "intends to resign immediately from all his functions and make himself available to investigators," the statement added.

According to Italian media, Ferrero was arrested on Monday in Milan and taken to a prison in the northern Italian city.

The 70-year-old is accused, along with five others who have been placed under house arrest, with fraudulent bankruptcy and other alleged financial crimes.

According to his lawyer, quoted by the daily newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, the arrest was linked to the bankruptcy of companies with headquarters in the southern Calabria region.

Sampdoria are currently in 15th place in the Italian top-flight.

ljm/glr/ea/iwd

Lula, Brazil’s popular ex-president, battles for 2022 political comeback

David GORMEZANO 

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president from 2002 to 2010, embarked upon a triumphant European tour worthy of a head of state in November. Cleared of corruption charges by Brazil's Supreme Court in April, he gathered support from the European left and honed his message ahead of Brazil’s 2022 presidential election. His strategy to unseat President Jair Bolsonaro is based on the appeal of his personality and his ability to negotiate with Brazilian politics’ kingmakers.

© Andrew Medichini, AP

‘Back in the Champions League of international leaders’

Is Lula planning on running in the 2022 Brazilian presidential elections? “I’ll let you know,” the former president replied calmly, when questioned in a grand Parisian hotel, where he was being awarded Politique Internationale’s Prize for Political Courage on November 17.

True to form, the former steelworker who was released from prison in November 2019 declared his love for the “good, democratic, generous, hard-working” Brazilian people, who are “much better than the ignorant people currently in power”, and defended Brazil’s mission to become an economic and regional power for the good of the planet. A few hours later, he was received by French President Emmanuel Macron for lunch at the Élysée Palace.

The interminable judicial ordeal that, beginning from 2011, saw Lula convicted in cases of corruption, embezzlement of public funds and obstruction of justice, seems to be over. The former president is "back in the Champions League of international leaders”, says Gaspard Estrada, director of the Political Observatory of Latin America and the Caribbean at Paris’ Institute of Political Studies.

Reusing a proven electoral strategy

Lula’s European tour demonstrated that, unlike Jair Bolsonaro, he isn’t a pariah in the eyes of the international community – a clear difference that the former president hopes will win back the hearts of the Brazilian electorate.

Upon his return to Brazil, and ahead of an upcoming trip to the United States, Lula will continue to make full use of the electoral strategy that won him the presidency in 2002: Talking to a variety of people, and negotiating with and rallying political forces beyond his Workers’ Party (PT), particularly from the centre of the political spectrum.

"Lula has no competition on the left, but after Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment (Editor’s note: in 2016), the PT’s political orientation has turned more towards the left. In the 2018 presidential election, the PT’s candidate chose a running mate who was further left than him. But historically, the PT only wins with a vice president from the centre-right," Oliver Stuenkel, professor of International Relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo, points out.

The unavoidable ‘Centrao’: The soft and corrupt underbelly of Brazilian politics

Indeed, since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985, all presidents have had to form alliances with a multitude of small, conservative parties in order to govern. Acting as representatives of conservative, “deep” Brazil, they are known by Brazilians as the “Centrao” (“big centre”).

Divided into different groupings – 25 parties currently have elected members in Congress – these coalitions determine whether legislation can move through Brazil's parliament. "You can't govern Brazil without the Centrao. Its members will always be in government, and they don't care who wins the election. It’s a peculiarity of the Brazilian political system," explains Stuenkel.

It is therefore likely that Lula wants to "return to the happier times of his presidency and put an end to political polarisation” in the form of "Lulism", a synonym for “conciliation and acceptance of the realities of Brazilian political life", explains Armelle Enders, a historian of contemporary Brazil at Université Paris 8.

“The left has reproached him for having personal ties with many right-wing or centre-wing personalities whom they consider unattractive," Enders says. But in 2022, these parties will probably be less picky, as they aim to put former army captain Jair Bolsonaro out of office for good.

Reconnecting with the military

Another challenge for the great conciliator will be to reconnect with the military: a popular institution among Brazilians that aligned itself with Bolsonaro after his 2018 victory. "Lula tried to open a dialogue with the military hierarchy through his former defence minister, Nelson Jobim, but apparently without success. The establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Dilma Rousseff in 2014 has created a rift between the PT and the army," explains Stuenkel.

In Paris, Lula appeared uncharacteristically unconciliatory as he spoke about this issue. "The role of the Brazilian armed forces is well-defined by the Constitution: They defend the sovereignty of our country. (...) They are at the service of civil society. That is what our Constitution says. Today, there are 8,000 military personnel in positions of civil responsibility and trust. They will have to leave, and we will replace them with non-military personnel. There is no problem, but I don't want to talk about elections with the military," he told journalists on November 17.

Uncertainty ahead of a decisive election

In a Brazil hit hard by unemployment and the pandemic, with hunger resurfacing in some parts of the country, Lula, who has been leading in the polls for months, wants to focus his campaign on reconciliation, on celebrating Brazil and on reassuring the Brazilian people.

Yet a Lula victory, hoped for by many Brazilians as well as leaders in Europe and Latin America, is not a foregone conclusion. Although the former president has been cleared of all convictions, his name remains synonymous, for a part of Brazilian public opinion, with political corruption. A polarised contest between the former president and the incumbent can therefore be expected.

"Lula will have a hard time winning back the business community,” says Enders. “In 20 years, many things have changed. A new, highly libertarian right wing has gained strength. It is looking for a third way, between a Lula who is too far left and a Bolsonaro who is too unpredictable. It could instead look towards Judge Sergio Moro [Editor’s note: Moro jailed Lula, was appointed minister of justice and public security after Bolsonaro was elected, and resigned in April 2020], which could bother Bolsonaro.”

"Currently, Jair Bolsonaro is keeping a low profile, as he was threatened with impeachment after trying to stage a coup in September. But he is not out of the running – anything is possible.”

In the event of a second-round defeat, the current Brazilian president, a great admirer of former US president Donald Trump, does not plan on going down without a fight – especially if Lula emerges victorious.

This article was translated from the original in French.

Israel lays down law on cyber exports, after Pegasus spy scandal


Apple sued the Israeli maker of Pegasus spyware seeking to block NSO Group from targeting the more than one billion iPhones in circulation (AFP/JOEL SAGET)
GET A BLACKBERRY THEY ARE ENCRYPTED

Mon, December 6, 2021

Israel laid down the law Monday on the use by foreign governments of its cyber exports, after the private Israeli developer of Pegasus spyware became engulfed in scandal abroad.

The defence ministry-linked agency for military exports, in a statement, specified that a foreign state seeking a cyber or intelligence system must only use it to combat terrorism and "serious crimes".

Smartphones infected with Pegasus spyware developed by the private Israeli firm NSO Group are essentially turned into pocket spying devices.

This allows the user to read the target's messages, look through their photos, track their location and even turn on their camera without them knowing.

US authorities last month blacklisted NSO by restricting exports to it from American groups over allegations the Israeli firm "enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression".

An updated Israeli end user certificate issued Monday, to be signed by buyers, listed terrorism as including offences committed with the aim of "seriously intimidating a population" or "unduly compelling a government" through crimes such as hostage taking and potentially fatal attacks upon a person's life.

"An act of expressing an opinion or criticism, as well as presenting data regarding the state, including any of its institutions, shall not, in and of itself, constitute a Serious Crime," or terrorism, the certificate says.

Violation of the provisions would result in the spyware being restricted or disconnected, the agency warned.

"The system shall not be used, under any circumstances, to inflict harm on an individual or a group of individuals, merely due to their religion, sex or gender, race, ethnic group, sexual orientation, nationality, country of origin, opinion, political affiliation, age or personal status."

The military exports agency said the provisions follow "a series of measures" taken in the last few years in which Israel "approves the export of cyber systems solely to governments for the purposes of investigation and prevention of terrorism and crime."

In the latest in a string of commercial cases, Apple last month sued the Israeli spyware maker, seeking to block NSO Group from targeting the more than one billion iPhones in circulation.

NSO has consistently denied any wrongdoing and defended use of its software.

In July a collaborative investigation by The Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde and other media outlets raised privacy concerns and revealed the far-reaching extent to which the NSO software could be misused.

They investigated a data leak of up to 50,000 phone numbers believed to have been identified as people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016.

The numbers included those of activists, journalists, business executives and politicians around the world.

alv/hc/it