Scientists may have solved Professor Stephen Hawking’s black hole paradox

According to two new studies, something called “quantum hair” is the answer to the problem

THU, 17 MAR, 2022 - 17:31

NINA MASSEY, PA SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT

Researchers may have solved Stephen Hawking’s famous black hole paradox – a mystery that has puzzled scientists for almost half a century.

According to two new studies, something called “quantum hair” is the answer to the problem.

In the first paper, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, researchers demonstrated that black holes are more complex than originally thought and have gravitational fields that hold information about how they were formed.

Black holes have long been considered the perfect laboratory to study how to merge Einstein’s theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics

The researchers showed that matter collapsing into a black hole leaves a mark in its gravitational field – an imprint referred to as a “quantum hair”.

In a follow-up paper, published in a separate journal, Physics Letters B, Professor Xavier Calmet from the University of Sussex’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Professor Stephen Hsu from Michigan State University said quantum hairs resolve Prof Hawking’s Black Hole Information Paradox.

In 1976, Prof Hawking suggested that, as black holes evaporate, they destroy information about what had formed them.

That idea goes against a fundamental law of quantum mechanics which states any process in physics can be mathematically reversed.

In the 1960s, physicist John Archibald Wheeler, discussing black holes’ lack of observable features beyond their total mass, spin, and charge, coined the phrase “black holes have no hair” – known as the no-hair theorem.

However, the newly discovered “quantum hair” provides a way for information to be preserved as a black hole collapses and, as such, resolves one of modern science’s most famous quandaries, experts say.

Professor Stephen Hawking (Joe Giddens/PA)

Prof Calmet said: “Black holes have long been considered the perfect laboratory to study how to merge Einstein’s theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics.

“It was generally assumed within the scientific community that resolving this paradox would require a huge paradigm shift in physics, forcing the potential reformulation of either quantum mechanics or general relativity.

“What we found – and I think is particularly exciting – is that this isn’t necessary.”

Explaining the discovery of the “quantum hair”, Roberto Casadio, Professor of Theoretical Physics from the University of Bologna, said: “A crucial aspect is that black holes are formed by the collapse of compact objects and then, according to the quantum theory, there is no absolute separation between the interior and the exterior of the black hole.

“In the classical theory, the horizon acts as a perfect one-way membrane which does not let anything out and the exterior is therefore the same for all black holes of a given mass.

“This is the classical no-hair theorem.

“However, in the quantum theory, the state of the matter that collapses and forms the black hole continues to affect the state of the exterior, albeit in a way that is compatible with present experimental bounds. This is what is known as ‘quantum hair’.”

WAR IN UKRAINE TURNS HUNGARY ELECTION CAMPAIGN ON ITS HEAD

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 25 February 2022. 

EPA-EFE/STEPHANIE LECOCQ


Budapest
BIRN

March 14, 202208:05

Viktor Orban has moved from fighting phoney battles with fictitious enemies in this election campaign to championing himself as the guarantor of peace and stability for Hungarians at a time of war.

Billboards publicising the Hungarian government’s anti-LGBT referendum to be held the same day as the April 3 general election have been pushed into the background almost overnight. So, too, the campaign slogans of the Hungarian opposition about cracking down on corruption or raising teachers’ pay. The war in Ukraine has radically

 transformed the political reality in Hungary.

“The war is highly troublesome for Orban and we see the whole 12 years of his friendship with [Vladimir] Putin come tumbling down on him,” Andras Biro-Nagy, director of Policy Solutions, a critical think tank, tells BIRN.

It is proving more than embarrassing for Orban that he visited Moscow just three weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, one of the last EU and NATO leaders to meet Putin. Thus, the Russian president, previously a major ally for Orban, has now unexpectedly become a liability and one the biggest threats to his re-election chances in the election.

“Orban and Putin or the West and Europe – these are the stakes. A choice between the dark or the good side of history,” Peter Marki-Zay, the joint opposition’s prime ministerial candidate in the April 3 election wrote on Facebook.

He also accused Orban of rolling out Putin’s political model in Hungary, undermining European unity and serving Putin’s interests for the last 12 years.

“The opposition is trying to seize the opportunity to frame the election around the existential question: East or West? Where do we belong?” Biro-Nagy says.
Transformed into a dove of peace

Yet Fidesz is pushing another narrative, a less grand overarching one, perhaps lacking moral considerations, but one that is proving equally as powerful.

It took the government and its spin-doctors several days to come up with a new slogan, but Orban’s newly discovered rhetoric about “peace and stability” – amplified by the legions of pro-government media – is beginning to hit home.

“We have to stay out of this war, we should not be involved,” Orban now intones repeatedly, underlining his long government experience. He has also managed to portray Marki-Zay as a politician who would send Hungarian troops into Ukraine and involve Hungary in a war that is not “ours”.

“Our research shows that Hungarian society favours peace. We do not share the existential fears of Poles about the Russians,” Agoston Samuel Mraz, director of the government-allied think tank the Nezopont Institute, tells BIRN.

Mraz believes the current situation could work in the government’s favour; amid growing international insecurity, the willingness of voters to change government tends to diminish. Fidesz, he says, is closely monitoring the mood of society and is tailoring its messages to suit.

“After the 1956 revolution, Hungarian society, under huge pressure, compromised with the communist regime and the Russians. This was not a free, but pragmatic decision of a society opting for relative welfare and security,” Mraz says.

Hungarian opposition leader Peter Marki-Zay speaks during a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the headquarters of the International Investment Bank (IIB) in Budapest, Hungary, 01 March 2022. 

EPA-EFE/Szilard Koszticsak


It also explains why Orban and his ministers endlessly repeat that energy trade with Russia should not be included among the Western sanctions. Higher utility prices would undermine this notion of stability, which – at least in the minds of government spin doctors – would erode government support.

At a conference organised last week in Budapest, Ukraine’s ambassador to Hungary, Ljubov Nepop, in a voice cracking with emotion, questioned whether the Orban government cared more about low utility prices than human lives? “Are you not ashamed?” she asked, tears in her eyes.

This deeply rooted need for stability might explain why there have been no mass demonstrations against the war in Hungary, unlike in Prague or Berlin where hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets with withering attacks on Putin and his allies at home and abroad.

Yet observers point out it might have more to do with the inability of the opposition to mobilise its voters and organise big demonstrations beyond the few thousand people who regularly attend.

“Currently, it seems that the opposition has not been able to turn the situation to its advantage,” election expert Robert Laszlo from the independent think tank Political Capital tells BIRN. “They were probably too cautious and shy in the beginning, while the government is vehemently pushing its new narrative with the help of its loyal media and has managed to ‘retune’ its voters in no time. The communication bubbles created by the state media and government billboards are proving unbreakable, especially in the countryside.”

Other experts agree that Orban’s new central narrative of safeguarding peace and stability is gaining traction in society. Although polls are usually not very reliable in Hungary as results tend to depend on the affiliation of the polling institute, an end-February survey by Median indicates that the government has managed to actually increase its lead over the joint opposition. Orban’s monolithic voting block of 2.2-2.5 million is not being eroded, it seems.

Mraz, from the government-allied Nezopont Institute, says their polls show Fidesz support growing slightly, but what’s more important, opposition voters are becoming more disoriented. Undecided voters, seen as a potential reservoir for opposition parties, have become even more insecure and could plump for the safe choice of the government at a time of such instability.
Economic clouds loom

However, other challenges lie ahead for the government over the final weeks of the campaign.

Stability could be undermined by the free fall of the Hungarian currency, which has sunk to a record level of 400 forints per euro since the war began on February 24. A positive upshot of Fidesz’s much-heralded economic growth of the last 12 years is being eaten up by instability and inflation.

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) is gleefully reminding voters that when Orban took power in 2012, the exchange rate was at 269 forints per euro, meaning an overall devaluation of almost 50 per cent over its 12 years in power, by far the biggest among the Visegrad Group of Central European countries. The Hungarian currency’s exchange rate is slightly below that of Zimbabwe’s, DK writes, mocking the government’s slogan that Hungary is moving ahead, not backward.

Government circles admit privately that the galloping inflation and deteriorating exchange rate could pose a bigger threat to election victory than the actual war in Ukraine.

With just two weeks before the election, insecurity dominates the mood, both within society and among the political elite. Orban’s new balancing act – supporting the EU and NATO, but keeping the door open for energy business with Russia and generally voicing his reservations about sanctions as effective measures to bring about change – appears so incoherent at times that the government appears to be adjusting strategy on the hoof.

For example, Orban announced Hungary would not send weapons to Ukraine, not even allowing weapons to transit its territory. But it then appeared to backtrack in a carefully worded government decree, which allows the transport of weapons to NATO allies, only ruling out direct transport to Ukrainian forces.

The same happened with its refusal to station NATO troops on Hungarian soil. Now, it seems, the government is open to having them, and the optimism of Defence Minister Tibor Benko about the Hungarian military not needing support is no longer valid.

The almost daily corrections reveal that Orban is trying to realign policies with Western allies, but often too little, too late. Orban’s ambivalent approach to the war has brought relations with Poland, Hungary’s main ally within the EU, to a new nadir, and it looks to have cemented Fidesz’s toxic image in most Western capitals.

But questions of foreign policy and international affairs leave the majority of Hungarian society unmoved or even just confused, possibly as a consequence of the country becoming increasingly inward-looking and provincial during the 12 years of the Orban government.

“It is yet to be seen which of the Orban’s peace and security narrative or the opposition’s West vs. East approach will convince voters more,” Biro-Nagy of Policy Solutions admits. “But what’s highly challenging for Orban is that he has no control over what’s happening in Ukraine, or even in the economy – he can only do damage control.”

Hundreds of Filipino sailors still stranded in Ukrainian ports

Filipino seafarers make up 25 per cent of crews worldwide. A few hundred have been evacuated and repatriated. The problem is also in the opposite direction: Ukrainians and Russians on boats abroad cannot return home or get paid.



Manila (AsiaNews) - The Russian invasion of Ukraine is also having an impact on the maritime sector: thousands of foreign sailors are stranded on board ships in Ukrainian ports; Ukrainian and Russian sailors abroad are unable to return home.

Data from Stella Maris Manila, the Scalabrinian missionaries' dormitory and training centre for seafarers, 49 of their sailors have been evacuated, 227 repatriated and 146 are stranded on board 27 vessels in 11 different ports in Ukraine. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs claims to have evacuated over 300 seafarers and to have brought home just over 170 so far.

Filipinos represent 25% of the world's seafarers, 1.9 million in total.

On 10 and 11 March, the United Nations International Maritime Organisation (IMO) convened an extraordinary meeting to assess the risks faced by vessels in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Imo Secretary General Kitack Lim called for merchant shipping to be spared the violence: "Together with the Ukrainian people, ships, seafarers and port workers engaged in trade should not be caught up in this growing crisis. Shipping, and in particular seafarers, cannot be collateral victims of a wider political and military crisis, they must stay safe and be protected".

At least five ships have so far been hit by bombings, killing a sailor from Bangladesh.

The total number of foreign sailors stranded in Ukraine is estimated at around 1,000, on board more than 100 ships. The crews are not trained to command the vessels in wartime, which is why they remain stranded in ports with their cargoes.

The problem is also in the opposite direction: Russian and Ukrainian sailors make up 17% of the world's seafarers and at the moment about 60,000 are at sea or waiting to go home. But there are no flights and many of them cannot be paid because their bank accounts are blocked or under sanctions.

Most of the Russian and Ukrainian sailors are also senior officers, captains and mechanics, and it is not easy to find people to replace them to keep the supply chains going. To remedy the situation, shipowners are also offering double salaries to seafarers from the Philippines and Romania for sailings in the next two months, but much will depend on how the conflict in southern Ukraine, near Odessa and Mariupol, develops.

Dirty money: Russian oligarchs flock to UAE to evade sanctions

Analysis
In-depth
James Snell
17 March, 2022

In-depth: As the world responds to Russia's invasion of Ukraine with unprecedented sanctions, Russia's richest oligarchs have flocked to the UAE as a financial haven to hide their wealth, and the business hub nation has welcomed them with open arms.

In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the unprecedented international sanctions targeting Russia’s economy, people and money have been fleeing Russia. Among them are some of the richest people in the world, Russia’s oligarchs, who are the target of both personalised sanctions and international attention.

Many of them are making their way to the United Arab Emirates. The Financial Times reported that several Russian oligarchs are establishing business and buying up property in the Gulf nation, hoping to avoid the worst of financial restrictions and a weak currency in Russia, and clinging on by all available means to the currents of global finance.

The UAE spent much time turning itself, and especially Dubai, into a playground for the world’s rich. Its leaders have turned Dubai into a glittering tourist destination, filled with amenities and shops, to attract the wealthy.

"As campaigners against kleptocracy have long argued, the UAE has established a system of offshoring, lax regulatory oversight, and a lack of transparency, all of which has attracted dirty money"

As campaigners against kleptocracy have long argued, the UAE has established a system of offshoring, lax regulatory oversight, and a lack of transparency, all of which has attracted dirty money. This month, the Financial Action Task Force, a global financial crime watchdog, added the UAE to the “greylist” risk of jurisdictions being monitored.

A seminal 2020 report for the Carnegie Endowment argued that “part of what underpins Dubai’s prosperity is a steady stream of illicit proceeds borne from corruption and crime.”

“The wealth”, the editors argue, “has helped to fuel the emirate’s booming real estate market; enrich its bankers, moneychangers, and business elites; and turn Dubai into a major gold trading hub.”

Until now, the system that Russian oligarchs are now seeking to use to their advantage has escaped major international scrutiny. Campaigners against kleptocracy expressed their pleasure to The New Arab that now, amid unprecedented global focus on dirty money, this could begin to change.

A luxury yacht is pictured off the Dubai Marina Beach on June 10 2021. Dubai earned a reputation for delivering luxury for the world's richest, and has become a safe haven for those looking to hide their wealth. [Getty]

“Dubai has been working very hard to position itself as a wealth haven for a long time and has been able to take advantage of rules put in place by the West banning blood diamonds and blood gold, both of which can be part of the economy in Dubai,” said Oliver Bullough, the author of Moneyland and Butler to the World.

“The UAE has created this system of offshore finance and services, basically pro-kleptocracy services, for practically everyone who has dirty money burning a hole in their pockets,” said Casey Michel, an Adjunct Fellow at the Hudson Institute's Kleptocracy Initiative and the author of American Kleptocracy.

Among the rich, the wealthy Gulf nation is known for “opaque corporate ownership, a clear lack of willingness to implement oversight and transparency mechanisms.”

“The UAE has followed a similar playbook to other offshore jurisdictions,” Michel said. This has brought a “tsunami of illicit or questionable or suspect wealth, fleeing and looking for a new home with its arms wide open, more than happy to welcome anybody in.”

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This attitude has always been appealing to oligarchs but now, as they are running out of alternative destinations, all eyes have turned to the UAE.

“Oligarchic figures and their families are, as they have been for the past three decades, constantly looking for locations they can move and hide, and I would argue, launder their money, moving it into third party jurisdictions,” Michel said.

But as even previous financial havens like Monaco and Switzerland have closed their doors to sanctioned individuals, the net has grown tighter.

Publicly visible data has shown oligarchs’ yachts arrive in larger numbers than usual in Dubai and Israel. Firms working in the UAE claim to have seen significant interest from Russians and Belarusians in buying UAE property and establishing businesses in Dubai, both possible ways of securing residency and lodging some money in assets unlikely to depreciate or to be frozen and seized by sanctioning authorities.


"Unlike in western Europe, where public opinion and the political current has decidedly turned against Russian oligarchs...Dubai remains calmer and more welcoming – and more willing to respect new residents’ privacy"

“No one has any idea where this is going to end. Recent weeks have seen targeted sanctions unlike anything we’ve seen before. There is nothing to compare this to,” Michel added.

For the moment, the authorities in the UAE appear willing to accept this new interest and these new visitors.

“It’s not surprising to me that it’s the UAE and Dubai in particular that’s had this transformation. It has been the UAE for the past few decades that’s stood at the centre of some of the greatest money laundering and bank scandals in financial history,” Michel said.

“This is one of the transitions – moving from Western jurisdictions that have acted as offshore havens, to the UAE – there is no concern of eventual domestic pushback. Oligarchs do not need to worry about Emirati voters waking up one day and voting out the authorities in question.”

In Europe and America, where much dirty Russian money has sloshed around for years, things appear suddenly different.

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“Folks are finally realising the national security threats these unchecked systems pose. It’s a shame it took this long to have this realisation in capitals like Washington and London,” Michel explained.

Britain’s parliament has fast-tracked a new Economic Crime Bill aimed at dirty money. Buoyed up by popular pressure, it has been voted through Parliament and received Royal Assent with uncommon speed.

Unlike in western Europe, where public opinion and the political current has decidedly turned against Russian oligarchs, and property allegedly belonging to men like Oleg Deripaska has been taken over by squatters, Dubai remains calmer and more welcoming – and more willing to respect new residents’ privacy.

“These systems are built upon anonymity in itself. The purpose of their existence is making it difficult to track and trace people in the first place. At the end of the day, we’re not going to have a whole picture because of the UAE’s opacity.”

"It might be hoped by Emirati authorities that if Russian wealth arrives in Dubai without making too much of a splash, the country might be able to absorb it quietly, without either falling victim to secondary sanctions or being pressured by allies into levying new tough measures on Russian wealth"

There are already 60,000 Russians estimated to live in the Emirates. Their numbers could barely change, yet money in large quantities could move almost entirely undetected as the Russian rich relocated their assets.

“There’s no reason for Dubai to poke their head up and advertise themselves as an offshore destination. They want to remain a boutique, bespoke offshore destination without alerting regulatory authorities or Western partners elsewhere,” said Michel.

News coverage in sanctioning countries is already beginning to pick this thread up. Both Israel and the UAE have faced criticism for their claimed equivocation on the subject of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The UAE’s abstention on the United Nations General Assembly vote on the subject was widely noted, and broadly derided.

It might be hoped by Emirati authorities that if Russian wealth arrives in Dubai without making too much of a splash, the country might be able to absorb it quietly, without either falling victim to secondary sanctions or being pressured by allies into levying new tough measures on Russian wealth.

But oligarchs and their children might unintentionally bring matters to a head. Many of them live on Instagram, which has now been banned in Russia. If these children continued to post about their lavish lifestyles, this time from Dubai, the financial dealings of their parents could receive yet more scrutiny.

“All the daughters of the oligarchs are showing up in Dubai, having a lovely time,” Michel noted.

“Oligarch’s children are a journalist’s dream. They are so indiscreet,” Bullough said.

“Many oligarchs have been very happy to move to Dubai when things have looked uncomfortable here [in the West]. And this looks certain to accelerate. This is profitable for Dubai, but it is not a risk-free policy. Dubai is wealthy, but it is small and reliant on the goodwill of western powers to function,” said Bullough.

“A lot of Russian oligarchs will be looking to move their wealth to Dubai. But I suspect that the people in charge of the financial sector there will not want it to be too public. They will not want to become victims of their own success,” Bullough added.

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The world is moving under their feet. Things that were once impossible – in both defence and economic terms – are becoming commonplace.

“This is a generational crisis, and the United States and European allies are throwing everything at this. If Dubai is going to be really blatant about being a loophole, Washington will be cross,” Bullough explained. “I will be surprised if we start seeing pictures of oligarchs like influencers on their Dubai balcony – they won’t want to embarrass the Emiratis.”

If things become really flagrant – impossible to deny or hide – both the oligarchs and the UAE will likely be unable to avoid new pressure, Bullough explained. This could fray relationships between the UAE and its Western allies.

“They will feel a cold wind from Washington very fast.”

Indian judge at the International Court of Justice votes against Russia

Dalveer Bhandari, a former justice with the Supreme Court of India, backs the decision ordering Russia to stop military operations. The court rejects Russia’s claim that Ukraine is guilty of genocide. At the UN, India has abstained in resolutions against Russia to avoid condemning it.

New Delhi (AsiaNews) – At the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Indian judge Dalveer Bhandari voted in favour of an order intimating that Russia stop military operations in Ukraine.

Thirteen members (out of 15) of the main judicial organ of the United Nations, voted in favour of the order, while its vice-president, Kirill Gevorgian of Russia, and one of the judges, Sue Hanqin from China, voted against it.

Bhandari's vote takes on particular significance in light of India's position with respect to the conflict. Hitherto, New Delhi has avoided voting against Moscow at the UN, abstaining both in the resolutions presented to the Security Council and the Emergency General Assembly on 2 March.

The Indian government is trying to hold a delicate balance between its traditional neutrality and its economic and geopolitical interests in this crisis. Called to express an opinion on the legal aspect of the crisis, the Indian judge chose to condemn the military action.

Bhandari, 74, hails from Jodhpur. A former justice with the Indian Supreme Court, he was elected to the ICJ in 2012 and re-elected in 2018. His renewed mandate was seen as a sign of India’s political rise, as it forced the United Kingdom to withdraw its candidate once it was clear that the Indian judge had the support of the General Assembly.

For his part, Bhandari signed off on important issues involving humanitarian law during his career as a Supreme Court justice, such as the right to food, education and shelter for the homeless.

The ICJ order notes that no evidence has been presented that Ukraine engaged in genocide against Russian-speaking communities in eastern Ukraine, which is one of claims Russia has cited to justify its invasion.

Although the court orders “The Russian Federation” to “immediately suspend the military operations”, it has no power to enforce the order, that is vested in the Security Council where Russia has a veto.

IRS Is ‘Outgunned’ in Audits of Major Companies, Agency Chief Says

Laura Davison, Bloomberg News

Charles Rettig, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), speaks during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, March 17, 2022. The IRS has a backlog of roughly 20 million tax returns, leaving some people waiting months or even years to receive refunds or resolve disputes with the agency saying it hopes to get it below 1 million by the end of 2022. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The IRS is outmatched in resources and expertise when it audits some of the largest companies in the country, the agency’s top official said.

“We do not have the resources to go after the bigs or the superbigs, as we refer to them, and we get outgunned routinely in that space,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig told House Ways and Means Committee members on Thursday.

The Internal Revenue Service, which is in charge of implementing and enforcing the nation’s tax laws, has struggled for years to keep pace with increasingly complicated business structures created by teams of corporate lawyers and accountants. The IRS has also faced a series of budget cuts and a wave of retirements as older employees leave the workforce.

Rettig said this mismatch between corporations and the IRS means that lawmakers should consult with the agency when creating new tax policies -- to get input on the feasibility and enforceability of those ideas.

President Joe Biden has proposed giving the IRS an additional $80 billion over the next decade to overhaul the agency’s audit and enforcement teams so the agency can more effectively move against tax cheats. That funding is part of his roughly $2 trillion Build Back Better proposal that is stalled in the Senate, and it’s unclear if or when that funding could become law.

About 0.3% of corporate tax returns filed in 2018 were audited, according to the IRS’s most recent annual data book. That’s compared with a 1.4% audit rate in 2010, according to IRS data.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Egypt setting new rules to maximise local wheat procurement, document reveals

March 17, 2022 

An Egyptian man arranges fruits at a shop in a market in Cairo, on March 17, 2022

 [KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images]

March 17, 2022 

Egyptian farmers will have to sell at least 60 per cent of their wheat to the government this season, or risk losing financial support, according to a document circulated by traders, amid efforts by the state to offset disruption to Black Sea wheat imports, Reuters reports.

The government has taken several steps to protect wheat supplies since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which largely cut off shipments from Egypt's two top suppliers and left the North African country scouting for alternative exporters.

The Supply Ministry document said farmers would have to sell at least 12 ardebs (150 kg) of wheat per feddan (acre). A feddan usually produces an average of 20 ardebs. The rules also apply to any third party that purchased wheat from farmers before the decision was taken.

After meeting the quota, farmers would need a permit from the government to sell the rest of their wheat elsewhere. Farmers who fail to comply would be denied access to subsidised fertilisers in the summer, as well as any support from the Agricultural Bank of Egypt.

READ: Will the Gulf continue to support Egypt out of its economic crisis?

The rules also provide for incentives for farmers with plots of more than 25 feddans who sell 90 per cent or more to the government, including subsidised fertilisers. No such rules have been applied to farmers in recent years.

The Supply Ministry and Agriculture Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment, and it was unclear if the rules had received final approval.

The Supply Ministry has said it is aiming to procure more than 6 million tonnes of wheat from the local harvest this season, 66 per cent more than the quantity of wheat procured the previous year.

Officials have said existing wheat reserves and the local harvest will suffice for eight months of supplies for subsidised bread, which is available to about two-thirds of Egypt's population.

The government has also raised the amount it will pay farmers for their wheat and imposed a three-month ban on wheat and flour exports. It is expected to set a price for unsubsidised bread

U.K. to Ramp Up Offshore Wind Targets in Energy Security Push

Alex Morales, Bloomberg News

A 2.4-megawatt wind turbine in the sea. , Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. is planning to significantly raise targets for offshore wind power as part of its drive toward energy self-sufficiency in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two people familiar with the matter said.

The goals -- including for floating wind turbines -- will form part of an energy security plan that was promised earlier this month by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which is set to be unveiled next week by the government. 

The strategy’s focus will be on accelerating deployment of technologies that the U.K. is already pursuing, according to the people, who requested anonymity talking about policy that hasn’t yet been announced. There will also be a component that aims to reduce demand for power and heating by increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, they said.

The war in Ukraine and its impact on global energy markets has put into sharp focus the U.K.’s dependence on imports to heat homes, fuel cars and generate electricity. Johnson has pledged to ban imports of Russian oil by the end of the year, and ministers are also looking at halting imports of Russian gas. 

But with inflation a major concern -- economists warn it could reach double digits this year -- Johnson this week acknowledged that freezing Vladimir Putin’s Russian administration out of global energy markets will be “painful.”

‘Putin’s Manipulations’

“We need permanently to reduce the cost of energy at source -- and that will only happen if our supply is more secure, more sustainable and less vulnerable to manipulation by others,” the prime minister wrote in an op-ed for the Daily Telegraph newspaper. “Renewables are the quickest and cheapest route to greater energy independence. They are invulnerable to Putin’s manipulations.”

Johnson said green energy of “all kinds,” including tidal, hydro, geothermal and solar power, will be at the center of what he called the “British Energy Security Strategy.” He pledged to “double down” on wind power, and said that now is also the time to “make a series of big new bets on nuclear power.”

The people familiar declined to say what the new targets for wind power will be. The U.K. is already a world-leader in deploying the technology, with over 14 gigawatts of offshore wind farms. The current goal is to expand that to 40 gigawatts by 2030 and 100 gigawatts by 2050. 

The U.K. is already developing offshore wind faster than the industry expected. About 25 gigawatts was awarded rights in a Scottish auction in January, more than double what was predicted. It takes about a decade to get an offshore wind farm through planning and construction.

Accelerating Plans

The government’s aim is to shorten planning horizons for both onshore and offshore wind, enabling turbines to be erected more quickly, the people said. The plan is penciled in for an announcement Monday or Tuesday, before Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is due on Wednesday to deliver a statement in the House of Commons on the state of the U.K. economy.

The timing could yet shift to after Sunak’s speech, according to the people.

The government is also considering changing the rules that govern the award of new permits for North Sea oil and gas fields, so that it can speed up the exploitation of domestic hydrocarbons. 

“It is time to give investors more confidence in British hydrocarbons,” Johnson wrote. “That way, we will have more domestic energy resilience as we make the transition to a zero carbon future.”

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Canada’s Scrambling to Supply a Massive Global Fertilizer Deficit

Elizabeth Elkin, Bloomberg News

BC-Canada’s-Scrambling-to-Supply-a-Massive Global-Fertilizer-Deficit , Elizabeth Elkin

(Bloomberg) -- The world’s biggest fertilizer company is increasing output of the key crop nutrient potash in the face of a global shortage.

Canadia’s Nutrien Ltd. said Wednesday it would boost potash production by about one million metric tons in 2022 to a total of 15 million tons, with most of the additional volume coming in the second half of the year. 

That may not be nearly enough to meet demand. Sanctions on major producers means there could be a shortage. Second-ranked producer Russia may face sanctions due to its invasion of Ukraine, while third-ranked Belarus has already been cut off from global markets. That leaves Canada scrambling to supply agriculture powerhouses like Brazil, the biggest importer. The northern nation already supplies nearly all of the potash used in the U.S.

“Nutrien’s move to add one million metric tons of capacity, while sorely needed by the market, does not come close to fixing the supply gap if both Russia and Belarus are sanctioned out of the global potash trade,” said Alexis Maxwell, an analyst for Bloomberg’s Green Markets. 

Russia and Belarus together supply about 42% of the $35 billion global potash trade, or some 24 million metric tons annually, Maxwell said

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Meet the Bidders Lining Up to Buy Chelsea From Roman Abramovich

Peter Flanagan and Andre Janse van Vuuren, Bloomberg News

A sign on a gate at Stamford Bridge stadium, the home ground of Chelsea Football Club, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, in London, U.K., on Wednesday, March, 2, 2022. Abramovich is selling his London properties, according to British MP Chris Bryant, and a Swiss billionaire said he’s been approached about buying Chelsea Football Club. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea Football Club is drawing a growing numbers of bidders for one of the most coveted assets in world football, ahead of a deadline on Friday.

The Russian billionaire put the London-based club up for sale after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the U.K. government to place him under far-reaching sanctions for his ties to President Vladimir Putin’s regime. 

Whoever takes over will have a tough act to follow: When Abramovich bought the club for about 150 million pounds ($197 million) in 2003, it hadn’t won the English top division since 1955. Since his arrival, the club has won 21 trophies, including five domestic and two European Champions League titles. 

Here are the names in the frame to succeed Abramovich:

1. Todd Boehly

Former Guggenheim Partners President Todd Boehly is bidding for Chelsea in partnership with Jonathan Goldstein, a property entrepreneur who was involved in a bid for rival Tottenham Hotspur FC in 2014. Boehly bid for the club back in 2019, only for Abramovich to turn him down, according to Dow Jones. A part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, he has just agreed terms to sell his CBAM Partners to Carlyle Group Inc. for $787 million.

2. Nick Candy

U.K. property developer Nick Candy said he has funding in place to make an offer for Chelsea and is in talks with potential partners about teaming up for a bid. As a property developer, any bid could include plans for a new stadium. Chelsea fans would have a role in the running of the club if his consortium wins, Candy said.

3. Ken Griffin and Ricketts Family

Citadel founder Ken Griffin has teamed up for a takeover bid of Chelsea with the Ricketts family, owners of the Chicago Cubs. If they were to succeed, they would join a number of other American owners in the Premier League, including the Kroenke family at Arsenal and the Glazers at Manchester United.

4. Martin Broughton

Martin Broughton is a former chairman of Liverpool Football Club and is planning to put in an offer for Chelsea, with funding from backers in the U.K., U.S. and Europe, Sky News reported. He is being advised by investment banker Michael Klein. 

6. Josh Harris

The co-founder of Apollo Global Management Inc., worth about $7.6 billion, remains undecided on an offer, Bloomberg reported on March 8. If Harris, 57, succeeds in his bid for the club it would be the latest in a string of sports investments: He’s already a minority owner of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers and has stakes in the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. He is also looking at bidding for the NFL’s Denver Broncos and owns a stake in another Premier League club, Crystal Palace FC. He would likely have to offload that holding to bid for Chelsea.

6. Oaktree Capital

Oaktree Capital, the U.S. asset manager run by Howard Marks, is planning to bid alone or as part of a wider consortium, Financial Times reported. Its previous forays into football include the provision of debt finance to a Luxembourg-based company that owns Chinese retailer Suning’s stake in Inter Milan.

7. Woody Johnson

New York Jets owner and former U.S. ambassador to the U.K. Woody Johnson is working on an offer, according to ESPN. He would be the fourth NFL owner to hold a stake in a Premier League franchise if he takes over Chelsea. Johnson, 74, is an heir to the Johnson & Johnson consumer products fortune. He has owned the Jets since 2000. The team last won more than half its games in 2015.

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