PSYCH OUT

Russian troops who seized Chernobyl will soon suffer the effects of radiation exposure after digging trenches in the nuclear zone, Ukraine official says


Sophia Ankel
Wed, April 13, 2022,

The fourth reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is seen behind the abandoned town of Pripyat, Ukraine.Gleb Garanich/File Photo via Reuters

Russian soldiers gave up control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant earlier this month.

Troops stationed there will "feel the consequences" of radiation poisoning soon, a Ukrainian official said.

Yevhen Kramarenko said Russians dug trenches and drove into the most contaminated areas of the site.

Russian troops who seized Chernobyl will soon suffer the effects of radiation exposure after digging trenches in the nuclear zone, the head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management said Wednesday.

Yevhen Kramarenko told reporters that Russian troops, who occupied the Chernobyl exclusion zone for five weeks, had dug trenches and shelters for their vehicles in an area known as Red Forest.

The Red Forest is a 1.5-square-mile pine forest that died as a result of radiation exposure shortly after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. It remains the most contaminated part of the exclusion zone, according to Reuters.

"We believe very soon [the Russians] will feel the consequences of radiation that they have received. Some of them will feel it in months, some of them in years," Kramarenko said at a press conference Wednesday. "But anyway, all of the servicemen who were there will feel it at some point,"

He also confirmed earlier reports of Russian soldiers driving around the Red Forest without any protective gear and inhaling clouds of radioactive dust.

Radiation poisoning can cause different effects depending on the strength and length of exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In more extreme cases, radiation poisoning can lead to internal bleeding and skin burns, as well as thyroid cancer and cardiovascular disease, per the CDC.

Russian troops left the exclusion zone at the beginning of the month after some of their soldiers "panicked" at the first sign of radiation illness, Ukraine's state power company, Energoatom, said, according to The Guardian.

It is unclear exactly what their supposed symptoms were, although they "showed up very quickly," Energoatom added.

The Russian troops have since gone to Belarus and Russia, Kramarenko said, adding that Ukrainian plant officials are now working on developing additional safety measures to "avoid in the future any events similar to what we had to happen."

The power plant was fully decommissioned after the 1986 nuclear accident and the remaining work at the site is mostly directed toward decontamination.

Kramarenko said it is unclear how high radiation levels are around the site at the moment because there is currently no electricity.

"Until then we won't understand the damage done," he said.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CHERNOBYL 

Texas Follows Through With Gross Stunt of Dumping Migrants in D.C.

Zachary Petrizzo, Rachel Olding
Wed, April 13, 2022

Twitter/John Roberts

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott followed through on his cruel promise to dump asylum seekers and migrants in the capital with the first busload conveniently arriving outside Fox News’ office on Wednesday morning.

Abbott vowed last week to bus them to the Capitol steps in response to the Biden administration’s decision to end Title 42, a pandemic-era emergency order implemented by Donald Trump that allowed migrants to be sent back to Mexico at the border, even if they were seeking asylum.

“To help local officials whose communities are being overwhelmed by hordes of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the Biden administration, Texas is providing charter buses to send these illegal immigrants who have been dropped off by the Biden administration to Washington D.C.,” he said.

“We are sending them to the United States Capitol where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border.”

Around 30 people got off the bus when it pulled up at about 9 a.m. in front of the Hall of the States building, which houses Fox News, MSNBC and C-SPAN, a few blocks away from the Capitol. Fox News reported that officials cut off their wristbands and told them they were free to go.

Zachary Petrizzo for The Daily Beast

Eleven migrants who spoke to The Daily Beast at Union Station said they wouldn’t be staying in the D.C. area. Instead, the group was planning to split up as Catholic Charities help them travel to New York City and Miami.

Father John Enzler of Catholic Charities told The Daily Beast that another two buses are expected to arrive from Texas—one later Wednesday and one on Thursday morning.

“Its not well organized,” he said. Enzler added that his organization’s facilities—totaling 34 sites in D.C.—are mostly full but will look to “transition” migrants.

Zachary Petrizzo for The Daily Beast

“Everybody [will] go somewhere else,” Ivan Calderon, an immigrant from Colombia, told The Daily Beast in comments translated by a Univision reporter.

Those that spoke with The Daily Beast said they had come from Colombia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba.

Multiple advocacy groups had decried Abbott’s stunt as callous, pointless and possibly illegal as states can’t enforce federal immigration law.

“There is no one to help them,” a volunteer with the Catholic charity lamented to The Daily Beast, adding that the bus was sent by the Texas governor just to dump the migrants off at the Hall of the States building with no assistance.

Zachary Petrizzo for The Daily Beast

Greg Abbott’s D.C. Migrant Bus Is a Dehumanizing Political Stunt


Max Burns
Wed, April 13, 2022

Montinique Monroe/Getty

After years of Republican doomsaying, a bus of undocumented immigrants finally arrived in Washington, D.C. But these migrants didn’t end up in the nation’s capital by choice—they were shipped to the Beltway by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in a craven publicity stunt that dehumanizes migrants and further humiliates the state of Texas.

Abbott’s bus stunt comes after the governor directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to scoop up any migrants released from federal custody and ship them to other states. And so they readied the mission, securing 900 buses capable of transporting up to 40 migrants at a time until Texas has made its political dysfunction someone else’s problem. Abbott reportedly said a second bus is en route to D.C. right now. And if buses don’t get the job done fast enough, Abbott has plans to charter private flights to Washington on the taxpayer dime.

While the governor’s gambit may delight the talking heads at Fox News—one of Abbott’s migrant buses dropped three dozen immigrants off just a few feet away from the network’s Washington headquarters—it also marks a clear acceleration in Texas’ rightward shift toward dehumanizing women, minorities, and migrant communities.

Abbott launched his publicity stunt/human rights violation after the Biden administration lifted a pandemic-related immigration policy that allowed local authorities to turn away migrants on public health grounds. Infuriated that Texas would actually be required to treat asylum-seeking migrants as actual people, Abbott and his far-right cronies opted instead to make these migrants’ shattered lives even more painful with an unexpected bus trip across the country.

“If I were to go to Washington, D.C., and take you and put you on a bus and take you down to the Rio Grande Valley, that would be kidnapping,” Abbott told Fox News last week in a rare moment of sanity. But that acknowledgement hasn’t stopped Abbott from upending the lives of migrants already fleeing violence and persecution, all for a few minutes of television time.

And despite Abbott’s repeated claims his migrant caravans are completely “voluntary,” the stories of migrants dropped off in Washington on Wednesday morning paint a darker picture. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council, noted in a Twitter thread that quite a few of Abbott’s caravan members are already buying bus and plane tickets to their actual destinations, a “sign that Abbott’s ‘voluntary’ bus trips were probably not.”

For a governor who never misses an opportunity to crow about strengthening “law and order” in the Lone Star State, Abbott’s publicity stunt is not only a shockingly callous act, it’s also a potential crime, as White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki argued last week.

“I think it’s pretty clear that this is a publicity stunt,” Psaki told reporters during a White House press briefing. “I know that the governor of Texas, or any state, does not have the legal authority to compel anyone to get on a bus.” The question remains, though: If Abbott lacks the authority, and it is increasingly clear many of the D.C. caravan’s passengers had no desire to arrive in Washington, what will the federal government do about it?

The answer? Probably not much. Unlike his strong stances on issues like voting rights and infrastructure improvements, immigration is one area where the Biden administration lacks broad public support. And Biden’s move to revoke those pandemic-era border policies is already unpopular: 56 percent of registered voters oppose it, including over half of independents.

Biden was right to end the discriminatory Trump-era policies that led to COVID outbreaks on the border and dehumanized migrants in need of American protection. But his administration is unlikely to take the fight to Abbott if that means being anchored to an immigration debate during the heat of the midterm election cycle. And so, as usual, migrants will be left on their own.

At some point, though, polling must stop preventing the President of the United States from fully protecting the human rights and human dignity of migrants on our southern border. Americans aren’t opposed to offering asylum to those in need—most Americans support Biden’s decision to offer asylum to roughly 100,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russian persecution. That American voters don’t feel the same compassion for Hispanic refugees fleeing violence in nations like Guatemala, Venezuela, and El Salvador shows how deep and unconscious right-wing otherization of migrants based on skin color has become.

Unwilling to craft state policies that actually address the surge in asylum-seeking on the southern border and addicted to the easy media coverage of publicity stunts, Abbott and Texas Republicans are unlikely to stop their abuses.

But there are signs that Abbott’s cruelty is too much even for the few Texas GOP officials still interested in actually repairing our broken immigration system. “It’s a gimmick,” Texas GOP Rep. Matt Schaefer tweeted dismissively.

Unfortunately for the migrants whose lives have once again been upended by a cruel and abusive state regime, Texas’ latest “gimmick” only succeeds in perpetuating the pain these migrants fled to the United States to escape.

Backed-up pipes, stinky yards: Climate change is wrecking septic tanks


This trench was dug to help alleviate rainwater issues in the yard of Roosevelt Jones, whose septic system has increasingly failed at his Suffolk, Va., home. 

(Kristen Zeis for The Washington Post)

Jim Morrison
Tue, April 12, 2022

Lewis Lawrence likes to refer to the coastal middle peninsula of Virginia as suffering from a "soggy socks" problem. Flooding is so persistent that people often can't walk around without getting their feet wet.

Over two decades, Lawrence, the executive director of the Middle Peninsula Planning District, has watched the effects of that problem grow, as rising waters and intensifying rains that flood the backyard render underground septic systems ineffective. When that happens smelly, unhealthy wastewater backs up into homes.

Local companies, he said, call the Middle Peninsula the "septic repair capital of the East Coast." "That's all you need to know," he added. "And it's only going to get worse."

As climate change intensifies, septic failures are emerging as a vexing issue for local governments. For decades, flushing a toilet and making wastewater disappear was a convenience that didn't warrant a second thought. No longer. From Miami to Minnesota, septic systems are failing, posing threats to clean water, ecosystems and public health.

About 20% of U.S. households rely on septic, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Many systems are clustered in coastal areas that are experiencing relative sea-level rise, including around Boston and New York. Nearly half of New England homes depend on them. Florida hosts 2.6 million systems. Of the 120,000 in Miami-Dade County, more than half of them fail to work properly at some point during the year, helping to fuel deadly algae blooms in Biscayne Bay, home to the nation's only underwater national park. The cost to convert those systems into a central sewer plant would be more than $4 billion.

The issue is complex, merging common climate themes. Solutions are expensive, beyond the ability of localities to fund them. Permitting standards that were created when rainfall and sea-level rise were relatively constant have become inadequate. Low-income and disadvantaged people who settled in areas with poor soils likely to compromise systems are disproportionately affected. Maintenance requirements are piecemeal nationwide. And while it's clear that septic failures are increasing, the full scope of the problem remains elusive because data, particularly for the most vulnerable aging systems, are difficult to compile.

"The challenges are going to be immense," said Scott Pippin, a lawyer and researcher at the University of Georgia's Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems who has studied the problem along the state's coast. "Conditions are changing. They're becoming more challenging for the functionality of the systems. In terms of large-scale, complex analysis of the problem, we don't really have a good picture of that now. But going forward, you can expect that it's going to become more significant."

Pippin's work in Georgia is one of several studies as states from New Hampshire to Alabama confront the effects of septic system failures. Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy estimates that 24% of the state's 1.37 million septic systems are failing and contaminating groundwater. A project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is examining the potential longer-term impacts of climate change on septic systems in the Carolinas. Virginia has created a Wastewater Infrastructure Policy Working Group to address the issue.

An EPA spokesman said the agency didn't have a report on the septic problem but noted that sea level rise, changing water tables, precipitation changes and increased temperature can cause systems to fail. The infrastructure bill passed last year provides $150 million to replace or repair systems nationwide.

For a century, conventional septic systems have been an inexpensive solution for wastewater. They work by burying a tank that collects wastewater from sinks, toilets, showers and washing machines, holding the solids while the liquid percolates through a few feet of filtering soil, where microbes and other biological processes remove harmful bacteria.

When that doesn't happen, bacteria and parasites from human waste flow into drinking water supplies or recreational waters, creating a public health problem. Nitrogen and phosphorous, also a byproduct of the waste, pollute waters, creating oxygen-depleted zones in rivers and along the coast, closing shellfish harvests and killing fish.

For decades, septic systems have been designed with the assumption that groundwater levels would remain static. That's no longer true. "Systems that were permitted 40, 50 years ago and met the criteria at that time now wouldn't," said Charles Humphrey, an East Carolina University researcher who studies groundwater dynamics. In North Carolina's Dare County, which includes Outer Banks destinations such as Nags Head and Rodanthe, groundwater levels are a foot higher than in the 1980s.

That means there's not enough separation between the septic tank and groundwater to filter pollutants. The threat isn't only along the coasts. More intense storms dumping inches of rain in a few hours soak the ground inland, compromising systems for weeks. Too little precipitation is a problem as well. The lack of early, insulating snow in the Midwest, attributed to climate change, drives down the frost line, freezing drain fields and causing failures.

Georgia spent years creating a comprehensive database of septic systems, the only state to complete one. "Everybody wants to skip to a solution - how do we build a new infrastructure for the future? But I think the story is really the value of investing in the data and in that preliminary research to make smart investments and wise decisions," Pippin said.

While Virginia's Middle Peninsula has a soggy socks problem, Miami-Dade County has a porous limestone bedrock problem. The soil under its 2.7 million South Florida residents allows septic tank effluent to reach groundwater, a problem intensified by climate change.

About half of the area's 120,000 septic tanks were compromised during storms or wet years, according to a study. Roughly 9,000 are vulnerable to compromise or failure under current conditions. That number is expected to rise to 13,500 by 2040. The solution is to connect properties to a central sewer system, beginning with the most-threatened areas. So far, the county is using $100 million from the American Rescue Plan to begin converting homes to sewer and another $126 million to convert 1,000 commercial septic tanks. The plan is to expand sewer to the 9,000 most vulnerable properties within five to 10 years, if funding can be secured.

Connecting will cost between $5,000 and $20,000. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the county is looking for funds to help low- and moderate-income property owners.

"What's at stake?" she asked. "I'm sitting on my 29th-floor office looking out the window at the beautiful bay. This is our lifeblood. Without a clean bay, we don't have tourism. We don't have health. We don't have a marine industry. It is the lifeline, the economic driver."

The cost Levine Cava outlined can be a barrier to low-income communities. In the Chuckatuck borough of Suffolk, a sprawling city in Southeast Virginia, the mostly Black, elderly residents of the Oakland neighborhood have suffered repeated septic failures in recent years. They blame the combination of new development increasing storm-water runoff and a failure by the city to maintain ditches carrying away the water.

When Roosevelt Jones, 81, moved into the neighborhood in 1961, he used an outhouse. Soon after, he installed septic. But in recent years, his system and others in the neighborhood have increasingly failed, backing up in sinks and toilets. During the 2020 winter, Jones, who has lived in his 1,300-square-foot cottage since 1961, had to pump his tank out four times at $350 each. "Normal is every five years," he said. "When we get a bad rain, it's going to flood my septic tank."

When his toilet fills with sewage, Jones, who retired from a quality control position for a warehouse but still works custodial jobs, slips into a church he cleans up the road.

After the city ran a pipeline through their neighborhood to provide sewer service to a development of more than 100 homes uphill with prices starting at $300,000, residents were given the option to tie into the system. But it came at a cost - roughly $7,000 or more per house. Many in the village are on a fixed income. The price was too high. Only 33 of 75 property owners voted, with 18 of them favoring a sewer connection. "A lot of people got them [the petitions] and ended up throwing them away," Jones said.

On Virginia's low-lying Middle Peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the Chesapeake Bay, the Rappahannock River and the York River, Lawrence has had a preview of the effects of climate change and the challenges to septic systems. Failing to address the problem, he said, could eliminate decades of environmental progress.

"You're sitting on all of the work for the last 30 years to clean up the Chesapeake Bay," he said. One or two good hurricanes will destroy that because every residential home will become a brownfield because their septic tank is just sitting there full of bad stuff."

Shortly after Lawrence started at the planning district in 1997, the General Assembly approved alternative septic systems in addition to the conventional gravity-fed systems. They're engineered to have a secondary treatment that purifies the wastewater before discharging it into the soil.

Now, even those alternative systems are failing. Why? They don't handle flooding well and flooding happens often on the Middle Peninsula.

Wastewater regulations for septic systems haven't been overhauled in decades in states. Virginia updated requirements 20 years ago, said Lance Gregory, director of the Department of Health's Water and Wastewater Services division. A bill passed last year directs the State Board of Health to create regulations making Virginia the first state to include the impacts of climate change on septic. The goal, Gregory said, is to not issue a permit for a system that 10 or 15 years from now will be an environmental and public health problem - and a costly repair for an owner.

Lawrence is looking for solutions, partnering with Rise, a Norfolk-based technology innovations accelerator, in a challenge to design septic systems that can be elevated much like HVAC systems. "Why are we building our communities the same way we built them 100 years ago when we know Mother Nature isn't operating the same way she did 100 years ago? It makes no sense," he said. "We've got to be reimagining and designing our communities differently. If you can elevate a heat pump, why can't you elevate a $40,000 septic system?"

The problem percolating underground so concerned William "Skip" Stiles of the nonprofit Virginia advocacy group Wetlands Watch that he created an ad hoc group of policymakers and researchers from Georgia to Maine to share knowledge and discuss solutions.

He hopes the group's "noodling" on the issues, as he calls it, will inform new regulations. In the end, the answer to the septic problem may not be to improve the regulations and the technology, but to leave threatened areas.

"The septic system is the canary in the coal mine," Stiles said. "If you've got a house and the septic is starting to flood, it won't be long before the house goes. We ought to be using septic failures as an early warning system for those areas we're going to have to take people out of."

Unprecedented Helium Shortage Could Send Prices Sky-High

Editor OilPrice.com
Tue, April 12, 2022, 

Worth 100x more than natural gas, the shale boom has taken on a new angle for exploration and production, with the critical level of helium supplies igniting a land rush that could determine the future of innovation itself.

The bulk of the world’s helium reserves are found in natural gas fields, which means that these fields now have double the potential–and double the interest from a national security perspective.

Non-renewable and irreplaceable, helium is a critical element in hard drives, supercomputing, scientific research, space travel, and even medical MRIs.

Supply is now at a critical level, and the Russian war on Ukraine is compounding the supply crunch, stripping us of more global helium resources as the natural gas it is extracted with is hurriedly shipped off to Europe to stave off a crisis without stripping and liquifying the helium.

For North America, which until recently enjoyed a stable supply of helium through the Federal Helium Reserve in Amarillo, Texas, there is an opportunity for anyone who can bring helium back home.

In our view, the advantage here goes to Total Helium (TSX.V:TOH; OTC: TTLHF) the owner of a large helium play in the Kansas-Oklahoma panhandle that has already started producing and enjoys a lucrative offtake agreement with one of the biggest members of the helium oligopoly”–the $160-billion behemoth, Linde Plc (NYSE:LIN).

Total Helium’s wildcatter team jumped on the helium prospects in the largest U.S. gas field before others saw the potential supply squeeze looming.

Now, it’s not only started producing, but it’s also ready to sell, and it’s expanding its helium holdings, fast, with an eye to grabbing as much market share as it can against the backdrop of a major helium shortage that has seen prices upwards of $500 Mcf–again, more than 100x the price of natural gas.

First to market may be the biggest beneficiary of a helium boom. Right now, our pick is Total Helium.

Here are 5 reasons to keep a close eye on Total Helium right now:

#1 Hugoton: Why This Massive Gas Field Is Back on Everyone’s Radar

So far, Total Helium (TSX.V:TOH; OTC: TTLHF) has amassed approximately 115,000 acres of leases on hand at Hugoton, the largest gas field in the United States. Half of that acreage is in the form of farmout agreements with Scout Energy, one of the largest producers in the basin.


This land has proven helium concentrations …


And Total Helium is targeting 70 billion cubic feet of helium here, along with 8.5 trillion cubic feet of produced gas.

#2 The Wildcatters Surprising Everyone from Africa to North America

Total Helium brought new technology into Hugoton while everyone else appeared to be distracted by the non-conventional opportunities; in other words, the shale boom.

After getting at the easy natural gas in Hugoton historically, not to mention some 300 BCF of helium, the shale boom drew attention away from this massive field. Even though conventional, its huge remaining resources were too expensive to extract due to the high water content. That water has to go somewhere–and it has to do so economically.

Total Helium, backed by Craig Steinke of Reconnaissance Energy Africa (Recon Africa), was up for the challenge. This wildcatter has a reputation for going where no one else is paying attention and drumming up big discoveries and even bigger opportunities. It was small-cap Recon Africa, after all, that went on a super-sized expedition to Namibia and came back with the discovery of a working petroleum system in the giant Kavango Basin. That may end up being the last big onshore oil discovery in the world, and now, with Total Helium, Steinke is once again backing a tiny company that’s aiming big.

Putting the right technology in the right place and right before a supply squeeze–that’s Steinke’s modus operandi.

The right technology is always a matter of keeping costs down. Total Helium’s answer to Hugoton’s water problem is a de-watering tech that works best on huge zones. For every ten producing wells, the company intends to drill only a single salt-water disposal well. Those are some economics that investors can handle when they consider the Linde downstream partnership deal, the soaring price of helium, and the additional upside potential here.

#3 Already Producing and Ready to Hit the Market

We think this could be one of the fastest production plays investors have seen in a long time.

The estimate is that Total Helium (TSX.V:TOH; OTC: TTLHF) could produce over 27,000 Mcf from each well.

After drilling and completing its first two wells by January this year, Total Helium has already started producing. On March 15th it geared up to hit the market with its first helium and one of its upside offerings–methane.

This helium is in the pipeline and will likely hit Linde’s processing plant any day now, pending final processing agreements.

The agreement with Linde is a huge vote of confidence for investors. Linde has made pre-payment for Total Helium’s future helium production and advanced $950,000 prior to the first drill, and another $950,000 upon its completion.

And it was all done at costs that we think make Total Helium’s margins quite attractive. Drilling completion costs come in at about $600,000, and the company’s net from 300 Mcf could result in a payout in as little as 18 months. A payout over this short of a time period is unheard of in the shale industry.


*RPS Confident Person’s Report P50 Case

With Total Helium’s de-watering process, the company can take advantage of low drilling and completion costs because Hugoton is a shallow gas play. Costs can also be kept down because Total Helium doesn’t have to build its own processing facilities or transport infrastructure. It’s all there, and the agreement with giant Linde may be the perfect critical infrastructure setup.

#4 Plans to Lock Up Loads of Helium Land

So what comes next?

Since Hugoton is considered as one of the most important sources of helium in North America, Total Helium is looking to lock up as much land as possible in a planned expansion of up to 1.65-million-acres.

That could give this tiny company up to 19X its current helium land position.

This quarter, they’re planning to expand their developmental drilling and completion program, add more to the leasing campaign, and work out subsurface storage rights with giant Linde.

This isn’t just about producing helium and getting it to market …

There’s an innovative storage opportunity here, as well, and it offers potential upside that could add multiple layers to this play.

They plan to turn Hugoton into the next major American reserve.
Total Helium (TSX.V:TOH; OTC: TTLHF) is collaborating with a multinational industrial gas company to establish underground Helium storage rivaling the successor of the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve. Total Helium will operate the facility with 50-50% ownership.
Helium storage is critical because this lightest of elements in the universe is non-renewable and once it is released into the air, it is lost in the atmosphere, forever.

And it doesn’t plan to just store helium, either …

It intends to store hydrogen, another of the universe’s lightest elements. The hydrogen market is set to hit $300 billion by 2027, and storage here, too, will be critical in maintaining supply.

#5 Qatar, Algeria, Australia … and Kansas

For a tiny company like Total Helium to lock up a deal with a member of the helium oligopoly is the kind of offtake deal that usually takes years for junior companies to achieve.

Linde isn’t just a helium supplier. It’s much more than that. It enjoys a 40% global market share for helium, and it has operations on three continents, in Qatar, Algeria, Australia, and the United States. Its helium plant in Kansas is one of the biggest in the world.

Beyond what is to come for Total Helium in the form of what could be the most advantageous downstream agreement a junior helium company may ever seek, it’s already locked in for over $2.2 million as a result, in both current and upcoming cash flow.

It also looks to have done wonders for Total Helium’s capex: This junior has the advantage of not having to spend tens of millions of dollars building up infrastructure such as pipelines and processing plants.

What Total Helium has done so far is forward-thinking about the helium demand and supply equation.

This team could have a competitive advantage and is ahead of the competition because it didn’t wait for the helium supply squeeze to get critical after the Federal Helium Reserve announced it was winding down and auctioning off all the remaining helium, turning the rare gas into a free market game that other natural gas producers may not have been following.

It didn’t wait, either, until Russia launched a war on Ukraine and we saw our first global helium supplies suspended, in Algeria.

Instead, this junior company started scooping up prospective helium land and looked to resolve Hugoton’s water challenges with new technology. That got Linde’s attention, and now that the first helium is already in the pipeline, with a proposed expansion underway, it could get everyone else’s attention, too.

In this play for a natural resource now critical to American national interest, the future of big data, supercomputing, fiber optic communications, and scientific research at large, Total Helium may be years ahead of the competition, and as soon as that first helium hits the market, it may no longer be pushing ahead off the radar.

America is desperate for home-grown helium, and Total Helium will deliver new supply, first.

Tech: The Industry Desperate For New Helium Supply

From semiconductors to the internet as we know it, helium plays a vital role in the tech world.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE:TSM) has a lengthy history and has helped shape many technologies we rely on today. It’s focus on high standards and its strive for excellence has led them into becoming one of Apple Inc.'s primary suppliers, helping assist Apple during a global semiconductor shortage.

The semiconductor industry is a particularly competitive industry and only five companies in the world own chip-making facilities, making Taiwan Semiconductor a standout in the industry.. Indeed, many leading top semiconductor companies are "fabless," meaning they only design the chips but rely on other companies, known as foundries, to actually make the chips. The shift to outsourcing has been having a big effect on structural changes and related capacity because companies that cut orders in the early days of the pandemic have been forced to go to the back of the line.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is a key player to watch in both the helium shortage and the semiconductor shortage. As the world’s largest chipmaker, it needs helium to survive. And with a semiconductor supply squeeze looming, it could stand to benefit big when Big Tech comes knocking.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is one of the world’s most renowned chipmakers. It has been around since the late 1950's, when it was founded by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore who first coined their portmanteau name- Integrated Electronics. Intel supplies processors for computer systems such as desktops laptop servers tablets mobile phones (including smartphones)and more; they also make motherboard chipsets that connect these devices together so you can use your processor effectively while having access to fast memory too.

At its core, Intel is a chipmaker. And a big one at that. It’s also a leader in the global semiconductor game thanks to its investments in 65nm process, an advanced node used in volume CMOS semiconductor fabrication. Intel has manufactured semiconductors in Ireland since 1990, and has invested around $6 billion there in this time, but is beginning to branch out with new investments in the United States, as well.

Considering that helium is a critical part of the semiconductor and computer chip manufacturing process, any outages or new discoveries could have an impact on chipmakers like Intel.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) is at the cutting edge of the world of computing and graphics. It founded over forty years ago with a single mission: to advance technology as fast it could be invented. Since then, they've become one of the most relied upon brands for processing power – both at home on your own PC or game console; but also when you need high performance computer systems that can process data quickly enough maybe even live video streaming where every millisecond counts.

Advanced Media Devices isn’t just building home computers, either. AMD also is building CPUs to be used in massive data centers, the kind supporting the likes of Microsoft’s Azure cloud-based workstations and desktops and much more. And its GPUs are providing the speed, security, and scalability to keep these data centers performing at the level needed to push modern tech into the future.

The semiconductor and microprocessor industries are massive, representing hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue, but despite its spot in the Big Tech elite, Advanced Micro Devices is still particularly vulnerable to helium supply chain concerns.

As AMD’s biggest competitor, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is another company that develops graphics processing units, or GPUs. Nvidia are continually releasing new technologies to stay ahead of the competition and have an excellent reputation for quality. The company also manufactures processors that power many other devices such as automobiles, robots, and smartphones. These processors are often used for artificial intelligence systems like driverless cars or voice commands on mobile phones so we can expect Nvidia's technology to keep getting more advanced over time.

Nvidia's ambitious innovations are clear in all areas of tech, from computer graphics and artificial intelligence research that are core to robots or future cities. It’s also pushing new technologies into the world with its enterprise server GPUs—even setting records. Thanks for being there when we needed you most, Nvidia--and don't worry: your hardware will not go unsupported now that it has been so instrumental before this point too.

With more and more demand coming for semiconductors and new chip technology hitting the market, companies like Nvidia, AMD, Taiwan, Samsung and Intel are going to be some of the biggest benefactors. They’re already well-known in the industry, and this could just be their time to really shine. But a looming helium shortage could present a number of complications for the booming tech giants.

IBM Corporation (NYSE:IBM), or International Business Machines Corporations, is a United States-based technology company. IBM specializes in developing and providing computer related products worldwide like the automated teller machine (ATM), magnetic stripe card and much, much more.

IBM is often considered one of the leading companies in its tech realm, with a long list of inventions to date. And while this history certainly makes them an excellent candidate when it comes time to explore new trends such as blockchain technology.

IBM’s blockchain platform, built on the open-source Hyperledger Fabric platform from the Linux Foundation is helping companies with a wide variety of blockchain solutions including tools for the finance sector, supply chain transparency, and letters of guarantee. IBM’s blockchain platform even helps interested parties develop their own blockchain solutions through educational tools and personalized assistance.

IBM isn’t new to the semiconductor industry, either. In fact, it is pushing the boundaries of what semiconductors can achieve. And it wouldn’t be possible without helium. The vast majority of chips are made with silicon which needs to go through an extensive process to create specific circuitry. Helium has several roles in this process.

The Descartes Systems Group Inc. (TSX:DSG) is a Canadian multinational technology company specializing in logistics software, supply chain management software, and cloud-based services for logistics businesses. Recently, Descartes announced that it has successfully deployed its advanced capacity matching solution, Descartes MacroPoint Capacity Matching. The solution provides greater visibility and transparency within their network of carriers and brokers. This move could solidify the company as a key player in transportation logistics which is essential-and-often-overlooked in the mitigation of rising carbon emissions.

Mogo Finance Technology Inc. (TSX:GO) is a new spin on unsecured credit, which is a burgeoning sub-segment of FinTech. Providing loan management, the ability to track spending, stress-free mortgages, and even credit score tracking, Mogo is at the forefront of an online movement to assist users with their financial needs.

Mogo’s software analyzes borrowers instantly and greatly reduces the traditionally cumbersome underwriting process for loans. It’s online only, so there’s very low overhead and a ton of cash to spend on marketing. Labeled as “the Uber of finance” by CNBC, Mogo is definitely turning heads. With increasing membership growth and revenue lines continuing to improve, and a platform which many banks have failed to offer, Mogo could well become an acquisition target in the near future.

Other Resource Companies To Keep An Eye On

Lithium Americas Corp. (TSX:LAC) is one of America’s most critical and promising pure-play lithium companies. With two world-class lithium projects in Argentina and Nevada, Lithium Americas is well-positioned to ride the wave of growing lithium demand in the years to come. It’s already raised nearly a billion dollars in equity and debt, showing that investors have a ton of interest in the company’s ambitious plans.

Lithium America is not looking over the growing pressure from investors for responsible and sustainable mining, either. In fact, one of its primary goals is to create a positive impact on society and the environment through its projects. This includes cleaner mining tech, strong workplace safety practices, a range of opportunities for employees, and strong relationships with local governments to ensure that not only are its employees being taken care of but local communities, as well.

Celestica (TSX:CLS) is a key company in the resource boom due to is role as one of the top manufacturers of electronics in North America. Celestica’s wide range of products includes but is not limited to communications solutions, enterprise and cloud services, aerospace and defense products, renewable energy, and even healthcare tech.

Due to its exposure to the renewable energy market, Celestica’s future is tied hand-in-hand with the green energy boom that’s sweeping the world at the moment. It helps build smart and efficient products that integrate the latest in power generation, conversion and management technology to deliver smarter, more efficient grid and off-grid applications for the world’s leading energy equipment manufacturers and producers.

Maxar Technologies (TSX:MAXR) is one of the leading space companies on the planet, founded nearly 20 years ago. Maxar has a variety of services, including satellite development, space robotics, and earth observations. One of their most well-known products is the Canadarm2 robotic arm for the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS has been operational since 1998 with more than 100 missions to date. Maxar Technologies has had a history of partnering with NASA to maintain the ISS's systems as well as providing them with new technologies such as the Canadarm2 robotic arm. is a moon-bound tech stock to keep an eye on. While space firm specializes in satellite and communication technologies, it is also a manufacturer of infrastructure required for in-orbit satellite services, Earth observation and more.

More importantly, however, Maxar’s subsidiary, SSL, a designer and manufacturer of satellites used by government and commercial enterprises, has pioneered research in electric propulsion systems, lithium-ion power systems and the use of advanced composites on commercial satellites. These innovations are key because they allow satellites to spend more time in orbit, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

By. Michael Kern

Yellen Plans Global Food-Crisis Summit as IMF, UN Urge Action

Christopher Condon
Wed, April 13, 2022



(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will convene a meeting of top international financial officials next week to address a global food-security crisis, with the heads of institutions including the IMF urging action to address dire consequences of record price surges caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“With over 275 million people facing acute food insecurity, I am deeply concerned about the impact of Russia’s war on food prices and supply, particularly on poor populations,” Yellen said in a speech to the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington Wednesday.

Next week’s food summit will take place in Washington alongside the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Participants will include ministers representing the G-7 and G-20, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President David Malpass, according to Treasury spokesperson Alexandra LaManna.

Georgieva, Malpass, United Nations World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley and World Trade Organization Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala issued a joint statement asking the international community to support vulnerable countries through grants to cover urgent financing needs.

‘Increasing Pressure’

High food prices and supply shortages are “increasing pressure on households worldwide and pushing millions more into poverty,” the leaders said, adding that their institutions stand ready to address the crisis. “The threat is highest for the poorest countries with a large share of consumption from food imports, but vulnerability is increasing rapidly in middle-income countries, which host the majority of the world’s poor.”

Speaking in a question-and-answer session after her Atlantic Council speech, Yellen said “this will be an urgent concern for us next week to try and think about how we can stave off starvation around the world.”

Soaring food prices will contribute to sending more than a quarter-billion more people around the world into poverty this year, charity group Oxfam International warned earlier this week.

Ukraine and Russia are among the top five grain exporters, and the war poses a massive blow to both production and shipments, causing food prices to rise at their fastest pace yet. Several countries, including Egypt, Turkey Bangladesh and Iran buy more than 60% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine, a United Nations report shows.

The Washington confab will discuss “the urgent response to the ongoing food security crisis that has been severely exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” LaManna said.

Analysis-Russian workers face new reality as Ukraine war sanctions sap job prospects

Wed, April 13, 2022


LONDON (Reuters) - The phone call telling Oleksandr Kyryliuk he was losing his job came just hours after Russian troops stormed into Ukraine. His employer, beermaker Samuel Smith, had decided to pull out of the Russian market.

"On Feb. 24, we all woke up to a new reality," said 33-year-old Kyryliuk, who had worked for the British company since 2018, growing sales of its bottled beers across Russia, Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

Ironically, Kyryliuk is Ukrainian, one of millions of people from across the ex-Soviet Union who moved to Moscow to seek work but are now caught up in the aftermath of the Vladimir Putin's invasion.

Sanctions imposed by Western nations to punish Russia for what it calls a "special operation" in Ukraine have sent the economy into a tailspin, with inflation and economic contraction both expected in the double digits.

And the ranks of Russia's jobless, which Kyryliuk has now joined, could swell by as much as 2 million by year-end, according to the Centre for Strategic Research in Moscow. In the worst-case scenario, unemployment could approach 8%, the think-tank estimates, almost double February levels.

"Russia has been forcefully yanked out of the global financial system. So the entire structure of the economy is going to change," said Tatiana Orlova at Oxford Economics.

"We are going to see an uptick in white collar unemployment as foreign companies and banks are leaving, but companies are also withdrawing from sectors such as retail that employed cheap labour."

Over 600 companies have announced their withdrawal from Russia since the invasion hit, according to the Yale School of Management, though many will pay employees for a few months.

With McDonalds having employed more than 60,000 staff, French carmaker Renault 45,000 and retailer Ikea with 15,000, Orlova calculates that Western firms' departure will directly cause the loss of approximately one million jobs.

Western embargoes on Russian exports, if implemented, may force mining and oil firms to lay off staff, Orlova said.

The number of people looking for jobs rose by nearly a tenth in the week to April 10 compared with the week before Feb. 24, online recruitment platform HeadHunter said. The number of job openings fell by more than a quarter.

Samuel Smith, Kyryliuk's former employer, confirmed via e-mail it had ceased exporting to Russia after the invasion, adding: "We have no intention of supplying any of our bottled beers to Russia under the current regime."

BROADER IMPACT

The impact is rippling out. With Western sanctions crimping travel, Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport last month furloughed a fifth of its staff.

Russia's services sector shrank in March at the fastest rate in almost two years, and employment fell at the sharpest pace since June 2020.

Overall, 2.6 million people may fall below Russia's official poverty line this year, the World Bank estimates.

Alevtina, a 25-year beautician from the Moscow region said more than 10% of her regular clients did not book treatments in March. That shaved 15,000 roubles ($185) off her average monthly earnings of 100,000 roubles.

"I think my customer base will be shrinking each month – clients complain about losing their jobs, so they are saving on beauty," said Alevtina, who did not want to give her full name.

A massive, energy-fuelled balance of payments surplus — estimated by a Reuters poll to nearly double this year to $233 billion — may allow authorities to maintain unemployment benefits.

But Orlova of Oxford Economics predicts a worse economic recession than in 1998 or 2008, and with longer-lasting consequences, for instance if sanctions prevent Russian firms accessing foreign technology and equipment needed for investment.

Her models also project Russia's productivity, relative to that of its trading partners, will fall.

That partly stems from the hit to the promising information technology (IT) sector, which according to the Higher School of Economics, comprised 1.2% of Russian GDP by end-2019 and had doubled in value over the previous six years.

But since the invasion, over 100,000 IT specialists have fled the country, the Russian Association of Electronic Communications estimates.

There are some Russia-specific factors that possibly capped unemployment below 6.5% during the COVID crisis, while Western economies suffered double-digit rises.

For one, state-run companies often choose to cut wages and keep staff on the books.

Also, Russia's demographics — its share of people aged over 65 is almost double the global 9% average, according to the World Bank — means jobs, especially unskilled ones, were increasingly filled by workers from neighbouring countries.

So as jobs vanish, Russia's crisis is starting to penetrate the far reaches of the former Soviet Union.

"There are job cuts in every sector, the rouble has fallen, and some people have not been paid," Kubanychbek Osmanaliev, the head of the Kyrgyzstan Diaspora Council in Moscow, said.

"Our people are wondering what to do. Go home or wait for things to improve? Everyone knows there is no work at home either."

(Reporting by Reuters News; additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London and Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek; additional reporting and writing by Sujata Rao in London; Editing by Toby Chopra)

U SAY JUMBO I SAY SHRIMP

Bank of Canada Delivers Jumbo Rate Hike With More to Come




Erik Hertzberg
Wed, April 13, 2022, 10:50 AM

(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Canada raised its policy interest rate by half a percentage point in its biggest hike in 22 years, and said rates are poised to move significantly higher as it aggressively wrestles inflation down from a three-decade high.

Policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem increased the central bank’s overnight benchmark to 1% on Wednesday. Macklem said he expects rates will return to what they consider the “neutral range” of 2% and 3%, with policy makers prepared to move “forcefully” if needed.

The bank also said it will stop purchasing government bonds later this month to start shrinking its balance sheet, another form of stimulus withdrawal.

“The economy can handle higher interest rates, and they are needed,” Macklem said at a news conference in Ottawa.

Short-term bonds fell after the report, pushing Canada’s benchmark two-year yield to as high as 2.346%, before reversing those losses. The loonie strengthened, however, gaining 0.4% to C$1.2593 per U.S. dollar at 12:29 p.m. in Toronto trading.

The policy actions mark an acceleration of what’s expected to be one of the most aggressive monetary tightening campaigns ever by the Bank of Canada, a tacit recognition from the central bank that it needs to quickly exit from ultra-loose policy before inflation becomes sticky.

“There is an increasing risk that expectations of elevated inflation could become entrenched,” officials said in the rate statement, adding the bank will “use its monetary tools to return inflation to target and keep inflation expectations well-anchored.”

In what policymakers described as a “substantial upward revision,” inflation is now seen averaging near 6% in the first half of 2022, before easing to about 2.5% in the second half of next year and to around its 2% target by the end of 2024.

Inflation is projected to average 5.3% in 2022, versus forecasts in January of 4.2%. Price growth will slow to 2.8% on average in 2023, versus previous forecasts of 2.3%.

“This isn’t the last 50+ move and I’d expect another in June,” Derek Holt, head of capital markets economics at Bank of Nova Scotia, said by email.

Wednesday’s 50-basis-point hike was anticipated by 25 of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, with markets pricing in about a 70% chance of an increase of that size. Investors are betting the central bank will continue hiking borrowing costs in coming months until the policy rate rises to as high as 3% by this time next year.

The Bank of Canada also provided some details of its quantitative tightening plan on Wednesday. The bank no longer plans to replace federal bonds as they roll off their balance sheet starting April 25. Over the next 12 months, about a quarter of the net C$350 billion ($275 billion) in government debt acquired during the pandemic will mature, pushing up yields, and complementing the increase in the policy rate.

What Bloomberg Economics Says...

“The degree to which the start of quantitative tightening later in April will take the place of rate hikes is a question Governor Tiff Macklem did not clearly address in the press conference, reiterating language in the statement that QT would ‘complement’ rate hikes.”

-- Andrew Husby, economist

Despite the hawkish policy statement, there are some relatively optimistic assumptions weaved throughout the decision. Supply is seen jumping next year to meet strong demand as Covid-19 containment measures are lifted and global disruptions ease.

Officials are also assuming Canada’s economy won’t be negatively impacted by the Ukraine crisis thanks to the nation’s commodities sector, while global inflationary pressures are seen eventually abating. If the latter assumption fails to materialize, the rate-hike path would need to be more aggressive.

On the other hand, the central bank also raised by 25 basis points its estimate for its neutral rate to around 2.5%, which gives it more scope to hike.

The jumbo rate hike is the first by a Group of Seven central bank since the pandemic, but not the first on Wednesday.

New Zealand’s central bank lifted its official cash rate by half a percentage point to 1.5% earlier in the day. A hawkish pivot is also expected in the U.S., where Chairman Jerome Powell and other policy makers have put a half-point hike on the table for the Federal Reserve’s meeting in May.

(Minor updates throughout.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

CANADA FX DEBT-Canadian dollar rallies on rare half-point rate hikeFergal Smith

Wed, April 13, 2022, 

(Adds strategist quotes and details throughout; updates prices) 

*Canadian dollar strengthens 0.6% against the greenback 

* Bank of Canada raises key interest rate to 1% 

* Price of U.S. oil climbs 3.2%

 * Canadian bond yields ease across curve

 By Fergal Smith 

TORONTO, April 13 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, recovering from its lowest level in nearly four weeks, as oil prices climbed and the Bank of Canada announced its biggest single interest rate hike in more than two decades. The central bank raised its benchmark overnight rate to 1% from 0.5% and said it would allow government bonds it amassed during the COVID-19 pandemic to roll off as they mature from April 25, beginning what is known as quantitative tightening. The BoC last hiked by half a percentage point in May 2000, favoring instead quarter-point increments. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand also hiked by half a percentage point on Wednesday as central banks globally move to tackle runaway inflation. "Today's 50 basis point rate hike by the Bank of Canada, while expected, still caused a bit of loonie appreciation," said Greg Anderson, global head of foreign exchange strategy at BMO Capital Markets. "People who would otherwise be buying the loonie on the back of rising oil prices and also recovering equities, those people were sidelined by the event risk and now it is over they have come in to add to loonie longs." U.S. shares rose, helped by a rebound in growth stocks on falling bond yields, while the price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, was up 3.2% at $103.86 as investors grew more discouraged about peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. The Canadian dollar was trading 0.6% higher at 1.2570 to the greenback, or 79.55 U.S. cents, rebounding from its weakest intraday level since March 17 at 1.2676. Canadian government bond yields were lower across the curve, tracking the move in U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year eased 2.7 basis points to 2.619%, after touching on Tuesday its highest intraday level in more than eight years at 2.735%. (Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Will Dunham and Diane Craft)

CANADA STOCKS-Toronto stocks rise after Bank of Canada hikes rates as expected

April 13 (Reuters) - Canada's top share index rose on Wednesday, boosted by energy and material stocks, as the Bank of Canada raised interest rates by 50 basis points in a widely anticipated move to combat surging inflation.

After opening up more than 0.4%, the S&P/TSX composite index pared some gains in the wake of the decision. It was up 0.14% at 21,745.07 by 10:11 a.m. ET (1411 GMT).

The central bank raised rates by half a percentage point to 1%, its biggest single move in two decades, and promised more hikes as inflation expectations soar, partly due to the war in Ukraine.

It also said it would allow government bonds it amassed during the COVID-19 pandemic to roll off as they mature, beginning what is known as quantitative tightening.

"In terms of actions and the commentary, it was about as close to expectations as one can possibly imagine," said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

"I think the more interesting question now is what does the bank do next. And it certainly looks like there's a solid possibility that they follow this up with another 50 basis point increase in June."

While most stock markets are grappling with a surge in inflation and a possible economic slowdown, the TSX index hit a record high just last week. It has climbed 2.9% this year, among the few regional equity markets holding on to gains, as surging commodity prices boost mining and energy shares.

The energy sector gained 0.6% as prices of crude, one of the country's major exports, rose more than 2% after Moscow said that peace talks with Ukraine had hit a dead end, fueling supply concerns.

The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 1% as gold prices hit a one-month high.

Heavily weighted financial stocks slipped 0.9% to hit an over three-month low. The declines came as Wall Street peers took a hit from JPMorgan Chase & Co reporting a quarterly profit slump.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru and Allison Lampert in Toronto; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)

China Hesitates on Bailing Out Sri Lanka, Pakistan as Debt Soars

Bloomberg News
Wed, April 13, 2022

(Bloomberg) -- Over the past few years, the U.S. has accused China of using “debt diplomacy” to make developing nations across the world more dependent on Beijing.

Yet the cases of Sri Lanka and Pakistan -- both friends of China facing dire financial situations as inflation soars -- show that President Xi Jinping’s government is becoming more reluctant to pull out the checkbook. China still hasn’t made good on a pledge to re-issue loans totaling $4 billion that Pakistan repaid in late March, and it hasn’t responded to Sri Lanka’s pleas for $2.5 billion in credit support.

While China has pledged to help both countries, the more cautious approach reflects both a refining of Xi’s signature Belt and Road Initiative as well as a hesitancy to be seen interfering in messy domestic political situations. Pakistan got a new prime minister on Monday after parliament booted out former cricket star Imran Khan, and Sri Lanka’s leader is facing pressure from protesters to step down.

“Beijing has for the past couple of years been rethinking its external lending because their banks realized they were carrying a lot of debt with countries whose prospects of paying back were quite limited,” said Raffaello Pantucci, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University. “This came on top of a tightening economic situation at home which also required a lot of spending, so there was less appetite to just throw money around wantonly.”

China is currently facing its own economic troubles, with lockdowns to contain the country’s worst Covid outbreak since early 2020 shutting down the technology and financial hubs of Shanghai and Shenzhen. Premier Li Keqiang on Monday told local authorities they should “add a sense of urgency” when implementing policies as analysts warn the official growth target of a 5.5% is now in jeopardy.

China has become the world’s largest government creditor over the past decade, with its state-owned policy banks lending more to developing countries than the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank in some recent years. The opacity around the terms and scale of some of that lending has been criticized, especially as the pandemic exacerbates debt problems in poorer countries.

Sri Lanka’s top diplomat in Beijing this week said he was “very confident” that China will come through with credit support, including $1 billion for the country to repay existing Chinese loans due in July. In an interview with Bloomberg, Ambassador Palitha Kohona said the process often takes months and he didn’t see any delay.

“Given the current circumstances, there aren’t that many countries that can step out to the pitch and do something,” he said. “China is one of those countries that can do something very quickly.”

Still, China’s role in helping to resolve ongoing crises in South Asia may be limited despite its status as a major creditor. A Shanghai-based scholar who researches China’s overseas lending said new credit lines are harder to approve as authorities emphasize risk management at financial institutions including policy banks. The scholar asked not to be named due to rules for speaking with the media.

‘Small But Beautiful’

Xi highlighted the importance of a more cautious approach at a high-level Belt and Road symposium in November. “It is necessary to implement risk prevention and control systems,” Xi said. He called on participants to make “small but beautiful” projects a priority for foreign cooperation and “avoid dangerous and chaotic places.”

Earlier this month, Jin Liqun, president of the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, encouraged Sri Lanka to turn to the IMF for help in a meeting with Kohona.

China’s development banks are acting to preserve returns and it “would be difficult for them to easily accede to Sri Lanka’s requests for deferrals,” said Matthew Mingey, a senior analyst at Rhodium Group’s China Macro & Policy team who researches economic diplomacy.

‘Sinking Ships’

“Credit conditions back in China aren’t making things any easier for them,” he added. “Ultimately, Sri Lanka needs the IMF.”

Sri Lanka said Tuesday it would expedite talks with the IMF after it halted payments on foreign debt to preserve dollars for essential food and fuel imports. Pakistan’s new government also plans to work with the IMF to stabilize the economy, according to Miftah Ismail, a former finance minister and a senior ruling party leader.

China’s ability to assist either country with a balance-of-payments crisis is limited, particularly as Beijing’s financial assistance is almost always tied to specific projects, said Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, principle researcher at the Point Pedro Institute of Development in Sri Lanka. China’s policy of non-interference in internal affairs prevents it from offering the type of advice needed for countries to emerge out of a financial crisis, he added.

“Even the IMF appears to be moving very slowly -- if not abandoning -- the requests of both Pakistan and Sri Lanka for their assistance,” Sarvananthan said. “Which sane bilateral donor country or international financial institution would pour money into sinking ships in both Pakistan and Sri Lanka.”

CHILD LABOR USA

Amazon plans high school recruitment push amid shortage of workers: report

Amazon reportedly plans to hire graduate high school students to its warehouses because it struggles with other companies for workers in a very tight labor market.

The e-commerce giant will launch a recruitment push next month – company representatives are ready to promote Amazon’s perks and benefits in schools across the US and Canada. The push comes as the Coalition of Allies claims that Amazon has a poor workplace safety record, and Amazon is working to improve it, the Post said in a statement.

The company’s high school recruiting efforts include appearances by Amazon recruiters over hundreds of high school career days, and an emphasis on college tuition support for workers Information Reported to the person who described the project.

Amazon and other companies are looking to increase recruitment as the economy reopens during the COVID-19 epidemic. But tight labor conditions complicate the task, with US unemployment at just 3.6%, according to recent jobs data.

In March, there were more than 5 million job openings available to fill roles.

Amazon is competing with big-box retailers such as Walmart and Target, who are increasing benefits to attract new workers.Amazon employs more than 1.6 million people worldwide.AFP by Getty Images

Amazon representatives did not immediately return a request for comment on the recruitment drive. But a company official confirmed the plans in a statement to The Information.

“We are always looking for good employees and [we] We are proud to be the employer of choice for graduating high school students, ”Amazon spokeswoman Lisa Campos told Outlet.

The high school recruitment drive is the largest of its kind for Amazon – which has paused similar efforts over the past two years due to safety concerns during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Amazon hinted at the need to hire more workers in its fourth-quarter earnings release in February, with CEO Andy Jassi forecasting the company’s “high costs from labor supply shortages and inflationary pressures” in the 2022 holiday season. 

.

Amazon is facing increasing pressure on its workplace practices.

AFP by Getty Images

The latest recruitment drive unfolds as Amazon faces mounting pressure to improve its work habits. Earlier this month, workers at the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island became the first in the company’s history after a long organizational drive at the facility.

The push for workers was successful despite strong opposition from Amazon, which called for the cancellation of the election. The effort garnered the support of President Biden, who warned “Amazon, here we come” while supporting the organizers.

Meanwhile, injury rates at Amazon warehouses jumped 20% in 2021 – despite pledges by company executives to improve safety measures at facilities. According to the Strategic Organizing Center, Amazon accounts for roughly half of all warehouse injuries in the US.

The company has hired tens of thousands of people to meet the unexpected demand from COVID-19, Amazon.com said in a statement.

“Like other companies in the industry, we have seen an increase in recordable injuries at this time from 2020 to 2021 because we have trained many new people – however, compared to 2021 to 2019, our recordable injury rate is down 13% year over year,” an Amazon spokesperson Said Kelly Nantel.

Amazon employs more than 1.6 million people worldwide – including about 750,000 hourly workers in the US. Last month, the company revealed that it has partnered with more than 140 colleges to offer fully-funded college tuition to its hourly employees.

The company aims to persuade hikers to work in their warehouses during the summer break – then use the benefits of graduation even if they don’t expect to get into college.

The e-commerce firm raised its average hourly wage for warehouse workers to $ 18 last fall. Other benefits for full-time employees include a 401 (k) with medical, dental and vision coverage and 50% company adjustment.

Mexican truckers block key U.S. border crossings in protest of Texas governor's inspection mandate

Peter Weber, Senior editor
Tue, April 12, 2022

El Paso border crossing Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered state troopers last week to begin inspecting commercial trucks bringing produce and other goods into the state from Mexico, a job already performed by federal Customs and Border Enforcement agents, truck traffic backed up for miles as the wait to cross the border jumped significantly, The Texas Tribune reported Monday.

At times, the Tribune reports, "troopers appear to be checking every commercial vehicle that crosses select international bridges, with each inspection taking between 45 minutes and an hour." Mexican truckers have blocked traffic at key border crossings in protest, making the wait time even longer.

"The bridge connecting Pharr and Reynosa is the busiest trade crossing in the Rio Grande Valley and handles the majority of the produce that crosses into the U.S. from Mexico, including avocados, broccoli, peppers, strawberries, and tomatoes," the Tribune reports. "International bridges elsewhere in the Valley ... have also seen delays, with many commercial products produced in Mexico — like electronics, vehicle parts, and medical instruments — also held up."

Abbott said he was ordering the Department of Public Safety to inspect trucks in response to the Biden administration's phase-out of using Title 42, a temporary public health measure, to immediately deport Central American migrants to Mexico. Drug cartels use commercial trucks to smuggle people and drugs into the U.S., Abbott said.

Truckers told Reynosa's El Mañana newspaper they had waited there or four days at the border bridge and were running out of fuel. "We are losing just as much as them," one trucker said. "When they start needing more produce, the prices are going to go up."

Lawmakers and officials along the border said Abbott's order was hurting business. "There are security issues, but that's why our federal partners are there," Teclo Garcia, economic development director for Laredo, told the Tribune. "The real impact is going to be in the supply chain, which is already strained, and the consumer."

"Many of my constituents are asking 'Why are we being punished?' The Valley supports border security, but this doesn't seem to have much or anything to do with border security," state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (D) said Monday. "This is hurting people in their pocketbook." Abbott's office didn't respond to the Tribune's request for comment.

Trucker protests expand at U.S.-Mexico border over lengthy wait times


Mexican truck drivers protest truck inspections imposed by 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, in Ciudad Juarez

Tue, April 12, 2022
By Lizbeth Diaz and Ted Hesson

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican truck drivers blockaded bridges at the U.S. border for a second day on Tuesday to protest an order by the Texas governor meant to increase safety inspections that has snarled traffic and led business groups to warn of supply chain disruptions.

Mexico's government said in a statement it "rejects" the inspections imposed by Texas, estimating that two-thirds of normal trade was being held up and costing "significant revenue" for both U.S. and Mexican businesses.

The slowdowns began after Abbott, a Republican, ordered officials last week to conduct vehicle safety inspections at entry ports to uncover smuggling of people and contraband.

"Yesterday it took me 17 hours to cross into the United States and return," said Raymundo Galicia, a Mexican driver protesting at the Santa Teresa bridge connecting San Jeronimo, Chihuahua, to Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

The bridge is the third in the bustling Ciudad Juarez-El Paso area to be blockaded by drivers who have seen their pay plummet since lengthy wait times began last week.

Traffic at a fourth bridge connecting Reynosa to Pharr, Texas, was also halted on Tuesday by drivers who parked their trucks and began barbecuing on the Mexican side of the port of entry, according to photos sent to Reuters.

"I get paid the same whether it takes me an hour or ten hours to cross, so this is affecting us a lot," Galicia said, noting he and his co-workers would target more bridges if delays continued.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a statement the long waits were due to "additional and unnecessary inspections" ordered by Abbott and were causing "critical impacts to an already-strained supply chain."

The new measures have infuriated industry groups, which have warned of shortages of perishable products over the Easter holiday weekend.

"This plan is ... exacerbating our already disrupted supply chain, and will cripple an economy that relies so heavily on cross-border trade," U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes most of El Paso, tweeted on Tuesday.

Mexico's National Chamber of Freight Transportation estimated the delays at the Pharr bridge alone caused economic losses of $8 million per day and called on Abbott to withdraw the order to prevent a "collapse in international cross-border trade."

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City and Ted Hesson in Washington, additional reporting by Laura Gottesdiener in Monterrey, MexicoEditing by Alistair Bell and Aurora Ellis)