Power workers struggle to keep Ukraine’s energy on stream

By AFP
October 28, 2022

Russia has been carrying out repeated strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure

 - Copyright Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)/AFP Handout

Perched on a gondola, two employees fix a cable to a large pylon.

Further away, others are busy at ground level around several large broken copper bars as they repair a Ukrainian power plant recently hit by Russian strikes.

The plant operator that showed some journalists, including from AFP, around his site on Thursday asked them, for security reasons, not to reveal the name of the place where this thermal power plant is located.

Russia has been carrying out repeated strikes for more than two weeks now on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leading to the destruction of at least of one third of the network just as winter looms.

As a result, and in order to prevent the distribution network becoming congested, daily supply cuts of several hours have been imposed for some days now in a number of regions, notably Kyiv.

The authorities there said Friday those cuts would have to stepped up to “unprecedented” levels.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday some four million people across the country had been affected by the power cuts: not just in and around Kyiv, but the regions of Zhytomyr, Poltava, Rivne, Kharkiv, Chernigiv, Sumy, Cherkasy and Kirovograd.

– Sheltering from strikes –

Every time a part of the network is hit, the station staff get to work on repairs.

At the plant AFP visited, operated by private Ukrainian electricity firm DTEK, the strikes primarily hit outside installations, notably transformers and distribution lines.

“We are confronted by such damage for the first time,” said one employee, Pavlo. The plant had twice been targeted by missiles and then a third time by an Iranian-made suicide drone.

“The renovation work has been under way for more than two weeks,” he added.

“We don’t know how long it will take. It depends on the material we shall have to get hold of, deliver, install… It’s a long process.

“There are difficulties in that the equipment that has been damaged is unique — it’s hard to find the same parts, and production of new ones is very time-consuming,” he said.

And every time the air raid sirens go off they have to down tools and go to the shelter, deep in the bowels of the plant.

This attack lasted for around an hour and a half. To pass the time, the workers played cards or dominoes, or checked the latest news on their mobile phones.

Or they just caught up on sleep.

“We function with the bare minimum number of employees,” said Pavlo.

“We try to minimise potential victims,” explains Pavlo, adding that one DTEK worker had already been killed and 11 more wounded in the strikes, which have targetted them since October 10.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/power-workers-struggle-to-keep-ukraines-energy-on-stream/article#ixzz7j7r8Cwio

Itamar Ben-Gvir: fiery far-right leader gains traction before Israeli election

Ben-Gvir, a defender of Jewish extremists, poised to become powerful mainstream force

Itamar Ben-Gvir greets supporters during a rally in Sderot this week.

 Photograph: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images

Bethan McKernan in Sderot

THE GUARDIAN

Sat 29 Oct 2022 

Whenever the far-right politician Meir Kahane got up to speak in the Knesset after winning his Kach party’s only ever seat, in 1984, the rest of the plenum would walk out. Even the hardline prime minister at the time, Yitzhak Shamir, called the rabbi’s anti-Arab movement “negative, dangerous and damaging”. Kach was banned from politics a few years later for inciting racism.

Four decades on, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still raging, and Israel’s political sphere is more rightwing than ever before. The country will hold its fifth election in less than four years next week. Kahane’s disciple Itamar Ben-Gvir is on course to become a powerful mainstream force.


‘Bibi v no Bibi’: Israel’s voters split on comeback of scandal-hit Netanyahu

As with the last four elections since 2019, the contest is expected to be very close; voters are still split on whether the former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, beleaguered by corruption cases, is fit to lead the country.

In negotiations aimed at forming stable coalitions in the past, Netanyahu, as head of the conservative Likud, has been willing to join forces with centrist parties and even Islamists. This time around, the longtime leader says he wants a narrow, ideologically cohesive government to stave off a sixth election. Ben-Gvir is the man who can make it happen.

Two years ago, Ben-Gvir’s far-right Jewish Strength was still a fringe political group, but thanks to a deal between small extremist parties orchestrated by Netanyahu before the 2021 election, Ben-Gvir won a Knesset seat.

Since a short-lived coalition government collapsed this summer, he has steadily gained traction, drawing the attention of the Israeli media with fiery speeches and an energetic campaigning schedule.

He is picking up votes that previously went to the now disbanded Yamina alliance, and he appeals to members of the ultra-Orthodox community and Likud voters frustrated with Israel’s political crisis. Intercommunal violence on the streets of Israel last year, and the inclusion of an Arab party in the last government, shocked the rightwing public.

The latest polls predict that Ben-Gvir’s Religious Zionist slate could win 13 or 14 seats, making it the third-largest party in the Knesset. If Netanyahu’s bloc succeeds in winning a majority, it will be the most extremist in history, with the goals of overhauling the Israeli judicial system and further entrenching the occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Workers hang an election banner for Itamar Ben-Gvir in Jerusalem. 

Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA

Most Israeli pliticians and voters at campaign events the Guardian has attended over the past two weeks are tired and it shows: the atmosphere has for the most part been weary and lacklustre. A Religious Zionist rally in the working-class town of Sderot, in southern Israel, on Wednesday night was the opposite.

In a packed school gymnasium, the mostly Modern Orthodox crowd – knitted kippahs for men, long skirts for women – skewed young: pop music blasted from a sound system and about 100 young men danced and sang when Ben-Gvir and the party leader, Bezalel Smotrich, entered the hall. Children in the back row shouted “death to terrorists”.

“Every time [Arabs] attack a Jewish car, our people, I run and see what’s happening … We need new rules against terrorists, we need to enable all citizens to protect themselves with guns. We need laws to protect soldiers,” Ben-Gvir said, to cheers from the audience.

“Hamas has threatened me, but I am not afraid,” he added, referring to the Palestinian militant movement. “We are the owners of this land, the owners of this house.”

Young people crowded Ben-Gvir and Smotrich for selfies after the event.

“He’s brave. He says what needs to be said about Arabs, he’s honest,” said 20-year-old Noa, on leave from military service. “I’ve always voted for Netanyahu, but I will vote for Ben-Gvir this time.”

Natan, 21, a yeshiva student, said: “Some of what he says is obviously bullshit. We’re not going to take back Gaza. But if he can do 85% of what he says he wants to do, that’s great.”

Two young supporters pose for a selfie with Itamar Ben-Gvir in Rishon LeZion, near Tel Aviv. Photograph: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images

Ben-Gvir’s anti-Arab views were moulded by growing up during the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising. The son of secular Iraqi Jewish immigrants, he joined the Kach youth movement as a teenager, and became famous in 1995 for threatening the prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, three weeks before he was assassinated. The Israel Defence Forces exempted him from military service owing to his far-right activities.

Now 46, Ben-Gvir has built a legal career defending Jewish extremists, and lives in the restive West Bank city of Hebron, a major target of the settler movement. In 2019, before a failed Knesset run, he reportedly removed a picture of the terrorist Baruch Goldstein from his living room in an effort to appear more moderate.

Since winning his Knesset seat, Ben-Gvir has toned down the rhetoric that got him convicted for incitement, but he still advocates for the deportation of what he calls “disloyal” Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up 20% of the country. During violent clashes this month in a flashpoint East Jerusalem neighbourhood, he made headlines for drawing a pistol and shouting at police to shoot a group of Palestinian protesters.

According to Dr As’ad Ghanem, a political sciences lecturer at the University of Haifa and co-author of Israel in the Post Oslo Era, Ben-Gvir’s rise is reflective of wide authoritarian political trends around the world. It is also related to the failure of the two-state peace process and a recent intensification of the conflict.

“Until Oslo [the 1990s peace accords], for Israel the main enemy was always outside. Now, because of the Palestinian Authority and the rise of Islamic movements, the threat is seen as internal,” he said.

“For many Jews, it is seen as a life and death issue. They need to open all the fronts: if there’s no option for two states, they must keep the Palestinians under control, and people feel the best way to do that is strong anti-Palestinian politics.”


‘One seat could make the difference’: Arab parties rally for votes in Israeli election

At the Sderot rally, most of the older attenders the Guardian spoke to were more circumspect about Ben-Gvir than his younger supporters.

Boaz, 52, who works in the town council, said he would vote for the Religious Zionists for the first time next week, not because of Ben-Gvir’s bombastic personal appeal but because he did not see a better alternative.

“There is nowhere else for Jews to go. This is our country and we need to do everything we can to protect it, which is something I don’t think the left understands. I’m from Ethiopia, I could never go back there,” he said.

“I’m not looking for someone who will make promises about the cost of living or jobs or housing,” he said. “I’m looking for a country with a future.”

Maria Rashed contributed reporting

Israel's far-right leader Ben-Gvir wins adoring young fans

Israel's far-right leader Itamar Ben-Gvir may have faced dozens of charges of hate speech against Arabs, but many young voters adore him as the voice of truth.


Far-right leader Itamar Ben-Gvir has been an incendiary figure in Israeli politics for years

© JACK GUEZ


Ben-Gvir is adored by Israeli young people and says it is because 'they know I will protect the country' against 'jihadists'© MENAHEM KAHANA

"The youth follow true messages," argued the Jewish Power party leader ahead of November 1 elections, at a time of flaring violence in the occupied West Bank.

"I don't say one thing and think something else," added the 46-year-old. "I offer my truth and my truth is that we must save the country."

Ben-Gvir, who is often surrounded by throngs of devout boys and young men, said that "young people know that I will defend them when they are in the army.

"They know I will protect the country" against "the jihadists," added Ben-Gvir, an incendiary figure in Israeli politics for years.

As a teenage opponent of the Oslo Peace Accords with the Palestinians, he famously vandalised Yitzhak Rabin's car shortly before the then prime minister was assassinated in 1995.

His political roots lie with the virulently anti-Arab Kach movement that was banned by Israel after one of its supporters, Baruch Goldstein, massacred 29 Palestinians in Hebron.



Rising polls show that Ben-Gvir's grouping may become a crucial parliamentary force

© AHMAD GHARABLI

Now polls suggest the Religious Zionism alliance, which includes Jewish Power, could become the third largest bloc in parliament.

This could make it the main partner in a prospective government formed by opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seeking to reclaim the premiership.

Ben-Gvir's particular appeal among young voters stems from him offering "clarity" amid an unprecedented political crisis, said Yossi Klein Halevi of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

- 'Simply telling the truth' -

Yakir Abelow, 22, who comes from the West Bank settlement of Efrat, argued that Ben-Gvir's message amounted to a "wake-up call".

"It's just refreshing to finally see someone stand up for the values that you believe (in), in terms of building a stronger Jewish state... taking care of what needs to be taken care of," he told AFP.

For Ben-Gvir, that checklist includes annexing the entire West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967 which is home to 2.9 million Palestinians and 475,000 Jewish settlers.

He has also called for deporting all Arab citizens deemed disloyal to Israel, while criticising the army and police for not using adequate force against Palestinians.

Shlomo Fischer, a sociologist at Jerusalem's Jewish People Policy Institute, said Ben-Gvir's appeal for many is that he does not "compromise".

"He says: people who endanger the state, terrorists, should be expelled and denied all rights," Fischer told AFP.

"He's understood to be authentic. He's not going to compromise because the Americans don't like it."

That message resonates with voters who believe Israel reached a fair peace deal in the 1990s, blaming the Palestinians for the accord's collapse and subsequent bloodshed, Fischer said.

This group believes "that there is no partner, there is no peace process, its unrealistic, (that) we have to live with the conflict and if we live with the conflict then we have to be able to do what we need to do," he explained.

- 'So much pride' -

Channelling Ben-Gvir's purported national security straight-talk, settler Abelow opined that sometimes, "unfortunately, we have to kill people".

"It's so sad. I don't want to send my soldiers to do that, but it's to defend us, knowing that if we don't, more people will get killed."

He told AFP that the moment he put on the Israeli military uniform, he felt "so much pride. I was ready to jump on any terrorist".

With rising polls indicating Ben-Gvir's grouping may become a crucial parliamentary force, he has slightly moderated some of his positions.

He told AFP that while he had called for the expulsion of all Arabs 20 years ago, he no longer supports that position.

Ben-Gvir also took down the portrait of Goldstein, the Hebron mass murderer, when he entered politics.

But for Fischer, the core of Ben-Gvir's appeal remains unchanged.

He has drawn supporters, Fisher said, by arguing that those "who threaten the security of Jews... should be killed, expelled, dealt (with). That will solve the problem."

SEE: 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/10/toi-investigates-israeli-fascism-ben.html

Famous Mondrian painting hung upside down for 75 years before anyone noticed

Nick Squires, Oct 29 2022

SUPPLIED/STUFF
Piet Mondrian’s famous painting, New York City 1 hung upside down for 75 years.

His avant-garde use of primary colours, sharp angles and straight lines made him a leading light in the abstract movement, but one of Piet Mondrian’s most famous artworks has been hanging upside down – probably for decades.

Curators have belatedly realised that New York City 1, which the Dutch artist produced when he was living in the US in 1941, has been wrongly hung ever since it first went on public display more than 75 years ago.

The mistake is perhaps forgivable, given that Mondrian did not sign the work, and the lines of coloured tape that it features have no obvious top and bottom.

The clue that the artwork was wrongly displayed came from a photograph taken of the artist’s studio in New York City in 1944.

In the photo, the artwork is resting on an easel, with tightly grouped blue, yellow and red adhesive stripes at the top.



In contrast, it has always been displayed with those stripes at the bottom.

The error was revealed by curators at a press conference on the eve of “Mondrian, Evolution”, an exhibition of the artist’s work at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen museum in Dusseldorf.

“Could it be that the orientation shown in the photo is the actual one Mondrian had intended?” said curator Susanne Meyer-Büser.

It had been wrongly hung ever since it was first shown at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1945, she said.

It may have been that it was turned over the wrong way when it was unpacked by museum staff.

There is another clue for what has been regarded until now as the top of the picture – the adhesive tape does not reach the edge of the canvas.

Mondrian would have worked from top to bottom, becoming less disciplined about the application of the tape as he got to the base of the artwork. So the ragged, torn endings should be at the bottom of the picture, not at the top.

Despite the decades-long error being discovered, curators at the exhibition in Dusseldorf have decided to display New York City 1 in the way it has always been shown – the wrong way up.

The work consists of fragile adhesive strips which have been hanging that way for more than seven decades.

“Maybe there is no right or wrong orientation at all,” said Meyer-Büser. “If I turn it upside down, I risk destroying it."

The exhibition commemorates the 150th anniversary of the artist’s birth in 1872 and features 90 works which trace his development from landscape painter to master of the abstract.

The Mondrian mix-up is not the first time that MoMA has displayed an artwork upside down, according to the website ARTnews.

In 1961, during an exhibition of Henri Matisse paintings, a visitor noticed that his papercut, Le Bateau, was hung the wrong way up.

The visitor, a Wall Street stockbroker, was initially dismissed by museum curators and took the story to the New York Times.

Museum staff eventually realised that she was correct and rehung the artwork the right way up. “It was just carelessness,” said Monroe Wheeler, the director of exhibitions at the time.

The mistake was only discovered after six weeks and had gone unnoticed not just by curators but by more than 100,000 visitors, including Matisse’s son Pierre, an art dealer.

Born in Amersfoort in the Netherlands in 1872, Mondrian fled his home in Paris in 1938 as war loomed and moved to London.

When Nazi Germany started bombing London, he moved again, to New York City in 1940.

It was there that he produced some of his last masterpieces, including New York City I and Broadway Boogie Woogie before his death in 1944.


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Japan: Unification Church scandals haunt Kishida government

Julian Ryall Tokyo
DW

DW spoke with a woman who said she was victimized by the South Korea-based church. She wants Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government to take action and curb the religious organization's vast political influence.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this week addressed several controversies surrounding the South Korea-based Unification Church, officially known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

Kishida ordered an investigation opened into reports that the church's practices are coercive.

He also accepted the resignation of a Cabinet minister with links to the organization, and promised to personally meet with families bankrupted by relatives' donations to the group.

With these moves, the Japanese leader is attempting to draw a line under a scandal that has dominated the headlines since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in July by the son of a church follower.

Critics who say Kishida should do more are in no mood to let the matter drop.
Why is Kishida facing criticsm?

"The prime minister's responses have been too slow, and the fact that the Diet [Japan's legislature] is having to repeatedly address the impact of the church on politics has been a huge waste of public money," said Sayuri Ogawa, who became an outspoken critic of the church following her own family's experiences with it.

"Those funds should have gone to the people who have lost everything to the church. If Kishida keeps his promise and speaks with the victims, then I will tell him he needs to listen to us and revoke the Unification Church's status as a religious corporation," she told DW.

"And then he has to implement a bill to financially support the victims, with a clear statement of when it will start."

Japan mourns death of Shinzo Abe

Sixty-seven-year-old former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead while giving a campaign speech in the city of Nara. Japan spent the weekend mourning the death of its longest-serving prime minister.

Ogawa, who uses a pseudonym out of concern for the security of her husband and young child, has been targeted by the church since she first began speaking out in the media.

Church officials attempted to halt a press conference including statements by Ogawa on October 7.

Fax messages were sent to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, claiming that Ogawa suffered from "psychological illnesses" and her symptoms were getting worse.

Another said she would tell "many lies" and the event should be halted immediately.

"The fax that was addressed to me at the press conference threatened to sue me if I lied or made any more statements about the church," said Ogawa, who is now in her late 20s.

"But I am confident that many people who saw this news conference will understand which side is evil," Ogawa said.
Assaulted and savings spent

Ogawa said her parents had encouraged her to join the church and, as a teenager, she had been an enthusiastic member.

She even traveled to South Korea to take part in one of the mass weddings that are a feature of the religious movement, which was founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon.

Once there, Ogawa said she was sexually assaulted by a senior member of the church on the pretext that an "evil spirit had taken control of her soul."

When she returned home, she discovered that her parents had donated her savings, about 2 million yen (€13,565, $13,510), to the church.

Ogawa believes that her parents have donated around 10 million yen in total over the past four decades and, even now, they regularly contact her in an effort to convince her to rejoin the church, she said

Her story has uncanny echoes of that of Tetsuya Yamagami, who has told investigators that he shot and killed former Prime Minister Abe with a homemade gun in July in protest because of his failure to stop the Unification Church from forcing followers to donate their life savings.

Yamagami, who is undergoing assessment to see if he is mentally competent to stand trial, said his mother had bankrupted the family after giving the church 100 million yen.
Over 30,000 complaints

The National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, which represents people who claim they have been pressured to make huge donations to the church, said there have been more than 30,000 complaints against the organization, but the government had refused to address the problem until Abe's killing put it in the spotlight.

"As lawyers, we have witnessed the distress, anguish and economic suffering of too many former members, current members' families and 'second-generation' ex-members of the Unification Church, and we have long been deeply concerned with this dire reality," the organization said in a statement.

It accused church followers of "deceiving" targeted individuals, of inciting fear through alarming tales of "karma and fate," and triggering a sense of guilt through psychological pressure.

The Unification Church — labeled a dangerous cult by some critics — has been quick to dismiss claims that it has acted in an inappropriate way towards its followers.

"Followers give thanks for God's blessings and offer donations voluntarily based on their faith," it said in a statement.

"Former followers who claim to have been forced to donate by the church also should have offered donations voluntarily based on their faith; however, after they left the church, they simply lied about the fact that the church forced them to donate," the church added.

The church also denies being directly involved in Japanese politics, although it admits that "groups affiliated with the church have relationships with politicians as part of their political activities."

That sort of splitting hairs has not gone down well with the public, and there has been a fierce backlash against the church, which claims that members have received death threats — and against the politicians accused of permitting the organization to infiltrate the national decision-making process.
Links to the church

So far, 179 of the 379 lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have admitted links to the church, including 23 of the 54 vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries in the Kishida cabinet.

And, as the revelations snowballed, Kishida's popularity plummeted. The prime minister had the backing of more than 60% of the electorate just a year ago; today, that has sunk below the 30% threshold that is widely seen as the crisis level in Japanese politics.

Yukihisa Fujita, a former member of the Constitutional Democratic Party, said he believed that the prime minister would survive, but Kishida has been weakened by the scandal, and his administration will always be remembered for the party's links to the church.

"None of this would have come into the open without the killing of Abe earlier in the year, and it is alarming to think that, had that not happened, then we would probably not know the scale of the church's influence on politics here," he said.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

Poland chooses US firm to build first nuclear power plant

Poland is hoping to get its first-ever nuclear power plant online by 2033 with the help of a US firm. Russian aggression has pushed forward the long-awaited plan.

A US firm has beaten out its French and South Korean competitors in landing a contract to build Poland's first-ever nuclear power plant, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday.

Westinghouse Electric Company was granted the multi-billion euro deal as Poland seeks to secure its energy supplies independent of Russian gas.

"We confirm our nuclear energy project will use the reliable, safe technology of [Westinghouse]," Morawiecki wrote on Twitter.
Washington celebrates announcement

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm welcomed the decision, calling it a "huge step in strengthening our relationship with Poland for future generations to come."

"I think it sends a clear message to Russia that the Atlantic alliance stands together to diversify our energy supply... and to resist Russian weaponization of energy," Granholm also said.

Westinghouse outbid French company EDF and South Korea's state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP).

"This is a huge deal because this is not just about a commercial energy project, it is about a way we will define ... interdependent security for decades to come," a senior US government official told reporters.
Poland's long-term nuclear plans

Warsaw has been eyeing up development of its own civil nuclear capacity for years but was spurred into action by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent standoff with NATO, of which Poland is a member.

Poland has one of the most carbon-intensive energy networks thanks to its heavy use of coal.

But it hopes to meet between 25% and 36% of its energy needs with the up to six nuclear reactors it is planning to build by 2040.

Warsaw wants its first nuclear power station up and running by 2033 and has selected the village of Choczewo near the Baltic coast for the location.

The EU recently categorized nuclear energy — as well as energy from burning natural gas — as "green" despite heavy pushback from countries such as Germany and Austria.

ab/wd (AFP, Reuters)

US, South Korean firms to run Polish nuclear plants

Jo Harper

After several failed attempts to build its own nuclear power capacity, Poland looks ready to make the leap. Like with buses, Poles have waited years for one nuclear power plant and then two come along at once.

Poland is likely to choose the United States engineering firm Westinghouse Electric to build its first nuclear power plant and provide 49% equity financing for the project. State-owned Korea Hydro Nuclear Power (KHNP) may also be involved in a separate and parallel private nuclear project, Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin said earlier this week.

Warsaw has also been talking to France's state-owned EdF utility which has built and operates the country's nuclear power plants.

After years of shelved plans to build a civil nuclear capacity in Poland from scratch, the energy crunch caused by the war in Ukraine, lower gas supplies from Russia and lack of immediate renewable substitutes, have kicked the issue back up the political agenda.

The government is slated to announce who will build the first plant and where at its sitting in early November.

Poland plans to build four to six nuclear reactors by the mid-2040s. The planned facilities could meet between 25% and 36% of annual domestic energy demand.

Nuclear power is a key part of Poland's plan to reduce the large share of coal and lignite in electricity generation. Its electricity grid is one of the most carbon-intensive in Europe.

A special purpose vehicle called EJ1 set up by Poland's largest energy group Polska Grupa Energetyczna is leading the siting and development plans. In 2021, the functions of EJ1 were transferred to a new state-owned entity, Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe (PEJ).

Work on building the reactors — each boasting a capacity of 1 to 1.5 gigawatt (GW) — is slated to start in 2026, with the planned completion of the first reactor by 2030. All six of them will be connected to the grid by 2040 with total capacity of 6-9 GW.

Last December, PEJ announced its preferred location for the first commercial plant as the Baltic Sea coastal commune of Choczewo near Gdynia at a site called Lubiatowo-Kopalino.

Remains of the nuclear power plant in Zarnowiec, where construction was stopped in 1990 due to protests and lack of fundsImage: Roman Jocher/dpa/picture alliance
Is the US offer the likely winner?

Some believe it is a foregone conclusion that Westinghouse Electric will win the tender, after a recent meeting of senior Polish government representatives with US Secretary for Energy Jennifer Granholm reportedly settled questions related to offset agreements in Poland's favor.

Last July, Westinghouse launched so-called front-end engineering and design work under a grant from the US Trade and Development Agency to go ahead with the nuclear energy program in Poland.

Price is also key. Korea's KHNP offered to build six 8.4 GW reactors for $26.7 billion (€26 billion). The US offer for six 6.7 GW reactors is $31.3 billion. EdF's bid is reportedly the most expensive — depending on the variant, it wants $33 billion to $48.5 billion for four to six reactors, with a total capacity of 6.6 to 9.9 GW, according to Polish media reports.

In a change of policy, and clearly designed to assuage doubts on the Polish side, Elias Gedeon, the manager responsible for project commercialization at Westinghouse, told the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita that financing includes participation of the US state-owned export lender, EXIM Bank, and equity from Westinghouse and its partner Bechtel.

Greenpeace nuclear energy expert Jan Haverkamp, however, harbors doubts about Westinghouse's offer. "There is a question whether Westinghouse will be able to deliver properly on its offer. Westinghouse has a precarious financial situation," he told DW.

PGE and Poland's largest private energy group, ZE PAK, are reportedly planning to sign a letter of intent with Korea's KHNP to build another, private, nuclear plant with Korean APR 1400 reactors. The signing of a letter of intent is scheduled for October 31. The Koreans have reportedly promised to transfer technology, which the Americans were reportedly cautious of doing.

Poland has moved closer to ending reliance on coal after the government, the country's largest mining firm and unions agreed to phase out all coal mines by 2049. Under the plan, the Patnow thermal power plant in central Poland is scheduled to shut down in late 2024.

Zygmunt Solorz, owner of ZE PAK and Poland's richest man, has reportedly pushed hard in the government for cooperation with KHNP.

Pawel Gajda from the Krakow-based Mining Academy thinks choosing two different nuclear technologies would have its advantages. "It would be a better solution from the point of view of reliability and thus energy security and reduce the risk of a situation where, as a result of some defect, it is necessary to temporarily discontinue many power units at once," he told the Polish newsite WNP.PL.

Polish experts also downplayed possible European Commission opposition to selecting the US bid as it would mean a company from outside of the bloc winning a major energy tender.

One Warsaw-based energy analyst, who prefered to remain anonymous because of his company's policy, said that he would expect "a sort of 'hallelujah'" from Brussels that there will be a "proper replacement for all coal-fired generation in Poland."

The bank analyst also dismissed fears that Germany might oppose a nuclear plant to be built in its neighborhood. "Both alleged locations are away from the German border. I do not think there will be a negative reaction. The Czechs and Belgians keep their nuclear plants closer to the German border."

Environmental activists especially in Germany are likely to be up in arms about Warsaw's plans
\Tim Brakemeier/dpa/picture-alliance

Another false dawn?

Wladyslaw Mielczarski, a professor at the Technical University of Lodz, sees the Polish government's nuclear plans as a distraction from current energy problems.

"Most experts see the talks on nuclear power as a preelection campaign and the distraction of public attention from current energy supply problems and a lack of coal delivery for domestic users," he told DW.

The Warsaw bank analyst DW spoke to on condition of anonymity is more sanguine. "Poland's current nuclear plans are very realistic. There is no alternative comparable in output size over the medium to long term. Poland has a gap in its long-term energy mix and NPPs are considered to be the right technology to fill it," he said.

This long-term gap has emerged because renewable energy sources are still underdeveloped in Poland and the government has been lukewarm on policies to drive ahead with wind power or photovoltaic energy.

Greenpeace's Haverkamp is far from convinced by the nuclear option, saying Poland's ambitions are based on several unrealistic expectations. "The issue of costs, piled on unrealistic expectations on issues of financing, based on unrealistic expectations of market changes delivers in the end an unfinanceable project."

Haverkamp even assumes that the project was dear to the ruling ruling Law and Justice (PiS) and the opposition Civic Platform (PO) "because it finances sufficient friends and relations in the area of consultancy and regional/local governance."

"But at a certain moment it will hit a wall," he said, and that there is "less than a 1% chance that nuclear power plants in Poland will be added to the grid before 2050."

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

Competition Bureau raises concerns about WestJet-Sunwing deal

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

The federal Competition Bureau has raised significant concerns about WestJet Airlines Ltd.'s proposed acquisition of Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines, saying the deal will likely result in higher prices and decreased service for Canadians.

In a report delivered to Canada's transport minister on Wednesday, the regulator said eliminating the rivalry between the two companies is likely to result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in the sale of vacation packages to Canadians.

"The proposed transaction will result in one of Canada’s largest integrated tour operators being acquired by one of its primary rivals in the provision of vacation packages," the report stated.

"Overall, WestJet and Sunwing account for approximately 37 per cent of non–stop capacity between Canada and sun destinations and 72 per cent of non–stop capacity between Western Canada and sun destinations."

WestJet announced a plan in March to buy Sunwing, a move that would bolster its holiday tour business. Financial terms of the agreement, which would see Sunwing's shareholders become equity holders in the WestJet Group, were not disclosed.

In its report, the Competition Bureau noted that a merger of the two carriers would create a monopoly on 16 routes between Canada and Mexico or the Caribbean, and would lessen or prevent competition for the provision of vacation packages on 31 total routes between Canada and Mexico or the Caribbean.

But in an emailed statement Wednesday, Sunwing spokeswoman Melanie Anne Filipp said the routes identified as concerns are predominantly in Western Canada and account for a very small portion of Sunwing's operations — just over 10 per cent of all seats — and are primarily seasonal routes.

"Also of note, Sunwing no longer operates six of the routes mentioned in the report," Filipp said. "We remain confident that this transaction is good news for Canadians."

In a news release, WestJet said the proposed Sunwing transaction is a central piece of the Calgary-based airline's commitment to prioritize leisure and sun travel from coast to coast and increase affordable air and vacation package offerings for all Canadians.

Transport Canada is also conducting a public interest review of the proposed transaction. The final decision regarding the deal will be made by cabinet, based on a recommendation from the minister.

WestJet said that decision will consider additional factors, including WestJet's promised preservation of Sunwing’s brand, its commitment to maintain Sunwing’s Toronto and Montreal offices, new flying that will be created by retaining Sunwing’s aircraft in Canada year-round and the resulting new employment opportunities. 

“We thank the Competition Bureau and welcome their report,” said WestJet executive vice-president Angela Avery in the release. “We look forward to bringing this transaction to life for the benefit of Canadian travellers, communities and employees.”

The companies have said they expect the transaction to close by spring 2023, pending remaining regulatory and government approvals.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2022.

RBC targets emissions intensity, balking at stronger goals

Kevin Orland, Bloomberg News

Royal Bank of Canada is targeting cuts in the concentration of emissions from parts of its lending portfolio this decade, while shying away from the stronger, absolute-emissions reductions that other global banks have promised. 

The Toronto-based company set a goal of lowering the intensity of emissions that its oil and gas clients generate from their operations -- known as Scope 1 and 2 emissions -- by 35 per cent by 2030, relative to 2019 levels, according to a statement Wednesday. It's also planning to reduce the intensity of emissions from the burning of the fuels those companies sell -- Scope 3 emissions -- by 11 per cent to 27 per cent in that time frame. 

The lender also is targeting a 54 per cent reduction in the intensity of Scope 1 emissions from its power-generation clients and a 47 per cent cut in all three scopes of emissions intensity in automotive lending.

Royal Bank's emissions-intensity metric measures the amount of carbon emitted by the companies relative to their total production. Using that yardstick allows Royal Bank to increase lending to high-emitting sectors and lets companies in its portfolio emit more total carbon through increased production as long as their operations are becoming more efficient. 

Large global banks such as Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Plc have committed to cutting the absolute emissions from parts of their lending portfolios. Among Canada's five largest banks, only Bank of Montreal has set a target for absolute-emissions reductions.

Royal Bank chose emissions-intensity targets because that measure is less volatile and allows for better comparability among clients, said Jennifer Livingstone, vice president of climate. The bank will continue to measure and disclose its absolute financed emissions and revisit the metrics it's using in its targets as data quality, technology, public policy and stakeholder expectations evolve, she said.

“We understand that our ultimate goal will require absolute-emissions-reductions targets,” Livingstone said in an interview. “However, at this time we feel that physical-emissions-intensity targets are the right choice.”

The bank also will continue updating its targets to include other high-emitting sectors, she said, without specifying which industries those might be.

Strong interim targets for absolute emissions are important because the scientific consensus is that global carbon-dioxide emissions need to fall by about 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Royal Bank took “a big step in the right direction” by setting a target for Scope 3 emissions for its oil and gas portfolio, said Kyra Bell-Pasht, director of research and policy for Investors for Paris Compliance, which works to hold public companies accountable to their net-zero pledges. The move is important because Scope three typically accounts for about 80 per cent of the sector's emissions, and it's surprising because Royal Bank had previously indicated that it wouldn't set such a goal, she said.

On the downside, the bank's use of emissions intensity, rather than absolute emissions, falls short of what's needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, she said.

“Unfortunately the target is set as an intensity metric, and a weak one at that, which could well allow real emissions to grow,” Bell-Pasht said in an emailed statement. “We are disappointed that after having the benefit of time to learn from the mistakes of other banks setting weak interim portfolio targets, RBC did not do better.”

Royal Bank said in its Net-Zero Report that intensity-based targets allow it to continue working with clients in high-emitting sectors as they work to decarbonize their operations while still providing the goods and services the world needs.  

A company's emissions are one measure that is weighed -- along with factors like its strategic plan and growth trajectory  -- in the bank's broader financial and risk analysis of its clients, said Lindsay Patrick, head of strategic initiatives and environmental, social and governance at RBC Capital Markets. She declined to say whether Royal Bank would be willing to cease lending to certain clients to meet its emissions goals.

“If we had a client whose business did not align to net zero, would we bank them or not? In absence of any more data, I'm unable to comment on that,” Patrick said.

WORKERS CAPITAL

Quebec’s Caisse hires Longchamps from PSP to run private equity

Mathieu Dion, Bloomberg News

The Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (CDPQ) headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec posted the highest returns since 2010 last year, with growth boosted by its private equity holdings and public stock portfolio. , Bloomberg

Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec named Martin Longchamps as its new head of private equity, poaching the executive from another Canadian pension manager to run one of its largest portfolios. 

Longchamps will succeed Martin Laguerre, who had been in the role for less than two years, based in New York. Laguerre did not respond to a request for comment; the fund provided no explanation for his departure. 

Longchamps, who was managing director of private equity at the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, will work from the Caisse’s head office in Montreal, as he already lives in the city. 

Caisse de Depot had an exceptional year in private equity in 2021, posting a 39.2 per cent return amid buoyant markets and strong performance in technology and health care. About a quarter of its private holdings are in technology and telecommunications, including software firm Druva and technology services firm Wizeline. 

Its private equity portfolio was worth $82.5 billion, or nearly 20 per cent of CDPQ’s assets under management at the end of last year. 

The Caisse recorded a 2.4 per cent drop in private equity for the first six months of 2022, compared with a 16 per cent decline for its public stock holdings.

The fund has attracted scrutiny in recent months for its $150 million investment in cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network LLC -- though Laguerre was not involved in the venture, according to a spokesperson for the fund. The investment, made about a year ago, is now worthless after Celsius filed for bankruptcy. 

Longchamps will start in his new position on Nov. 14. “His experience in the institutional and private sectors, in all stages of the investment and asset management cycle, will be an asset,” Caisse Chief Executive Officer Charles Emond said in a statement. 

More than half of Canadian mortgage-holders worried about payments at renewal: Survey

John Shmuel, Managing Editor, RATESDOTCA

More than half of Canadian homeowners with a mortgage are concerned about an increase in their payments upon renewal, according to the latest RATESDOTCA and BNN Bloomberg survey.
. 
The survey, conducted by Leger, found that 53 per cent of those surveyed said they were concerned about payments when their mortgage renews.
 
Most respondents said they have a plan in place to deal with higher payments. Fifty-two per cent said they had a plan, with 38 per cent of those saying they will cut back on their spending, nine per cent saying they’ll dip into savings, and two per cent saying they plan to take on additional debt. Only two per cent said they would sell their house in light of higher mortgage rates.  
 
The survey was released as the Bank of Canada continues its aggressive rate-hike campaign to bring inflation under control. On Wednesday, the central bank increased its key overnight rate by 50 basis points, bringing it to 3.75 per cent.
 
Fixed-rate mortgages are now all north of five per cent, far from what was being offered last year, when it was possible to get a five-year fixed rate under two per cent.  
 
According to the survey, 20 per cent of Canadian homeowners said they don’t have a plan to deal with higher mortgage rates. This breaks down to 14 per cent of those “concerned” and 28 per cent of those “not concerned.”  

 
SHOPPING AROUND 

The survey also asked respondents how likely they are to shop around once they're mortgage is up for renewal.
 
Fifty-one per cent of Canadians said they did not plan to change lenders upon their renewal to get a better mortgage rate, with another nine per cent saying they did not even know that was an option.  
 
Choosing not to shop around at renewal time can cost you tens of thousands of dollars over the term of your mortgage. That’s because lenders have no incentive to offer you a competitive rate upfront at renewal. By not shopping around and comparing their options, consumers are leaving money on the table.  
Keep in mind, however, that if you choose a new lender, you will have to go through the stress test again. The survey found that this is not an option for everyone: six per cent of respondents said they’d like to switch lenders at renewal, but they’re worried that they can’t pass the stress test. 
 
BNN Bloomberg has teamed up with RATESDOTCA to take the pulse of Canadians every month on key pocketbook issues as we strive to better understand how households are navigating COVID-19. This is the latest instalment in monthly special coverage.   
 
METHODOLOGY

An online survey. 1,529 Canadians, 18+. Completed between October 14 and 16, 2022, using Leger’s online panel. No margin of error can be associated with a non-probability sample (i.e. a web panel in this case). For comparative purposes, though, a probability sample of 1,529 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.5%, 19 times out of 20.

Heineken warns of softer demand as inflation hits drinkers

Cagan Koc and Andy Hoffman, Bloomberg News

Heineken NV pointed to signs of weakness in consumer demand after beer sales missed estimates amid growing inflationary pressures. 

The world's second-largest brewer said beer volumes rose 8.9 per cent on an organic basis in the third quarter, below the 11.8 per cent average analyst estimate. Rising costs dented margins and higher prices discouraged some customers from drinking more. The stock fell as much as 10 per cent in Amsterdam trading, the most since 2003. 

“We increasingly see reasons to be cautious on the macroeconomic outlook, including some signs of softness in consumer demand,” Chief Executive Officer Dolf van den Brink said Wednesday. 

Brewers have managed to largely protect margins this year by raising prices to cope with soaring costs. But there's a limit to how much customers may be able to handle that as rampant inflation and higher food and energy costs destroy discretionary purchasing power.

An employee carries out quality checks on a Heineken beer bottle on a packaging conveyor at the Heineken NV brewery in Zoeterwoude, Netherlands, on Wednesday, May 30, 2018. Heineken has acquired Stellenbrau, a beer maker based in South Africa's western Cape, submitted a bid for a local Coca-Cola bottler and built a brewery in Ivory Coast to take on market leader Castel.

Heineken in a statement noted “early signs of demand slowdown at the end of September and into October” in some parts of Europe.

The Dutch brewer maintained its outlook for modest growth this year. The company said its price mix grew 13 per cent in the quarter, driven by increases in response to accelerating inflation.

Shares of Carlsberg AS also fell, declining five per cent, the biggest drop in seven months for the Danish brewer, which will report quarterly sales and revenue on Thursday. 

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

Heineken is still benefiting from the recovery from lockdowns in Asia, but the first signs of consumers quelling consumption due to high pricing is happening in Europe. Given it needs further pricing to offset input-cost inflation in 2023, and Europe accounts for over 40 per cent of revenue, management must invest its advertising and promotional spending wisely.

- Duncan Fox, consumer-products analyst

Heineken's net profit for the first nine months dropped 29 per cent from a year earlier to €2.20 billion (US$2.19 billion). Last year included an exceptional gain of €1.27 billion from the re-measurement to fair value of the previously held equity interest in United Breweries in India.

Last week, Heineken's shares came under pressure after Danish brewer Royal Unibrew A/S said it's experiencing unprecedented inflation and will pass on rising prices to customers as fast as possible into next year. The Dutch brewer's shares are already down about 17 per cent so far this year.