UN urges rescue of refugees adrift in Andaman Sea


A Rohingya refugee holds a placard during a gathering to mark the fifth anniversary of their exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh, at a Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp at Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022. The United Nations and other groups urged countries in southern Asia on Friday to rescue as many as 190 people believed to be Rohingya refugees aboard a small boat that has been adrift for several weeks in the Andaman Sea. 

(AP Photo/ Shafiqur Rahman, File)

GRANT PECK
Fri, December 23, 2022

BANGKOK (AP) — The United Nations and other groups urged countries in southern Asia on Friday to rescue as many as 190 people believed to be Rohingya refugees aboard a small boat that has been adrift for several weeks in the Andaman Sea.

Most of those on board are thought to be Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar who had lived in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh for as many as five years and are seeking a better life in Malaysia and Indonesia. Messages they reportedly sent by satellite phone to their families describe their situation as desperate.

“Reports indicate those onboard have now remained at sea for a month in dire conditions with insufficient food or water, without any efforts by States in the region to help save human lives,” the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a statement. “Many are women and children, with reports of up to 20 people dying on the unseaworthy vessel during the journey.”

“All States have a responsibility to rescue those on the boat and allow them to safely disembark in line with legal obligations and in the name of humanity,” it said.

Andaman Sea - Wikipedia

The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea)^[4] is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated from the Bay of Bengal to its west by the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands. Its southern end is at Breueh Island just north of Sumatra, with the Strait of Malacca further southeast.

Malaysia and Indonesia both have Muslim majorities, even though groups seeking refuge risk detention on arrival.

The UNHCR said unverified reports indicated the boat is currently north of Aceh in Indonesia.

The journeys are often made this time of year, when seas are usually calmer but remain treacherous, especially because the vessels used by human traffickers are often dilapidated.

Earlier this month, an oil exploration support vessel rescued more than 150 Rohingya after their boat started taking on water and handed them over to Myanmar authorities. On Dec. 18, the Sri Lanka navy rescued 105 Rohingya refugees whose boat was adrift and sighted by fishermen.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched brutal counterinsurgency operations in response to attacks by a rebel group. Myanmar’s security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and the burning of thousands of Rohingya homes.

On Thursday, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, urged governments in South and Southeast Asia "to immediately and urgently coordinate search and rescue for this boat and ensure safe disembarkation of those aboard before any further loss of life occurs.”

“While many in the world are preparing to enjoy a holiday season and ring in a new year, boats bearing desperate Rohingya men, women and young children, are setting off on perilous journeys in unseaworthy vessels,” Andrews said in a statement.

The boat is running out of food and water and its engine has failed, he said.

UNHCR said information on Rohingya boat people is difficult to verify, but if the latest reports are true, they bring "the number of dead and missing in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea to nearly 200 this year,” or about 10% of the estimated 2,000 people who have taken risky sea journeys in the region during the year.

Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a private organization that monitors the Rohingya crisis, said Thursday her group has collected information received by satellite phone by families of those aboard the boat.

According to the information, Indian authorities at one point provided the drifting ship with food and water but then pushed it in the direction of other countries instead of bringing it ashore, she said in a telephone interview.

Asked about the report, Indian navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said Thursday, "​I don’t have any inputs on this.”

The messages sent to the families also suggested that a second boat is adrift in the region.

___

Associated Press reporters Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul in Bangkok and Ashok Sharma in New Delhi contributed to this report.

NASA Reveals New Pictures From the James Webb Space Telescope

Melissa T. Miller
Thu, December 22, 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope continues to deliver awe-inspiring images and insights into the universe. Its mirror is six times the size of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been taking stellar pictures since 1990. But it’s not just about size. The new telescope records infrared wavelengths rather than visible light so it can see farther and more clearly. Older stars appear as bright eight-pointed spikes in the Webb telescope pictures below due to the way the images are taken. But it also adds to the ethereal nature of each image as we peer farther and farther into infinity.
A Holiday Galaxy

The James Webb Space Telescope shared this festive image just in time for the holiday season. Galaxy NGC 7469‘s spiral looks like a wreath, complete with glowing lights. The large red starburst is actually made up of spikes from the telescope’s hexagonal mirrors caused by the light from the galaxy’s center. The gas and dust shines brightly as it falls into a black hole, but doesn’t it look lovely? Scientists are excited about the star-forming regions they can now see thanks to the telescope’s infrared cameras. But it’s also the perfect image for this year’s holiday card.

ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus, A. S. Evans
An Illuminating Protostar

NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI. Image processing: J. DePasquale, A. Pagan, and A. Koekemoer (STScI)

A new star, “only” about 100,000 years old, is forming in the neck of this cosmic hourglass. The protostar L1527 itself is hidden in this view, but the light it creates illuminates clouds of gas and dust that are being sucked inwards. The vivid pinks, oranges, and blues are only visible in the infrared light of the James Webb Space Telescope. As the star ages, it gathers these nearby materials into its accretion disk, gaining mass and eventually reaching the size and stability of a full star.

All the Planets in the Solar System Have Aligned

All of the planets of the solar system are visible together in the night sky right now, providing stargazers with a "spectacular" show to end the year.



Story by Aristos Georgiou • Today

Over the next few days, it is possible to see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn simultaneously with the naked eye, while Uranus and Neptune can be observed with binoculars or a telescope.

"These nights, we can see all the planets of our solar system at a glance, soon after sunset," Gianluca Masi, an astronomer with the Virtual Telescope Project told Newsweek. "It happens from time to time, but it is always a spectacular sight."

After December 24, the moon will also join the show, which can be seen from any location on Earth, assuming that skies are clear.

Starting from the south-western horizon, the naked eye planets will line-up in the following order: Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. Mercury will be the hardest planet to see, being located in a bright part of the sky. While the planet may be visible to the naked eye, binoculars may help to locate it, as well as Venus.

You will also need binoculars to find Uranus, located between Mars and Jupiter, and Neptune—which is situated between Saturn and Jupiter.

"This way, we can see the entire planetary family," Masi said.

This "planetary parade" is not a regular occurrence, but is not as rare as you might expect—such an alignment takes place every one to two years or so, on average.

The last time all of the planets were visible in the sky simultaneously was June this year. During this show, the five naked eye planets were also lined up in the sky in the same sequential order that they physically orbit the sun—i.e. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Such an alignment had not occurred for 18 years.

Uranus and Neptune were also visible with binoculars during this event but, they were not aligned in increasing order of distance from the sun.

The latest planetary parade is set to last until the end of the year, when Mercury will fade away, so you only have a few days to catch a glimpse of it.

If you would prefer to watch the event from the comfort of your own home, the Virtual Telescope Project will be providing a live stream showing the planets and the moon above the skyline of Rome.

The Virtual Telescope Project is a service provided by the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Ceccano, Italy, managed by Masi, that operates and provides access to robotic, remotely-operated telescopes.

The Christmas live feed is schedule to begin at 4 p.m. UTC, or 11 a.m. Eastern Time, on December 28.

I Set Out To Uncover Why My Energy Bill Was So High. Here’s What I Found

California Governor Newsom Calls Back State Legislators For Special Session To Address Gas Prices

Alana Semuels
Thu, December 22, 2022 

The Phillips 66 Los Angeles Refinery Wilmington Plant on November 28, 2022. 

Credit - Mario Tama / Getty Images

It’s been 140 years since Thomas Edison flipped the switch that powered the world’s first electrical grid, lighting a handful of homes in lower Manhattan. Edison would likely be impressed by the things electricity powers in American homes today—superfast computers, modems that connect those computers to the Internet, and even smart refrigerators that can recognize the food they store.

He might not be as impressed by the way we get that electricity. In fact, America’s energy system would not seem particularly modern to anyone who lived 100 years ago. The house I currently rent in New York’s Hudson Valley, for example, is heated by oil that comes up the Hudson River in a barge—basically, the same energy system that would have heated my house a century ago. In theory, this should at least be cheap. After all, the U.S. is in the middle of a decades-long energy boom, passing Russia in 2011 to become the world’s largest producer of natural gas and overtaking Saudi Arabia in 2018 as the world’s largest petroleum producer. But because of outdated laws restricting the movement of fossil fuels within the U.S., combined with global market forces, my heating oil is expensive.

And despite the recent passage of a $374 billion law, the Inflation Reduction Act, that will incentivize more green—and more affordable—sources of power, many of the projects that might transition my energy sources to hydro power or solar are being held up by lawsuits and red tape.

Which is why I should probably not have been surprised to get an electric bill for $710 shortly after moving into this house. It isn’t just me: the cost of energy for the average American was up 13% in November from the previous year, according to the government’s inflation data. And the U.S. Energy Information Administration says that most U.S. households will spend more on energy this winter because of predicted higher energy prices and colder temperatures compared to recent years. I recently set out to figure out how this all came to be. It starts in your backyard.
NIMBYism makes it harder to move energy around the U.S.

The wires that bring electricity to my house link to the grid, which is powered by renewable energy like hydro and wind power—and by generators that burn natural gas. Although in the U.S. solar and wind sources are often the cheapest providers on the marketplace, people still need power when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. And as states like New York have phased out coal and nuclear energy, their marketplaces have become even more dependent on natural gas plants to provide that non-intermittent electricity. Natural gas now comprises 60% of the generating capacity in New York state, meaning the maximum electrical output that can be created, up from less than 50% in 2000. The amount of power that can be generated by wind and other renewables is just 6%.

Even in the age of renewable energy, in other words, the price of electricity is closely tied to the price of natural gas.

Our continued reliance on natural gas is largely due to the “shale revolution,” in which companies used horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) to increase natural gas production. It made the stuff cheap and plentiful, and allowed the U.S. to cut its use of coal. Today, about 38% of the country’s electricity is generated by plants that burn natural gas, up from 30% a decade ago. This system is cleaner than coal, but is worse for climate than renewables like solar or wind.

The link between natural gas and electricity prices didn’t become a problem for most consumers until recently. Until about 2016, the U.S. didn’t send its natural gas overseas, and so prices were largely driven by how much was being produced and used here. But then, around 2016, as it became easier to convert natural gas into liquified natural gas (LNG), companies started investing in LNG terminals, and exports grew. Because companies, not the U.S. government, produce natural gas (and oil) in the U.S., they send natural gas to whoever pays the most for it. The price of natural gas in the U.S. is now largely determined by global supply and demand.

To be sure, there’s still so much natural gas available in regions like West Virginia that in theory, energy prices should stay low for all Americans. But the U.S. has a Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) problem with energy infrastructure.

Natural gas pipelines are largely underground, yet the process of adding new pipelines to existing infrastructure has been fraught with legal battles. Opponents try to block pipelines because they argue that they damage local habitats, threaten endangered species, and incentivize more hydraulic fracturing. In July 2020, after six years of litigation, backers withdrew from funding the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would have delivered more gas from the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian to customers in the South. The Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would bring natural gas out of West Virginia and was supposed to be completed in 2018, has been stalled by lawsuits that have stymied the permitting process.

“The biggest issue is getting things permitted,” says Marianne Kah, an adjunct senior research scholar at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy. “A heck of a lot more gas could come out of both the Permian and the Marcellus, if you could permit pipelines.”

It’s not just natural gas pipelines. NIMBYism is costing energy users across the spectrum. Paul Curran, whose firm BQ Energy builds solar projects on brownfields—land that was previously developed but is no longer in use—says that even getting a solar plant built on land that used to be a garbage dump takes time. “People are nervous about change, and the closer your project to where people live, the more it requires a little bit more hand-holding and explaining,” he says.

People protest against the Enbridge Energy Line 3 oil pipeline project outside the Governor's Mansion in St Paul, Minnesota.

Stephen Maturen—Getty Images

Many other projects have failed after years of litigation. After 16 years and $100 million in sunk costs, the backer of a proposed offshore wind farm near Cape Cod pulled the plug after years of litigation and opposition from wealthy property owners who did not want to look out their windows and see wind turbines. In 2021, Maine residents voted down a transmission line for hydroelectricity that would have connected Quebec and Massachusetts in a project known as the New England Clean Energy Corridor, because they felt it would cause environmental damage in Maine while primarily benefiting Massachusetts.

This is directly affecting my electricity bill. Over the last few months, I’ve been charged rates as low as 8 cents and as high as 16 cents per kilowatt hour. Those large swings are directly related to the volatile price of natural gas and to the difficulties of connecting more renewables to the grid, says Joe Jenkins, a spokesman for Central Hudson, my utility. In New York, 92% of the energy produced upstate comes from renewable sources while 89% of the energy produced downstate, in the dense New York City region, is generated by fossil fuels. Linking those two regions is going to require more transmission lines, which, of course, are being slowed by NIMBYism.

The transition to renewable energy isn’t going as quickly as planned

Even when renewable projects get the green light, connecting them to the grid is a challenge because it means relying on many more sources of power than the grid was designed for. If the grid used to be a one-way road that went between a few big power plants, it’s going to have to turn into a six-lane superhighway that criss-crosses smaller renewable projects and brings electricity in many directions.

“We’re going from this vertically integrated, large, central group of machines that powered the system for 100 years to trying to remake it inside of 20 years with a vastly different technology that’s intermittent and runs at the whim of Mother Nature,” says Kevin Lanahan, a spokesman for the New York Independent System Operator, the nonprofit that took over operating the state’s energy grid when New York deregulated its electric utilities in 1999. Engineers have to make sure transmission lines can handle the power that’s coming online, upgrade the system, and ensure reliability, Lanahan says, which can take years.

That’s causing a sort of traffic jam: The PJM, the nation’s largest independent energy operator, which covers 13 states including Pennsylvania and Ohio, became so overwhelmed with requests from renewable projects that wanted to be connected that, earlier this year, it put a two-year pause on reviewing new proposals.

Meanwhile, individuals have been doing what they can to save money through renewable investment on a smaller scale. I like the idea of slapping some solar panels on my roof and reducing my energy costs without having to rely on the grid at all. And the government certainly would like it if I did that—the Inflation Reduction Act extends a tax credit that allows anyone living in the U.S. to deduct 30% of the cost of installed solar from their federal income taxes.

That’s nice for homeowners who can pay the tens of thousands of dollars it costs to install solar panels, but it doesn’t help me, a renter. My neighbor installed solar panels on his home this summer; he told me that he’ll essentially have paid off the cost of the panels in seven years, and after that, will be getting electricity for free. With state incentives, rebates, and other credits, the cost of the 20 solar panels and installation on his roof was around $22,000. He receives credits for power the panels generate, which discounts the price of the power he consumes. Throughout the summer, he says, he’ll produce more than he uses, collecting credits he can use in the winter. “We effectively have a power plant on our roof,” he says.

But my neighbor owns the house. As a renter, this isn’t an option for me. There’s no incentive for me to pay to put solar panels on my roof or install heat pumps if those benefits eventually accrue to the landlord. Instead, I am dealing with leaky windows, an outdated heating system, and rising bills, along with the rest of the 35% of Americans who rent their homes.

If anything, I am paying my neighbor for his solar panels, says Christopher Knittel, a professor of energy economics at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Customers are charged for the power they use and also pay a separate fee that goes to maintaining and upgrading the electrical grid. Both of those charges are based on how much power they use, so households that can reduce their rates by generating their own electricity pay a lower share of those maintenance fees, which means people like me have to pay more. (New York is in the process of changing this.)

A century-old law hasn’t helped

In 1920, in the wake of World War I, Congress passed the Jones Act, to ensure that the U.S. would have an adequate supply of merchant marines for national emergencies. That bill essentially says that if you bring something from one U.S. port to another by ship, the vessel has to be built in the U.S., owned by a U.S. company, and staffed by U.S. crew. The law was passed amid concerns that the U.S. would not have enough vessels, infrastructure, and labor to supply the armed forces during future wars, and it has helped maintain a domestic shipbuilding industry and maritime workforce.

A century later, this law has made moving natural gas and oil from one U.S. region to another inefficient and costly. Though the Gulf Coast produces a huge amount of natural gas and oil, it is cheaper for regions like the Northeast to import theirs from overseas. So as the Gulf Coast is sending natural gas to Europe, the Northeast is importing natural gas from Qatar, which drives up costs and also creates unnecessary emissions.

Economists have been trying to get rid of the Jones Act for decades, with no success. The shipbuilding industry argues that it’s essential for keeping American jobs. Politicians on both sides of the aisle say it keeps America from being too dependent on other countries’ supply chains.

In the meanwhile, it’s contributing to high heating prices for many Americans. My home uses heating oil for heat. My supplier, McMillen Oil, likely fills its tanks from barges that travel up and down the Hudson River, says Taylor Hudson, the founder of Synergy Commodity, a consulting firm that works with energy resellers in the Northeast. A lot of the oil on those barges comes from outside the U.S.—refineries near me wouldn’t import crude oil from Texas or the Gulf Coast because of the Jones Act.

And the price of crude oil, like the price of natural gas, is closely tied to global supply and demand. Since people started traveling and factories started running after an initial pandemic shut down, the price of oil has been climbing. But U.S. oil companies are hesitant to explore new sources of the fuel because the transition to renewables could make that a losing investment. People who pay for heating oil—and for diesel, which is basically the same thing—are subject to the whims of the global market. For instance, the price of crude oil became even more expensive since Russia invaded Ukraine. It will likely rise even further on Feb. 5 when the E.U.’s ban on Russian oil imports goes into effect.

What’s more, crude oil needs to be processed into fuel in a refinery, and at least five U.S. plants have closed permanently in the last two years. There are just seven refineries in the Northeast today, down from 27 in 1982, and some antitrust groups argue that has driven up prices.

Win-lose either way

Home energy prices may become even more volatile as we push further to transition to net-zero emissions. Consider California, arguably the U.S. leader in this shift. Between 2002 and 2016, California reduced coal- and oil-fired power plants by 88%—and electricity prices rose to be 50% higher than the U.S. average.

That might be since, as more solar and wind power plants come online and drive renewable energy costs down, they force more expensive natural-gas plants to close. Which can become a problem on days when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing—and consumers are forced to pay a hefty price for the remaining backup fossil-fuel power. Were the California approach to be applied nationally, some researchers have predicted huge swings between days when electricity is basically free, and those when the cost is exorbitant. In the future, in other words, my energy bill might go down significantly. But it may also go up, up, and up.

The World Is Using Fewer Cardboard Boxes. That’s a Bad Sign for the Economy




Dayanne Sousa
Thu, December 22, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- Mills that churn out cardboard are slashing production worldwide, a worrying sign that global trade is slowing down.

North American companies that make the raw material for corrugated boxes shut down nearly 1 million tons of capacity in the third quarter and a similar scenario is expected for the fourth quarter, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Ryan Fox said. Prices are falling for the first time since 2020.

“Severe weakness in global box demand is an indication of how weak many parts of the global economy are,” said KeyBanc analyst Adam Josephson. “The recent history shows a significant amount of economic stimulus would be necessary to provide meaningful box demand, and we do not see that coming.”

Investors are watching closely for any harbingers of what is to come as fears mount that many of the world’s biggest economies will tip into recession next year. Paper boxes are present at nearly every step of a good’s journey through the supply chain, which makes paper a key indicator of how economies are faring. The signals are not encouraging.

Global demand for packaging paper is showing weakness for the first time since 2020, when economies reignited following the first hit of the Covid-19 pandemic. US prices fell in November for the first time in two years and the US, the world’s biggest exporter, reported 21% lower volumes sent overseas in October versus the previous year.

WestRock and Packaging Corp. have announced mill closures or idled machines. Klabin, Brazil’s biggest packaging-paper exporter, is considering cutting its exports by as many as 200,000 metric tons next year, Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Teixeira said. That’s almost half the amount exported in the twelve months ended September.

Much of the fall off in demand is attributed to the shrinking effect inflation has on consumer wallets. Companies that produce everything from consumer staples to apparel are bracing for a pullback. Procter & Gamble Co. has raised prices for products from Pampers diapers to Tide laundry detergent several times to offset higher expenses, fueling the company’s first quarterly decline in unit sales since 2016 earlier this year.

US retailers discounted heavily on Black Friday in hopes of clearing out excess inventory, but shoppers responded with only modest traffic and sales fell in November by the most in almost a year. Moreover, the meteoric growth of e-commerce — an avid user of cardboard boxes — has receded.

Sluggish demand is also hitting pulp, the raw material for paper. Top global exporter Suzano recently announced a price cut for its eucalyptus pulp in China, the first decline since late 2021. European demand is decreasing and a long-awaited recovery in China hasn’t materialized yet, said Gabriel Fernandez Azzato, a director at consultancy firm TTOBMA.

--With assistance from Daniela Sirtori-Cortina and Olivia Rockeman.

THERE IS ONE BORN EVERY MINUTE

Wyoming bullishly courts crypto, even after collapse of FTX
 

Tacen CEO Jae Yang, left, and company attorney John Bugnacki are seen Monday, Nov. 28, 2022, inside the Cheyenne, Wyo. headquarters of the cryptocurrency exchange planned to launch in 2023. 

 

Micheal Weir, a contractor for cryptocurrency mining equipment company Elite Mining, stands next to a container of BitCool electronics coolant outside the company's facility in Cheyenne, Wyo. on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. 

 

A CoinFlip cryptocurrency ATM is seen Monday, Nov. 28, 2022, inside the entrance to the Cheyenne, Wyo., headquarters of Tacen, a cryptocurrency exchange planned to launch in 2023. 

A sculpture of a boy with a saddle, seen Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, on a street in downtown Cheyenne, Wyo. is a nod to the state's Western heritage. Wyoming has sought with several new laws to attract crypto-related businesses to the state and plans to keep doing so despite the industry's recent troubles.

AP Photos/Mead Gruver

MEAD GRUVER
Wed, December 21, 2022 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Software engineer Jae Yang got a lot of questions from friends when he moved from Silicon Valley with plans to launch his cryptocurrency exchange not in the up-and-coming urban crypto hubs of Miami or Austin, Texas, but the windswept plains of southeastern Wyoming.

While the collapse of the massive FTX exchange and recent arrest of its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, have compounded concerns about crypto, Wyoming remains full-steam ahead in wooing the industry. It has enacted a suite of new laws — with possibly more to come — seeking to make the industry more regulated and reputable to attract businesses like Yang's.

“FTX would not have happened if it was a Wyoming company,” said Steven Lupien, director of the 2-year-old Center for Blockchain and Digital Innovation at the University of Wyoming. “Wyoming got it right. We knew five years ago when we started down this path that appropriate regulation was the way to go.”

While Lupien contends the state's agencies would have picked up on the “shenanigans” going on with the exchange, others aren’t so sure.

“There wouldn’t be anybody in Wyoming who’s sophisticated enough to audit something on the scale of FTX,” said Cheyenne attorney Larry Wolfe. “If you’re a true believer, of course you’ll say it could never happen here. But of course it could happen here.”

Cheyenne, Wyoming's capital city of 65,000 people, is home to a U.S. Air Force nuclear missile base, an historic Union Pacific rail yard, abundant old diners and country bars, and sprawling cattle ranches in every direction.

So far, there's little sign of the crypto industry that Wyoming has courted for the past five years. But Yang says fledgling exchanges like the one he's hoping will open for business in 2023 could be the start of an influx in the state.

His Tacen Inc. business already has about a dozen employees, about one-third of the company’s global workforce, working in a downtown office building.

“We said, OK, what is the right place to locate out of? And Wyoming is the right place,” Yang said. "Basically they’ve passed a whole set of laws that makes it easier for me to do business.”

Even after the FTX collapse that wiped out potentially thousands of investors, Yang says he feels good about casting his lot with the least-populated state and its many new laws seeking to attract crypto and blockchain businesses.

Some of those new laws seek to discourage speculating with crypto bank customers' digital assets, a suspected cause of FTX's fall.

"Keeping customers safe is really what we’re doing," Yang said. "You should have full access to your money. And if something goes wrong in the exchange, the default should be you get your money back — not having to worry about what the bankruptcy court is doing and all this nonsense.”

Wyoming officials remain bullish on crypto, the digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Etherium based on decentralized, encrypted ledgers called blockchain.

Much of crypto's appeal is there's no middleman: Money can move freely between people without the involvement of government or traditional banks. Transactions are instantaneous, although scant legal and regulatory oversight appeals to drug dealers and other criminals who need to move money discreetly.

All the while, the value of crypto — which skeptics say is rooted in nothing more than the say-so of its users — is by now famously unstable, with Bitcoin alone down in value by almost two-thirds in the past year.

Wyoming's strategy amid all of this to attract the crypto industry with the respectability of regulation. Though many traditional banks help customers invest in crypto, Wyoming is among very few states, including Nebraska, allowing crypto banks called specific purpose depository institutions (SPDI's or “speedies”).

Wyoming “speedies” can't issue loans, can't reuse customers' funds without their approval and must back up 100% of customer deposits with liquid funds.

But while Wyoming has issued four state licenses for crypto banks since 2020, none has fully opened for business, if at all. That's largely contingent on a federal lawsuit filed by one of the banks, Custodia, seeking access to Federal Reserve services, including its electronic payments system. Should it win authorization, Custodia and other banks would provide a massive financial boost to Wyoming because they would be required to pay the state 0.02% of their assets each year, CEO Caitlin Long said.

“When you start to get billions and billions of assets coming into Wyoming, that starts to add up,” Long said. “Traditional banks do not pay that.”

Wyoming has even set aside $4 million to help University of Wyoming students experiment with crypto staking, or establishing ownership in cryptocurrency.

“They have developed a comprehensive scheme of regulation that is much more advanced than any other state in the country is doing. They are encouraging companies to think about Wyoming,” said Mary Beth Buchanan, Americas president and global chief legal officer at corporate and government crypto consultant Merkle Science.

But Wolfe, the attorney, calls it a “crypto plague on the Wyoming Legislature."

“They may tell you there’s some little business here,” Wolfe said. “But that’s not actually turning into anything that resembles how are we going to fund schools, how do we fund health care, how do we fund anything?”

Among Wyoming's efforts to open its arms to crypto, the state now allows allows blockchain-based companies called decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, which are based on “smart” contracts that act like computer code and automatically take effect when certain conditions are met.

The DAOs policy is reminiscent of when the state was first to allow the limited liability company in 1977. LLCs are now common form of business that shields the personal assets of small business proprietors, partners and investors from lawsuits. About 500 DAOs, which are a type of LLC, have been set up so far, according to the Wyoming secretary of state's office.

By comparison, Wyoming now hosts over 17,000 businesses alone with “crypto” in their names, from “3 Guys Crypto LLC” to “YYZ Crypto Miners Inc,” according to the secretary of state. The vast majority still aren’t physically located in the state.

Considering Wyoming’s business license renewal rate starting at $60 a year, they bring in relatively little revenue compared to fossil fuels, which after a 2020 bust that forced steep budget cuts have now graced the state with a more than $900 million surplus.

Yang wants his Tacen exchange to stand out as an exception from the crowd of obscure businesses.

He already has hired about a dozen employees — including attorneys, software developers and a social media specialist — to work out of the company's three-story brick building, bedecked with Western art and the company's logo etched on glass doors. A cryptocurrency ATM stands just inside the entrance.

At Elite Mining, another new fintech company based in Cheyenne, contractor Micheal Weir recently unloaded equipment for its crypto mining rigs from a flatbed semitrailer.

He described crypto as a “wild, wild West” right now but remains bullish.

"I say don’t be afraid. This is still a baby industry,” Weir said. “Some amazing things are going to come out of it.”

___

Associated Press reporters Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Thalia Beaty, in New York, contributed to this report.

MORE GREENWASHING

Fortescue Says ‘Green Methane’ May Solve Hydrogen Export Dilemma



James Fernyhough
Wed, December 21, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- Fortescue Future Industries, one of the leading proponents of hydrogen, is exploring a more efficient way to ship the zero-emissions fuel overseas by using “green methane.”

Green methane — essentially synthetic natural gas made using renewable energy — is a promising technology that would avoid the costs and technical difficulties of liquefying pure hydrogen, according to Mark Hutchinson, chief executive officer of FFI. It would also allow the Australian company to use the infrastructure of the country’s large liquefied natural gas industry.

Andrew Forrest, the billionaire chairman of FFI’s parent company Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., predicted in March that pure liquid hydrogen would become “the largest seaborne trade in the world.” FFI aims to produce 15 million tons of green hydrogen a year by 2030, much of it in Australia, though no major projects have yet reached financial close.

But Hutchinson said in an interview this week that liquefying pure hydrogen may not be “the smartest thing to do,” because of the challenges in transporting it to promising markets such as Germany and Japan.

Most aspiring hydrogen exporters plan to combine hydrogen with nitrogen and ship it as ammonia, according to BloombergNEF, something FFI is also examining. Hutchinson says green methane may have advantages over ammonia.

Hydrogen requires cooling and storing at minus 252 degrees Celsius, far colder than the minus 162 degrees at which methane — the main component in natural gas — liquefies. Also, liquid hydrogen takes up far more space per unit of energy than LNG or ammonia, adding to the costs, he said.

“You basically add CO2 to hydrogen to make methane, you then strip out the hydrogen at destination, and you recycle the CO2,” Hutchinson said. “It’s interesting because you can use existing LNG facilities and ships.” Australia is the world’s second-biggest LNG exporter, with significant existing infrastructure.

But green methane also has serious challenges. Methane and CO2 are both greenhouse gases, so leakage must be prevented. There is also the question of where to source the CO2.

“How that works, where does the CO2 originally come from, can you really recycle it without leakage?” Hutchinson said. “All that work is being done.” He added that FFI’s hydrogen would probably be exported as ammonia in the short term.

COMPETING CAPITAL, IMPERIALIST RIVALRY 
U.S. must stop 'bullying', suppressing China's development, foreign minister says

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Chinese State Counselor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the 77TH United Nations General Assembly


Thu, December 22, 2022

BEIJING (Reuters) -The United States must stop suppressing China's development and should not continue the "old routine of unilateral bullying", Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

In the latest phone correspondence between the two leaders, Wang said the United States must pay attention to China's legitimate concerns, stop curbing and suppressing its development, and not constantly challenge China's red line in a "salami-slicing” way. He was referring to the tactic of using a series of small actions to achieve a much larger result that would be difficult to achieve with a single large action.

The remarks by Wang underscored President Xi Jinping's meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden at the G20 summmit in Bali last month where they discussed a number of hot-button issues, including Taiwan. It was their first in-person talks since 2017.

China considers Taiwan its own territory and believes the United States is slowly chipping away at its core interests and challenging its bottom line, while being careful to avoid a single drastic action that could give China a clear reason to react with full force.

Biden had raised objections to China's "coercive and increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan," which he said undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region, and jeopardised global prosperity.

Xi called it the "first red line" that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations.

In the phone call with Blinken, Wang stressed that the two sides should focus on translating the Bali consensus of the two heads of state into practical policies and concrete actions, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry on Friday.

"It is necessary to step up consultations on the guiding principles of China-U.S. relations, promote dialogue at all levels, and resolve specific issues between the two countries through joint working groups," Wang said.

(Reportiing by Beijing newsroon; Writing by Bernard Orr, Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Jacqueline Wong)

STILL BETA TESTING
Tesla driver in multi-car crash told police self-driving software malfunctioned



Wed, December 21, 2022 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The driver of a 2021 Tesla Model S involved in an eight-vehicle crash last month on San Francisco's Bay Bridge told police he was in Full-Self Driving (FSD) mode which had malfunctioned, according to a police report made public Wednesday.

The Thanksgiving Day crash on Interstate-80 near Treasure Island resulted in two juveniles being transported to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries and led to lengthy delays on the bridge.

Chief Executive Elon Musk has touted Tesla "Full Self-Driving" software as a potential cash cow for the world's biggest electric carmaker. But Tesla's advanced driver assistance systems - and Musk's claims about them - face growing legal, regulatory and public scrutiny.

Tesla sells the $15,000 FSD software as an ad-on which enables its vehicles to change lanes and park autonomously. That complements its standard "Autopilot" feature, which enables cars to steer, accelerate and brake within their lanes without driver intervention.

The Tesla driver told police the FSD malfunctioned but police were unable to determine if the software was in operation or if his statement was accurate, according to the report which was made public after a Reuters request.

The police report said the vehicle made an unsafe lane change and was slowing to a stop, which led to another vehicle hitting the Tesla and a chain reaction of additional crashes.

The police report said if FSD malfunctioned, the driver should have manually taken control of the vehicle.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has been investigating the automaker's advanced driver assistance systems, did not comment.

Tesla's says "Full Self-Driving" gives access to more advanced driver assistance features but emphasizes "all Tesla vehicles require active driver supervision and are not autonomous."

National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy has questioned Tesla's marketing the feature as "full self-driving," when it is incapable of that and said Tesla must do more to ensure people do not misuse the feature.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

AP PHOTOS: Sri Lankans face food crisis amid economic crunch


2 / 23  Sri Lanka Food Crisis Photo Gallery

Rasarathnam Anushiya and her children wait at their rented house in Vavuniya, about 250 kilometres north east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Due to Sri Lanka's current economic crisis families across the nation have been forced to cut back on food and other vital items because of shortages of money and high inflation. Many families say that they can barely manage one or two meals a day. 

(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

ERANGA JAYAWARDENA
Fri, December 23, 2022 a

VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka (AP) — Rasarathnam Anushiya once had a mission: She awaited orders to blow herself up as a suicide bomber during Sri Lanka's civil war. Years on, her struggle now is to feed her three children during the country's unprecedented economic crisis.

Anushiya, 36, was arrested in 2009 when government troops defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels, who had sought to create an independent homeland for minority Tamils. She had been a member of the rebels' dreaded suicide squad known as the Black Tigers, and spent the next five years under government questioning and later at a rehabilitation camp.

She learned dressmaking in the rehabilitation center but was unable to build a profitable business after her release and relied on her husband's salary from his job at a finance company as she devoted herself to raising their children.

Her husband, like many people, lost his job as a result of Sri Lanka's current economic crisis. Families across the nation have been forced to cut back on food and other vital items because of shortages of money and high inflation.

For weeks, Anushiya has had to feed her 11-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter only rice and either potato curry or tomato curry. The couple's 3-month-old baby is still breastfed. While her daughter receives school lunches sponsored by the World Food Program and the Ministry of Education, her son does not because the program only covers children from Grade 1 to 5.

Anushiya also is heavily in debt to micro finance companies and is often hassled by creditors waiting by her home. She can’t afford to pay the rent, and the house owner has asked the family to leave by the end of December.

In another village, Dimbulagala, primary school children receive a free breakfast, a glass of milk and lunch with help from the education ministry, WFP and a private donor agency. Mothers of students prepare the meals at school with a menu provided by the education ministry. Each meal costs $0.27.

School principal Anusha Sirimanne said attendance has improved since the meal program began 20 weeks ago. Before, she said, many children fell asleep during classes and had trouble concentrating, but since the program started, they are more alert and physically active.

“Most would not attend school without the feeding program, and eventually the school would have to close,” she said.

S.M. Madushanka Kumara, the father of three children in Dimbulagala, said his family can only eat once or twice a day since he lost his job at a bakery when its owner decided to close it after prices of ingredients sharply increased.

“We can’t think about balanced diets," said his wife, Malkanthi. “My 12-year-old son cried, saying his head hurt and he was hungry. I had nothing to offer. Today for lunch I gave him rice with okra curry, which I made from two okras I picked in the back yard.”