UK
Somerville: No stone will be left unturned in bid to resolve school strikes

PA Scotland reporters
Tue, January 10, 2023 

Scotland’s Education Secretary has said she will leave “no stone unturned” to bring about a quick resolution of teacher strikes affecting schools across the country.

Shirley-Anne Somerville responded to questions from opposition MSPs about the ongoing industrial action, with one accusing her of being “chilled out and relaxed”.

Ms Somerville said there is still “some distance” between the two sides in the pay dispute.

On Tuesday, primary schools around the country closed after last-ditch talks failed to prevent strike action, with secondary school staff set to walk out on Wednesday.

Teachers have been out on strike in the dispute over pay (Jane Barlow/PA)

Unions have demanded a 10% pay increase but the Scottish Government has offered 5%, including rises of up to 6.85% for the lowest-paid staff.

A meeting of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), which brings together unions, local authorities and the Scottish Government, took place on Monday in an attempt to avert the strike action.

As the Scottish Parliament resumed following the winter recess, Conservative Stephen Kerr spoke about the SNCT meeting.

He said: “Teachers are on strike for the first time in 40 years, because this SNP Government has repeatedly let them down.”

Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland union also took strike action last year (Jane Barlow/PA)

Ms Somerville said it had been “constructive”, adding that she could not give further details while negotiations are ongoing.

Referring to “anti-trade union” legislation at Westminster, she continued: “I will take no lectures from Mr Kerr or any other Conservative member of this parliament, saying that we should be doing more to actually settle disputes.”

The Lib Dems’ Willie Rennie asked if there would be a new offer for teachers, saying: “The Education Secretary does seem to be very chilled out and relaxed.”

Ms Somerville said both sides in the dispute would have to compromise in order to reach a resolution, adding: “We will, of course, leave no stone unturned to try and do that as quickly as possible.


“No one wants to see strike action in our schools.”

Speaking on BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme earlier, Ms Somerville described the union pay demands as “simply unaffordable”.

After talks ended in failure, members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), NASUWT, Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) and the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS) are taking strike action.

It follows SSTA and NASUWT members taking two days of action in December while EIS members walked out on November 24.

Asked whether she expected a new offer to be on the table before the end of the week, Ms Somerville said: “We’ll continue discussions with the unions.

“I think the challenge that we have is we remain some distance apart on what the Scottish Government and local government can afford and can put on the table from the union demand which is, of course, a 10% increase in pay.

“If that had been accepted, if the 5% had been accepted, you would’ve actually seen teachers have a 21.8% cumulative rise since 2018.

“So we’re trying very hard to have a fair and affordable package on the table but we do remain unfortunately some distance apart.”

She added: “The pay demands we’re having from our trade union colleagues are simply unaffordable for the Scottish Government working on a fixed budget, already allocated, also eroded by inflation and that does make it a very difficult and challenging process to come to a conclusion and resolution on.”

Earlier in the programme, Mike Corbett, NASUWT Scotland national official, echoed the concerns that unions and Government were still far away from agreement on pay.

He said the last offer made in November was “dressed up as an improved offer” but did not improve pay for the “vast majority of teachers”.

He added: “There’s still no formal revised offer on the table and that is the reason why our members and others feel they’ve got no alternative but to be out on strike again today and tomorrow.”

Nicola Sturgeon also spoke to journalists about the strike on Tuesday.

The First Minister said: “I deeply regret that we have industrial action in our schools.

“I don’t think that’s in the interest of young people at all.

“That said, I understand the strength of feeling of teachers and we highly value the teaching profession.”

However, she said: “I can’t create additional funding that we don’t have and I’ve tried to be really honest with unions across the public sector.

“We’re trying to be as fair as possible while maximising pay increases.”

Primary schools shut as teachers strike in pay dispute

Emma Lawson, PA Scotland
Tue, January 10, 2023 

School pupils will miss lessons this week as teachers walk out after last-ditch talks between Scottish Government officials and teaching unions failed to prevent strike action.

Primary schools around the country are shut as teaching union members there take strike action on Tuesday, while staff at secondary schools will walk out on Wednesday in a dispute over pay.

A meeting of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), which brings together unions, local authorities and the Scottish Government, took place on Monday in an attempt to avert the strikes.

Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), NASUWT, Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) and Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS) are now taking strike action.

Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) took strike action last year (Jane Barlow/PA)

The action this week comes after SSTA and NASUWT members took two days of strike action in December while EIS members walked out on November 24.

Discussions were previously held on Friday, which Scotland’s Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville described as “constructive and helpful”.

She had previously urged union members to “reconsider their plans for industrial action while talks are ongoing”.

However unions said if there was no new offer then strike action would go ahead.

The current offer would see most staff in classrooms receive a 5% pay rise, although the lowest-earning teachers would get a 6.85% increase.

Unions have demanded a 10% increase.

Mike Corbett, NASUWT Scotland national official, said there is still “quite a distance” between what is currently on the table and what teachers are looking for.

He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “We can’t forget the fact that that last offer that was made in November, which was dressed up as an improved offer, was only really an improved offer for those at the bottom of the salary scale, it remained for the vast majority of teachers the 5% offer that had been around for some months and had been firmly rejected by all.


“There’s still no formal revised offer on the table and that is the real reason why our members and others feel they’ve got no alternative but to be out on strike again today and tomorrow.”

Asked whether the union would be prepared to settle for somewhere between what they are being offered and 10%, he said: “I think what would need to happen first of all is there needs to be a properly improved offer tabled and – we are a member-led union – if we get what we deem to be a decent offer then it’s up to our members to decide what they think about it, but we’re just not at that stage at the moment, although there are some grounds for optimism, the fact that there have been talks on Friday and Monday and there’s been a little bit of progress made.”

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “The SNCT negotiating meeting, held today (Monday) following a request from teacher unions, did not result in any new pay offer from the Scottish Government and Cosla (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities).

“This means that strike action, planned for Tuesday in primary schools and for Wednesday in secondary schools, will proceed as scheduled.”

“It is disappointing, though not surprising, that no new offer was presented today, despite some positive progress in discussions.

“The union side remains willing to talk, at any time, with a view to reaching a resolution to this dispute.

“While it is now too late to halt this week’s strike action in schools, we hope that fresh talks may take place later this week to advance discussions towards an improved offer.

“Only a significantly improved offer from the Scottish Government and Cosla can bring an end to this dispute.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said the meeting on Monday provided a crucial opportunity to further discuss potential areas for agreement.

“While there was a shared understanding that today’s talks were focused on examining options for compromise, rather than tabling a new offer, dialogue was constructive,” he said.

“The Scottish Government continues to urge teaching unions to reconsider their plans for industrial action while talks are ongoing.

“Strikes in our schools are in no-one’s interest – including for pupils, parents and carers who have already had to deal with significant disruption over the past three years.

“We value our teaching workforce and recognise the vital importance of an agreement on pay, but we cannot escape the unprecedented pressures facing Scotland’s budget.

“While we have been clear that a 10% pay increase is unaffordable within the Scottish Government’s fixed budget, we remain absolutely committed to a fair and sustainable pay deal.”

Seumas Searson, general secretary of the SSTA, said: “Members are taking part in the strike this week to send a hard message to the employer and Scottish Government that teachers demand to be respected and receive a professional salary that will act to retain teachers in Scottish schools.”

CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M

FTX’s Former Engineering Chief Nishad Singh

Looking for Deal From Feds: Report

Sam Reynolds

Tue, January 10, 2023 

CoinDesk

Another one of Sam Bankman-Fried’s former confidants and roommates is said to be engaging with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York with the hope of getting a plea agreement, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Nishad Singh, FTX’s former director of engineering, and a housemate of Bankman-Fried, is said to have met with prosecutors in a "proffer session." Such meetings often include an offer of "limited immunity" to encourage the interviewee to speak freely. Singh has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX CTO Gary Wang have both pleaded guilty to fraud charges.

Central to Singh’s deal is information on FTX’s and Bankman-Fried’s large donations to various political campaigns, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.

Singh personally has donated more than $9.3 million to Democratic party-aligned initiatives since 2020. In April 2021, the political action committee Mind The Gap, founded by Bankman-Fried's mother, received a $1 million donation from Singh.

According to court documents from November, Singh received $543 million in loans from Alameda Research. The former FTX affiliate is recorded as granting $4.1 billion in loans to related parties.

Robinhood Shares Worth Nearly $500M Seized in FTX Case

Camomile Shumba
Mon, January 9, 2023 



The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has seized more than 55 million shares of Robinhood (HOOD) stock owned – via a holding company – by Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, according to a court document. The shares were worth just over $456 million based on HOOD's closing price of $8.25 on Friday.

The stock had been held at an account at U.K.-based brokerage ED&F Man.

The "seized Assets constitute property involved in violations" of crimes such as money laundering and wire fraud reads the court document. Sam Bankman-Fried was formally charged with those and other crimes on Dec. 13.

The Robinhood shares were in principle owned by FTX co-founders Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang through their Emergent Fidelity Technologies holding company. FTX, now run by John Ray III, had asked a judge late last month to freeze the stock. Bankman-Fried naturally opposed the move, saying, in part, he needed the shares to help pay his legal fees.

The U.S. government said it was in the process of seizing a number of assets potentially linked to FTX on Wednesday.

Crypto Exchange Huobi Has Bad News

The platform, which is headquartered in the Seychelles, is one of the latest victims of the crisis affecting the sector over the last year.

LUC OLINGA
JAN 7, 2023 9:54 AM EST

This is bad news that the cryptocurrency industry could have done without.

The latest episode suggests that the very difficult period that the young Blockchain-powered financial services industry is going through is far from over.

The cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has just announced a 20% reduction in its workforce in a general move to reduce costs to cope with the fall in cryptocurrency prices.

"With the current state of the bear market, a very lean team will be maintained going forward," the Huobi spokesperson told news agency Reuters.

The company employed some 1,600 people at the end of October. However, it is difficult to say exactly the number of jobs that will be eliminated because no recent figures are available.

Huobi Token Impacted

Huobi, which is based in the Seychelles, is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. According to data firm CoinGecko, the platform recorded about $318 million of trading volumes in the last 24 hours.

The announcement of the workforce reductions has impacted HT, the native token or the cryptocurrency issued by the Huobi ecosystem. HT is down 7% in the last seven days.

The firm had been founded in China in 2013 but had to go into exile after Beijing launched a crackdown against the crypto industry. As a result, Huobi now only has its consulting and research activities in mainland China while trading activities are outside the country. It has offices n Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the U.S.

The company is owned by About Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based asset management firm.

Huobi is, like all cryptocurrency exchanges, the subject of doubts and mistrust about its solidity after the unexpected bankruptcy of FTX. Considered one of the strongest firms in the crypto space after a valuation of $32 billion in February, FTX, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, went bankrupt on Nov. 11 when it was unable to meet the massive withdrawal requests of its customers.

Since then, a scent of suspicion has surrounded the rest of the exchanges. Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, was the subject of many rumors in December, leading to panicked customers to withdraw $6 billion from Dec. 12 to Dec. 14, a spokesperson told TheStreet at the time.
Worries of Wash Trades

These suspicions had been reinforced by the decision of the audit firm Mazars to cut ties with all crypto firms.

Mazars said in December that it "paused its activity relating to the provision of proof of reserves reports for entities in the cryptocurrency sector due to concerns regarding the way these reports are understood by the public.”

The objective of the proof of reserves audit is to show that the crypto firm has enough reserves to deal with a run on it from its clients and investors. This audit is also intended to increase public trust and demonstrate transparency when most crypto firms are unregulated, which means that they are opaque and investors and clients can only rely on what the top executives say.

Billionaire Mark Cuban has further warned in an interview with TheStreet of a possible implosion of the illegal practice of washing trades which is expected to significantly affect centralized exchanges.

"I think the next possible implosion is the discovery and removal of wash trades on central exchanges," the owner of the Dallas Mavericks told TheStreet in an interview by email. "There are supposedly tens of millions of dollars in trades and liquidity for tokens that have very little utilization. I don't see how they can be that liquid."

A wash trade, an illegal practice, consists of creating artificial interest around a financial product -- a crypto token or coin in this case -- to make a profit. This form of "pump-and-dump" scheme is widespread in the cryptocurrency industry.

While many wash trades have occurred in traditional finance, the crypto space is particularly conducive to the practice because nearly 13,000 cryptocurrencies are listed, according to data firm CoinGecko. Scammers have to make one or another token stand out from that pack so they can engage in wash trade.

As an example, according to a 2022 study by Forbes magazine on 157 centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, more than half the volumes of exchanges concerning bitcoin are fake.

BlockFi says it repaid investor $15 million to settle over crypto crash

Mon, January 9, 2023 
By Dietrich Knauth

(Reuters) - Executives of bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi Inc have repaid an investor $15 million to settle a threatened lawsuit over the company's cratering equity value in summer 2022, the company's attorneys said Monday in bankruptcy court.

The settlement resolved claims by the investor, identified only as "Counterparty A," who had purchased equity shares that were issued as part of executive compensation packages, BlockFi attorney Joshua Sussberg said at a bankruptcy court hearing in Trenton, New Jersey.

The shares were sold at a discount to the company's January 2022 valuation of $6 billion to $8 billion, but their value plummeted over the summer as the collapse of two cryptocurrencies caused widespread havoc in crypto markets.

The BlockFi investor threatened to sue, alleging that BlockFi and its executives should have been more transparent about contagion risks in the cryptocurrency market, according to Sussberg.

BlockFi believed the investor's claims were "specious," but it reached a confidential settlement on Aug. 23 under which BlockFi executives repaid $15 million to the investor, Sussberg said.

The largest payment under that settlement was made by BlockFi founder Zac Prince, who repaid $6.144 million.

BlockFi's dramatic decline in value was made apparent by an emergency loan extended by crypto exchange FTX on July 1. That loan gave FTX an option to buy BlockFi for $240 million, essentially setting a maximum value for existing equity.

As the company's value plummeted, BlockFi laid off 20% of its employees. BlockFi will soon seek court approval of an employee bonus package intended to keep remaining staff from fleeing during its bankruptcy and to compensate employees who had previously received company equity as part of their pay, Sussberg said.

FTX's buyout price meant that Prince's equity stake lost $412.82 million in value, and caused him to miss out on a planned $600,000 bonus payment, Sussberg said. Prince and other executives will not be included in BlockFi's upcoming employee retention plan.

New Jersey-based BlockFi filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 28, a direct casualty of FTX's collapse weeks earlier. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has since been arrested on fraud charges and he has pleaded not guilty.

BlockFi and FTX have been embroiled in a dispute over $465 million shares of online broker Robinhood Markets Inc that BlockFi claimed as collateral on an unpaid debt owed to it by FTX affiliate Alameda Research. That dispute further complicated when the U.S. Department of Justice seized the shares, and a BlockFi attorney said Monday that DOJ was in the process of seizing assets held by two or three BlockFi customers based in Washington state.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and David Gregorio)

Cancer: Fear UK could run out of nuclear treating substances

Tue, January 10, 2023 

More than 200 jobs could be created if the plan can secure funding

There are fears the UK could run out of life-saving nuclear substances unless action is taken to boost their supply.

The Welsh government has proposed to build a new laboratory to supply medical radioisotopes, used to diagnose and treat cancer.

With many of the facilities making the substances closing, it has warned there could be a supply crisis by 2030.

Welsh ministers are calling for the UK government and others to help fund the multi-million pound plan.

The Welsh government wants to secure the supply of medical radioisotopes for Wales and the UK through the development of a project called the Advanced Radioisotope Technology for Health Utility Reactor (Arthur), which could create 200 jobs.

Based in Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, the £400m facility would be a public sector national laboratory with its own nuclear reactor, producing the medical radioisotopes for use in the NHS in Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Wales' Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said: "Our vision is the creation of project Arthur - a world-leading nuclear medicine facility, which will bring together a critical mass of nuclear science research, development and innovation.

"Through this development, not only can Wales become the leading place in the UK for medical radioisotope production - producing life-saving medical radioisotopes that are critical to cancer diagnosis and treatment.

"But we can also attract higher-skilled jobs, create a surrounding infrastructure, support local communities and build local supply chains."
What are radioisotopes?

Radioisotopes can be used to diagnose cancer and treat certain types of the disease such as prostate and liver - when they are injected or swallowed and absorbed by cancers from within the body.

Using them is a very common way of treating people or diagnosing people in the NHS already.

People typically get a dose of the nuclear medicine which is put into their body and it radiates.

A gamma, for example, is a type of radiation. When it leaves the body, it can be detected to show its size and location on a scanner.

But it should not be confused with external radiotherapy where they blast tumours from outside the body with radiation.
Why is this important?

The reason the Welsh government wants to push this project is because around the world, reactors producing them are ageing, there is already a limited supply and the UK lacks nuclear medicine.

Building a nuclear medicine reactor in north Wales would allow the production of nuclear medicines such as radioisotopes for the UK, and potentially beyond, as well as create jobs.

"Considerable" investment is needed to make the project viable, says Vaughan Gething

The jobs will include roles such as research scientists and engineers, drivers and operations, production, technical and office staff.

But Mr Gething said the amount of investment needed to bring the project to life was "considerable".

He added: "Now is the time for decisive action and commitment. The implications of not acting will be counted in human lives and in long-term economic pressure on health services, through unsustainable health treatments."

The UK government has been asked to comment.

Prof Simon Middleburgh, co-director of the Nuclear Futures Institute at Bangor University, said: "If we don't start working out where we're going to get these nuclear medicines from, people are just not going to get diagnosed.

"We already need to improve our cancer survivability rates in the UK and by removing one of the key diagnostic treatment avenues for that - it's not the only one, but it's key - it will just make our outcomes much worse, and unfortunately, it's another pressure on the NHS."

Jane Fonda Says Chemo 'Hit Me Hard,' 

Made Her 'Think About Death a Lot'


Vanessa Etienne
Mon, January 9, 2023 

Jane Fonda attends the Special FYC Event For Netflix's "Grace And Frankie"
Charley Gallay/Getty Images

Jane Fonda is reflecting on her difficult journey with chemotherapy.

The Grace and Frankie star, who revealed in September that she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, opened up to Entertainment Tonight about going through cancer treatments last year. Fonda, 85, announced last month that her cancer is in remission but admitted to the outlet that chemotherapy "hit me hard."

"It was the first time that I thought, 'OK, this is what most people experience.' Because the kind of chemo that I was taking wasn't so bad in the beginning," she said, noting that it got more draining as time went on.

The actress said she learned her cancer was in remission right before her 85th birthday, which gave her a bigger reason to celebrate but also allowed her to reflect on mortality — something she says is important to do.

"I think about death a lot. I have for the last 30 years," Fonda told ET. "I think that's a healthy thing to do. It's hard to live right if you don't think about death. It's a part of life."

"Other cultures aren't so afraid of thinking about death as we are," she continued. "I spend a lot of time thinking about it and it's made my life a lot better. And when you get a cancer diagnosis, you think about it even more and you want to be sure you get the things done that you want to get done, so when the time comes you won't have a lot of regrets."

RELATED: Jane Fonda, 84, Diagnosed with 'Very Treatable' Cancer and Is Undergoing Chemo: 'I Feel Very Lucky'

RELATED: Jane Fonda Says Her Cancer Is in Remission: 'I Am Feeling So Blessed, So Fortunate'

Fonda announced that her cancer was in remission on Instagram, sharing a photo of her at a climate rally in Washington, D.C.

"Last week I was told by my oncologist that my cancer is in remission and I can discontinue chemo," she wrote in December. "I am feeling so blessed, so fortunate. I thank all of you who prayed and sent good thoughts my way. I am confident that it played a role in the good news."

The Academy Award winner revealed that some of her treatments had been "rough" but that she was able to recover in time to go to D.C. to do "some lobbying" and speak at the Democracy Alliance about climate change.

"I'm especially happy because while my first 4 chemo treatments were rather easy for me, only a few days of being tired, the last chemo session was rough and lasted 2 weeks making it hard to accomplish much of anything," Fonda shared.

"The effects wore off just as I went to D.C. for the first live, in-person Fire Drill Fridays rally," she said. Fire Drill Fridays are a demonstration to raise awareness about climate change that she leads every week.

RELATED: Jane Fonda Isn't Fazed by Being 'Closer to Death': 'It Doesn't Really Bother Me'

Jane Fonda, Academy Award-winning Actor, Author, Producer, Political Activist & Fitness Guru speaks on stage during 2022 Pennsylvania Conference For Women
Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images for Pennsylvania Conference for Women

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Fonda originally revealed her diagnosis in September.

"So, my dear friends, I have something personal I want to share. I've been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and have started chemo treatments," she began her Instagram post. "This is a very treatable cancer. 80% of people survive, so I feel very lucky."

She acknowledged that she is "privileged" in being able to afford quality healthcare when many others can't, while using her diagnosis as a call-to-action during "the most consequential time in human history."

"I will not allow cancer to keep me from doing all I can," the actress wrote. "Using every tool in my toolbox and that very much includes continuing to build this Fire Drill Fridays community and finding new ways to use our collective strength to make change."

Fonda herself took to her blog to share that she has "been deeply moved and uplifted by all the expressions of love and support" since she made her diagnosis public, noting that it was about three weeks after she started her first round of chemotherapy.

"I want to say again that this is a very treatable cancer and much progress has been made with the medicines patients are given," she wrote at the time.

iPhone Exports from India Double to Surpass $2.5 Billion

Sankalp Phartiyal
Mon, January 9, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. exported more than $2.5 billion of iPhones from India from April to December, nearly twice the previous fiscal year’s total, underscoring how the US tech giant is accelerating a shift from China with geopolitical tensions on the rise.

Foxconn Technology Group and Wistron Corp. have each shipped more than $1 billion of Apple’s marquee devices abroad in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 2023, people familiar with the matter said. Pegatron Corp., another major contract manufacturer for Apple, is on track to move about $500 million of the gadgets overseas by the end of January, the people said, asking not to be identified revealing private information.

Apple’s rapidly growing export numbers illustrate how it is ramping up operations outside of China, where chaos at Foxconn’s main plant in Zhengzhou exposed vulnerabilities in the Cupertino-headquartered company’s supply chain and forced it to trim output estimates. That compounded a broader problem with evaporating demand for electronics as consumers weigh the risks of a global recession.

Apple, the world’s most valuable company, began assembling its latest iPhone models in India only last year, a significant break from its practice of reserving much of that for giant Chinese factories run by its main Taiwanese assemblers including Foxconn.

While India makes up just a fraction of iPhone output, rising exports bode well for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to make the country an alternative to China as factory to the world.

China’s Covid Zero policies and an episode of violence at the Zhengzhou plant — nicknamed iPhone City as the world’s biggest production center for the device — laid bare the dangers of relying on the country. While Beijing has since dropped that approach to containing the virus, Apple and other global names are exploring alternative locations more than ever before.

India’s vast workforce, Modi’s support and a thriving local market make it a prime candidate to take on more electronics manufacturing. Foxconn, Apple’s largest supplier, began building facilities in the country more than five years ago in anticipation of a need to extend its geographic range.

One recent selling point is a raft of new government incentives, a cornerstone of Modi’s drive to make India an electronics manufacturing hub. Foxconn has won 3.6 billion rupees ($44 million) of benefits in the first year of the so-called production-linked incentives scheme, while Wistron’s claims are currently being processed, the people said.

Representatives for Apple, Foxconn and Wistron didn’t respond to emails seeking comment. A Pegatron spokesperson declined to comment.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

India’s cost savings and market potential are among the benefits it offers to Apple’s iPhone supply chain. Its ample labor supply and low wages — at least 50% lower than in China — can be a strong draw for EMS players such as Hon Hai and Pegatron, given their thin margins and labor-intensiveness. India’s Production-Linked Incentives (PLI) offer subsidies equivalent to 4%-6% of production costs for five years once certain performance criteria are met.

- Steven Tseng, analyst

Click here for the research.

Apple’s contract manufacturers currently make iPhones at plants in southern India. But production in the country is just beginning. About 3 million of the devices were made in India in 2021, compared with 230 million in China, according to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates.

Foxconn began making the iPhone 14 in India a few months ago — sooner than anticipated — after a surprisingly smooth production rollout that slashed the lag between Chinese and Indian output from months to mere weeks. Apple’s three Taiwanese partners currently assemble iPhones 11 to 14 in India.

But moving out of China, where Apple has built a deep supply chain for close to two decades, isn’t easy. A Bloomberg Intelligence analysis estimated it would take about eight years to move just 10% of Apple’s production capacity out of China, where roughly 98% of the company’s iPhones are being made.

India tracks production and exports of all smartphone makers who enjoy financial incentives as part of Modi’s push.

Beyond smartphones, the country is drawing up plans to boost financial incentives for tablet and laptop makers, hoping to woo Apple to make everything from earphones to MacBooks locally as well as attract other brands. The iPhone maker is also expected to open its first retail store in India in 2023, after meeting certain criteria imposed on foreign retailers.

--With assistance from Debby Wu.

Tata Nears iPhone Plant Takeover to Grow Apple Supply Role

Saritha Rai
Tue, January 10, 2023

Tata Nears iPhone Plant Takeover to Grow Apple Supply Role

(Bloomberg) -- Tata Group is close to taking over a major plant in southern India in a deal that would give the country its first homegrown iPhone maker.

The airline-to-software conglomerate has been in talks with the factory’s owner, Taiwan’s Wistron Corp., for months, and is looking to complete the purchase by the end of March, according to two people familiar with the process. The two firms discussed various potential tieups but talks have now centered on Tata taking a majority of a joint venture, the people said. Tata is set to oversee the main manufacturing operation, with support from Wistron, the people said, asking not to be named because the plans aren’t public.

Apple Inc.’s iPhones are mainly assembled by Taiwanese manufacturing giants like Wistron and Foxconn Technology Group. Tata’s deal would advance India’s efforts to create local contenders to challenge China’s dominance in electronics, which has been jeopardized by political tensions with the US and Covid-related hurdles.

The Indian conglomerate aims to complete a due diligence process by March 31 so that its Tata Electronics arm can formally take over Wistron’s position in a program that gives it government incentives, one of the people said. The next cycle of incentives will begin from April 1, which marks the start of India’s financial year.

The acquisition could value Wistron’s only iPhone manufacturing operation in India at more than $600 million if the Taiwanese company meets the requirements to receive the expected incentives for the current financial year, one of the people said.

A Tata representative declined to comment. Wistron and Apple didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“I am not directly involved in that, but it should be really good for India because this is going to create an opportunity in India to manufacture electronics and microelectronics,” said N Ganapathy Subramaniam, operating chief at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., the IT giant that’s Tata’s biggest listed unit.

A deal would mark a step toward establishing India as a cutting-edge electronic manufacturing base, said Subramaniam, who is brother to Tata Group Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran.

Wistron is one of three Taiwanese iPhone manufacturers in India, along with Foxconn and Pegatron Corp. It has sought to diversify its business beyond thin-margin iPhone manufacturing into areas such as servers, agreeing to sell its iPhone production business in China to a competitor in 2020.

Yet even as Wistron plans to exit iPhone-making in India, its Taiwanese peers are expanding their iPhone production lines. Apple, the world’s most profitable smartphone maker, is seeking to reduce its dependence on China, where pandemic-related supply chain snarls and draconian restrictions have wrought havoc on device production.

Wistron’s 2.2 million square-foot factory is located just over 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Bangalore. If the acquisition goes through, Tata will take over all its eight iPhone lines, as well as the plant’s 10,000 workers, including a couple thousand engineers. Wistron would continue as a service partner for iPhones in India.

Tata has taken other steps to increase its business with Apple. It has accelerated hiring in its factory in Hosur, near Bangalore, where it produces iPhone components. That plant stands on several hundred acres of land where Tata could add iPhone manufacturing lines in the coming years. Tata has also announced that it will launch 100 Apple stores in the country of 1.4 billion, the first of which is set to open in Mumbai this quarter.

The 150-year-old Tata Group makes everything from branded salt and Tetley Tea to steel and Jaguar cars, and runs an airline and Starbucks cafés in the country. Its TCS is Asia’s largest IT outsourcing company and one of India’s most valuable by market capitalization.

In the past couple of years, Chairman Chandrasekaran has accelerated efforts to make the conglomerate more tech-centric with a slew of e-commerce initiatives and a new super-app called Tata Neu. The group is also set to enter chipmaking, he said last year.

--With assistance from Sankalp Phartiyal and Debby Wu.

ALBERTA

Victim's parents call for better jobsite safety after 28 charges laid in oilsands tailings pond death


Tue, January 10, 2023

Suncor and Christina River Construction face a total of 28 charges under the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act in the death of Patrick Poitras. (Patrick Poitras/Facebook - image credit)

The parents of a 25-year-old oilsands worker who died in a frozen tailings pond in northern Alberta say charges in the case reveal disturbing details about safety failures on site.

Suncor and Christina River Construction face a total of 28 charges under the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act in the death of Patrick Poitras.

Poitras was operating a bulldozer on Jan. 13, 2021, at Suncor's base mine about 30 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, when the ice beneath the machine gave way.

Three days later, his body was pulled from the pond.

"Someone didn't do their job and I lost my son because of that," Marcel Poitras said in an interview from his home in New Brunswick.

"My son gave his life for that job."

The charges, laid in November, allege the companies ignored a series of safety protocols when they directed Poitras to operate a dozer on dangerously thin ice.

The case details how the companies allegedly failed to properly check the thickness of the ice and ignored previous measurements that showed it was too thin to bear the weight of the machine.

Christina River Construction, owned by Fort McMurray 468 First Nation, is facing nine charges in the death of their contractor. Suncor is facing 19 counts.

A plea hearing is scheduled for March 15 in Fort McMurray provincial court. Suncor declined to comment on the case as it is before the court. Christina River Construction has not responded to questions about the charges.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Poitras said his son's death was preventable and someone needs to be held accountable.

"It's not the first time this has happened," he said. "With the safety we have today, this is not supposed to happen."

I had told myself it was just a bad accident. - Cathina Cormier

Suncor, one of the largest players in the Alberta oilsands, has been under increased scrutiny for its safety record. At least 12 workers have died at its Alberta oilsands operations since 2014.

Former CEO Mark Little pledged to address the problem, including a promised independent safety review, but stepped down in July 2022, a day after a 26-year-old contractor died after being struck by equipment at Suncor's Base Mine.

Poitras's mother, Cathina Cormier, said she felt grief and disbelief when she learned of the allegations.

"I know there is no price for a human being but when I read the charges, I was angry," Cormier said.

"I had told myself it was just a bad accident."

Cormier said learning details of her son's death has made her grief raw again. She wants answers about what went wrong that day.

"The question and keep asking myself is who sent him there? Who sent my son to do that job?

"I cannot lay my boy to rest because of this."

According to the charges, Poitras was directed to operate a John Deere dozer on the ice of a tailings pond when available ice measurements showed the minimum ice thickness was less than 17 inches, as required by Suncor's safety plan.

The companies are accused of failing to complete adequate ice checks and failing to ensure ground-penetrating radar was used for ice profiling before dozers were permitted to operate.

They also allegedly failed to ensure dozer operators were wearing personal flotation devices when on the ice.

It is also alleged the companies failed to have a safety plan in place directing Poitras to keep his seatbelt off — and the door unlatched — while he was operating the dozer on the pond.

I said, 'If you find that it's dangerous, please stop, because I need you more than you know. I don't want to lose you. - Marcel Poitras

Suncor also faces a charge for underestimating how much the dozers weighed, and failing to account for the weight of snow when calculating required ice thickness.

It's further alleged that Suncor ignored its own winter geology guidelines that called for work to be deferred on any sites with more than one metre of standing water.

Marcel Poitras said Patrick called him the night before he died and told him that he was worried about safety at the site. He said he was scared to go out on the ice.

"I said, 'If you find that it's dangerous, please stop, because I need you more than you know. I don't want to lose you.' And he said, 'Dad, I'm here to work.'"

Poitras, of Saint-André, N.B., had worked in the oilsands for six years. He had recently returned to New Brunswick for Christmas and planned on moving home for good that spring.

Patrick Poitras/Facebook

Cormier said her son was serious about his work, but also a "goof" with a penchant for sporting a mullet and making people laugh.

After two years of uncertainty and overwhelming grief, she hopes the outcome of the case will give her some closure.

She is still coming to grips with her son's death, and the death of her father weeks later.

She hopes Patrick's legacy will be ensuring other workers are protected on the job.

"I just want this to never happen again. It's a worst nightmare for a mother.

"Our family went through hell for this."

The ‘everything bubble’ has popped and the experts on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley were spectacularly wrong about a ton of things


Will Daniel
Sat, January 7, 2023 

Most people don’t think about the Federal Reserve very often, and only a select few contemplate the effects that the U.S. central bank has on investors. But over the past few years, that’s begun to change. Many economists and keen market watchers are making the case that years of loose monetary policies from the Fed and other central banks following the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) helped create an “everything bubble”—and now it’s popping.

The everything bubble idea isn’t new. For years before 2022’s stock market woes, leading minds on Wall Street including the investing legend Jeremy Grantham warned about a brewing “superbubble.” The idea is that near-zero interest rates and quantitative easing (QE)—a policy where the Fed would buy mortgage-backed securities and government bonds to boost lending and investment in the economy—pushed investors toward riskier investments, allowed unsustainable business models to thrive on cheap debt, and fueled a “savagely unhealthy” surge in home prices.

BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 5: Renowned investment manager Jeremy Grantham poses on a balcony at his Rowes Wharf office in Boston on Nov. 5, 2013. Grantham has made a fortune for his clients, and now hes pouring a good deal of his own wealth into environmental charities. With more than $500 million in two Grantham family foundations, he is among a handful of successful Boston investors emerging as the citys major new philanthropists. (Photo by Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)More

It’s early days, but in retrospect a lot of outlandish financial predictions accompanied this era of easy money. And the fallout for Americans hasn’t been pretty, as inflation continues to rage and recession fears mount. But there is a silver lining for the finance community. The everything bubble provided some of the most ridiculous—and hilarious—forecasts in history.

From cryptocurrency experts and hedge fund managers to economists and investment banks, the easy money era was filled with bulls who believed the good times would never end. Here’s a look at some of their strangest calls.
The Bitcoin bulls

The cryptocurrency boom of 2020 and 2021 was unprecedented. Between January 2020 and the peak of the crypto fervor in November 2021, the industry’s total value grew to over $3 trillion and Bitcoin prices soared roughly 800%.

The crypto faithful were sure that the party was just beginning. Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper said in June 2021 that Bitcoin would hit $250,000 by the end of 2022. “I think I’m going to be right on this one,” he assured CNBC’s Jade Scipioni.

Bitcoin ended up finishing 2022 just above $16,500, but just last month, Draper repeated his call for Bitcoin to hit $250,000—this time he said it would be by the middle of 2023.

“I expect a flight to quality and decentralized crypto like bitcoin, and for some of the weaker coins to become relics,” Draper told CNBC.

Tim Draper did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Draper wasn’t the only leading figure to jump on the Bitcoin train during the easy money era and make lofty forecasts either. ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood was the first public asset manager to gain exposure to Bitcoin via the Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) as a part of her tech-focused exchange-traded ETFs in 2015.

LISBON, PORTUGAL - 2022/11/02: CEO & Chief Investment Officer of ARK Invest, Cathie Wood, addresses the audience at Altice Arena Centre Stage during the second day of the Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon. The biggest technology conference in the world is back in Lisbon. The conference will discuss new technological trends for four days and how they will influence people's lives. 70,000 people expected to participate in the event. 

(Photo by Hugo Amaral/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The bet led Wood to face serious criticism from her peers, but barring a brief crypto winter in 2018, it paid off as Bitcoin’s price soared to over $65,000 by November 2021.

Wood was sure that the good times would last throughout the bull market. In November 2020, she told Barron’s that institutional adoption of crypto would drive Bitcoin’s price to $500,000 by 2026 and repeatedly “bought the dip” whenever Bitcoin prices fell. Wood even told The Globe and Mail in a February 2020 interview that Bitcoin was “one of the largest positions” in her retirement account.

The ARK Invest CEO remained bullish even at the start of 2022, when Bitcoin prices had fallen from their highs of over $65,000 to just under $50,000. She argued that the leading cryptocurrency would touch $1 million by 2030 in ARK’s “Big Ideas 2022” annual research report.

Since then Bitcoin’s price has dropped more than 60%, but Wood and her team aren’t fazed, and still believe that their prediction is fair.

“We think Bitcoin is coming out of this smelling like a rose,” Wood told Bloomberg in December, arguing that institutions will eventually buy into Bitcoin after it is “battle tested” by the crypto winter.

Cathie Wood did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, who previously served as chief equity strategist at JPMorgan and spent over 25 years on Wall Street, has also been a perennial Bitcoin bull. In early 2022, he predicted that Bitcoin would hit $200,000 in the coming years.

And despite the recent fall, which he admitted has been “horrific” for investors, Lee told CNBC in November that he still believes Bitcoin will come out of the current downtrend and hit his target. But while many crypto forecasters are sticking by their lofty estimates, Wall Street has been walking back some of theirs.

Tom Lee did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Lofty stock market forecasts

Investment banks made some pretty dramatic forecasts during the cheap money era. After the stock market soared throughout the pandemic, returning 28% to investors, Wall Street was confident that things would slow down in 2022, but not to the extent that they actually did.

Investment banks expected the S&P 500 to end 2022 at 4,825, representing only a mild 1% gain for the year. Instead, the blue-chip index dropped roughly 20%.

The (perhaps unwarranted) bullishness among investment banks was particularly clear when looking at the price targets for growth stocks that benefited from pandemic trends. The online used car retailer Carvana, for example, soared throughout the pandemic as used car prices rose to record highs.

The firm was able to take advantage of consumers’ inability or unwillingness to shop for vehicles in person during COVID, leading some analysts to give incredibly bullish forecasts.

In January 2022, Morgan Stanley’s auto analyst Adam Jonas called Carvana the “apex predator in auto retail” and assigned a $430 12-month price target to the stock. Since then, shares of the online car retailer have plummeted more than 97% to just $4.48—and some analysts believe more pain lay ahead for investors.

NEW YORK - JUNE 09: Morgan Stanley headquarters are seen June 9, 2009 in New York City. Morgan Stanley is one of ten lenders that won U.S. Treasury approval to pay back $68 billion in funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Morgan Stanley did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

New Construct’s CEO David Trainer warned investors in June that Carvana was burning cash at an unsustainable rate and may not survive.

“Time is running out for cash-burning companies kept afloat with easy access to capital,” Trainer told Fortune. “These ‘zombie’ companies are at risk of going bankrupt.”

Coinbase is another example of the fervor that developed on Wall Street over the past few years. When the cryptocurrency exchange went public in April 2021, shares spiked from their $250 reference price to $381 per share.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer, a former hedge fund manager, took to Twitter after the IPO, saying that he “liked Coinbase to $475.” And he wasn’t alone, investment banks’ average price target for the exchange was over $400 per share in early 2021.

Since then, however, Coinbase stock is down more than 90% amid the crypto winter. And Cramer has changed his mind, saying in a December 13 tweet that he was “not a buyer of Coinbase here,” calling it “too early.”

CNBC did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

The cheap money era may have led many forecasters to assume that asset prices would continue to soar, regardless of valuations, but this year has proven to be a wake-up call. Wall Street analysts have slashed their price targets for many of the stock market’s pandemic darlings. It’s a new era for markets and forecasters, as Tim Pagliara, chief investment officer of the investment advisory firm CapWealth, told Fortune last month.

“We’re going to be unwinding a lot of the speculation,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of revaluation of everything from commercial real estate to how the investing public looks at things like crypto.

Who gets to fish for B.C. salmon in the future?


Mon, January 9, 2023 

​The West Coast’s commercial salmon fleet is clearly in the midst of transformative change.

Ottawa has shuttered approximately 60 per cent of B.C.’s commercial fisheries since 2021 and last month launched a licence buyback program to lure fish harvesters to exit the industry to protect plummeting salmon stocks.

What’s less evident is who will remain on the water with access to salmon as the federal government reshapes the industry that was once the backbone of the coast.

But many suspect large corporations and investors that never set boots on the deck of a fishing vessel will continue to prosper while independent harvesters and coastal communities languish.

A pattern of fishing licences and quota concentrated in the hands of large seafood processing companies is firmly entrenched in B.C., said Jim McIsaac, vice-president of the Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters' Federation.

If Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) fails to make policy changes as the salmon licences and total catch decline, fishing wealth will continue to slip away to urban areas and those with lots of capital.

“Salmon, from my point of view, is a public resource and should be managed for the benefit of the Canadian public,” said McIsaac. “But DFO is privatizing the resource and managing it for the benefit of investors and processors.”

On the Atlantic Coast, commercial licence holders are required to be present on a vessel and actually fish their catch, he added.

But on the West Coast, many commercial licences and quota — a set share of the allowable catch — are transferable and can be bought, sold and leased like a commodity.

Demand and speculation push the purchase price beyond the reach of independent fish harvesters — especially young ones without deep pockets — leading to the rise of an “investor class” of corporations, investors or retired fishermen.

“Instead of moving to a more community-based local fishery, which a lot of fisheries around the planet are doing to make them more sustainable,” McIsaac said.

The licence buyback program will probably contract and concentrate the commercial seine fishery most immediately, said Joy Thorkelson of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union.

Seine vessels tend to be larger than other types of fishing boats and use nets drawn together into a "purse" to capture fish.

The largest salmon fishery, the seine sector takes about 50 per cent of the total harvest and is already dominated by the province’s largest fish processor, Canfisco, part of the Jim Pattison Group, Thorkelson said.

Independent fish harvesters who can’t afford to buy a licence often lease one from processors that also act as brokers or hubs for other owners looking to “rent” their licence, she added.

This gives processors access to the catch and control over price, creating a monopoly effect, she said.

It also allows processors to concentrate the onshore industry, further draining fishing wealth from B.C. communities, she said, pointing to Canfisco closing its northern canneries and exporting that work to Alaska.

In 2019, the House of Commons committee on fisheries and oceans (FOPO), issued a report to the government centred on fisheries and equity issues on the Pacific Coast.

The committee urged Ottawa to increase the transparency around licence and quota ownership and restrict foreign investors’ access. It also called on the government to find ways for young fishers to enter the industry along with measurable mechanisms to ensure the socio-economic benefits of fishing are fairer, particularly for active harvesters and coastal communities.

But there’s been little real change by DFO over the last two years as the commercial salmon sector has been hobbled by the widespread closures, McIsaac said.

“I’ve been following developments around those recommendations pretty closely,” he said.

“At best, DFO has given them window dressing.”

Thorkelson predicts most of the licence buybacks will involve “low-hanging fruit”: inactive licences bought cheap or inherited by people not involved in the industry or harvesters who have recently retired due to ongoing declines in the commercial salmon sector.

DFO can’t predict who will remain on the water as the licence retirements are voluntary, the ministry said in an email to Canada’s National Observer.

“Those licence holders that wish to remain in the fishery will be able to do so,” DFO said.

The ministry didn’t clarify when, how or if equitable distribution of fishing benefits, including quota or licences, is part of the plan for the fishery once the buyback process is complete in three years’ time.

The retirement program is one element of a commitment to transform the salmon fishery and DFO will monitor how the number of licences changes during the process, the department said.

“DFO will continue to work with commercial fishery interests to determine other changes that will support the conservation and rebuilding of salmon stocks and a more adaptable and economically viable commercial fishery,” the email said.

Beyond limiting costs of retiring a licence, it’s not evident that DFO has any objectives or criteria around the number of licences it hopes to retire from each industry sector, such as large corporations, independent harvesters or First Nations, said University of Guelph researcher Jennifer Silver, a specialist in fisheries management.

“There’s less clarity … about other factors in the decision-making that relate to a larger vision for who retains access to the resource and what that might mean for coastal or Indigenous communities,” Silver said.

Ottawa also needs to consider any potential implications associated with a public resource such as a licence and quota being owned by foreign investors, Silver said, adding it’s extremely difficult to determine the level of investment at play.

In one instance, FOPO heard testimony from Ecotrust Canada, a non-profit focused on revitalizing coastal communities, that it had traced a foreign company that owned 5.9 million pounds of quota. According to the group, that company’s director was the same overseas investor identified in news articles involving money laundering in casinos and real estate in Vancouver.

Those against implementing owner-operator regulations in B.C. similar to those on the Atlantic coast suggest it would be akin to trying to unscramble an egg, Silver said.

But policy that improves the profits from fishing and also ensures benefits for harvesters and communities are not mutually exclusive, she said.

“Policy can be designed to achieve a little of both,” Silver said.

“I don't know if that mix has been achieved in the Pacific region to the same extent that it has been pursued and achieved in the Atlantic region.”

Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

​

Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

Artificial Intelligence Will Be Critical For Renewable Energy Growth


Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, January 9, 2023 

The digitalization of oil and gas has been well documented, with pretty much all energy majors adopting AI, machine learning, and other innovative technologies to improve their operations. But what role does artificial intelligence play in renewables? Just as in oil and gas, AI is being adopted for use in wind, solar, and other green energy projects to improve efficiency through greater automation. As energy firms look to digitalize their operations to a greater extent, AI will likely play a leading role in the energy transition of the future.

The use of AI can support numerous activities across the energy industry, for operations across all energy sources, from fossil fuels to renewables. The energy industry has adopted AI technology in recent years to support automated decision-making and aided decision-making. The first is when computer systems process information autonomously, without human input. This often means that tasks can be completed faster and more efficiently than when a human decision is required, as the machine can make an immediate change. However, some issues require greater human input to determine the correct response; in this case, aided decision-making can be useful. Machines can provide useful insights by providing data for workers to interpret and decide on the right actions to take in any given situation.

AI also plays a major role in prediction. The use of complex algorithms can help investors to determine the level of risk involved in a new green energy project, anticipate the energy production from different types of renewable sources in different conditions, and predict the energy demand at different times of the day in various locations. Technology providing constant monitoring and evaluation can help companies prevent failures or the need to halt operations, by anticipating potential challenges and responding to them immediately. For example, using machine learning weather models, historical datasets, and real-time local weather information can help companies to predict when a storm or heatwave is going to hit to adapt their operations to prepare for the change in weather.

Related: Black Sea Shipping Rates Jump 20%

With digitalization becoming commonplace, energy firms are now using AI technologies in their day-to-day operations, and this type of equipment will almost certainly be key to transforming the future of energy. One of the main ways in which AI will support an effective transition away from fossil fuels to greener alternatives is through grid management. AI and machine learning use data analytics to estimate the level of energy consumption across households in any given area. It considers a variety of factors such as time of year, peak and off-peak times, and weather conditions. This can help energy companies to be constantly aware of the likely electricity use in the coming days, manage the grid accordingly and avoid outages. Production can also be altered in response to usage predictions to meet demand and avoid waste.

The rollout of AI technology across different areas of energy operations can also significantly enhance maintenance practices. Machines can predict the need for maintenance to schedule a repair ahead of an outage, to avoid an unnecessary loss of power. Energy companies can prepare for maintenance and inform consumers, rather than be caught unexpectedly by something breaking, which would mean longer repair times and unexpected power cuts for customers.

When it comes to solar power, AI can be used to determine the best sites to construct solar farms, based on the hours of sunlight and intensity. It can also help operators to plan the layout of the site so that solar systems catch the most sunlight. Once operational, AI technology can be used for automated decision-making to control solar panels as they rotate toward the sunlight throughout the day.

Even J. Kvelland, the co-founder and COO of solar AI company Glint Solar, explained: “To us, it’s surprising how many very sophisticated solar developers are still using the old way of sourcing land: reactively waiting for someone to recommend a piece of land or guessing by looking at Google Earth.” He added, “Given how ambitious plans virtually all developers have, they increasingly must be proactive about site screening and we’re proud to finally offer them software for this important task.”

In terms of wind power, Danish renewable energy major Vestas Wind Systems has led the way in the digitalization of wind farms, using machine learning to constantly adapt and improve operations. On-site AI technology learns from the environment in real-time, mainly through trial and error, to create changes to enhance wind energy production.

Espen Mehlum, the head of the energy and materials program on benchmarking at the World Economic Forum stated, “You can use AI to both optimize the construction, siting and the operations of a wind farm, but more importantly, you can use AI to optimize across different systems, both when it comes to consumption but also production.” He added, “That’s where the huge untapped potential is for AI – we’re just scratching the surface and seeing the first use cases.”

The digitalization of the energy sector is well underway, with almost all oil and gas and renewables majors incorporating a wide range of innovative technologies into their operations, for greater efficiency and production stability. AI technologies allow energy companies to predict a range of scenarios, ensure a reliable energy output for consumers, support grid efficiency, and adapt to anticipated and real-time changes to establish optimal conditions for production.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

NATO VS. USSR

The tank-killing armored vehicle that France is sending to Ukraine is 'a bit of an oddity,' but don't call it a tank

OPENING THE WAY FOR THE BRADLEY


Michael Peck
Sun, January 8, 2023 at 3:39 p.m. MST·5 min read



French soldiers in an AMX-10RC in Afghanistan's Surobi district in September 2010.JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images

France said on January 5 that it would send the AMX-10RC armored vehicle to Ukraine.


French and Ukrainian officials and others have referred to the AMX-10RC as a "light tank."


It doesn't quite qualify as a tank, but it will be a valuable addition to Ukraine's arsenal.

France's decision to send the AMX-10RC to Ukraine sparked pronouncements that the West is finally delivering tanks to Ukraine.

The "tank" vs. "armored vehicle" debate is a long and often contentious one, but AMX-10RCs are armored reconnaissance vehicles and not tanks, which usually have large-caliber main guns, heavy-duty armor, and tracks.

While the symbolism of delivering it to Kyiv is important, it remains to be seen how useful a thinly protected, 1970s-vintage armored vehicle will be on the battlefield in Ukraine.

That France and Ukraine have described the AMX-10RC as a "light tank" is significant. Despite Ukraine's pleas, the US and other countries have refused to send first-line tanks such as the M1 Abrams.

This has left Ukraine reliant on a motley collection of Soviet-designed tanks acquired before the war, Russian tanks captured in battle, or refurbished models provided by countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic.

A French Foreign Legion AMX-10RC during an exercise at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in October 2017.US Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Damarko Bones

The AMX-10RC is really a six-wheeled armored car. Designed in the early 1970s and first deployed by the French Army in 1979, it is a 16-ton vehicle capable of traveling 50 mph.

Its wheeled design means it can move fast on roads and smooth terrain — and requires less maintenance — than a heavy, tracked vehicle such as the 70-ton Abrams.

The AMX-10RC's thin armor protects against small arms and shrapnel but not large-caliber tank rounds or anti-tank missiles. While its manufacturer, Giat Industries, does offer an add-on kit with extra armor and missile countermeasures, the AMX-10RC is more suited for locating the enemy — and beating a hasty retreat if necessary — rather than going cannon-to-cannon with main battle tanks.

France operates 245 AMX-10RCs and has deployed the vehicle in Operation Desert Storm and in counterinsurgency operations in Africa. Morocco, Qatar, and Cameroon also operate the AMX-10RC, though the French military is replacing it with the Jaguar, a 25-ton armored scout vehicle armed with a 40 mm rapid-fire cannon and two anti-tank missiles.

Wheeled armored scout cars are not uncommon. Russia, for example, still uses the 1960s-era 7-ton BRDM-2, Japan the 15-ton Type 87, and the US the 19-ton M1127 Stryker scout variant.

French soldiers practice firing an AMX-10RC in Afghanistan's Surobi district in September 2010.JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images

But what's striking about the AMX-10RC — and perhaps why it's been called a "light tank" or "tank destroyer" — is that it packs a 105 mm cannon rather than the usual small cannon or heavy machine gun.

While smaller than the high-velocity 120 mm cannons found on main battle tanks, the AMX-10RC's gun is powerful enough to take out a tank at close range and would be deadly against lighter armored vehicles and infantry.

"The US Army was never very fond of" wheeled armored fighting vehicles, said Steven Zaloga, an author and expert on armored vehicles, who compared the AMX-10RC to the US's now-retired M551 Sheridan and M3 Bradley cavalry fighting vehicle, both of which have tracks.

The AMX-10RC also resembles the US's M1128 Mobile Gun System, the fire-support variant of the wheeled Stryker armed with a 105 mm gun, which the US Army has decided to discard.

The AMX-10RC is a "bit of an oddity," according to Olivier Schmitt, a professor at the University of Southern Denmark's Center for War Studies.

"It was conceived for recon and fire support, and, in the 1980s, was the heaviest armored vehicle assigned to the 'rapid action force'" set up by France to rush across Germany in response to a Soviet attack, Schmitt tweeted this week.

French troops back an AMX-10RC onto a ship in Toulon in June 1995.ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images

In other words, the AMX-10RC was designed to be part of a light mechanized force that rides to the rescue of NATO forces desperately defending against a Soviet blitzkrieg. That's not the situation in Ukraine now. Fighting there has become trench warfare, with incremental gains rather than sweeping armored offensives in which fast, armored scout vehicles excel.

Indeed, Ukraine has shown that modern reconnaissance relies on drones and satellites. Armored vehicles are still vital on the battlefield, but an armored car may have limited utility against swarms of anti-tank missiles, attack drones, and smart artillery shells.

Yet the military value of the AMX-10RC isn't really the point. What's important is that the West is sending armored fighting vehicles.

France's announcement was quickly followed by the US announcing that it would send M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and Germany announcing that it would send Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. Both vehicles are tracked and heavier than the AMX-10RC but have smaller main weapons, though they also carry anti-tank missiles.

Tank or not, if the AMX-10RC boosts Ukrainian morale — and reminds Russia that heavier Western armor may be coming — than it's a valuable weapon.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master's in political science. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/world/europe/what-is-the-bradley-fighting-vehicle.html

What Is the Bradley Fighting Vehicle? - The New York Times 

4 days ago ... Often mistaken for a tank, the decades-old Bradley offers a compromise between traditional tank firepower and an armored personnel carrier.

https://www.military.com/equipment/m2-m3-bradley-fighting-vehicle

M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle | Military.com 

The Bradley Fighting Vehicle family currently consists of two vehicles: the M2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle and the M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicle. Just as with its ...