Italy agrees to transfer suspect in EU graft scandal to Belgium



Mon, January 16, 2023 
By Emilio Parodi

BRESCIA, Italy (Reuters) -An Italian court on Monday agreed to hand over to the Belgian authorities a second woman suspected of involvement in a Qatar graft scandal that has rocked the European Parliament.

An appeals court in the northern city of Brescia said Silvia Panzeri, 38, could be extradited, after having twice postponed a ruling pending a report on conditions in Belgian jails.

Her lawyers had said last month the request should have been rejected because of overcrowding in Belgian jails, and the judges asked for information from Brussels on its prison system that has taken several weeks to arrive.


Panzeri is the daughter of former EU lawmaker Pier Antonio Panzeri, who is believed by Brussels prosecutors to be one of the main players in the alleged corruption. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The same court, with a different set of judges, had already cleared the transfer to Brussels of Maria Dolores Colleoni, the wife of Pier Antonio Panzeri and mother of Silvia.

Colleoni is still in Italy, however, because her lawyers filed an appeal against her transfer with Italy's highest appeals court which is expected to decide on Jan. 31.

Angelo De Riso, a lawyer for Silvia Panzeri, said his team would decide in the next five days whether to pursue an appeal to the highest court.

He described the response from the Belgian authorities on jail conditions as not sufficient.

Colleoni and Silvia Panzeri have been under house arrest in northern Italy since Dec. 10, in compliance with a European arrest order issued by Belgian magistrates over their alleged "participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption". They have denied any involvement.

Last week, an Italian court upheld the seizure of two bank accounts containing 247,000 euros ($267,000) that belong to Colleoni, Pier Antonio and Silvia Panzeri, rejecting an appeal by their lawyers to unfreeze the accounts.

The accounts had been seized in December by Italian prosecutors at the request of Belgian magistrates.

Belgian prosecutors suspect Greek MEP Eva Kaili and others accepted bribes from World Cup host Qatar in a bid to influence European Union policymaking in one of the biggest scandals to hit the 27-nation bloc.

Qatar has said it had no involvement in the EU scandal. Kaili has denied wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Emilio ParodiEditing by Keith Weir and Bernadette Baum)

Brazil's Lula to end industrial tax IPI, VP says

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends a breakfast with journalists at Planalto Palace in Brasilia

Mon, January 16, 2023 at 9:51 AM MST·2 min read


SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazilian leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will seek to end the industrial tax IPI, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said on Monday, which would continue an exemption policy initiated by his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

At an event hosted by Sao Paulo's industry group FIESP, Alckmin acknowledged that the current administration considered reversing Bolsonaro's 35% IPI tax reduction, amid discussions on how to slash this year's primary budget deficit.

But Alckmin, who is also Lula's minister of industry and trade, pointed out that the idea, which industrialists rejected for increasing the sector's production costs, was abandoned.

"We managed to get that removed, not incorporated into the (fiscal) proposal. It wasn't incorporated and the next goal is to end the IPI, and ending the IPI is (through) tax reform," he said.

Alckmin reiterated that the government would now push for tax reform in Latin America's largest economy, adding it is "essential to industry."

The tax is levied on companies manufacturing and importing products, such as refrigerators, cars, air conditioners and televisions. It is raised or lowered by presidential decree, without the need for congressional approval.

Bolsonaro cut the IPI by 35% last year, in an effort to boost economic activity that the COVID-19 pandemic has dented. During the presidential campaign, he promised to zero the tax rate.

Lula, who won the election by a narrow margin, never mentioned reducing the IPI tax as a priority. His Finance Minister Fernando Haddad even discussed with his team ending Bolsonaro's tax reduction, which would increase government revenues by 9 billion reais ($1.8 billion).

When Haddad announced last week a package to boost revenue and cut expenses - with no changes to the IPI rate - he criticized the Bolsonaro administration for promoting a series of tax exemptions without pointing out compensations.

Alckmin also said Lula does not intend to revoke Brazil's labor and pension reforms, market-friendly moves passed by Congress in 2017 and 2019.

(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes; Writing by Gabriel Araujo and Marcela Ayres; Editing by Steven Grattan, Grant McCool and Andrea Ricci)

India’s richest 1% own more than 40% of country’s wealth, finds Oxfam inequality report



Sravasti Dasgupta
Mon, January 16, 2023

The richest one per cent in India own more than 40 per cent of the country’s total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3 per cent of all wealth, according to a new report.

The report by Oxfam titled “Survival of the Richest” was released on Monday to coincide with the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

It revealed that the total number of billionaires in India increased from 102 in 2020 to 166 in 2022. The combined wealth of India’s 100 richest has touched $660bn (£540bn) – an amount that could fund the federal government’s budget for more than 18 months.

“A one-off tax on unrealised gains from 2017-2021 on just one billionaire, Gautam Adani, could have raised Rs 1.79 trillion, enough to employ more than five million Indian primary schoolteachers for a year,” the report said.

Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said that India is “on a fast track to becoming a country only for the rich”.

“The number of hungry Indians increased to 350 million in 2022 from 190 million in 2018,” he said in a statement.

“After witnessing mass suffering and death during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was critical that the government of India took aggressive measures to address injustice and poverty. But it has unfortunately lost the plot,” he said.

Globally, the report found that the richest 1 per cent took nearly two-thirds of all new wealth worth $42 trillion created since 2020, almost twice as much money as the bottom 99 per cent of the world’s population.

During the past decade, the richest 1 per cent had captured around half of all new wealth.

Elsewhere, Oxfam’s report found that the richest 1 per cent of people in the UK are now wealthier than 70 per cent of the population combined.

It said that the 685,500 richest people in Britain are worth a total of £2.8 trillion, compared with 48 million people in the UK whose combined wealth totals £2.4 trillion.

Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International, said: “While ordinary people are making daily sacrifices on essentials like food, the super-rich have outdone even their wildest dreams. Just two years in, this decade is shaping up to be the best yet for billionaires – a roaring ‘20s boom for the world’s richest.”

The report highlighted that billionaire wealth surged in 2022 with rapidly rising food and energy profits. It added that 95 food and energy corporations have more than doubled their profits in 2022.

“They made $306bn in windfall profits, and paid out $257bn (84 per cent) of that to rich shareholders. The Walton dynasty, which owns half of Walmart, received $8.5bn over the last year. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, owner of major energy corporations, has seen this wealth soar by $42bn (46 per cent) in 2022 alone. Excess corporate profits have driven at least half of inflation in Australia, the US and the UK.”

The report has called on governments to Introduce one-off solidarity wealth taxes and windfall taxes to end crisis profiteering.

It also suggests that taxing “the wealth of the richest 1 per cent at rates high enough to significantly reduce the numbers and wealth of the richest people, and redistribute these resources.”

Richest 1% of Irish people own more than a quarter of country’s wealth – Oxfam

Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA
Mon, 16 January 2023 



The richest 1% of Irish people have more than a quarter of the country’s wealth, according to a report from anti-poverty charity Oxfam.

The number of Irish people with individual wealth of more than 46.6 million euro has more than doubled between 2012 and 2022, from 655 to 1,435.

Oxfam said that for every 93.15 euro of wealth created in the last ten years, 31.67 euro has gone to the richest 1% and less than 0.5 euro to the bottom 50%.

According to the charity, this means that the richest 1% have gained 70 times more wealth than the bottom 50% in the last 10 years.

Oxfam Ireland is calling for a tax on Irish wealth at graduated rates of 2%, 3% and 5% above a threshold of 4.7 million euro, which it said would raise billions annually “with the potential to transform Irish public services”.

The charity said there should be an international approach to taxing the super-rich through permanent wealth taxes and temporary windfall taxes, and that governments should aim to halve the wealth of, and the number of, billionaires.

Chief executive of Oxfam Ireland Jim Clarken said: “This rising wealth at the top and rising poverty for the rest are two sides of the same coin, proof that our economic system is functioning exactly how the rich and powerful designed it to.

“It was 10 years ago when we first sounded the alarm about extreme inequality at the World Economic Forum and yet since then the world’s billionaires have almost doubled their wealth.

“As crisis after crisis hits the poorest people hardest, it’s time for governments, including Ireland’s, to tax the rich.

“The very existence of billionaires while out-of-control inequality rises, is damning proof of policy failure.”



Oxfam’s Survival of the Richest report is published to coincide with the gathering of world leaders and business elites in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Michael McGrath are among those attending the summit this week.

After Mr McGrath attends a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on Monday, and the Ecofin Council on Tuesday, he will travel to Davos where he will take part in a panel discussion called Jobs Consortium: Towards a New Vision for the Future of Work.

Mr McGrath will also host a dinner with IDA client companies who are deemed to be key investors in Ireland.

Speaking ahead of the trip, Mr McGrath said the World Economic Forum provides “a valuable opportunity” for Ireland to engage with senior political and business leaders from across the world.

“I will devote a lot of my time at the Forum to meeting current and potential job-creators in Ireland, with a view to promoting the expansion of existing investments and the establishment of new ones,” he said.

LGBTQ RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

Sunak Blocks Scotland’s Gender Bill, Angering Nationalists



Kitty Donaldson
Mon, January 16, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak blocked transgender rights legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament, setting up a major constitutional row and fanning nationalist sentiment in Scotland.

Sunak’s administration said on Monday that the Scottish legislation — which makes it easier for transgender people to self-declare as a different gender from the one they were assigned at birth — would have an “adverse impact” on Great Britain-wide equalities legislation.

“I have not taken this decision lightly,” Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said in a statement. “The bill would have a significant impact on, amongst other things, GB-wide equalities matters in Scotland, England and Wales. I have concluded, therefore, that this is the necessary and correct course of action.”

The veto sets the stage for a major constitutional clash between the Scottish National Party, which leads the administration in Edinburgh, and Sunak’s government. It’s the first time the UK has blocked any law passed by the Scottish Parliament since it was formed in 1999.

Scotland’s First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon described the move as “a full-frontal attack on our elected Scottish Parliament,” in a tweet following the announcement.

The prime minister’s move is likely to feed into a renewed push for independence by Sturgeon’s nationalists — who for years have been calling for a second independence referendum following a failed bid in 2014.

Sturgeon has argued that Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union — a move that was opposed in Scotland — has changed the calculation from 2014, when she described the plebiscite as a “once in a generation” vote.

Critics

Ahead of Sunak’s decision, Sturgeon said it would be an “outrage” if the UK chose to block the Scottish legislation, arguing the central government would be using trans people as a political weapon. She said the the gender reform bill was covered by powers devolved to Scotland.

The Scottish government is now is likely to challenge Sunak’s decision in the courts. Sunak, meanwhile, has been advised by his government lawyers that the bill affects UK-wide legislation on equalities, and that he was entitled to block it under Section 35 of the 1998 Scotland Act.

The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill makes it easier for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate, and also cuts to 16 the minimum age at which they can self-declare as a different gender. It reduces the time required to live in their acquired gender before being recognized and removes the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

UK Says 262,000 People Identifed as Transgender in Census

“Transgender people who are going through the process to change their legal sex deserve our respect, support and understanding,” Jack said. He added that if the Scottish government chose to amend the legislation, “I hope we can work together to find a constructive way forward that both respects devolution and the operation of UK Parliament legislation.”

‘Intrusive’

Opponents of the controversial bill argue the changes fail to protect women’s rights and single-sex spaces and could allow violent males to “abuse” the system in environments such as women’s jails. Other critics say it is not appropriate to allow 16-year-olds to decide on such a profound change in their lives and the decision should be reserved for adults.

The Scottish legislation has also sparked concerns about so-called gender tourism to Scotland from other parts of the UK, whereby a transgender woman could legally change gender in Scotland, then use their new status to access female-only spaces in the rest of the country.

But the SNP’s Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison has argued the legislation is about making life easier for some of the most stigmatized people in society by removing “intrusive, medicalized and bureaucratic” processes for obtaining a gender recognition certificate.

--With assistance from Ellen Milligan.'

UK govt to veto Scotland's gender self-recognition law



JILL LAWLESS
Mon, January 16, 202

LONDON (AP) — The British government said Monday it will block a new law that makes it easier for people in Scotland to legally change their gender, sparking conflict with transgender rights advocates and the nationalist Scottish administration in Edinburgh.

Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack said he would prevent the bill from getting royal assent — the final formality that makes it law — because of concern it conflicts with “Great Britain-wide equalities legislation.” That legislation, among other things, guarantees women and girls access to single-sex spaces such as changing rooms and shelters.

The Scottish government is likely to challenge the decision at the U.K. Supreme Court.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called the decision by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government “a full-frontal attack” on the Scottish parliament, which approved the bill last month.

“The Scottish Government will defend the legislation and stand up for Scotland’s Parliament,” she said on Twitter. “If this Westminster veto succeeds, it will be first of many.”

The Scottish bill allows people aged 16 or older in Scotland to change the gender designation on their identity documents by self-declaration, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

It also cuts the time trans people must live in a different expressed gender before the change is legally recognized, from two years to three months for adults and to six months for people aged 16 and 17.

The legislation sets Scotland apart from the rest of the United Kingdom, where a medical diagnosis is needed before individuals can transition for legal purposes.

The Scottish National Party-led government in Edinburgh says the legal change will improve the lives of transgender people by allowing them to get official documents that correspond with their gender identities.

Opponents claim it risks allowing predatory men to gain access to spaces intended for women, such as shelters for domestic abuse survivors. Others argue that the minimum age for transitioning should remain at 18.

Scotland is part of the United Kingdom but, like Wales and Northern Ireland, has its own semi-autonomous government with broad powers over areas including health care.

This is the first time a U.K. government has blocked a Scottish law since the Scottish government and parliament were established a quarter century ago. The move will provide fodder for nationalists who want Scotland to break away from the U.K. and become an independent country.

Jack, the U.K. minister responsible for Scotland, said he had “not taken this decision lightly.”

“Transgender people who are going through the process to change their legal sex deserve our respect, support and understanding,” he said in a letter to Sturgeon. “My decision today is about the legislation’s consequences for the operation of GB-wide equalities protections.”

Shami Chakrabarti, a Labour Party member of the House of Lords and former director of the rights group Liberty, said Sunak’s government might be trying to stir up “culture wars” by stepping in, but legally “they may have a point.”

“It is arguable, at least, that what’s happened in Scotland has a potential impact on the legislation as it operates U.K.-wide,” she told the BBC.

Several countries around the world have legalized gender self-recognition, including Argentina, Canada, New Zealand, Denmark and Iceland. Last month Spain’s parliament approved a bill similar to Scotland’s.

The Clean Energy Sector Is Set For A Major Labor Shortage

Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, January 16, 2023

The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act is a sweeping piece of legislation that will have a huge range of impacts from imposing a 15% minimum corporate tax rate to reforming prescription drug pricing. The Act also marks a turning point for the clean energy industry and imposes a protectionist approach to energy production that stands to alter the United States’ relationship with Europe. It seems like the Inflation Reduction Act does just about everything – oh, yeah, except reduce inflation.

The Inflation Reduction Act is actually a slimmed-down version of the Build Back Better Act, and it, therefore, includes massive financial support for United States industries, most notably in the renewable energy sector. According to the Biden administration, the Act provides an estimated $370 billion in subsidies for solar, wind, and electric vehicle subsidies.

Through these and other provisions, the bill aims to enable the United States to lower greenhouse gas emissions to a threshold 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. However, the bill also includes provisions supporting fossil fuels, which were added to the Act in order to sway key holdout West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to help pass the legislation. While this has led to a lukewarm reception among environmentalists, the Act stands to create unprecedented support for the green energy transition and could have major positive implications for the U.S. economy as a whole.

Related: Spanish Utility Says Europe's Energy Crisis Isn’t Over Yet

Altogether, the investments and subsidies included in the Inflation Reduction Act will create a whopping 537,000 jobs a year for a decade. While that kind of job creation is great on the surface, it actually highlights a major problem for the clean energy industry’s big moment: there just aren’t enough workers to get the job done. According to reporting from Reuters, the labor shortage is severe enough that it stands to derail Biden’s climate change agenda altogether. Despite tactics including “ offering better wages and benefits, flying in trainers from overseas, and contemplating ideas like buying roofing and electric repair shops just to hire their workers,” U.S. clean energy companies haven’t been able to bridge the labor gap.

Reuters Graphics


Clean energy companies have been forced to try new recruiting tactics and new labor pools. “In their hunt for workers,” Reuters reports, “solar, wind and electric vehicle companies have expanded programs offering free and subsidized training to military veterans, women and the formerly incarcerated.” But so far those efforts have fallen short. "It feels like a big risk for this expansion. Where are we going to find all the people?" said Abigail Ross Hopper, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association trade group, quoted in the report.

The United States unemployment rate is currently at a historic low of just 3.5%. The question is whether it’s going to stay there. The United States Federal Reserve has a dual mandate – to maintain price stability and the ideal inflation rate of 2% and to support maximum employment. Clearly, the Fed has had its work cut out for it on the inflation front over the last year; last month the annual inflation rate clocked in at 6.5% – which may sound bad but actually represents the sixth consecutive month that the inflation rate has decreased. Those decreases are due to the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes. While that tactic has proven successful, however, some economists are now wondering whether the Fed has gone too far.

Lots of economic experts are predicting that we will enter into a recession this year, which means that while the runaway interest rates will stabilize, the unemployment rate will rise. While this is terrible news for the economy as a whole, it could prove to be a saving grace for the clean energy industry and the climate agenda.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

WHAT ABOUT USING DAM C?

Exclusive-Electricity constraints force Canada's first LNG terminal to delay renewable shift

Mon, January 16, 2023 
By Rod Nickel and Nia Williams

(Reuters) -Shell PLC's LNG Canada export project in British Columbia plans to start building its proposed second phase with natural gas-powered turbines and switch to electricity as more renewable power becomes available, a top executive said, a decision that means the expansion project will initially generate high greenhouse gas emissions.

LNG Canada, in which Japan's Mitsubishi Corp owns a 15% stake, is set to be Canada's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal. The first phase is expected begin shipments around 2025.

With global demand for natural gas from sources other than Russia accelerating after its invasion of Ukraine last year, LNG Canada is weighing whether to build by 2030 a second phase to double annual capacity to 28 million tonnes.

LNG Canada now plans to initially build Phase 2 with natural gas-powered turbines and switch to electric motors as more power becomes available, pending a final investment decision, CEO Jason Klein told Reuters on Friday.

LNG Canada has previously described this approach as only one of the options it was considering.

The company's move to only gradually switch to renewable electricity risks means the Phase 2 project would produce initially high emissions that would run up against ambitious emissions reduction goals set by the British Columbia and federal governments.

Running the turbines using B.C.'s hydro electricity to cool the gas to liquid for shipping would limit emissions, but requires hundreds of kilometers of new transmission lines to reach the province's remote northwest coast.

"We can't do an immediate and wholesale electrification of the plant and the pipeline. It's not possible today because the transmission infrastructure just isn't there," Klein said, adding that LNG Canada is discussing with both governments and utility BC Hydro when lines may be in place.

"If the power was there today it would be a pretty straightforward decision."

LNG Canada's dilemma illustrates the practical challenges of a global push to electrify buildings and vehicles to curb climate-warming emissions. The move requires the world's grid to generate significantly more power and build infrastructure to deliver it.

Klein said LNG Canada had not directly asked for financial assistance from either government to build transmission lines and electrify Phase 2, and is still assessing the project's economics.

"I wouldn't expect to be able to attract capital to a project that's not competitive," Klein said.

LNG Canada has full environmental permits from both governments to use natural gas turbines for Phase 2, making it unclear what leverage governments have to force electrification.

Government cooperation is critical to constructing transmission lines, however.

"It would be difficult to make an investment on this scale without some level of alignment and the support of host governments," Klein said.

CLIMATE GOALS

Russia's invasion of Ukraine upended gas deliveries to Europe, prompting a scramble for alternative supplies. Some of Canada's allies, including Germany and Japan, have asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to play a major role in increasing LNG supplies.

Ottawa wants to develop a Canadian LNG industry to boost the economy, but has also pledged to cut emissions by at least 40% by 2030.

The terminal, which LNG Canada says would have the lowest emissions intensity in the world, will emit 4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually with both phases based on natural gas power. That's the equivalent of 0.6% of Canada's total 2020 emissions.

Electrifying Phase 2 is expected to be more expensive than using natural gas. But buyers may pay more for LNG produced with lower emissions, Klein said, noting that some buyers already purchase carbon offsets for LNG cargoes.

He said he is satisfied the province of B.C. can generate enough electricity for the terminal - the issue is how quickly it can build new transmission lines and how that would impact Phase 2 costs.

Mora Scott, a BC Hydro spokesperson, said the utility expects to have more than enough power until the end of the decade and is planning for scenarios including rapid growth from mining and LNG development.

Future LNG projects need to fit within B.C.'s climate goals, the province's ministry of energy said in a statement, while federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said it was up to B.C. to decide what to do with its electricity.

LNG production accounts for only 15% of the greenhouse gases associated with it, and the rest enters the atmosphere when consumers burn the gas, suggesting the governments' emphasis on electrification of the terminal is misplaced, said Bruce Robertson, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, an independent energy research group.

"This is a classic example of how perverse carbon accounting is," he said. "The LNG industry in Canada is conveniently excluding where most of the emissions occur."

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg and Nia Williams in British Columbia, additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal, editing by Denny Thomas and Deepa Babington)

POSTMODERN STALINISM
Vietnam lawmakers to hold rare extraordinary meeting - sources

 Deputies of Vietnam's National Assembly attend the opening ceremony of the Autumn session in Hanoi

Mon, January 16, 2023

(Reuters) - Vietnam's legislature is expected to hold a rare extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, according to three sources, following a similar gathering earlier this month when two deputy prime ministers were dismissed.

The meeting of the National Assembly would come as the communist country pursues a "blazing furnace" anti-corruption crackdown that has already led to the arrest of a health minister and investigations into hundreds of senior officials.

Three sources familiar with government and parliament affairs, who declined to be identified due to the political sensitivity of the matter, said the legislature may ratify resignations of more high-ranking officials this week.

This would signal a further escalation in the corruption crackdown even as concerns grow that it may affect economic sentiment and investment.

A National Assembly information official declined to comment on the possible meeting. Calls to two other parliament officials went unanswered.

Such meetings are rare in Vietnam's rubber-stamp legislature and it is unusual for two to be held close together, or in the run-up to the Lunar New Year, the country's long holiday period.

The assembly on Jan. 5 voted to dismiss two of the government's deputy prime ministers, in a move sources said might be tied to graft scandals.

Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led by four "pillars": the powerful Communist Party secretary, the largely ceremonial president, the prime minister and the chair of the assembly.

(Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor, Martin Petty)

Brazil's crowdfunded insurrection leaves paper trail for police

Mon, January 16, 2023 
By Gabriel Stargardter and Marcela Ayres

BRASILIA (Reuters) - With a Brazil flag draped around his neck and his feet propped up on a dark wooden table, Samuel Faria leaned back in the Brazilian Senate president's ceremonial chair which he had just commandeered and surveyed the chaos on the lawn outside.

"It's kicking off out there," he said, watching from his Senate perch as fellow yellow-and-green clad supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ransacked government buildings in Brasilia on Jan. 8. He then thanked his patrons.

"I've got money in the bank," he said, as he livestreamed Brazil's worst political crisis in a generation. "Thanks to you dear patriots ... who helped us, lots of friends sponsoring us with Pix."

A wildly successful government-run payments system, Pix has become a key financial pillar underpinning Bolsonaro's election-denial movement, allowing his most ardent fans to crowdfund their alternative media outlets and far-right demonstrations culminating in the chaos of Jan. 8.

But now, as authorities seek to identify the funders of the Brasilia riots, the same tool that helped to forge the insurgent movement will be used by investigators to take it down, around a dozen police and anti-money laundering officials told Reuters.

"We have a secure and consistent line of investigation focused on tracking financial movements undertaken via Pix," said a senior federal police officer involved in the sprawling, nationwide investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing probe. "The financiers' time is up."

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading the criminal probe into the insurrection, and Justice Minister Flavio Dino have said they plan to prioritize uncovering the financiers of the riots, who will likely face similar charges to the 1,398 arrested rioters. They are accused of crimes including terrorism and attempting a coup.

A federal cop working the Supreme Court probe said initial investigations suggested the insurrection was financed by farmers and trucking magnates from Bolsonaro strongholds in the interior of Brazil. However, police had yet to identify a big fish, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity: "Nobody of relevance yet."

The federal police press office declined to comment about an active investigation.

Faria, the Senate invader from the city of Socorro, in Sao Paulo state, did not respond to a request for comment.

Launched in November 2020 and run by Brazil's central bank, Pix is free of charge for individuals, allowing them to instantly transfer money to others via online banking apps.

It has been a huge success, used by everyone from beggars to billionaires. Since its launch, over 133 million Brazilians and almost 12 million companies have made or received Pix transfers, according to the central bank. Transactions to date have totaled around 16 trillion reais ($3 trillion) and outpaced debit and credit card payments last year.

Pix has entered all facets of Brazilian life, including the vast, unruly universe of blogs and YouTube channels that serve as a hotbed for Bolsonaro's core supporters.

Pro-Bolsonaro influencers advertise their Pix "keys" on YouTube videos and Instagram livestreams, asking followers to send instant contributions to their bank accounts.

Enzo Leonardo Suzin, a conservative YouTuber known as Enzuh, said most of his income still came from ads, but Pix contributions now represented up to 20% of revenue.

"I always used crowdfunding to improve the quality of the channel," said Suzin, who was targeted in 2020 by a Supreme Court probe into alleged fake news but has never been charged.

Pix has become ubiquitous thanks to the fact it is free and instantaneous. Its reach has been a boon to fundraisers, who can easily receive transfers from across Brazil.

Since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the Oct. 30 election, Suzin had noticed Pix becoming widely used by the hardcore Bolsonaro supporters agitating for a coup in encampments outside military bases across Brazil, including the army headquarters in Brasilia.

Many of them had paused their lives and were using social media to solicit contributions from like-minded "patriots".

"Many influencers and some everyday folks there financed themselves exclusively via Pix," Suzin said.

INVESTIGATIVE TRAIL

Police, money-laundering experts and central bank officials said Pix donations will be central to investigators' efforts to uncover who orchestrated the insurrection. Several officials requested anonymity to discuss the probes underway.

"It's an extremely powerful tool within that investigative context, and I have no doubt it will be used," said Bernardo Mota, a former official at the Council for Financial Activities Control (Coaf), Brazil's financial intelligence unit.

Pix transfers are covered by bank secrecy laws, and police can only access a suspect's transaction history with judicial authorization.

Although Pix does not offer more traceability than previous systems, experts said the fact it is administered by the central bank removes a layer of bureaucracy, allowing investigators to sidestep dealing with private banks.

That is particularly useful in an investigation such as this one, Mota said, with a need to quickly trace what could be hundreds or even thousands of different financiers cross Brazil.

One of the most common types of Pix key is a person's phone number, offering investigators a shortcut to seek wiretaps and subpoena chat records.

"I think that speed allows you to identify the relations between the people involved, and especially those who financed it all," Mota said. "You might have people who financed it and weren't there (in Brasilia) that day. Through the financial links you can identify them."

The central bank said in a statement that "all Pix operations are traceable," adding that it "always works closely with the competent authorities in the investigation of any crimes involving the financial system."

Pix has its investigative drawbacks, experts said. With a growing share of daily transactions now carried out over the system, it may be time-consuming for investigators to separate suspicious transfers from everyday spending.

A current central bank official said a slew of new financial technology companies and digital payment processors had increased access to banking in Brazil, while also making it easier to open an account with little or even false information.

With Pix, protestors could "gather resources for everything we needed," said Oswaldo Eustaquio, another high-profile Bolsonarista. "Money was never a problem for us."

(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter in Rio de Janeiro and Marcela Ayres in Brasilia; Editing by Brad Haynes and Chris Sanders)

Why is Pakistan teetering on the brink of default?



Mimansa Verma
Mon, January 16, 2023 

Over the past several months, Pakistan has faced a crisis similar to Sri Lanka’s, with a weak currency and the highest-ever inflation rate. Things may be reaching a flashpoint now.

Home to 2.8 million people, India’s neighbor is on the verge of bankruptcy amid deep political instability. Devastating floods between June and August 2022, compounded by the global economic turmoil sparked by the Ukraine war, have precipitated a disaster that has been in the making for many years.

Faltering GDP growth had made it difficult for Pakistan to service debt of $274 billion, which was nearly 79% of Pakistan’s GDP as of September 2022.

So bad is the situation now that the country has put up its embassy building in the US on sale. Its textile industry, accounting for around 60% of its exports, has come on a verge of closure. Shopping malls, wedding halls, restaurants, and markets have been asked to operate shorter working hours to conserve energy.

With the state unable to fund imports, containers of essential food items, raw materials, and medical equipment are held up at the Karachi port. Banks have refused to issue new letters of credit for importers.

Pakistan’s economic woes have historical roots—from dismal foreign direct investment to poor business climate to dysfunctional domestic energy markets and poor tax collection.

Pakistan’s depleting forex reserves

By Jan. 6, the country’s forex reserves had dwindled to $4.3 billion, the lowest level in nearly nine years. This wasn’t enough to cover even a month of imports, leave alone the more than $8 billion it has to repay in loans this quarter.

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Over the past year, the Pakistani rupee has shed over 20% to trade at 228.75 per dollar (Jan. 16), making imports costlier. The currency’s decline accelerated in April when prime minister Imran Khan was ousted following a no-confidence vote.

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Pakistan’s deepening debt crisis

Last year’s cataclysmic flood broke the proverbial back of the cash-strapped nation, which was already grappling with high debt. Pakistan’s agriculture, food, livestock, and fisheries sectors lost $3.7 billion in the catastrophe, according to a report by the country’s planning commission. Long-term losses were estimated at around $9.24 billion.

About half of the $7 billion loan, extended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2019, has already been disbursed. Now, especially with the Imran Khan government’s collapse, that deal has been put on hold since Pakistan has not taken measures to generate revenues enough for repayment.

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Hyperinflation has sparked chaos on the streets

Pakistan recorded headline inflation of 24.5% in December 2022, double of 12.3% from a year ago. Onion prices have surged 501% year-on-year; staples such as rice, wheat, pulses, and salt now cost nearly 50% more than they did a year ago.

The worst-ever flour crisis is ravaging the country, with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan provinces even reporting stampedes for the grain and flour. Balochistan’s food minister Zamarak Achakzai, last week, warned of worse as stocks of subsidized flour have been completely depleted.

Pakistan, the world’s 8th biggest producer of wheat, is now importing 75 lakh tonnes of it to plug the shortage.

“The priority should be to tame inflation through sound macroeconomic policies...to provide targeted relief to those hit hardest by rising prices, including through expanded social protection programs, and to address the distortions that discourage trade and productivity,” said Derek HC Chen, author of a World Bank’s report published on Pakistan in October.

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There are other macroeconomic risks, too, that Pakistan must tackle: a large current account deficit, high public debt, and subdued demand in Pakistan’s traditional export markets.

A helping hand from the world

The Pakistan government has said it needs more than $16 billion over the next three years to rebuild infrastructure lost to floods.

Last week, several countries came together to pledge aid of $9 billion to it. The United Arab Emirates, besides rolling over $2 billion that Pakistan owes it, agreed to provide an additional $1 billion to help it avoid default.

However, this may not be enough. Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has, meanwhile, attempted to break the deadlock with the IMF. It must be noted that IMF has bailed out Pakistan multiple times in its 75-year membership.

Move over Ben Franklin: Laser lightning rod electrifies scientists



 Lightnings flash over Tirana

Mon, January 16, 2023 
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Benjamin Franklin fashioned the first lightning rod in the 1750s following his famous experiment flying a kite with a key attached during a thunderstorm, the American inventor had no way of knowing this would remain the state of the art for centuries.

Scientists now are moving to improve on that 18th century innovation with 21st century technology - a system employing a high-powered laser that may revolutionize lightning protection. Researchers said on Monday they succeeded in using a laser aimed at the sky from atop Mount Santis in northeastern Switzerland to divert lightning strikes.

With further development, this Laser Lightning Rod could safeguard critical infrastructure including power stations, airports, wind farms and launchpads. Lightning inflicts billions of dollars in damage on buildings, communication systems, power lines and electrical equipment annually while also killing thousands of people.


The equipment was hauled to the mountaintop at an altitude of about 8,200 feet (2,500 meters), some parts using a gondola and others by helicopter, and was focused on the sky above a 400-foot-tall (124-meter-tall) transmission tower belonging to telecommunications provider Swisscom, one of Europe's structures most affected by lightning.

In experiments during two months in 2021, intense laser pulses - 1,000 times per second - were emitted to redirect lightning strikes. All four strikes while the system was active were successfully intercepted. In the first instance, the researchers used two high-speed cameras to record the redirection of the lightning's path by more than 160 feet (50 meters). Three others were documented with different data.

"We demonstrate for the first time that a laser can be used to guide natural lightning," said physicist Aurelien Houard of Ecole Polytechnique's Laboratory of Applied Optics in France, coordinator of the Laser Lightning Rod project and lead author of the research published in the journal Nature Photonics.

Lightning is a high-voltage electrical discharge between a cloud and the ground, within a cloud or between clouds.

"An intense laser can generate on its path long columns of plasmas in the atmosphere with electrons, ions and hot air molecules," Houard said, referring to positively charged particles called ions and negatively charged particles called electrons.

"We have shown here that these plasma columns can act as a guide for lightning," Houard added. "It is important because it is the first step toward a laser-based lightning protection that could virtually reach a height of hundreds of meters (yards) or a kilometer (0.6 mile) with sufficient laser energy."

The laser device is the size of a large car and weighs more than 3 tons. It uses lasers from German industrial machine manufacturing company Trumpf Group. With University of Geneva scientists also playing a key role, the experiments were conducted in collaboration with aerospace company ArianeGroup, a European joint venture between Airbus SE and Safran SA.

This concept, first proposed in the 1970s, has worked in laboratory conditions, but until now not in the field.

Lightning rods, dating back to Franklin's time, are metal rods atop buildings, connected to the ground with a wire, that conduct electric charges lightning strikes harmlessly into the ground. Their limitations include protecting only a small area.

Houard anticipated that 10 to 15 years more work would be needed before the Laser Lightning Rod can enter common use. One concern is avoiding interference with airplanes in flight. In fact, air traffic in the area was halted when the researchers used the laser.

"Indeed, there is a potential issue using the system with air traffic in the area because the laser could harm the eyes of the pilot if he crosses the laser beam and looks down," Houard said.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

High-powered lasers can be used to steer lightning strikes

The technology could protect rocket launchpads and power plants.


Scientify/University of Geneva

Jon Fingas
·Reporter
Mon, January 16, 2023 

Lightning rods have been used to safely guide strikes into the ground since Benjamin Franklin's day, but their short range (roughly the same radius as the height) and fixed-in-place design makes them ineffective for protecting large areas. The technology may finally be here to replace them in some situations. European researchers have successfully tested a system that uses terawatt-level laser pulses to steer lighting toward a 26-foot rod. It's not limited by its physical height, and can cover much wider areas — in this case, 590 feet — while penetrating clouds and fog.

The design ionizes nitrogen and oxygen molecules, releasing electrons and creating a plasma that conducts electricity. As the laser fires at a very quick 1,000 pulses per second, it's considerably more likely to intercept lightning as it forms. In the test, conducted between June and September 2021, lightning followed the beam for nearly 197 feet before hitting the rod.



Researchers have been exploring laser lightning guides for years. However, experiments have typically been limited to much shorter distances and relatively slow pulses that were more likely to miss lighting as it formed. Dr. Aurélien Houard, who helped lead the project, told the Wall Street Journal that this laser shot 100 times more pulses per second than in previous attempts.

It could be a long while before lasers are used beyond experiments. The University of Glasgow's Matteo Clerici, who didn't work on the project, noted to The Journal that the laser in the experiment costs about $2.17 billion dollars. The discoverers also plan to significantly extend the range, to the point where a 33-foot rod would have an effective coverage of 1,640 feet.

If the scientists succeed, the breakthrough could make lightning protection viable across large areas. This would be particularly useful for safeguarding rocket launchpads, where lightning strikes can force mission delays if they're too close to the flight path. They could also be helpful for protecting airports, power plants, forests and other sprawling locations where a strike could prove catastrophic

Giant Lasers Will Protect Us From Lightning Strikes

Maddie Bender
Mon, January 16, 2023

Maksim Isachenko / Getty

For all the technological innovation the modern industrial age has afforded us, protection against lightning is not on the list. To guard our homes and buildings from lightning strikes and subsequent fires, we still rely on the lightning rod, a technology invented by Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. Yes, really: Our best method at directing lightning still comes from the guy who tied a metal key to a kite and flew it during a thunderstorm.

Still, Franklin’s lightning rod—consisting of a conductive metal rod that directs lightning to strike the ground via a wire—works well for most situations. “The classical Franklin Rod is very efficient and relatively cheap,” Aurélien Houard, a physicist at École polytechnique in Palaiseau, France, told The Daily Beast in an email. “Its main limitation is related to its size, and to the fact that you cannot install lightning rods everywhere, while lightning strikes can fall almost everywhere.”

Lightning storms don’t just cause damage to buildings. Bolts can strike people, lead to hundreds of injuries and about 20 deaths each year in the U.S., and ignite devastating wildfires. Creating ways to protect more than just buildings from lightning’s damage—or better yet, devising a single method to attract lightning bolts and discharge them safely—would represent the biggest breakthrough in centuries for this area of study.

Improbably enough, scientists have managed to do just that. A team led by Houard and Swiss physicist Jean-Pierre Wolf have presented results that provide evidence that intense, short laser pulses can guide and potentially even trigger lightning to strike a single source. Their findings were published on Jan. 16 in the journal Nature Photonics.

TRUMPF/Martin Stollberg

In the 1960s, researchers discovered that lightning could be triggered and controlled by shooting small rockets attached to a conducting wire into the air during a storm. While clearly not a practical solution, the science behind this method gave the physicists an idea: Why not use a laser instead to emit a continuous conductive beam of energy and extend the range of a lightning rod?

“The laser creates a virtual extension of the metallic rod,” Houard explained, noting that a rod is typically only a few meters tall and can only protect as many meters far as it is tall. Lasers produce narrow beams of light, heating and detaching electrons from the air molecules in its path that can then conduct electricity. Lightning prefers to travel down a conductive path (which is why lightning rods work in the first place), so a giant laser beam will naturally guide it to the smaller metal rod underneath.

The physicists led an experiment during the summer of 2021 to test out their laser mountain on top of a telecommunications tower that itself was atop Mount Säntis, the highest mountain in a massif in northeastern Switzerland. After transporting the laser by truck and reassembling it at the peak of the mountain, the physicists operated the laser during thunderstorms between July and September 2021 for a total of 6 hours and 20 minutes.

By analyzing high-speed footage and a device that measures very-high-frequency activity characteristic of lightning strikes, the researchers found that the laser successfully guided four different lightning strikes. Shockingly, one of these strikes followed the path of the laser for more than 50 meters down to the metal rod, an impressively long distance.

Unlike previous unsuccessful attempts to construct a laser lightning rod, Houard said the group’s laser generated over 100 times more shots per second—since lightning can develop and discharge in milliseconds, this kind of precision likely played a crucial role in the team’s success. Additionally, the laser’s location upped the odds that lightning would strike in the general vicinity of the laser:

“In most of the places, lightning develops from the cloud to the ground, and it is impossible to predict precisely where it will go,” Houard said. “But on Mount Säntis, all the lightning flashes are hitting the tower, and this happens almost 100 times per year.”

Houard said that the researchers hope to repeat their experiment using different colored lasers and vary the amount of energy expended per pulse to collect more data and increase the lightning rod’s ambit. Then, they would like to test the laser in settings more similar to a real-world environment, not at the top of a mountain. Theoretically, with enough laser energy, one could generate temporary protection with a laser lightning rod hundreds of meters tall and protect very large and tall structures.

Though the analyzed results are only coming to light now, Wolf told CNN that the experiment’s success would have been apparent months earlier when experimentation ended in September 2021. “I think that at the end of September we will either open a bottle of champagne or a bottle of whiskey, if you see what I mean,” he said.