Russia set to mothball ruptured Nord Stream pipelines in a sign that Moscow has given up on Europe as a key buyer

Zahra Tayeb
Fri, March 3, 2023 

Nord Stream pipelines.

Russia is set to seal up the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to Europe as there are no plans to repair them, Reuters reported.

It's a sign Moscow has given up on Europe as a key buyer of its gas in the face of strong Asian demand.

"Unless the war ends, there's no reason to start repairing them - literally anytime there might be a repetition of the entire thing," a Kpler analyst told Insider.

Russia is set to mothball the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to Europe as it doesn't plan to repair them, according to Reuters.

The new development is a sign Moscow has given up on Europe as its key gas market, with the country now leaning heavily on buyers from Asia.

"Unless the war ends, there's no reason to start repairing them - literally anytime there might be a repetition of the entire thing," Kpler analyst Viktor Katona told Insider, adding there's "not a healthy atmosphere around Nord Stream."

Last September, explosions ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines and set the Baltic sea boiling with leaking methane gas. It disrupted the supply of Russian gas to the continent and exacerbated a crippling energy crisis, given Moscow typically supplied about 40% of Europe's natural gas.

Immediately after the catastrophe, US and European officials blamed Russia for a committing "gross sabotage." But Russia claims it didn't destroy the gas pipelines, and recently demanded the US to prove Washington wasn't involved in the incident following a scathing report.

Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom has said it is technically possible to restore the blown-up pipelines but that there's no point in doing so - as Moscow sees little hope of mending relations with the West after it slapped the country with harsh sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine, two sources close to the matter told Reuters.

After Europe shunned Russia's energy exports, Moscow has turned to Asia as it scrambled to find new buyers. Since the war broke out, China has emerged as a leading buyer of Russian oil and gas, securing the commodities at steep discounts.

"Another point - Gazprom is now pouring money into the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline, effectively a replica of Nord Stream 2 with the difference that it's going into China. That project is priority number one for them, so if they can choose where they'd invest the money, they'd naturally gravitate towards the safer option," Katona said.

Sorry, Fed, Most US Mortgage Rates Were Locked In During Pandemic Lows

Ben Holland
Fri, March 3, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- More than 40% of all US mortgages were originated in 2020 or 2021, when the pandemic drove borrowing costs to historic lows and triggered a refinancing boom, according to data from Black Knight.

That’s good news for all the homeowners who locked in cheap loans — but maybe not so great for the Federal Reserve, as it seeks to cool the economy by raising interest rates.

Almost one-quarter of all mortgages are 2021 vintage, according to Black Knight, a mortgage technology and data provider. That year, the average cost of a 30-year fixed-rate loan touched a low of 2.8%. Another 18% of home loans date from the previous year, when the pandemic hit.

The numbers illustrate one obstacle for the Fed, which is hiking rates at the steepest pace in decades to rein in inflation.

One way that monetary tightening works is by damping consumer demand, as credit becomes more expensive. That’s having an impact on housing markets now, because new buyers have to pay 7% or more. But the large majority of American homeowners have fixed mortgages, mostly much cheaper than today’s going rate. Those who refinanced in the pandemic have locked in extra purchasing power for potentially decades ahead.

Things used to be different when more Americans had mortgages that carried variable interest rates. In a report this week, UBS economists estimated that the share of floating-rate debt in the US mortgage pile has shrunk to about 5%, from a peak of around 40% in 2006. That’s one reason for the “lower responsiveness of household credit to higher rates,” they wrote.

Still, even if the shift to fixed-rate mortgages makes the Fed’s anti-inflation campaign a little harder, there’s an obvious upside.

The last time the Fed hiked rates by a comparable amount was in the mid-2000s when adjustable-rate mortgages were widespread. The result: Housing markets crashed — and not long afterwards, so did the world economy.

PLANNING VS THE MARKET

China has a 'stunning lead' over the US in the research of 37 out of 44 critical and emerging technologies, new study finds

Huileng Tan
Fri, March 3, 2023

China has a 'stunning lead' over the US in the research of 37 out of 44 of critical and emerging technologies, new study finds.Jason Lee / REUTERS

China leads the US in the research of 37 out of 44 key technologies tracked by an Australian think tank.


These critical and emerging technologies span a range of sectors including defense, space, and energy.


China's research lead in these sectors could have implications for democratic nations.

China has a "stunning lead" ahead of the US in high-impact research across critical and emerging technologies, according to Canberra-based independent think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI.

The world's second-largest economy is leading the US in researching 37 out of 44 critical and emerging technologies across the defense, space, energy, and biotechnology sectors — including research of advanced aircraft engines, drones, and electric batteries — the ASPI said in its Thursday report. The US State Department partly funded the study.


The ASPI found that for a few fields, all of the world's top 10 research institutions are in China, and they collectively generate nine times more high-impact research papers than the second-ranked country — which is the US in many cases. In particular, China has the edge in defense and space-related technologies, the ASPI said.

"Western democracies are losing the global technological competition, including the race for scientific and research breakthroughs," the report, led by the institute's senior analyst Jamie Gaida, said.

The ASPI said China's lead is the product of "deliberate design and long-term policy planning" by President Xi Jinping's administration and those who came before him.

The report's authors warned that China's research dominance in strategic sectors could have adverse implications for democratic nations.

In the immediate term, the lead could allow China to "gain a stranglehold on the global supply of certain critical technologies." In the longer run, China's leading position could propel it to excel in almost all sectors, including technologies that don't exist yet, per the ASPI.

"Unchecked, this could shift not just technological development and control but global power and influence to an authoritarian state where the development, testing and application of emerging, critical and military technologies isn't open and transparent and where it can't be scrutinized by independent civil society and media," the think-tank said.

The ASPI urges governments around the world to collaborate and invest more in research to catch up to China. It also recommended measures such as visa screening for visitors to research facilities to limit "illegal technology transfers" to China and said governments should consider "narrow limits" on the movements of researchers who are experts in strategic sectors.

"Recruiting personnel to lead research programs in, for example, defense-relevant technologies in adversarial states poses a clear threat to a country's national security," said the ASPI. It added that serious national-security risks need to be identified before movement restrictions are implemented as they need to be weighed against a person's right to freedom of movement.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a scheduled press conference on Friday that her country's scientific and technological progress contribute to global technological advancement.

"We oppose hegemonism in science, decoupling, and breaking of industrial and supply chains," said Mao, according to an official transcript. "Politicizing scientific and technological issues, using them as weapons for ideological confrontation and patching up coteries harm the interests of the whole world."

Harshest Chicago Mayor Race in Years Is Being Fueled by Citadel Donors and Unions





Isis Almeida, Bill Allison and Gregory Korte
Fri, March 3, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Chicago’s mayoral runoff could be swayed by executives at Citadel and Madison Dearborn Partners as well as the country’s largest teachers unions.

Paul Vallas, the city’s ex-schools chief who pledged to be tough on crime and restaff the police force, is backed by personal donations from executives at hedge fund Citadel and private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners. He has raised $6.3 million — more than any other candidate except Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who lost her reelection bid on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Brandon Johnson, the Cook County commissioner and the only candidate who didn’t vow to rebuild the depleted police force but denied plans to defund it, has collected $4.2 million. Labor groups led the way, with three unions accounting for more than half that total.

The candidates’ campaign coffers will give them the fuel to keep going in one of the most polarized races Chicago has witnessed in 40 years. The third-largest US city is facing rising crime, high taxes and a slow economic recovery from the pandemic.

“If Vallas has unlimited money, which I assume he will, he can be on TV every day telling people that Brandon Johnson wants to defund the police, wants to raise your taxes,” said Frank Calabrese, an independent political consultant in Chicago. “That would be decisive in the race because voters are still new to Brandon Johnson.”

And campaign funds will be even more crucial now that infinite cash will be able to flow in. On Thursday, Vallas donated just over $100,000 to his own campaign, a move that will allow both candidates to receive unlimited donations, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Chicago is grappling with rising violence that’s sparked outrage among residents and business leaders. Crime incidents jumped 41% last year and have increased 33% since 2019, the year Lightfoot took office.

Addressing public safety has been a constant challenge for one of the most segregated cities in the US. Black and Hispanic residents live primarily in neighborhoods in the city’s South and West sides, where unemployment rates are higher, and many White residents are based in the North side. While Chicagoans vote across racial lines, that wasn’t always the case and racial politics still matter.

The last time a race was so divisive was in 1983, when the city still had partisan elections and Harold Washington formed a Democratic coalition of Black and Latino voters to beat White rivals. He became the city’s first Black mayor.

Chicago’s current nonpartisan format requires a winner to garner at least 50% of the vote. Vallas, the only White candidate in the nine-person field, was the top vote-getter with 34%. Johnson, one of seven Black candidates, advanced with 20% of the votes. They’ll meet on April 4 in the runoff.

Business Community

Vallas, 69, was backed by the police union and has pledged to overhaul a scheduling system that’s prompted officer burnout. He has also earned the support of many business leaders, with Citadel Chief Operating Officer Gerald Beeson recently inviting him to speak at a private function at the fund’s building, according to a person familiar with the event.

Beeson and Peng Zhao, chief executive officer of Citadel Securities, also gave Vallas $100,000 each. James Perry, a co-founder of Madison Dearborn Partners, donated $350,000. Golf course owner Michael Keiser — the biggest donor to the Vallas campaign — poured in a whopping $700,000.

Billionaire Ken Griffin cited crime as a reason for moving the headquarters of his Citadel hedge fund from Chicago to Miami last year. He isn’t backing any of the candidates and hasn’t donated to the race.

“Vallas will get the city back on track,” said Craig J. Duchossois, executive chair of Duchossois Group Inc., a privately held investment firm headquartered in Chicago, who gave Vallas $10,000 in January and said he will give more. “We can’t afford to defund the police. We need to invest in our officers, provide them first-class equipment, top-quality training and instill a solid sense of pride and camaraderie.”

Local Communities

Johnson, 46, won the trust of local communities by focusing on mental health in the fight against crime.

He didn’t push to raise the number of police officers in Chicago, which has dropped by about 12% since 2019 as the pandemic sparked a wave of retirements.

When Lightfoot realized Johnson was rising in the polls in the weeks ahead of the elections, she accused him of making the city unsafe by planning to defund the police, something he denied.

Johnson argued his strategy was “to get smart, not just tough” on crime.

He also gained popularity with working mothers — who struggled with several school strikes over the years — after he was endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union.

His campaign received $1.1 million from the American Federation of Teachers and the CTU. He also got more than $500,000 from the Illinois Federation of Teachers and $957,000 from the SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana PAC.

Johnson’s position as the more progressive of the two Democratic candidates puts him in prime position to pick up votes that went to Lightfoot in the historically disinvested South and West sides of the city, said Tabitha Bonilla, an associate professor of political science at Northwestern University. Lightfoot got 17% of the total vote.

“He has this experience with unions, he’s worked as a teacher, he talks very much about neighborhood relationships with police departments,” she said.

The Latino vote that went to US Representative Jesus “Chuy” Garcia — the only Hispanic candidate — is much more likely to be split, according to Calabrese, the consultant.

Calabrese, the consultant, said both candidates could still win. Chicago is a very liberal city and it will just depends on how the remaining votes get split, he said.

During a campaign event earlier this year, Vallas said the city has to move on from “combative leadership,” without mentioning Lightfoot by name. The mayor has frequently clashed with critics and opponents.

Chicagoans are now looking for a different kind of leadership, according to Anthony Fowler, a professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.

“Brandon Johnson is so far to the left of the median voter in Chicago that, barring a major Paul Vallas scandal, it seems very unlikely that he could win the runoff,” he said.

--With assistance from Tarso Veloso, Leslie Patton, Shruti Date Singh, Elizabeth Campbell and Kim Chipman.

ROE WAS ABOUT RIGHT TO PRIVACY
Facebook and Google are handing over user data to help police prosecute abortion seekers

Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert
Sat, March 4, 2023 

Marianne Ayala/Insider

Police make requests for social media user data to aid prosecution after a crime has been committed.


Sometimes, the crime is abortion and social apps are turning over user chat logs and search history.

One legal expert said social platforms may cooperate with police even if not legally required to.

As abortion bans across the nation are implemented and enforced, law enforcement is turning to social media platforms to build cases to prosecute women seeking abortions or abortion-inducing medication – and online platforms like Google and Facebook are helping.

This spring, a woman named Jessica Burgess and her daughter will stand trial in Nebraska for performing an illegal abortion — with a key piece of evidence provided by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Burgess allegedly helped her daughter find and take pills that would induce an abortion. The teenage Burgess also faces charges for allegedly illegally disposing of the fetus' remains.

TechCrunch reported internal chat logs were provided to law enforcement officers by the social media company, which indicated the pair had discussed their plan to find the medication through the app.

Meta said in a statement regarding the Nebraska incident that it responded to "valid legal warrants from local law enforcement" prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned nationwide abortion rights and allowed for bans in some states.

And though the warrants Meta responded to in this case "did not mention abortion" — since law enforcement had requested the chat logs while investigating the teen's disposal of the remains, which incidentally revealed the discussion of abortion pills — the subsequent charges reveal how data released by social media companies can be used to prosecute people for abortion, even when they are being investigated for other reasons.
Pharmacies sharing data

An investigation by ProPublica found online pharmacies that sell abortion medication such as mifepristone and misoprostol are sharing sensitive data, including users' web addresses, relative location, and search data, with Google and other third-party sites — which allows the data to be recoverable through law enforcement requests.

ProPublica found similar web trackers that capture user data on the sites of at least nine online pharmacies that offer abortion pills by mail, including Abortion Ease, BestAbortionPill.com, PrivacyPillRX, PillsOnlineRX, Secure Abortion Pills, AbortionRx, Generic Abortion Pills, Abortion Privacy, and Online Abortion Pill Rx.

None of the pharmacies immediately responded to Insider's requests for comment.

Representatives for the FBI told Insider they were "unable to accommodate" Insider's detailed request for information about the criteria required for officers to issue a request for a civilian's social media or internet history, what information is generally turned over to them in the pursuit of such information, and what channels officers used to make those requests.

Representatives for Google and the Los Angeles and New York Police Departments, two of the largest police forces in the country, did not respond to Insider's requests for comment.

"We comply with government requests for user information only where we have a good-faith belief that the law requires us to do so," a spokesperson for Meta told Insider. "In addition, we assess whether a request is consistent with internationally recognized standards on human rights, including due process, privacy, free expression and the rule of law. When we do comply, we only produce information that is narrowly tailored to that request. If we determine that a request appears to be deficient or overly broad, we push back and will fight in court, if necessary. We do not provide governments with 'back doors' to people's information."

According to internal statistics provided by Meta, the company complies with government requests for user data more than 70% of the time and receives more than 400,000 requests per year.

"Certainly, we expect that social media companies are gonna cooperate with law enforcement when they make legitimate information requests, we need them to do that," Eric Goldman, law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and co-director of the school's High Tech Law Institute, told Insider. "But we also know that social media isn't likely to stand up to illegitimate law enforcement requests, because of the fact that they fear their own liability, or because of the fact that it's just too costly to stand up."

Goldman indicated examples where internet services affirmatively go to court to protect user interest, "but those are the exceptions."

"There's thousands of requests for every one of those cases, and there's thousands of other decisions that the company made to just turn over the data because it's just easier quicker that way," Goldman said. "So law enforcement knows that they can make requests of social media, including court requests that do not comply with law, and expect to get most of them honored simply because that is the path of least resistance for the social media services."
No incentive to protect privacy

While cases against people seeking abortions are increasingly being informed by user data provided by social media companies, those aren't the only prosecutions being built off of what people share online.

Public social media posts can be used to build cases against people for major cases including child abuse and murder, as well as against less serious incidents that could have first amendment implications, such as jokesters who tweeted threats against airlines and memes interpreted by the DOJ as election interference.

Private content by users — such as location data or messages — requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before it can be turned over.

But "social media companies don't really have incentives to protect privacy," Sharon Docter, PhD, JD, and professor of legal issues and new media at California Lutheran University, told Insider. She said because the platforms themselves are unlikely to prioritize user privacy, the burden to do so falls on the individual user.

"Users of social media need to be concerned about privacy, and that users really need to think through the fact that their digital footprint might potentially be available to law enforcement if there's a valid search warrant," Docter added. "And they should do all they can really to protect their privacy, by looking into sending encrypted messages, by making sure their location data is off, by engaging in any efforts that they can to understand the privacy policies of the platforms that they use."

Expecting social media companies to change their policies or standardize encryption is unlikely, Docter and Goldman told Insider, since they aren't incentivized by law or user pressure to do so. However, overly broad requests made by the government are the key point of the problem, Goldman noted — not that social media is cooperating with law enforcement in the first place.

"All the angst directed social media services for being a pawn in law enforcement's game seems misdirected to me. Social media is in fact a pawn in that game," Goldman told Insider, adding people often don't want to get mad at law enforcement or the government for overreaching and instead get angry at Facebook or Google for complying with sometimes illegal requests.

"We say 'law enforcement is just trying to do their job,' right, and 'if they get some wrong along the way, but they get the bad guys, you know, the ends justify the means,'" Goldman added. "It's so tempting to give benefit of the doubt to law enforcement, and that's why it's so hard for us to confront the reality: maybe there are times they don't deserve that benefit."

Shortage of Metals for EVs Is Rising Up the Agenda in Automakers’ C-Suites




Danny Lee, David Stringer and Jacob Lorinc
Fri, March 3, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- The merry-go-round of private meetings at an annual mining industry conference at Florida’s Hollywood Beach had a cast of new faces this year: auto sector executives increasingly anxious about surging prices and tighter supply of metals used in electric vehicle batteries.

Tesla Inc., Ford Motor Co. and Mercedes-Benz Group AG were among automakers which sent senior staff to mingle with about 1,500 delegates at the BMO Global Metals & Mining Conference, an event normally attended mainly by iron ore and aluminum producers. Their presence underscores the growing popularity of battery-powered cars, helped by a global push toward clean energy, which is estimated to require $10 trillion worth of metals through 2050, according to BloombergNEF.

Car producers “had room-to-room meetings with a lot of companies, like ourselves, trying to understand how to address their own supply chain,” said Trent Mell, an attendee and chief executive officer of Electra Battery Materials Corp., a Toronto-based developer of mining and refining projects. Auto companies have recently expanded their teams and are now filling rooms with specialists in metals like lithium — the metal that’s ubiquitous in electric car batteries — and manganese, or in battery recycling, he said. “Once you might have had one or two people dealing with raw materials procurement.”

Availability and costs of crucial battery materials like lithium, cobalt and nickel have been key concerns for years among EV makers trying to build out their electric lineups. The issue has gained more urgency in recent months due to rising competition to strike supply pacts with miners and project developers and by wild swings in raw material costs. The spot value of lithium consumption alone surged to about $35 billion in 2022, from $3 billion in 2020, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Lithium “was a meaningful source of cost increase,” for Tesla in the final quarter of 2022, CFO Zachary Kirkhorn said in January. While a key lithium benchmark has tumbled almost a third this year, prices remain 590% higher than at the start of 2021.

Volvo Car AB, Nio Inc. and Jeep-maker Stellantis NV have also said they’re being affected by the impact of higher raw material prices, and some are looking for new deals with suppliers to tie-up potential sources of metals. Like others, EV maker Rivian Automotive Inc. is spending a lot of time examining potential new deal structures with suppliers, and this “could involve ownership positions” in mining assets, CEO RJ Scaringe said on a Feb. 28 earnings call.

General Motors Co. last year struck a prepayment deal for lithium, while Ford Motor Co. offered a loan to help fund a mine project.

“Investing in these raw materials provides a way for automakers to control margins along the supply chain and ensure they remain competitive,” said Andrew Miller, chief operating officer at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, an industry data provider. “Raw materials are now the largest cost driver for a battery.”

Automakers are also getting involved in the development of new mining projects.

GM added a $650 million stake in Lithium Americas Corp. to help deliver a mine in Nevada, and has considered buying an interest in Brazilian giant Vale SA’s base metals unit. Tesla, which is constructing a metal refinery in Corpus Cristi, Texas, has studied a takeover of miner Sigma Lithium Corp. The world’s No. 2 miner Rio Tinto Group is hunting for lithium deals, but expects to be outbid by car producers, CEO Jakob Stausholm said last month.

Car manufacturers are also putting more senior managers, rather than junior procurement executives, in charge of discussions over metals, according to Kent Masters, CEO of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Albemarle Corp., one of the world’s top lithium suppliers.

“It’s obviously become a more critical issue for OEMs,” Masters told the Florida conference, organized by Bank of Montreal. “We’ve been able to change the level at which we interact with those customers, and they’re investing significant amounts of money in electric vehicles.”

Read more: Musk Sees Lithium Refining Limitation as Tesla to Begin Output

Volkswagen AG has pledged to boost cooperation with Canada’s mining sector, formed a joint venture with Belgium-based materials supplier Umicore SA and has a deal with would-be lithium supplier Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd. which aims to develop an operation in Germany.

VW is “sounding out the market” and is in talks with “many potential partners” on strategic raw materials, according to a spokesperson. “Various instruments are possible, from long-term agreements to streaming deals and equity investments,” the person said. Hedging of commodities prices is likely an important tool to cope with rising raw material costs, according to the group’s CFO Arno Antlitz.

About $265.5 billion has been invested in developing EVs since 2018 but only $40 billion on raw materials, according to Battery Materials Review, which tracks investment in the sector.

Even so, some said moves by car manufacturers to buy directly into metals could be doomed by their lack of expertise in mining and dismal record on acquisitions, according to Jeff Currie, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s head of commodities.

“It always ends in tears,” he told Bloomberg Radio. “It requires an expertise that is very different than producing cars.”

--With assistance from Yvonne Yue Li, Monica Raymunt, Annie Lee, Mark Burton and Keith Naughton.

Twitter revenue plunged in December as advertisers stayed away after Elon Musk's takeover, report says

Stephanie Stacey
Sat, March 4, 2023 

Elon Musk has been trying to boost Twitter's faltering revenues.Getty Images

Twitter revenues fell about 40% in December versus the same month in 2021, per Wall Street Journal.


The slide came after many advertisers slashed spending following Elon Musk's takeover last October.


Twitter's cost-cutting strategies might also be driving away advertisers, The Information reported.

Twitter's revenues plunged in December after advertisers avoided the social media platform in the wake of Elon Musk's controversial takeover, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Unnamed sources said the company reported a 40% decline in both total revenue and adjusted profits compared with December 2021.

That came after half of Twitter's top 100 advertisers pulled out in the first month after Musk's controversial takeover, per Media Matters. More than two thirds of Twitter's top 100 advertisers before the acquisition had not returned by late February, according to Pathmatics, The Journal reported.



Twitter has tried to lure advertisers back by taking steps including lifting its three-year ban on political advertising.

Some big names including Apple and Amazon have returned to the platform, but they're again under threat due to Twitter's controversial cost-cutting strategies.

Twitter has not made payments to certain suppliers, some of which are also the platform's biggest advertisers, The Information reported. Staff were recently told that Amazon had threatened to withhold payment for its ads because Twitter had not paid its Amazon Web Services bill for several months, per the report.

Twitter's financial challenges go beyond advertisers. It also made its first interest payment on the $13 billion loan that helped fund Musk's $44 billion takeover last October, per The Journal. Annual interest payments are expected to exceed $1 billion on loans that have rates as high as 15%.

Faced with faltering advertising spend, Musk has tried to bolster revenues by promoting Twitter Blue, its paid subscription product, and monetize a number of features.

Twitter Blue, introduced last November, allows users to pay between $8 and $11 a month for the blue checkmarks that were previously reserved for high-profile figures. In its latest push for subscriptions, Twitter said it was restricting the use of text messages for two-factor authentication to paying subscribers.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider made outside normal working hours.

As momentum for new climate change legislation stalls in Washington, states look to pick up the slack

States are building on federal climate action by instituting renewable energy standards and new clean car rules.

Ben Adler
·Senior Editor
Fri, March 3, 2023 

Climate activists in New York City, Oct. 29, 2022. 

(Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)

With Republicans now in control of the House of Representatives, new federal climate change legislation is unlikely to come out of Washington, D.C., this year. But buoyed by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last fall, a number of large states are currently working on ambitious actions designed to address rising global temperatures.

“We’re excited by the progress that we’ve seen so far in the year,” Justin Balik, state program director of Evergreen Action, told Yahoo News.

The flurry of activity has been led by governors, many of whom issue their proposed annual budgets in the early months of the year.

Gov. Kathy Hochul speaking in New York City last month. 

(NDZ/Star Max/IPx 2023 via AP)
New York is fighting climate change on multiple fronts

On Feb. 1, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, proposed several initiatives to boost clean energy and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

The most significant measure Hochul took was directing state agencies to set a cap on greenhouse gas emissions that will gradually decline, reaching an 85% reduction from 1990 levels by 2050. Large polluters like oil companies would have to buy permission, in the form of credits, to create their emissions. The plan could generate $3 billion per year in revenue, with two-thirds going to New Yorkers as rebates and the rest being spent on state climate programs.

Hochul also asked the state Legislature to pass a raft of investments aimed at reducing emissions, including $400 million to help low-income residents with utility bills, in part through helping them retrofit their homes for energy efficiency and helping them switch from gas or oil burners to electric heating systems. The governor also embraced a proposal in the Legislature that would require the New York Power Authority, a publicly owned utility, to expand its renewable energy production.

“We are the first generation to feel the effects of climate change and the last generation to be able to do anything about it,” Hochul said in a statement that accompanied the announcement.

The governor is also offering billions of dollars in aid to the state’s struggling mass transit system, a move New York environmentalists praised for helping to reduce the number of gasoline-burning vehicles on the road.

“We cannot drive our way out of the climate crisis, which means we need a fiscally stable mass transit system,” said Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, in a statement on Hochul’s budget.

However, one of Hochul’s ideas has already triggered significant backlash from conservatives — and chefs: banning fossil fuel infrastructure, including lines that power gas stoves and furnaces, in new buildings. According to a Siena College poll, 53% of New Yorkers oppose the proposal and just 39% support it. Even though Hochul, a Democrat, proposed the same policy last year without generating much controversy, it has been caught up in the current culture war over gas stoves. While some high-profile eco-conscious chefs support switching to electric stoves, other restaurateurs have complained that they cannot cook certain dishes on electric ranges, with one telling the New York Post the gas ban “is just a total farce to appease the woke movement.”

A climate change protest on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.

 (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Clean energy standards

States are the primary regulators of energy utilities, and 36 of them, plus Washington, D.C., already have some goal for making a portion of their electricity from clean sources such as wind, solar, nuclear or hydropower.

Now, with the cost of renewables like wind and solar steadily dropping, some states are considering moving up their timeline or increasing the percentage of their power that comes from clean sources.

In a Feb. 15 address, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, also a Democrat, laid out a set of steps the state will take to cut its climate pollution. The most significant is an executive order moving up New Jersey’s target of relying 100% on clean energy from 2050 to 2035. Other executive orders speed the installation of high-efficiency electric heating and cooling systems in 400,000 homes and 20,000 commercial properties by 2030 and enhance flood protection in coastal and riverside areas.

In Minnesota, where Democrats regained control of the state Senate in 2022, Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill in February that mandates that the state use only clean energy by 2040.

Also in mid-February, Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills proposed a bill to move up her state’s 100% clean energy target from 2050 to 2040. Mills’s administration argues that it is economically sensible as wind and solar costs are dropping while natural gas prices have become more volatile due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the increase in exportation of gas from the U.S.

“The time has come to be bolder,” Mills said in a speech to the Legislature. “By accelerating our pace toward 100% clean energy, we will reduce costs for Maine people, create new jobs and career opportunities that strengthen our economy and protect us from the ravages of climate change.”

Maine, like New Jersey, currently gets about half of its electricity from low-carbon sources. And, like New Jersey, Democrats control both houses of the state legislature, giving the bill a good chance of passing. But Maine Republicans argue that it will increase costs for consumers.

“I think it’s a great idea if you hate poor people,” House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham quipped to the Portland Press Herald. “Otherwise coming up with arbitrary goals before affordable alternatives exist is dangerous.”

Similar divides are seen in states with split partisan control. In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has proposed new spending on clean energy, but Republicans — who control the state Legislature — say that a state budget surplus should be returned to taxpayers instead of new spending.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, right.

 (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Putting the Inflation Reduction Act into practice

States are also building out the climate provisions the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the bipartisan infrastructure law that Biden signed in 2021. Both laws included significant funding for deploying clean energy and electric vehicles, but implementation of many components is being left up to states. So, for example, states are still required to apply for funding allocated for creating a national network of 500,000 EV chargers.

Despite the often polarized politics of climate change, Republican governors are working with the Biden administration to build up EV infrastructure. Every state submitted a plan for an EV charging network to the Department of Transportation.

“Even if they’re not using the words ‘climate change’ when they are showing up at the ribbon cuttings, we've seen a number of Republican governors welcome the investment,” Balik said.

And some states are layering extra incentives on top of those already passed by Congress. Murphy, for instance, is creating a state program that will add $70 million in subsidies for EV purchases.

A host of states also are adopting California’s newest set of “Clean Car Rules.” So far, New York, Oregon, Washington and Vermont have signed on, and Massachusetts, Colorado and Delaware are in the process of doing so. The rules would require that by 2035, 100% of new-vehicle sales are zero-emissions — EVs, in other words, effectively banning the internal combustion engine.

“We see this as a generational opportunity,” Balik said. “For states, they have to both implement all these federal investments that are coming down from the infrastructure law and the IRA, and then build on the federal victories that we secured last year, and look at what state policy opportunities the federal funding and the new landscape of the IRA opens up. And the economics of clean energy look more favorable every day, especially with the new incentives in the IRA.”

Australian pension fund client queries GQG about Adani investment

The logo of the Adani Group is seen on the facade of its Corporate House on the outskirts of Ahmedabad

Fri, March 3, 2023 
By Lewis Jackson

SYDNEY (Reuters) -An Australian pension fund client of GQG Partners has asked the U.S. boutique investment firm for more information about its nearly $1.9 billion investment in the embattled Indian Adani group.

GQG Partners bought shares worth $1.87 billion in four Adani group companies, marking the first major investment in the Indian conglomerate since a short-seller's critical report sparked a stock rout.

The U.S. firm manages money on behalf of at least four major Australian pension funds with a total of A$563 billion under management. GQG's investment could expose these funds to Adani at a time when major investors, including Norway's sovereign wealth fund, are selling the stock.

Cbus Super, with A$71 billion under management, has a A$243 million emerging markets mandate with GQG Partners. A spokesperson told Reuters the fund is working to get a clear picture of its Adani exposure.

"Adani entities had not been part of the portfolio, but we are currently engaging with the external manager who has recently made acquisitions in this area," they said.

GQG Partners Australia and New Zealand managing director Laird Abernethy said in a statement the fund manager had reached out to all its institutional investors to explain the rationale for its purchase.

AustralianSuper, which has an external mandate with GQG Partners, will be exposed to the four Adani Group companies following the deal, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The $258 billion fund had no investments in Adani Group companies as of June 2022, according to a review of the most recent holdings disclosures.

A spokesperson for the A$67 billion Rest Super said the pension fund was aware of the transaction and "currently it has not impacted our portfolio."

Shares of Australia-listed GQG Partners closed down 3% on Friday after news of the investment was made public. The wider bourse edged up 0.4%.

"There's a very high level of scepticism about what that stake means, whether they've understood the risk they're taking on," said Jun Bei Liu, who manages the A$1.2 billion Tribeca Alpha Plus Fund.

New York-based short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group in a Jan. 24 report of stock manipulation and improper use of offshore tax havens that it said obscured the extent of Adani family stock ownership in group firms.

The Indian conglomerate, which has denied any wrongdoing, has since seen more than $130 billion wiped off the value of its seven listed firms.

(Reporting by Lewis JacksonEditing by Shri Navaratnam)

LORD OF WAR; U$A GUNRUNNER
UN report: Modern weapons being smuggled to Haiti from US


Firearms are displayed during a news conference at the Miami Field Office of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), that was working with other agencies to crack down on an increase of firearms and ammunition smuggling to Haiti and other Caribbean nations, on Aug. 17, 2022. Increasingly sophisticated weapons are being trafficked into Haiti mainly from the United States and especially from Florida amid worsening lawlessness in the impoverished Caribbean nation, according to a U.N. report released Friday, March 4, 2023. 

Fri, March 3, 2023 

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Increasingly sophisticated weapons are being trafficked into Haiti mainly from the United States and especially from Florida amid worsening lawlessness in the impoverished Caribbean nation, according to a U.N. report released Friday.

The report by the Vienna-based Office on Drugs and Crime said a network of criminal actors including members of the Haitian diaspora “often source firearms from across the U.S.” and smuggle them into Haiti illegally by land from the neighboring Dominican Republic, by air including to clandestine airstrips, but most frequently by sea.

“Popular handguns selling for $400-$500 at federally licensed firearms outlets or private gun shows in the U.S. can be resold for as much as $10,000 in Haiti,” the report said. “Higher-powered rifles such as AK47s, AR15s and Galils are typically in higher demand from gangs, commanding correspondingly higher prices.”

The U.S Department of Homeland Security’s investigations unit reported “a surge in firearms trafficking from Florida to Haiti between 2021 and 2022” and a spokesman described the recovery of increasingly sophisticated weapons destined for Haitian ports “including .50 caliber sniper rifles, .308 rifles, and even belt-fed machine guns,” according to the report.

“Weapons are frequently procured through straw man purchases in U.S. states with looser gun laws and fewer purchasing restrictions” and then transported to Florida where they are concealed inside consumer products, electronic equipment, garment linings, frozen food items and even the hull of freighters, it said. “On arrival in Haiti, including major hubs such as Port-de-Paix and Port-au-Prince, cargo is offloaded and passed on to end-users via a host of intermediaries.”

The 47-page report, entitled “Haiti’s Criminal Markets: Mapping Trends in Firearms and Drug Trafficking,” cites the challenges of patrolling 1,771 kilometers (1,100 miles) of Haiti's coastline and a 392-kilometer (243-mile) border with the Dominican Republic with national police, border and coast guard operations that are severely under-staffed, under-resourced and “increasingly targeted by gangs.”

The heavily-armed gangs are also targeting ports, highways, critical infrastructure, customs offices, police stations, court houses, prisons, businesses and neighborhoods, the report said. And throughout 2022 and early 2023 they have expanded their control over key access points to cities including the capital Port-au-Prince.

“Many are also engaged in predatory behavior in communities under their control contributing to rising levels of extortion, sexual violence, kidnapping and fatal violence,” it said, citing an increase in homicides from 1,615 in 2021 to 2,183 in 2022, and a doubling of kidnappings from 664 to 1,359 during the same period.

The U.N. report said private security companies in Haiti are permitted to buy and keep arms, and while independent verification isn’t possible “specialists speculate that there could be 75,000 to 90,000 individuals working with roughly 100 private security companies across the country, at least five times the number of registered police officers.”

According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Haiti has long been a trans-shipment hub to move cocaine, cannabis and to a lesser extent heroin and amphetamines to the United States and the Dominican Republic. The drugs mostly enter the country via boat or plane, arriving through public, private and informal ports as well as clandestine runways.

During the 2000s, the report said, drug traffickers moved illegal airstrips from the outskirts of Port-au-Prince northward to more isolated areas including Savane Diane, roughly 50 miles north of the capital.

When then-President Jovenal Moïse ordered the destruction of suspected clandestine airstrips in June 2021, UNODC said “local authorities refused.” A week later, he was assassinated.

Since the assassination, U.N. officials said gangs have grown more powerful, and gang violence has reached a level not seen in decades. In December, the U.N. estimated that gangs controlled 60% of Haiti’s capital, but most people on the streets in Port-au-Prince say that number is closer to 100%.

In late February, the U.N. condemned a new surge of gang violence in central Haiti.

Haiti was stripped of all democratically elected institutions when the terms of the remaining 10 senators expired in early January. No elections are on the horizon and Prime Minister Ariel Henry continues to plead for the deployment of foreign troops, a request first made in October. The international community has instead opted to impose sanctions and send military equipment and other resources.

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On the Web: https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/toc/Haiti_assessment_UNODC.pdf