Fukushima disaster: Japan marks 12 years since deadly tsunami as support grows for nuclear power

Issued on: 11/03/2023 

A minute of silence is observed in memory of the victims of the 2011 tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, on March 11, 2023. AP

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Japanese offered tearful prayers Saturday on the anniversary of the deadly tsunami that triggered the Fukushima disaster, but public support for nuclear power is growing as memories of the 2011 meltdown fade.

A minute's silence was observed nationwide at 2:46 pm (0546 GMT), the precise moment when a 9.0-magnitude quake – the fourth strongest in Earth's recorded history – devastated northeastern Japan 12 years ago.

The undersea quake unleashed a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing and overwhelmed cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, leading to the worst nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl.

All of Japan's nuclear reactors were taken offline after the disaster and the majority remain out of action today.

But the global energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine has caused electricity bills to soar in Japan, inspiring a government push to reboot reactors as polls show that public views on nuclear power are softening.

On Saturday, TV footage showed people who lost loved ones to the tsunami laying flowers, offering prayers and bowing in front of graves.

"Hi guys, it's been 12 years," public broadcaster NHK showed Fumiko Sugawara, 73, telling the grave of her family members, including her husband.

"We're surviving, so please watch over us," said the resident of Kesennuma, a city flattened when huge waves rushed ashore.

No deaths have been directly ascribed to the nuclear accident, after which around 165,000 people fled their homes in the area either voluntarily or under evacuation orders.

Most areas around the plant have since been declared safe after extensive decontamination work, but many former residents have chosen not to return.

With Japan now facing its most severe energy crunch in decades, the government wants to speed up the revival of its nuclear industry.
Opinion shifting

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has called for seven reactors approved by Japan's nuclear safety watchdog to resume operations, and for the nation to consider building "next-generation" reactors with new safety mechanisms.

Recent opinion polls by major newspapers the Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun show that a majority of people support restarting the reactors for the first time since 2011.

"The government will continue to spearhead efforts toward the safe and steadfast decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi plant – a process crucial to recovery," Kishida said at the Fukushima memorial service.

"It is our responsibility to promote efforts to build a disaster-resistant country."

Mistrust of nuclear power still runs deep among campaigners who accuse TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima plant, of safety lapses that upended local communities.

05:15

In January, Tokyo's High Court upheld the acquittal of three former TEPCO executives, again clearing them of professional negligence over the disaster.

But in a separate civil verdict last year, the trio – plus one other ex-official – were ordered to pay a whopping 13.3 trillion yen ($97 billion) for failing to prevent the accident

The enormous compensation sum is believed to be the largest ever for a Japanese civil case, although lawyers acknowledge it is well beyond the defendants' capacity to pay.

The government also plans to start releasing more than a million tonnes of treated water from the stricken Fukushima plant into the sea this year.

A combination of groundwater, rainwater that seeps into the area, and water used for cooling, it has been filtered to remove various radionuclides and kept in storage tanks on site, but space is running out.

05:56

The water release plan has been endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency but faces staunch resistance from local fishing communities and neighbouring countries.

(AFP)

Indonesia on alert after Mount Merapi volcano erupts

Clouds of hot ash and a mixture of rock, lava and gas travelled up to 7 kilometres

Mount Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano, spews gas and ash. AFP
Associated Press

Mar 11, 2023

Indonesia’s Mount Merapi erupted on Saturday, spilling gas clouds and lava, forcing a halt to tourism and mining on the slopes of the country’s most active volcano.

Merapi, on the densely populated island of Java, unleashed clouds of hot ash and a mixture of rock, lava and gas that travelled up to seven kilometres down its slopes. A column of hot gas rose 100 metres into the air, National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said.








Indonesia has more volcanoes than any other country. AFP


The eruption throughout the day blocked out the sun and blanketed villages with ash. No casualties were reported.

It was Merapi’s biggest lava flow since authorities raised the alert level to the second-highest in November 2020, said Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre.

She said residents living on Merapi’s slopes were advised to stay at least 7km from the crater’s mouth and to be aware of the danger posed by lava.

Tourism and mining activities were halted.

The 2,968-metre mountain is about 30km from Yogyakarta, an ancient centre of Javanese culture and the seat of royal dynasties. About a quarter of a million people live within 10km of the volcano.

Merapi is the most active of more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia and has repeatedly erupted recently. Its last major eruption, in 2010, killed 347 people and displaced 20,000 villagers.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.

An eruption in December 2021 of Mount Semeru, the highest volcano on Java island, killed 48 people and left 36 unaccounted for.

Stablecoin USDC breaks dollar peg after revealing $3.3 billion Silicon Valley Bank exposure

Reuters Sat March 11, 2023

Stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) lost its dollar peg and slumped to an all-time low on Saturday after Circle, the US firm behind the coin, revealed some of the reserves backing it were held at Silicon Valley Bank.

Circle has $3.3 billion of its $40 billion of USDC reserves at collapsed lender Silicon Valley Bank, the company said in a tweet Friday.

The coin broke its 1:1 dollar peg and fell as low as $0.88 early Saturday, according to market tracker CoinGecko. It recovered slightly to trade around $0.90.

Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on Friday in the largest US bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis, roiling global markets and stranding billions of dollars belonging to companies and investors.

These companies held money at Silicon Valley Bank and aren't sure if they'll recover the funds

Circle said in a tweet Friday it and USDC “continue to operate normally” while the firm waits for clarity on what will happen to Silicon Valley Bank depositors.

Circle did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the dollar peg, sent outside of US working hours.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a constant exchange rate with “fiat” currencies – those backed by a central government rather than a physical commodity such as gold – for example through a 1:1 US dollar peg.

Used in cryptocurrency trading, they have surged in value in recent years. USDC is the second-biggest stablecoin with a market cap of $37 billion. The largest, Tether, has a market cap of $72 billion, according to CoinGecko.

USDC’s price usually holds close to $1, making Saturday’s drop unprecedented. According to CoinGecko data, its previous all-time low was around $0.97 in 2018, though in 2022 it fell just below $0.99 when cryptocurrency markets were roiled by the collapse of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

How does a bank collapse in 48 hours? A timeline of the SVB fall

Traders have been on guard this week for signs of contagion in the financial sector and beyond from troubles for Silicon Valley Bank and crypto-focused Silvergate (SI), which this week disclosed plans to wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate.

Boston-based Circle said last week it had moved a “small percentage” of USDC reserve deposits held at Silvergate to its other banking partners.

The chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange Binance said in a tweet on Friday it had no exposure to Silicon Valley Bank, as did Tether Chief Executive Paolo Ardoino.

Stablecoin issuer Paxos and crypto exchange Gemini also tweeted they do not have relationships with the bank.

Silicon Valley Bank collapse: Tech firm job and pay fears as Bank of England moves to shut down US lender

Hundreds of UK and European customers, many of them small technology start-ups, have rushed to take their money out of the UK bank, according to emails seen by i

The UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank is set to be declared insolvent in one of the biggest modern banking collapses (Photo: Michaela Vatcheva/Reuters)

By David Connett

March 11, 2023 

The UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank is set to be declared insolvent by the Bank of England after its US parent company failed in one of the biggest modern banking collapses.

Bank of England (BoE) regulators said the UK-based subsidary of the California-headquartered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) will be put into insolvency on Sunday.

The move follows a decision by US regulators to step in and control its parent company.

The US bank, the 16th largest in the country with more than $208bn in assets at the start of the year, serves many of the world’s most powerful technology investors and thousands of tech companies around the world.

It collapsed on Friday becoming one of the largest lenders to fail since the 2008 global financial crisis.

US officials moved in to take over after what was effectively a run on the bank. Depositors rushed to withdraw their money amid fears SVB would not have sufficient funds to meet demands.

Its collapse has sent shockwaves across the banking and technology industries, hitting the shares of hundreds of thousands of banks and technology companies.

SVB UK attempted to reassure its customers not to panic as it had a separate balance sheet and was operating normally. In a statement, its chief executive Erin Platts, said: “Silicon Valley Bank UK has been an independent subsidiary since August 2022 with a separate balance sheet to the SVB Financial Group and an independent UK Board of directors.”

But hundreds of UK and European customers, many of them small technology start-ups, sought to get their money out of the UK bank regardless, according to emails seen by i.

Some requested customers not deposit money in their SVB accounts as they scrambled to set up accounts with alternative lenders. Other technology start-ups have sought help and advice on how to meet bills and pay staff.

In the US, a payroll service provider Rippling notified customers that some wage processes had stalled because SVB helped handle its payments. It said it had switched to another bank but many pay cheques drawing on SVB accounts had already been sent out.

It later emerged that SVB UK had applied for £1.8bn in short-term emergency funding from the Bank of England through the Bank’s discount window facility which offers help to banks if they have adequate collateral, the Financial Times reported.

Late on Friday, after discussions with SVB, the Bank of England announced it would be placing SVB UK into insolvency proceedings.

The Bank of England said Silicon Valley Bank UK would stop making payments or accepting deposits in the interim and the move would allow individual depositors to be paid up to £85,000 or £170,000 for joint account holders, from the UK’s deposit insurance scheme.

It stressed there was no wider, systemic risk to other banks. “SVBUK has a limited presence in the UK and no critical functions supporting the financial system,” the Bank said. “In the interim, the firm will stop making payments or accepting deposits,” its statement said.

Caption: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reassured other banks were not under threat. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also tried to reassure investors there was not a wider threat to the banking and technology sectors.

After meeting with Treasury officials and regulators to discuss the fallout from SVB’s collapse, a Treasury Department statement said: “Secretary Yellen expressed full confidence in banking regulators to take appropriate actions in response and noted that the banking system remains resilient and regulators have effective tools to address this type of event,” the statement said.

SVB, which had until recently more than $174bn in deposits and an A1 credit rating, began to struggle when lots of its clients began withdrawing money at a time when the wider tech sector began suffering as part of the wider economic downturn. Tens of thousands of tech workers have been laid off.

SVB said earlier this week, in order to meet its liabilities, it had to sell part of its bond deposits at a loss of $1.8bn. Its announcement startled clients and started to withdraw even more money from the bank. On Thursday customers tried to withdraw $42bn-almost a quarter of the bank’s total deposits. Queues of anxious customers were seen outside branches in California.

The bank’s share price fell by 60 per cent as a result. Trading in its shares were stopped altogether on Friday ahead of US regulators stepping in. Its directors said it was dropping a plan to sell $2.25bn new shares and instead find a buyer for the entire bank before regulators stepped in.

It was revealed that SVB’s chief executive Greg Becker legally sold $3.6m worth of bank shares less than two weeks before the firm disclosed extensive losses that led to its failure.

Neither SVB, nor Mr Becker, responded to requests as to whether he was aware of the bank’s plans to raise additional capital ahead of the sale. 

Silicon Valley Bank’s UK arm faces insolvency in blow to British tech sector

Bank of England seeks to launch insolvency procedure

By Rachel Mortimer

11 March 2023 

The Bank of England plans to place the UK arm of beleaguered Silicon Valley Bank into insolvency tomorrow, plunging British tech startups into a funding crisis.

It comes as regulators in the US intervened to shut down SVB after its customers, largely tech companies, scrambled to withdraw deposits from the lender. The bank had attempted to plug its balance sheet and raise $2.25bn (£1.87bn) following losses on investments triggered by higher interest rates.

On Friday night the Bank of England said it intended to begin insolvency procedures for Silicon Valley Bank UK (SVB UK). A statement on the lender’s website said this would begin on Sunday evening, in the absence of an “intervening event”.

Placing the bank in insolvency would allow eligible customers to claim up to £85,000 from the UK’s financial lifeboat body, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, or up to £170,000 for joint accounts.

SVB UK’s other assets and liabilities will be managed by liquidators and assets distributed to its creditors.

The Bank of England said: “SVB UK has a limited presence in the UK and no critical functions supporting the financial system. In the interim, the firm will stop making payments or accepting deposits.”

This morning the Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) said the collapse could have a “significant impact on the UK’s tech startup ecosystem” with a large number of investors having “significant exposure” to the lender.

SVB was forced to raise funds this week due to losses on investments it made when interest rates were at rock bottom. On Friday multiple venture capital firms advised start-ups they have invested in to withdraw cash.

A statement from SVB UK said: "We are determined to work on the behalf of our clients and are proud of our employees in their engagement with you. If clients have any questions please get in touch with us and we will try our best to answer any and all of your queries."

British tech firms warn of insolvency as UK arm of SVB heads for bankruptcy

Letter from companies to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says some risk insolvency within days unless a rescue is formulated

Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California, US. Its troubles are being felt across the Atlantic. Bloomberg
Matthew Davies
London
Mar 11, 2023

About 210 start-up company founders and leaders in the UK have signed a letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, warning that they could face insolvency after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States and the subsequent bankruptcy of its UK operation.

“The majority of us as tech founders are running numbers to see if we are potentially technically insolvent”, the letter said, according to sources.

The signatories said they employ more than 10,000 people and have raised venture funding totalling £3.5 billon.

“The majority of the most exciting and dynamic tech businesses bank with SVB and have no or limited diversity in where their deposits are held,” the letter said, according to the FT.

Calling on Mr Hunt to intervene, the letter also said: “The loss of deposits has the potential to cripple the sector and set the ecosystem back 20 years,” according to Bloomberg.

“Many businesses will be sent into involuntary liquidation overnight.”

Cashflow concerns

Mr Hunt has spoken to the governor of the Bank of England about the collapse of SVB and there are talks with some British high-tech companies that might be affected, according to the UK Treasury.

Treasury officials and those from the Bank of England are working together, a statement from the Treasury said, adding that a junior finance minister will discuss the concerns of some UK tech firms with industry representatives on Saturday.

“The government recognises that tech sector companies are often not cashflow positive as they grow, and that they rely on cash on deposits to cover their day-to-day costs,” the statement said.

Silicon Valley Bank became the biggest US lender to fail in more than a decade on Friday, following an unsuccessful attempt to raise capital and a run on the bank as depositors tried to withdraw funds.

The Bank of England in London said that eligible depositors in the British arm of SVB would be paid by the UK’s deposit-insurance fund. EPA

Meanwhile, eligible depositors in the British arm of SVB would be paid by the UK’s deposit-insurance fund, the Bank of England said on Friday.

Deposits are insured up to £85,000 ($102,000) or £170,000 for joint accounts, the Bank of England said.

“SVB UK has a limited presence in the UK and no critical functions supporting the financial system,” the Bank said.

“In the interim, the firm will stop making payments or accepting deposits.”

Sky News reported on Saturday that the Bank of London, which describes itself as “a leading-edge technology company and the world's first purpose-built global clearing, agency and transaction bank”, is considering a rescue bid for the UK arm of SVB.

The Bank of London did not comment on the rumour.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter captures breathtaking shot of Martian sunset (photo)

By Josh Dinner published about 22 hours ago

Ingenuity snapped the shot on Feb. 22, during its 45th Red Planet flight.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter captured this photo of the sun setting on Mars on Feb. 22, 2023, during its 45th Red Planet flight. 

(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter recently took to the skies for its 45th flight, traveling nearly one-third of a mile (0.5 kilometers) — and snapping a gorgeous shot of a Red Planet sunset in the process.

Ingenuity is still making short flights around Mars' Jezero Crater, continuing to gather data well beyond its operational life expectancy. Ingenuity arrived on the Red Planet aboard NASA's Perseverance rover, which landed on Jezero's floor in February 2021.

Ingenuity flew for the first time two months later, in April 2021, and was originally tasked with only a few test flights to prove its pioneering technology. However, having exceeded NASA's expectations, Ingenuity's mission expanded to serve as a scout for Perseverance, which is searching for signs of ancient Mars life and collecting samples for future return to Earth. Ingenuity has now flown a total of 46 times, with an accumulated distance of 6.3 miles (10.1 km).

Flights 45 and 46 occurred just three days apart, on Feb. 22 and Feb. 25, with a 47th flight expected any day now. Depending on the relative positions of Earth and Mars, a transmission between the two planets can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to reach its destination. Because of this, Ingenuity is designed to take off, fly and land on its own. Mission controllers program each flight, then must wait for data confirmation that Ingenuity has safely landed. Onboard cameras capture images used to help determine both Ingenuity and Perserverance's next steps.

Ingenuity's high-resolution color camera is angled 22 degrees below the horizon. Images relayed back to NASA from the 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) chopper are therefore primarily focused at the ground, searching for interesting geological features and potential obstacles ahead.

Occasionally, however, a sliver of Martian sky will make an appearance in one of Ingenuity's photographs, serving as a reminder that the rotorcraft is giving us a whole new perspective on the Red Planet. The helicopter captured such an image on its 45th flight, but with an even rarer subject in frame — the sun.

The photo shows the sun hanging slightly above the horizon of hilltops in the distance, caught in the process of setting on Ingenuity's 714th Martian day, or sol. The rays shining across the photograph help illuminate the rolling alien landscape of sand and rocks inside Jezero Crater, and it almost feels like a photo you could capture from a desert here on Earth. And therein lies its beauty.

These perceived similarities shape the foundation of why we explore space in the first place. That a sunset photo from a different planet can remind us so much of our own highlights the thin margin between our life-sustaining Earth and other lifeless worlds orbiting our sun and beyond. It symbolizes the very nature of Perserverance's search for ancient Martian life, and begs the question of what sunsets on what other worlds might look like — and if humanity will get to witness those someday, too.

Our first look at a Martian sunset can tell us a lot about the Red Planet’s atmosphere

NASA’s Curiosity rover captured the first hint of the Sun’s rays on Mars. This can help scientists understand more about the Martian atmosphere and its temperatures as part of a longer-term research project into clouds on the planet.

By GEORGINA TORBET
Mar 10, 2023

Image: NASA

As part of its ongoing study of Mars’ clouds, NASA’s Curiosity rover recently captured a stunning image of a Martian sunset. As the Sun sinks over the horizon, its light forms into sun rays that can be seen banding across the sky.

Technically known as crepuscular rays, this is the first time the phenomena has been imaged in such detail on Mars. And by studying the way the rays shine through the clouds, scientists can learn more about the Martian atmosphere and weather system.

Although Mars’ atmosphere is extremely thin, at just 1 percent the density of Earth’s atmosphere, it is still active and changeable. The planet experiences high winds of up to 60 miles per hour, which can pick up the fine dust particles coating much of the planet’s surface and whip them up into global dust storms. With low atmospheric pressure and considerable variation in temperatures between day and night, dynamic events like dust devils are seen regularly.

Technically known as crepuscular rays

Also due to the thin atmosphere, there are only occasional clouds in the Martian sky. With just small amounts of water vapor present in the atmosphere, the presence of clouds varies throughout the seasons. The clouds that are visible there aren’t like clouds on Earth, however, as these are composed of liquid water. On Mars, the low pressure means that clouds form from water ice or carbon dioxide (dry ice) instead.

The new images from Curiosity show clouds at a high altitude, which suggests that they are composed of carbon dioxide rather than water ice. Another image captured recently by Curiosity shows another important cloud phenomenon called iridescence. The different colors seen within the cloud can reveal information about the particles which make it up.

“Where we see iridescence, it means a cloud’s particle sizes are identical to their neighbors in each part of the cloud”

“Where we see iridescence, it means a cloud’s particle sizes are identical to their neighbors in each part of the cloud,” said Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, in a statement. “By looking at color transitions, we’re seeing particle size changing across the cloud. That tells us about the way the cloud is evolving and how its particles are changing size over time.”

The two images were stitched together from 28 individual images each. They were taken by Curiosity’s Mastcam instrument, which, unlike many previous cloud observations made using the rover’s black and white navigation cameras, can capture images in color. Curiosity has been performing its survey of the clouds since January and will continue for a few more weeks.

Curiosity has previously captured other striking views of Martian weather phenomena, like the blue sunset it imaged in 2015. The color seen there is also due to the dust in the atmosphere, following a dust storm that had left dust suspended in the atmosphere. This suspended dust scatters different colors of light by different amounts, and it scatters the light in a particular direction. That results in red light being filtered out more, so what remains is the blue color seen in the Martian sky.

House votes 419-0 to declassify intelligence on COVID-19 origins, sending bill to Biden's desk


BY REBECCA KAPLAN, KATHRYN WATSON
MARCH 10, 2023 / CBS NEWS

Washington — The House voted unanimously Friday on a bill ordering the declassification of intelligence about the origins of COVID-19 in China, sending the bill to President Biden's desk.

The bill, which already passed the Senate, would require Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to declassify any information about links between the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the controversial viral research laboratory in the city where the SARS-CoV-2 virus first emerged. The vote in the House was 419 to 0.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not directly answer whether the president would sign the legislation, saying, "We're taking a look at the bill."

The intelligence community has not definitively agreed on the origins of the pandemic. A report in 2021 reflecting the findings of intelligence community was inconclusive, and determined two theories were "plausible" to explain how the virus emerged: "natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident." The Department of Energy recently concluded, with "low confidence," that it was plausible that the virus originated from a lab, a theory supported by the FBI.

The Senate passed the GOP-crafted bill by unanimous consent last week. The bill was introduced by GOP Sens. Josh Hawley and Mike Braun.

The issue of the origin of the coronavirus has become fiercely politicized on Capitol Hill, with many Republicans using the increased consideration of the lab leak theory to criticize Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for his support of the theory that the virus emerged in a Wuhan market where live animals were sold.

Members of the World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus arrive by car at the Wuhan Institute of Virology on Feb. 3, 2021.

HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

"Now the American people will be able to see what their government knows about COVID origins — and those who lied about it can be held accountable," Hawley tweeted after the bill passed Friday. "Next stop for my COVID origins bill, Joe Biden's desk. Sign it."

Democrats also expressed support for releasing information related to origins of the leak, as evidenced by their lack of objections in the House and Senate.

"Understanding the root causes of the COVID-19 pandemic is important to help prevent a future pandemic," Democratic Rep. Raul Ruiz, a doctor and ranking member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, said in a statement after the bill's passage. "Under President Biden's direction and leadership, the intelligence community has been hard at work gathering information to answer the question of whether COVID-19 started as a lab leak or animal transmission. The evidence, as of today, is inconclusive. It is important that the American people have as much objective information as possible without extreme partisan rhetoric."

Rebecca Kaplan covers Congress for CBS News.

Biden denies reports that Alaska oil drilling project has been approved


Signing off on the Willow plan would place the president’s political career in conflict with climate-minded Democrats

Demonstrators gather near the White House on 3 March to protest the Willow oil drilling project planned to begin in Alaska. 

Photograph: Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

Edward Helmore

THE GUARDIAN

Sat 11 Mar 2023

The Biden administration has denied reports that it has authorized a key oil drilling project on Alaska’s north slope, a highly contentious project that environmentalists argue would damage a pristine wilderness and gut White House commitments to combat climate crisis.

Late Friday, Bloomberg was first to report citing anonymous sources that senior Biden advisers had signed off on the project and formal approval would be made public by the Interior Department next week.

The decision to authorize drilling on the north slope, if correct, would amount to one of the most symbolically important climate decisions of Biden’s political career and place his administration in conflict with the climate-alert left wing of the Democratic party.

But that pressure is countered by unions and some Indigenous communities in Alaska who say approval of the project would provide economic security in the state beyond the borders of the 9.3m-hectare (23m acres) area of the north slope that is considered the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the US.

But after reports were published, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “no final decisions have been made” on the project and “anyone who says there has been a final decision is wrong”.

Earlier on Friday, former vice-president Al Gore said it would be “recklessly irresponsible” to allow the project to proceed. “The pollution it would generate will not only put Alaska native and other local communities at risk, it is incompatible with the ambition we need to achieve a net zero future,” he said.

Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski said on Friday that a decision was “imminent”. The Republican senator previously called the size of the project “minuscule” and that it has been “meticulously planned” to avoid harm to the environment.

Biden has come under intense pressure from lawmakers and the courts, and high energy prices that have dogged his first term as president after he vowed “no more drilling on federal lands, period” during his campaign.

But White House policy to oppose new oil leases and discourage domestic shale-oil drilling, has also forced its hand in other areas. Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia last year to urge increases in Saudi production came at a high political cost and was broadly fruitless.

White House approval of “the Willow Master Development Plan”, a multi-billion ConocoPhillips project to drill oil inside the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska would serve as a substantial win for the oil-and-gas industries.

ConocoPhillips has said the Willow plan could provide more than $17bn in revenue for federal, state and local governments and create over 2,800 jobs. It could suck an estimated 600m barrels of oil from beneath the permafrost and, at a projected 180,000 daily barrels of oil, would produce approximately 1.6% of current US production.

Under those figures, the project would also contribute 280m tons of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere when the oil was processed and used across fossil-fuel dependent economy.

Unlike other, small oil and gas leases approved by the White House it would also be one that Biden approves without the force of court or congressional orders.


The oil giant, which reported profits of $18.7bn in 2022, double the previous year, originally requested permits to drill on five locations but later scaled back to three.

ConocoPhillips has said it cannot comment on the decision until it has a formal record.

The Interior Department has previously said it has “substantial concerns” about the Willow project’s impact upon the climate and the subsistence lifestyle of native Alaskan communities – but has completed an environmental review of the development that it said would improve it.

A wave of opposition to the Willow project has included rallies in Washington DC and an online #StopWillow campaign that has garnered more than 3m signatures.

Siqiniq Maupin with the Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic has warned that the project would threaten subsistence lifestyle of native communities that rely upon the migration of caribou.

“President Biden continues to address climate change during high-profile speeches and events but his actions are contradictory,” Maupin said.

Over-50s who retire early will need to return to work to top up their pension pots, Bank of England policymaker warns

Retiring at 55 means retirement savings would need to ‘match your longevity’

Early retirees would find it ‘more difficult’ to return to work after several years

By CALUM MUIRHEAD CITY REPORTER FOR THE DAILY MAIL
 7 March 2023

Over-50s who retire early will need to return to work to top up their pensions pots, a senior Bank of England policymaker has warned.

Catherine Mann, a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, which is responsible for setting interest rates, said those retiring at the age of 55 would need to make sure their retirement savings would ‘match your longevity’.

She added that early retirees would also find it ‘more difficult’ to return to the jobs market after several years.

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‘There’s a challenge to making sure that your retirement savings are going to match your longevity,’ she told Bloomberg TV.

She expressed fears that a ‘couple of years down the line’ people would try and return to the workforce and would find it much harder to do so, noting that there was already ‘a little bit of an indication’ people who took early retirement were returning to take up part-time work.


Catherine Mann, a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, said those retiring at the age of 55 would need to make sure their retirement savings would ‘match your longevity’

‘I worry that people are going to find that their pensions are not sufficient for their preferred lifestyle and are going to want to come back,’ Dr Mann said, adding that there may not be enough people returning to provide a boost to the economy.

The warning followed a report earlier this week from think-tank Phoenix Insights, part of retirement savings firm Phoenix Group, which predicted nearly 2 million people over the age of 50 who have left the workforce face a savings shortfall in retirement.

It called on the Government to find ways to make it easier for older people to return to employment such as introducing measures for flexible working.

Getting the estimated 3.6 million inactive people aged between 50 and 64 back into work is a key goal for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt as he looks to reverse the shrinkage in Britain’s workforce in order to boost economic growth.

Mr Hunt is widely expected to unveil measures in next week’s Budget to help coax people back into employment, which some analysts say could include help with expenses incurred while travelling to work.

Pressure on the government to act has ratcheted up after data last month from the Office for National Statistics showed 21.4 per cent of people were ‘economically inactive’ in the final three months of last year.

‘Economically inactive’ is classed as people who are not in work and have not been seeking or not been available for work.

It covers those who have left the workforce because they are students, retired, have illness or injury, or are looking after family members.

Nearly 2 million people over the age of 50 who have left the workforce face a savings shortfall in retirement. according to think-tank Phoenix Insights

Between November 2019 and January 2020, before Covid struck, inactivity was at a record low of 20.4 per cent.

The rate had been falling steadily since records began in 1971 but increased during the pandemic as people lost their jobs or became ill.

Some older Britons also decided to retire early and rely on their savings and the value of assets such as housing.

But the growing cost of living squeeze has already pushed some early retirees to return to work, with research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showing the number of economically inactive over-50s seeking employment had notably risen as pressure on their incomes increased.

Does the revival of 'Zombie Viruses' pose a legitimate health threat?


As global temperatures rise, permafrost is melting rapidly, unearthing a host of ancient viruses and bacteria — a troubling scenario that poses a risk to public health.

Zombie viruses from permafrost may sound like the plot of a horror movie, but they are a real public health threat as the Arctic thaws due to climate crisis.

Scientists have revived ancient viruses from permafrost and discovered they could still infect living single-celled amoebae.

While it is unclear whether these viruses could infect animals or humans, the researchers assert that permafrost viruses should be considered a public health threat.

Permafrost is a layer of soil that remains completely frozen year-round, covering 15 percent of the land in the Northern Hemisphere. However, due to human activities, global temperatures are rising, causing permafrost to melt rapidly.

This phenomenon is unearthing a host of ancient relics from viruses and bacteria to woolly mammoths and an impeccably preserved cave bear.

READ MORE: NASA: Antarctica losing ice faster than thought

'Reviving zombie viruses'

In 2014, French professor Jean-Michel Claverie started publishing research on reviving ancient viruses, or "zombie viruses" as he calls them.

He found strains of the frozen virus from a few permafrost sites in Siberia.

The oldest strain, which dated back 48,500 years, came from a sample of soil from an underground lake, while the youngest samples were 27,000 years old.

One of the young samples was discovered in the carcass of a wooly mammoth.

Claverie and his team were able to revive several new strains of "zombie" viruses and found that each one could still infect cultured amoebas.

He said this should be regarded as both a scientific curiosity and a concerning public health threat.

READ MORE: 'Climate change 'multiplies' Siberian heatwave 600 times


Risk of ancient bacteria

It's not just viruses. Ancient bacteria, too, could be released and reactivated for the first time in up to two million years as permafrost thaws.

That's what happened, scientists think, when outbreaks of the bacterial infection anthrax appeared in humans and reindeer in Siberia in 2016.

That may be a "more immediate public health concern," according to Claverie.

The current research on frozen viruses like Claverie's 'zombie' virus is helping scientists understand more about how these ancient viruses function and whether, or not, they could potentially infect animals or humans.

Their findings make it clear that it is crucial that action is taken to address the climate crisis, in order to prevent the release of more ancient viruses and bacteria from the permafrost, which could have serious implications for global public health.

READ MORE: Billionaires turn to reap benefits from melting glaciers

TWO FALSE HOPES
UK

Hunt pledges £20bn for carbon capture and nuclear ramp-up in clean energy push

BY:NICHOLAS EARL


The government will commit billions of pounds to new energy projects at next week’s budget, in a bid to compete with rival markets such as the EU and US and shore up the country’s energy security in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and squeeze on gas suppliers.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to pledge £20bn to ramp up carbon capture and low carbon energy at next week’s budget, alongside unveiling a competition to pitch small, modular reactors in a boost to the UK’s nuclear industry.

He will commit to spades in the ground on these projects from next year.

Carbon capture and storage is the process in which industrial sources of CO2 are separated, treated and transported to a long-term storage location – such as within the seabed of the North Sea.

The UK is home to enough carbon capture capacity to store over a century and half of national annual CO2 emissions, which could help boost the country’s energy strategy.

Downing Street hopes carbon capture will support the UK’s industrial transition to net zero and cleaner technology – while giving the country the chance to be a world leader in an early-stage concept.

Hunt will announce plans to invest £20bn in investment over the next 20 years to push projects which will aim to store 20-30m tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030.

This is equal to the emissions from 10-15m cars on an annual basis.

So far, the UK has committed £1bn to develop four CCUS hubs in the UK by the end of the decade.

This follows increased international competition for energy investment, with the US looking to attract companies through vast subsidies and tax cuts passed in the Inflation Reduction Act.

The EU is looking to rival the act with its own investment agenda and loosening of state subsidies for energy projects.

Meanwhile, Great British Nuclear will now launch a competition for this country’s first SMRs – as the new industry body aims to hit the UK’s energy security target, raising nuclear generation from 7GW to 24GW over the next three decades.

The SMR competition will try to lure domestic and international manufacturers with the government prepared to match a proportion of private investment, to ensure designs are ready to be deployed as soon as possible in the UK to meet the country’s energy goals.

GBN has been set up to select sites for potential nuclear projects, removing costs, uncertainty, and bureaucratic barriers for manufacturers developing proposals.

Plans to further fund Rolls-Royce’s SMRs have faced delays in Whitehall, although the government has committed already to investing £210m into the SMR project – matched by private sector funding.

Rolls’ Royce reactor design is currently being assessed by safety regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

To this end, the Chancellor will confirm that nuclear power generation is classed as “environmentally sustainable” under the green taxonomy regime – subject to consultation – to encourage significant private investment.

Energy security secretary, Grant Shapps said: “Already a global leader in offshore wind power, we now want to do the same for the UK’s nuclear and carbon capture industries, which in turn will help cut the wholesale electricity prices to amongst the lowest in Europe.

“Today’s funding will play an integral role in delivering that, helping us further towards our net zero targets and creating green jobs across the country.”

Hunt added: “This plan will help drive energy bills down for households across the country and improve our energy security whilst delivering on one of our five promises to grow the economy.”

UN envoy calls for renewed Syrian peace talks after earthquakes

BY DAILY SABAH WITH AGENCIES ANKARA

 MAR 09, 2023 -

Locals shift through the rubble of a collapsed building following earthquakes in Syria's opposition-held village of Atarib, northwestern Aleppo province, Syria, Feb. 14, 2023. 

(AFP Photo)

The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called on Wednesday for renewed attempts to reach a political solution to the war-torn country's nearly 12-year-old civil conflict in the wake of last month's devastating earthquakes.

Pedersen told reporters that the deadly 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude quakes that struck Türkiye and Syria last month had served as a "wake-up call to the world that the Syrian tragedy is far from over.”

“We need to take this attention and see if it can help us to unlock progress” in the political process, he said.

The earthquake, which killed more than 50,000 people, including about 6,000 in Syria, has already prompted some political concessions both from the regime in Damascus and its opponents.

The Syrian regime agreed to open additional border crossings for international aid to cross from Türkiye into opposition-held northwest Syria, while the United States and European countries relaxed some of their sanctions on Damascus.

Pedersen hailed that "in the aftermath of the earthquakes, humanitarian steps from all sides have moved beyond previous positions, even if temporarily."

"A month ago, there was no prospect of the opening of more border crossings nor of moves to ease sanctions in a concrete way. We have seen both moves now," he pointed out.

“We need the same logic that was applied on the humanitarian front to be applied at the political level,” Pedersen said at a news conference in Geneva.

"The earthquake in itself has shown that positive steps are possible if there is a political will."

Pedersen called for a “Syrian-led and owned political process facilitated by the United Nations” including a return to meetings of a committee formed to draft a new constitution for Syria, with representatives of both the government and opposition.

At a Russia-hosted Syrian peace conference in January 2018, an agreement was reached to form a 150-member committee to draft a new constitution. It took until September 2019 for the committee to be formed, and after eight rounds of talks, little progress was achieved.

In the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine and increased tensions between Moscow and European countries, the talks halted altogether, with the Syrian regime – which received heavy support from Russia in the civil war – refusing to come to meetings in Geneva.

Reconstruction of areas damaged in the civil war has largely been on hold in the absence of a political solution. The country's infrastructure is now further damaged by the earthquake.

Asked about the prospects for post-earthquake reconstruction, Pedersen noted that the quake response is still focused on immediate humanitarian needs, but acknowledged that in later stages there will be a “need to address some of the issues that are more linked to the political side of the process.”

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