Work Starts on Large, Autonomous 3D Printed Ferry for Paris Olympics

The autonomous, electric ferry will be built using 3D printing and recycled materials (Holland Shipyards Group)

PUBLISHED MAR 31, 2023 4:30 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Work is started on building the largest ever 3D printed ferry as part of a new project sponsored by France to highlight innovations in sustainable and autonomous shipping. Voies Navigables de France, the country’s navigation authority responsible for the management of the majority of France's inland waterways network, launched the competition along with the country’s Minister Delegate for Transport Clément Beaune to showcase innovation during the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympic Games.

Three winners were selected from the competition with partners Sequana Développement, Roboat, and Holland Shipyards Group being selected for their project which they say will provide “a glimpse of the future of waterborne mobility by crossing the Seine with a 3D printed, autonomous, electric passenger ferry.”

The ferry proposed by the winning consortium will have dimensions of approximately 29.5 feet by 12.7 feet with a futuristic look based on the renderings. In their submission, the group said the vessel will be characterized by a state-of-the-art design, an autonomy system, electric propulsion, and a 3D printed hull made of recycled material. Mooring and charging will happen automatically. It will have a capacity for up to 35 people and achieve Level 4 automation.

“The 3D print build method opens up a new exciting chapter in shipbuilding,” says Leendert Hoogendoorn, director Holland Shipyards Group. Work on “building” or “printing” the vessel began today.

The ferry is to be deployed in the summer of 2024 in a key location in the vicinity of the major sporting events and will enable visitors to Paris and athletes to fulfill their mobility needs in a new and environmentally friendly manner. Details on the exact location where the ferry will be operating will be announced closer to the start of games.

 

"Keel laying" for the largest ever 3D printed autonomous ferry (Holland Shipyards Group)
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"From 10 to 50 seats, the three demonstrator projects that we have selected all have one thing in common, beyond their driving autonomy and their low-carbon engines, they have the ambition to contribute to the objectives of environmental excellence of games and to be part of the legacy of 2024," said Thierry Guimbaud, Managing Director of VNF, when the selection was announced in December 2022.

The two other projects that were selected call for the construction of a 49-foot electric powered river boat. It will have a capacity for 50 people. Hyke Rivercat, Juvisy, and Ris Orangis Construction partnered for this project. The third project is for a 39-foot river boat with 12 seats that will also be 100 percent electric propulsion. This project involves Bluenav, Orion naval engineering, Drone Protect System, Keolis, E nautical harbor Bordeaux and Metropolis of Bordeaux.

VNF is supporting France’s efforts at hosting the historic games by developing a plan to maintain commercial navigation during this summer’s events. The athletes’ village is to be located along the Seine with the efforts leading to the greening of the fleet and integration of sustainable transport into the program. The opening ceremonies reportedly will take place in part on the Seine.
 

Hyke Rivercat and its team proposed an electic powered riverboat

Canada’s Davie is in Exclusive Talks to Buy Helsinki Shipyard

Davie is in talks to buy Helsinki Shipyard (Helsinki Shipyard file photo)

PUBLISHED MAR 27, 2023 1:55 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Finland’s Helsinki Shipyard reports it has granted an exclusive option to Canada’s Chantier Davie as the Canadian firm works to complete negotiations to purchase the assets of the Finnish shipyard from its current owners, Russian investors behind a Cyprus-based company. The sanctions on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine came as a setback to Helsinki Shipyard which was working to rebuild its business after having been acquired in 2019.

News of the negotiations was confirmed after the Finnish outlet Helsingin Sanomat first reported about the ongoing discussions. According to their report, the negotiations began ongoing since the start of 2023 after Helsinki Shipyard had been looking for investors for nearly a year.  According to their report, the negotiations are in an advanced stage and could be concluded within a matter of weeks.

The shipyards in their official statement noted that exercising the option to purchase does not mean an acquisition is completed. “It is subject to the successful execution of thorough due diligence, including financial, regulatory, and legal considerations, as well as final decision making by Davie,” they noted. The newspaper reports, however, that Davie has already been in conversations with the Ministry of Labor and Economy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, Business Finland, Finnvera, and Teollisuussijoitus in Finland. Helsingin Sanomat says the goal is to ensure the acceptability of the deal before the final decision.

Last year, Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs turned down an application from the shipyard that was required for Helsinki Shipyard to proceed with an order from Russia’s mining and metal company Nornickel. The Russian company had placed an order with the yard before the beginning of the war in Ukraine for a large icebreaker.

The order was critical to Helsinki Shipyard as the company is nearing the completion of the last of three expedition cruise ships being built for Swan Hellenic. Delivery of those ships had also been complicated by the financial sanctions as the vessels were being built for Russian lender GTLK which was to charter the ships to the cruise line. The shipyard ultimately was able to declare GTLK in default on the second and third cruise ships and hold a tender so Swan Hellenic could purchase the ships outright with new financing. The third cruise ship, SH Diana, completed her sea trials in mid-March and is pending delivery. 

 

Expedition cruise ship SH Diana is the yard's only major newbuild order and it is due for delivery in the coming weeks (Helsinki Shipyard)

 

Helsinki Shipyard’s financial condition was strained by the sanctions with the yard getting into a dispute with a supplier in the summer of 2022. The supplier attempted to force the shipyard into bankruptcy, but the yard settled the outstanding sums while seeking legal recourse regarding the contract.

The yard was once part of Wartsila before the shipbuilding group ran into financial troubles in 1990 and went through a series of owners. It was ultimately part of South Korea’s STX before that company also collapsed financially. In 2009, Helsinki Shipyard was sold to Russian investors and went through additional changes before being acquired in 2019 by Algador Holdings, a Cyprus-based investment company linked to Russian businessmen Vladimir Kasyanenko and Rishat Bagautdinov, who also own Russia's biggest river cruise ship operator. They promised to revitalize the company winning the orders for the cruise ships and the icebreaker.

No sanctions have been imposed on the owners but the yard has not been able to obtain additional shipbuilding contracts. The business has also been expanded into repairs with for example a world-class sail racing vessel recently arriving for an overhaul. They also expanded their offering for superyachts.

“If the acquisition is successful, it would combine two historic and highly complementary businesses creating the western world’s leading international center of excellence for Arctic shipbuilding,” said Davie President and CEO, James Davies in the company’s press release. The Canadian shipbuilder is reportedly interested in Helsinki Shipyard because of its experience with ice class and Arctic vessels.

Davie is one of Canada’s oldest shipbuilders and in 2012 was acquired by private equity investors. They report their business includes commercial vessels, with repairs to ferries and other passenger vessels, but the majority of the work is for the Canadian government. Davie has an orderbook valued at over $6 billion with government contracts for icebreaker conversions and frigate maintenance. They are also participating in Canada’s newbuilding efforts for a polar icebreaker, government ferries, and Coast Guard icebreakers.

After confirming that they are in negotiations, the shipyards said the process would remain confidential. Davie said it will make a further comment only upon reaching a major milestone such as the signing of a purchase agreement.

Toronto Star owner calls on Canadian companies to spend 20% of ad budget on local media

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

The publisher of the Toronto Star is calling on Canadian companies to dedicate at least 20 per cent of their advertising budgets to local media.

Jordan Bitove made the request Thursday at a Canadian Club luncheon in Toronto, where he said convincing local companies to dedicate their ad spending within Canada is crucial because tech giants who link to articles published by his papers and others are “basically stealing the great work that our team does.”

“The advertising revenue that once funded newsrooms has been moved ironically to companies that use our content for their own benefit … and those companies don’t want to pay us for it,” he said.

“The result is we are seeing local news disappear at an alarming rate.”

Bitove’s remarks come after years of media organizations laying off staff and closing papers to cope with shrinking subscriber counts and advertising revenues diminished by large tech companies such as Google, Twitter and Meta. 

A 2018 report from the Canadian Media Concentration Project revealed Google had half the market share of the country's internet advertising that year, equal to $3.8 billion in advertising revenue and up from $2.8 billion just two years earlier.

Facebook was next with 27.3 per cent and Bell, Twitter, Postmedia and Star parent company Torstar sat at under two per cent each. (Torstar owns six regional daily newspapers in Ontario, including The Hamilton Spectator and Waterloo Region Record, and 70 community newspapers in the country.)

Facebook made $2.1 billion in advertising in 2018, while Bell made $146 million, Torstar earned $120 million, Twitter got $117.5 million and Postmedia made $116.4 million.

To counter these trends, the federal government has put forward Bill C-18, which would require digital giants to negotiate deals that would compensate Canadian media companies for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online.

“We appreciate federal legislation, but it’s not enough to actually grow the media industry in Canada,” said Bitove.

He’d like to see the federal government increase its spending on COVID-19, reconciliation and affordability advertising in Canadian media, saying Torstar papers and their digital platforms received 0.27 per cent or less than $400,000 of a recent $140 million budget. 

“If that percentage went up by two per cent or even five per cent, think what a difference that revenue could make when we put it towards journalism,” he said.

Bitove also wants to see corporate Canada increase its local advertising spend, after he heard that “one of Canada’s leading institutions whose values are 100 per cent aligned with our company” spent $50 million on ads last year. His company’s share of that spending was less than one per cent.

Industry association News Media Canada, in turn, said it wants to see increased ad spending from the government.

“The federal government needs to put its advertising dollars where its mouth is," said CEO Paul Deegan. "It is unacceptable that they spent just $6 million on print ads out of an advertising budget of $140 million.”

Bitove didn't waste words on his message to diners seated in the Fairmont Royal York Hotel ballroom.

“Go back to your office and find out what percentage of your media spend goes back to supporting Canadian-owned and -operated media,” he said.

“If it’s not 20 per cent, it’s not good enough.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2023.

--

Torstar holds an investment in The Canadian Press as part of a joint agreement with subsidiaries of the Globe and Mail and Montreal's La Presse.

Meta funds a limited number of fellowships that support emerging journalists at The Canadian Press.

Online-streaming bill closer to passing after House OKs most Senate amendments

Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press

A Liberal government bill that would require online streaming services to contribute to Canadian content is one step closer to passing after the House of Commons approved most of the Senate's amendments to the proposed legislation. 

If passed, Bill C-11 would update broadcasting rules to include online streaming and require tech giants such as YouTube, Netflix and Spotify to make Canadian content available to users in Canada — or face steep penalties.

On Thursday evening, the House agreed to adopt Senate amendments that reinforce the promotion of Indigenous languages and Black content creators, and seek to ensure that funds collected from tech giants go toward promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. 

The move received quick praise from those who advocate for the arts and media industry. 

"Canadians deserve the ability to see their own stories, culture and points of view included in their content options. That is what C-11 is ultimately about," said Neal McDougall, assistant executive director of the Writers Guild of Canada, in a statement Friday. 

However, Liberal, NDP and Bloc Québécois MPs rejected a key amendment that YouTube had advocated for, which was worded to add further protections for people who upload content and shield them from government regulation. 

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has said his government is against the amendment because it could create a loophole for big companies to avoid following the law. 

The House also rejected a Senate amendment that would have required companies to verify users' ages before they access sexually explicit material online, and a change that would have prohibited CBC from producing sponsored content.

FRIENDS, a public broadcasting advocacy group, said "powerful, well-financed interests" have lined up against the bill. The group said in a statement that it will continue to support the purpose of the bill, which is to help Canadian voices tell Canadian stories.

For the last year, the proposed law has come under intense scrutiny amid accusations from companies and critics who said it left too much room for government control over user-generated content and social-media algorithms. 

The U.S. government has also raised concerns that the law could discriminate against American companies, with some U.S. senators calling for a trade crackdown. 

The Opposition Conservatives have fought heavily against its passage throughout various stages of the bill, dubbing it a "censorship" law because they argue it is designed to interfere with the algorithms that affect the content people see.

Big tech companies explained in their testimony to committees studying the bill that they design their algorithms so each user sees content specifically tailored to them. The algorithms are shaped by how much time people spend on content, including video, pictures and music, whether they like or share it and if they click on similar content. 

"Instead of having algorithms that give people things they want to see, there will be algorithms that give people things the government wants them to see," Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in the House of Commons earlier this month.

But the Liberal government continues to insist the bill won't regulate everyday content creators, or require social media and big tech companies to alter their algorithms. 

Because the House rejected some of the senators' amendments, the bill will now return to the Senate, where it must pass another vote before it can become law. That will not happen until later this month, when Parliament returns from a two-week Easter break.

Senators could choose to amend the bill again and send it back to the House, but that approach is rare.

"The Senate made meaningful contributions to the legislative process, and as a result, Bill C-11 has been improved," Sen. Marc Gold, the government representative in the Senate, said in a statement.

"I am optimistic that a majority of senators will accept the decision made by the elected chamber."

Rodriguez thanked senators for their work in a statement Friday, saying the bill is "essential to our culture" and he hopes it will pass "as soon as possible."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2023. 

Trudeau braces for disruptive strikes amid tough union wage push

Randy Thanthong-Knight, Bloomberg News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is staring down one of the biggest strikes in Canadian history as his government's workers push for higher wages even as inflation eases.

The country's main federal-employee union will wrap up voting in April on whether to go ahead with a national strike that could see as many as 165,000 workers withdraw their services. Such a work stoppage would delay tax return processing as well as interrupt service at airports and border crossings.

The looming strike comes amid a slowdown in inflation in recent months, but workers are unbending in their demands to recoup purchasing power lost over the past two years. That's adding additional wage pressures to an already overheated job market, and squeezing employers ahead of an expected economic downturn this year. 

“Workers are completely frustrated of being left behind. We've got to fight back if we want to achieve a fair and decent wage increase,” Chris Aylward, president of Public Service Alliance of Canada, said in a phone interview. “Early indication is that the frustration is going to project into a strong strike mandate.”

There's a lot at stake for Trudeau's government, the country's largest employer, which has increased the size of the public service by more than a third since being elected in 2015. Any scuffle with federal unions could draw the ire of the labor-friendly New Democrat Party, who are supporting Trudeau in a minority parliament, and widespread service disruptions would be unpopular among voters. 

For the Bank of Canada, a major strike — especially a successful one that drives other unions to action — risks reigniting wage pressures while policymakers move to the sidelines to assess their progress in curbing demand.

Last month, Canadian wage growth picked back up to 5.4 per cent, the highest since November. The central bank views that as inconsistent with getting inflation back to its 2 per cent target unless matched by strong productivity growth, which is currently negative.

Historically, the period of high inflation in the 1970s and 1980s led to a surge in strikes and lockouts in the country, most of which lagged the run up in prices by several months and remained high several years after pressures abated, data on work stoppages in Canada show. That suggests more strike votes could be coming this year.

The pending clash between workers and employers could “set the stage for some friction in labor-market negotiations in the next six months,” according to Doug Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal.

“The inflation story isn't over in Canada,” Porter said by phone. “What we're going to find is it was easy to get goods prices to come off the boil. It's going to be a lot harder to get services prices to ease back. They're much stickier historically. They're driven by wages and understandably wages are still rising fairly strongly.” 

Pushes for bigger pay hikes are ramping up across major advanced economies. This month, the UK's finance minister acknowledged that high inflation is the root cause of the half a million workers on strike, but insisted dispute resolution shouldn't fuel further price pressures. Air and rail services ground to a halt in Germany earlier this week during a one-day strike. In Japan, major firms agreed to the largest wage increases in decades at annual labor talks with unions.

Wage expectations in Canada remain at last year's elevated levels, according to Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, the country's largest labor organization, which represents more than 3 million workers. “There's a significant frustration out there and a pent-up demand to make significant gains at bargaining tables. People are angry. They have been month over month falling behind,” she said by phone.

The federal public-service union's 35,000 Canada Revenue Agency workers are demanding a 30 per cent wage increase over three years, while more than 120,000 Treasury Board employees are pushing for a raise of 4.5 per cent per year. Their strike votes will conclude on April 7 and April 19, respectively. 

So far Trudeau's government has refused to meet union demands. With a round of mediation set to begin, the Treasury Board Secretariat said this week it's making “every effort to reach agreements at the bargaining table that are fair to public servants and reasonable for taxpayers.”

WestJet pilots to launch strike authorization vote as negotiations fizzle

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

The union representing WestJet pilots will launch a strike authorization vote Monday as contract talks with management drag on, the Air Line Pilots Association said Friday.

Bernard Lewall, who heads ALPA Canada's WestJet contingent, said its 1,600-person membership is "frustrated" after six months of bargaining with a company he claims has failed to seriously engage with it.

The issues revolve around wages, scheduling and work conditions at WestJet and its discount subsidiary Swoop, with 39 pilots opting to leave for other airlines in the past month alone, Lewall said in a phone interview from Calgary.

"WestJet used to be a place where young pilots wanted to come and work. That’s not the case anymore. It’s not just more experienced pilots that are leaving; you have new pilots looking at other places to fly too," he said, ahead of a union demonstration at WestJet headquarters at the Calgary airport.

"We want to show that the company has to treat its pilots better."

WestJet said the threat of a strike is a "common and expected tactic" in the negotiation process.

"However, that does not mean a strike will occur. WestJet is committed to this process and will continue to work with ALPA to reach a collective agreement that provides value to our current and future pilots, is sustainable for the company and avoids disruption to our guests," spokeswoman Madison Kruger said in an email.

Lewall said their wages remain well below the North American industry standard. Meanwhile, pilots are being asked to spend more time away from home. "We're already away from our families half the month."

If successful, the 15-day authorization vote would set the stage for the bargaining team to call a strike following a three-week "cooling-off period," which in turn would begin after the ongoing federal conciliation process wraps up April 24.

That means the union could go on strike or lockout by the May long weekend, which traditionally kicks off the summer travel season.

The strike mandate vote comes amid a severe pilot shortage as airlines struggle to shore up bottom lines badly dented by the pandemic.

One stumbling block is "equal pay for equal work," said Lewall.

Currently, pilots who fly under the Swoop banner are paid less than those who fly for WestJet. With the company's takeover of leisure carrier Sunwing approved by the federal government on March 10, Lewall said the union is worried it could lead to the creation of yet another class of pilots with a different pay scale.

"We could find ourselves in a place where there would be three airlines basically within WestJet who are all operating the same aircraft for different wages and with different conditions," he said.

Proposed last March, the Sunwing acquisition will see Calgary-based WestJet bolster its vacation package offerings as it adds the tour operator to its fleet, though the two brands will be marketed separately. 

Poised for completion in the next few weeks, the takeover marks a major consolidation of the Canadian aviation market following a tumultuous year for travel.

WestJet pilots first unionized in May 2017, signalling a major shift in culture at the famously non-union airline.

Since then, other employee groups at the company have also unionized, including flight attendants and certain airport employees.

The pilots' first union contract, which expired at the end of last year, was the result of an arbitrated settlement reached in 2018. That deal averted a threatened strike, as WestJet pilots had voted in favour of job action after contract talks fell apart.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2023.

NGOs slam missed chance to prevent seabed mining

Issued on: 01/04/2023 -

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – Ocean advocates warned on Friday that the door may fly open for undersea mining in the near future in the absence of solid environmental rules that more and more nations demand.

As two weeks of negotiations concluded Friday over possible environmental rules restricting large-scale mining of the seabed, NGOs voiced fear that industry may soon be given the green light.

Several nations called for a moratorium on such mining at the International Seabed Authority (ISA) council meeting.

"The first thing to highlight is that the political atmosphere has shifted quite radically since that time last year," Emma Wilson of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition told AFP.

"There wasn't a single state at that point that had stood up and said no to mining."

But as the two-week meeting wrapped up, she remained "very worried" the door could be opened to mining applications later this year.

The Jamaica-based ISA, established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, has authority over the ocean floors outside of its 167 member states' Exclusive Economic Zones, which extend up to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from coastlines.

It has so far awarded seabed exploration contracts only to research centers and companies in well-defined areas of potential mineral wealth.

Industrial exploitation of nickel, cobalt or copper is not expected to begin until the adoption of a mining code that has been under discussion for nearly 10 years -- including at the latest talks in Kingston.

For years, nongovernmental organizations and scientists have warned of the damage seabed mining could inflict on deep-sea ecosystems.

'Back from the brink'

Countries are increasingly echoing that concern: Canada, Australia and Belgium among others have insisted that international seabed mining cannot begin without strict rules.

"The conditions do not exist for the exploitation of the seabed to begin," insisted Marcelino Miranda, representative of Mexico, on Friday.

Other nations -- among them France, Germany, Chile and Vanuatu -- are pushing more explicitly for a "moratorium" or "pause" on exploitation.

"Deep-sea mining would go beyond harming the seabed and have a wider impact on fish populations, marine mammals, and the essential function of the deep-sea ecosystems in regulating the climate," Vanuatu's representative, Sylvain Kalsakau, said during the negotiations.

"We encourage our fellow Pacific states who have expressed interest in deep-sea mining to step back from the brink."

Nauru, impatient with the pace of progress, invoked in June 2021 a clause allowing it to demand that a mining code be adopted within two years.

Once that deadline is reached, on July 9, Nauru's government could request a mining contract for NORI (Nauru Ocean Resources), a subsidiary of Canada's The Metals Company.

But without a code in place, the 36-member council is divided over the process for reviewing an application for a mining contract -- and it looked on course to part without agreement, with a draft seen by AFP calling for further talks on the matter.

The continuing uncertainty is "creating a lot of anxiety here," said Pradeep Singh, a law of the sea expert and fellow at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam.

'Like sleepwalkers'

Nauru's ambassador Margo Deiye repeated on Friday that her country would wait for the conclusion of a July session before filing an application, hoping that the mining code could be adopted.

However, many observers and negotiators say this is unlikely.

"It is now clear that there is still a long way to go and that the two-week session in July will be largely insufficient to finalize the code," Belgian ambassador Hugo Verbist said Friday.

And the 36 members of ISA's executive body failed to agree at this session on the process for reviewing an application for an exploitation contract that would be filed in the absence of a mining code.

"Walking like sleepwalkers towards an uncertain legal situation beyond July 9 has become a reality," Verbist said, lamenting this "legal loophole" created by the lack of a decision.

"Governments are recklessly leaving the backdoor open for deep sea mining to sneak through and start operating later this year," said Greenpeace's Louisa Casson in a statement.

If The Metals Company starts gearing up for a launch of production in late 2024, NGOs fear that other industry groups will spy an opening -- and file their own applications when the two-year clause ends.

A few weeks after the historic adoption of a treaty to protect the high seas, "this deeply irresponsible outcome is a wasted opportunity to send a clear signal (...) that the era of ocean destruction is over," Casson added.

© 2023 AFP

US Department of Justice sues Norfolk Southern over Ohio train derailment

Lawsuit reportedly seeks damages for alleged Clean Water Act violations following crash of train carrying hazardous materials


Guardian staff and agencies

Fri 31 Mar 2023 13.59 BST


The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against freight train giant Norfolk Southern over its 3 February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, seeking to ensure the company pays the full cost of cleanup and any long-term effects.

The lawsuit filed in the US district court in Ohio on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks penalties and injunctive relief for the unlawful discharge of pollutants under the Clean Water Act and an order addressing liability for past and future costs.

Meanwhile, it emerged that a team of government officials became sick while investigating the health effects of the toxic train derailment, when they visited the Ohio site earlier this month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told CNN.

The derailment of 38 cars including 11 carrying hazardous materials in the village of East Palestine caused cars carrying toxic vinyl chloride and other hazardous chemicals to spill and catch fire.

“With this complaint, the Justice Department and the EPA are acting to pursue justice for the residents of East Palestine and ensure that Norfolk Southern carries the financial burden for the harm it has caused and continues to inflict on the community,” the US attorney general, Merrick Garland,said on Friday.

EPA in February issued an order requiring Norfolk Southern to develop plans to address contamination and pay EPA’s response costs.

The EPA administrator, Michael Regan, said the suit will help “ensure Norfolk Southern cleans up the mess they made and pays for the damage they have inflicted as we work to ensure this community can feel safe at home again”.

The railroad did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.

Norfolk Southern’s CEO, Alan Shaw, told lawmakers last week that the railroad is “committed” to paying for cleanup costs and addressing potential long-term health issues and home value impacts from the derailment.

Shaw said the railroad will work with the community on programs to protect drinking water over the long term.

No deaths or injuries were reported after the incident but since the derailment, some of East Palestine’s 4,700 residents have reported ailments such as rashes and breathing difficulties, and some fear long-term health effects.

The investigators experienced sore throats, headaches, coughing and nausea, the sort of symptoms that residents in the East Palestine area were experiencing after the derailment and the controlled burn of toxic chemicals from five rail cars that followed as authorities sought to stave off the risk of the train exploding.

The EPA, which has been overseeing Norfolk Southern’s clean-up of the site, said that more than 9m gallons of toxic water and nearly 13,000 tons of contaminated soils have been shipped off-site for disposal.

The CDC team of seven was going door-to-door in East Palestine and the wider area conducting a survey and reported their brief bouts of sickness to federal safety officers, CNN said.

Reuters contributed to this report

Italy blocks OpenAI’s ChatGPT, opens probe over privacy failings

NEWS WIRES
Fri, 31 March 2023 

© Michael Dwyer, AP

Italy's Data Protection Authority on Friday temporarily banned OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot and launched a probe over a suspected breach of the artificial intelligence application's data collection rules.

The agency, also known as Garante, accused Microsoft Corp-backed ChatGPT of failing to check the age of its users who are supposed to be aged 13 and above.

ChatGPT has an "absence of any legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data" to "train" the chatbot, Garante said. OpenAI has 20 days to respond with remedies or could risk a fine of up to 4% of its annual worldwide turnover.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ChatGPT was still answering questions posted by Italian users on the platform on Friday evening.

The company was informed of the decision on Friday morning and it would have been materially impossible to pull the plug on access in Italy on the same day, but expect them to do it by Saturday, an authority spokesman said.

"If they ignore the ban, the authority can impose fines," the spokesman said.

The chatbot is also unavailable in mainland China, Hong Kong, Iran and Russia and parts of Africa where residents cannot create OpenAI accounts.

(REUTERS)

Greek PM wants EU aid for steel fence extension along Turkey border

AFP
Fri, March 31, 2023 



Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday called on the European Union to "seriously consider" providing financial aid to help extend an anti-migrant steel fence along the border with Turkey.

"I think it's about time for the EU to seriously consider providing European funds for these types of projects," the head of government told AFP, on the sidelines of a visit announcing the project at Feres in northeastern Greece.

"After all, we're contributing towards European security and we are also contributing towards a more integrated and effective European asylum policy."

Athens has decided to extend by 35 kilometres (21.7 miles) a five-metre high steel fence which runs along the Evros river marking the border with Turkey.

The fence is currently 37.5km long, and Athens aims to carry out the extension within a year, adding a total of 100km by 2026.

Mitsotakis has insisted that, even without EU funds, the project, estimated at 100 million euros ($108 million), will go ahead.

"What you see here is an obstacle that the Greek government has built in order to protect the borders of a country which also happens to be the external borders of the European Union," he said.

"I've always been a firm believer that we cannot reach a new agreement on migration and asylum unless we protect our external borders.

"And what we're doing here, I think, is a significant contribution towards that end. What you see here has been funded exclusively by the Greek budget, by Greek taxpayers."

The debate on the financing of such fences resurfaced during an EU summit in February.

Several countries, including Austria and Greece, have called for EU funding to strengthen fences along the bloc's external borders to reduce the flow of asylum-seekers.

But in January, the European Commission insisted there was no money in the EU budget for this.

"If we were to spend money on walls or fences, there would be no money for other things," said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson.