BHP and Rio Tinto among Australian heavy industry calling for urgent action on cutting emissions

Adam Morton Climate and environment editor
Mon, 3 April 2023 

Photograph: Brenda Strong/AAP

Some of Australia’s biggest heavy industrial companies – including BHP, Bluescope, Rio Tinto and Woodside – say urgent action is needed from government, investors and business for Australia to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with its goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C.

A joint statement signed by 17 members of the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative (ETI) follows their support for a report in February that found they could cut direct emissions in their supply chains by more than 90% by 2050 without relying heavily on carbon offsets.

It lists several objectives necessary for heavy industry to reach net zero emissions at a pace consistent with limiting heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, including the construction of a “large-scale, cost-competitive, renewable energy system of the future” and the development of “integrated net zero emissions industrial regions”.

Related: The latest IPCC report makes it clear no new fossil fuel projects can be opened. That includes us, Australia | Adam Morton

The signatory companies did not specify what limiting heating to 1.5C should mean for the country’s emissions reduction targets. Scientists have said it demanded an emissions cut of at least 57% and up to 75% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels – well beyond the Albanese government’s 43% target – and reaching net zero much earlier than 2050.

The statement – which was also supported by Westpac, Australian Super, Orica, Wesfarmers, Fortescue Metals and the Australian Industry Group – said the February report prepared by the Climateworks Centre and the CSIRO showed how decarbonisation of heavy industry could be achieved, but that it would require a “significant stretch in ambition”.

The companies said they were “ready to seize this opportunity” and called on others to join them. “We will encourage and support federal and state governments as they develop an economy-wide suite of policies,” they said.

But the goals of the ETI statement appear at odds with the plans of some of the companies that have backed it. Woodside wants to open several large gas and oil fields in Australia and overseas. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last month again reported that existing fossil fuel infrastructure across the globe was enough to push the world beyond 1.5C heating and towards the more dangerous climate change that would involve.

The chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, Innes Willox, said 1.5C was an “enormous challenge”, but the IPCC had shown “the costs of failure would be very high and each fraction of a degree matters”. He said emissions caps on business would “certainly have to tighten and apply more broadly over time to make net zero happen in industry and energy”.

The government last week passed changes to one of its signature climate policies, the safeguard mechanism, with support from the Greens and independents. The revamp means many of the country’s major industrial sites will be required to reduce emissions intensity by 4.9% a year, either directly or by buying offsets.

The safeguard mechanism was introduced by the Coalition in 2016. It was promised to put a limit on greenhouse gas emissions from about 200 major industrial facilities.

It applies to facilities that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year. Each facility is set an emissions limit, known as a baseline.

The Coalition said companies that emitted above their baseline would have to buy carbon offsets or pay a penalty. In practice, facilities were allowed to change their baselines, few were penalised and industrial emissions continued to increase.

Labor won government planning to revamp the scheme.

It has set new baselines based on emissions intensity – how much a facility releases per unit of production. Baselines will be reduced by up to 4.9% a year.

Companies can choose whether to make onsite emissions cuts or buy offsets, including Australian carbon credit units.

New polluting facilities, including gas and coalmines, are allowed to open and enter the scheme and would be set baselines at “international best practice”. For new gas fields, that means offsetting all CO2 pollution so they are net zero.

Companies that emit less pollution than their baseline allows will be awarded a new type of “safeguard credit”. These within-scheme credits can be sold to other polluting facilities that emit more than their baseline and need offsets.

A deal between Labor and the Greens introduced an absolute "cap" so that total emissions under the scheme can not increase and need to come down over time. The pace of reduction is not stipulated, and will be set by the climate change minister

The changes start on 1 July 2023.

Several manufacturing companies released statements on Monday praising the government for adjusting the safeguard in response to their concerns. The changes included reducing the rate at which some non-fossil fuel businesses would have to cut emissions intensity to just 1% a year, and lifting public support for manufacturing industries from $600m to $1bn.

In a statement to the stock exchange, BlueScope’s chief executive, Mark Vassella, said engagement with the government on the safeguard had been “constructive”, and the company could now focus on finishing a feasibility study for a $1bn blast furnace and other decarbonisation projects at its Port Kembla steelworks.

Mark Irwin, the chief executive of cement and lime business Adbri, said he welcomed the government’s commitment of “additional funding to industries providing critical inputs to clean energy industries including cement and lime”.

Related: Australia passes most significant climate law in a decade amid concern over fossil fuel exports

Orica’s chief executive, Sanjeev Gandhi, said his company strongly supported the government’s reforms and they would lead to it rolling out emissions reduction technology at its manufacturing sites at Newcastle and Gladstone.

The statements highlighted the gap between major industry and business and the federal Coalition on climate policy. Coalition climate change spokesperson, Ted O’Brien, last week said the safeguard mechanism would “decapitate” the economy. The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, told the ABC on Sunday the policy could lead to the cement industry leaving the country and was causing issues for steel businesses.

On Monday, the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said the government’s reforms had delivered the “certainty needed to make major investments in decarbonisation, future-proofing thousands of jobs onshore”.

O’Brien said “big government and big business” had agreed on “a big new tax”, and Australian consumers would be forced to pay.

The safeguard mechanism is not a tax. It requires companies to take steps to reduce emissions, but does not involve the government collecting revenue.

UK
Suffolk electricity grid workers call off strike action after improved 18% pay deal

Sarah Chambers
Mon, 3 April 2023 

Suffolk electricity grid workers call off strike action after improved 18% pay deal - inset, Sharon Graham (Image: Andy Abbott/Unite)

Power workers have called off a planned strike in the East of England after securing an 18% pay deal over two years, say union officials.

Around 1,300 electricity grid workers in London, the South East  and East of England were planning strike action but this has been cancelled after they voted in favour of accepting an improved pay offer, said Unite.

Union officials negotiated an eight per cent deal for last year and 10% for 2023 and said workers would also receive a one-off £750 payment.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "This is a well-deserved win for workers who were prepared to take a stand for a fair pay rise.

"Unite is entirely committed to fighting for the jobs, pay and conditions of its members. This victory for UK Power Networks workers is yet another demonstration that Unite’s strategy is delivering for our members."

The workers repair, maintain and administer the domestic electricity grid across the three regions, covering customers in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Greater London, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent. Between them they serve around 8.3m customers.

Unite regional officer Jane Jeffery said:"This victory was achieved through the hard work and solidarity of Unite’s reps and members at UK Power Networks.

"Workers who want better wages and working conditions should join Unite and organise their colleagues to do likewise.”

A UK Power Networks spokeswoman said: “We are delighted that members of Unite have accepted our pay offer and called off proposed industrial action.

“We want to place on record our thanks to all those who represent our workforce for the constructive manner in which these negotiations have been held.

"Accepting this deal - which we have always believed is a fair and generous one - is the best outcome for our employees and our business.”

Worst drought on record forces Tunisia to cut off drinking water for seven hours every night

Angela Symons
Mon, 3 April 2023 


Tunisia is cutting off water supplies to citizens for seven hours a night. The extreme measure is a response to the country's worst drought on record.

The water will be cut off daily from 9pm until 4am, with immediate effect, state water distribution company SONEDE said in a statement on Friday.

The country's agriculture ministry earlier introduced a quota system for drinking water and banned its use in agriculture until 30 September.

Tunisia is battling with a drought that is now in its fourth year.

What’s causing Tunisia’s drought?

Years of drought have dried up Tunisian reservoirs, diminished harvests and pushed the government to raise tap water prices for homes and businesses.

Attributing the unprecedented drought to climate change, SONEDE head Mosbah Hlali called on Tunisians to understand the decision to cut off water supplies.

The Mediterranean region has experienced blistering heat in recent summers and a lack of rainfall in winter. In August 2021, Tunisia experienced record-high temperatures of over 50°C.

The country’s dam capacity has now dropped to around 1 billion cubic metres, or 30 per cent of the maximum, according to senior agriculture ministry official Hamadi Habib.

The Sidi Salem Dam in the north of the country, a key provider of drinking water to several regions, has declined to only 16 per cent of its maximum capacity, official figures show.

Tunisia’s grain harvest will be “disastrous”, with the drought-hit crop declining to 200,000-250,000 tonnes this year from 750,000 tonnes in 2022, senior farmers union official Mohamed Rjaibia told news agency Reuters on Thursday.
How severe are Tunisia’s water restrictions?

As well as cutting off overnight water supplies, Tunisia’s agriculture ministry has banned the use of drinking water to wash cars, water green areas and clean streets and public places.

Violators face a fine and imprisonment for a period of between six days to six months.

Residents say Tunisian authorities have been cutting off drinking water at night in some areas of the capital and other cities for the last two weeks in a bid to cut consumption.

The move has sparked widespread anger.

Why are Tunisia’s beaches disappearing and what does it mean for the country?

The new decision threatens to fuel social tension in a country whose people suffer from poor public services, high inflation and a weak economy.

Farmers have also been urged to stop irrigating vegetable fields with water from dams and in some cases face limits.

Tunisia already has food supply problems due to high global prices and the government’s own financial difficulties, which have reduced its capacity to buy imported food and subsidise farms at home.

The drought has pushed up fodder prices, contributing to a crisis for Tunisia’s dairy industry as farmers sell off herds they can no longer afford to keep, leaving supermarket shelves empty of milk and butter.
Will Europeans face water restrictions this summer?

Europe has been in drought since 2018, according to a recent study from the Graz University of Technology in Austria.

Low winter rain and snowfall have left countries at risk of another extreme summer, the European Commission has warned.

Northern Italy, France and Spain are bracing for restrictions, which last year limited some residents of Catalonia to using water for around four hours a day.

Full 'pink' moon to rise Wednesday night

By Brian Lada, Accuweather.com

A Pink Supermoon sets behind the Statue of Liberty in New York City on Monday, April 26, 2021. This week's supermoon is dubbed the "pink" moon because of its timing close to flower blooming season. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

April is underway, and there is an assortment of upcoming astronomical events ranging from a planetary alignment to spring's inaugural meteor shower. The first big night sky event of the month is about to unfold, and it will be quite easy to spot.

The full moon will rise on the evening of Wednesday into the morning on Thursday, the first full moon since the vernal equinox on March 20, which marked the official start of astronomical spring.

A common nickname for April's full moon is the Pink Moon, although the moon will not glow in pink hues on Wednesday night.

The nickname can be traced to the emerging flora following the winter months. Specifically, the Pink Moon is named after the wildflower ground phlox, which is one of the first flowers to bloom in North America and has pink and purple petals.

April's full moon is also known as the Frog Moon, Breaking Ice Moon, Sugar Maker Moon and the Broken Snowshoe Moon, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.

Stargazers can catch the Pink Moon rising in the eastern sky after sunset on Wednesday evening. It will glide across the sky throughout the night before setting in the west around daybreak.

The moon may appear slightly bigger around moonrise and moonset compared to when it is high in the sky, but NASA said that this is simply an optical illusion.

"The moon illusion is the name for this trick our brains play on us," NASA explained. "Photographs prove that the moon is the same width near the horizon as when it's high in the sky, but that's not what we perceive with our eyes."

NASA added that the science isn't settled on why humans perceive the moon to be bigger when it is near the horizon, but regardless, people should enjoy the moon and the beautiful sights in the night sky.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M GNOMES OF ZURICH
Credit Suisse faces anger at final shareholder meeting

By Noele Illien and John O'Donnell
Reuters
April 04, 2023

ZURICH (Reuters) - Credit Suisse will face shareholder anger on Tuesday at what will be its final annual general meeting after the bank was rescued last month by Swiss rival UBS.

The hastily-arranged takeover by Zurich-based UBS, for which Switzerland invoked emergency legislation, bypassed Credit Suisse shareholders, who would otherwise have had a say, and largely wiped out the value of their holdings.

Tuesday's shareholder meeting marks an ignominious end for the 167-year-old flagship bank founded by Alfred Escher, a Swiss magnate affectionately dubbed King Alfred I, who helped build the country's railways and then Credit Suisse.

After years of scandal and losses, Credit Suisse came to the brink of collapse before UBS rode to the rescue with a shotgun merger engineered and bankrolled by the Swiss authorities.

The meeting is the first time that Chairman Axel Lehmann and Chief Executive Ulrich Koerner will publicly address shareholders since the takeover was announced.

Credit Suisse had been attempting to put the past behind it and restructure, before a shock triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the U.S. sent it into a spiral.

After a run on deposits, the Swiss government turned to UBS, which agreed to buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion), a fraction of its earlier market value.

One of the world's biggest investors, Norway's sovereign wealth fund said it would vote against the re-election of Lehmann and six other directors, in a public show of protest.

U.S. proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) had earlier rebuked the bank's management for "lack of oversight and poor stewardship".

In the lead up to Tuesday, Credit Suisse said it had withdrawn certain proposals from the meeting's agenda.

Those include the discharge of management, which is typically a bellwether of confidence. It also ditched plans for a special bonus linked to the bank's transformation plan.

Credit Suisse's near collapse not only wiped billions of Swiss francs off the value of its shares. It also completely wiped out $17 billion of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) debt.

A group of AT1 investors has hired law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to demand compensation.

Meanwhile, the office of the attorney general on Sunday said Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor has opened an investigation into the Credit Suisse takeover.

The prosecutor is looking into potential breaches of Swiss criminal law by government officials, regulators and executives at the two banks.

Credit Suisse investors slam failures as chairman apologizes

By JAMEY KEATEN

TODAY

1 of 12
Swiss bank Credit Suisse Chairman Axel P. Lehmann speaks during the annual shareholders' meeting of the Swiss banking group, in Zurich, Switzerland, on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Once-venerable Credit Suisse is heading into a possible firestorm Tuesday as shareholders meet for what is shaping up to be their last crack at managers following a colossal collapse of the bank’s stock price over the last decade and as rival UBS is set to gobble up the 167-year-old Swiss lender at a bargain-basement price. (Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP)


ZURICH (AP) — Credit Suisse shareholders on Tuesday upbraided the Swiss bank’s leaders for years of mismanagement, scandal and obfuscation that sent its stock price into the gutter, while executives apologized and insisted that the only way forward for the once-venerable lender was a government-engineered takeover by rival UBS.

A largely polite — if at times boisterous, emotional, angry and even humorous — mood pervaded at the first in-person shareholder meeting in four years and likely the last in the bank’s 167-year history: Credit Suisse is set to be swallowed by its crosstown competitor in the coming months in a deal that was forced through without a shareholder vote.

Despite speech after speech airing concerns ranging from Switzerland’s role in global finance to environmental impact to wiped-out pension savings, shareholders narrowly approved a compensation plan for last year that will pay out millions to executives and board members. Investors also reelected board members who will shepherd the bank into UBS’s arms.

Axel Lehmann, who became Credit Suisse chairman only last year after joining the bank from UBS in 2021, decried “massive outflows” of customer funds in October and a “downward spiral” that culminated last month as a U.S. banking crisis unleashed global financial turmoil.

“The bank could not be saved,” he said, and only two options awaited — a deal or bankruptcy.

“The bitterness, anger and shock of those who are disappointed, overwhelmed and affected by the developments of the past few weeks is palpable,” Lehmann said. “I apologize that we were no longer able to stem the loss of trust that had accumulated over the years and for disappointing you.”

The bank’s pending demise has been years in the making, with critics blaming a blend of greedy managers, either unsuspecting or toothless regulators, government officials asleep at the wheel, and international pressure for profits and financial market stability at the expense of Switzerland’s generally staid and conservative culture. At times at Tuesday’s shareholder meeting, U.S. finance and allegations of American bullying were a target.

A couple dozen protesters, including some hoisting a severed boat labeled “Crisis Suisse,” gathered outside the Zurich hockey arena hosting the annual meeting, while shareholders and employees voiced their grievances as they got their last crack at managers.

Stepping to a podium, one blasted “bonus mania,” and another used a metaphor from Christianity to repeatedly ask, “When is enough, enough?”

Yet another held up walnuts as props, saying, “A bag of these is worth about one share.” One young investor took off his shirt to reveal a T-shirt with the words “Stop the Swindle” written in red.

Shareholder Guido Röthlisberger said he wore a red tie “to represent the fact that I and plenty of others today are seeing red.”

“I rather feel that I’ve been cheated by these institutions,” he said.

Swiss government officials hastily orchestrated the $3.25 billion takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS two weekends ago after Credit Suisse’s stock plunged and jittery depositors quickly pulled out their money. Political leaders, financial regulators and the central bank feared a teetering Credit Suisse could further roil global financial markets following the collapse of two U.S. banks.

Shareholders did not get to vote on the deal after the government passed an emergency ordinance to bypass the step. Some came to the annual meeting to hear managers explain what went wrong.

“The whole thing — how this happened — makes me a little bit angry,” shareholder Markus Huber said.

Huber, a 56-year-old self-employed handyman, suspected government officials and bank leaders cooked up the deal “in secrecy” and said there should have been greater transparency.

Shareholders felt “a little bit astonished that there hadn’t been warnings out before,” he said.

The takeover, however, wasn’t on the docket for the meeting, the first held in person since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the thousands in the arena, many of them seemingly Swiss retirees, the speeches amounted to a collective outcry about a once-fabled bank gone bust — and with it a bit of Swiss pride.

In 2007, Credit Suisse shares fetched as much nearly 88 Swiss francs (dollars). Today, they’re trading at about 80 cents.

The bank swooned from scandal to scandal in recent years: Bad bets on hedge funds; accusations it didn’t report secret offshore accounts wealthy Americans held to avoid paying U.S. taxes; failing to prevent money laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine ring.

The Swiss attorney general’s office says it’s opened a probe into events surrounding Credit Suisse ahead of the UBS takeover. Executives hope that the deal will close in coming months but acknowledged a complex transaction.

For Credit Suisse investors, the deal has meant losses. Shareholders collectively will get 3 billion francs ($3.3 billion) in the combined company, while investors holding about 16 billion francs ($17.3 billion) in higher-risk bonds were wiped out.

Typically, shareholders face losses before those holding bonds if a bank goes under.

Swiss regulators, who will hold a news conference Wednesday, say contracts show the bonds can be written down in a “viability event.”

Global law firm Quinn Emanuel said bondholders have hired the firm to “represent them in discussions with Swiss authorities and possible litigation to recover losses.”

Credit Suisse executives apologize to shareholders in final meeting

By Paul Godfrey

Protestors were out in force in Zurich for Tuesday's final meeting of the shareholders of the 167-year-old Swiss bank. 

Photo by Michael Buholzer/EPA-EFE

April 4 (UPI) -- Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann apologized to investors Tuesday at the bank's final shareholders' meeting as an independent company for the massive hit they took from the emergency takeover by rival UBS.

In the bank's first public comments since the March 19 government-brokered rescue, Lehmann acknowledged it was "a sad day" for investors and said he understood the "bitterness, the anger and the shock of all those who are disappointed, overwhelmed and affected by the developments."

"I apologize that we were no longer able to stem the loss of trust that had accumulated over the years, and for disappointing you," Lehmann said.

"Until the end, we fought hard to find a solution, but ultimately there were only two options: deal or bankruptcy. The merger had to go through."

RELATED Swiss prosecutor to investigate UBS takeover of Credit Suisse

The alternative, he said, would have resulted in a total loss for shareholders with unpredictable risks for clients and severe consequences for the economy and global financial markets.

An emotional CEO Ulrich Korner said Credit Suisse ran out of time to implement a turnaround plan embarked upon in October.

"This fills me with sorrow. What has happened over the past few weeks will continue to affect me personally and many others for a long time to come," he said.

UBS could pare Credit Suisse's global workforce by up to 30% with 9,000 job cuts in Switzerland and a further 25,000 around the world.

Anticipating a backlash, police were mobilized outside and inside the 5,000-capacity ice hockey stadium in the Zurich suburb of Oerlikonvenue as protesters and shareholders filed in seeking answers to the debacle.

They will not, however, get a vote on the deal that saw UBS acquire Credit Suisse -- which as of the end of 2022 had assets of around $1.4 trillion -- for just $3.2 billion with investors receiving one UBS share for every 22.48 Credit Suisse shares they held.

RELATED Deutsche Bank's shares drop in latest trouble for financial institutions

The deal, which the government, the central bank and regulators insist was necessary to prevent a meltdown of the global banking sector in the wake of the collapse of the United States' Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, has been mired in controversy.

In the two weeks since, the regulator has been forced to defend a decision ordering Credit Suisse to write down $17 billion worth of junior bonds to zero, UBS' CEO has been replaced and the country's top prosecutor launched a criminal probe into the takeover.

Foreign veterinarians visit ailing elephant in Pakistani zoo

today

A zookeeper washes an elephant named "Noor Jehan" at Karachi Zoo, in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Foreign vets visited the sickly elephant at the southern Pakistani zoo Tuesday amid widespread concerns over her well-being and living conditions, with one of the veterinarians saying her chances of surviving are unclear. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Foreign veterinarians visited a sickly elephant at a southern Pakistani zoo Tuesday amid widespread concern over her well-being and living conditions, One vet said her chances of surviving are unclear.

Noor Jehan was brought to Karachi with three other elephants more than a dozen years ago. Now 17 years old, videos of her with her head against a tree and struggling to stand have caused alarm in Pakistan. Noor Jehan’s plight was previously highlighted by campaigners and international veterinarians in 2021 and 2022.

The veterinarians, from Austria and Egypt, say Noor Jehan is suffering from arthritis, among other health issues. Her joints are causing her enormous pain, according to Dr. Amir Khalil, who examined the elephant.

“Our biggest worry is to ensure that the elephant does not fall down,” he said. “If that happens, we fear she will never stand up again.” He rated her chances of survival as 50-50, saying she is visibly distressed and has had mobility issues for the last three weeks.

Khalil welcomed the zoo’s “strategic decision” to move her to a better place in the future.

Noor Jehan’s condition could have been the result of an accident, or a fight or collision between the elephants, said Khalil. “Was it negligence or an infection? We will know for sure exactly what the problem is.”

Two senior veterinarians from Austria are expected to join the team Wednesday, when the elephant is due to have surgery. She will undergo an endoscopy and X-ray to determine the extent of her health issues.

Noor Jehan and her sister, Madhubala, have been confined to small cement cages since May 2010, according to activist Mahera Omar, co-founder of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society.

“Their enclosure for display has a cement floor and no access to any natural habitat,” she said. “At night they are chained by three legs and stuffed in a smaller cage in total isolation.”

Omar is fighting a court battle for the four elephants to improve their living conditions, two of whom are in another zoo in the same city.

Veterinarians from the global animal welfare group, Four Paws, look at an elephant named "Noor Jehan" at Karachi Zoo, in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Foreign vets visited the sickly elephant at the southern Pakistani zoo Tuesday amid widespread concerns over her well-being and living conditions, with one of the veterinarians saying her chances of surviving are unclear. 

(AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Zoo authorities contacted the Vienna-based Four Paws animal welfare group and described the elephant’s mobility problem. But they didn’t invite experts to visit until a few days ago when the issue went viral on social media.

The grandson of former Pakistani Prime Minister and President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto visited Karachi Zoo and expressed his concern, spurring authorities into action. The local government said it would invite international experts to treat Noor Jehan.

In August last year, a Four Paws team performed major surgery on Noor Jehan and Madhubala at Karachi Zoo on the invitation of the regional high court.

Wednesday’s operation will involve the local fire brigade as Noor Jehan needs to be propped up by a crane to keep her stable for the procedure.

In 2020, an elephant named Kaavan was transferred from Islamabad to Cambodia, where he lives in an elephant sanctuary. Dubbed the “world’s loneliest elephant,” Kaavan had languished in Islamabad Zoo for 35 years, most of that time in chains, and he lost his partner in 2012.

Singer and actress Cher traveled to Pakistan to celebrate his departure from the country and his new life in southeast Asia.

Noor Jehan is named after a well-known Pakistani singer. Noor means light or brightness and jehan means world.

Belarus drops charges against Polish minority activist

By YURAS KARMANAU
TODAY

 The leader of a banned ethnic Polish group Andzelika Borys, center, is seen in front of a court building in the town of Volozhin, 75 km ( 45 miles) northwest of Minsk, on Feb. 17, 2010. The prominent Polish minority activist has been released from custody in Belarus after the authorities dropped criminal charges against her. The Belarusian Prosecutor General’s office announced Tuesday, April 4, 2023 that the criminal investigation against Andzelika Borys has been terminated, all charges against her have been dropped and she has been freed from house arrest (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A prominent Polish minority activist has been released from custody in Belarus after authorities dropped criminal charges against her following a two-year criminal probe, officials said Tuesday.

The Belarusian Prosecutor General’s office announced that the criminal investigation against Andzelika Borys, 49, has been closed, all charges against her have been dropped and she has been freed from house arrest.

Borys was arrested in March 2021 and after a year moved to house arrest due to deteriorating health. She was accused of inciting interethnic strife and condoning Nazism — charges that she rejected.

The prosecutors’ move followed comment on Friday by Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who said that Borys has expressed an intention to stay in Belarus. “She is a Pole, but she’s my Pole,” he said.

About 300,000 of Belarus’ 9.5 million people are ethnic Poles. Belarusian authorities shut the Union of Poles that Borys headed after accusing Poland of trying to foment an uprising against Lukashenko, who has led the ex-Soviet nation with an iron fist for nearly 29 years.

The Polish Foreign Ministry welcomed Borys’ exoneration as “the first good news coming from Minsk in a long time,” and voiced hope that it would herald a shift in Belarusian authorities’ attitude toward Poles in Belarus and its readiness to engage in constructive dialogue.

In February, Andrzej Poczobut, 49, was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of harming Belarus’ national security and “inciting discord.” Poczobut, a journalist for the influential Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and a top figure in the Union of Poles in Belarus, has been behind bars since his detention in March 2021.

Poczobut reported extensively on the mass protests that swept Belarus after an August 2020 presidential vote handed Lukashenko a new term in office but was rejected by the opposition and the West as rigged.

Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina reaffirmed a call for Minsk to release Poczobut and drop all charges against him, adding that “this issue remains our highest priority.”

New images from inside Fukushima reactor spark safety worry

By MARI YAMAGUCH

today

A spokesperson of the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) shows photos captured by a robotic probe inside one of the three melted reactors at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, during a news conference at the TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Images captured by a robotic probe inside one of the three melted reactors at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant showed exposed steel bars in the main supporting structure and its thick external concrete wall largely missing near its bottom, triggering concerns about its earthquake resistance in case of another major disaster. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)


TOKYO (AP) — Images captured by a robotic probe inside one of the three melted reactors at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant showed exposed steel bars in the main supporting structure and parts of its thick external concrete wall missing, triggering concerns about its earthquake resistance in case of another major disaster.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, has been sending robotic probes inside the Unit 1 primary containment chamber since last year. The new findings released Tuesday were from the latest probe conducted at the end of March.

An underwater remotely operated vehicle named ROV-A2 was sent inside the Unit 1 pedestal, a supporting structure right under the core. It came back with images seen for the first time since an earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant 12 years ago. The area inside the pedestal is where traces of the melted fuel can most likely be found.


An approximately five-minute video — part of 39-hour-long images captured by the robot — showed that the 120-centimeter (3.9-foot) -thick concrete exterior of the pedestal was significantly damaged near its bottom, exposing the steel reinforcement inside.

TEPCO spokesperson Keisuke Matsuo told reporters Tuesday that the steel reinforcement is largely intact but the company plans to further analyze data and images over the next couple of months to find out if and how the reactor’s earthquake resistance can be improved.

The images of the exposed steel reinforcement have triggered concerns about the reactor’s safety.

About 880 tons of highly radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain inside the three reactors. Robotic probes have provided some information, but the status of the melted debris is still largely unknown. The amount is about 10 times the damaged fuel that was removed in the cleanup of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the United States after its 1979 partial core meltdown.

Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori urged TEPCO to “swiftly evaluate levels of earthquake resistance and provide information in a way prefectural residents can easily understand and relieve concern of the residents and people around the country.”




The video taken by the robot also showed equipment that slipped down as well as other types of debris, possibly nuclear fuel that fell from the core and hardened, piling up as high as 40-50 centimeters (1.3-1.6 feet) from the bottom of the primary containment chamber, Matsuo said. The pile is lower than the mounds seen in images taken in previous internal probes at two other reactors, suggesting that the meltdowns in each reactor may have progressed differently, company officials said.

Matsuo said the data collected from the latest probe will help experts come up with methods of removing the debris and analyze the 2011 meltdowns. TEPCO also plans to use the data to create a three-dimensional map of melted fuel and debris details, which would take about a year.

Based on data collected from earlier probes and simulations, experts have said most of the melted fuel inside Unit 1 fell to the bottom of the primary containment chamber, but some might have even fallen through into the concrete foundation — a situation that makes the already daunting task of decommissioning extremely difficult.

Trial removal of melted debris is expected to begin in Unit 2 later this year after a nearly two-year delay. Spent fuel removal from the Unit 1 reactor’s cooling pool is to start in 2027 after a 10-year delay. Once all the spent fuel is removed from the pools, the focus is to turn in 2031 to taking melted debris out of the reactors.

Oil drilling in Gulf safer, but concerns linger, report says

“They have not figured out how to naturally embrace safety in particular... in who they are and what they do” but instead treat it like a box to check off

By SETH BORENSTEIN

TODAY

 A new National Academy of Science study says that 13 years after a massive BP oil spill fouled the Gulf of Mexico, regulators and industry have reduced some risks in deep water exploration in the gulf but some troublesome safety issues persist. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Thirteen years after the massive Deepwater Horizons spill fouled the Gulf of Mexico, regulators and industry have reduced some risks in deep water exploration in the gulf but some troublesome safety issues persist, a new study by the National Academy of Sciences said.

The creation of a specific federal agency for offshore oil drilling safety, an industrywide safety center and new technology have all helped reduce risks, Tuesday’s report said. But federal inspectors remain relatively powerless over contractors on rigs, which are 80% of the workers.

The report also worried about the lack of an industrywide safety culture that integrates accident prevention into everyday work.

“There are a lot of things that are happening that are really good, but the industry is not at a place″ where it should be, said panel chairman Richard Sears. He was a longtime Shell executive who was the chief technical adviser to the federal panel that initially investigated the 2010 explosion on the BP rig that killed 11 people and caused America’s biggest oil spill — more than 130 million gallons.

A culture that gave lip service to safety but didn’t really integrate it into the way it does business was part of the problem with the accident, Sears and others said. Some companies are treating safety the proper way — including giving flash bonuses to workers who stopped drilling because of potential dangers — but others “that don’t seem to get it,” he said.

“They have not figured out how to naturally embrace safety in particular... in who they are and what they do” but instead treat it like a box to check off, Sears said.

That’s far different from the more uniform industrywide safety culture seen in commercial airlines and nuclear power plants, he said.

Wilson Ruiz, a crew member of the Joe Griffin, looks out at the oil slick as a containment vessel onboard positioned near the Q4000, background center, being lowered over the oil leak, at the site of the BP Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig collapse in the Gulf of Mexico on May 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

There’s a “long list” of specifics on safety culture process that “other high-risk industries” like aviation, have done but the drillers have not, said Steve Murawski, a University of South Florida marine ecologist who was a top NOAA scientist during the spill.

Federal safety inspectors lost a court case giving them power to directly regulate contractors so when they find a problem on an offshore rig they can ding the operator but not the contractor who is actually creating the problem, Sears said. It’s then up to the operator to crack down on the contractor, and it becomes complicated and not as effective, he said.

The report said that was one of the problems on the Deepwater Horizons rig.

Murawski, who wasn’t part of the study team, said the report highlights many of the recommendations that still haven’t been put into effect 13 years after that disaster, especially changes to a key oil spill law. He also said the report shows the need for greater transparency into industry actions.

Another outside scientist involved in the spill, Christopher Reddy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said he was impressed by “the amount of positive change since 2010” but then that was offset by the safety culture issue.

“The oil and natural gas industry and the federal government have together taken great strides to enhance the safety of offshore drilling operations,” American Petroleum Institute Vice President Holly Hopkins said.

National Academy President Marcia McNutt, who was a top Obama administration official dealing with the spill in 2010, said her concern is that officials are preparing for the last disaster, not the next one.

Still, McNutt said, the public should find the report “at least partially reassuring that this isn’t high school or elementary school shootings in terms of sticking your head in the sand and ignoring the problem.”

A large plume of smoke rises from fires on BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip on April 2010.

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NWSL announces new San Francisco Bay Area team

By ANNE M. PETERSON


At left, two-time World Cup soccer champion Brandi Chastain speaks during an induction ceremony for the National Soccer Hall of Fame in San Jose, Calif. At right, Aly Wagner talks during an interview in New York, May 30, 2018. A group of former players — including Aly Wagner and Brandi Chastain — has joined with global investment firm Sixth Street to bring a National Women's Soccer League team to the San Francisco Bay Area.The expansion team, which is set to begin play next year, was formally announced by the league Tuesday, April 4, 2023. (AP Photo/File)

A group of former players, including Aly Wagner and Brandi Chastain, has joined with an investment firm to bring a National Women’s Soccer League team to the San Francisco Bay Area.

The expansion team, which is set to begin play next year, was formally announced by the league Tuesday. Details about where the team will play and its name will be announced later.

“It’s a historic moment for the league. We’re super excited about both the opportunity and what it means for the Bay Area and our league in the present, but also what it tells us about the future and where we’re heading,” Commissioner Jessica Berman told The Associated Press. “I feel like it’s coming at the absolute right moment in time to give us the moment to reflect on how far we’ve come and get us focused on the future of the league.”

Joining Wagner and Chastain as founders of the new team are Danielle Slaton and Leslie Osborne. All four have connections to the Bay Area and played for the United States.

“We are so grateful for the community of early investors that made this bid possible, and we know the entire Bay is going to help us make this club one that will set the bar,” Osborne, who played on the United States’ 2007 World Cup team, said in a prepared statement. “We can’t wait for this dream to become a reality on the field and see the Bay Area represented as a soccer powerhouse.”

San Francisco-based investment firm Sixth Street is the new team’s majority backer with an investment of $125 million. The firm has also invested in soccer clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona, as well as the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.

Sixth Street CEO Alan Waxman said investing in women’s sports is good business.

“Now people can put on their iPhone or iPad and they can basically watch the NWSL like my daughter does, like a lot of the girls on her team do. That didn’t exist five years ago, didn’t exist 50 years ago. And that’s a structural change,” Waxman said. “Everyone’s like `Why is this all happening now?′ It’s not a coincidence. It’s that the accessibility has structurally changed. And as a result of that, when you think about 99% of those dollars historically have gone to only men, the barriers have now been broken down and that’s going to change. That’s what we’re investing behind. ”

Waxman will serve on the NWSL’s board of governors. Sheryl Sandberg, a former Facebook executive and author of the 2013 book “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,” is joining the club as a board member and strategic investor. Rick Welts, former Golden State Warriors president, and Staci Slaughter, former vice president for communications for the San Francisco Giants, will also serve on the board.

The NWSL recently embarked on its 11th season with 12 teams. Angel City in Los Angeles and the San Diego Wave joined the league last year.

Last month, the league announced the return of the Utah Royals, who will also start play in 2024.

The original Royals were part of the NWSL for three seasons from 2018 to 2020 but were sold and moved to Kansas City when the owner of Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake stepped away from the team amid controversy. RSL’s new owners retained the rights to a future women’s team.

The league is expected to add a 15th team in the Boston area in the future.

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