Silicon Valley’s dark sustainability secret

Szu Ping Chan
Thu, 28 December 2023 

Silicon Valley

ChatGPT is thirsty. Every time you give it a command, it “drinks” the equivalent of a sip of water. Twenty tasks later and it has already consumed half a litre of the stuff.

That’s because cooling the data centres that power it and other artificial intelligence (AI) tools is a huge task, and one that risks exacerbating a looming water crisis.

It may sound implausible. After all, 75pc of the Earth is covered in water. However, freshwater accounts for just 3pc, and of that, 69pc is locked away in glaciers, 30pc is underground and around 1pc is in lakes, rivers and swamps.

In short, less than 1pc can be used to drink or to irrigate crops.

Demand for water has increased by around 40pc over the past four decades and is estimated to rise by a further 25pc by 2050. At the same time, supply has halved since 1970 as the global population continues to rise, according to the World Bank.

Bank of America (BofA) recently blamed this trend on an era of “hyper consumption”. After all, it takes more than 2,500 litres of water to make a single cotton t-shirt and 24 bathtubs to extract and wash a ton of coal.

When it comes to technology, it’s not just ChatGPT that’s leaving the world parched.

The pandemic triggered a surge in demand for data-intensive services as meetings went virtual and streaming services became regular Friday night entertainment, sparking a flurry of new centres being built by some of the world’s biggest tech companies.

The rise of the semiconductor in everything from cars to toasters has also pushed up water consumption. The average semiconductor factory uses the same amount of daily water as a town roughly the size of Loughborough or Welwyn Garden City.

Google disclosed that its global data centres alone consumed approximately 21.1bn litres of water in 2022, equivalent to the water needed to maintain 37 US golf courses.

While farming and energy are the most water intensive sectors, technology is catching up.

Data centres are the tenth largest water consumer in the US, according to BofA.

And while Google replenished enough water last year to fill 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools, that’s only 6pc of its freshwater consumption last year.

In fact, water demand is expected to almost double from just over 250m gallons per day in 2020 to almost 500m by the end of the decade.

Shaolei Ren, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California says solutions such as using seawater are easier said than done because the liquid used to cool these data centres must also be purified.

“If the water isn’t clean, it will contain bacteria that’s bad for the environment,” he says. “Saltwater also corrodes cooling pipes.”

BofA recently warned that the world could run out of freshwater by 2040, leaving a third of global GDP exposed to negative shocks from water scarcity and a potential 6pc decline amid increases in health risks, migration and inequality.

While economists argue that technology is ultimately the solution, not the problem, tensions are increasingly starting to arise when companies clash with local communities seeking to preserve water because of droughts.

Research by ING showed that in 2022, 23pc of Microsoft’s and 18pc of Google’s freshwater withdrawals originated in areas of water stress, where demand exceeds the available amount over a period.

In the US, which hosts about 25pc of all global data centres, a mid-sized data centre uses about 300,000 gallons (1.3 million litres) of water every day, which ING says is equal to the water consumption of 100,000 homes.

Coco Zhang, an economist at ING, said: “This means that to continue using water to cool data centres, companies need to enhance water usage efficiency and minimise the risk from droughts. They must also properly manage relationships with the local community for large amounts of water consumption.”

Research shows that 23pc of Microsoft’s freshwater withdrawals originate in areas of water stress

Ren says public awareness of the issue is rising. “I think we’re going to see more clashes as this issue becomes more public,” he says.

He adds that one of the problems is the way many companies take water out of the system.

Companies can either use expensive traditional air conditioning to cool their servers, or they can deploy evaporative cooling, using water.

The problem with the latter is that the water that is used can’t simply be recycled like water used for a shower.

“When we take a shower the technical name for that is water withdrawal because it is discharged back to the sewage system and it goes back to the public water utilities,” Ren says.

“But just like when people sweat to cool down and our body heat is released to the environment, when you use water to cool down a data centre, they use water evaporation to cool down the system and remove the heat from the data centre.

“But that means the water isn’t there in liquid form to be used again.”

Shortages mean companies are already considering restricting water usage. In the UK, Thames Water said this summer that it was considering bringing in measures that would restrict data centres’ water usage during peak times in order to ease pressure on supply during hot weather.

Companies insist they are taking action. Some decisions are based on geography. Facebook owner Meta has built data centres in the chillier climes of Oregon and Lulea, Sweden, near the Arctic Circle to take advantage of the colder temperatures.

Google is slowly taking the opposite approach. While you’d probably need to wear a jacket to visit most data centres, Ren says most people would find it more comfortable wearing a pair of shorts when inside a Google location.

Servers here operate at higher temperatures because they all serve the same master, says Ren, unlike so-called colocation facilities where hundreds of different companies can rent space and bandwidth, and where not all equipment is the same.

This allows Google to run its centres more efficiently at around 27 degrees celsius compared to a norm of 21 degrees or even lower.

Google also has 38 water replenishment projects around the world, including one in the UK that intercepts and filters water at Chinbrook Meadows park on the River Quaggy in south London before it enters the Thames.

Microsoft, which has invested billions in ChatGPT creator Open AI, has also changed the way it uses water.

For example, its data centre in Sweden harvests rainwater to use, while the servers are cooled solely with outside air. It is also adapting its data centres in Arizona to use less water after concerns were raised by local communities.

A spokesman says: “We approach our water conservation efforts in our data centres in multiple ways, including applying new technologies to measure water use, and new ways to cool the servers, including liquid cooling and adiabatic cooling, a technology that uses outside air instead of water for cooling, when temperatures are below 85 degrees fahrenheit (29C).”

Both Google and Microsoft have committed to replenishing more water than they consume by 2030, but water use is likely to keep rising in the short term.

Google’s servers operate at higher temperatures than other tech companies’ – 27 degrees compared to a usual 21 – because it says this is more efficient

 - JOHN G MABANGLO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Haim Israel, a global strategist at BofA, says we need not be pessimistic. “The world can definitely meet demand. There is enough water on the planet, but up until now there has not been enough investment.”

BofA believes solving the threat of water scarcity across the globe and beyond technology will cost around $1trillion a year to 2030. It’s a big number in a world where debts are already mounting, but Israel highlights this equates to just 1pc of global GDP.

Israel says: “With urbanisation, an increasing number of people on the planet, industrialisation, consumption and now technology that’s been thrown into the equation over the past couple of years, water supply is going down very, very fast.

“We have the solutions today. We just need governments to get into crisis mode. And start investing in them.”

He says solutions are often just about getting back to basics. “Today a third of all global water is lost because of leaking pipes and ageing infrastructure, Israel adds. “It’s massive. In the US the ageing infrastructure is roughly 50 years old. In some places it’s 100 years old, and a water main breaks every two minutes, leading to the loss of 18pc of freshwater supply.”.

With artificial intelligence often touted as the key to unlocking a new wave of productivity gain, Israel adds that the cost of inaction is particularly high.

“We live in a world of scarcity,” he says. “And the world of scarcity is also the world of not enough. I don’t think that we are going to run out of anything. But there will be an imbalance of supply and demand in the coming years that could leave global GDP in jeopardy.”

Turkey’s 49% Minimum Wage Hike Balances Between Unions, Markets

Beril Akman
Thu, 28 December 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Turkey will raise the minimum wage by 49% in the new year, close to a level that several Wall Street lenders have warned would complicate the central bank’s efforts to curb inflation.

The monthly net minimum salary will be set at 17,002 liras ($577) as part of a single adjustment, Labor Minister Vedat Isikhan said in a televised news conference in Ankara on Wednesday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley have suggested the central bank could further tighten policy should the hike be higher than 40%-50%.

“We fulfilled our promise not to allow our workers to be crushed by inflation,” the minister said.

The government is looking to take some of the pressure off living costs before local elections in a country where consumer price increases are on track to surpass 70% in the months ahead. For President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the choice was a compromise between the competing demands of labor unions and investors wary of rampant inflation.

Turkey’s Labor Unions Confederation, which represented the workers during talks with the government, was asking for an increase to 18,000 liras and a two-time hike next year, according to its president, Ergun Atalay.

The challenge is how to placate a population enduring a cost-of-living crisis but without getting in the way of an effort to cut inflation almost in half by the end of next year.

Chronic inflation that last year reached the fastest in almost a quarter century is eroding the purchasing power of Turks, prompting the government to raise the lowest salaries to retain popular support. This year, two adjustments resulted in an increase of more than 100%.

The latest decision was in the spotlight of credit rating companies and investors seeking clues to the course of Turkish economic policies after a shift away from unconventional measures following May elections and with the approach of the municipal ballot in March. More than a third of the country’s workforce earns the minimum wage, which is also a reference point for wider salary agreements in the economy.

Erdogan, long a champion of cheap money, has revamped the economic leadership team after his reelection in May. The focus has since turned to cooling off domestic demand, with the central bank raising interest rates sharply to counter inflation.

The central bank predicts price growth will end this year at 65%, before peaking above 70% in May and then finishing 2024 at 36%. It’s pushed monetary policy onto a more conventional track by quintupling the benchmark to 42.5% since June and signaling it could be raised higher next month.

Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan had said the central bank took changes to the minimum wage into consideration when compiling its inflation outlook in October.

The 49% hike increases “the upside risks for inflation” but likely won’t derail it from the path projected by the monetary authority, according to QNB Finansbank economists led by Erkin Isik.

“In case of a continuation of tight monetary policy, fiscal policy and appropriate government price hikes, the central bank could achieve its 2024 year-end estimate,” they said in a note published on Thursday.

--With assistance from Baris Balci.

Minimum-wage workers in Turkey just got a 49% pay rise, but they're probably not that happy about it


Lindsay Dodgson
Thu, 28 December 2023 

A currency exchange shop in Istanbul, Turkey.Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Turkey's Labor Minister Vedat Isikhan announced the country's minimum wage will increase 49%.


It may do more harm than good in the country's effort to curb inflation.


Minimum wage hikes have occurred in tandem with Turkey's inflation increases for years.

Turkey's labor minister announced the country's minimum wage will increase by 49% in 2024 to 17,002 liras ($577) a month.

But people probably aren't that happy about it.

Minimum wage hikes have occurred in tandem with Turkey's rocketing inflation for years, and 2024 may not be any different.


The increase in salary for workers may do more harm than good in the country's effort to curb inflation, as banks warned Turkey's efforts to cut it in half next year could be complicated if the minimum wage was increased by 40%-50%, Bloomberg reported.

The decision came after Turkey's labor unions asked for an increase to 18,000 liras and two more increases next year, according to Bloomberg.

"We fulfilled our promise not to allow our workers to be crushed by inflation," Turkey's Labor Minister Vedat Isikhan said in a news conference on Wednesday, per Bloomberg.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a fan of cheap money and low-interest rates, and increasing wages in response to sky-high inflation has been a pattern of Turkey's for several years.

The country raised the minimum wage by 54% at the end of 2022, from 5,500 liras ($186) to 8,500 liras ($288).

As a result of the cycle, inflation in Turkey hit over 100% this year.

This has left people unable to buy basic household goods.

A pensioner told Global Times in September that he had developed a vitamin deficiency due to being unable to purchase meat or dairy and had to take supplements instead. Others also said they were struggling to make ends meet and had seen a dramatic decrease in what they could afford.

People told Reuters they were struggling in May, seeing "nothing but hunger" around them.

"The exchange rate is uncontrollable," said a barber named Hakim Ekinci. "We can't afford anything."

Biden administration grants Louisiana power to approve carbon capture wells

MICHAEL PHILLIS
Updated Thu, 28 December 2023 


 EPA Administrator Michael Regan stands near the Marathon Petroleum Refinery as he conducts a television interview, while touring neighborhoods that abut the refinery, in Reserve, La., Nov. 16, 2021. The Biden administration is granting Louisiana's request to administer its own permit program for wells that store carbon dioxide. It will be just the third state to take over that job from the EPA. The EPA said the Louisiana agreement includes safeguards to protect poorer, often majority-Black communities that live near those facilities. Regan said Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, "It can be done in a way that builds in environmental justice principles that allow for the community to participate in the process and ensures that these communities are safe." 

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The Biden administration is handing Louisiana regulators new power to attract and approve carbon capture projects at a time when the state’s influential energy sector wants to make the Gulf Coast a hub for the rapidly expanding industry.

Louisiana will be able to issue permits for wells that store carbon dioxide, a critical component of carbon capture and removal technology. In all but two other states, the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for permitting. Proponents of the change say it will speed up approvals of new projects that are critical for reducing climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmental groups had opposed the move, doubting that a state home to a concentrated stretch of oil, gas and petrochemical plants commonly called “cancer alley” is capable of proper industry oversight and protecting residents. The EPA said the Louisiana agreement includes safeguards to protect poorer, often majority-Black communities that live near those facilities — and that those standards will serve as a model for other states.

“It can be done in a way that builds in environmental justice principles that allow for the community to participate in the process and ensures that these communities are safe,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Thursday.

The Biden administration has said enhancing environmental justice is a priority and that it would focus its enforcement power on communities already burdened by too much pollution. The EPA said it secured commitments from Louisiana to have a robust public participation process and to consider how new wells might harm communities near polluting sites and possibly reduce harm.

Carbon capture technology is aimed at reducing emissions from industrial sources like ethanol plants and coal-fired power plants. The captured carbon can be transported for injection in wells deep underground. It is these wells that Louisiana will now have the power to approve.

The Biden administration has increased tax breaks for developers of carbon capture projects and provided large grants, including for an ambitious plan in Louisiana to remove carbon directly from the air. Developers have responded, flooding the EPA with permit applications for new wells, but only a handful of carbon capture projects are currently operating and few wells have been approved so far.

In Louisiana, developers have proposed roughly 30 carbon capture projects, among the most of any state, according to a tracker maintained by the climate-focused group Clean Air Task Force.

Louisiana officials welcomed the EPA’s decision, saying it will help make the state a major carbon capture player and reduce industrial emissions.

“We have seen unprecedented interest in carbon sequestration projects over the past couple of years, with companies reaching out to our office to express interest in what the regulatory framework will be,” Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Commissioner of Conservation Monique Edwards said in a statement Thursday.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and other political leaders have argued that the state's robust petrochemical industry along the Mississippi River, geology that’s well suited for carbon storage and plenty of existing infrastructure make it the perfect place for carbon capture development.

Environmental groups are doubtful the state will properly regulate carbon capture wells. Along with climate activists and some scientists, they also question the potential of carbon capture, with some arguing that it’s an excuse to delay or prevent the rapid phase-out of oil, gas and coal that is needed to halt climate change.

They point to statements like those made by Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who advocated for EPA to grant permitting authority to Louisiana. Cassidy argued that producing oil and gas is vital for the state’s economy and that “many of these energy producers want to invest in carbon capture and sequestration so they can keep operating in Louisiana long into the future.”

Opponents argue that prolonging the life of a polluting industry will harm people who live nearby, which are too often poorer, minority residents.

The EPA invited public comment on the state’s request in April, when it proposed approval. Among those objecting was the environmental group Earthjustice, which said the state is “notorious for weak monitoring and enforcement” and that it hasn’t shown it will adequately protect drinking water.

Clara Potter, an attorney with the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic who represented the Sierra Club and another preservation group in opposing the EPA's move, said she was disappointed with the EPA's decision. She said carbon capture projects in Louisiana have served “as an excuse for permitting new and expanded polluting operations.”

That increased air pollution “will be born most heavily by Black and Brown communities who already face disproportionate environmental risks,” she said in a statement.

The Biden administration has focused attention on Louisiana and its pollution. Regan has visited the state, promising to do better by communities there. Last year, the EPA accepted complaints from activist groups in Louisiana that asked the agency to investigate the state's regulation of air emissions. The agency initially said there was evidence of racial discrimination, but dropped the investigation before releasing a final report.

Regan says the agency followed its legal obligation to approve the state's application to administer its own permitting program because it meets the Safe Drinking Water Act's requirements. The state standards must be at least as strict as federal rules.

“We're building in monitoring and oversight measures to ensure that the state — regardless of who is in the governor's office — complies" with the law, Regan said.

North Dakota and Wyoming are the other two states with permitting authority. North Dakota, the first state to be granted authority, issued its fourth well permit in May and an ethanol producer is currently capturing and storing carbon there.

Texas, Arizona and West Virginia also want to run their own permitting program.

___

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

New Mexico proposes regulations to reuse fracking wastewater



MORGAN LEE
Thu, 28 December 2023 

FILE - Oil rigs stand in the Loco Hills field  in Eddy County near Artesia, N.M.. The state's environmental regulators have proposed a new regulatory framework for reusing wastewater with a major focus on treating and repurposing the used, salty byproducts of oil and natural gas drilling in a major U.S. petroleum production zone. The EPA announced Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, its petition to the state Water Quality Control Commission to begin formal deliberations on the proposed rules.

 (AP Photo/Jeri Clausing, File)

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico environmental officials have proposed a new regulatory framework for reusing wastewater with a focus on the used, salty byproducts of oil and natural gas drilling in a major U.S. production zone.

The Environment Department announced Thursday its petition to the Water Quality Control Commission to begin formal deliberations on the proposed rules. Public hearings could begin as soon as April.

New Mexico, the No. 2 state for oil production behind Texas, is looking to its energy sector and water-intensive fracking as a potential source of treated water for industrial applications — and to offset water demands that are depleting freshwater aquifers amid drought.


“We need to protect our fresh groundwater supplies not only from degradation or contamination but from overuse,” said John Rhoderick, director of the water protection division at the Environment Department. “We need to do everything we can to maintain those supplies because they’re not being replenished.”

He said initially rules would only allow for “closed loop” projects involving treated oil-field water, with no discharge.

“Although this identifies and encourages pilot projects and demonstration projects, they have to be non-discharging," Rhoderick said. "We feel that’s the safest way to do it.”

In a related legislative proposal from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico would underwrite development of a strategic new water source by buying treated water that originates from oil and natural gas drilling. The governor is seeking a $500 million appropriation by the Legislature for the project.

That initiative doesn't aim to provide potable water but rather a supply of treated water for emerging businesses ranging from microchip manufacturers to hydrogen fuel producers that separate the element from water in an energy-intensive process. Critics fear the plan might only spur more drilling for petroleum.

Rhoderick said New Mexico communities already reuse about 40% of residential wastewater after treatment and purification to irrigate city parks, playing fields, landscaped roadway medians and more. But broader reuse options are needed to ensure economic and population growth in the future, he said.

“We felt the need to give some clear direction and certainty to industry because we need them to invest in the technologies and the science,” said Rhoderick.

The proposed rules are an outgrowth of 2019 state legislation that encourages the oil and natural gas industry to favor water treatment, reuse and recycling over reliance on natural aquifers. Concerns about water overuse include depletion of the vast underground Ogallala Aquifer that sustains communities in eastern New Mexico and extends to the Dakotas and Wyoming.

Collaboration on the proposed rules included a public-private research consortium anchored by New Mexico State University. Private consortium sponsors include energy conglomerates Chevron and ExxonMobile, oil services provider NGL Energy Partners and infrastructure firm Tallgrass Energy, a developer of hydrogen ventures in New Mexico.

NAKBA 2 ETHNICALLY CLEANSED

Former Israeli settlers yearn to return to Gaza after war

Michael BLUM
Wed, 27 December 2023 

Nearly two decades after Israeli settlers pulled out of Gaza, some say they yearn to return to the Palestinian territory after the Israel-Hamas war (GIL COHEN-MAGEN)

"A house on the beach is not a dream!" The advertising slogan by an Israeli settlement developer is music to the ears of former Gaza settlers yearning to return to the Palestinian territory after the war.

Nearly two decades after Israeli settlers pulled out of Gaza, the real estate developer Harey Zahav sparked controversy when it posted the slogan on social media in mid-December as Israel wages a military offensive against the territory's Hamas rulers.

"This campaign expresses a desire to return (to Gaza) but we have no projects in development," said Zeev Epstein, the owner of the company, which is notorious for constructing wildcat settler outposts in the occupied West Bank without Israeli government authorisation.


Epstein made the comment to Israel's Channel 13 television as Palestinian supporters expressed outrage over what they saw as a proposal to build beachfront homes over the bombed-out ruins of Gaza.

Israel unilaterally withdrew the last of its troops and 8,000 settlers on September 11, 2005, ending a presence inside Gaza that began in 1967, but maintaining near complete control over the territory's borders.

Despite its withdrawal, Israel imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the territory and is still regarded internationally as an occupying power in the Gaza Strip.

All settlements on occupied Palestinian land are regarded as illegal under international law, regardless of whether they were approved by Israel.

No Israeli officials had suggested plans to send Jewish settlers back to the territory following the outbreak of war on October 7, when Hamas militants launched deadly attacks across southern Israel and Israel responded with a relentless military campaign.

But on Wednesday, coalition lawmaker Zvika Foghel told public radio that Israel must "take control over the territory north of the Gaza River, and establish new Jewish settlement".

- 'Paradise' -

For Hannah Picard, a 66-year-old French-Israeli who lived for 16 years in the heart of the Gaza Strip, "it's obvious that we are going to go back".

The ongoing war in Gaza, she said, was a prelude to her return.

"Deep down, we dream of going back, because it's our home," Picard said in an interview in her three-bedroom apartment in Jerusalem, which she described as her "temporary home".

Her former seaside home in central Gaza, she said, was akin to "living in paradise".

The bloodiest ever Gaza war erupted when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel and killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

They took 250 hostages of whom 129 remain inside Gaza, Israel says.

Israel's retaliatory bombardment and ground assault in Gaza has killed at least 20,915 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.

The case for Gaza resettlement has gained some ground among Israelis, many of whom are traumatised and galvanised by the October 7 attacks.

- 'Govern Gaza' -

Oded Mizrahi, who works at Jerusalem's Gush Katif Museum -- named after a bloc of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip -- was convinced that returning to the territory would soon be possible.

"We don't know exactly how but... everyone understands that Hamas cannot stay there," he told AFP.

"We have no other choice but to govern" Gaza, he said.

While the Israeli authorities have not talked about the future of Gaza clearly, the United States insists it would be up to the Palestinians to decide.

"We do not believe that it makes sense for Israel, or is right for Israel, to occupy Gaza, reoccupy Gaza over the long term," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told journalists on a recent visit to Israel.

"Ultimately the control of Gaza, the administration of Gaza and the security of Gaza has to transition to the Palestinians."

The images from 2005 of weeping Israelis leaving their homes in Gaza settlements, soldiers in tears as they carried out evacuation orders, bulldozers razing houses and synagogues set ablaze by Palestinians are etched into the collective Israeli memory.

Displayed at the Gush Katif museum were photos, maps and souvenirs from the destroyed settlements such as little bottles filled with sand from Gush Katif as well as books on Jewish history in Gaza.

T-shirts emblazoned with the words "We are going home" were on sale for 35 shekels ($10).

"People want to learn this story," Mizrahi said.

"It's in the news."

mib/ezz/ac/jd/amj/kir

OOPS, SORRY ABOUT THAT
Israel's military says it used the wrong bombs in strike on a Gaza refugee center that killed at least 86 people

Sam Fellman
Thu, 28 December 2023 

Israeli airstrikes hit a residential area in al Maghazi refugee camp, killing at least 86 people. Israel's military said Thursday this strike caused Ali Jadallah/Anadolu

The Israeli military said its Dec. 24 airstrikes on a refugee camp caused "unintended harm."


Two airstrikes hit seven buildings and killed at least 86 people.


This appears to be the IDF's first admission that it has used excessive force in its air war.

For seemingly the first time, Israel has said an attack in its air war that harmed civilians in Gaza went too far.

Israeli fighter jets launched attacks on a refugee camp in central Gaza on Sunday that killed at least 86 people, including women and children.

The Israeli military now says the bombing caused "unintended harm" to civilians.

The attacks struck the crowded Maghazi refugee camp, where thousands of displaced Palestinians gathered while fleeing Israel's ground and air war against Hamas. Associated Press journalists witnessed the immediate aftermath as survivors carried a dead baby and checked a bloodied girl for injuries.

Israel is carrying out intense bombardments of Gaza in the wake of Hamas' October 7 terrorist attacks that killed 1,200 people in Israel, some of whom were tortured and sexually assaulted.

The military's statements Thursday appear to be the first admission by the Israeli military that it had used excessive force in its air war — the leading cause of the 21,100 Palestinian deaths tallied so far by the Hamas-run Health Ministry during the war.

The UN reported that the Israeli strikes hit seven buildings in the refugee camp. The IDF said its forces were targeting Hamas operatives nearby and struck two targets.

"A preliminary investigation revealed that additional buildings located near the targets were also hit during the strikes, which likely caused unintended harm to additional uninvolved civilians," according to an IDF statement.

An unnamed Israeli military official told the Israeli public broadcaster KAN: "The type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, causing extensive collateral damage that could have been avoided."

An Israeli military official said its airstrikes caused widespread damage to the crowded Maghazi refugee center "that could have been avoided."Mahmud Hams/Getty Images

Israel's Western allies are becoming more and more critical of the bombing campaign, calling it "indiscriminate" and even saying it's at odds with Israel's long-term security by radicalizing more Palestinians.

Israel's relentless air attacks have repeatedly struck hospitals, schools, high-rises, and other essential infrastructure; Israel's military says the attacks target Hamas operatives and their extensive tunnel network.

Israel has used large or unguided bombs — certain to cause wide damage in crowded Gaza — in some of the attacks.

Researchers estimate that the damages are widespread; between 36% and 45% of all buildings in Gaza have been damaged.

Israel has struck other refugee centers in its pursuit of Hamas. A Wall Street Journal investigation published Thursday found that the Israeli military attacked the Jabalia refugee center on Oct. 31 without warning civilians. The attack used two of Israel's largest bombs.

The effort killed one Hamas battalion commander — and at least 126 civilians, more than half of whom were children.


Israeli military ‘regrets harm’ after more than 100 killed in refugee camp strike

Anthony France
Thu, 28 December 2023 

Men recover the body of someone killed in the aftermath of an Israeli strike at al-Maghazi refugee camp (AFP via Getty Images)

Israel has said it “regrets the harm” caused by airstrikes that killed dozens of civilians earlier this week.

About 131 people died when the Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps, east of Deir al-Balah, were pounded late on Sunday, according to figures by the United Nation’s human rights office.

An Israel Defense Forces spokesman told the KAN public broadcaster on Thursday: “The type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, causing extensive collateral damage that could have been avoided.”


In a later statement, the IDF said: “A preliminary investigation revealed that additional buildings located near the targets were also hit during the strikes, which likely caused unintended harm to additional uninvolved civilians.”

The IDF said it “regretted the harm” to non-combatants in the incident, saying that the strike had targeted Hamas operatives.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces expanded their ground offensive into urban refugee camps in central Gaza after bombarding crowded Palestinian communities and ordering residents to evacuate.

Despite US calls for Israel to curb civilian casualties and international pressure for a ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military was deepening the fighting in retaliation for Hamas gunmen’s murderous assault on October 7.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip (AP)

Israel blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll in Gaza, citing militants’ use of crowded residential areas and tunnels.

Officials say they killed thousands of the enemy, without presenting evidence.

Israel’s offensive is one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history.

More than 20,900 Palestinians, two-thirds women and children, have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, whose count doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. The agency said 240 people were killed over the past 24 hours.

The UN human rights office said the continued bombardment of middle Gaza had claimed more than 100 Palestinian lives since Christmas Eve. The office noted that Israel had ordered some residents to move there.

Thatcher ‘utterly shattered’ by MI5 revelations in Spycatcher, files reveal

Caroline Davies and Kevin Rawlinson
Thu, 28 December 2023 

Photograph: Phil Noble/PA

Margaret Thatcher was “utterly shattered” by the revelations in Spycatcher, the memoirs of the retired MI5 officer Peter Wright, files released publicly for the first time reveal.

The files also reveal the dilemmas faced by Thatcher’s government in its futile battle to suppress the book, including whether to agree to the Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer mediating an out of court “solution”.

Allegations by Wright, a former assistant director of MI5 who retired to Tasmania, included that the security agency had bugged embassies, that a small group of agents had plotted against the prime minister Harold Wilson, and that Sir Roger Hollis, the director general of MI5 from 1956-65, had been a Soviet mole.

The book, which was banned in the UK in 1985, was first published in Australia and the US after the government lost its long-running high-profile court case against Wright in Sydney in 1987.

The documents show the government losing control in a legal game of “whack-a-mole” as extracts popped up in newspapers and books appeared in shops and on library shelves around the world.

The government insisted the allegations were not new and had previously been investigated by MI5 and no evidence found, though Thatcher wrote on one document in October 1986: “I am utterly shattered by the revelations in the book. The consequences of publication would be enormous.”

The fear was that Wright, as an “insider”, could give the allegations greater credence, with the government seeking an injunction on the grounds of his “duty of confidentiality”, having signed the Official Secrets Act.

Offers by Wright to try to settle the case were made up to, and during, the Australian trial. As Sir Robert Armstrong, who was the cabinet secretary and the government witness in the case, was mid-evidence, Wright’s lawyer, Malcolm Turnbull, who would later become Australia’s prime minister, proposed a “solution” to be mediated by the Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer, the papers released by the National Archives show.

Turnbull suggested that Thatcher would recognise the problems with “old spooks wanting to tell their stories”, and set up an inquiry to look into adopting the US system, which allowed CIA agents to seek permission to publish books, so allowing Wright to publish with permission.

In return, Armstrong reported, she would be seen as a “champion of freedom of expression and freedom of speech” and Turnbull would do his best to say that he, Armstrong, “did a splendid job”. “Very good of him, I must say,” Armstrong added.

Noting the judge’s last words that afternoon had been Timeō Danaōs et dōna ferentēs – roughly translated as “beware the Greeks even when bearing gifts” – Armstrong pondered Turnbull’s motives. There was “not much enthusiasm for starting down” the road of negotiating the terms, if “we do not trust our Greek”, he wrote. After Thatcher held a meeting of senior government ministers and officials, the offer was rejected.

When the government lost the case, the question turned to appeal. The downside, one adviser told Thatcher, was Wright, aged 70 and in ill health, might die before the appeal, and the government would be “accused of ‘killing’ him by our intransigent attitude”. But Sir Nigel Wicks, Thatcher’s principal private secretary, believed the case for appeal was “overwhelming”. She agreed, writing in the margin of his memo: “We must appeal.”

It proved largely irrelevant, though, as the government then learned a US publishing house was planning to publish, and was advised it could not succeed in legal action in the US. “Very disturbing,” wrote Thatcher.

Douglas Hurd, the home secretary, warned “seepage” could affect the Australian appeal, and other cases in which the government was seeking to uphold injunctions against the Guardian, the Observer and the Sunday Times to prevent publication of Wright’s material, as well as against the Dominion newspaper in New Zealand. The files, dense with legal analysis and advice, show other countries where action possibly might be needed included Italy, South Africa, Pakistan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

One disheartening memo, from the arts minister Richard Luce, warned of a forthcoming international library conference in the UK, “with many American librarians coming over … we know that at least one British librarian has arranged to receive a copy of Spycatcher from a colleague for his library”.

Labour MEPs read extracts of the book in the record at the European parliament, which was included in the parliament’s official journal, due to be distributed in the UK through HMSO, the government’s stationery office. It left the government looking “foolish”, Wicks told Thatcher. “Yes, we must do everything we can to ensure the one hand of the government does not distribute what the other hand is trying to stop,” she wrote. But there was nothing, legally, they could do.

The Treasury solicitor, meanwhile, was dispatched to the clerk of the Commons to ensure no MPs attempted to read extracts in parliament, which would allow newspapers to report them “in plain frustration of the purpose of the injunctions”.

The files show how Thatcher tried, and failed, to dissuade the former prime minister Jim Callaghan from calling for an inquiry, which she was determined to resist. Meanwhile, her famously blunt press secretary, Bernard Ingham, predicted any inquiry would be “doomed before it begins to eventual dismissal as a whitewash”.

He wrote: “I consider a far more effective remedy would be for the security services (who have, after all, largely got themselves into this mess) publicly to shut up and secretly to grit their teeth, pull themselves together and get on with it.”

The book was cleared for sale in the UK in 1988 after the law lords – who carried out the judicial work of the House of Lords – acknowledged it contained no secrets. Wright was barred from receiving royalties from UK sales – the one victory the government could claim. He died, aged 78 and a millionaire, in 1995.

FREE MONEY

UK Treasury to end oversight of £425m scheme to help banks after RBS bailout

Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent
Thu, 28 December 2023 

Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Lenders that received payouts from a £425m pot of public cash set aside after Royal Bank of Scotland was bailed out in 2008 will not be held accountable over delayed projects, after the Treasury refused to extend supervision arrangements beyond the new year.

Under so-called state aid rules, which applied when the UK was still a member of the European Union, RBS money was given to smaller challenger banks to spend developing their services for business customers, in an effort to promote competition and offset the market-skewing effects of RBS’s £45bn government bailout in 2008.

But the Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) body, which distributed funds and monitors how they are spent, is set to be wound down in February. Data published by the BCR reveals that, of the 24 recipients of the funds, 15 have “deliverables outstanding”, meaning they have yet to deliver the projects they were paid for.

In a public warning issued months before its planned liquidation, the BCR said: “No alternative reporting mechanism has been put in place for those awardees with outstanding deliverables and, therefore, they will be responsible for holding themselves to account and updating on their public commitments.”

It will leave no one to oversee the way lenders including Metro Bank, Virgin Money, the Cooperative Bank and specialist lenders like Atom Bank deliver their delayed projects, and spend any remaining funds.

Metro Bank, which was controversially awarded the largest prize of £120m in 2019 despite a major accounting scandal months earlier, has so far opened only four of the seven branches it promised by the end of 2023. The lender, which ended up handing back £50m of its funds a year later, was also 4,000-shy of the 206,000 business current account customers it hoped to gain by year-end. A Metro Bank spokesperson said the bank had made “good progress” and was confident in reaching store opening and account volume goals by 2025.

Meanwhile, the Co-operative Bank had only managed to cut its 15-day account opening process to seven days, leaving a “notable gap” in meeting its five-day target. It has also only managed to secure 1.8% of the UK SME market, versus targets for 2.1%.

Virgin Money is also tracking behind its near-term customer targets, the BCR said, without giving exact figures. The bank said it had achieved six of eight commitments and expected to achieve remaining targets by the agreed 2025 target date.

While the BCR asked ministers to extended its term until at least the end of 2024, that request was ultimately denied by the Treasury earlier this year, without any alternative monitoring system being put in place.

No public explanation has been given for refusing the request from BCR, which has had its operating costs – £15m to date – covered by RBS, now known as NatWest Group.

There are also no penalties for missing targets, and the BCR, with its dwindling powers, has only been able to recommended that lenders publish updates on their websites.

While the 15 lenders reached a number of their respective targets, many remain unfulfilled. They have blamed a range of factors, including the impact that the UK’s economic slowdown had on borrowing by businesses, as well as the tighter labour market, which made it harder to find competent staff for their new or expanded services.

The Treasury said: “The successful implementation of the Alternative Remedies Package (ARP) resolved a key legacy issue for NatWest, facilitating further sales of the government’s shareholding whilst benefitting the SME banking market.

“Banking Competition Remedies has played an important role in monitoring the ARP to date and have already set out a recommendation that firms continue to provide updates on any outstanding commitments going forwards.”

UK

TUC issues warning on new strikes law

Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent
Thu, 28 December 2023 



The entire trade union movement will rally behind any worker who is sacked under a controversial new law on strikes, the head of the TUC is warning.

New regulations are aimed at ensuring a minimum level of services during strikes, starting in sectors including the railways and the Border Force before being more widely introduced.

The Government brought forward the new law following 18 months of strikes by hundreds of thousands of workers including nurses, teachers, junior doctors, civil servants and train drivers.


Unions have vowed to fight the law, under which workers could face being sacked if minimum levels of service are not maintained.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: ”Nobody withdraws their labour lightly. It is the last resort when employers refuse to talk and refuse to compromise.

“The action taken by union members in 2023 forced bosses across the country back to the negotiating table and secured better deals.

“Unions will do everything in our power to defend that right to strike. It is a cornerstone of our democracy.

“We won’t be intimidated by this Government, and we won’t be bullied.

“The Tories’ Strikes Act is toxic, unworkable, undemocratic and likely illegal and it’s a brazen attempt to try stop working people winning better pay and conditions.

“The entire trade union movement will rally behind any worker who is sacked for exercising their right to strike.”

The Royal College of Nursing said it “totally opposed” the new law.

General secretary Pat Cullen said nursing staff could be forced to work during an otherwise legal strike or face the sack.

She told the PA news agency: “The Strikes Act is dangerous and unwise. Ministers are seeking to silence nursing staff, stopping them from speaking out over patient safety concerns, or protesting poor pay and working conditions.

“The legislation means that nursing staff could be conscripted to work, or face the sack during legal industrial action.

“Nursing staff will be appalled that ministers are seeking to curtail their freedom to speak out as we go into a general election year.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader and shadow deputy prime minister, said: “This Government’s failed approach has led to the worst strikes in decades causing havoc for working people this Christmas.

“Rishi Sunak’s ‘sacking nurses Bill’ is nothing but another sticking plaster to distract from the Conservatives’ 13 years of failure. We all want minimum standards of service and staffing, but it’s Tory ministers who are consistently failing to provide them.

“Only Labour can offer the change Britain needs, with industrial relations fit for a modern economy, where issues can be resolved before they escalate.”

A Government spokesperson said: “The Government believes that the ability to strike is important, but this needs to be balanced with the rights of the public to access essential public services, such as ambulances and rail, when they need them.

“We expect trade unions to comply with the law and play their part in delivering minimum service levels.”

Norway’s biggest pension fund boycotts Gulf companies over Middle East fears

Michael Bow
Thu, 28 December 2023 

UAE

Norway’s largest pension fund will boycott 12 companies in the Gulf region over alleged human rights abuses, including creeping state surveillance and poor treatment of migrant workers.

KLP, which manages $100bn (£78bn) of assets and owns stakes in UK companies, said it will stop investing in the firms over fears it will fuel problems in the Middle East.

Eleven of the 12 are telecom or construction companies based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.


The world’s largest oil company Saudi Aramco, which is 90pc owned by the Saudi state, is on the list over fears authorities exert too much control over the business.

KLP said investments in these firms posed “an unacceptable, sector-specific risk of contributing to human rights abuses”.

The telecom sector was targeted because KLP said it allowed governments to spy on their citizens.

The construction sector was also a risk due to the treatment of migrant workers, which was a widespread issue in the build-up to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Among those blacklisted include Emirates Telecom Group, Emaar Properties and Aldar Properties in the UAE, Mobile Telecommunications and Mabanee in Kuwait and Barwa Real Estate and Ooredoo in Qatar.

Ties will also be cut with Saidi Arabia’s Aramco, Saudi Telecom, Etihad Etisalat, Dar Al Arkan Real Estate and Mobile Telecommunications.

Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP, said the fund had published its assessment to prompt debate about human rights.

Ms Aziz said the difference between its approach and the policy of some UK investment funds was “how reluctant people are in terms of talking about this publicly”.

She said the fund had spent four years researching the issue and met with the Saudi stock exchange and several companies before publishing its decision.

Ms Aziz said: “We could have just put these companies on the list without giving an assessment but you would lose the value of what we’re trying to achieve. We want to debate our exclusions and we want the companies to understand where we draw the line and other stakeholders as well.

“There are a lot of good companies in Gulf states and we have seen it has had quite good development on corporate governance but at the same time, with migrant workers and breach of labour rights, it’s such a core issue for this region that it’s difficult to justify it from our point of view.”

Only one of the companies blacklisted, which is based in the telecom sector, had raised concerns with KLP, Ms Aziz said.

UK

Bad bosses blamed for dragging down economy

Szu Ping Chan
Thu, 28 December 2023 

london commuters

Bad middle managers are dragging down the economy, according to a string of blue-chip bosses and analysts, who say inept executives are at the heart of Britain’s productivity problem.

FTSE 100 insurer Phoenix has identified poor middle management as one of the biggest drags on their business, while economists at the Resolution Foundation warned that Britain’s army of bad managers “stands out” globally.

It is understood that the company behind Standard Life conducts an informal exercise every year where parts of its businesses examine whether they can produce the same amount of output with a 3pc reduction in resources.


Another executive at a UK-listed firm said: “Most of the weakness is down to bad middle management. Some of them leave every year and it’s hardly noticed.”

UK pay growth has stagnated since the financial crisis amid a collapse in productivity that threatens to push the UK into a low-growth trap.

Recent research by the Chartered Management Institute branded four-fifths of British supervisors “accidental managers” because they have no formal training after being promoted.

A third of the 2,000 people surveyed also said they had left jobs because of a negative working culture.

The Resolution Foundation recently warned that firms were not as well managed in the UK as the US, with dire consequences for investment, productivity and growth.

“Rising interest rates are biting across borders, and bad taxes are found in many countries. Bad managers are, however, an area in which Britain stands out,” it said in a flagship report.

“Only a small proportion of UK firms are as well managed as the best 25pc of US firms.”

It added: “This matters for reasons beyond investment. But well-managed firms make better investment decisions, being demonstrably better at forecasting the growth of the aggregate economy and of their own firm.”

The collapse in UK productivity means that workers in the US produced 28pc more per hour than in the UK in 2019.

Economist John van Reenen added that French and Germans are also around 13pc more productive than their British counterparts.

An index on management practices compiled by respected economists, including Mr van Reenen at Stanford and the London School of Economics, has suggested that more than 50pc of the productivity gap between Britain and America can be explained by poor management.

A spokesman for Phoenix said: “We always look to operate efficiently and effectively, and to have the highest calibre of leaders at every level which we know is important to colleagues.

“Moving colleagues between different areas of our business can be really helpful to our organisation in terms of building expertise and inspiring others.

“It provides us with an opportunity to bring fresh thinking, maximise productivity and always ensure our resources, including middle management, are aligned in the best possible way. This is important to UK corporate productivity.”

The Resolution Foundation believes Britain’s fragmented investment landscape has led to a more cautious corporate culture, where a majority of overseas shareholders are often dispersed and lack engagement in the company’s fortunes because their shares are so small.

This is in contrast to many other European countries, where controlling shareholders are common.

“The ownership of UK-listed firms has become more remote – with foreign ownership of UK public firms rising from just over 10pc in 1990 to over 55pc in 2020 – and extremely dispersed,” the Foundation said.

“The UK stands out in the OECD for having one of the lowest proportion of firms with ‘blockholder’ shareholders, big enough to have an incentive and the ability to influence firm decisions.”

While the Foundation believes worker representation on boards will benefit the economy, others have warned the approach favoured by Left-wing politicians including Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, could make the productivity problem worse by forcing companies to protect jobs instead of making tough decisions.