UK

Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance still owes Greensill Capital nearly £500m

Maria Ward-Brennan
Wed, 17 April 2024 

Photo credit JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

The administrators for Greensill Capital are still owed around $587.2m (£472m) from Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, it has been revealed.

Grant Thornton, the administrators for Greensill, published a report on Sunday, where it outlined how the firm is still in ongoing discussions with a number of debtors, including GFG Alliance, regarding outstanding balances owed.

Grant Thornton warned that as the firm is not able to recover the funds owned, it will “continue to consider the recovery options that are available to Greensill Capital UK under the security and guarantees granted by GFG in connections with the GFG programmes.”

“However, we are not able to provide the details of such strategies so as to not prejudice our position,” it added.

GFG Alliance was Greensill’s biggest client and it was reported at the time of the collapse that it had an exposure totalling $5bn.

A GFG Alliance spokesperson said: “Liberty Steel Group has signed a new framework agreement with its major Greensill creditors.

“The new framework comes after achieving major milestones in raising new capital including a successful US$350m bond issue through Jefferies LLC and a $350m Asset-Backed Term Loan through Blackrock and Silver Point Finance.

“Execution of the framework agreement will build on improvements made across the group since the collapse of Greensill Capital.”

Commenting on the report, Tim Symes, insolvency and asset recovery partner at leading law firm Stewarts, said: “Like any security, a guarantee to pay another company’s debts is only as good as the ability of the giver to actually pay it.”

“The GFG group of companies is complex and opaque, and so it remains to be seen whether the companies that have granted the guarantees are in fact the ones with sufficient value to be able to meet any payment demands from the administrators,” he added.

News of the amounts owed to Greensill by GFG Alliance comes after the Insolvency Service launched a director disqualification claim against Greensill’s director Lex Greensill. This move came after it was revealed that Greensill filed a lawsuit against the Department for Business and Trade over the alleged “misuse of private information”.

Greensill administrators threaten to seize Sanjeev Gupta’s assets after he fails to repay £472m


Matt Oliver
Tue, 16 April 2024 

Sanjeev Gupta's GFG reportedly owed Greensill £3.7bn at the time of its failure in 2021 - Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Administrators for collapsed finance firm Greensill Capital have warned they could attempt to seize assets from steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta to recover $587m (£472m) in unpaid funds.

GFG Alliance, a collection of companies headed by Mr Gupta, has been targeted by the administrators having been one of Greensill’s most prolific borrowers before its collapse.

As a specialist lender that advanced cash to companies so they could pay suppliers early, Greensill was reportedly owed £3.7bn from GFG at the time of its failure in 2021.

This includes $587m owed to the UK arm of Greensill Capital, which is yet to be repaid despite long-running negotiations, according to an update published by administrators at Grant Thornton.

Talks over repayment were ongoing but if these fail then Greensill’s administrators said they would “consider recovery options that are available” under security and guarantees given by GFG for various loans.

It is common for borrowers to put up certain assets as security for loans in the event they cannot make repayments, or offer up guarantees that a third party will pay on their behalf as a last resort.

However, the administrators declined to give further details “so as not to prejudice our position”.

They added that non-binding agreements had been signed with Mr Gupta and various GFG entities since 2022 but that no debt repayments had been made as of March 7.

Another agreement regarding debt repayments was struck on March 15 this year.

A GFG spokesman said the agreement comes after the company raised new funds, although it is understood that the amount owed by Mr Gupta’s companies remains in dispute.

GFG missed a previous repayment date agreed by both sides but this was because negotiations remained ongoing, a person familiar with the discussions said.

A company spokesman refused to confirm the new deadline for GFG’s debt repayments.

Prior to its failure, Greensill was valued at $3.5bn and counted Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, as an adviser.

The company filed for insolvency in 2021 after buckling under billions of dollars in debt, with its collapse accelerated by a decision from Credit Suisse to suspend £7bn of funds.

At the time of its withdrawal, Credit Suisse cited concerns over the bank’s exposure to Mr Gupta’s businesses, which had borrowed billions of pounds to fuel a rapid expansion.

Greensill subsequently lost insurance coverage for its financing and filed for insolvency.

However, the company’s close relationship with Mr Gupta’s empire has come under scrutiny amid reports it lent money to GFG companies based on speculative invoices from customers they had never done business with.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for GREENSILL 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for SANJEEV GUPTA

UK Trade union law in breach of workers rights, Supreme Court rules

“This is a badge of shame for the Conservatives. They are on the side of bad bosses – not working people.”

Jess Glass, 

PA Law Editor
Wed, 17 April 2024 

UK trade union law breaches workers’ rights and “encourages and legitimises unfair and unreasonable conduct by employers”, the Supreme Court has ruled.

On Wednesday, five justices at the UK’s highest court unanimously ruled the UK has breached its duties over the right to take part in lawful strikes in what Unison’s general secretary described as the “most important industrial action case for decades”.

Judges were considering the case of Fiona Mercer, a care worker who was suspended by her employer after taking part in a planned strike.

Ms Mercer previously took legal action against the Alternative Futures Group, a charity providing a range of care services across north-west England, after she was suspended in 2019.

In 2022, three Court of Appeal judges ruled against Ms Mercer, a member of Unison and a union representative, following an intervention on behalf of the Business Secretary, and overturned a ruling made by a judge sitting in an employment appeal tribunal.

But in a judgment on Wednesday, Lady Simler found the law had a “complete absence” of protection against sanctions short of dismissal intended to deter or punish trade union members from taking part in lawful strikes.

Lady Simler, whose ruling was supported by four other justices, said: “In my judgment the right of an employer to impose any sanction at all short of dismissal for participation in lawful industrial action nullifies the right to take lawful strike action.

“If employees can only take strike action by exposing themselves to detrimental treatment, the right dissolves.”

She continued: “It is hard to see what pressing social need is served by a general rule that has the effect of excluding protection from sanctions short of dismissal for taking lawful strike action in all circumstances.”

The judge added that the legislation at the heart of the case “both encourages and legitimises unfair and unreasonable conduct by employers”.

Lady Simler also said the protection in place was limited to strike action taken outside of working hours, adding that “to withhold labour at a time when the employer has no expectation of labour being provided is unlikely to have any consequence”.

She later said there have been no findings of fact about Alternative Futures Group’s intentions “nor about the reasonableness or proportionality of its actions”.

Following the ruling, Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “This is the most important industrial action case for decades.

“It’s a victory for every employee who might one day want to challenge something bad or unfair their employer has done.

Union chiefs said it was the most important case of its kind in decades (Yui Mok/PA)

“Rogue bosses won’t like it one bit. They’ll no longer be able to punish or ill-treat anyone who dares to take strike action to try to solve any problems at work.

“No-one strikes on a whim. There are many legal hoops to be jumped through first. But when a worker decides to walk out, they should be able to do so, safe in the knowledge they won’t be victimised by a spiteful boss.

“The Government must now close this loophole promptly.

“It won’t cost any money and isn’t difficult to do. Today is a day to celebrate.”

Ms Mercer said: “I’m delighted at today’s outcome. Although it won’t change the way I was treated, it means irresponsible employers will now think twice before behaving badly towards their unhappy staff.

“If they single strikers out for ill-treatment, they’ll now be breaking the law.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak also welcomed the ruling, describing it as a “monumental victory”.

He added: “Judges have been clear as day. UK law fails to protect workers from bad bosses who punish staff for exercising their right to strike. It breaches international law.

“This Government is racking up embarrassing legal defeats over its attacks on the right to strike, after the High Court recently ruled its strike-breaking agency worker regulations were illegal.

“This is a badge of shame for the Conservatives. They are on the side of bad bosses – not working people.”

 

Thames Water creditor backs plan to break up business

Luke Barr
Wed, 17 April 2024 

Thames

A leading bondholder in Thames Water has backed plans to break up the business as it races to stave off collapse.

The prospect of carving up Thames Water is gaining momentum ahead of a rescue plan that bosses are expected to unveil on Friday.

Luke Hickmore, a fund manager at Abrdn who holds secured bonds in Thames Water, said he would support a split if it meant protecting creditors’ interests.

The Telegraph revealed earlier this month that bosses were exploring a potential break-up as part of a range of scenarios to avoid nationalisation.

Under the proposals being considered, Thames Water – which serves 16 million customers – could be divided into two separate smaller companies: one covering London and the other serving the Thames Valley and Home Counties regions.


Given its size, Mr Hickmore said Thames Water must reach a positive outcome for both “political and economic reasons”, as the risk of creditors losing out would knock confidence levels across Britain’s infrastructure sector overall.

He said: “They are one of the largest issuers in the UK. That’s a pretty important outcome for everybody, whether it be pensioners or insurance companies.”

It emerged on Tuesday that Thames bosses are also reportedly weighing a possible debt raise as it hunts for new cash to secure its future.

However, City sources played down the prospect, questioning why the beleaguered supplier would tap debt markets given it is already burdened by an £18bn debt pile.

One bondholder who recently sold out of Thames said: “It’s smoking something, right? The management team is panicking and thinking about how they can make it work and they can’t.”

A restructuring adviser involved in discussions added: “I find it mesmerising that any more debt could go in. No one would allow it. It seems crazy to my mind.”

Speculation around Thames’ finances comes weeks after parent business Kemble, which represents shareholders, confirmed it is cutting off fresh funds from the business over claims regulator Ofwat has rendered the business “uninvestable”.

It is understood there has been no dialogue between Thames Water bosses and Kemble since the announcement.

Shareholders’ refusal to fulfil a £500m funding package has pushed Thames Water closer to the brink, despite bosses’ claims that the company has £2.4bn of funds to see it through the next 15 months.

A collapse into special administration – where the Government steps in to keep the company operating – has grown increasingly likely in recent weeks, with the supplier yet to convince Ofwat that it must increase bills by 40pc in order to ensure long-term profitability.

According to sources close to the company, a taxpayer bailout could cost £5bn “just to keep the lights on”.

A Thames bondholder said: “We’re all running scenarios every morning and worrying about whether they are going to go through a special administration regime.”

It is understood that breaking up the business would make it easier for Thames’ operations to be sold on to a rival once stabilised.

Colm Gibson, managing director at Berkeley Research Group, said: “It is far from certain that Thames Water would emerge from special administration as a single large company. It is entirely possible that it could be broken up into a series of smaller water companies serving local areas.”

The Government is reluctant to intervene in the handling of Thames Water given the looming election, which could make it a problem for Sir Keir Starmer if Labour succeeds at the polls later this year.

This has already led to talk across the industry that Labour is in favour of a break-up, although the party rejected the speculation Wednesday.

Last week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said it would be “utterly outrageous” for Ofwat to grant Thames Water’s demands for higher household bills.

He said shareholders in the company “had an obligation to sort out the mess” when asked whether they had a duty to inject more cash into the business.

Thames Water declined to comment.

Traders bet on Thames Water crisis contagion as firm races to agree survival plan


Lars Mucklejohn
Wed, 17 April 2024 

Rishi Sunak's government is facing a political headache as it may be forced to temporarily nationalise Thames Water

Traders at major US hedge funds are betting against the debt and equity of British water companies amid fears over their levels of debt and the risk of contagion across the sector sparked by the crisis engulfing Thames Water.

Millennium Management had disclosed a short position on northwest-focused United Utilities, while Arrowstreet Capital has bet against the southwest’s Pennon. United Utilities has the most debt of any UK water company behind Thames.

Bloomberg, which first reported the news, cited data from S&P Global Market Intelligence showing that short interest on United Utilities had jumped to almost seven per cent on 12 April from two per cent last July.


Meanwhile, short interest in Southern Water bonds jumped to 6.6 per cent this week from roughly 0.8 per cent at the start of the year.

Debt is commonplace across the water sector. Suppliers have collectively amassed more than £51bn in net debt in the 32 years between privatisation in 1991 to March 2023, according to research by the Financial Times.

Even as the sector has come under increasing scrutiny, debt has continued to rise. In the past two years alone, the figure has jumped £8.2bn.

The government is facing the costly prospect of having to temporarily nationalise Thames, which is the UK’s biggest water supplier with some 16m customers, to prevent it from collapsing.

The firm is struggling under a £15.6bn debt pile, which has become increasingly difficult to service amid higher interest rates.

Regulator Ofwat last month rejected Thames’ plan to hike bills by 40 per cent to help ease its debt pile, causing shareholders to pull £500m of emergency funding. The crisis worsened earlier this month when Thames’ parent company Kemble defaulted on around £1.4bn worth of debt.

Thames Water now has under two months to convince Ofwat that it has a feasible survival plan before it publishes a determination on how much water companies can charge customers on 12 June.

Whether Thames can strike a deal with the regulator will be a crucial signal on how likely it is to attract new equity investors and avoid falling into special administration.

Royal London, among the asset managers most exposed to Kemble’s bonds, has argued that if the government takes over Thames, and triggers losses for bondholders, it could deter much-needed investment from other infrastructure assets.

Kemble is expected to miss its repayment deadline for a £190m loan to a consortium of four banks, including two state-owned Chinese lenders, at the end of this month.

Thames has said it has £2.4bn of liquidity available and can still meet its commitments until at least May 2025. However, high borrowing costs and fines from Ofwat risk significantly shrinking this cash pile.

Thames declined to comment when approached by City A.M.

Thames Water to add to debt mountain in bid for survival


Alex Lawson and Anna Isaac
Tue, 16 April 2024 
The Guardian

Ongoing water pipe work in London. Thames Water already has £15.6bn of debt.

Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Thames Water is preparing to tap debt markets within weeks in an attempt to fund a rescue plan and repair its threadbare finances, the Guardian can reveal.

It is understood the embattled water company is planning to publish a revised five-year spending plan within days, before a deadline next month. Its board is expected to meet on Thursday to rubber-stamp the plan, and executives hope to release it on Friday.

Sources said the company then intends to wait for up to a week before approaching lenders to fund the proposals and has sought advice from City bankers and lawyers on the debt issuance. Financiers said the proposed timing of the fresh borrowing was surprising, given huge uncertainty around Thames’s future.

Britain’s biggest and most heavily indebted water company is fighting to secure its financial future, and has already said it only has cash reserves to fund its operations for the next 15 months without a substantial increase in bills.

Thames’s plans to raise fresh debt come despite it labouring under a £15.6bn debt pile. Its parent company, Kemble Water Finance, missed an interest payment earlier this month, and said it will not be able to repay a £190m loan due by the end of April.

Its shareholders also recently backtracked on plans to inject £500m into the business amid a standoff with the industry regulator, Ofwat. The investors, which include USS and Omers, said Thames’s original business plan was “uninvestible” (sic) and demanded Ofwat allow it to raise bills sharply, levy lower fines and pay dividends.

The company plans to republish the spending plan covering 2025 to 2030, which was first submitted to Ofwat last October, to allow regulators and investors to scrutinise it. Thames then intends to give markets a few days to settle and “absorb” the information before pushing the button on the debt plan, sources said.

Thames’s original plan was to raise bills by 40% to fund an £18.7bn investment programme. However, the size of its investment plan is expected to be revised upwards by between £1bn and £1.5bn, with the £1.5bn more likely.

It is unclear how much of the extra funds Thames hopes to raise through issuing new debt, but sources said it would have to be sizeable given the scale of its funding needs.

Sources said that Thames, which has 16 million customers across London and the Thames valley, hopes to price the bonds in late April, before issuing the debt formally in early May.

Lenders signing up to the debt issuance could be taking a gamble, however, as it is unclear how much Ofwat will allow Thames to raise through higher consumer bills.

Ofwat is due to publish its draft response to Thames’s plan on 12 June, with water companies’ plans not signed off until December. The Guardian revealed this week that the company had six weeks to convince the regulator that it had a credible survival plan for its business,before an Ofwat board meeting on 23 May.

Ofwat is understood to be sceptical that Thames’s current business plan is viable or fair on consumers and is demanding a separate turnaround strategy for reforms to its management and governance.

The company could be hamstrung by the relatively small pool of debt and equity investors in the UK water sector, and the high-profile concerns expressed over Thames’ future. Bonds in its parent company are trading at a steep discount after its default.

Other possible scenarios include a renationalising the company, an attempt to find new shareholders – potentially through a stock market float – a debt-for-equity swap and a breakup of the company.

Although Thames’s operating company has £15.6bn of debt, the wider group has borrowings of more than £18bn across in its byzantine corporate structure.

Thames’s financial troubles have drawn further attention to the stewardship of the company by Macquarie, the Australian bank that previously owned the water supplier and which has been heavily criticised for building huge debts at Thames while paying dividends to shareholders.

The company’s current backers include the Canadian pensions firm Omers; the UK university staff pension scheme; a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund and China’s sovereign wealth fund.

Thames Water declined to comment.

UK rents are up by 9.2% in a record yearly rise

Pedro Goncalves
·Finance Reporter, Yahoo Finance UK
Wed, 17 April 2024 

The borough of Kensington and Chelsea has the highest rent in the UK (Empics Entertainment)

The average cost of rent in the UK rose by 9.2% in the 12 months to February this year – the highest annual increase since records began in 2015.

The average private rent in Great Britain was £1,246 in March, which is £104 more than a year ago, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Kensington and Chelsea remain at the top of the most expensive postcodes to live in the country, with the average rent hitting £3,305 in March. Outside London, Bristol had the highest rents, at £1,748.

In Wales, tenants were paying an average of £727 in March, up 9% or £60 from a year earlier.

Scotland saw rent prices jump 10.5% – some £90 more – in the past 12 months to hit £947 in March.


For Northern Ireland, the data only goes up to January, when rents increased by 10.1%.

The North East has the lowest rent in the whole of the UK, with tenants paying on average £662.

UK households were paying more rent for detached properties (£1,446), with flats or maisonettes coming in as the cheapest option, at £1,912.

The ONS also released data that showed average UK house prices falling 0.2% in the 12 months to February, slowing from a decrease of 1.3% in the 12 months to January.

Read more: The UK’s most expensive streets ranked

Across the UK, the average house price was £281,000.

In the 12 months to February, average house prices fell in England to £298,000 (a 1.1% decrease), were down in Wales to £211,000 (a 1.2% fall), but increased in Scotland to £188,000 (a 5.6% rise).

Average house prices increased by 1.4% to £178,000 in the year to the fourth quarter of 2023 in Northern Ireland.

UK
Billions vanish from retirement funds after pension providers shutter


Elliot Gulliver-Needham
Wed, 17 April 2024

As part of a campaign to raise awareness of the risk to pensions, FSCS has partnered with television presenter and football broadcaster Jeff Stelling.

Almost £2bn has been lost from UK pension pots in the last five years after the authorised financial providers and advisers managing them have gone out of business, with £800m unable to be refunded.

Over 43,000 claims have been made against companies who have gone bust and left people without a pension since 2019, data from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has revealed.

While investors can sometimes get their money back, the FSCS is only able to refund pensions protected under FSCS compensation rules, which normally limit the compensation available to £85,000.

FSCS was able to pay back about £1.2bn in compensation over the last five years, meaning that investors were left with up to £800m in lost pension funds.


Among those who have lost money due to advisers going bust, 77 per cent were men, with 95 per cent of all claimants being between 45 and 75.

As part of a campaign to raise awareness of the risks around advisers going bust, FSCS has partnered with television presenter and football broadcaster Jeff Stelling.

The policy of pension funds going bust and leaving their customers without payouts famously came under scrutiny with the shutdown of Equitable Life in 2018, which saw 261,000 people sharing a payout almost two decades after it came close to collapse.

Martyn Beauchamp, interim chief executive at the FSCS, said: “The financial loss to people’s pensions that we see in our claims is substantial and has serious consequences for thousands of people every year.

“FSCS has long highlighted the importance of checking that your pension savings are protected, as these types of claims often come to us long after the financial harm may have occurred – and by that point it can often be too late to rebuild before retirement.”

UK Teachers offered £2,000 to give up generous pensions


Ruby Hinchliffe
Wed, 17 April 2024


Teachers are being offered cash to relinquish generous pensions that private schools are no longer able to afford, a union has claimed.

Employer contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme increased from 23.7pc to 28.7pc, this month. In state schools, teachers’ pensions are funded by taxpayers – and extra funding is issued alongside each rise. But private schools receive no such state funding.

Contribution levels last changed in 2019, when employer rates jumped from 16.5pc to 23.6pc. Pre-2019 changes, 86 schools had left the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. But since 2019, 346 schools have left the scheme according to the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association (IBSA).


Since then independent schools have been attempting to cut costs by limiting pay or persuading teachers to quit the generous pension scheme and move to self-managed pots.

The funding challenge comes as Labour’s plan to impose VAT on school fees threatens to add to the financial burden private schools face.

Around 800 teachers leave the Teachers Pension Scheme each month, according to the National Education Union (NEU).

But now, in some cases, the union said teacher members are being offered “one-off payments” of £2,000 to give up their defined benefit pensions and switch to defined contribution schemes.

David Woodgate, CEO of ISBA, said he was “aware that some schools have offered, or are proposing to offer, additional payments or increased salaries to teaching staff in return for their agreement to proposed contractual pension changes”.

“Those schools in consultation with teaching staff, or preparing to consult, are seeking to identify appropriate ways in which they can balance the financial needs of the school, and the desire to offer teaching staff a flexible and attractive remuneration and benefits package.

“Of course, the approach taken, and specific proposal, will vary from school to school based on the circumstances.”

Niamh Sweeney, deputy general secretary of the NEU, told the Telegraph: “I am really concerned that in a cost-of-living crisis members of the Teachers Pension Scheme will be tempted by a one-off payment to leave.

“Pension contributions are deferred income. We want teaching to be seen as a long-term career and a strong pension scheme should be part of the remuneration for the dedication teachers give to the profession.”

Ms Sweeney, who first spoke to The i, also said: “In many independent schools, NEU members are resisting employer attempts to leave the scheme – with strike action increasingly commonplace.

“The NEU believes that it is irresponsible of employers to seek to entice their staff to leave the Teachers Pension Scheme with the lure of a cash payment now, with some employers offering £2,000.”

Back in January 2020, a year after the last contribution rise, private schools began to offer less competitive pay packages in order to meet steep payments to their employees’ pension pots.

As reported by this newspaper at the time, Taunton School in Somerset came up with a “hybrid” solution , where it kept the old scheme open but gave its 200-plus teachers the option of switching to a new defined contribution scheme.

Krissy Scott, head of education at law firm Harrison Clark Rickerbys, said she was seeing more and more schools operate “hybrid alternatives” to the Teachers Pension Scheme.

She added: “Some schools are asking teachers to accept reduced salaries if they want to remain in the scheme, or to switch to a defined contribution scheme where contributions are lower so the overall cost to the school remains the same.

“Unions are worried. There’s been a lot of strike action as a result of it. But it’s important to note that these defined contributions can still be around 20pc.”

The average employer contribution for men across all industries is around 4.6pc, and for women it is slightly less – 4.4pc – according to financial advice portal Unbiased.

Ms Scott also said in London, teachers’ outgoings are much higher and that they in particular want bigger salaries. She added: “Ultimately to them, what they take home is more important to them right now than what’s going into their pension.”

Google employees arrested after protesting against tech giant’s work with Israel

Matthew Field
Wed, 17 April 2024 


The workers protesting at Google's offices say they 'do not want their labour to power Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza' - Twitter

A group of Google workers have been arrested after they held a sit-in protest to challenge the tech giant’s work for the Israeli government.

Employees from the No Tech For Apartheid movement organised a 10-hour sit-in at Google’s offices in New York and California on Tuesday.

During the protest, activists targeted the office of Thomas Kurian, the chief executive of Google Cloud, amid a row over a $1bn (£800m) contract with Israel.

Videos posted on social media showed nine protesters subsequently being removed by police.

This led to a spokesman for the protest group, Jane Chung, criticising Google in a post on X: “Google orders arrest against its workers for protesting.”


A live-stream video of the incident at Google’s California office showed a security worker telling protesters that they had been placed on “admin leave”, while also warning them about trespassing.

Later footage shows California police officers moving into the office, asking protesters if they are “refusing to leave” before they are marched out in handcuffs.

A separate video from Google’s New York office also shows protesters being arrested.

Tuesday’s protests represent an escalation in the row between tech workers and executives over Google’s work in Israel.

Some staff members have long challenged a cloud computing agreement between the Israeli government, Google and Amazon, called Project Nimbus.

However, tensions have intensified in recent months following Israel’s invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7.

The conflict has left more than 1,200 Israelis and 34,000 Palestinians dead.

A statement from the No Tech For Apartheid protest group said: “Google workers do not want their labour to power Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The time is now to rise up against Project Nimbus, in support of Palestinian liberation and join calls to end the Israeli occupation.”

Last month, a Google worker from the protest group disrupted a talk being given by the company’s Israel chief, as he accused the company of “powering genocide”. He was later sacked.

Israel has rejected claims that it has committed genocide and has maintained it is acting in self-defence.

A Google spokesman said: “These protests were part of a longstanding campaign by a group of organisations and people who largely don’t work at Google. A small number of employee protesters entered and disrupted a couple of our locations.

“Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and we will investigate and take action. These employees were put on administrative leave and their access to our systems was cut. After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety.”

No Tech for Apartheid, the NYPD, and Sunnyvale Police were all contacted for comment.

Google employees protest company’s work with Israeli government


Filip Timotija

THE HILL
Tue, 16 April 2024 


Google employees in two different offices protested the company’s work with the Israeli government Tuesday, objecting to a billion-dollar contract it signed with the U.S. ally in 2021.

The protestors organized sit-ins in two locations, one in Sunnyvale, Calif., and the other in one of the company’s New York City’s offices.

The Sunnyvale sit-in was organized by the activist group No Tech for Apartheid. Protesters entered Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office, saying they would not leave until the tech giant backed out of its $1.2 billion contract.


The contract, known as Project Nimbus, that Google shares with Amazon provides cloud computing services to the Israeli government. It was signed in 2021. The contract faced backlash from workers and activists since its inception, but the objections have escalated with Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.

Google software engineer Emaan Haseem and her colleagues object to the company’s involvement with the Israeli government despite the possible repercussions.

“I would not like to lose my job,” Haseem told ABC 7 News. “But I think that it is impossible for me to continue coming into work every week without acknowledging and loudly condemning Project Nimbus and any support for the Israeli government.”

The contract was structured to allow sharing of Google and Amazon services to various branches of the Israeli government. When signed in 2021, the contract raised concerns among some employees since Israeli officials said the companies could not shut down their services and could not bar services to particular government branches.

Time magazine reported last week that Google has provided cloud computing services to the Israel Defense Ministry.

“Google Cloud supports numerous governments around the world in countries where we operate, including the Israeli government, with our generally available cloud computing services,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill.

“We have been very clear that the Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial cloud by Israeli government ministries, who agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy,” the spokesperson said. “This work is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.”

The spokesperson said the protests involved organizations and people who “largely” do not work at the tech company.

The company said it would investigate and “take action” regarding the employees, who were put on administrative leave.

“A small number of employee protesters entered and disrupted a couple of our locations,” the spokesperson said. “Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and we will investigate and take action.

These employees were put on administrative leave, and their access to our systems was cut. After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety.”

Divisions among Colombia's FARC dissidents complicate peace talks

Valentin Diaz and Juan Sebastian Serrano
Wed, 17 April 2024 

Nestor Gregorio Vera, alias Ivan Mordisco, had been considered the EMC's top commander when it was announced that he would no longer participate in Colombia's peace talks (JOAQUIN SARMIENTO)

One of Colombia's most powerful guerrilla groups has suffered an internal rupture expected to further complicate the country's troubled peace process.

The Central General Staff (EMC) is made up of thousands of rebels who refused to join in when the Marxist guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed a 2016 peace deal with the government.

Since 2023, the government has attempted to negotiate with the EMC, but the process has suffered multiple setbacks.


On Tuesday, Bogota announced that the top guerrilla leader known by the alias Ivan Mordisco was no longer at the negotiating table after a split in the group.

This is what you need to know about the latest developments:

- What is the EMC? -

In 2016, when former president Juan Manuel Santos was finalizing a historic peace accord with the FARC, the country's biggest rebel group, some guerrilla factions announced they were breaking away from a process that they believed implied "military defeat."

Those factions were "regional structures, fronts and blocs with different names," said Jorge Mantilla, an independent expert in Colombia's conflict.

In 2017, FARC disarmed and transformed itself into a political party.

During the administration of president Ivan Duque (2018-2022), the dissidents "grew and began to become a very significant problem," said Mantilla.

And he said it was only when current President Gustavo Petro came to power in 2022, vowing to seek "total peace" with all the country's armed groups, that the disparate factions united under the name Central General Staff.

Military intelligence says the EMC has around 3,500 fighters. The group is involved in narcotrafficking and illegal mining, in areas of the Amazon on Colombia's borders with Venezuela and Ecuador.

"They define themselves as a decision-making body that unites different dissident schools of thought," said Juana Cabezas, from the independent research center Indepaz.

- Who is Ivan Mordisco? -

Nestor Gregorio Vera, alias Ivan Mordisco, had been considered the EMC's top commander.

Mantilla said he had served more than 20 years with the FARC where he was a "mid-level commander."

"His military experience and his early opposition to the negotiations gave him important legitimacy" among the dissidents, he said.

In 2022, Duque announced Mordisco had been killed in a military operation, but he reappeared a few months later expressing his willingness to join Petro's peace process.

Negotiations and a ceasefire got underway last year. However, a series of attacks on civilians and security tested Petro's patience, and the truce was suspended in three departments in March.

At the time, Petro called Mordisco a "mobster" and "drug trafficker disguised as a revolutionary," and ordered his capture.

On Tuesday, the government said Mordisco was "no longer at the (negotiating) table. We do not know where he is."

The government said it would now recognize EMC commander Andrey Avendano as its main interlocutor, even though he only commands about half its forces.

- Why have negotiations faltered? -

A year and a half after the launch of the peace process with the EMC, Bogota has made few advances and concedes the rebel group has expanded its territory and boosted recruitment.

"The main failure has been thinking that there was a unified Central General Staff. They were not unified, nor did all (the fronts) have the same capacity," said Cabezas.

Ceasefires, which have been agreed and suspended several times, are largely respected in some regions, such as on the Colombia-Venezuela border, while others such as one in the southwest have seen several attacks on civilians and security forces.

Mantilla attributes this to factional differences and the groups' relationships with the communities in which they operate.

Petro's ambitious "total peace" plan, which launched negotiations with a dozen diverse armed groups, has also turned out to be "a problem," he added.

"Much of the violence in Colombia occurs between these groups and not between these groups and the State. That is why displacement, confinement and massacres have been so difficult for this government to stop."

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Drought-hit Colombia halts electricity exports to Ecuador

AFP
Tue, April 16, 2024 

Drought conditions have dried up the Lebrija River, trapping manatees in northeastern Colombia (Handout)


Colombia has halted electricity exports to neighboring Ecuador as its hydropower plants reach near-critical levels due to a biting drought, the government in Bogota said.

The severe dry spell, associated with the El Nino climate phenomenon, has also led to water rationing that is affecting 10 million people in the capital Bogota and surrounding areas.

Mining and Energy Minister Andres Camacho told journalists the country, which gets most of its energy from hydroelectric sources, was taking "all measures" to avoid energy cuts.


"Since Easter week, we limited energy exports to Ecuador. Right now, we are not exporting any electricity," Camacho said.

Water reservoirs currently stand at 29.8 percent of their capacity, according to the XM national electricity operator. A level of 27 percent is considered critical.

Camacho said that rains were expected soon to break the dry spell and high temperatures which also led to hundreds of forest fires in the country earlier this year.

The measure was set to worsen electricity woes in Ecuador, whose President Daniel Noboa on Tuesday declared an emergency in the sector and replaced the energy minister.

"I have declared an emergency in the electricity sector, I have asked for the resignation of the Minister of Energy (Andrea Arrobo) and we have begun an investigation into sabotage in certain areas and power plants," Noboa wrote on X.

Arrobo was replaced by transport minister Roberto Luque.

Noboa did not give details on what the sabotage entailed, but slammed the "inefficiency and corruption of a few miserable people."

On Monday night, Ecuador's energy ministry announced "temporary rationing" due to the drought and asked the population to "reduce energy consumption in this critical week."

However, Noboa overrode the order, and announced "we are not going to have more blackouts this week."

He also said household electricity bills would be halved this month.

Drought causes power cuts in Ecuador

Vanessa Buschschlüter 

- BBC News
Wed, April 17, 2024 

Neighbouring Colombia has stopped exporting power to Ecuador as it suffers from drought, too [Getty Images]


A severe drought has led to power cuts in Ecuador, which relies on hydroelectrical sources for much of its power.

Energy companies published a schedule of power cuts which has seen the capital and other major cities go without electricity for hours on end.

The drought has already led to water rationing in neighbouring Colombia.

The lack of rain in the Andean region has been linked to the El Niño weather pattern.

What is El Niño and how does it change the weather?

On Monday, power companies in Ecuador announced power cuts lasting between two and five hours to ensure less electricity was used.

The energy ministry said Ecuador's power system had been affected by "several unprecedented situations", including a drought, increased temperatures and minimum water levels.

The power shortage has been made worse by Colombia's decision to halt its export of energy to Ecuador in order to prioritise its own needs during the drought.

Last week, Ecuador's energy minister had still ruled out rationing electricity, but after several power cuts over the weekend, which caught residents and businesses by surprise, officials asked energy companies to publish a schedule of planned cuts.

Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa said the situation had been exacerbated by "saboteurs", but did not provide further details about who may be behind the alleged sabotage.

"Anyone involved will be not only be considered a traitor to the fatherland, but also a threat to national security," President Noboa said.

He also ordered the sacking of the energy minister and appeared to overrule the decision to ration energy, when he said that "we are not going to have more blackouts this week".

The newly appointed energy minister, Roberto Luque, warned there were no "short-term solutions" to solve the country's energy crisis.

In Colombia, the lack of rain linked to El Niño has seen water levels fall close to critical levels in some of the country's main reservoirs.

Most neighbourhoods in the capital, Bogotá, have had their water rationed, while residents have been urged to limit the time they shower to four minutes or less.

People who are deemed to be wasting water by washing their cars have been threatened with substantial fines.

Apple CEO says that he wants to increase investments in Vietnam

IMPERIALISM; 

THE HIGHEST FORM OF CAPPLETALI$M



Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, left, speaks to Apple CEO Tim Cook, right, before their meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The tech giant CEO is on a visit to Vietnam to promote cooperation and boost investment in the Southeast Asian nation.

 (Duong Van Giang/VNA via AP)

ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL
Tue, Apr 16, 2024,

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday that he wants to further increase investment in Vietnam a day after the company announced it would spending on suppliers in the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub.

Vietnam has become more important to Apple as the company seeks to diversify its supply chains away from China, where most of its smartphones and tablets are assembled.


The company began looking at moving its production to countries like Vietnam, and more recently India, after shutdowns to fight COVID-19 in China repeatedly disrupted the company's shipments.

Cook made his comments while meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, according to state media outlet Voice of Vietnam. Apple also said that it would increase its spending on suppliers, according to a press release on Monday.

“There is no place like Vietnam, a vibrant and beautiful country," said Cook, according to the press release, adding that the company's annual spending in the country had doubled since 2019.

No details were shared about the plan. Cook arrived in Hanoi on Monday for a two-day visit during which he met students, programmers and content creators.

Apple began operating in Vietnam over a decade ago, and says it is responsible for creating over 200,000 jobs there. Vietnam is also among the top five leading mobile game producers globally.

Apple has 26 suppliers with 28 factories in Vietnam, according to its 2022 list. Most of these located in northern provinces, where they can be easily connected to existing supply chains in southern China. Northern Vietnam has also historically been a hub for making electronics and has cheap, skilled labor.


Apple CEO says company will 'look at' manufacturing in Indonesia

Apple CEO Tim Cook gestures upon the arrival for a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.

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Indonesia Apple
Apple CEO Tim Cook arrives for a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
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Apple CEO Tim Cook ,center, talks to journalist during a joint press conference with Indonesian Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, left, and Indonesian Minister of Communication and Information Technology Budi Arie Setiadi, right, after a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
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Apple CEO Tim Cook walks after a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
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Apple CEO Tim Cook, center, walks with Indonesia’s Minister of industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, right, and Minister of Communication and Information Technology Budi Arie Setiadi, left, after a meeting with President Joko Widodo at the palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Apple CEO Tim Cook, right, walks with Indonesia's Minister of Communication and Information Technology Budi Arie Setiadi, left, after a meeting with President Joko Widodo at the palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 17, 2024.

(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)



EDNA TARIGAN and ACHMAD IBRAHIM
Updated Wed, Apr 17, 2024


JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company will “look at” manufacturing in Indonesia as he met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday.

“We talked about the president’s desire to see manufacturing in the country, and it’s something that we will look at,” Cook told reporters after the meeting.

Widodo’s administration has worked for years to bring manufacturing to the country to power economic development, while Apple is seeking to diversify its supply chains away from China, where most of its smartphones and tablets are assembled.


The company began moving some production to countries like Vietnam, and more recently India, after shutdowns to fight COVID-19 in China repeatedly disrupted the company’s shipments.

“I think the investment ability in Indonesia is endless. I think that, there is a lot of great places to invest, and we’re investing. We believe in the country,” Cook said.

The previous day, Cook met Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi, where he said Apple plans to invest more in Vietnam and increase spending on suppliers in the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub.

“Given the slowing Chinese economy as well as the Chinese government’s ongoing efforts to squeeze out foreign companies and replace them with domestic brands, Apple wants alternatives for manufacturing,” said Chris Miller, an associate professor at Tufts University whose work focuses on technology and geopolitics.

“It has already invested more in India and Vietnam, but it is likely looking at other partners in South East Asia to additional manufacturing and assembly operations,” Miller said.

Cook's visit to Indonesia came after Apple announced its fourth Apple Developer Academy in the country, to be located in Bali. The company first launched the program to train app developers in Indonesia in 2018, in the capital Jakarta.

Apple has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, but the company says it has invested 1.6 trillion rupiah ($99 million) in its app developer ecosystem in the country.

Widodo's government has sought to leverage the country's reserves of nickel and other raw materials to bring in manufacturing, banning export of raw commodities such as nickel and bauxite to oblige companies to build refineries domestically.

After the meeting with Widodo, Cook also met Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto, who is currently defense minister, in Jakarta. He's set to take power in October.

Indonesia’s minister of communication and information, Budi Arie Setiadi, said Wednesday that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella would visit Indonesia at the end of April. ___

Associated Press writers Victoria Milko in Jakarta and Zen Soo in Hong Kong contributed to this report.