Meet ‘Pink’, the new face of human evolution in Europe


By AFP
March 12, 2025


Europe's oldest humans remain the Dmanisi hominins, who lived 1.8 million years ago in what is now Georgia - Copyright AFP EDWIN BERCIÁN

Pierre Celerier

Western Europe has a new oldest face: the facial bones of an adult nicknamed “Pink” discovered in Spain are from a potential new member of the human family who lived more than 1.1 million years ago, scientists said Wednesday.

Until now, the oldest-known human species in Western Europe was the slender-faced Homo antecessor, dating back around 850,000 years.

But research published in the journal Nature “introduces a new actor in the history of human evolution in Europe”, lead study author Rosa Huguet of Spain’s University of Rovira i Virgili told a press conference.

The fossilised upper jawbone and partial cheekbone of Pink were discovered at the Atapuerca archaeological site in northern Spain in 2022.

Since then, a team of Spanish scientists have been working to find out more about Pink, whose nickname is a reference to prog rock band Pink Floyd.

The bones were excavated from a layer of silt and red mud 16 metres (52 feet) deep at a site known as Sima del Elefante — or “elephant pit”.

They were found less than 250 metres from where the fossils of Western Europe’s previous oldest human, Homo antecessor, were discovered nearly two decades ago.

But the title of oldest human in all of Europe is still held by the Dmanisi people — also called Homo georgicus — who lived up to 1.8 million years ago in what is now Georgia.

They were the first members of the human family, or hominins, known to have made it to Europe from Africa, the cradle of humanity.

We modern Homo sapiens first showed up in Africa around 300,000 years ago — and took our time getting to Europe.



– Face value –



The Spanish researchers used 3D imaging techniques to flesh out Pink’s full face.

Homo antecessor had a “very modern” face which is “vertical and flat” similar to our own, said Maria Martinon-Torres, director of Spain’s National Research Center on Human Evolution.

But Pink’s face is more “projected forward and more robust,” the study co-author added.

This means it bears some similarities to the face of Homo erectus — but not enough that the scientists could confirm that Pink was a member of this important human ancestor.

So the scientists made up a new name for the possible species that Pink could belong to: Homo “affinis” erectus.

“This is the most honest proposal we can make with the evidence we have,” Martinon-Torres said.

From just a few face bones, the researchers could not determine Pink’s age or gender.

But by analysing small stone tools and animals bones found at the site, they were able to get an idea of the environment Pink lived in.

It was a humid forest landscape, roamed by horses, ancient cattle, monkeys and even some hippos.

The area was a wildlife corridor with plenty of water, making it an “ideal” place for our ancient relatives to settle, Huguet said.



– What happened to them? –



The new discovery supports the hypothesis that early humans settled Europe going from east to west at least 1.4 million years ago, according to the Spanish researchers.

If Pink is a representative of a previously unknown human species, it could have been a bridge between the Dmanisi hominins and Homo antecessors, they added.

But this raises another question: what became of these people?

Spanish paleoanthropologist Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro felt that Pink’s people likely did not survive a severe human “bottleneck” nearly 900,000 years ago thought to have been caused by global cooling.

“I think that Homo affinis erectus probably disappeared,” the study co-author said.

Future research will aim to shed light on these mysteries. The Spanish team has not yet reached the bottom of the elephant pit — nor other sites around it.

Mongolia’s children choke in toxic pollution


By AFP
March 12, 2025


Located in a basin surrounded by mountains, Ulaanbaatar traps smoke and fumes from both coal-guzzling power stations and homes - Copyright UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND/AFP Handout

Rebecca BAILEY

As she watched her five-month-old son lying in intensive care, wires and tubes crisscrossing his tiny body, Uyanga cursed her hometown Ulaanbaatar and its chronic pollution.

The toxic smog that settles over the Mongolian capital every winter has been a suffocating problem for more than a decade that successive governments have failed to dispel.

There are wisps of hope in a resurgent grassroots movement and a promised official push to action.

But the statistics are grim.

Respiratory illness cases have risen steadily, with pneumonia the second leading cause of death for children under five.

Uyanga’s son was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, then developed a secondary infection in a ward crowded with children suffering the effects of some of the world’s worst air.

“I was so scared when he was admitted to intensive care,” said Uyanga, who, like many Mongolians, goes by one name.

“I love my city and I want to continue to live here. But considering the health of my children, on that night, I cursed being born in Ulaanbaatar.”

In the depths of winter, the city’s daily average of PM 2.5 — small particulate that can enter the lungs and bloodstream — can be 27 times higher than the level considered safe by the World Health Organization.

Young children are particularly vulnerable, breathing faster than adults and taking in more air relative to their size.

All three of Uyanga’s children were hospitalised with respiratory illnesses before they were a year old, with her youngest admitted two winters in a row.

Most of her friends have had similar experiences.

It “has become part of our daily lives, or like social norms”, she said.



– ‘Disastrous’-



Located in a basin surrounded by mountains, Ulaanbaatar traps smoke and fumes from both coal-guzzling power stations and homes.

A dense blanket of smog coils snugly around city-centre apartments and Mongolia’s traditional round ger tents in its outer districts most winter mornings.

Ger dwellings have sprawled as hundreds of thousands of nomads decamp to the capital in search of steadier incomes and better public services.

Most use individual coal burners to stay warm in the winter, when temperatures can plunge to minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit).

One freezing morning, distributors loaded up coal briquettes onto a pick-up truck whizzing around ger households.

“I don’t think there’s anyone in Mongolia who’s not concerned about air pollution,” said 67-year-old coal seller Bayarkhuu Bold.

Cashier Oyunbileg said she burns a 25-kilogramme (55-pound) bag of briquettes every two days.

Inside her ornate, cosy ger, she confessed she was “really worried” about her three children’s health, and had even set up her tent on higher ground hoping to avoid air pollution.

“This year, though, it’s been really disastrous,” she said.

Her family attempted to switch to an electric heater but “just couldn’t afford the bill”.

Respiratory disease rates among children are increasing in such districts, school doctor Yanjmaa said.

“It is impossible for people who are breathing this air to have healthy lungs,” she said.



– ‘Helpless’ –



Oyunbileg’s options are limited.

“I usually don’t let my children go outside a lot,” she said. “If I let them, I usually put masks on them.”

Wealthier compatriots now often choose to spend the winter outside Mongolia.

Uyanga and her husband spent their entire savings renting somewhere with better air quality for three months when their first child was born.

“It’s helpless,” she said. “No matter how hard we try to keep the indoor air quality better… our children (have to) go outside all the time.”

In 2019, the government replaced raw coal with refined coal briquettes, offering some brief air quality benefits, said state meteorologist Barkhasragchaa Baldorj.

The benefits have plateaued as coal burning increases in a country where the industry is vital to the economy.

The briquettes have also been linked to carbon monoxide poisoning and increased levels of some pollutants.

Barkhasragchaa is one of only two people assigned to Ulaanbaatar’s air quality monitoring stations.

“If you heard the actual budget allocated for maintenance, you would laugh… it’s just impossible to maintain a constant operation,” he said.

Many were sceptical about government efforts.

“Personally, I don’t see any results,” coal seller Bayarkhuu said.



– ‘Next generation’ –



The city’s deputy governor responsible for air pollution, Amartuvshin Amgalanbayar, promised change.

This year, 20,000 households will switch to gas, resulting in a 15 percent reduction in pollution, he said.

Plans to move another 20,000 households from ger districts into apartments will begin in 2025, as well as efforts to solve another of the capital’s intractable and related problems — traffic.

A long-delayed metro, that has become a symbol of official inefficacy, will be built by 2028, he said.

“The issues we were talking about trying to solve 20 years ago, when I was a student, are still here,” said the 40-year-old. “It’s been given to the next generation to solve.”

That exasperation coalesced last year when tens of thousands signed a petition demanding a public hearing on pollution policies.

“It was my mum (getting sick) that really spurred, I think, first anger and disappointment and a sense of helplessness,” one of the organisers, 23-year-old Enkhuun Byambadorj, told AFP.

Attempts to solve the problem so far “have looked at only one sector, or have looked at the problem from only one perspective”, she said, with the petition calling for a more “holistic, cross-sector” approach.

The hearing took place last month, with Enkhuun and her colleagues hopeful that it shows political will to tackle the problem by younger and more professional lawmakers.

“We’ve scratched an itch and revitalised a grassroots movement,” she said.

“What we need to do is keep pushing decision-makers to build on what they’ve done… and to turn the recommendations that come out of the hearing into decisions that can be implemented.”

Doubts over climate funding as donors squeeze aid


By AFP
March 13, 2025


Rich nations agreed at the UN COP29 summit in November 2024 to provide $300 billion a year in climate finance for poorer countries by 2035 - Copyright AFP STRINGER

Nick Perry

There are growing doubts about a pledge by rich nations to provide more climate finance to poorer nations, as foreign aid budgets are slashed and the US guts environmental spending.

Richer nations committed at the UN COP29 summit in November to boost spending on climate action in developing countries to $300 billion a year by 2035, an amount decried as woefully inadequate.

Since then, President Donald Trump has frozen US contributions to the global pot and withdrawn from a funding deal to help developing nations transition to clean energy, among other climate initiatives.

The UK, meanwhile, has trimmed overseas aid to raise defence spending, following a slew of similar cuts by climate-friendly governments in Europe.

Diplomats and analysts say it remains unclear where the axe may fall, but there are fears that money earmarked for climate finance could be on the chopping block.

Laetitia Pettinotti, a climate economist from the think tank ODI Global, told AFP that signs are not good and cuts could be expected.

“It’s really hard to see where the money is going to come from,” she said.



– Difficult road –



With the United States halting its climate action, expectations have fallen largely on the European Union, historically the third-largest producer of greenhouse gases, and the biggest contributor to climate finance.

But the 27-nation bloc is under budget strain, facing US tariffs and trying to ramp up military spending to defend itself and Ukraine, and reduce strategic reliance on Washington.

Recent elections meanwhile have seen right-wing populists hostile to climate policies make gains across the continent.

France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom have all announced recent aid cuts as economic and security priorities shift and budget pressures take hold.

The EU “needs to find a new way to prioritise its limited resources, for very legitimate reasons”, said Li Shuo, a climate analyst at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

“This will make the climate finance discussion very difficult.”



– ‘Worrying trends’ –



Azerbaijan, which hosted the COP29 summit where the $300-billion deal was brokered, is seeking reassurances at a two-day meeting of climate negotiators in Tokyo that ends on Thursday.

Yalchin Rafiyev, the country’s top climate diplomat, said he would be asking developed nations if the cuts impacted money “they were thinking or planning to allocate for climate or not”.

“We are not sure yet. There was not any concrete kind of climate fund cuts that we have heard from any of the parties. There was only some worrying trends,” he told AFP.

He added: “We are opposed to any kind of action that can reduce the funding for climate action.”

Brazil, which is hosting this year’s COP30 summit, said it was exploring ways to raise the enormous sums needed for developing countries to wean off fossil fuels and adapt to global warming.

According to independent experts, these countries — excluding China — will require $1.3 trillion a year in outside assistance by 2035 to meet their climate needs.

Under the Paris Agreement, developed countries — those most responsible for global warming to date — are obligated to pay climate finance, but other countries do make their own voluntary contributions.

“Climate finance for developing countries was already insufficient, but the recent cuts to foreign aid budgets represent a renewed challenge,” the COP30 presidency said in a written statement to AFP.



– ‘Not looking good’ –



Donors have struggled to meet their climate finance pledges at the best of times, even for commitments well below the $300 billion pledged last year.

Developed nations provided about $116 billion in 2022, the latest year for which official OECD climate finance figures are available.

The US provided about 10 percent of that money. Trump’s spending freeze means other contributors will have to make up the difference.

Other ways to possibly plug the shortfall — such as greater lending from multilateral development banks like the World Bank — are also in doubt.

“You’re going to hear more and more that there simply isn’t money out there to fill up such a big pot… it’s not looking good,” Avantika Goswami, climate change lead at the Centre for Science and Environment in India, told AFP.

Trump administration unveils sweeping environment rollbacks


By AFP
March 12, 2025


The Longview Power Plant, a coal-fired plant, stands on August 21, 2018 in Maidsville, West Virginia - Copyright AFP EDWIN BERCIÁN

Issam AHMED

President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday announced a wave of environmental rollbacks targeting Biden-era green policies, including carbon limits on power plants, tailpipe emissions standards and protections for waterways.

The 31 actions are part of what Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin called “the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in US history,” as he promised to “unleash American energy” and “revitalize the American auto industry.”

Among the most significant of them is revisiting a 2024 rule that requires coal-fired plants to eliminate nearly all their carbon emissions or commit to shutting down altogether, a cornerstone of former Democratic president Joe Biden’s climate agenda.

Hailed by environmental groups as a “gamechanger,” the regulations were set to take effect from 2032 and would have also required new, high capacity gas-fired plants to slash their carbon dioxide output by the same amount — 90 percent — achievable only through carbon capture technology.

The Biden administration estimated the rule would prevent 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon entering the atmosphere through the year 2047, equivalent to nearly one year of total greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector in 2022.



– ‘Polluters are celebrating’ –



“Corporate polluters are celebrating today because Trump’s EPA just handed them a free pass to spew unlimited climate pollution, consequences be damned,” said Charles Harper, of the nonprofit Evergreen Action.

President Trump has long dismissed climate change as a “scam” and his second administration has begun enacting sweeping staff cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), vital to the nation’s climate research efforts.

The new deregulation package also targets stricter vehicle emissions standards set to come into force by 2027, which Trump has derided as an “electric vehicle mandate.”

Another major move involves redefining what constitutes “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act.

Zeldin’s EPA argues that the Biden administration had failed to align with a 2023 Supreme Court ruling, which held that only “relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water,” such as streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans — should be covered.



– Mass layoffs expected –



Environmental group Earthjustice warned that it excluded tens of millions of acres of wetlands, vital ecosystems that filter water and provide flood protection, as well as millions of miles of small streams that provide drinking water and help generate tourism.

The EPA is also set to eliminate the nation’s environmental justice offices that address pollution in low-income and minority communities across the United States, including Louisiana’s infamous “Cancer Alley,” which accounts for around a quarter of US petrochemical production.

“President Trump wants us to help usher in a golden age in America that is for all Americans, regardless of race, gender, background,” Zeldin told reporters.

But Matthew Tejada of the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council said “Trump’s EPA is taking us back to a time of unfettered pollution across the nation, leaving every American exposed to toxic chemicals, dirty air and contaminated water.”

Grants that EPA has moved to cancel were “helping rural Virginia coal communities prepare for extreme flooding, installing sewage systems on rural Alabama homes, and turning an abandoned, polluted site in Tampa, Florida into a campus for healthcare, job training, and a small business development,” added Tejada, who led EPA’s environmental justice office under Biden.

Zeldin’s EPA budget is expected to be reduced by 65 percent and the agency is preparing for mass layoffs.

Op-Ed: The United States of Utter Misery – The world’s least efficient healthcare system is set to crash.


By Paul Wallis
March 11, 2025

DIGITAL JOURNAL


Hospital Care Compare used AMN Healthcare survey data to identify what hospital nurses are planning for the future of their careers as burnout persists. - Dragana Gordic // Shutterstock

USA healthcare is always in the news, and the news is never good. Recently, it’s been looking catastrophic. Healthcare cuts and possible cuts are making an extremely bad situation worse. Eventually the overload will simply destroy the healthcare system.

Even a superficial glance at US healthcare statistics from all sources is horrendous. The US ranks dead last in healthcare compared to peer nations.

A new tuberculosis outbreak is looking particularly grim. TB is a very high-maintenance condition. TB doesn’t take prisoners, and is highly contagious. Treatment takes a long time and is, as usual, highly expensive. Exactly what Americans and the American health system don’t need.

I spent some time working in the US healthcare sector as a writer for a nursing site. The topics were mainly in-house professional subjects. It was horrific. The worst case I saw was of a nurse who got a staph infection in her own hospital, and lost limbs in just one day at work. It could have been easily fixed if the hospital had acted quickly, and it didn’t.

This is the stuff you don’t hear about. It’s anyone’s guess what the overall picture is.

America used to have the best healthcare system in history. Now, you can barely find any of what’s left of it under the overpriced insanity. It’s going backwards, fast. It’s been systematically and deliberately dismantled.

It’s been a long process of degradation going back at least five decades. Claims are rejected in plague proportions. The basic costs have been out of control for at least two generations.

Preventable deaths per year in the US healthcare system are estimated to be 44,000 and 98,000 per year. That’s roughly two Vietnam Wars per year.

Staff are abused and otherwise mistreated. Working conditions are appalling. The regular stampedes of experienced staff out of the sector are at folklore status.

People in the sector have been talking about it for that long, too. Even the idea of affordability is apparently some heresy to the buzzard-brains running the sector.

Ironically, the US also has an extremely high level of medical science. Wherever you are in the world, the odds are good that at least part of your treatments for anything either originated or first entered the global mass market in the US at some point in time.

Now add the shining benevolence of Big Pharma to this incredibly disgusting situation. Healthcare seems to be the last thing on the minds of this bloated sector. Ineffective medications are another highlight. If you’d like a few weeks light reading, hit that link.

Let’s move on from the obvious. If there was ever a case of “hallucinations by numbers”, US healthcare is the definitive example. Try this bit of logic:

Big money is made in healthcare.

Therefore, people being sick is good for business.

Therefore, being the sickest country in the world is the objective.

From this degree of rampant idiocy follow:

Anti-vax means more business for healthcare.

Sick people can be productive people.

Sick people are safe on the roads.

People with psychoses desperately need systemic neglect.

Sick people should be free to spread diseases in the workplace and in public so we can make more money.

They can’t afford treatments anyway, so we won’t have to worry about them for long

This is the same mentality that mismanaged the pandemic. The current death toll is 1.2 million as of January 2025. No other country on Earth did anywhere near that badly. Brazil, land of mystic favelas and sparkling poverty, did much better.

OK, now a straightforward question.

What are you going to do about it, idiots?

'Sound science’ must guide deep-sea mining: top official


By AFP
March 12, 2025


Environmentalists warn seabed mining risks destroying habitats and species that are little understood - Copyright AFP/File Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD

Rules on deep-sea mining in international waters must be driven by “sound science” and built on consensus, the head of the body charged with regulating the divisive practice said Thursday.

Deep-sea mining in international waters involves taking minerals like nickel, cobalt and copper — crucial for renewable energy technology — from the sea floor.

But researchers and environmentalists have long warned it risks destroying habitats and species that are little understood, and could upset delicate processes in the ocean that affect climate change.

The seabed in international waters is governed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), an independent body established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The ISA’s Council, which for now only grants exploration contracts, has been drawing up commercial exploitation rules for more than a decade. And they aim to adopt a mining code this year to govern the extraction of seabed resources in international waters.

The issue is highly contentious, with some member states keen to begin mining soon, while others want a moratorium or even an outright ban on seabed exploitation.

ISA Secretary-General Leticia Carvalho said any mining code developed this year must be driven by “transparency, environmental responsibility and equitable benefit-sharing”.

“Sound science must underpin all decisions related to the deep seabed,” she told an ocean meeting in Tokyo by video link.

The world paid little attention when the ISA, created in 1994, quietly began negotiating the mining code.

But the calendar has taken on urgency.



– Thorny questions –



Since July 2023, due to a legal clause invoked by the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru, any country can apply for a mining contract in the name of a company it sponsors.

Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI), a subsidiary of Canada’s The Metals Company (TMC), wants to begin mining polymetallic nodules in the Pacific as soon as 2026.

It plans to file an exploitation application by June this year, making the need for a code governing mining all the more pressing.

Thorny issues have yet to be resolved, including environmental rules and how to share profits from seabed resources dubbed a “common heritage of mankind.”

An oceanographer by training, Carvalho can only guide member states as they decide whether and how to draft a code.

She said she would focus on “ensuring that decisions are grounded in science and built on consensus”.

Warnings about the impact of mining gained strength with the discovery last year that oxygen was being released on the ocean floor not just by living organisms, but by polymetallic nodules that would be targeted by companies.

The findings have been rejected by the TMC, even though it helped fund the research, and follow-up work is ongoing.

Mining proponents point to the growing need for minerals to drive the renewable energy transition, and the problems associated with on-land exploitation — including environmental degradation and rights abuses.

German arms firm Rheinmetall seizes on European ‘era of rearmament’


By AFP
March 12, 2025


Tank maker Rheinmetall said 'an era or rearmament has begun in Europe that will demand a lot from all of us' - Copyright AFP Zina DESMAZES

German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall said Wednesday moves by European capitals to up their defences and reduce their reliance on the United States were an unprecedented growth opportunity for the group.

“An era of rearmament has begun in Europe that will demand a lot from all of us,” Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in a statement, as the group published its annual results.

The development opened up “growth prospects for the coming years that we have never experienced before”, said Papperger.

The return of President Donald Trump to the White House has shaken confidence in Washington’s long-standing commitment to European security and spurred governments on the continent to promise increased defence spending.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had already given new impetus to the European defence sector, from which Rheinmetall was among the beneficiaries.

The group on Wednesday said its overall sales rose to 9.8 billion euros ($10.7 billion) in 2024 from 7.2 billion euros the previous year, a 36-percent increase.

In its defence business alone, growth was stronger with revenues climbing 50 percent on a year.

The result showed Rheinmetall was “on its way from being a European systems supplier to a global champion”, Papperger said.

Correspondingly, the group’s operating profit reached a record 1.5 billion euros in 2024, up 61 percent on the previous year.

Rheinmetall said it expected the momentum to continue this year. The group predicted total revenue growth, covering its civilian activities, to sit between 25 and 30 percent in 2025.

The tank manufacturer further estimated defence sales to grow between 35 and 40 percent this year but said the forecast did not “take into account the improvement in market potential… as a result of the geopolitical developments in recent weeks”.

Rheinmetall said it would adjust its forecasts as its military clients pinned down their defence requirements.

In Germany, the country’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz has urged Europe to develop independence from the United States in defence and looked to up Berlin’s military efforts.

Together with his prospective coalition partners the Social Democrats, conservative leader Merz has proposed to largely exempt defence from Germany’s strict constitutional spending limits.

The changes, if passed, could see Germany spend tens of billions of euros more on defence annually as it looks to remedy years of underinvestment.

Why workers are ‘sneaking’ off on holiday without telling their boss?


By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL
March 12, 2025


A beach in Cornwall, UK. — Image by © Tim Sandle.

First, it was ‘quiet quitting’, then ‘acting your wage’, followed by ‘bare minimum Mondays’. Now, some employees are apparently ‘quiet vacationing’. This means secretly working from holiday destinations without telling their boss. Other similar terms, such as #workfromanywhere and #SecretVacation.

Employees who undertake this activity will still log on for any meetings and complete any work they would usually do at home, but instead of sitting at a desk, they will be doing it on holiday.

Is this a clever work hack or a disaster waiting to happen? Gareth Hoyle, Managing Director at Marketing Signals, believes this trend is a wake-up call for businesses. If employees feel the need to sneak away, the real problem is not the workers—it’s their employer.

Hoyle argues that companies should focus on results, not location, and build a culture of trust instead. Hoyle also says this behaviour taps into the general frustrations some people have around work/life balance as well as the rise of other workplace trends, such as ‘quiet quitting’ and ‘career cushioning’.

Some workers feel burnt out and want a break but may not have the holidays or want to deal with the hassle of requesting time off. Others, who no longer have to go to the office, are taking advantage of flexible and remote working policies by literally working from anywhere. For some, they are doing the same hours they would usually do but just in a new (and better) location, while others may simply pretend to be working.

Who is responsible? According to Hoyle: “I would say it’s the fault of an employer if someone feels as though they have to be deceptive to protect themselves from burnout or even take a short break. This would suggest that there’s something wrong with the company culture, leadership or the overall trust has been lost somewhere, and it’s definitely something companies need to address internally.”

In terms of risk – benefit, Hoyle thinks: “For those looking to sneak away without their boss knowing, is it worth the risk and can you actually get away with going on holiday without telling your boss? I don’t think so.”

This is because: “It could be difficult to get away with. You may miss important messages, emails or deadlines, or potentially be late for a call due to being in a different timezone. If you’re asked to take a video call then the different location may give it away too.”

Hoyle cautions: “While it may seem harmless, especially if you’re doing all your usual hours, it could land you or your employer in hot water. If caught, it can significantly damage any trust you may have with your employer and result in disciplinary action when you’re back.”

There is also the factor of changing the culture back at work, as Hoyle observes: “Going forward, it could also lead to stricter policies and monitoring if people are abusing current flexible or remote working policies.”
Other challenges could arise. As an example, Hoyle offers: “If your work laptop is lost or stolen, or if it breaks while you’re away. If your work laptop or any other documents are lost or stolen, and you’re working on anything sensitive, this could have a negative impact on your employer and means you’d have to explain where you were when it happened. “

As to Hoyle’s own approach, he opines: “Personally, I don’t mind where my employees work as long as they get the work done so if that means working while on a city break or beach resort, then that’s fine. I measure our teams on output and not attendance, meaning it’s incumbent on team members to produce results rather than to demonstrate how many hours they spent working on something.”

India Plans Coal Trading Exchange as Domestic Supply Soars

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Mar 12, 2025

• India's Coal Ministry is proposing a coal trading exchange to manage increased domestic coal production and facilitate competitive sales.
• 
  
• This initiative aims to shift from a government-controlled sales model to a "many-to-many" platform for efficient price discovery.
• 
  
• The exchange is planned as India's domestic coal production is expected to reach 1 billion tons in 2024-2025 and 1.5 billion tons by 2030.

India’s Coal Ministry is proposing to establish a coal trading exchange as domestic coal production jumps with the government push for higher output and sector reforms allowing private firms to operate mines.

“With the increased availability of domestic coal in the country, it is envisaged that there would be a paradigm shift towards a surplus coal scenario,” the Coal Ministry said in a notice launching a public consultation on the creation of a coal trade exchange.

The surge in domestic coal supply would change the existing mechanisms of coal sales channels, necessitating a major market reform to promote competitive markets for the sale of coal, the ministry added.

Currently, the government-owned companies Coal India Limited (CIL) and Singareni Colleries Company Limited (SCCL) sell coal. So the country – the world’s second-largest coal consumer after China – needs a platform such as a Coal Trading Exchange (CTE), to allow commercial miners to sell their coal on the market, the ministry says.

The exchange is envisaged to lead to a ‘many-to-many’ platform where both buyers and sellers can bid simultaneously, thereby, making price discovery of coal more efficient and competitive, according to the government.

India reduced its imports of coal in 2024 as it began to boost its domestic supply of coal.

India has been looking to cut its dependence on foreign coal supply to meet its surging power demand and has hiked domestic production. While coal is abundant in domestic mines, it is typically of lower quality and contains lower levels of energy when burnt compared to most imports.

India’s coal production is expected to reach new heights in the coming years, the coal ministry said. The country is set to produce 1 billion tons of coal in the 2024-2025 financial year ending March 31, 2025. Annual coal output is likely to exceed 1.5 billion tons by 2030, according to government estimates.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

 

Newcleo, Danieli aim to decarbonise steel production

Tuesday, 11 March 2025

France-based Newcleo is to collaborate with Italian designer, manufacturer and installer of machinery and plants for the iron and steel industry Danieli Group on integrating Newcleo's lead-cooled fast reactors with Danieli's steelmaking technology.

(Image: Danieli)

Under a memorandum of understanding signed between the two companies, they will focus on developing potential integrated solutions where Newcleo's innovative lead-cooled fast reactors (LFRs) provide both the electricity and high-temperature heat required to feed some of the Danieli's processes for manufacturing steel without the use of fossil fuels (referred to as green steel).

Danieli - based in Buttrio in north-east Italy - said it aims to provide steel makers with affordable, abundant and carbon-free electricity and high-temperature heat through Newcleo's nuclear energy solutions. It said the agreement could lead to energy supply solutions across the iron and steel value chain, including in applications linked to the Danieli Digital Melter and possibly the production of Green Hydrogen to power Danieli's Energiron Direct Reduction Technology to produce metallic iron.

"By joining their efforts, the two companies acknowledge the opportunity to reach significant milestones in the steel industry's journey toward decarbonisation, while also working to reduce energy costs and volatility for the benefit of manufacturers and the clients they serve," Danieli and Newcleo said in a joint statement. 

"Danieli is at the forefront of the steelmaking industry's effort towards decarbonisation and net-zero, objectives which are ever more entangled with competitiveness and energy costs," said Newcleo founder and CEO Stefano Buono. "Our objective through this collaboration is to provide steel manufacturers with economically viable solutions for the production of green steel. By combining our technologies, we will look to open up great opportunities for the global steel industry, not only by addressing the direct needs of steelmakers but also by propelling global supply chains towards a new era of competitiveness and sustainability."

Newcleo said the future collaboration with Danieli adds to the application-oriented partnerships it has already established with other world-class companies, including Fincantieri for naval propulsion, Maire for green chemistry, and Saipem for off-shore nuclear applications, "which are testament to the potential of innovative nuclear solutions in global competitiveness and decarbonisation".

Alessandro Brussi, Chairman of the Board of Danieli, said: "Newcleo is an innovative player in the nuclear energy industry, looking to manufacture advanced modular reactors and closing the fuel cycle like Danieli is doing in the iron and steel to have plant and process with zero impact. A solution to obtain low-cost fossil-free energy is one of the key factors to move a step ahead in the decarbonisation of the steel industry."

The partners said the MoU "comes at a defining moment for the European steelmaking and manufacturing industry as demonstrated by the EU Commission's Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the Steel sector and the Clean Industrial Deal adopted in February, where the EU Commission took bold action to help energy intensive industries lower their energy costs while also creating markets for low carbon and pledging over EUR100 billion (USD109 billion) in support of EU-made clean manufacturing".

In July last year, an MoU was signed between EDF, Edison, Federacciai, Ansaldo Energia and Ansaldo Nucleare aimed at promoting cooperation in the use of nuclear energy to boost the competitiveness and decarbonisation of the Italian steel industry. Through the MoU, the partners will consider co-investment opportunities in new nuclear energy and, in particular, in the construction of small modular reactors (SMRs) in Italy over the coming decade, making use of the SMR technology promoted by EDF (Nuward), of Edison's expertise, and of the engineering and industrial capabilities of Ansaldo Energia and Ansaldo Nucleare. They will also explore establishing a supply contract of nuclear energy over the medium and long-term, leveraging primarily on the capacity on the interconnector already operating between Italy and France and thus contributing to the decarbonisation of steel production in Italy.