Denver overturns pit bull ban after more than 30 years

IT'S THE OWNER NOT THE BREED
Phil Helsel 
.

© Provided by NBC News

The vote has not been certified, but the measure Ballot Measure 2J had more than 65 percent of voters approving it, according to the city's elections division.

The ordinance banning ownership of pit bulls was enacted in 1989 after a number of people had been attacked.

The city council voted to end it in February, but that was vetoed by Mayor Michael Hancock, who cited concerns if someone were hurt following a repeal.

The group Replace Denver BSL in a Facebook post Thursday hailed the result as "an absolutely historic win." BSL stands for breed specific legislation.

While the repeal doesn't take effect until Jan. 1, the city published requirements for pet owners.

Dog owners in Denver are limited to two pit bulls and must get a special permit, which involves showing the animals are microchipped and vaccinated. If there are no incidents like a charged dog bite in three years, the special restrictions can be dropped.

Denver’s ordinance was first enacted after 20 people were attacked by pit bulls in Colorado between 1984 and May 1989, according to a history of the law published in 2005. A 3-year-old was fatally attacked in Denver in October 1986.

A spokesperson for the mayor told NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver in an email that "while Mayor Hancock has always been forthright in sharing he could not, in good conscious, sign the bill to overturn Denver’s pit bull ban, he has also been very clear he supported putting this decision in the hands of Denver voters."

THE MARK OF THE BEAST
DNA might replace barcodes to tag art, voter ballots: study

Thu, 5 November 2020
  

The DNA-based tagging method is cost-effective for the first time, said the researchers at University of Washington and Microsoft.

Easy-to-remove barcodes and QR codes used to tag everything from T-shirts to car engines may soon be replaced by a tagging system based on DNA and invisible to the naked eye, scientists said Thursday.

The DNA-based system could help anti-forgery efforts, according to researchers who said thieves struggle to find or tamper with a transparent splash of DNA on valuable or vulnerable items, such as election ballots, works of art, or secret documents.

In an article published in Nature Communications, researchers at the University of Washington and Microsoft said that the molecular tagging system, called Porcupine, is -- unlike most alternatives -- cost-effective.

"Using DNA for tagging objects has been out of reach in the past because it is expensive and time consuming to write and read, and requires expensive lab equipment," lead author and a Washington University doctoral student Katie Doroschak told AFP.

Porcupine gets around this by prefabricating fragments of DNA that users can mix together arbitrarily to create new tags, the researchers said.

"Instead of radio waves or printed lines, the Porcupine tagging scheme relies on a set of distinct DNA strands called molecular bits, or 'molbits' for short," the University of Washington said in a statement.

"To encode an ID, we pair each digital bit with a molbit," explained Doroschak.

"If the digital bit is 1, we add its molbit to the tag, and if it's 0 we leave it out. Then we can dry it until it's ready to be decoded later," said Doroschak.

Once the item has been tagged, it can then be shipped or stored.

When someone wants to read the tag, water is added to rehydrate the molecular tag, which is read by a nanopore sequencer -- a DNA-reading device smaller than an IPhone.

-'Undetectable by sight'-

"The name Porcupine comes from a play on words (PORE-cupine, as in nanopore) and the idea that porcupines can 'tag' objects, and critters that dare to get too close," the lead author said.

Unlike existing systems to tag objects, DNA tags are undetectable by sight or touch, senior author Jeff Nivala said in a press release from Washington University.

"Practically speaking, this means they are difficult to tamper with.

"You could envision molecular tagging being used to track voters' ballots and prevent tampering in future elections," said Nivala.

The DNA-based technology might also be able to tag items that would be difficult to fix a barcode to.

"It is not possible to tag cotton or other fibres with conventional methods like RFID tags and QR codes, but a liquid DNA-based tag could be used as a mist," said Doroschak.

"This could be helpful for supply chains where origin tracing is important to retain the value of the product," she added.

The Number of the Beast (full text) by Robert Heinlein

https://metallicman.com/laoban4site/the-number-of-the-beast-full-text...

2020-05-10 · The Number of the Beast (full text) by Robert Heinlein. This is the full text of a very long full length novel by Robert Heinlein. It is about a “mad scientist” that builds a machine that can enter and leave different world-lines at will. ... The joy of intellectual discovery – the mark of a true scientist.” ...

RSA shares soar on £7bn takeover approach
One of Britain’s oldest insurance firms could fall into foreign ownership after attracting a £7.1bn takeover offer from Canadian and Scandinavian rivals

Michael O'Dwyer
Thu, 5 November 2020
  

RSA logo

.

Personal and commercial insurer RSA said it has received a potential 685p-per-share cash offer and that its board is minded to accept, sending the stock rocketing 45.8pc.

The FTSE 100 firm said it had been approached by Danish insurer Tryg and Canadian property and casualty insurance business Intact Financial Corporation, acting in partnership.

RSA - which underwrites home and pet insurance offered by the likes of John Lewis, Tesco and Argos - traces its roots back more than three centuries to the original Sun Insurance company set up in 1706 by entrepreneur Charles Povey to protect livelihoods after the Great Fire of London.

The consortium made its approach on Oct 2 but has not tabled a formal bid. Shares leapt to 670p having traded at just above 450p late on Thursday afternoon.
 

Markets Hub - RSA Insurance Group

The proposed cash offer would hand RSA shareholders 685p per share plus a previously announced 8p per share interim dividend.

Boss Stephen Hester - the former chief executive of bailed-out lender Natwest - would land up to £15.9m from payouts for shares which he owns outright and has coming his way under various bonus schemes if targets are hit.

There is no certainty that the consortium will make a formal bid and any offer would be subject to conditions including a period of due diligence, RSA said as it confirmed the talks following a report by Bloomberg.

The announcement raised the prospect that the company could be split up.

Intact, which has a market value of £12.2bn, intends to retain RSA’s Candian division and its UK and international unit.

Copenhagen-listed Tryg, which is worth £6.8bn, would take over the Swedish and Norwegian operations.

The pair would jointly own RSA’s Danish business, which is being restructured by Tryg's former finance chief.

Philip Kett, an analyst at Jefferies, said that a 685p offer “would represent more than fair value for RSA”. Rival insurer Zurich aborted a £5.6bn bid for the firm in 2015.

The approach was revealed just hours after RSA disclosed that a fall in claims from customers staying at home during the pandemic helped to offset a slump in sales in the third quarter.

Group business operating profit increased in the first nine months of the year helped by strong underwriting, the firm said.

The company sold £4.7bn worth of insurance in the first nine months of the year, 3pc lower than a year ago. It blamed the fall on Covid-19.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

£1bn of fraudulent Covid scheme loans for UK businesses blocked


Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent
Thu, 5 November 2020
 The Guardian

Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Banks have prevented more than £1bn worth of fraudulent business loans being paid out from one of the government’s emergency Covid schemes.

In a letter to the public accounts committee, the British Business Bank, which administers the government-backed loan programme, said 20 lenders had blocked a total 26,933 fraudulent applications to the bounce-back loan scheme (BBLS) between May and October.

Those fraudulent applications could have cost the taxpayer £1.1bn, as the scheme uses public funds to repay any losses that lenders cannot recover.

The programme has distributed 1.3m loans worth £40.2bn so far, but the National Audit Office (NAO) said last month that taxpayers stood to lose billions of pounds from BBLS fraud. The National Crime Agency (NCA) and the British Business Bank have also warned about fraud linked to the scheme, which was designed to distribute cheap loans worth up to £50,000 to small businesses.

The government has been criticised for failing to act on those warnings, and has since launched a £100,000 Covid fraud hotline to try to catch scammers. The hotline, run by Crimestoppers, allows people to leave anonymous tips about suspected fraud, including any unusual purchases by companies or individuals, or about cold callers asking for bank details that could lead to identity theft.

A NAO report released in October said the scale of BBLS fraud would not be clear for months. However, the Cabinet Office’s government fraud function estimates that losses will be significantly above the usual level of fraud linked to public sector schemes, which is usually between 0.5% and 5%.

Three people were arrested over alleged BBLS fraud in Birmingham last week after obtaining £145,000 in government-backed loans. All three suspects were questioned and have since been released under investigation, according to the NCA. It marked the first arrests linked to the scheme.

Most accredited lenders have confined applications to their customers, in part to prevent against fraud. However, the move has also blocked up to 250,000 small businesses from accessing emergency funding, as they do not bank with any of the accredited lenders, according to the all-party parliamentary group on fair business banking.

BBLS is scheduled to run until 31 January, after an extension was announced this week. Businesses will also be able to apply for top-ups if they failed to request the maximum amount available in their initial application.

Banks block fraudulent Covid loan applications worth £1bn

Lucy Burton THE TELEGRAPH
Thu, 5 November 2020
 

Rishi Sunak

Britain's biggest lenders have blocked criminals from obtaining loans worth more than £1bn from the flagship coronavirus rescue scheme, it has emerged. 

The British Business Bank told MPs that nearly 27,000 applications for the hugely popular 'bounce back' loans, which would have been worth £1.1bn had they got through the system, have so far been blocked by lenders due to concerns about fraud. 

The loans are issued by banks such as Lloyds and Natwest to help small firms get through the Covid crisis but are 100pc guaranteed by the taxpayer. Take-up has been much higher than anticipated when the scheme launched in May, raising fears it was being targeted by criminals. 

Critics warned when the programme was introduced that it would be a magnet for fraudsters due to the fact it has a fast application process - which Sunak once said could be done “in the time it takes to have lunch” - and lighter checks. 

The amount of potentially fraudulent loans that banks had blocked were revealed in a letter sent to the Public Accounts Committee before a hearing into the scheme on Thursday. 

During the session Sir Tom Scholar, the Treasury permanent secretary, said the decision to simplify the application process to get money out as fast as possible to struggling businesses "reduced the checks that lenders were able to make" and was "not a decision the Chancellor took lightly". 

"In the end it was a calculated decision that given the needs of businesses and the urgency of the situation, it was appropriate to accept a higher degree of risk," he said.

"But I think it was a reasonable decision to try first of all with a more conventional approach and then very quickly, in a matter of a couple of weeks, move to an unconventional approach which is the one we ended up with with the bounce back loans scheme." 


Banks conduct more stringent checks on the larger coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS), where only 80pc of the funds lent are guaranteed, but came under attack earlier in the year when the loans were not getting out to the country's smallest businesses quickly enough and so launched the bounce back scheme. 

The Government this week extended the deadline to apply for coronavirus loans from the end of November to the end of January as a result of the second national lockdown that began on Thursday. 

Lenders have dished out more than £60bn under the coronavirus loan schemes for businesses, mostly as Bounce Back loans. 

Earlier this year the National Audit Office warned that Bounce Back loans being exploited by fraudsters could cost taxpayers £26bn. The National Crime Agency has also said that it has received intelligence suggesting criminals are targeting the scheme. 

Banking chiefs are concerned about how they will be viewed if forced to demand money from entrepreneurs whose companies were destroyed by coronavirus restrictions.

One senior banker said earlier this year that he feared a new backlash when the scale of fraud became clear, in a major blow for an industry still struggling to restore its image after the 2008 financial crisis. 

The Cabinet Office has said it believed fraud losses were likely to be significantly above the 0.5pc to 5pc generally estimated for public sector schemes.

Volkswagen CEO Says Biden Win Better Suits Corporate Goals
By Matt Posky on November 5, 2020


As the U.S. election devolves into deciding which political party committed the most fraud, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said a victory by Democrat Joe Biden would be the ideal outcome for any German automakers seeking to mass-produce electric cars. Hardly surprising, considering the Biden-Harris campaign website says it would regulate the dickens out of fossil fuels, moving aggressively toward alternative energy sources and electrification while pressing other nations to do the same.

“A Democratic program probably would be more aligned with our worldwide strategy, which is really to fight climate change, to become electric,” the CEO told Bloomberg on Thursday.

Though he couldn’t commit himself fully with the election still undecided, Diess made sure to mention that VW had also established a “really a trustful relationship with the Trump administration and government … We did a lot also to contribute [sic] to build America.”

But VW has more global ambitions. Following the monstrous Dieselgate scandal of 2015, where the automaker was caught using illegal software to cheat emissions testing and was subsequently fined into oblivion, Volkswagen pivoted hard toward electrification. It now hopes to become the world’s largest EV manufacturer with the most diverse lineup of electrically driven cars.

Diess noted that the United States had the weakest market share for battery-electric vehicles when compared to China and Europe. Putting a Democrat in the White House would undoubtedly encourage the U.S. to adopt similar policies as global rivals — likely placing new restrictions on gas-driven vehicles while incentivizing electric vehicle purchases. While Trump has made it clear that he wants to deregulate the automotive industry wherever possible, Biden has repeatedly signaled that he intends to add regulations and push the country toward EVs as part of an extremely broad “infrastructure and environmental justice” program.

Volkswagen Group seems to have shrewdly determined that having the government gradually discourage people from buying anything other than electric vehicles will ultimately increase their sales. However, it’s going to have to wait a while to see which old guy wins the election because it’s presently an utter mess. Though that could be said at practically every stage of this particular election.

“At the end, this is a decision America has to take,” Diess said. “We only can watch and we have to adapt.”

Volvo eyes deliveries of heavy-duty electric trucks in 2022


Alan Tovey
Thu, 5 November 2020

Volvo electric truck

Volvo will begin producing heavy-duty electric trucks from next year as it becomes one of the first mainstream manufacturers to successfully tackle environmentally friendly haulage.

The Swedish company said it would begin volume production of the trucks, which have a range of 186 miles, with a view to delivering them in 2022.

The commercial vehicle company – which is separate from car manufacturer of the same name – is seeking to cement its place in a market this being eyed by newer upstarts such as Tesla and Nikola.

Tesla boss Elon Musk has been hoping to launch his electric “Semi” truck since its unveiling in 2017, but its entry into service is slipping and not expected until next year.

Tesla 'Semi' truck

Nikola’s hopes of bringing in electric and hydrogen heavy trucks unravelled in the summer after a promotional video was exposed as a fraud.

The company admitted footage of a truck driving under its own power had been cleverly shot, and was in fact rolling downhill.

Volvo started electrifying its commercial vehicles more than a decade ago with buses and last year moved into medium electric trucks, typically for urban use that requires shorter ranges.

However, the latest announcement steps the business up into the 44-tonne heavy duty sector.

Roger Alm, president of Volvo Trucks, said: “By rapidly increasing the number of heavy-duty electric trucks, we want to help our customers and transport buyers to achieve their ambitious sustainability goals. We’re determined to continue driving our industry towards a sustainable future.”

The company wants 35pc of the trucks it sells to be zero-emission vehicles by the end of this decade, with hydrogen-powered models entering its rage within five years. By 2040 it hopes to phase out production of combustion-engine trucks.

The main challenge for electric heavy-duty trucks is the weight of batteries that enable them to match conventionally powered vehicles and transport loads over long distances.

Trucks going on sale next year will be aimed at regional transport operators, and the company has agreed a tie-up with rival Daimler to develop a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that can compete with traditional diesel trucks on long-haul routes.

Bentley to stop making petrol cars by 2030 and go fully electric

Jasper Jolly THE GUARDIAN
Thu, 5 November 2020

Photograph: Lintao Zhang/Getty

Bentley, the luxury carmaker, will stop making fossil fuel cars by 2030 and aims to be completely carbon neutral at the same time, in one of the most ambitious plans of any UK car manufacturer in the transition towards electric vehicles.

It will stop building cars with traditional internal combustion engines within six years, instead making hybrids and then its first battery electric cars in 2025. By 2030 it will sell only pure battery electric vehicles, with zero-carbon exhaust emissions.

The rapid transition will mean that a company famed for enormous 12-cylinder petrol engines, with large carbon dioxide emissions to match, aims to become one of the UK automotive industry’s leading champions of environmental sustainability.

Bentley’s Crewe plant is the only major factory in the UK to commit to producing electric cars exclusively on such a tight timescale, apart from its competitor Jaguar Land Rover at Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich site. Workers on internal combustion technology will be redeployed.

Bentley’s promise to be an “end-to-end carbon neutral organisation” without using carbon offsetting is bold, as electric car batteries take considerable amounts of energy to produce. A spokesman said the company and its biggest suppliers would have to work out how to hit the target.

The carmaker, whose prices range from £130,000 to more than £240,000, said its environmental targets would make it “financially resilient and recession proof”, as it and other carmakers looked for ways to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, which has damaged car sales.

Related: 2020 set to be year of the electric car, say industry analysts

Figures published on Thursday showed last month was the weakest October for new UK car sales in nine years. The number of cars registered fell 1.6% to 140,945, putting the industry on course for the weakest year since 1982, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Electric car sales were one of the few bright spots, nearly tripling so far in 2020 to 76,000.

Bentley in June announced it would make 1,000 job cuts from its permanent workforce to reduce costs. However, it said it had scaled back the cuts to 800 staff, who were taking voluntary redundancy, 200 of whom were temporary contractors.

Adrian Hallmark, Bentley’s chief executive, said the carmaker was going through “a paradigm shift throughout our business”.

“Within a decade, Bentley will transform from a 100-year-old luxury car company to a new, sustainable, wholly ethical role model for luxury,” he said.

The carmaker will also commit to consuming no plastic at its factory by 2030, as well as to raising the proportion of women and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in its management ranks to 30%, from 20% in 2020.

Bentley is owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, the largest carmaker in the world by volume. Volkswagen has announced investment of billions of euros into electric car technology after the “dieselgate” scandal, in which its engineers installed software to cheat emissions test.

Volkswagen and all other European carmakers face steep fines if they do not reduce the average emissions of the cars they sell. By 2030 carbon emissions must be 37.5% lower than 2021 levels, which is only possible by mainly selling electric cars with zero exhaust emissions.

Bentley is particularly suited to quickly changing to electric technology, because bigger margins as a luxury carmaker mean it can absorb the higher cost of batteries, although analysts expect the premium for manufacturing battery cars to disappear by 2024.

Bentley kills off the internal combustion engine

Alan Tovey
Thu, 5 November 2020

Bentley's concept car

Bentley plans to kill off the internal combustion engine that have powered its luxurious cars.

The Crewe-based company famed for its petrol-guzzling 12-cylinder engines is going electric as it aims to become a “global leader in sustainable luxury mobility”.

Established in 1919, Bentley has become synonymous with big engines to drive its heavy cars, the cheapest of which starts at £133,000.

However, as part of the manufacturer’s “Beyond100” strategy, by 2026 it will no longer sell cars with only conventional engines.

The first all-electric Bentley will be introduced in 2025 and its range will all have either battery or hybrid engine drive trains. By 2030, it will no longer offer hybrids.

Moving away from its exhaust-belching roots will help the company face increasingly punitive levies for the amount of carbon that its cars emit.

Bentley cars

The company described the plan would see it “evolving from the world’s largest producer of 12-cylinder petrol engines to having no internal combustion engines”.

Adrian Hallmark, chief executive, said: “Being at the forefront of progress is part of our DNA; the original Bentley boys were pioneers and leaders.

“Now, as we look Beyond100, we will continue to lead by reinventing the company and becoming the world’s benchmark luxury car business.

“Within a decade, Bentley will transform from a 100-year-old luxury car company to a new, sustainable, wholly ethical role model for luxury.”

Bentley is part of the Volkswagen Group, which is investing €40bn into electric vehicles and new technology as it pushes to be leader in sustainable transport and move on from the “dieselgate” scandal of 2015. 

Bentley's luxury car range to be fully electric by 2030

Nick Carey
Thu, 5 November 2020
   

FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen outside the Bentley Motors factory in Crewe

By Nick Carey

LONDON (Reuters) - Bentley Motors' model line-up will include only plug-in hybrids and electric cars by 2026 and will be fully electric by 2030, the British luxury carmaker said on Thursday, as the auto industry adapts to tighter emissions limits in Europe and China.

The 100-year-old company, owned by Germany's Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE>, said it would launch two plug-in hybrids next year as part of its "Beyond100" strategy to accelerate the development of electrified models.

Last week, Volkswagen announced a return to profit for the third quarter thanks to surging demand for luxury cars.

"Within a decade, Bentley will transform from a 100 year old luxury car company to a new, sustainable, wholly ethical role model for luxury," Bentley Chief Executive Officer Adrian Hallmark said in a statement.

In the summer, Bentley said it would cut up to 1,000 jobs, or nearly a quarter of its workforce, as the Crewe, northwest England-based company shifts towards an electric model line-up.

A draft document in September showed the European Commission wants to further tighten auto emissions limits, prompting a push-back from Germany's car industry, Europe's biggest.

(Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Mark Potter)

AMELIORATING CAPITALI$M
Work when you want wherever you want, Standard Chartered tells 75,000 staff


Lucy Burton
Thu, 5 November 2020

Bill Winters

Standard Chartered has told its 75,000 staff they can work when they want and wherever they want, becoming the latest financial institution to make drastic permanent changes to office life.

As well as offering employees the option to select the hours, days and location they want, the London-listed banking giant told its workforce on Thursday that it was in talks with a third party to provide extra "near-home" work spaces.

The new rules could prompt its big bank rivals to follow suit. There were fears in Whitehall over the summer that changes triggered by coronavirus will become permanent, turning city centres into ghost towns.

Standard Chartered expects almost all of its staff to move to a hybrid working model by the end of 2023 although it said that those who want to spend all of their time in the office or all of their time at home can do so. 

"While we have been thinking through the issues around future workplace for some time, it’s inevitable that recent events provided a catalyst," said the bank's HR chief Tanuj Kapilashrami. "We also see this as an opportunity to appeal to a wider and more diverse potential future workforce."

Standard Chartered is not the only large financial institution to make permanent changes, although it is one of the largest. Earlier this year Britain's largest listed asset manager Schroders fired the starting gun on the end of City life when it said staff could carry on working from home even after the pandemic.

One insider said at the time that the change will end the presenteeism which has long been an issue in finance, with employees across the industry known for putting in shifts of 12 hours or longer.

Other City firms that have made permanent changes to working life include Numis, broker to over 210 London-listed companies including Asos and Ocado. Britain's biggest high-street lender Lloyds is also experimenting with different ways it will use its office in future.

Iberdrola's green spending spree eclipses European Big Oil's plans

Iberdrola to invest £67 billion in 'energy revolution' by 2025

Scottish Power outlines new £10bn investment in green energy

Iberdrola's green spending spree eclipses European Big Oil's plans

FILE PHOTO: berdrola CEO, Jose Ignacio Galan speaks during a press conference

near Ribeira da Pena

Thu, 5 November 2020

By Ron Bousso

LONDON (Reuters) - Spanish wind energy group Iberdrola's plans to spend around $88 billion (67.5 billion pounds) on renewable power by 2025 eclipse Europe's top oil companies' combined planned investments in low-carbon over the same period.

Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Total, Norway's Equinor, Spain's Repsol and Italy's Eni aim to grow their low-carbon businesses after setting out plans to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades.

The group's combined spending on renewables such as offshore wind and solar power as well as retail businesses in some cases is set to grow nearly 10-fold over the next five years from $7.35 billion in 2020 to $69.2 billion by 2025, according to company announcements and Reuters estimates.

Iberdrola said on Thursday it plans to invest 75 billion euros (67.7 billion pounds) in its renewable energy production, grids and retail business by 2025 to capitalise on growing global demand for clean power.

Goldman Sachs estimates that Europe's Big Oil companies could spend close to half of their capital expenditure on low carbon activities compared with 10% to 15% in 2019.

Their installed power capacity is expected to grow 20 fold from 7 gigawatt (GW) currently to over 140 GW by 2030, the bank said in a note in September.

For an interactive version of this chart see https://tmsnrt.rs/3p2kPvg 

Graphic: Green spending spree - https://graphics.reuters.com/EUROPE-CAPEX/qmypmjzbavr/chart.png

(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

Iberdrola to invest £67 billion in 'energy revolution' by 2025


Iberdrola to invest £67 billion in 'energy revolution' by 2025An Iberdrola's power generating wind turbine is seen against cloudy sky at Moranchon wind farm


By Isla Binnie  
Thu, 5 November 2020, 

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish wind energy group Iberdrola <IBE.MC> plans to invest 75 billion euros (67.7 billion pounds) in its renewable energy production, grids and retail operations by 2025 to capitalise on growing global demand for clean power, it said on Thursday.

Countries and companies the world over are seeking to cut emissions to combat climate change, buoying renewables-focused companies including Iberdrola.

Pursuing the opportunities created by the "energy revolution" facing the world's major economies should help to boost net profit by more than 40% from 2019 to 5 billion euros in 2025, Iberdrola said.

Shares rose throughout morning trade and were up 3.1% on the day at 1300 GMT, outperforming a positive Spanish stock index <.IBEX> and taking Iberdrola's gains so far this year to around a quarter. It has become Spain's second biggest company after Zara owner Inditex <ITX.MC>.

For years, renewable companies have struggled to generate big profits, while fossil fuels have provided easier margins, but as COVID-19 lockdowns have hobbled energy use and hammered oil and gas markets, the investment focus has been transformed.

Oil and gas companies, including Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BP <BP.L> and Total <TOTF.PA>, are moving towards renewable power, but Iberdrola's new spending plan eclipses their combined planned investments in low carbon.

Other utilities are joining Iberdrola in building green capacity and wind energy is set to reach record growth globally over the next five years.

Denmark's Orsted <ORSTED.CO> is in the midst of a $30 billion investment plan and Italy-based Enel <ENEI.MI>, the region's leader, has set aside 14.4 billion euros to build renewables capacity and phase out coal between 2020 and 2022.

Iberdrola promises steady earnings for its shareholders.

They will receive between 0.40 and 0.44 euros per share by 2025 as the company sets aside a total of 94 billion euros for both the investment plan and its dividend plan, Iberdrola Chief Financial Officer Jose Sainz said.

The money will mainly come from operations and cash management, but 19% will be from taking on debt, Sainz said.

Half the overall investment will be split between the United States, where it announced last month its local unit Avangrid <AGR.N> would buy utility PNM Resources <PNM.N>, and Britain, where it owns Scottish Power.

At home in Spain, spending, mainly on renewables and networks, will more than double to 14.35 billion euros over the life of the plan.

Iberdrola hopes one costly Spanish project, building capacity to produce hydrogen from renewable sources, will get European Union funds as the bloc seeks to emerge from a coronavirus-induced recession by focusing spending on sustainability.

By 2030 Iberdrola aims to increase solar and onshore wind capacity by 2.5 times and offshore wind power by 4.5 times, to reach a total generation portfolio of 95 gigawatts (GW).

(Reporting by Isla Binnie, additional reporting by Jose Elias Rodriguez; Editing by David Goodman and Barbara Lewis)

Scottish Power outlines new £10bn investment in green energy


August Graham, PA City Reporter
Thu, 5 November 2020, 10:47 am GMT-7·2-min read

Scottish Power is planning to invest another £10 billion into the UK’s green recovery over the next five years, it has revealed.

It comes weeks after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced big ambitions to power all UK homes with offshore wind.

The company said on Thursday that it will nearly double its renewable generation capacity, adding a further 2.4 gigawatts (GW) by the middle of the decade.

It is part of a larger plan by Scottish Power’s Spanish parent company Iberdrola to pour 75 billion euros (£67.2 billion) into renewables around the world.

The company’s plans will mean new solar, wind and battery infrastructure, and thousands of new jobs spread across the UK, chief executive Keith Anderson said.

“This is a huge, big wave of investment to help drive forward decarbonisation in each of the countries we operate in,” he told the PA news agency.

“We’re all talking in the UK about a green recovery and our view is that it is companies like us that are going to be at the forefront of creating a green recovery, of accelerating the road to net-zero and create jobs and apprenticeship opportunities.”

Last month, Mr Johnson promised all of the UK’s 30 million homes will be powered by offshore wind by the end of this decade.

The UK has a goal of reducing its emissions to net-zero by the middle of the century.

The green ambitions will need several more billions of pounds invested into the UK’s green plans.

“Statements and announcements from the Prime Minister become so important because that’s what sets the ambition and drags companies in and makes this look attractive,” Mr Anderson said.

“One of the best examples of this is that you now see oil and gas companies, companies like Shell saying ‘hang on a minute, we want to come and join the party’.”

UK. extends wage support scheme until March '21 amid new lockdown

USA STILL HAS NO STIMULUS PACKAGE

England begins 4-week lockdown in bid to slow spread of COVID-19

A man passes a closed restaurant in central London as England enters a second coronavirus lockdown on Thursday. (Nikas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images)

The Associated Press · Posted: Nov 05, 2020 

The British government and the Bank of England joined forces Thursday to provide further support to an economy that is set for a difficult winter following the imposition of new coronavirus lockdown measures.

Hours after the central bank increased its monetary stimulus by a bigger-than-anticipated £150 billion (roughly $256 billion Cdn), Treasury chief Rishi Sunak said the government's salary support program will be extended through March.

The extension of the program, which sees the government pay 80 per cent of the wages of people retained by firms rather than made redundant, comes on the day that England is back in lockdown and the other nations of the U.K. — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — are living under heightened restrictions.


Like other nations in Europe, the U.K. has seen a sharp spike in new cases in recent weeks and on Wednesday recorded another 492 virus-related deaths, the highest daily number since May. Overall, it has Europe's highest official COVID-19 death toll at 47,742.

The Job Retention Scheme, which was introduced alongside the national lockdown in March and helped keep a lid on unemployment, was due to expire at the end of October and to be replaced by a less-generous program.

A worker shuts the doors in a bar in Bristol city centre ahead of England's lockdown. (Ben Birchall/PA/The Associated Press)

However, it was reinstated on Saturday when the government abruptly announced another lockdown for England to last until Dec. 2. The lockdown, which formally came into force on Thursday, will see millions of workers going idle once again as it requires all non-essential venues such as pubs, restaurants, and stores selling items like books, clothing and sneakers, to close. The support package for self-employed workers was also made more generous.

"I've always said I would do whatever it takes to protect jobs and livelihoods across the U.K. and that has meant adapting our support as the path of the virus has changed," Sunak told lawmakers.

"It's clear the economic effects are much longer lasting for businesses than the duration of any restrictions, which is why we have decided to go further with our support."

The government had for months balked at calls for an extension, arguing it wasn't its role to support every job in the economy forever. It was no doubt also concerned about the cost of the program.

While welcoming the move, the main opposition Labour Party criticized Sunak for failing to act sooner, a delay that it said generated uncertainty and prompted some firms to dismiss staff in recent weeks. The government said the furlough scheme could be backdated so anyone who was on a payroll on Sept. 23 but then made redundant can be re-employed.

"This cycle of bluster, denial and then running to catch up is costing jobs and causing chaos," said Labour's economy spokesperson Anneliese Dodds.

The Bank of England warned that the British economy is set for another downturn in the winter but laid out the hope that a recession — widely defined as two straight quarters of contraction — may be avoided. It said the outlook for the economy remains "unusually uncertain."

The latest restrictions will weigh on an economy that had been recovering from the sharp recession caused by the spring lockdown. During the earlier lockdown, the British economy contracted by around a quarter. It recouped some of that during the summer, though the bank said it was still nine per cent smaller than its pre-COVID level at the end of the third quarter.

In a set of new forecasts, the central bank said it now expects that recovery to end and the economy to shrink two per cent in the fourth quarter before rebounding at the beginning of 2021 — assuming the restrictions start to be lifted. As a result of the latest contraction, it now doesn't expect the British economy to reach its pre-COVID level until the first quarter of 2022.

The central bank's increase in the bond-buying program was bigger than the £100 billion (roughly $171 billion Cdn) anticipated in financial markets and is aimed at keeping borrowing rates low to boost lending and ensuring that money keeps flowing through the financial system.

An NHS worker speaks with soldiers as they carry supplies at Pontin's Southport Holiday Park, north of Liverpool, on Thursday prior to assisting in a mass and rapid testing pilot scheme for the novel coronavirus. (Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)

"We believe there is value in acting quickly and strongly to support the economy and avoid the risks of any short-term disruption," bank governor Andrew Bailey told reporters.

The nine-member monetary policy committee, which also unanimously kept its main interest rate at the record low of 0.1 per cent, welcomed the decision by the government to extend the salary support program.

Although the program prevented mass unemployment this year, the jobless rate has edged up from a four-decade low of 3.8 per cent to 4.5 per cent, with the likes of British Airways, Royal Mail and Rolls-Royce all laying off thousands.

On Thursday, supermarket chain Sainsbury's became the latest big company to announce hefty cuts. It said it will shed around 3,500 jobs as part of plans to permanently close its meat, fish and deli counters, as well as some of its Argos standalone stores.

Given the outlook, the Bank of England expects the unemployment rate to rise to a peak of 7.75 per cent in the second quarter of next year.

UK chancellor extends furlough till March and hands self-employed new lifeline

Tom Belger
·Finance and policy reporter
Thu, 5 November 2020

Britain's chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak made another economic policy announcement on Thursday. Photo: John Sibley/Reuters

UK chancellor Rishi Sunak has caved into pressure to extend the furlough scheme once more, promising more generous support until next March for workers in struggling firms.

The finance minister made the latest in a string of recent announcements expanding job support in parliament on Thursday. He confirmed the government’s furlough scheme will continue beyond the current December cut-off across the UK, offering subsidies worth 80% of previous wages for workers on leave.

Employers will only have to pay insurance and pension contributions, with a review in January to see if they should contribute more. Plans for a bonus in February for employers keeping staff post-furlough have been delayed until “an appropriate time.”

The chancellor also announced the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS) would continue to pay 80% of average profits, rather than be cut as previously planned. Meanwhile Sunak promised another £2bn ($2.6bn) in general funding for the UK’s devolved administrations.

“People and business will want to know what comes next,” he told MPs. “They want certainty.”

READ MORE: Bank of England to pump another £150bn ($194bn) into the UK economy

It marks a significant U-turn for the chancellor and prime minister Boris Johnson. Both had repeatedly declared it was time to move on from subsidising furloughed workers in struggling industries. They had already extended furlough by a month to December and agreed recently to make the replacement job support scheme more generous, but only in coronavirus hotspots and at 67% of previous pay.

But the second wave, tighter restrictions and pressure from business and union chiefs have forced a change in stance. Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), had said on Thursday an extension was the “right thing to do,” saying firms needed more certainty and stability to recover.

The chancellor had also faced heavy criticism from political leaders in Scotland, Wales, the North, and the Midlands for only extending furlough and making job support more generous when London and then England faced tighter curbs. Their areas faced restrictions with less aid for employers and jobs.

“I have had to make rapid adjustments to our economic plans as the spread of the virus has accelerated,” said Sunak in defence of the latest changes.

Sunak acknowledged the economic impact of the second England-wide lockdown coming into force on Thursday, after MPs backed a four-week shutdown in a vote on Wednesday.

Sunak told parliament that UK economic recovery was slowing, and the economic impact of England’s lockdown would outlast new restrictions. “Given this significant uncertainty, a worsening economic backdrop, and need to give people and businesses security through winter, I believe it is right to further.”

“Non-essential” shops, hospitality and leisure sites have been forced to close until 2 December. Economists and business groups expect this to take a heavy toll on firms and jobs. Different restrictions apply across the UK, set by devolved administrations.

It comes on the same day the Bank of England ramped up its support even further for the UK’s economy and the government’s finances. The central bank announced it would pump another £150bn ($194bn) into buying up government debt from investors, more than expected by analysts.

READ MORE: Sainsbury's warns 3,500 could lose jobs as it aims to shut 420 Argos stores

Official figures last month showed UK government debt is at its highest level in 60 years compared to the size of the economy. Borrowing has plugged the gap between soaring spending and declining tax receipts, and mass bond-buying by the central bank with newly created money has kept a lid on borrowing costs.

The Bank of England has been institutionally independent from central government for more than two decades, but Sunak said he and the bank’s governor Andrew Bailey were in “constant communication.” He said their measures were “carefully designed to complement each other.”

Furlough scheme extension ‘came too late for some in the culture sector’

Theatres have been hit hard by coronavirus (Dominic Lipinski/PA)


Tom Horton, PA
Thu, 5 November 2020

Job losses in the cultural sector and night-time economy could have been avoided if businesses had been given more warning about the furlough scheme extension, industry figures have said.

On Thursday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the scheme would now continue until the end of March after initially resisting calls for it to be continued.

Theatres Trust director Jon Morgan said the announcement is “fantastic news” for theatres, but job losses “could have been avoided” if venues had previously known they would be in line for support throughout the winter.

“The earlier these things are announced, obviously the better,” he told the PA news agency.

Despite the problems caused by the delay, Mr Morgan said the furlough extension is welcomed by the industry.

He said: “The extension of the job retention scheme is fantastic because when lockdown lifts, some theatres will reopen with social distancing, but really on a loss-leader basis, it is not a long-term solution.

“The vast majority will remain closed and this is going to help them survive during that period until we get to that point where theatres can start to perform to large enough audiences, not necessarily full capacity, but large enough to be able to break even and run viably.”

In August the media union Bectu estimated there had been 5,000 coronavirus-related job losses in the theatre industry.


The furlough scheme pays 80% of wages up to £2,500-a-month and was originally supposed to end in October.

Greater Manchester’s night-time economy adviser Sacha Lord said the extension had been announced too late.

If the action had been taken six weeks ago they could have saved “many, many businesses” and jobs, he told PA.

“When you start a redundancy process, you can’t just phone somebody up and say you are redundant as of tomorrow.

“You have to go through a process, it can take two to maybe a few more weeks and with furlough originally coming to an end this weekend just gone… sadly for many they are now redundant and quite a few people I have spoken to in the last couple of weeks find it a bit of a slap in the face if I’m being honest.”

Lord, who also co-founded the Parklife music festival, added: “It is great but for many it does feel very, very late.”

The extension of the furlough scheme has been welcomed by theatres (Martin Crossick/PA)

Mark Da Vanzo, CEO of the Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse theatres, also said it would have been helpful to have had more warning about the extension.

“I think it would have been good to know a little earlier, just so it connected up because the current furlough ended at the end of October.

“So I think it would have been good to know earlier but ultimately from our point of view as an employer, it is good whenever it has come.

“At least it has come.”

The furlough extension was welcomed by trade body UK Music’s chief executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin.

In a statement, he said: “The music industry has expressed concerns about the level of support on offer – and so the Chancellor deserves enormous credit for listening to those concerns and taking action.

“Today’s announcement will give businesses the certainty they need so they can plan for the next few months and the extension of the furlough scheme will be welcome news to many in the music industry.

“However, there are still many self-employed workers in our sector who have fallen through the cracks and been ineligible for support. We are braced for the impact of Covid-19 to continue for many months, and so those people will need help.

“Our overriding priority is to help support the 190,000 people in the music industry workforce, so our sector can get back on its feet as quickly as possible and continue contributing billions of pounds to the economy.”

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Sunak said: “We’re dealing with a fast-moving health crisis first and foremost, and I think it’s reasonable and right that when the health situation changes and new restrictions need to be put in place, that our economic response, adapts and evolves alongside that.”

The Government is currently distributing a £1.57 billion funding package to the arts.