Groundbreaking new solar panels can generate electricity in the dark

Story by Joshua Hawkins • BGR


Solar power is a promising avenue for clean energy. Unfortunately, solar panels have one major weakness – they can’t generate electricity in the dark. However, this weakness could soon change as scientists at Stanford University have now created a solar panel that works in the dark.

The researchers published their findings on the new type of solar panel in the journal Applied Physics Letters back in April of 2022. While they discovered a way to make solar panels work in the dark, they also discovered that already erected solar panels could be modified to generate power at night, too, saving businesses and homes from having to upgrade to new panels.

The process used to make older solar panels work in the dark is called radiative cooling. When the sun sets, the Earth cools down, releasing heat into the air. This helps to create a temperature difference between the air and the surface of the panels. Then, researchers say that we can install thermoelectric generators onto the panels, allowing us to harness the power generated by radiative cooling.



solar panels on house, transparent solar panels could be build into windows© Provided by BGR

This isn’t the first time we have seen this idea put forward. Back in 2020, researchers with the University of California did something similar with what they called an “anti-solar panel.” Photovoltaic solar panels already take advantage of this radiative cooling to generate electricity after the sun sets, allowing those solar panels to work in the dark.

So why haven’t we heard more about this if it makes solar panels generate electricity even after the sun sets? Well, that’s because it doesn’t generate tons of electricity. Instead, some estimate it only generates around 25 percent of the energy a solar panel can generate in a typical day. But that’s still clean energy that you didn’t have before, so it’s worth harnessing while you can.

Other advancements in solar power have also seen solar panels that don’t need sunlight to generate electricity. You can read more about those in our previous report, but they essentially work by using the same rays of ultraviolet light that fruits and vegetables rely on to create their energy.

Egyptian archaeologists tout rare discoveries unearthed in Luxor

Story by Ahmed Shawkat • 

Egyptian archaeologists inspect mummified remains found in a newly discovered burial site in Luxor's Dra' Abu el-Naga' Necropolis, which they said was the first ever found in the area dating back to ancient Egypt's 13th Dynasty, between 1803 BC and 1649 BC. / Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities© Provided by CBS News

Cairo — Egyptian archaeologists announced Wednesday the discovery of the first burial site in the city of Luxor that dates back to the ancient Egyptian 13th Dynasty. That means the sarcophagi, remains and artifacts found at the site, in Luxor's Dra' Abu el-Naga' Necropolis, date back almost 4,000 years, to sometime between 1803 BC and 1649 BC.

"We have discovered more than a thousand burial sites before in Luxor, but this is the first time we find one from the 13th Dynasty," Dr. Fathy Yaseen, Director General of Antiquities of Upper Egypt, told CBS News about the site, which is more than 50 yards wide and 70 yards long.
4,200-year-old queen's identity among remarkable new finds in Egypt

Among the discoveries in the burial site was a complete sarcophagus made of pink granite, weighing about 11 tons, inscribed with the name of a minister named Ankho, who lived during the reign of King Sobekhotep II during the 13th Dynasty.

There were also some "Ushabtis," small statuettes, made of wood and painted white to imitate limestone, that stuck out to the experts.



Egyptian archaeologists tout rare discoveries unearthed in Luxor© Provided by CBS News

"I've been working in this field for more than 25 years now, and this is the first time I see Ushabtis with scriptures written in Hieratic instead of Hieroglyphs," Yaseen told CBS News. Hieratic was the common written form of ancient Egyptian between the third millennium BC and the mid-first millennium BC.

Related video: Egyptian Crocodile Mummies Discovered By Spanish Archeologists (Cover Media) Duration 1:03  View on Watch

A "complete city" unearthed

Archaeologists also announced this week that they had unearthed a "complete city" dating back to the Roman era in eastern Luxor.

The Egyptian Archaeological Mission said Tuesday that the city is located near the Luxor Temple.

It was described in a statement by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities as "the oldest and most important" residential city on the eastern bank of Luxor. It is believed to be an extension of the city of Thebes.

"It is important because it shows us more about the life of regular Egyptians at this time," Yaseen told CBS News, adding that scientists had "unearthed only the northern part of the city so far."

The discovery includes some residential buildings, workshops and two pigeon towers, used to house pigeons or doves, dating back to the second and third centuries, the statement said.

BIGFOOT, YETI, SASQUATCH ARE RACE MEMORY
Fossils reveal the mysterious primate relatives that lived in the ancient Arctic

Story by Ashley Strickland • CNN

Analysis of fossils found in the far north of Canada has revealed that two previously unknown species of ancient near-primates lived above the Arctic Circle some 52 million years ago, according to new research.

The now-extinct creatures belonged to a part of the primate family tree that branched off before the ancestors of lemurs diverged from the common ancestors of monkeys, apes and humans, said study coauthor Dr. Chris Beard, a distinguished foundation professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas and senior curator at the university’s Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum.

The two sister species lived on what is now Ellesmere Island in northern Canada. They are the first known primatomorphans, or primate relatives, to have lived in latitudes north of the Arctic Circle, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.

The two species have been named Ignacius mckennai and Ignacius dawsonae.

“To get an idea of what Ignacius looked like, imagine a cross between a lemur and a squirrel that was about half the size of a domestic cat,” Beard said. “Unlike living primates, Ignacius had eyes on the sides of its head (instead of facing forward like ours) and it had claws on its fingers and toes instead of nails.”

When researchers analyzed the fossil fragments, the jawbones and teeth of Ignacius seemed different from other primatomorphans that lived in North America’s more southerly reaches.

“What I’ve been doing the past couple of years is trying to understand what they were eating, and if they were eating different materials than their middle-latitude counterparts,” said lead study author Kristen Miller, a doctoral student at the University of Kansas’ Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum.

The Arctic primatomorphans evolved special features in their jaws and teeth to chomp on harder foods, like nuts and seeds, as opposed to their preferred diet of ripe fruit. This physical adaptation was likely because for half of the year, the species lived in the darkness of Arctic winter, when food was much more difficult to find.

“That, we think, is probably the biggest physical challenge of the ancient environment for these animals,” Beard said.

These findings could also be used to understand how animals adapt and evolve amid periods of climate change — as with species facing the human-driven climate crisis today.

Northward bound

Researchers believe the primatomorphans descended from an ancestor species that trekked north from the more southerly regions of North America. Similar fossils have been found across Wyoming, Texas, Montana and Colorado, according to Miller.

“No primate relative has ever been found at such extreme latitudes,” Miller said. “They’re more usually found around the equator in tropical regions. I was able to do a phylogenetic analysis, which helped me understand how the fossils from Ellesmere Island are related to species found in midlatitudes of North America.”

The common ancestor of the two Ignacius species likely reached Ellesmere Island around 51 million years ago, Beard said. At the time, it was a peninsula jutting into the Arctic Sea from adjacent parts of North America.

Ignacius mckennai and Ignacius dawsonae are named in part after two of Beard’s former colleagues and mentors, he explained: the late paleontologists Dr. Mary Dawson of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and Dr. Malcolm McKenna of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, both of whom worked extensively on Ellesmere Island.

Greater physical size for survival

During these ancient times, the Arctic Circle was a warmer, more hospitable place for life. Global warming had caused the region to be much warmer and wetter, with a swamplike environment. The warmer temperatures during this period likely encouraged Igancius’ ancestor to venture north.

“Winter temperatures may have gotten as low as freezing for short periods of time, but we know that there were hardly ever any sustained freezing temperatures because crocodilians have been found on Ellesmere Island, and they cannot survive long freezes,” Beard said. “In the summertime, temperatures reached about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Despite the warmer temperatures, the primatomorphans still had to adapt to survive in their unique northern ecosystem. They grew bigger than their southern relatives, who resembled squirrels; such growth commonly happens in mammals living in northern latitudes because it helps them maintain the needed core body temperature, Beard said.

“(The findings) tells us to expect dramatic and dynamic changes to the Arctic ecosystem as it transforms in the face of continued warming,” Beard said. “Some animals that don’t currently live in the Arctic will colonize that region, and some of them will adapt to their new environment in ways that parallel Ignacius. Likewise, we can expect some of the new colonists to diversify in the Arctic, just as Ignacius did.”

 CNN.com

Archaeologists stunned at ancient moat, handprints found in Jerusalem

Story by By JOANIE MARGULIES • 


An ancient moat surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem was recently uncovered by archaeological experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The discovery was made as a contracting company prepared for planned infrastructure work in the capital.


The carved hand on the moat wall© (photo credit: IAA)

Construction revealed the ancient moat, which measures approximately 10 meters (33 feet) wide and between two to seven meters (6.5-23 feet) deep. The moat surrounded the Old City of Jerusalem in its entirety. The 1,000-year-old moat was accompanied by handprints adjacent to the structure.

Zubair Adawi, director of the excavations at the IAA, uncovered the moat and handprints underneath Sultan Suleiman Street. The street runs adjacent to the city walls, leading experts to believe that the moat was built to prevent enemies from breaking into Jerusalem and invading it.

“Moats, usually filled with water, are well-known from fortifications and castles in Europe, but here the moat was dry, its width and depth presenting an obstacle slowing down the attacking army,” Adawi said.

The city walls we see today in the Old City were erected in the 16th century by Turkish Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I.

surrounded the ancient city


The site of the excavation on Sultan Suleiman Street 

IAA Jerusalem regional director Dr. Amit Re’em said “The earlier fortification walls that surrounded the ancient city of Jerusalem were much stronger. In the eras of knights’ battles, swords, arrows and charging cavalry, the fortifications of Jerusalem were formidable and complex, comprising walls and elements to hold off large armies storming the city.”

Related video: Images of construction in Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem (AFP)

Duration 0:58   View on Watch

Why would ancient Jerusalem need a moat to defend itself?

The moat is believed to have kept the First Crusaders from breaching the city. Historians writing during the age of the First Crusade placed the fighters at the walls of Jerusalem in June 1099. It took the fighters approximately five weeks to cross the moat after tedious strategic planning, archaeologists involved with the excavation said.

After finally crossing, Crusaders were met with force and bloodshed by Jews and Muslims defending the city.

“Armies trying to capture the city in the Middle Ages had to cross the deep moat and behind it two additional thick fortification walls, while the defenders of the city on the walls rained down on them fire and sulfur,” Re’em said.

“As if this wasn’t enough, there were secret tunnels in the fortifications, some of them uncovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in previous excavations, whereby the city defenders could emerge into the moat and attack the enemy by surprise, and then disappear back into the city.”

“In the eras of knights’ battles, swords, arrows, and charging cavalry, the fortifications of Jerusalem were formidable and complex, comprising walls and elements to hold off large armies storming the city.”Dr. Amit Re’em, Jerusalem regional Director at the Israel Antiquities Authority

As for the handprints, they remain a mystery.

“Does it symbolize something? Does it point to a specific nearby element? Or is it just a local prank?” one of the archaeologists asked. “Time may tell.”

NAME THEM AFTER DESANTIS

Aggressive Frog-Eating Fish That Breathes Air Found in New Part of Florida

Story by Robyn White • 

An aggressive frog-eating fish that breathes air has been found in new part of Florida, raising concerns over the amount of damage the invasive species could do.


A stock photo shows a snakehead fish, an invasive species to the U.S.© 3D_generator/Getty

The goldline snakehead was unexpectedly discovered in a freshwater pond in Manatee County by scientists from the University of Florida's Museum of Natural History. This is the first time the fish has been found in the Gulf Coast region.

Snakeheads are freshwater fishes native to Asia and Africa. It is believed they came to America through aquarium dumpings and fish market releases.

The large-mouthed species is predatory and can even breathe air and live outside of water for around four days. While on land, it is also capable of traveling short distances.

The species is considered invasive as it has the potential to destroy and threaten native ecosystems. A snakehead can also carry as many as 50,000 eggs, meaning they have the potential to reproduce in vast quantities.

The species is also especially aggressive to other species, meaning they can wipe out large quantities of native fish.

This newly discovered population is not the only one to live in Florida—another known population has lived in Broward County since 2000.

Since they were introduced to the environment, they have slithered into waterways and spread to other areas like Miami-Dade and Palm Beach.

This latest discovery, which was detailed in a paper published in the journal Aquatic Invasions, was a surprise to scientists, considering the distance between this population, and ones that are already established.

For this reason, scientists do not believe they did this on their own. It is more likely due to human interference, the study said.

After the discovery, officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission removed almost 400 of the animals from the pond to prevent them doing more damage to the ecosystem, the Florida Museum reported.

The scientists also observed a surprising behavior in this particular population of snakeheads.

In 2020, scientists observed these snakeheads emerging onto the riverbank where some green tree frogs were active. The fish struck at the frogs and returned with its prey to the water. This is another example of how the fish can be a disturbance to the ecosystem.

Robert Robins, ichthyology collection manager at the Florida Museum of Natural history and co-author on the study, said in a press release: "Any reproducing non-indigenous species has the potential for deleterious effects on the environment to which it has been introduced. Most never become invasive, but some do."

So far, there is no evidence that the snakeheads spread any further from this pond but more research is needed to ensure this.

Why British homes are at risk from ‘Trojan Horse’ smart devices

Matthew Field
Tue, 24 January 2023 

A Chinese flag hangs near a Hikvision security camera outside of a shop in Beijing, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019. The United States is blacklisting a group of Chinese tech companies that develop facial recognition and other artificial intelligence technology that the U.S. says is being used to repress China's Muslim minority groups. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) 

Across the US, websites began to stutter, stall and go offline. Error messages showing “404 page not found” popped up across popular sites including Reddit and Twitter as they went down.

In the largest internet blackout of its kind, the US web found itself under sustained attack by a vast “botnet”, which fired millions of requests per second at internet servers until they collapsed under the strain.

The cyber attack was particularly unusual. An army of hackers were not behind the botnet; rather it was around 600,000 hacked home internet devices, such as routers and security cameras, that were spamming the web. Even digital water pumps and ovens were used to overwhelm websites.


Known as Mirai, the virus hijacked the growing network of smart gadgets in the 2016 cyber attack.

The incident was one of the first examples of so-called “Internet of Things” (IoT) devices being weaponised, prompting a wave of concern about the security of these devices and their possible misuse.

Now, fears are growing that IoT technology could pose another previously overlooked security risk: as “Trojan horse” spying devices.

Alarm is being raised about the possibility of the newly muscular Chinese state harnessing the potential of the vast pools of data collected by internet connected devices ranging from cars to smart metres.

“The most game-changing advantage of technology is that it enables the accumulation of massive amounts of data,” Charlie Parton, a former British diplomat serving in China wrote in a report on the technology published this week.

“The [Chinese Communist Party] views data as a strategic resource. When processed and aggregated, data can support its interests across military, economic, political, cultural and other domains.”

Concerns are rising as manufacturers increasingly make devices - ranging from your car to your fridge - that are connected to the internet by default. The push to make everything “smart” is partly driven by a desire to keep people spending on newer, shinier gadgets that promise to talk to each other and help people live like the Jettsons.

Many of these gadgets are gathering vast quantities of data, from petabytes of security camera footage that is stored in internet databases to more mundane information on what is in your fridge that day.

Other devices, designed for industry, track the passage of goods across continents or monitor industrial machines to ensure they are still working. Electric charging infrastructure, critical to net zero, is increasingly connected to the internet.

TIANJIN, CHINA - MAY 20: People visit the Huawei booth during 5th World Intelligence Congress (WIC) at Tianjin Meijiang Conference and Exhibition Center on May 20, 2021 in Tianjin, China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images) - 

Researchers are now raising questions over whether this vast array of IoT devices, evolving with little security oversight, poses a national security risk thanks to the potentially huge volumes of data scooped up. Smart gadgets, cameras and chips are largely manufactured in vast quantities within China. By oversight or by design, millions of IoT devices could have security flaws that create a risk to consumer data.

Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at Eset Security, says devices could be “utilised by a hostile state such as China to influence, pressure or threaten an individual, company, or even an adversary”.

The vast majority of IoT devices are mundane in nature. They could monitor the contents of a fridge, the status of a washing machine or the location of a shipping container.

But others, including CCTV cameras, can connect to the wider internet, or even perform facial recognition functions. Smart doorbells with cameras attached or baby monitors that are connected to the web can also hoover up visual data. Vehicles are being fitted with devices that connect to the web too and can collect information on individuals’ movements.

Whether or not devices are intended as spying devices can be irrelevant. A report last year from the US Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency warned of a Chinese-made GPS tracker, fitted in millions of vehicles, came with a default password of “123456” that made it trivially easy for hackers to infiltrate.

After the Mirai botnet attack, one Chinese manufacturer recalled more than 4.5m security cameras that had an easy-to-guess default password.

Prof Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert at the University of Surrey, says: “The bottom line is that any networked IoT device can form part of an attack surface. China has become the de facto source for such devices because they are built to a very attractive price point.

“The trouble is you tend to get what you pay for: security is an afterthought, if it’s a thought at all.”

The British Government has started to wake up to the potential threats of these cheap and cheerful internet-connected gadgets.

Last year Parliament passed the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act, which forces makers of smartphones, TVs, speakers and routers to meet minimum cyber security standards and tell customers at the time of purchase when their new items will stop receiving security software updates.

The Government departments have also been ordered to strip out security cameras made by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua. The cameras notoriously caught snapshots of former Health Secretary Matt Hancock embracing an aide in his office, which later leaked to the press.

A Hikvision camera caught Mat Hancock kissing his aide at his Whitehall office

Hikvision has called concerns about its technology “unsubstantiated” and a “knee jerk reaction”.

There are concerns that China’s dominance of technology runs deeper than just consumer gadgets.

Ministers previously ordered telecoms companies to strip technology made by China’s Huawei from mobile and broadband networks by 2027, amid concerns it represented a national security risk, something the company always denied.

Three Chinese companies, Quectel, Fibocom and China Mobile, make up roughly half of global shipments of IoT cellular modules, according to data from Counterpoint Research. While these historically only processed tiny packets of data over 2G networks, increasingly they are picking up and transmitting more information over 4G and 5G mobile networks.

The proliferation of these IoT modules means that bugs or backdoors, whether left in by design or by accident, are a risk. Concerns have only mounted after a concealed tracking device was found in a government car, believed to have been planted in a part imported from China, the i reported.

Under Chinese law, the CCP can compel companies to aid intelligence gathering operations and provide customer data.

Parton has gone as far as to call for a ban on the sale and installation of new Chinese IOT kits that connect to cellular networks.

Parton, the former diplomat, who now works for the consultancy OODA, writes in a report sent to government officials: “[Chinese Communist Party] policy documents show the strategic importance of IOT technology to the party.

“In line with CCP industrial policy to promote global champions in new industries, IOT companies have benefited from the creation of a domestic market which excludes international competition.”

For now, the main risk presented by IOT technology appears to be weak security practices and cheap, hackable gadgets. But as China’s dominance continues to grow, a more strategic threat could be emerging.

A government spokesman said: “We are legislating to protect consumers' connected devices, such as smartphones, TVs, speakers and routers, through new laws to strengthen their privacy and security.”

"It will ban sales in the UK of smart devices with poor cyber security and get rid of easy-to-guess passwords which are often included as standard with consumer tech."

Nadhim Zahawi tax row: What did the Tory MP do?


Nuray Bulbul
Wed, 25 January 2023 

Labour called Nadhim Zahawi’s position ‘untenable’ (Victoria Jones / PA Wire)

Despite calls for his resignation by the Labour Party and an investigation by the Prime Minister, following the revelation of data surrounding a multi-million pound tax battle, Nadhim Zahawi is adamant he will continue as chairman of the Conservative Party.

While Zahawi was chancellor, he paid a penalty to HMRC over unpaid tax, and described the error as “careless and not deliberate”.

Penalties are applied if someone does not pay the correct tax at the right time.

Labour is pleading with Rishi Sunak to “come clean” about his knowledge of the deal and called Zahawi’s position “untenable”.

Who is Nadhim Zahawi?

Nadhim Zahawi, a former child refugee who left Iraq with his parents in the 1970s, is the co-founder of the prosperous online polling company YouGov.

After winning the 2010 election for the Conservative Party's Stratford-on-Avon seat, he is currently regarded as one of the wealthiest members of the House of Commons.

He became well-known for his work as the pandemic's vaccines minister, and he eventually held the position of education secretary.

Following Sunak's resignation, he became chancellor under Boris Johnson from July to September 2022.

He was appointed chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, minister for equalities, and minister for intergovernmental relations before Liz Truss took over as prime minister.

Rishi Sunak will come under fresh pressure over Nadhim Zahawi as he resists firing the Tory Party chairman

What’s the Zahawi tax row about?

After it was revealed that the former chancellor, who still attends the cabinet, agreed to pay millions to HMRC in December following a settlement with the tax agency, he has been extensively questioned in Parliament and the media in recent days.

The Guardian reported Zahawi agreed to pay a penalty of £5m to HMRC as part of a seven-figure settlement over his tax affairs.

A source familiar with the payment told the paper a penalty was triggered as a result of a non-payment of capital gains tax due after the sale of shares in YouGov, the polling company Zahawi co-founded in 2018. He could have been subject to larger penalties had he not reached a settlement towards the end of last year, the source claimed.

Based on the capital gains tax incurred by the selling of successive tranches of shares in YouGov, valued at more than £20 million, which resulted in transfers of money to Zahawi, experts estimate the tax owed was around £3.7 million.

According to reports, HMRC added a 30 per cent penalty to the £3.7 million, making the total amount owed £4.8 million. This is thought to have increased the final payment to more than £5m when combined with interest fees that HMRC also assesses on taxes owing.

However, Zahawi’s spokeperson has denied these claims.

In reference to the total amount paid to HMRC, the spokesperson said: “Nadhim Zahawi does not recognise this amount… As he has previously stated, his taxes are properly declared and paid in the UK.”

The BBC reported the dispute was resolved between July and September last year.

Zahawi was in charge of the UK’s tax system in his previous role as chancellor, during which time he said he made great efforts to ensure that taxes are paid in full and on schedule.
How does HMRC deal with wealthy taxpayers?

HMRC defines wealthy people as having incomes of £200,000 or more.

The interactions that very affluent persons and their agents have with HMRC differ noticeably from those of regular taxpayers or accountants, who frequently encounter lengthy waiting times via understaffed helplines. Mail backlogs have also made it difficult for people to understand if they need to file a self-assessment return or resolve tax disputes.

Zahawi's representative received a fast-track path with a direct case manager within HMRC, as is typical for other rich individuals. It is believed that this manager is a member of the Wealthy Team at HMRC.

How have the Tories reacted?

The Conservative Party demanded an investigation earlier this week to determine whether Zahawi violated the ministerial code or deceived the public about his tax troubles.

On BBC Radio 4 last week, Michael Gove defended Zahawi, saying: “My firm understanding is HMRC have no quibble with Nadhim. He’s paid everything that he should, and people paying their taxes, that’s not a story – people not paying their taxes, yeah that is a problem.”

Last week, Labour Party Chair Anneliese Dodds wrote to Sunak stating that, if Conservative Party Chair Zahawi does not adequately explain why he paid millions of pounds in tax to HMRC, then there should be an enquiry.

This week, the Prime Minister has opened an investigation into whether Zahawi breached the ministerial code - which Zahawi has welcomed and says he looks forward to “explaining the facts”.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

BNP Paribas Frankfurt office searched in cum-ex probe

Wed, 25 January 2023 



BERLIN (Reuters) -BNP Paribas said on Wednesday that prosecutors were searching its Frankfurt premises as part of an long-running investigation into a multibillion-euro tax fraud scheme known as "cum-ex" and that it was cooperating fully.

German prosecutors said they have been conducting a search at a banking institution in Frankfurt since Tuesday in relation to cum-ex, without naming the bank.

"Like we already have done since the beginning of the investigation in 2017, we continue to fully cooperate with the public prosecutor according to legal requirements," a spokesperson for the bank said.

The prosecutors said their investigation also involved searches of private residences in three German states and is focused on 58 suspects who were or are professionally active for the bank.

The measure is aimed at finding relevant emails and written correspondence, they said.

Around 130 police officers, public prosecutors and tax investigators are involved, they said.

The cum-ex trading scheme, which flourished after the 2008 credit crisis, involved the rapid dealing of company shares around dividend payout days, blurring stock ownership and allowing multiple parties to claim rebates.

The scandal has blighted German political and financial circles, with lawmakers claiming it has cost taxpayers billions of euros.

A large number of banks have been searched by prosecutors investigating possible wrongdoing, with German branches of Barclays, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley among those raided in recent months.

Government officials say the investigation involves some 100 banks on four continents and at least 1,000 suspects.

(Reporting by Marta Orosz; writing by Miranda Murray; editing by Madeline Chambers, Alexandra Hudson and Jason Neely)

U$ FREAKS OUT OVER LOSING GAS STOVES

Builder Redrow to replace gas boilers with heat pumps in new detached homes

Anna Wise, PA Business Reporter
Wed, 25 January 2023 

Housebuilder Redrow has said homes in all its new developments will be fitted with a heat pump rather than a gas boiler from this month, in the industry’s first pledge of its kind.

The company said it was overtaking its competitors in meeting Government proposals to ban gas boilers in newbuild properties from 2025.

Air source heat pumps will be installed as standard in homes across its upcoming developments, with ground floor underfloor heating in detached properties, amid plans to fit new properties with alternative heating systems.

Heat pumps use air and a small amount of electricity to produce heat, and are more environmentally friendly than a gas-powered boiler when installed in an energy-efficient and well-insulated home (Octopus Energy/ PA)

It will have the biggest impact to date on improving the efficiency of the homes it builds, Redrow said.

Gas boilers are being phased out as part of the Government’s commitment to become net zero by 2050.

But Redrow said its pledge is an industry first, as other builders have been slow to commit to the move away from traditional gas boilers.

The move is expected to significantly improve the energy efficiency of newbuild properties, and save people money on heating their homes.

Matthew Pratt, Redrow’s chief executive, told the PA news agency its customers are asking for reassurance their homes will help them to future-proof their heating.

“Our customers want premium homes that are good for their pocket and good for the planet too”, he said.

Making the transition ahead of changes in regulation in 2025 will help the builder get ahead of industry transformation and make it easier for customers to understand, he argued.

The boss said there is a “small increase” in the cost to install a heat pump compared to a gas boiler.

“However, we know that customers are very happy to invest in energy efficiency and when it comes to future proofing their home”, he said.

“As these technologies become more widespread we expect costs to come down further.”

Mr Pratt went on: “We know how important energy efficiency is to our customers and we’re proud to be investing in newer, greener technology and leading the way by offering these energy efficient features.

“This will provide the opportunity for our customers to reduce their costs and carbon footprint simultaneously.”

Heat pumps use air and a small amount of electricity to produce heat and are more environmentally friendly than a gas-powered boiler when installed in an energy-efficient and well-insulated home.

Redrow trialled the energy consumption for heating and hot water with a heat pump, compared with a traditional gas boiler, and found that the heat pump used significantly less energy, operating at an efficiency of around two to three times that of an A-rated boiler.

The builder has partnered with manufacturers Mitsubishi, Vaillant and Daikin to install the new heating systems.

ChatGPT bot passes US law school exam

Wed, 25 January 2023 


A chatbot powered by reams of data from the internet has passed exams at a US law school after writing essays on topics ranging from constitutional law to taxation and torts.

ChatGPT from OpenAI, a US company that this week got a massive injection of cash from Microsoft, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate streams of text from simple prompts.

The results have been so good that educators have warned it could lead to widespread cheating and even signal the end of traditional classroom teaching methods.

Jonathan Choi, a professor at Minnesota University Law School, gave ChatGPT the same test faced by students, consisting of 95 multiple-choice questions and 12 essay questions.

In a white paper titled "ChatGPT goes to law school" published on Monday, he and his coauthors reported that the bot scored a C+ overall.

While this was enough for a pass, the bot was near the bottom of the class in most subjects and "bombed" at multiple-choice questions involving mathematics.

- 'Not a great student' -

"In writing essays, ChatGPT displayed a strong grasp of basic legal rules and had consistently solid organization and composition," the authors wrote.

But the bot "often struggled to spot issues when given an open-ended prompt, a core skill on law school exams".

Officials in New York and other jurisdictions have banned the use of ChatGPT in schools, but Choi suggested it could be a valuable teaching aide.

"Overall, ChatGPT wasn't a great law student acting alone," he wrote on Twitter.

"But we expect that collaborating with humans, language models like ChatGPT would be very useful to law students taking exams and to practicing lawyers."

And playing down the possibility of cheating, he wrote in reply to another Twitter user that two out of three markers had spotted the bot-written paper.

"(They) had a hunch and their hunch was right, because ChatGPT had perfect grammar and was somewhat repetitive," Choi wrote.

jxb/lth

Mauritanian ex-president in landmark corruption trial

Wed, 25 January 2023


Mauritania's ex-president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz went on trial on Wednesday, accused of amassing an illicit personal fortune from his 11-year stay in power.

Aziz, a 66-year-old former general, appeared in a court in Nouakchott among 10 defendants, including former prime ministers, ministers and businessmen, an AFP reporter saw.

They face charges that include abuse of office, influence peddling, money laundering and illicit enrichment.

Proceedings began with a rollcall of the defendants to which Aziz, dressed in a blue grown, rose and raised his hand.

The defendants were placed in a metallic cage-like stand in the courtroom as hundreds of police stood guard outside.

Aziz, a trader's son who came to power in a coup, stepped down in 2019 after two presidential terms in which he defused a jihadist insurgency threatening the conservative West African state.

He was succeeded by his former right-hand man, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, in the first transfer of power between elected leaders in the history of a country marked by military coups and upheaval.

But within month of the handover, allegations emerged of financial misdealings.

Aziz is suspected of siphoning money from state contracts or the sale of real estate, amassing a fortune equivalent to more than $72 million.

He denies the allegations against him and says he is the victim of a settling of scores.

Mauritanians interviewed by AFP hope the trial will set a new benchmark in the fight against graft in their country.

Mauritania is ranked a lowly 140th out of 180 in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index by the organisation Transparency International.

lal-hos-mrb/prc/ri

Microsoft, Alphabet Cry Poor Right Before Making $32.8 Billion

MATT KRANTZ
01/24/2023

Layoff announcements from Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL), along with their tumbling stock prices, make it seem like giant tech S&P 500 companies are in dire straits. But they're on the verge of making billions — in just one quarter.

Microsoft Tuesday kicks off fourth-quarter earnings reports for the big-cap techs. The announcement comes just days after Microsoft announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs and news that Alphabet (technically in the S&P 500 communication services sector) is taking out 12,000 positions.

"We're ... seeing organizations in every industry and geography exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a letter to employees announcing the layoff.

Amazingly, though, the job cutting is happening just as Microsoft and Alphabet get set to report making a combined $32.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to analyst expectations. Microsoft and Alphabet will likely be two of the three most profitable companies in the S&P 500 during the quarter. Business is still strong, but just stretched out a bit.

"Software companies are calling out the more difficult macro environment. What is occurring is deal cycle elongation for the biggest or most expensive projects," said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust. "This is a step-one response to a more uncertain economic environment."

Don't Pity Microsoft And Alphabet

You might think Microsoft and Alphabet are struggling. That's simply not the case.

Yes, shares of Microsoft and Alphabet are down 18% and 24% respectively in the past 12 months. But massive profit is still on the way.

Microsoft is expected to make $17.2 billion, or $2.31 a share, in the fourth calendar quarter alone. That puts it ahead of every single S&P 500 company, other than Apple (AAPL), in terms of quarterly net income. But Alphabet is no slouch, either. The parent of Google is seen earning $15.6 billion, or $1.21 a share, in the fourth calendar quarter. That ranks it third in the S&P 500.

So what's the problem, then? Growth is taking a breather. If Microsoft earns $2.31 a share in the quarter, that would be down nearly 7% from the same year-ago period. And Alphabet's profit per share is seen skidding roughly 20%. That's why the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) is down 13% in the past year.

But it's likely a temporary pause.

Looking At Microsoft And Alphabet Long Term

It won't take investors long to see the fourth quarter as an aberration. And that's why the Technology Select Sector SPDR is up nearly 8% this year, while the S&P 500 is up just 6.5%.

Take Microsoft. Profit for all of 2022 is still seen hitting $68.2 billion for the calendar year. If that's right, it marks nearly 3% growth in terms of adjusted earnings per share. And this year? Analysts think Microsoft's net income will top $75 billion in 2023. That's more than 12% profit growth on the same basis.

Over at Alphabet, analysts do think 2022 profit will fall more than 15%. But it's likely to be a short-lived dip. Wall Street analysts think Alphabet will make more than $68 billion in 2023, up more than 10% on a per-share basis.

It's possible these companies are just undoing some overzealous hiring. Microsoft alone added 40,000 employees in fiscal 2022, bumping up its head count by a whopping 22% to 221,000.

But you sure don't have to worry about their bottom lines.

S&P 500 Profit Booms

Largest expected profits in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Company	Ticker	Q4 2022 income (in billions)	12-month stock change
Apple	(AAPL)	$31.2	-13.1%
Microsoft	(MSFT)	17.2	-18.0%
Alphabet	(GOOGL)	15.6	-23.4%
Exxon Mobil	(XOM)	13.8	56.4%
JPMorgan Chase	(JPM)	9.5	-5.4%
Berkshire Hathaway	(BRKA)	9.4	2.3%
Chevron	(CVX)	8.3	42.3%
AbbVie	(ABBV)	6.4	12.2%
Bank of America	(BAC)	6.4	-23.6%
Pfizer	(PFE)	6.3	-14.8%

Sources: S&P Global Market Intelligence, IBD

Microsoft announces $52.7 billion in Q2 revenue amid plans to layoff 10,000 workers

But the company missed expectations and profits fell significantly.

Devindra Hardawar
·Senior Editor
Tue, January 24, 2023 

Rami Amichay / reuters


Like many big tech companies, Microsoft is preparing for the worst after announcing plans to lay off 10,000 employees in the upcoming third quarter. It turns out that the company's second quarter was a mixed bag: It earned $52.7 billion in revenue, which was up 2 percent from last year, but a slight miss from the $52.9 billion analysts expected. Profits also fell by 12 percent to $16.4 billion, a trend that may continue throughout the year.

Despite the faltering PC market, Microsoft has been riding high on cloud revenues for years, and that seems to be continuing. its intelligent cloud business was up 18 percent from last year, reaching $21.5 billion. Microsoft's belt tightening didn't stop the company from potentially investing $10 billion more in ChatGPT creator OpenAI, yet another sign that AI is going to play a major role in its future projects. The company plans to add ChatGPT to its Azure OpenAI service soon, and it's reportedly planning to integrated that technology in Bing.

Microsoft's More Personal Computing division, which includes Windows, Xbox and PC hardware, fell by 19 percent year-over-year, hitting $14.2 billion. That's the direct result of the PC market downturn. The company says Windows revenue to manufacturers fell by 39 percent, while Xbox content and services was also down by 12 percent. Devices revenue also dropped by 39 percent — it turns out Surface devices weren't in huge demand over the holidays.

"The surprisingly strong performance in Microsoft’s key Azure cloud business was enough to ease worries surrounding a steeper deceleration path on cloud optimizations, sending the stock higher," said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com. "Tech investors are relieved to see that the slowdown across Microsoft’s key cloud business was not as bad as feared."

Microsoft earnings beat expectations, cloud growth continues to slow

Daniel Howley

·Technology Editor

Tue, January 24, 2023 

Microsoft (MSFT) announced its Q2 earnings after the bell on Tuesday, barely missing analysts' expectations on revenue and beating on earnings per share.

Here are the most important numbers from the report compared to what analysts were expecting from the quarter, as compiled by Bloomberg.

• Revenue: $52.7 billion vs. $52.9 billion expected

• Adjusted EPS: $2.32 vs. $2.30 expected

• Productivity and Business processes: $17 billion vs. $16.8 billion expected

• Intelligent Cloud: $21.5 billion vs. $21.4 billion expected

• More Personal Computing: $14.2 billion vs. $14.7 billion expected

Shares of Microsoft were up more than 4% immediately following the news.

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Despite the beat on earnings per share, Microsoft's cloud business continued to slow in the quarter. The company reported its Intelligent Cloud segment grew 18% in the quarter, while its Azure services grew 31%. That's down from Q2 last year, during which Intelligent Cloud and Azure saw growth of 26% and 46%, respectively.

“The next major wave of computing is being born, as the Microsoft Cloud turns the world’s most advanced AI models into a new computing platform,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. “We are committed to helping our customers use our platforms and tools to do more with less today and innovate for the future in the new era of AI.”

Microsoft's announcement follows news that the company is engaging in a multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI in an attempt to better tackle competitors including from Amazon (AMZN) to Google (GOOG, GOOGL).

The investment is expected to help Microsoft further differentiate its cloud offerings from competitors like Amazon and Google. The company is also said to be bringing the technology to its Bing search engine, a move that could threaten Google’s search dominance.

Just last week, however, Microsoft cut some 10,000 workers. The move comes as the company is dealing with flagging PC sales. Windows OEM revenue, which is the amount Microsoft makes on sales of its operating system to PC makers fell 39% year-over-year.

The company is also continuing in its effort to purchase video game giant Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. So far, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.K’.s Competition and Markets Authority, and the E.U.’s European Commission have either lodged complaints about ,or are outright working to scuttle, the deal.