Kamala Harris Finds Ally In Ripple CEO Amid Crypto Backlash

Christian Encila by Christian Encila

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse wants United States Vice President Kamala Harris to be straightforward on crypto regulation. His comments follow a growing discussion concerning the administration’s digital currency policy and the VP’s withdrawal from Bitcoin Conference 2024.

Many crypto market fans hoped Harris will attend the meeting. They thought it showed her softening on digital currency. David Bailey, the CEO of the world’s biggest Bitcoin conference, disclosed that Harris has decided not to speak at the event.

Kamala Harris Under The Lens

In assessing presidential candidates, Garlinghouse has advocated a break from political bias. His comment followed the observations of Policy Director Justin Slaughter of Paradigm on the possible influence of US Vice President Kamala Harris should she run for president.

Arguing that tribalism and political prejudice have hampered the growth of the crypto sector, Garlinghouse supports a focus on policy ideas instead of political ties.

The remarks of Garlinghouse capture the increasing attitude of crypto leaders who believe that political forces have dominated important policy debates.

“We have to evaluate candidates based on their policy pledges rather than only their party lines,” Garlinghouse said.

This point of view underscores the continuous discussion within the sector on how to negotiate the difficult political terrain that has been, of late, become more intertwined with cryptocurrency.

The Potential Impact Of Harris: A Two-Edged Sword

Slaughter’s most recent X post attracted notice for the major changes Kamala Harris would bring about should she be elected president.

Slaughter claims that Harris is ready to completely replace important national security positions, maybe firing present Biden’s political advisers. This suggested “reformat” has sparked questions over how it would affect US policy on important matters including regulation on Bitcoin and crypto as a whole.

Garlinghouse’s reply to Slaughter’s evaluation exposes both hope and caution. Though he is concerned about Harris’s inclination towards a discourse like that of anti-crypto Senator Elizabeth Warren, he also notes Harris’ broad understanding of Silicon Valley.

Total crypto market cap currently at $2.2 trillion. Chart: TradingView

This understanding could help to solve the legal obstacles the crypto sector encounters, Garlinghouse said.

Voters On Cryptocurrencies: A Changing Tide

Interestingly, many crypto aficionados have turned to Republican nominee Donald Trump as President Joe Biden’s government, headed by SEC Chair Gary Gensler, comes under fire for strict enforcement policies.

Voters who feel excluded by present rules have found resonance in Trump’s pledges of favorable measures for the crypto industry.

Related Reading: Bitcoin Is The Top Choice For Criminal Activity, Europol Report Shows

The effect on crypto voters is yet unknown as Harris’s candidature develops. The industry is totally focused on any legislative changes that would either encourage or discourage innovation.

Meanwhile, billionaire Mark Cuban thought Kamala Harris may take a more business-friendly approach to bitcoin and AI. Although not verified, Harris’s advisors say she may be more sympathetic to these enterprises than her prior policies.

All things considered, Garlinghouse’s support of a policy-oriented approach mirrors a larger movement among the crypto community for more complex political assessments. The argument on how best to help the sector among changing political environments develops as the US presidential election draws near.

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView

Kamala Harris to appear on “Drag Race All Stars” season finale

"You betta vote!"

By Daniel Villarreal

LGBTQ NATION

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris on the set of "RuPaul's Drag Race"

Photo: X video screengrab

Vice President Kamala Harris, a longtime LGBTQ+ ally, will appear Friday on the season finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9 to encourage viewers to vote.

“Each day we are seeing our rights and freedoms under attack, including the right of everyone to be who they are, love who they love, openly and with pride,” Harris says in her appearance. “So, as we fight back against these attacks, let’s all remember, no one is alone. We are all in this together, and your vote is your power. So please make sure your voice is heard this November and register to vote at vote.gov.”

RELATED:

Call Me Mother: 4 drag queens discuss the love they have for their drag daughters

Drag queens sometimes mentor fledgling performers to become truly dazzling entertainers.

Harris will deliver her message surrounded by longtime Drag Race judge Michelle Visage, choreographer Jamal Sims, gay singer Lance Bass, comedienne Leslie Jones, and gay actor Cheyenne Jackson. Bass, Jones, and Jackson have all served as guest judges in past seasons of Drag Race.

Her appearance was filmed last month, according to the Deadline, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Harris for his replacement.



The eight drag queens competing in All Stars 9 kicked off their show’s season in May by visiting Washington D.C. and visiting a local gay bar with lesbian White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. There, the group discussed the role drag activism plays in a political climate that opposes gender nonconformity. Some of the queens called drag an empowering form of visibility that can help combat close-mindedness.

The queens — dressed in red, white, and blue — posed for promotional photographs at the National Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with the Washington Memorial obelisk in the background.

Earlier this year, former contestants of RuPaul’s Drag Race started Drag PAC, a first-ever drag queen-led political action committee that seeks to “protect LGBTQ+ rights through democratic action in 2024.”

The founding members are Alaska, Jinkx Monsoon, BenDeLaCreme, Peppermint, and Monét X Change. The performers said they were compelled to form the PAC because of the many anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in the past years, including legislation aimed at restricting drag shows.

Republicans are quietly pushing to defund transgender healthcare - and not just for minors


For a year and a half, GOP lawmakers have been stealthily adding amendements to government appropriations bills, which are key to funding major government departments, to ban any federal money being used for gender transition procedures. This will dramatically curtail trans people’s access to medical care — just like the Hyde Amendment restricted abortion access, write Io Dodds and Eric Garcia.

3 days ago

THE INDEPENDENT

Trans rights protesters gather outside the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City, March 2022 (Spenser Heaps/The Deseret News via AP)

Hundreds of thousands of transgender people could lose access to medical treatment or be forced to detransition under a little-known Republican effort to defund trans healthcare for both adults and children.

Since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives last January, GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill have quietly added a wave of amendments to "must-pass" government funding bills that would ban federal money from being used for gender transition procedures such as hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery.


These riders vary widely in their scope and effect. Some target government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Others would revoke insurance coverage for transgender government employees. Still others would bar federal funding for any institution that "promotes transgenderism".

Taken together, though, they would drastically curtail trans people’s access to medical care that advocates routinely describe as critical to their flourishing – much as the 1977 Hyde Amendment restricted abortion access in the wake of Roe v Wade.

"I remember a time when my own medical transition was the only thing going right in my life, and to have it taken away from me would have been existential at least," says Gillian Branstetter, a communications strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s LGBTQ and HIV Project. "This healthcare saved my life and the lives of trans people I know and love."

To be clear, GOP lawmakers aren’t seeking to limit these procedures for everyone. The proposed restrictions would only apply when they are done as part of a medical transition, and not when they are given to cisgender (or non-trans) people to treat other conditions.

And while such riders currently have little hope of passing a Democratic Senate and presidency, they are a preview of what could happen if the GOP wins back power this November — and Republican lawmakers tell The Independent that is exactly the plan.

"Certainly, I’d be hopeful that they would go through [if Trump wins] – that we would stop taxpayers’ dollars being used for things that taxpayers in Montana don’t support," said Montana Republican Matt Rosendale, who authored a House amendment banning US military personnel and their families from receiving transition care through their Pentagon health insurance.

That change will affect a lot of service members. Trans people are two to five times more likely to serve in the US military than cis people, and the military is widely believed to be the country’s biggest employer of trans people.

Independent senator Joe Manchin, who bizarrely claimed not to know whether he’d voted to restrict trans healthcare, talks with reporters on July 11, 2024

(AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr)

Asked by The Independent whether he was concerned about interrupting people’s healthcare, Rosendale said: "I don’t think that taxpayers’ dollars should be used for surgeries that change the physical appearance."


Indeed, last week the Republican National Committee officially made cutting off taxpayer funding for all "sex change surgeries" part of its 2024 policy platform.

Other legislators were more diffident. "Yeah? So?" said Maryland Republican Andy Harris, a medical doctor on the House appropriations committee who backed several anti-trans amendments, when buttonholed by The Independent on the Capitol steps on Thursday before Congress left for recess.

Pressed on why he supported those amendments, he said: "Because there should be no special rights."

Meanwhile, West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, who recently left the Democratic Party to become an independent, bizarrely claimed to be unaware that he had voted for a similar pair of amendments – only for his office to reverse course within 24 hours and say he did support them.

Trans people and their allies, however, do not feel so blasé.

"Losing this crucial access to gender affirming care would be devastating to our community," says Ash Orr of Advocates for Transgender Equality (A4TE), a Washington DC non-profit.

"It is not hyperbole that passing federal legislation to ban transgender healthcare, just like with abortions, would lead to unnecessary deaths."

How routine funding bills have become a battleground

There is a broad consensus among medical researchers that gender transition is effective, and frequently necessary, in treating gender dysphoria. What exactly that involves is different from person to person.

The most common treatment is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which masculinizes or feminizes the body over a span of months and years. Many trans people also find that it brings about a holistic improvement in their wellbeing and self-esteem. Though relatively cheap, it must be taken continuously throughout one’s life, and stopping it will reverse some (though not all) of its effects.

Some trans people also get surgeries to alleviate their dysphoria, such as genital reconstruction, breast removal and augmentation, or orchiectomy (ie, testicle removal). These are more permanent, but far more expensive, and often have a long recovery period.

Such procedures aren’t exclusive to trans people. Cis women take HRT to mitigate side effects of menopause, or even acne; children receive puberty blockers to prevent premature sexual development; and intersex people undergo genital reconstructive surgery, frequently without their consent in early childhood.

Menopause can wreck havoc on hormones, so many cis women take HRT to better control their symptoms (Getty Images)

Those instances, however, are not what GOP lawmakers are taking aim at. Their objection is to taxpayer funding of gender transition specifically, and the centerpiece of their efforts is a highly bureaucratic but incredibly consequential process known as appropriations.

Every year, Congress must pass 12 spending bills to keep the government open by "appropriating" money from the US treasury. Each bill funds a different cluster of federal agencies, such as the State Department or the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Traditionally this process has been relatively non-partisan. However, the must-pass nature of these bills creates an opportunity for members to force the spotlight onto their pet issues, proposing amendments that would get little traction in a standalone vote. Republicans have made gender-affirming care one of those issues.

Last year seven out of 12 appropriations bills were amended in the House to restrict trans healthcare, according to a report by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – part of a raft of anti-LGBT+ additions ranging from bans on flying Pride flags above federal properties and blocking the enforcement of non-discrimination laws.

This year similar riders were stealthily attached to bills appropriating funds for the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the Department of Defence (DoD), and HHS.

That last bill is particularly important because it funds Medicare, which provides health insurance to around 65m older and disabled people, and Medicaid, which does the same for roughly 85m on low incomes.

In June, House Republicans amended this year’s iteration of the annual National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) to revoke coverage for trans healthcare under the Pentagon’s sprawling Tricare health insurance program, which serves around 9.6m current and former service members and dependents. The Senate version of the NDAA was also amended to ban the DoD from paying for trans surgeries.

All this legislation dovetails an ongoing nationwide campaign to ban transition healthcare for under-18s and impose criminal sanctions on doctors who perform it, at both the local and federal level.

"These anti-trans riders don’t just target healthcare for trans youth, but adults of any age," says Orr. "[That] indicates what we already knew: the battle over our bodily autonomy does not come from a concern for the safety of adolescents, but from opposition to self-determination and bodily autonomy."

'Losing this healthcare is an existential threat'

How would such laws actually impact trans life in America?

According to the Williams Institute, an LGBT+ research non-profit based in Los Angeles, there were around 164,000 trans adults enrolled in Medicaid plans that covered transition care as of 2022.

The 2015 US US Transgender Survey (USTS) also found that around 7.8 per cent of trans adults had health insurance through Medicare, Tricare, another military scheme, or the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs, as well as up to 0.9 per cent insured by the Indian Health Service. With an estimated US transgender population of 1.6m, that would amount to roughly another 125,000 to 141,000 people.

Not every person counted in these numbers would necessarily seek medical transition. On the other hand, they do not include the unknown number of trans people who bought federally-subsidized coverage through a health insurance marketplace – which could also be affected by some riders, according to A4TE – or who work for the federal government and get insurance from their employer.

Many individual hospitals and health systems across the country also receive federal aid. While in theory they could ring-fence this money to keep it away from transition care, some might simply stop offering such procedures – just as several major hospitals in red states have already done for minors.

For some affected trans people, this would mean a scramble to find some other way of getting medical care, potentially at considerable personal or financial cost. For others it would mean treatments being delayed or blocked entirely.

Those denied surgery might have to live with bodily features that make them miserable, while those compelled to stop HRT would undergo an involuntary medical transition – or even, if they no longer had the ability to produce their own hormones, a forced menopause.

Swimmer Schuyler Bailar as a NYC Pride Grand Marshal during the 2022 parade 

(Getty Images)

"Gender-affirming care serves as the foundation for the lives that trans people lead," Branstetter says. "It gives us the freedom to be ourselves and to build our own futures...
"If you deny that to them, or you pull it away, that leaves them with very little hope and very little ability to continue to move through the world. And that’s one reason why we have this notoriously high suicide rate."

Dr Jack Turban, director of the University of California San Francisco’s gender psychiatry program, and the author of Free to Be: Understanding Kids & Gender Identity, likewise says that denying transition care would cause "a substantial adverse public mental health impact."

That damage, Branstetter argues, would compound the deep discrimination that trans people already face in housing, employment, and other areas of life. As with the Hyde Amendment, it would also fall disproportionately on trans people of color and those in poverty, who are more likely to be on Medicaid and have fewer resources to pursue alternatives.

These bills aren’t happening in isolation. In addition to the GOP’s broad-spectrum war against trans rights and healthcare, the Heritage Foundation – an influential hyperconservative think tank – has proposed sweeping efforts to push trans people out of public life as part of its ambitious ‘Project 2025’ manifesto.

Hence, if next year’s session of Congress opens with Republicans in control of all three branches of government, both Branstetter and Turban fear that withholding taxpayer dollars will only be the beginning.


"Anti-trans politicians have been working to identify more and more creative ways to restrict access to care for transgender patients," says Turban.

"I don’t think there’s any reason to think that will stop, and this next election will have a dramatic impact on transgender Americans and their ability to access gender-affirming medical care."

 

Elon Musk's trans daughter Vivian Wilson slams his anti-LGBTQ+ comments as 'ketamine-fueled haze'

THREADS @VIVLLAINOUS; CRISTIANO BARNI/SHUTTERSTOCK
"I look pretty good for a dead bitch," Wilson, a transgender woman, said of her biological father's claims that gender-affirming care "killed" her.

ELON MUSK IS A SERIAL MONOGAMIST

RYAN ADAMCZESKI
JULY 25 2024 
ADVOCATE


Vivian Wilson is fact-checking own father after billionaire Elon Musk made bigoted comments about her gender.

The billionaire recently attacked gender-affirming care in an interview with conspiracy theorist Jordan Peterson for conservative platform the Daily Wire, claiming that the life-saving treatment "killed" his daughter while repeatedly misgendering her.

Musk said that when his daughter wanted to begin transitioning, he “was essentially tricked into signing documents" before he "had really any understanding of what was going on." He said that doctors told him his daughter "might commit suicide" if she was prevented from receiving care.

"I lost my son. They call it ‘deadnaming’ for a reason," Musk said. "The reason it’s called ‘deadnaming’ is because, your son is dead. So my son is dead, killed by the woke mind virus.”


Wilson has since responded to Musk's assertions on Threads, the rival to his platform Twitter/X, saying that her biological father's claims are so blatantly false that she's "just started to find it funny at this point." "

"Calling me dead on a podcast with JORDAN PETERSON of all people while basically admitting you have zero reading comprehension by saying you were “tricked” into signing documents that you read over multiple times is basically a parody of itself," she wrote. "Like it’s honestly camp-"

"I look pretty good for a dead bitch," she added.

Wilson then debunked some of Musk's other assertions about her, among them several homophobic stereotypes about her youth, including that she was a fan of musical theatre (she wasn't) and picking out clothes for Musk to wear (she didn't). Musk also claimed that Wilson was "born slightly autistic."

"This entire thing is completely made up and there’s a reason for this. He doesn’t know what I was like as a child because he quite simply wasn’t there, and in the little time that he was I was relentlessly harassed for my femininity and queerness," Wilson wrote. "Obviously he can’t say that, so I’ve been reduced to a happy little stereotype f*g-ing along to use at his discretion. I think that says a lot about how he views queer people and children in general."

Wilson, 20, is one of six children (five living) Musk had with his first wife, model Justine Wilson. She filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court in April, 2022 to legally change her name and gender, citing the reason as "Gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form."

Wilson then shot back at her father's claims that she is "not a girl," telling Musk to "go touch some fucking grass."

"As for if I’m not a woman… sure, Jan. Whatever you say. I’m legally recognized as a woman in the state of California and I don’t concern myself with the opinions of those who are below me," she wrote. "Obviously Elon can’t say the same because in a ketamine-fueled haze, he’s desperate for attention and validation from an army of degenerate red-pilled incels and pick-mes who are quick to give it to him."

A US security firm was tricked into hiring a North Korean hacker who installed malware

He was uncovered before any damage could be done

By Rob Thubron July 25, 2024 

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years.
TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust.


WHAT JUST HAPPENED? In a warning that highlights the lengths cybercriminals will go to infiltrate systems, a US security training company has revealed it was tricked into hiring a North Korean hacker as a software engineer. The firm only discovered what happened when he loaded the company-provided computer with malware.

KnowBe4 creates customized security awareness programs for companies, developed to teach employees about hacking dangers. An example is testing susceptibility to phishing attacks by sending employees fake emails to see if anyone falls for the ruse.

In a recent post, CEO and founder Stu Sjouwerman told a cautionary tale, though he emphasized that no company data was lost, compromised, or exfiltrated, and there was no breach.

It started when KnowBe4 posted a job for a software engineer for its internal IT AI team. After HR conducted four video interviews with a candidate on separate occasions, confirmed the individual matched the photo on their application, checked their background, and performed other pre-hiring checks, the person in question was hired to work remotely.

What the company didn't know was that the new hire was using a valid but stolen US-based ID and stock photo, which had been altered using AI, to convince KnowBe4 that they were a legitimate candidate. You can see the original stock photo (left) and the AI-enhanced one below.

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The interviewers believed the person they interviewed looked enough like the faked photo to be convincing.


All seemed normal, until last week when the employee, referred to only as XXXX, was sent his company-supplied Mac workstation. The moment it was received, it immediately started to load malware.


KnowBe4's SOC team contacted XXXX to inquire about the detection and its possible cause. He claimed that he was following steps on his router guide to troubleshoot a speed issue and that it may have caused a compromise.


XXXX then performed actions to manipulate session history files, transfer potentially harmful files, and execute unauthorized software. He used a Raspberry Pi to download the malware. The company tried to get him on video call but he said he was unavailable and later became unresponsive. His device was contained about 25 minutes after the suspicious activities were detected.


Analysis suggests that XXXX may be an Insider Threat/Nation State Actor. The information was shared with cybersecurity firm Mandiant and the FBI. It was determined that XXXX was a fake IT worker from North Korea.


KnowBe4 said the work Mac was shipped to an address "that is basically an 'IT mule laptop farm," which XXXX accessed via VPN. He also worked night shift so it appeared he was working US daytime.


There have been warnings of North Koreans using stolen identities to secure remote US jobs. Their wages are used to fund North Korea's illegal programs, and the positions enable access to sensitive information and the opportunity to breach systems/install malware.

Ancient secrets unearthed in vast Turkish cave city


By AFP
July 26, 2024

The underground settlement is thought to date to the ninth century BC 

- Copyright AFP STAFF, John SAEKI

Anne CHAON

Through a basement door in southeastern Turkey lies a sprawling underground city — perhaps the country’s largest — which one historian believes dates back to the ninth century before Jesus Christ.

Archaeologists stumbled upon the city-under-a-city “almost by chance” after an excavation of house cellars in Midyat, near the Syrian border, led to the discovery of a vast labyrinth of caves in 2020.

Workers have already cleared more than 50 subterranean rooms, all connected by 120 metres (131 yards) of tunnel carved out of the rock.

But that is only a fraction of the site’s estimated 900,000-square-metre area, which would make it the largest underground city in Turkey’s southern Anatolia region.

“Maybe even in the world,” said Midyat conservation director Mervan Yavuz who oversaw the excavation.

“To protect themselves from the climate, enemies, predators and diseases, people took refuge in these caves which they turned into an actual city,” Yavuz added.

The art historian traces the city’s ancient beginnings to the reign of King Ashurnasirpal II, who ruled the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 883 to 859 BC.

At its height in the seventh century BC, the empire stretched from The Gulf in the east to Egypt in the west.

Referred to as Matiate in that period, the city’s original entrance required people to bend in half and squeeze themselves into a circular opening.

It was this entrance that first gave the Midyat municipality an inkling of its subterranean counterpart’s existence.

“We actually suspected that it existed,” Yavuz recounted as he walked through the cave’s gloom.

“In the 1970s, the ground collapsed and a construction machine fell down. But at the time we didn’t try to find out more, we just strengthened and closed up the hole.”

– A hiding place underground –

The region where the cave city is located was once known as Mesopotamia, recognised as the cradle of some of the earliest civilisations in the world.

Many major empires conquered or passed through these lands, which may have given those living around Matiate a reason to take refuge underground.

“Before the arrival of the Arabs, these lands were fiercely disputed by the Assyrians, the Persians, the Romans and then the Byzantines,” said Ekrem Akman, a historian at the nearby University of Mardin.

Yavuz noted that “Christians from the Hatay region, fleeing from the persecution of the Roman Empire… built monasteries in the mountains to avoid their attacks”.

He suspects that Jews and Christians may have used Matiate as a hiding place to practice their then-banned religions underground.

He pointed to the inscrutable stylised carvings — a horse, an eight-point star, a hand, trees — which adorn the walls, as well as a stone slab on the floor of one room that may have been used for celebrations or for sacrifices.

As a result of the city’s long continuous occupation, he said it was “difficult to pinpoint” exactly what at the site can be attributed to which period or group.

But “pagans, Jews, Christians, Muslims, all these believers contributed to the underground city of Matiate,” Yavuz said.

– Centuries of invasions –

Even after the threat of centuries of invasions had passed, the caves stayed in use, said curator Gani Tarkan.

He used to work as a director at the Mardin Museum, where household items, bronzes and potteries recovered from the caves are on display.

“People continued to use this place as a living space,” Tarkan said.

“Some rooms were used as catacombs, others as storage space,” he added.

Excavation leader Yavuz pointed to a series of round holes dug to hold wine-filled amphorae vessels in the gloomy cool, out of the glaring sunlight above.

To this day, the Mardin region’s Orthodox Christian community maintains that old tradition of wine production.

Turkey is also famous for its ancient cave villages in Cappadocia in the centre of the country.

But while Cappadocia’s underground cities are built with rooms vertically stacked on top of each other, Matiate spreads out horizontally, Tarkan explained.

The municipality of Midyat, which funds the works, plans to continue the excavation until the site can be opened to the public.

It hopes the site will prove a popular tourist attraction and attract visitors to the city of 120,000.

Philippines to deploy floating barriers to contain oil spill

Limay (Philippines) (AFP) – The Philippine Coast Guard planned Friday to deploy oil dispersant and floating barriers a day after a tanker carrying 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel sank off Manila.


Issued on: 26/07/2024 - 

A coast guard staffer arranges an oil spill containment boom to be use3d in Manila Bay 

© Jam Sta Rosa / AFP

AFP journalists at the Port of Limay in Bataan province watched coast guard personnel preparing equipment for a boat to be used against the slick in Manila Bay.

The MT Terra Nova sank in rough seas nearly seven kilometres (4.3 miles) off Limay municipality early Thursday after setting out for the central city of Iloilo.

An oil slick stretching several kilometres has been detected in the waterway, which thousands of fishermen and tourism operators rely on for their livelihoods.

But coast guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo told a briefing Thursday that it appeared diesel fuel used to power the tanker had leaked and, so far, not the industrial fuel oil cargo.

The coast guard has set a target of seven days to offload the cargo and prevent what Balilo warned would be the worst oil spill in Philippine history if it were to leak.

The incident happened as heavy rains fuelled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon lashed Manila and surrounding regions in recent days.
Swamped by waves

After setting out late Wednesday the captain decided to abort the journey to Iloilo due to rough seas, but as the vessel turned back it was swamped by large waves and went down.

One crew member died, but 16 were rescued.

An investigation into the cause of the incident was underway but Balilo said Thursday the vessel had not broken rules on heavy-weather sailing.

Campaign group Greenpeace said the owners of MT Terra Nova should "foot the bill" for any environmental damage and compensate affected communities.

One of the worst oil spills in the Philippines was in February 2023, when a tanker carrying 800,000 litres of industrial fuel oil sank off the central island of Mindoro.

Coast guard personnel carry a suction hose for deployment at a port in Limay 

© Jam Sta Rosa / AFP

Diesel fuel and thick oil from that vessel contaminated the waters and beaches along the coast of Oriental Mindoro province, devastating the fishing and tourism industries.

The oil dispersed over hundreds of kilometres of waters famed for having some of the most diverse marine life in the world.

A tanker sank off the central island of Guimaras in 2006, spilling tens of thousands of gallons of oil that destroyed a marine reserve, ruined local fishing grounds and covered stretches of coastline in black sludge.

© 2024 AFP

Climate change threatens age-old Mauritania date harvest

Issued on: 25/07/2024 - 

01:41

Farmers in Mauritania who've relied on growing dates for centuries are seeing their livelihoods disappear before their eyes, with desertification wiping away tens of thousands of the trees over the last few decades.. and the communities that had sprung up around them have disappeared as well.

UK govt launches flagship green energy plan

London (AFP) – Britain's new Labour government launched its flagship green energy infrastructure plan on Tuesday, announcing a multi-billion-pound partnership with the business arm of the royal family to develop offshore wind farms.


Issued on: 25/07/2024 - 

Britain's new government wants to increase use of renewable energy

 © Andy Buchanan / AFP



Prime Minister Keir Starmer is establishing a publicly owned body called Great British Energy to spearhead funding in domestic renewable energy projects as the UK weans itself off fossil fuels.

"There is a massive prize within our reach, and make no mistake the race is on to get there," Starmer said of his pledge to ensure Britain's energy "independence".

His government has allocated £8.3 billion ($10 billion) of public money over the next five years as Labour aims to meet Britain's climate change targets.

It also wants to bring down the price of energy by reducing reliance on foreign imports of oil and gas.

GB Energy will also seek to attract private investment, and the government announced a first tie-up with the monarchy's land and property holdings company that aims to leverage private investment of £60 billion.

The Crown Estate is an independently run business whose profits go to the government, which passes on a small portion to the monarchy to support official duties of the royal family.

It is one of Europe's biggest property empires, owning vast swathes of Britain's seabed with a huge commercial potential in developing offshore wind power generation.

The Crown Estate estimates that its GB Energy partnership will lease enough offshore land to produce up to 30 gigawatts of new energy, enough to power almost 20 million homes, by 2030.

The UK currently produces only 14 gigawatts of energy through offshore wind, according to government data.
'Clean energy superpower'

The government was introducing its legislation to establish GB Energy into parliament on Thursday.

The company is the bedrock of Labour's pledge made before its landslide general election victory against the Conservatives on July 4 to make Britain a "clean energy superpower".

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to make Britain "a clean energy superpower" 

© Alberto Pezzali / POOL/AFP

Labour, in power for the first time since 2010, is committed to meeting the UK's legal obligation of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

It also wants to decarbonise Britain's electricity grid by 2030, although experts have said the ambitious target will be difficult to meet.

Starmer's government has already ended a ban on new onshore wind farms in England that the Conservatives imposed in 2015.

The government is introducing a separate bill to widen the investment powers of the Crown Estate, giving it more scope to borrow for investments including offshore wind projects.

It has also proposed boosting investment in sustainable aviation fuel plants across the country.

Profit from the Crown Estate more than doubled last year to a record £1.1 billion, driven by a short-term boost from offshore wind farms, according to annual accounts published on Wednesday.

The government says GB Energy will have five key functions, including leading projects and building supply chains. It will not produce its own power.

New technologies it will invest in include carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, wave and tidal energy.

The public financing of the body will be funded through windfall taxes levied on oil and gas companies.

British customers' energy bills have soared since key producer Russia launched a full-scaled invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

Labour maintains the party's net-zero energy plans will save households £300 a year on their bills.

But the Conservatives' energy spokeswoman Claire Coutinho called GB Energy "nothing but a gimmick that will end up costing families, not cutting bills".

© 2024 AFP

Great British Energy and Crown Estate target £60bn  investment  

 The Engineer   25 Jul 2024

A partnership between the newly formed Great British Energy and the Crown Estate is aiming to unlock up to £60bn of private capital.

Launched today (July 25) by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband with two new bills (The Great British Energy Bill and The Crown Estate Bill), the partnership will seek to ‘turbocharge energy independence’ through the expansion of renewables, predominantly offshore wind in seabed owned by the Crown Estate. According to the Estate, the partnership will help deliver 20-30GW of new offshore wind developments to seabed lease stage by 2030. 

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“This innovative partnership between Great British Energy and the Crown Estate is an important step toward our mission for clean energy by 2030, and bringing down energy bills for good,” Sir Keir said in a statement. “This agreement will drive up to £60bn in investment into the sector, turbocharging our country toward energy security, the next generation of skilled jobs, and lowering bills for families and business.”

It's claimed the partnership will see the public sector take on the role of additional early development work for offshore wind projects, reducing risk for developers and enabling projects to build out faster after leasing. Other renewable technologies set to benefit include carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, wave and tidal energy.   

“Investing in clean power is the route to end the UK’s energy insecurity, and Great British Energy will be essential in this mission,” said Miliband. “The agreement with The Crown Estate will lead to more investment, cleaner power, more energy security, and is a statement of intent that it will be a permanent and transformative institution for our country.”

Long touted by Labour in the run up to the election, Great British Energy has now been tasked with five key functions: project development; project investment; supporting local power plans; enhancing domestic energy supply chains; and working alongside Great British Nuclear.

Great British Energy will be backed by £8.3bn over the term of this parliament and is set to be headquartered in Scotland, where plans are in place to rapidly expand offshore wind. The Crown Estate is also currently running one of the world’s largest commercial-scale floating wind leasing programmes in the Celtic Sea, and it’s claimed the new partnership will also help support this.

Commenting on the government announcements, Craig Jones, vice president Energy Transition at GE Vernova, said: “It’s welcome news to see the further detail and draft legislation published today. 

“To be a success, GB Energy needs to focus on a few key areas. It could make a real impact in cutting the time it takes to develop projects; speeding up delivery by being a co-investor in areas where the country needs to go faster, such as on offshore wind; and supporting close-to-market technologies like small modular nuclear reactors and carbon capture and storage. These technologies, delivered through existing viable projects which need the right government support, will all be vital to hitting the UK’s energy targets.”