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The US has approved a huge offshore wind farm off the coast of Martha's Vineyard - the first of its kind

insider@insider.com (Connor Perrett) 

© REUTERS/Nick Oxford 

The Biden administration granted approval Tuesday for the nation's first large-scale offshore wind farm.

The Vineyard Wind project would be built off the coast of Matha's Vineyard.

The project is expected to power as many as 400,000 homes and businesses.

The US Department of the Interior approved Vineyard Wind - the first large-scale wind farm in the US - on Tuesday.

The Vineyard Wind project would be built off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts and is slated to create up to 800 megawatts of electricity.

That would be enough to power as many as 400,000 homes and businesses, the Interior Department said.

"A clean energy future is within our grasp in the United States," Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a statement. "The approval of this project is an important step toward advancing the Administration's goals to create good-paying union jobs while combatting climate change and powering our nation."

According to NBC Boston, the project is estimated to cost $2 billion and is part of President Joe Biden's agenda to reduce carbon emissions in the US and generate 30 gigawatts of energy from offshore wind by 2030.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Daimler CEO: 'We need an honest conversation" about EVs and jobs

© Reuters/Steve Marcus FILE PHOTO: Ola Kallenius, chairman of the board of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, unveils the Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR concept car, inspired by the Avatar movies, at a Daimler keynote address during the 2020 CES in Las Vegas

LONDON (Reuters) - If the European Union wants to push a faster shift to zero-emissions cars then Daimler AG is ready, but there needs to be an open debate on the impact electrification will have on auto jobs, the carmaker's top executive said on Tuesday.

"It's an ambition that we say yes to," Chief Executive Ola Källenius said during an interview at a Financial Times conference on the future of the car. But he added "we have to have an honest conversation about jobs."

"Everyone knows it takes more labour hours to assemble and build a combustion based powertrain compared to an electric powertrain," he said.

The EU last month raised its target for cuts in net greenhouse gas emissions to 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels instead of 40% and Europe's automakers will find out in July what their contribution on CO2 emissions is expected to be.

There are broad expectations within the auto industry that there will be job losses associated with electrification, focused primarily in combustion engine factories.

Germany's car industry faces an "employment fiasco" unless it gets badly needed investment in new technologies, especially batteries, the country's top labour leader said last week.

The warning from Joerg Hofmann, president of IG Metall, came after a survey by the Ifo institute showed that the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) could cost the industry some 100,000 jobs in combustion engine production by 2025 if companies fail to beef up efforts to reskill workers.

Källenius said the impact on jobs needs to be handled in a "socially responsible way." He said the German carmaker is in "very constructive dialogue" with its works council and the industry will create more jobs in areas like software engineering.

"But it (the engine jobs impact) is not something where we should not acknowledge that it's there," Källenius said. "It is there."

(Reporting By Nick Carey; Editing by Keith Weir)

U.S. asks Mexico to review GM plant labor allegations in test of new trade deal

By David Lawder and David Shepardson

© Reuters/Sergio Maldonado FILE PHOTO: 

GM's truck assembly plant in Silao, Mexico

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Wednesday asked Mexico to examine alleged labor rights violations at a General Motors pickup truck factory in Mexico, a move that could lead to tariffs on some of GM's most profitable vehicles under the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that her agency and the U.S. Department of Labor have received "information appearing to indicate serious violations" of worker rights in an April union contract vote at GM's Silao factory in central Mexico.

The request for review marks the first time any country has used the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism in USMCA, which allows countries to target labor rights violations at specific factories. Tai helped negotiate the labor enforcement mechanism on behalf of Democrats in the U.S. Congress.

Mexico's labor ministry on Tuesday said it found "serious irregularities in the union-led worker vote at the GM factory and ordered a new vote to be held within 30 days.

The Mexican ministry's decision followed pressure from U.S. lawmakers on GM after some Mexican officials had said some ballots were destroyed during the vote, which was intended for the Silao plant's 6,000 union workers to ratify their labor contract.

A key U.S. goal for the USMCA, negotiated by the Trump administration, was to strengthen Mexican unions to help drive up wages and slow the migration of U.S. auto production to Mexico. GM won key changes to USMCA that allowed it to continue to build hundreds of thousands of high-profit pickups in Mexico for export to the United States annually.

In a statement, Tai praised Mexico "for stepping in to suspend the vote when it became aware of voting irregularities" and said the U.S. action "will complement Mexico’s efforts to ensure that these workers can fully exercise their collective bargaining rights.

Representative Bill Pascrell, a New Jersey Democrat and staunch union advocate, praised the Biden administration for swiftly acting on "reported acts of bullying" of workers at the GM plant.

"Our trade agreements aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on if they are not enforced to defend workers in Mexico and here in the United States," Pascrell said.

PROFIT CENTER

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-nafta-autos/game-of-chicken-gm-bets-on-mexican-made-pickup-trucks-idUSKBN1F42G7

GM's Silao plant  is a lynchpin of its North American truck strategy, producing more than 339,000 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-sized pickup trucks in 2019 -- more than a third of the company's total of 906,000 that year.

GM said it would cooperate with both the U.S. and Mexican governments in the matter and that it condemns violation of labor rights and actions to restrict collective bargaining.

"We do not believe there was any GM involvement in the alleged violations or that any government-approved inspectors were denied access to the facility, and have retained a third-party firm to conduct an independent and thorough review," the company said in a statement.

USTR's request comes days before U.S. President Joe Biden travels to Dearborn, Michigan to tour a Ford Motor Co electric vehicle plant to highlight his push for $174 billion in government funding to expand electric vehicle production and charging infrastructure.

Ford builds all of its U.S. full-size pickup trucks in the United States but both GM and Ford are investing in electric vehicle production in Mexico, prompting the United Auto Workers union to call for tax incentives to apply only to U.S.-assembled EVs.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki declined to say Tuesday if Biden supported limiting EV subsidies.

The USMCA trade deal was rewritten to require that effectively 40% of the value of all Mexican-made vehicles be made in the United States or Canada.

WARNING SHOT

Tai's request warns all automakers -- including Ford, Volkswagen and Chrysler parent Stellantis that the Biden administration won't tolerate past Mexican labor practices that critics say kept wages depressed.

"In requesting this review, the United States clearly sends the message that worker rights must be respected," U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said in a statement.

If the United States and Mexico cannot reach an agreement to resolve the matter, Tai can request a dispute settlement panel to review the matter, with the entire process meant to take about 90 days from the initial request.

Labor remedies under USMCA include revoking tariff-free access for the violating factory's goods. In GM's case, that could mean applying the normal 25% U.S. pickup truck import tariff on Silao-made trucks, a painful move that could add thousands of dollars to the cost of each vehicle.

Tai has requested that the U.S. Treasury immediately suspend final settlement of customs accounts for U.S. border entry of GM's Silao trucks, a move that preserves the option to apply tariffs to them later.

(Reporting by David Lawder and David Shepardson; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

World Food Prize goes to nutrition expert for fish research

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A nutrition expert who pioneered innovative ways of raising fish rich in micronutrients and fatty acids and incorporating them into diets in developing countries was named the recipient of the World Food Prize on Tuesday.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, 71, who grew up on Caribbean island of Trinidad and later became a citizen of Denmark, was awarded the prize in recognition of her achievements in pioneering fish-based food systems to improve nutrition, health and livelihoods for millions around the world.


“Dr. Thilsted figured out how these nutrient-rich small fish can be raised locally and inexpensively,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in remarks recorded and delivered at the announcement ceremony. “Now, millions of low-income families across many countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Burma, Zambia, Malawi, are eating small fish regularly, dried and fresh, in everything from chutneys to porridge, giving kids and breastfeeding mothers key nutrients that will protect children for a lifetime. That is all thanks to her.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and UN Nutrition Chair Naoko Yamamoto also delivered remarks. World Food Prize Foundation President Barbara Stinson announced Thilsted as the winner.

The World Food Prize was created by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug in 1986 to recognize scientists and others who have improved the quality and availability of food. The foundation that awards the $250,000 prize is based in Des Moines, Iowa.

Thilsted began research in Bangladesh in the 1980s while working to improve the lives of malnourished people. After talking to local women who told her that eating a variety of local small fish species made them stronger, she began researching their diet. Returning to Copenhagen, she studied the nutritional value of small fish species in Bangladesh and later Cambodia.

“I was able to assess the nutritional composition of these small fish species and realized that they were extremely rich in multiple micronutrients, vitamins and minerals, and most importantly that the forms in which they were found were highly available and could be absorbed by the human body,” she told The Associated Press via video from Penang, Malaysia, ahead of the ceremony.

That knowledge led her back to Bangladesh, where she studied how farmers raised fish, with the goal of helping them to improve their efficiency and their product's nutritional value. At the time, aquaculture was just taking off in the country, which now has 4 million household ponds raising fish. The common practice then was to clean the ponds of all native small species and stock them with carp species used as the primary fish for food and sold at markets.

Thilsted said that after many years of research, she and others showed that the farmers could raise the large fish together with the micronutrient-rich small native fish, increasing production and boosting the nutritional quality of the fish grown.

“That was the system we used for the aquaculture approach, which I call pond polyculture,” she said.

Her research done with the help of international organizations including UNICEF, the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Bank, improved the scientific understanding of the importance of fish in diets. The changes she helped bring about made a significant difference in the diets and incomes of some of the world's most vulnerable people.

Bangladesh's aquaculture production has tripled since 2000 and is now the fifth largest in the world, supporting 18 million people. The increased production has improved women's economic opportunities in particular, since they make up about 60% of fish farmers operating on small family-run operations in the country.

For 10 years, Thilsted has worked with Malaysia-based WorldFish, an international research organization that focuses aquatic foods in developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region. The organization offered opportunities to move her fish-based dietary approaches to other countries with funding from development groups including CGIAR, an international partnership of organizations focused on food security. She now serves as global lead for nutrition and public health at WorldFish. She also holds leadership roles in the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021 and the High-Level Panel of Experts on food security and nutrition, which advises the Committee on World Food Security, the primary U.N. group dealing with food security and nutrition.

Thilstead also found ways to incorporate the fish into the diets of people who needed the additional nutrition. She advocated the widespread use of a shelf-stable dried fish powder with concentrated nutrients to be used with other spices as a condiment to add to other foods.

Thilsted said she was surprised to be awarded the World Food Prize since many previous winners have focused on staple crops such as rice, wheat and corn. She hopes the honor will enable her to bring attention to the importance of diversity in food sources, including fish and other aquatic foods.

“I can see that the award gives you a platform, and in my case, I would like to use that platform to move further with the work I’m doing and to move the recognition of fish and aquatic foods as being superfoods and important in the diets to deliver nutrients to poor and vulnerable people, of course in the cultures where it makes sense to do so,” said Thilsted, who said she didn't know how she'd spend the prize money.

She said she also hopes her award inspires women to pursue her field of study.

“I do hope also that with this platform and this award I have gotten it can inspire especially young women from developing countries to study science and take on a career in food and nutrition because I think its extremely rewarding and beneficial for many,” she said.

David Pitt, The Associated Press

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Dracula's Castle in Romania Is Now Offering Free Vaccinations to Visitors

It's not quite the kind of bite that visitors to Bran Castle — better known as Dracula's castle — in Romania might expect, but it does come with a profound effect. On Friday, the castle announced that it's kicking off a COVID-19 vaccination marathon, offering visitors free doses every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in May without an appointment.

© Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty Images 

Admission to the castle is not required to receive the vaccine.

The castle, located in the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania, hopes to lure more travelers with shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, calling it "another kind of sting." Admission to the castle is not required to receive a shot, and those who get it will earn a "diploma" saying that they were vaccinated at Bran Castle. Visitors who do also pay for castle admission will gain free access to the special exhibit on medieval torture tools, the attraction described on its Facebook page.

Further leaning into the location's theme, the campaign's imagery features a photo of fangs replaced by needles and a nurse with fangs ready to inject a dose. Plus, the on-site medics administering the shots have fang stickers on their scrubs, according to the BBC.

Video: Dracula's Castle in Romania Is Now Offering Free Vaccinations to Visitors (Travel + Leisure)

Visitors are required to follow all coronavirus safety measures, including using hand sanitizer, wearing a mask, and keeping a distance of two meters (about six and a half feet) from others, according to the castle's site.

The medieval castle, which was completed in 1388, is thought to be the inspiration for Irish author Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, "Dracula," though Stoker never actually visited the Romanian landmark himself. The fictional title character is often mixed up with the real Vlad Tepes — better known as Vlad the Impaler — who ruled in the 1400s and is often depicted as a "blood-thirsty ruthless despot."

The vaccines are being doled out in the Medieval Custom building on Fridays from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m, Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. this month. It's all part of the government's effort to get more Romanians vaccinated, since it's one of the nations with the highest rates of hesitancy in Central and Eastern Europe, according to a study by Globsec. As of today, 2,314,812 people — or 11.96% of the country's population — is fully vaccinated, with 5,891,855 doses having been administered, per data from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

The CDC currently has Romania at a Level 4 "Very High Level of COVID-19" advisory, with the nation having had 1,066,111 cases and 28,966 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Football Fish: A monstrous-looking fish normally found thousands of feet deep in the ocean washed up on a California beach

By Amanda Jackson, CNN 

An unusual fish with teeth as sharp as glass and a body shaped like a football washed ashore on a California beach last week

.

© Crystal Cove State Park The angler fish washed ashore at the Crystal Cove State Park in California.

The black colored creature with it's gaping mouth laid on the sand on the shore of Crystal Cove State Park's Marine Protected Area in Laguna Beach last Friday. The park shared images of the fish on social media and identified it as being most likely the Pacific Football Fish.

"To see an actual angler fish intact is very rare and it is unknown how or why the fish ended up on the shore," reads the Facebook post.

The Pacific Football Fish is one of more than 200 species of anglerfish worldwide, according to California State Parks, and is normally found in the dark depths of the ocean. The creature's teeth are sharp and pointy like shards of glass and their "large mouth is capable of sucking up and swallowing prey the size of their own body."

Due to the creature's size and the protruding stalk on the top of the head, California State Parks said this is a female.

"Only females possess a long stalk on the head with bioluminescent tips used as a lure to entice prey in the darkness of waters as deep as 3,000 feet!," according to the Crystal Cove State Park post.

They added that females can grow to lengths of 24 inches while males only grow to be about an inch long. The sole purpose of the male fish is to help a female reproduce, reads the post.

"Males latch onto the female with their teeth and become 'sexual parasites,' eventually coalescing with the female until nothing is left of their form but their testes for reproduction," reads the post.

The body of the fish is being held by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, according to CNN affiliate KFSN. It is expected to be studied for research and educational purposes.

"Seeing this strange and fascinating fish is a testament to the diversity of marine life lurking below the water's surface ...," reads the Crystal Cove State Park post. ".. and as scientists continue to learn more about these deep sea creatures it's important to reflect on how much is still to be learned from our wonderful ocean."

© Crystal Cove State Park The stalk on the fish's head is used to lure prey.