India needs to grow at 7.6% a year for 25 years to be a developed nation -cenbank bulletin

A labourer runs across a wholesale market in the old quarters of Delhi

Mon, July 17, 2023

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India will need to grow at a rate of 7.6% annually for the next 25 years to become a developed nation, according to a research paper published by the central bank in its monthly bulletin on Monday.

India's per capita income is currently estimated at $2,500, while it must be more than $21,664 by 2047, as per World Bank standards, to be classified as a high-income country.

"To achieve this target, the required real GDP compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for India works out to be 7.6% during 2023-24 to 2047-48," according to the study by the Reserve Bank of India's economic research department.

In nominal terms, which includes the impact of inflation, the economy would need to clock a CAGR of 10.6%, said the study, which does not represent the RBI's official view.

"It may, however, be mentioned that the best (nominal growth) India achieved over a period of consecutive 25 years in the past is a CAGR of 8.1% during 1993-94 to 2017-18."

To reach that level of sustained growth, India requires investment in physical capital and reforms across sectors covering education, infrastructure, healthcare and technology, the study said.

The country's industrial and services sector would need to grow at over 13% annually for these 25 years for India to achieve developed economy status, it said.

(Reporting by Ira Dugal; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

Tesla Is Considering A $25 Billion Bet On The Indian Electric Vehicle Market

Chris Bibey
Mon, July 17, 2023


Tesla Inc. is considering an investment proposal with the Indian government that would see the company open a factory with the capacity to manufacture roughly 500,000 electric vehicles each year, according to a recent report citing government sources.

Should this plan come to light, it would also provide Tesla with a home base for exporting vehicles to other countries in the region.

The Next Generation of Innovators: New Battery Beats Tesla’s Lithium-Ion By A Mile With 100x Cheaper Price Tag, 100% Recyclable and Longer Lifespan

Other Proposed Details

While details are still murky, it's been reported that the starting price for the vehicles in India will be $24,401. While that's substantially more than India's cheapest electric vehicle, it's competitively priced when compared to Tesla EVs in countries such as the United States.

“Tesla has come to us with an ambitious plan, and we are confident that the movement will be positive this time around, especially as it involves both local manufacturing and exports," said a source discussing the plan with the Times of India.

Last year, the anticipated entrance of Tesla into the Indian market faced hurdles when the national government declined to reduce import tariffs levied on the automaker's vehicles. Notably, India imposes an import tax of up to 100% on electric automobiles

India expressed its interest in Tesla establishing a local manufacturing base, while the automaker responded with a preference to initially export its vehicles into the country to gauge market demand.

With a modified strategy to penetrate the Indian market, Tesla engaged in negotiations with government representatives in May concerning potential incentives for vehicle and battery production.

The negotiations this time around are spearheaded by India's commerce and industry ministry, aiming to orchestrate a mutually beneficial agreement, ensuring a balanced competitive environment. The talks encompass both domestic manufacturing and exports.

During a recent interaction with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged the automotive manufacturer to make a substantial investment in the country.

If everything goes as planned, this will be a big win both for Tesla and the Indian auto market.

Green Energy Movement

This comes at a time when India is rapidly moving towards green energy solutions. As one of the largest energy producers in the world, the country is quickly becoming one of the largest renewable energy producers in the world as well. As the country, and most of the worlds super powers, look to embrace electric vehicle solutions like Tesla, there’s a race to develop more innovative solutions. For example, startups like Airthium are developing solutions to beat out Tesla’s lithium-ion solutions.

Fisker to sell limited edition electric SUVs in India by fourth quarter

Reuters
Mon, July 17, 2023 

 The 2022 Paris Auto Show

(Reuters) - U.S. startup Fisker said on Monday it would produce 100 limited edition electric sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for the Indian market and expects to begin deliveries in the fourth quarter this year.

The company had said in September it would begin selling its Ocean electric SUVs in India by July 2023, with local production beginning in a few years.


But it now expects to complete the final checks for the SUV, named Fisker Ocean Extreme Vigyan, for India by the end of September, with its pricing aligning with the European market.

Fisker Ocean Extreme is priced at 69,950 euros ($78,588.83), excluding taxes, in Germany. That would equate to around 6.45 million Indian rupees. A Fisker Ocean SUV starts at $37,499 in the United States.

Electric vehicles (EVs) make up just 1% of the 3 million cars sold each year in India, with the government wanting to increase this share to 30% by 2030. For this, the country has introduced several incentives, including tax breaks for consumers.

In India and across all regions outside China, the U.S. and Europe, EV sales are expected to represent 2%-3% of car sales in 2023, a relatively small yet growing share, according to data from International Energy Agency.

Fisker has a secondary office in Hyderabad, India, and has about 100 employees in the country, according to its LinkedIn page.

The California-based company has a contract manufacturing agreement with Magna International, which would produce the Ocean at its Austrian unit and ship it to India. Fisker also looks to produce its next EV, the smaller, five-seater PEAR in India with Foxconn.

($1 = 0.8901 euros)

(1 Indian rupee = 0.0108 euros)

(Reporting by Akshita Toshniwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

How China Beat Everyone to Be World Leader in Electric Vehicles

Linda Lew
Mon, July 17, 2023 




(Bloomberg) -- In the race to reduce carbon emissions, countries from the US to New Zealand are doling out incentives to spur electric-vehicle sales — tactics China used for years as it turned into the biggest EV market on Earth.

Beijing’s success is breathtaking. EVs accounted for a quarter of all passenger cars sold in China last year, far ahead of the roughly one in seven in the US and one in eight in Europe. And the pace is accelerating. HSBC expects the EV penetration rate in the world’s second-largest economy to reach 90% by 2030.

Including plug-in hybrids, China’s clean-car sales hit 5.67 million in 2022, more than half of all global deliveries. The country will account for about 60% of the world’s 14.1 million new passenger EV sales this year, BloombergNEF predicts.

It’s not just buyers. Manufacturing is booming too — Chinese brands account for about half of all EVs sold globally, HSBC analysts said in a recent note.

Sufficient infrastructure obviously helps with EV adoption. China, which has the largest charging network in the world, added 649,000 public chargers in 2022 alone, which is more than 70% of all installations done globally that year.

Encouraged by all the progress made, EV makers have swarmed China with new models, and a price war has flared this year as companies try to get ahead of rivals. Analysts expect some consolidation is looming for the industry in China.

Here’s a closer look at China’s carrot-and-stick approach to cultivating EVs:

The Carrots

Consumer Subsidies: A program that ran for a decade reimbursed EV Buyers with as much as 60,000 yuan ($8,375). Although the national subsidies ended in 2022, local governments in places like Shanghai continue to dole out rebates of up to 10,000 yuan.


Tax Breaks: A standard 10% tax levy has been waived for clean-car purchases under 300,000 yuan until 2025, and will return at 5% for 2026 and 2027. The tax break, in place since 2014, is estimated to amount to 835 billion yuan by the end of 2027. In the US, the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed last year, includes $270 billion in tax incentives for EV purchases and clean manufacturing and nearly $12 billion in loans to clean-energy projects.


Manufacturer Subsidies: Direct government support to EV makers helped many get up and running. While an overabundance of companies emerged, with more than 500 EV brands crowding the market in 2019, the effort nurtured successes like BYD Co. The Shenzhen-based company has become the best-selling brand in China, ending Volkswagen AG’s decades-long reign.


Infrastructure: Widely accessible, government-subsidized charging stations reduce drivers’ costs and ease any range anxiety. Charging standards are uniform, thanks to agreements with manufacturers, so everyone uses the same plugs. China had 6.36 million EV chargers at the end of May, more than anywhere else on the planet. A significant portion is part of the state grid, the fourth-largest provider behind private companies like Wanbang New Energy Investment Group Co. and TGood New Energy Co.

The Sticks

Gas Hurdles: Buying and owning gasoline-powered cars is less and less appealing. Cities are fighting congestion by limiting the number of cars on the road with measures such as lotteries for new license plates in Beijing and an auction system in Shanghai. Plates went for an average of 92,780 yuan at auctions in Shanghai during the first five months last year. EV drivers, meanwhile, can easily get a green license plate, showcasing their environmentally-friendly credentials. Green plates are increasingly prominent on city streets.


Production Penalties: China introduced a dual-credit system for the auto industry in 2017, which awards points for making clean cars and penalties for those with high fuel consumption. Cars from producers with negative scores may be taken off the market. To avoid punishment, manufacturers can buy credits from rivals with positive scores, like Tesla Inc. or BYD. It can get expensive. State-owned Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. lost 4,000 yuan in profit for each car sold in 2020 as it bought credits to avoid the penalty.


The Sales

Government Purchases: Some local governments converted their public transport and taxi fleets to 100% electric, and encouraged local agencies to procure electric or plug-in hybrids. The result was steady business for EV makers such as BYD, which also makes buses, and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.

Bloomberg Businessweek

CHEVY BOLT EV
Chevy discontinues cult-favorite car after just seven years on the market — but there may be hope for a comeback

Jeremiah Budin
Sat, July 15, 2023 

After hitting the road in 2016, the Chevy Bolt quickly became known as the U.S. market’s most affordable electric vehicle (EV). Unfortunately, General Motors has announced that it plans to end production of the car at the end of 2023, although recent statements by CEO Mary Barra suggest that may not be the end of the story.

The Chevy Bolt had a starting price of around $27,000. With the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit from the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bolt was a far more accessible EV than pricey Teslas.

Photo Credit: iStock

There are several other options for semi-affordable EVs, including the Nissan Leaf, which starts at $28,000 and takes up the mantle as the least expensive EV on the market. GM’s cheapest EV will now be the Chevy Equinox EV, which the company says will start at “around $30,000” when it is released later this year.

Still, it would be sad to see the Chevy Bolt go, and GM’s stated reason for doing away with it — Americans’ obsession with pickup trucks and SUVs means little interest in hatchbacks — is a bit of a letdown, too. GM has said that it will use the assembly plant space previously devoted to Chevy Bolts to make more electric trucks starting next year.

Another reason for the switch, as The Verge points out, has to do with the fact that GM is moving away from the Bolt battery technology to build its next generation of EVs using its newer Ultium battery architecture. Battery issues plagued the Bolt in its early days, causing several fires and leading to a recall, which may have permanently damaged the car’s reputation.

On the bright side, it’s also battery tech that may give the Bolt a new lease on life. In a recent podcast interview, CEO Barra called the Bolt an “important vehicle in our portfolio“ and said new technology could reduce battery costs up to 40 percent — which fueled speculation that the Bolt may yet see a revival with updated tech.

Barring that kind of comeback, though, Verge’s readers were largely not happy to see the Bolt go.

“The number of vehicles available in the U.S. that will fit in my slightly undersized garage is surprisingly small, and even fewer of them are utility-oriented hatchbacks instead of sedans. How frustrating,” wrote one commenter.

“What a disappointment; guess only rich people get to buy EVs, and only SUVs and trucks,” wrote another.

Tesla Luxury Rival Cadillac Unveils a Cheaper Electric Vehicle

General Motor's Cadillac division will roll out an SUV that's smaller and cheaper than the Lyriq.

KIRK O’NEIL
JUL 16, 2023 6:05 PM EDT

The luxury automobile market in the US is led by the electric vehicle industry's overall production and delivery leader Tesla (TSLA) - Get Free Report, after the Austin, Texas, automaker overtook the 2021 No. 1 luxury seller BMW to become as the top luxury car seller in 2022.

Tesla was the No. 1 luxury seller in 2022, followed by BMW and Mercedes-Benz, according to Statista. Tesla sold 484,351 luxury models, while BMW sold about 327,930 luxury units and Mercedes had about 269,510 units.

DON'T MISS: Tesla Rival Hyundai Unveils High Performance Electric Vehicle

Aside from Tesla, BMW and Mercedes, the luxury electric vehicle market is a bit crowded with several luxury makers rolling out models over the next few years.

Cadillac

Electric Vehicle Makers Rolling Out Luxury Models

Luxury sportscar manufacturer Alfa Romeo will rollout its first all-electric vehicle in 2024, a small compact SUV that's based on parent company Stellantis' (STLA) - Get Free Report Jeep Avenger. The company will introduce its first dedicated EV in 2025, which will likely be a Giulia sedan.

When Alfa Romeo converts to all-electric in 2027, it will also roll out all-electric SUV that will be comparable to the size of a BMW X5.

Honda (HMC) - Get Free Report is teaming with General Motors (GM) - Get Free Report to introduce the Acura ZDX, its first electric vehicle that's scheduled to be released in 2024, which will use GM's Ultium battery platform.

Los Angeles-based EV maker Fisker on Aug. 3 is planning to unveil its Ronin four-door convertible GT sports luxury EV sedan, which is expected to retail for $200,000 beginning in 2025.

Nissan's Infiniti luxury division on June 23 introduced a brand refresh at a Los Angeles dealer meeting, which included a new logo, modernized showrooms and a new concept electric vehicle that will be produced at its Canton, Miss., plant and expects to be ready to sell to the public in 2026.

Aston Martin has an ongoing partnership with Mercedes-Benz and a new one with Lucid with plans to deliver its first all-electric EV in 2025.

GM's Cadillac Has Big Plans for New EVs

GM in May said that later this year Cadillac will launch an electric version of the iconic full-size Cadillac Escalade SUV. The new model, the Cadillac Escalade IQ, "promises the same commitment to craftsmanship, technology and performance that has helped the Escalade nameplate dominate the large luxury SUV segment for the last 20 years," the company said in a statement on May 22.

GM's Cadillac division has launched a price reduction campaign to try to compete against Tesla, BYD (BYDDY) and NIO (NIO) - Get Free Report and other luxury electric vehicle makers in China, as it recently cut the Cadillac Lyriq EV prices by 14% from a starting price of about $60,730 to $52,443, Electrek reported. Cadillac in June 2022 began selling its first all-electric vehicle in China, the Lyriq sports utility vehicle for $67,200, but it was forced to lower prices after Tesla began decreasing prices.

GM is determined to attack Tesla head on as it has filed papers with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to sell a new all-electric SUV in China that will be smaller than the Lyriq to be known as the Cadillac Optiq. The vehicle will also be less expensive than the Lyriq, but GM has not yet revealed the price.

The Optiq will offer a 150kW single motor version and a 180 kW single motor, and its electric packs will be a joint venture of GM and SAIC Motor Corp. and will be manufactured at the GM-SAIC plant in Wuhan, China. And there's no word yet if the new EV will be introduced in the US.

GM can't build or deliver new vehicles fast enough, exec says



Mon, July 17, 2023 
By Paul Lienert

LANSING, Michigan (Reuters) - General Motors is seeing strong demand for many of its U.S. vehicles, but can't deliver them to dealers fast enough, one of the company's top executives told Reuters on Monday.

"GM very strongly continues to have discipline in terms of incentives, which means that demand is still very high," said Rory Harvey, the company's North America president, at an event in Lansing, Michigan. "At this particular point in time, we could just about sell every product that we can build."

But the automaker faces outbound logistics challenges in the aftermath of COVID, he said, particularly in shipping vehicles to dealers, whether by truck or rail.

"We would still like to improve our availability on the ground at dealers," Harvey said. "We have good inventory (levels) overall, but we'd like to get some of those units to our dealers from some of the plants quicker than they are today."

Harvey declined to say if lower-than-expected sales of GM's newest electric vehicles, the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq, were related to issues with Ultium batteries.

"I'm not sure that I want to be quoted as saying that Ultium is the bottleneck," he said in response to a question about low sales and dealer inventories of Hummer and Lyriq.

Those models, Harvey said, "have been going down the line in very limited quantities (but) we are building momentum."

"In May and June, there was good momentum growth. We will see another step change in terms of their (sales) performance in the second half of the year."

GM reports U.S. vehicle sales only on a quarterly basis. It sold just 1,348 Lyriqs and 47 Hummers in the second quarter.

In late June, the company had an estimated 831 Lyriqs and 25 Hummers in advertised retail inventories, according to S&P Global Mobility.

(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; editing by David Evans)

CAPITALI$M WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS
China Evergrande reports steep losses for 2021 and 2022, offers update on offshore debt restructuring

South China Morning Post
Mon, July 17, 2023 

China Evergrande Group, the world's most indebted developer, reported heavy losses for the past two years ahead of a proposed offshore debt restructuring plan that could allow it to resume normal operations.

The Guangzhou-based company, whose Hong Kong-listed shares have been suspended from trading since March 21, 2022, posted a net loss attributable to shareholders of 476 billion yuan (US$66.3 billion) for 2021, and narrowed it down to 105.9 billion yuan in 2022, according to its exchange filings late on Monday. It had posted a net profit of 8.1 billion yuan in 2020.

The group's total liabilities stood at 2.43 trillion yuan at the end of last year. The company's borrowings rose to 612.39 billion yuan, from 607.38 billion yuan in 2021, according to its filings.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

The company also provided an update on the proposed restructuring of its offshore debt. A hearing for the proposed scheme to be implemented by Evergrande is expected to be heard in the Hong Kong High Court on July 24 at 11.30am. Similar hearings will be held in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on July 24 and in the Cayman Islands on July 25.

China Evergrande Updates On Offshore Debts Restructuring

Residential buildings developed by China Evergrande Group in Shanghai. 

A successful restructuring of the company's overdue offshore bonds is an important step for Evergrande to remain as a going concern and maintain its Hong Kong listing. Regulations require the company to release its results before it can unveil the debt restructuring proposal.

"A debt restructuring will not necessarily result in the rebirth of Evergrande," said Ivan Li, a fund manager at Loyal Wealth Management in Shanghai. "Additional financing is needed to support its operations."

Evergrande also faces 1,519 cases and unresolved lawsuits involving a combined sum of 395.39.6 billion yuan as of end December, according to its filings.

The restructuring is a do-or-die moment for Evergrande, controlled by embattled Chinese tycoon Hui Ka-yan, because the company could be delisted if the Hong Kong shares remain suspended for 18 months.


Evergrande was the main victim of Beijing's clampdown on the red hot property market after the government introduced the "three red lines" policy to reduce developers' leverage.

Since late 2021 the Guangzhou-based developer has been struggling to complete projects and repay its suppliers and creditors.

Evergrande's contracted sales fell to 31.7 billion yuan in 2022, from 443 billion yuan in 2021. In 2020 sales stood at 723 billion yuan. As of end December 2022, there were a total of 1,241 projects at different stages of construction and completion, it said in the filing.

On Monday, Fu Linghui, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, told a press conference in Beijing that the country's property market would be back on track after the clean-up campaign to de-leverage some debt-ridden developers comes to an end.

About 50 mainland developers have defaulted on some US$100 billion worth of offshore bonds over the past two years, according to a JPMorgan report in December, with 39 of them ­seeking restructuring plans with creditors for US$117 billion of stressed debt.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exclusive-EU's AI lobbying blitz gets lukewarm response in Asia- officials


Humanoid robot 'Geminoid' is pictured at AI for Good Global Summit, in Geneva


Mon, July 17, 2023 

By Fanny Potkin, Sam Nussey and Supantha Mukherjee

SINGAPORE/TOKYO/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The European Union is lobbying Asian countries to follow its lead on artificial intelligence in adopting new rules for tech firms that include disclosure of copyrighted and AI-generated content, according to senior officials from the EU and Asia.

The EU and its member states have dispatched officials for talks on governing the use of AI with at least 10 Asian countries including India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines, they said.

The bloc aims for its proposed AI Act to become a global benchmark on the booming technology the way its data protection laws have helped shape global privacy standards.

However, the effort to convince Asian governments of the need for stringent new rules is being met with a lukewarm reception, seven people close to the discussions told Reuters.

Many countries favour a "wait and see" approach or are leaning towards a more flexible regulatory regime.

The officials asked not be named as the discussions, whose extent has not been previously reported, remained confidential.

Singapore, one of Asia's leading tech centres, prefers to see how the technology evolves before adapting local regulations, an official for the city-state told Reuters. Officials from Singapore and the Philippines expressed concern that moving overly hasty regulation might stifle AI innovation.

As Reuters reported last month, Southeast Asian countries are drawing up voluntary guidelines. Japan, for its part, is leaning towards softer rules than the stringent approach championed by the EU, as it looks to the technology to boost economic growth and make it a leader in advanced chips.

Efforts in Asia are part of a global push by European nations that include talks with countries such as Canada, Turkey and Israel, Dutch digital minister Alexandra van Huffelen told Reuters in an interview.

"We're trying to figure out on how we can make the regulation from the EU copied, applicable and mirrored ... as it is with the GDPR," van Huffelen said late last month, referring to General Data Protection Regulation, the EU's data privacy regime.

The emergence of AI has been hailed as a breakthrough that will usher in an era of rapid advances in science and technology, revolutionizing all aspects of human activity, but also painted as an existential threat.

1968

EU lawmakers in June agreed to a trailblazing set of draft rules, which would make companies such as ChatGPT operator OpenAI disclose AI-generated content, help distinguish so-called deep fake images from real ones and ensure safeguards against illegal content.

The proposed legislation, which also envisages financial fines for rule violations, faces resistance from companies, with 160 executives last month signing a letter warning it could jeopardise Europe's competitiveness, investment and innovation.

Still, officials from the EU, which has signed "digital partnerships" with Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, voice optimism they can find common ground with international partners to advance cooperation on technologies including AI.

"Our mission is again to make sure that what's happening in the EU, which is our large constituency if I may say so, is protected," EU industry chief Thierry Breton told Reuters during a trip to South Korea and Japan to discuss AI and semiconductors.

"I believe that it will be probably not too far from each other because we share the same values," Breton said of regulation of AI in the EU and countries such as Japan.

Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) economies made of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, the United States and the European Union, in May called for adoption of standards to create "trustworthy" AI and to set up a ministerial forum dubbed the "Hiroshima AI process".

Seoul will continue discussing AI regulation with the EU but is more interested in what the G7 is doing, a South Korean official said following a meeting with Breton.

The EU is planning to use the upcoming G20 meetings to further push for global collaboration on AI, notably with 2023 president India, van Huffelen told Reuters.

(Reporting by Fanny Potkin, Sam Nussey and Supantha Mukherjee; Additional reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

POSTMODERN QUISLING
Foxconn Founder Gou Urges Taiwan to Restart Talks With China

Cindy Wang
Mon, July 17, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Foxconn Technology Group founder Terry Gou called for Taiwan and China to resume direct talks, while also criticizing the ruling Democratic Progressive Party for causing tensions with Beijing.

Writing in an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Monday, Gou said he had “long advocated the immediate resumption of direct cross-strait negotiations between Taiwan and China as the only way to truly ease tensions and to preserve Taiwan’s democracy, freedom and rule of law.”

He said the two sides should work together under the one-China framework, a reference to the belief among Taiwan’s opposition that China and Taiwan have agreed that they are one nation but that they have different interpretation of what that country is.

Gou added the government of President Tsai Ing-wen and others in her party “have greatly aggravated the threat of war, isolated Taiwan internationally, damaged our economy, scared away investors and made Taiwan less secure.”

Gou has been the subject of speculation that he may run as an independent in the presidential election in January next year, especially after the opposition Kuomintang nominated New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih as its candidate.

He made an unsuccessful bid for Taiwan’s top job in 2019. The 72-year-old, whose company assembles the bulk of Apple Inc.’s iPhones in China, traveled to the US earlier this year in an apparent effort to rev up his bid to become president.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has refused to deal with Tsai because she rejects the view held by Beijing that there’s just one China. Beijing has pledged to bring Taiwan under its control someday, by force if necessary.

The Kuomintang, which lost a civil war to China’s now-ruling Communist Party before fleeing to Taiwan in the late 1940s and 1950s, also accepts the notion there’s one China.

Lai Ching-te, the vice president who is leading the race to succeed Tsai as president, has described himself as a “political worker for Taiwanese independence,” though he’s largely avoided making similar comments on the campaign trail.


He has also said Taiwan is already a de facto sovereign nation and therefore does not need to declare independence.

--With assistance from Debby Wu.

How the wreckage of the Titanic was found during a secret US Navy mission to recover nuclear submarines


Gabbi Shaw
Updated Mon, July 17, 2023 

The wreckage of the Titanic.AP Photo

It took 73 years to find the wreckage of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean.


The ship was finally found in 1985 by explorer Robert Ballard.


Decades later, Ballard revealed that the dive was actually a secret Cold War Navy mission.

Almost immediately after the Titanic sank in April 1912, there were attempts to recover the wreckage and the bodies of those who had gone down with the ship. But the limited diving technology of the time prevented this from becoming a reality for more than seven decades.

In 1985, the wreckage was found during a joint exploration by former Navy officer and oceanographer Robert Ballard and French oceanographer Jean-Louis Michel. But the dive initially had nothing to do with the Titanic at all — it was a secret mission to find the wrecks of two nuclear submarines, the USS Scorpion and the USS Thresher.

Of course, nobody knew that until 2008, when Ballard revealed the true nature of the mission to National Geographic.

"The Navy is finally discussing it," Ballard told National Geographic in 2008.

Robert Ballard during a book tour in 1987.Bettmann/Getty

Originally, Ballard met with the US Navy in 1982 to secure funding for a new type of submersible technology that would allow him to find the Titanic. The Navy agreed to fund the project — but only if it could be used to find the sunken submarines. The USS Thresher sank in April 1963, and the USS Scorpion followed two years later, in May 1965. They remain the only nuclear submarines the Navy has ever lost.

The Navy agreed that Ballard could search for the Titanic if there was any time left in the mission after finding the subs — and after confirming whether or not the Soviet Union had played any part in sinking them.

"We saw no indication of some sort of external weapon that caused the ship to go down," Ronald Thunman, the then-deputy chief of naval operations for submarine warfare, told National Geographic.

A shot of the Titanic wreck in 1996.Xavier Desmier/Gamma-Rapho/Getty

With 12 days left in the mission, Ballard was able to find the Titanic using a hunch that the ship had split in two and left a trail of debris.

"That's what saved our butts," Ballard said. "It turned out to be true."

According to Ballard, the Navy was nervous that people would catch on to why they were actually scouring the ocean floor.

"The Navy never expected me to find the Titanic, and so when that happened, they got really nervous because of the publicity," Ballard said. "But people were so focused on the legend of the Titanic they never connected the dots."

So, 23 years later, Ballard revealed the truth about his mission. He also wrote about his experience finding the ship in his book, "The Discovery of the Titanic."

"It was one thing to have won — to have found the ship," he wrote. "It was another thing to be there. That was the spooky part."

 

Congressmen to EPA: Don’t Trust Texas to Run Carbon Storage

Mitchell Ferman
Mon, July 17, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Two Texas Congressmen are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to reject their state’s effort to oversee underground carbon storage and are calling for an investigation, arguing local regulators can’t be trusted to protect the public.

The EPA currently regulates underground carbon storage across most of the country except in North Dakota and Wyoming, which have been approved to oversee their own efforts. The EPA has minimal staff to regulate subsurface carbon storage, and companies are increasingly interested in capturing carbon and storing it underground due largely to economic incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act.

Texas Democratic US Representatives Joaquin Castro and Lloyd Doggett said in a letter Monday to EPA boss Michael Regan that they are concerned over their state’s enforcers, the Texas Railroad Commission, which is in charge of regulating oil, gas and related activities. They want federal regulators to investigate Texas’ permitting and enforcement of subsurface injections to ensure it adheres to environmental justice standards.

“The Railroad Commission of Texas can’t be trusted to uphold the standards that protect health and safety in communities with carbon capture infrastructure,” Castro said in a statement. “Moreover, Texas regulators are unwilling to meet their existing obligations to plug abandoned oil wells. The EPA must not give the commission more oversight over carbon storage wells and related infrastructure, which are disproportionately located in communities of color already exposed to dangerous levels of pollution.”

A commission spokesperson said in an email that the agency’s “top priority is ensuring the safety and security of Texans and the environment, while also providing a predictable regulatory environment that allows our state to be the nation’s top producer of reliable energy.”

SPACE WEATHER 

'Cannibal' coronal mass ejection that devoured 'dark eruption' from sun will smash into Earth tomorrow (July 18)


Harry Baker

LIVE SCIENCE
Mon, July 17, 2023 

An image of the sun with a white ring surrounding the flash of a solar flare

A "cannibal" coronal mass ejection (CME) birthed from multiple solar storms, including a surprise "dark eruption," is currently on a collision course with Earth and could trigger a sizable geomagnetic storm on our planet when it hits on Tuesday (July 18).

CMEs are large, fast-moving clouds of magnetized plasma and solar radiation that occasionally get flung into space alongside solar flares — powerful explosions on the sun's surface that are triggered when horseshoe-shaped loops of plasma located near sunspots snap in half like an overstretched elastic band. If CMEs smash into Earth, they can cause geomagnetic storms — disturbances in our planet's magnetic field — that can trigger partial radio blackouts and produce vibrant aurora displays much farther away from Earth's magnetic poles than normal.

A cannibal CME is created when an initial CME is followed by a second faster one. When the second CME catches up to the first cloud, it engulfs it, creating a single, massive wave of plasma.

On July 14, the sun launched a CME alongside a dark eruption — a solar flare containing unusually cool plasma that makes it look like a dark wave compared to the rest of the sun's fiery surface — from sunspot AR3370, a small dark patch that until then had gone largely unnoticed, according to Spaceweather.com. On July 15, a second, faster CME was launched from the much larger sunspot AR3363.

A simulation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center showed that the second storm will catch up with the first CME and form a cannibalistic cloud, with a strong likelihood of it hitting Earth on July 18.

Related: 10 signs the sun is gearing up for its explosive peak — the solar maximum

A video clip of two coronal mass ejections erupting from the sun and combining into a single cloud

Both CMEs came from C-class solar flares, the mid-tier of solar eruption strength. On their own, they would be too weak to trigger significant geomagnetic storms. But their combined size and speed mean they are likely to trigger a G1 or G2 level disturbance, the two highest classes for a geomagnetic storm.

Cannibal CMEs are rare because they require successive CMEs that are perfectly aligned and traveling at specific speeds. But there have been several in the last few years.

In November 2021, a cannibal CME smashed into Earth, triggering one of the first major geomagnetic storms of the current solar cycle. Two more CMEs slammed into our planet in 2022, the first in March and another in August, but both only triggered minor G3-class storms.

Cannibal CMEs become more likely during the solar maximum, the chaotic peak of the sun's roughly 11-year solar cycle. During this time, the number of sunspots and solar flares increases sharply as the sun's magnetic field becomes increasingly unstable.

Scientists initially predicted that the next solar maximum would arrive in 2025 and be weak compared to past solar cycles. But Live Science recently reported that the sun's explosive peak could arrive sooner — and be more powerful — than previously expected. Weird solar phenomena, such as cannibal CMEs, further indicates the solar maximum is fast approaching.

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Earth has already been hit by five G1 or G2 geomagnetic storms this year, including the most powerful storm for more than six years. These storms have superheated the thermosphere — the second-highest layer of Earth's atmosphere — to its highest temperature in more than 20 years.

The number of sunspots is also increasing as we approach solar maximum, reaching its highest total for almost 21 years in June.