Greenpeace Protests LNG Terminal Construction at Mukran

Image courtesy Greenpeace / Gregor Fischer

PUBLISHED SEP 7, 2023 10:49 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

On Thursday, a group of Greenpeace activists blockaded an OSV laden with gas pipeline sections at the port of Mukran, Germany. The pipe is destined to become part of a 25-nm gas line from a new LNG receiving terminal at  Mukran to the port of Lubmin, where it will interconnect with the distribution grid. 

The project is a high priority for the German government, which has worked hard to assure continuity of energy supplies for consumers and businesses in spite of a Russian gas shutdown. The administration of Chancellor Olaf Scholz has committed to installing seven LNG receiving terminals in Germany, initially centered on floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs). The Mukran terminal is one of them. 

Greenpeace believes that the scale of of Germany's LNG terminal plans do not align with national climate goals, given the amount of the resulting emissions and the market lock-in that the infrastructure will create. “With oversized LNG projects like here on Rügen, Germany is cementing its dependency on fossil fuels for decades to come. In order to meet the climate targets, gas consumption and thus the volume of LNG imports must fall drastically in the coming years," said Karsten Smid, a Greenpeace spokesman, in a statement Thursday. 

Image courtesy Greenpeace / Gregor Fischer

German environmental organization NABU has also called for a halt to the Mukran-Lubmin pipeline, arguing that it would damage protected marine reserves along the route. "The planned lines run continuously through Natura 2000 areas and legally protected biomes, which will be destroyed or damaged by the construction. The mining authority assessed this environmental destruction in the approval process completely inadequately and incorrectly," NABU state manager Rica Munchberger told NDR.

The pipelayer Castoro 10 is already in place and prepared to begin work shortly. 

 

Anger Builds in Greece After Man is Pushed to His Death by Ferry's Crew

Protestors blocked the departure of the ferry yelling "murder" at the crew (Pame/Facebook)

PUBLISHED SEP 7, 2023 3:12 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Outrage has continued to grow across Greece after the reports that crewmembers from an inter-island ferry pushed a late-arriving passenger to his death Tuesday night and did nothing to help the man when he fell into the harbor. The repercussions from the incident are mounting both within the government and the shipping industry while four members of the ship’s crew were officially brought up on charges stemming from the altercation with the 36-year-old man.

Greece’s Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis responded to public pressure and the media offering further details while promising a full investigation. He confirmed earlier reports that the passenger had purchased a ticket and for unknown reasons had left the ship and then ran back as it was starting to depart and jumped onto the car ramp which was still down. He was pushed back by a crewmember, attempted to get aboard for a second time, and was pushed falling into the water as the Blue Horizon ferry moved away from the dock. The coroner said he drowned although reports are also saying there was a small contusion on his head possibly from hitting the dock or the ramp. Some passengers contend he was hit by the propellers.

Under pressure from the public, the government reportedly has been pressuring the shipping company to take greater responsibility. Attica Group, which owns Blue Star Ferries, made two statements apologizing to the family and friends while calling it an “unjust loss” and saying it happened in an “unimaginable way.”

Wednesday, protestors in the Iraklion port in Crete gathered with the newspapers saying the crowd was blocking the ship’s departure and yelling “murders” at the crew of the ferry. The vessel’s departure was delayed according to the report by five hours.

Today, Attica Group issued a further statement announcing that the board had accepted the resignation of its CEO Spyridon Paschalis. The CFO was named as his interim replacement while the board is promising an “in-depth investigation with the assistance of independent external advisors.” They said they were working to ensure procedures and protocols were never violated again. 

The port authority has already cited the ship for a violation involving departing the dock with its ramp not secured. In addition, media reports are saying that the bridge camera showed a person going overboard but that the captain did not stop the departure. For its part, the shipping company told the media that there was no altercation when the captain ordered the departure and the incident only began after the ropes had been cast off and they were starting the engines.

Dissatisfied by the response, public indignation has centered on the Shipping Ministry and the Coast Guard. The Ministry said it would be investigating the Coast Guard’s role and why no officer was at the ship as required by law. 

The captain of the ship and three crewmembers appeared before a Greek prosecutor on Wednesday. The media is reporting that the captain is being charged with a felony for dangerous navigation. The crewmember who pushed the man is charged with manslaughter while two other crewmembers who witnessed the incident are being charged with complicity to manslaughter. 

Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his personal “disgust and horror,” promising to take all necessary measures to establish accountability and justice.
 

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M 

Surfside condo collapse investigators say pool deck construction 'deviated' from design requirements

LAURA ROMERO
Thu, September 7, 2023

Federal investigators looking into the Surfside, Florida, condo building collapse that killed 98 people in June 2021 revealed new findings in the probe on Thursday.

The report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology's investigation into the cause of the disaster at the Champlain Towers South building says, "the construction of the pool deck deviated from design requirements" and that the "number of slab reinforcing bars centered over vertical columns was inadequate."

"These deviations weakened the slab-column connections," the report said.

PHOTO: Police tape blocks access to a partially collapsed building, June 24, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

Researchers have been studying subsurface conditions of the site to "determine if sinkholes or excessive settling of the pile foundations might have contributed to the collapse," according to the report.

The preliminary evaluation did not reveal evidence of sinkholes, the new findings show.

MORE: Emails suggest slow response to repair plans in the weeks before Surfside condo collapsed

Documents released by Surfside town officials in July 2021 revealed that the pool deck of the condo building and the ceiling of the underground parking garage beneath it had needed repairs as early as 1996.

PHOTO: Rescuers search for survivors at Champlain Towers South, June 29, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

ABC News previously reported that a 2018 Structural Field Survey report released by the city of Surfside found "major structural damage" to concrete structural slabs on the pool deck and failed waterproofing in parts of the tower.

NIST investigators expect their technical work to be completed in late June 2024 and a report with final findings and recommendations is expected by June 2025.

In battle over border barriers, judge calls out Texas' contradictory arguments

SASHA PEZENIK
Thu, September 7, 2023

The Justice Department is likely to succeed on its claim that floating barriers Texas deployed in the Rio Grande to prevent migrants from crossing were illegally installed, a federal judge in Austin ruled -- adding the arguments used to justify the buoys are “unconvincing” and, in at least one instance, unconstitutional.

Judge David Alan Ezra ordered the Lonestar state to move its buoys on Wednesday and said the Justice Department is likely to prevail on its claim that Texas lacked proper authority to install them in the first place and that the state had employed "unconvincing" and conflicting rationale in doing so.

The ruling grants a preliminary injunction to the Department of Justice, which sued Texas for placing the buoys in the Rio Grande in July.

"Governor Abbott announced that he was not 'asking for permission' for Operation Lone Star, the anti-immigration program under which Texas constructed the floating barrier," Ezra wrote. "Unfortunately for Texas, permission is exactly what federal law requires before installing obstructions in the nation's navigable waters."

PHOTO: In this Aug. 1, 2023, file photo, buoys are placed in the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Adam Davis/EPA via Shutterstock, FILE)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said the state will appeal the ruling, calling it "incorrect."

Judge Ezra's order gave the state until Sept. 15 to coordinate with the Army Corps of Engineers to move the buoys -- but Thursday, a U.S. Appeals Court granted a temporary stay allowing Texas to keep the buoys in place -- at least for now.

"We will continue to utilize every strategy to secure the border, including deploying Texas National Guard soldiers and Department of Public Safety troopers and installing strategic barriers," Abbott said in a statement Wednesday. "Our battle to defend Texas' sovereign authority to protect lives from the chaos caused by President Biden's open border policies has only begun."

In court filings, Texas has said the buoy system was deployed as part of that strategy to protect against a surge of "[t]housands of aliens ... including members of cartels that traffic in people, weapons, and vast quantities of drugs like fentanyl."

"By any account, this amounts to 'ent[ry] in a hostile manner.' And the State has the constitutional power to repel that invasion," the state said.

But the judge ruled Texas' "'invasion' defense" is a political question -- not a legal one -- and that even if there were an "invasion" at the Southern border, as they've claimed, then protecting American shores would be the province of the federal government, not Texas.

Ezra, appointed by President Ronald Reagan and serving since 1988, said there are "several constitutional provisions" which "assign the federal government—not states—the authority to recognize and respond to invasions," and "the political question doctrine bars consideration of Texas's 'invasion' defense."

"Texas's self defense argument is unconvincing," the judge wrote.

 In this July 16, 2023, file photo, migrants walk by a string of buoys placed on the water along the Rio Grande border with Mexico, in Eagle Pass, Texas. 

IN THE FOREGROUND IS RAZOR WIRE

(Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images, FILE)

MORE: 2 bodies found in Rio Grande near US-Mexico border: Officials

Though the Lonestar State has repeatedly asserted its sovereignty to defend the border, federal "power to prevent unauthorized obstacles in the nation's navigable waters trumps state policy preferences," the judge said.

The judge rejected not only Texas' claims of authority to install the 1,000-foot-long, four-foot-wide chain of interconnected buoys in the Rio Grande -- but also the way they attempted to characterize that buoy system.

Texas takes the "confusing stance" that the buoys can't be a "structure" (which, in navigable U.S. water, would require an Army Corps of Engineers permit) because buoys "aid navigation," the judge wrote, quoting the state's arguments.

But this is a "convenient" claim from Texas that "contradicts its own description," the judge wrote -- since the state had said the buoys were designed as a "physical barrier" created "to deter illegal crossing in hotspots along the Rio Grande."

"Texas strains credulity with its argument that the floating barrier is not permanent enough to constitute a structure," the judge wrote.

Questions also remain as to how the vast majority of Texas' buoy barriers wound up on Mexico's side of the river, the judge said.

In August, the Justice Department submitted a binational topographic survey, conducted in late July, which found that nearly 80 percent of the barrier was positioned in Mexican waters. A few days later, Texas was "observed seemingly 'repositioning the Floating Barrier' closer to the United States bank," a footnote in the judge's ruling says.

At a hearing, "testimony was elicited that the buoys were moved back into Texas waters. Testimony was also elicited that the buoys could not have drifted," the judge wrote. "But in a statement on August 21, 2023, Governor Abbott indicated that they had drifted."

"There is still some ambiguity as to whether 80% of the buoys ended up in Mexican waters by drifting or by being originally, incorrectly installed there," the judge wrote.

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Kroger, Albertsons plan to sell over 400 stores to C&S Wholesale for nearly $2 billion: Report

Francisco Guzman and Alexander Coolidge, USA TODAY NETWORK

Thu, September 7, 2023 

Kroger and Albertsons supermarkets are in talks to sell more than 400 stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers for nearly $2 billion as part of their proposed $25 billion merger, according to a report from Reuters.

The divestiture, which was first reported to be in the works on Tuesday by Bloomberg, is part of a move to mollify antitrust regulators at the Federal Trade Commission.

Kroger and Albertsons plan to sell stores that are in the Pacific Northwest, the Mountain states and in California, Texas, Illinois, and the East Coast, Reuters reported. A deal could be announced as early as this week.

Kroger and Albertsons outlined the potential sale of 100 to 375 stores when they first announced their proposal in 2022. They have since disclosed they would cap divested stores at 650 locations.

Kroger and Albertsons declined to comment Wednesday and officials with C&S did not respond to emails from the USA TODAY Network seeking comment on the potential deal.

Kroger: Kroger aims to be America's grocery store. The Biden administration may have other ideas

Kroger-Albertsons merger

The proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger would be one of the largest retail takeovers in history. The deal would give Kroger almost 5,000 stores and more than 700,000 workers before an undetermined number of store divestitures.

The two companies have vowed not to close stores or layoff workers, but the unions and other critics are skeptical.

Consumer and union groups have opposed the deal, claiming it would hurt competition and ultimately raise prices and harm workers. Regulators have declined to comment as they decide whether to block it. Kroger executives have vowed to fight for the deal in court.

Data: Grocers like Kroger, Walmart collect shopping data. What I found when requesting mine.

C&S Wholesale Grocers

The deal would give C&S Wholesale, which supplies more than 7,500 supermarkets across the country, a much bigger footprint in the grocery store business.

The private company currently operates a few dozen supermarkets, including 11 Grand Union stores in New York and Vermont as well and an unspecified number of Piggly Wiggly stores in Wisconsin and the Southeast.

SoftBank Group Corp, a Japanese investment group, is talking to C&S Wholesale about helping finance a small portion of the deal, Reuters reported.

Aldi to buy 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket grocery stores

The potential deal comes after Aldi announced last month it was buying about 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores across the Southeast in an agreement with parent company Southeastern Grocers.

Aldi: Aldi to buy 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket grocery stores across the Southeast

"The time was right to build on our growth momentum and help residents in the Southeast save on their grocery bills,” Aldi CEO Jason Hart said in a news release.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kroger, Albertsons to sell over 400 stores to C&S Wholesale: Report

Archaeologists discover 1,000-year-old mummy in Peru

EMMA OGAO

ABC NEWS
Thu, September 7, 2023


Archaeologists have discovered a 1,000-year-old mummy -- believed to be of an adult individual -- in Peru's capital, Lima.

The mummy, which was discovered at the Huaca Pucllana archaeological site in the upscale Miraflores neighborhood, was found alongside two ceramic vessels and textiles.

The discovery becomes the latest in a string of ancient discoveries made in Peru this year.

PHOTO: A general view of Huaca Pucllana, an archaeological site in a residential neighborhood where the remains of a 1,000-year-old mummy were discovered, in Lima, Peru, Sept. 6, 2023.

"I find it quite interesting that right in the heart of Miraflores, in the middle of the city, surrounded by modern buildings and constructions, an important site is still preserved," said lead archaeologist Mirella Ganoza.

Ganoza noted the mummy had long hair and was found seated with bent legs. The remains of the ancient figure were also found with its jaw and long hair still preserved.

PHOTO: A general view of Huaca Pucllana, an archaeological site in a residential neighborhood where the remains of a 1,000-year-old mummy were discovered, in Lima, Peru, Sept. 6, 2023. 

The mummy is thought to date back to 1,000 A.D, belonging to the Yschsma culture, inhabitants of whom lived south of Lima.

"This discovery helps to complement the information we know about the Ychsma culture so far," said Ganoza.

The discovery is the latest in string of century-old discoveries of mummies and pre-Hispanic remains made in Lima, including the discovery in June on a hilltop of a mummy found surrounded by cocoa leaves.

PHOTO: A general view of Huaca Pucllana, an archaeological site in a residential neighborhood where the remains of a 1,000-year-old mummy were discovered, in Lima, Peru, Sept. 6, 2023. 

In March, a Peruvian man was arrested and charged for illegal possession of historical patrimony after he was found in a possession of a mummy believed to be 600 to 800 years old in his cooler delivery bag.

The Huaca Pucllana site is viewed as a Pandora's Box and archaeologists anticipate that many more artifacts could be found.

PHOTO: A general view of Huaca Pucllana, an archaeological site in a residential neighborhood where the remains of a 1,000-year-old mummy were discovered, in Lima, Peru, Sept. 6, 2023. (

Photos Sebastian Castaneda/Reuters

CRY ME A RIVER

U.S. lawmakers raise alarm over new Huawei phone
Morgan Chalfant

SEMAFOR
Thu, September 7, 2023 at 1:54 PM MDT·3 min read

The News

A new Huawei smartphone is drawing intensifying U.S. scrutiny, with some lawmakers suggesting the Chinese chipmaker SMIC may have run afoul of U.S. rules in supplying chips to Huawei for the new product.

“I am very concerned because the industry perception was that China had not been able to get down to a 7-nanometer chip,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va. told Semafor, questioning whether SMIC may have used “sanctioned Western technology or materials” to produce the chips now powering the Huawei Mate 60 Pro. SMIC and Huawei both continue to license some technology from U.S. companies, though they face substantial restrictions.

“This is an area that I think might need additional sanctions,” he added.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who chairs the House select committee on China, said in a statement that SMIC may have violated the Commerce Department’s Foreign Direct Product Rule. He called for ending “all U.S. technology exports to both Huawei and SMIC to make clear any firm that flouts U.S. law and undermines our national security will be cut off from our technology.”

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who suggested Wednesday that SMIC may have violated existing U.S. sanctions, told Semafor in a statement that his committee would be requesting a briefing from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees export controls, including those on cutting-edge chips and technology used to make them.

Warner, too, said he was in touch with the administration and expected to receive a briefing on the development.

The White House said this week it is also seeking more information on the “character and composition” of the chip powering the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, which was released last week.

State-backed Chinese outlets have heralded the new chip design as a sign of the semiconductor industry’s resilience amid U.S. sanctions.

Neither Huawei nor SMIC returned requests for comment.

Know More

Recent analysis indicated that the phone was made with a 7-nanometer processor produced by SMIC, which has been on the Commerce Department’s Entity List and as a result subject to U.S. sanctions since the end of the Trump administration. The sanctions on SMIC limit the company’s ability to acquire U.S. technology, while existing sanctions on Huawei restrict the company from obtaining goods made with American technology.

The phone development has raised doubts about the effectiveness of the U.S. effort to curb China’s access to advanced chips used in weapons, artificial intelligence, and other advanced technology.

“This shouldn’t have been a surprise. The Chinese were just faster than in the past,” Jim Lewis, a technology expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Semafor. “It happened with satellites, it happened with computers, it happened with encryption, it happened with machine tools back in the Reagan administration. You put on tight export controls, the other guys don’t give up and go home.”

At the same time, Lewis said it was worth the U.S. looking into potential violations of its own rules, given that SMIC may have used U.S. equipment to produce the chips. Equipment used to manufacture the more advanced chips is made in the U.S., Japan, and the Netherlands, all of which have placed restrictions on exports of chipmaking equipment to China.

Lewis said officials could reverse engineer the phone to examine how the chip was made and potentially determine where SMIC procured the equipment from.

“It’s difficult to believe they did this entirely on their own,” he said. “But it’s also not impossible.”

Opinion

Will Arizonans soon need to seek abortion care in more progressive …

(CATHOLIC) Mexico?

EJ Montini, Arizona Republic
Thu, September 7, 2023 

Abortion-rights activists protest outside the Arizona State Senate following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, in Phoenix on June 24, 2022.

If what happened in Mexico on Wednesday would have happened in, say, the 1980s, Americans would have said, “It’s about time.”

If it had happened in the 1990s we would have said, “What took them so long?”

If it had happened in the 2000s, or the 2010s, or even in the early 2020s we would have huffed and puffed and declared that it was way, WAY overdue.

But it happened on Wednesday, when Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide, and suddenly the United States — which had been 50 years ahead — is now 50 years behind.

Arizona could be 100 years behind

And possibly 100 years behind in Arizona, where the state Supreme Court will consider whether to put in force an 1864 abortion ban that comes with a two- to five-year prison sentence for anyone providing an abortion.

The revival of that law became possible when the U.S. Supreme Court tossed nearly 50 years of precedent and overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that had affirmed a woman’s constitutional right to abortion.

The Arizona Legislature had passed a 15-week abortion ban, but that law is challenged by the right-wing Alliance Defending Freedom (backed by many of the Republicans in the Legislature) who are hoping to put the never-repealed 1864 law back into effect.

After Roe v. Wade: How reproductive rights have changed

In 2022, a poll conducted by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute found that 62% of Arizonans support legalized abortion.

Group would put abortion rights on ballot

A coalition of abortion rights advocates is counting on that majority to pass a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights up to fetal viability, or around 24 weeks.

They’re hoping to put such a question on the ballot but will need to collect at least 383,923 valid signatures to do so. The group behind what they call the Arizona for Abortion Access initiative hopes to start collecting those signatures this month.

Gov. Katie Hobbs issued an executive order that bars county attorneys from prosecuting abortion law violations. But that isn’t a solid solution.

When the initiative proposal was announced, she issued a statement saying, “I’ve been a lifelong advocate for Arizonans’ reproductive freedom, and I’ve repeatedly said that I do not believe the government or politicians should be in the business of making personal healthcare decisions. I’m confident that Arizonans will vote for reproductive freedom next November.”

Should that not happen, and Arizona law reverts to the draconian past, women here may have to seek care in what would be the more health conscious and progressive locale of … Mexico.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Will Arizona seek abortion care in a more progressive ... Mexico?

Developing countries propose $100bn climate damage fund

NO WAY WE'RE FUCKING PAYING SAYS U$ CLIMATE CZAR 

Wed, September 6, 2023

FILE PHOTO: Flooding in Zhuozhou

By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Developing countries have proposed that a new U.N. fund unlocks at least $100 billion by 2030 to address irreversible damage caused by climate change, as states prepare to discuss who will benefit and who will pay in at the U.N. COP28 climate summit.

Countries will attempt to hammer out the details of the climate "loss and damage" fund at the summit taking place from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 in Dubai. If launched, it would be the first U.N. fund dedicated to addressing irreparable damage from climate-fuelled drought, floods and rising sea levels.

While countries agreed to the fund last year, they postponed the most contentious decisions, including which countries will pay into it.

At a United Nations committee meeting last week, developing countries including those in Africa, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and small island states, proposed that the climate damage fund should programme at least $100 billion by 2030.

The published proposal said $100 billion should be a "minimum" and provide a safety net when climate impacts overburden a country's capacity to cope.

"Loss and damage is not just an environmental setback; it's unravelling decades of development efforts," said Madeleine Diouf Sarr, chair of the Least Developed Countries group of 46 nations, which supports the $100 billion proposal.

However, decisions at COP28 need unanimous backing from the nearly 200 countries that attend U.N. climate summits - and the proposal is at odds with the stance of some wealthy nations expected to contribute to the fund.

TOUGH TALKS AHEAD

Diplomats said the U.N. meeting last week did not resolve the most contentious issues around the fund.

Last year's U.N. deal ended years of deadlock over climate damages funding - which the United States and European Union had previously resisted, concerned it could lead to liabilities for countries whose historical emissions fuelled climate change.

But countries are now at odds over which nations should pay into the fund, and which should receive support.

Michai Robertson, who represented the small island developing states' group at last week's U.N. meeting, said all developing nations should be eligible to receive support.

However, small island states - which are among the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts - caveat that this "open to all" approach must also ensure small, highly vulnerable communities are not sidelined by the demands of bigger nations.

The U.N. definition of developed countries that should contribute to climate finance - which dates back to the 1990s - does not include major economies like China and high wealth-per-capita nations like the United Arab Emirates, which is President of this year's UN climate summit.

Wealthy nations want a more targeted fund. A draft of the European Union's negotiating position for COP28, seen by Reuters, said the fund "should focus on developing countries that are particularly vulnerable".

Countries are also split over who should pay.

A United States proposal suggested the fund should attract cash from governments, the private sector, philanthropies and new "innovative sources". A section on which countries should pay was left blank. "There are currently differences of views," the US proposal said.

Looming over the talks is wealthy nations' failure to meet a 2009 pledge to provide $100 billion per year from 2020 in climate finance to poorer nations. That broken promise has fuelled mistrust and resentment among poor nations facing calls to cut their CO2 emissions but struggling raise money to do this.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; editing by Richard Valdmanis, Alexandra Hudson)

 $23 billion pledged at Africa Climate Summit, but leaders warn of need ‘to act with urgency’

Jacopo Prisco, CNN
Thu, September 7, 2023 

The inaugural Africa Climate Summit drew to a close on Wednesday, with the host, Kenya’s president William Ruto, saying that a total of $23 billion had been pledged to green projects by governments, investors, development banks and philanthropists.

The summit, which focussed on driving green growth and climate finance solutions, concluded with the “Nairobi Declaration,” a call from African leaders for urgent action on climate change, which included a request for new global taxes on carbon pollution as well as phasing out coal use and ending fossil fuel subsidies.

African heads of state and government warned that many African countries face “disproportionate burdens and risks” from climate change, and called on the global community “to act with urgency” in reducing planet-heating pollution and supporting the continent in addressing the problem.

“Africa is not historically responsible for global warming, but bears the brunt of its effect, impacting lives, livelihoods, and economies,” the leaders said in the joint declaration.

Among the most eye-catching finance announcements, the United Arab Emirates pledged $4.5 billion to clean energy initiatives in Africa. The pledge was announced by Sultan Al-Jaber, the head of the UAE’s national oil company, ADNOC, and the government-owned renewable energy company, Masdar. He will also serve as the president of COP28, the annual UN climate meeting that will take place in Dubai starting in November.

“It is our ambition that this will launch a new transformative partnership to jumpstart a pipeline of bankable clean energy projects in this important continent,” Al-Jaber said, adding that the investment could lead to the generation of 15 gigawatts of clean energy by 2030. Africa’s current clean energy generation capacity is 56 gigawatts.

The initiative marks a positive development, according to Yemi Osinbajo, former vice president of Nigeria and now an advisor for the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), a consortium that helps developing countries shift to clean energy.

“It reflects a commitment to addressing the pressing issue of climate change by investing in renewable and sustainable energy solutions in Africa, which is essential for reducing emissions, creating jobs and driving social and economic development,” he told CNN

At the Africa Climate Summit, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres noted that the continent was responsible for less than four per cent of global carbon emissions. - LUIS TATO/AFP/AFP via Getty Images

Germany announced 450 million euros (about $481 million) of climate finance pledges, and and the US pledged $30 million to support climate resilient food security efforts across Africa. Hundreds of millions more were offered following an initiative to boost Africa’s carbon credit production 19-fold by 2030.

Carbon credits are used by companies to offset carbon emissions, and are usually generated by financing projects that aim to reduce carbon pollution in the atmosphere, such as tree planting, or reduce planet-heating pollution by promoting switching to renewable energy, especially in developing countries.

“Carbon credits could be a game-changer for Africa,” said Osinbajo. “They have the potential to unlock billions for the climate finance needs of African economies while expanding energy access, creating jobs, protecting biodiversity, and driving climate action.”

However, campaigners in Nairobi protested against this approach, arguing that carbon credits are flawed and allow wealthy countries and companies to continue to pollute.

A new framing

In the joint declaration, African leaders called upon the global community “to act with urgency in reducing emissions, fulfilling its obligations, keeping past promises, and supporting the continent in addressing climate change.”

They pointed to steps to achieve this, including accelerating efforts to reduce emissions, honoring the commitment to provide $100 billion in annual climate finance as promised at the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, and upholding commitments to “a fair and accelerated process of phasing down coal, and abolishment of all fossil fuel subsidies.”

“Decarbonizing the global economy is also an opportunity to contribute to equality and shared prosperity,” the leaders said.

According to Osinbajo, the summit provided a “new framing” of Africa, not as victim, but as a key solution to the climate crisis. He said that “with its untapped renewable energy potential, the world’s youngest and fastest growing workforce, and critical minerals and resources, (Africa) has the fundamentals to become a cost-competitive green industrial hub, greening both African and global consumption and removing carbon from the air.”

On this day in history, September 8, 1966, iconic TV series 'Star Trek' premieres

Christine Rousselle
Thu, September 7, 2023 

"Star Trek" first took its audiences aboard the starship Enterprise on Sept. 8, 1966.

STAR TREK DIVERSITY ON THE RIGHT; 

AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN, ASIAN AMERICAN, JEWISH AMERICAN.

The world first met Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock on this day in history, Sept. 8, 1966, with the premiere of the television series "Star Trek."

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before," said actor William Shatner in the show's opening.

Shatner played Captain James T. Kirk.

Throughout the series, the crew of the starship Enterprise "confront strange alien races, friendly and hostile alike, as they explore unknown worlds," said the official "Star Trek" website.

The series' first episode, "The Man Trap," was actually the sixth episode produced, said the website IMDB.

"After landing on planet M-113, the Enterprise is stalked by a creature which can assume the shape and form of anyone it chooses, and which kills by removing the entire salt content of its victims' bodies," said the episode's summary on Apple TV.

Actor William Shatner shown in a scene from an episode of the TV series "Star Trek" entitled "The Man Trap." It was the first episode to air.

The first pilot produced, "The Cage," was nixed as it was considered "too cerebral" for NBC's audiences, said IMDB.

"The Cage" would not see a wide release until Oct. 14, 1986.

Conversely, "The Man Trap" had a monster and "more action" than the other five episodes, said IMDB, which NBC thought would be more appealing to audiences.

While "Star Trek" is now a cultural phenomenon with scores of dedicated "Trekkies," the first iteration of "Star Trek" was not nearly as commercially successful.

The show, which is now referred to as "Star Trek: The Original Series," was canceled after just three seasons and 79 episodes.

The program gained a cult following during its syndication, notes Encyclopedia Britannica. Nearly two decades after its cancellation, "Star Trek" was rebooted into "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

That show, which aired from 1987-1994, starred Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

"Nearly 100 years after Kirk, Spock and the original Enterprise patrolled the galaxy, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a new U.S.S. Enterprise and a new crew carry forth Starfleet’s orders to ‘seek out new life and new civilizations’ and ‘to boldly go where no one has gone before,’" says Star Trek's website.

There have now been 11 "Star Trek" television series, as well as 13 movies.

The current version of "Star Trek" is "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," which is available to stream on Paramount+.

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" debuted in 2022 and takes place before the events of "Star Trek: The Original Series," says its website.

William Shatner as Captain Kirk, DeForest Kelley as Dr. "Bones" McCoy and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock in a promotional portrait for the TV series, "Star Trek."

September 8 is now celebrated worldwide by "Trekkies" as "Star Trek Day," says the "Star Trek" website.

"On that day, ‘Star Trek’ creator Gene Roddenberry introduced audiences to a world that championed diversity, inclusion, acceptance and hope," said the "Star Trek" website.

"Fifty-seven years later, we celebrate the day and the franchise’s enduring legacy with the fourth annual ‘Star Trek Day’ celebration."

Original article source: On this day in history, September 8, 1966, iconic TV series 'Star Trek' premieres