ALLITERATION
Biden-Backed Battery Firm Plunges After Pausing Construction

LIKE OBAMA SOLAR SCANDAL

Joe Deaux and Ari Natter
Mon, October 23, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., which is set to receive significant backing from the Biden administration, saw its share price slashed nearly in half after announcing it would pause construction on a first-of-its-kind lithium-ion-battery recycling plant.

The Toronto company said it would halt work on its Rochester Hub pending completion of a strategic review, including scope and budget. Li-Cycle said it is facing escalating construction costs that exceed prior guidance and is working closely with the US Energy Department concerning its offer of a $375 million loan commitment.

Li-Cycle is one of the many companies vying to help the US meet surging demand for battery materials needed in the transition from gas-powered cars. The government is pouring billions of dollars in subsidies and tax incentives to build up a domestic supply chain, intended to help the US compete with China’s dominant industry position. The setback shows the challenges the US and the West face trying to essentially kick-start an industry from scratch.

Li-Cycle shares fell as much as 49% in New York. The stock closed at $1.23, down 46% for the day, its largest drop on record.

“The board of directors has decided to pause construction work on the Rochester Hub, pending a review of the project, including an evaluation of the go-forward phasing of its scope and budget, including construction strategy,” according to the statement. “As previously disclosed, engineering and procurement for the project are largely complete, with the current focus being on construction activities on site.”

Shares jumped 6% in February after the Biden administration announced the company’s US subsidiary would receive the loan to help finance expansion of a facility to recycle lithium-ion batteries into chemicals that can be used for the batteries of more than 200,000 electric vehicles a year. The funding is from the department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program amid a broader White House goal of having half of all car sales in 2030 be zero-emissions.

The unexpected announcement comes as congressional Republicans have vowed to find the next Solyndra LLC in their criticism of the hundreds of billions of dollars in new loan authority given to the Energy Department in President Joe Biden’s signature climate law. Solyndra, a California solar manufacturer that flopped soon after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee during the Obama administration, resulted in a years-long pause in loan activity amid intense congressional scrutiny.

The Energy Department said the Li-Cycle loan is still in the conditional phase and no money has yet been distributed.

(Updates with shares in fourth graph, expanded company comment in fifth graph.)

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ABOLISH BOARDING SCHOOLS

Mother files wrongful death lawsuit against now-closed Christian boarding school in Missouri

Mon, October 23, 2023



MISSION, Kan. (AP) — A mother is suing a shuttered Christian boarding school in Missouri, blaming her son's death on a gang rape and other abuse he endured there.

Agape Boarding School has been subjected to a wave of litigation as a series of abuse allegations emerged, but the case filed this month and amended Monday in federal court by Kathleen Britt is believed to be the first wrongful death suit.

The suit said that mental health problems plagued Britt's son, Jason Britt, after he left the private school, where several staffers subsequently were charged. The suit said he lifted weights obsessively and ingested copious steroids so he would become so strong that he never would be victimized again.

He grew so despondent that he wrote a suicide note. But heart and kidney failure were what claimed his life in February 2022.

“The saddest part of his case is he finally found a cause to live when the circumstances of his choices ended up killing him,” said attorney Rebecca Randles. “It is one of those completely devastatingly sad situations.”

Among those named in the suit are the school, a company that transported students there, and Cedar County Sheriff James McCrary. Agape’s attorney and the sheriff didn't immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Jason Britt's parents turned to Agape because they were worried about his slipping grades and partying. In 2010, the then-16-year-old was awoken in the middle of the night while staying with his girlfriend. The men who transported him to Agape zip tied his hands and told him he had been given up for adoption, the suit said.

Instead of the counseling his parents were promised, the school was “a concentration camp or torture colony cloaked in the guise of religion," the suit said. Upon arriving, his head was shaved. And when he tried to write to his family about what was happening, he was punished. The maltreatment culminated in him being gang raped, the suit said.

The suit said the sheriff's department knew of reports of abuse at Agape and a sister boarding school. But despite those reports, deputies routinely returned runaways to their schools without effectively investigating or reporting concerns to state welfare workers.

Some of the sheriff's department staff also worked at the school, the suit said.

When Jason Britt's mother visited, she was alarmed by her son's demeanor and took him home, the suit said. The family learned he had been abused at the school, but they were ignored by Cedar County authorities, the lawsuit said. Anxious and withdrawn, he finished high school online and grew obsessed with weight lifting.

“The steroids, testosterone, high blood pressure and anxiety coupled with the drug addiction were the mechanism of his death; the cause of his death was the abuse at Agape,” the suit said.

More than a dozen other former students have settled lawsuits alleging they were abused at the southwest Missouri school.

When it shut down in January, it was the fourth and last unlicensed Christian boarding school to close in Cedar County since September 2020. The school’s former director, Bryan Clemensen, said the school, whose enrollment had tumbled, closed because it did not have the funding to continue.

Former Agape students came forward with abuse allegations in 2020. One former student said he was raped at Agape and called “seizure boy” because of his epilepsy. Others said they suffered permanent injuries from being disciplined or forced to work long hours of manual labor.

In 2021, Agape’s longtime doctor, David Smock, was charged with child sex crimes and five employees were charged with low-level abuse counts. Then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office contended that 22 workers should have been charged, and with more serious crimes.

But in Missouri, only the local prosecutor can file charges, and Cedar County Prosecuting Attorney Ty Gaither has said no additional employees would be charged.

Heather Hollingsworth, The Associated Press

Why Venezuela Is About to Lose Its Oil Crown Jewel

Fabiola Zerpa, Nicolle Yapur and Jef Feeley
Mon, October 23, 2023



(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela is entering the final stage of a long legal battle in which its most valuable foreign asset, Citgo Petroleum Corp., will be auctioned off to settle claims against the government and its oil company.

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The sale starts on Monday with the expected distribution of marketing materials to potential buyers, setting off a bidding process expected to last several months.

Citgo had been shielded by US sanctions against Venezuela that prevented creditors from seizing the refiner. But a US judge ordered the process for the sale of its parent company, PDV Holding Inc., to begin this month after Washington signaled it wouldn’t stand in the way.

More than 20 plaintiffs are now seeking to collect on the auction, scheduled for June 6, while navigating legal roadblocks Venezuela has thrown up. They include bondholders, commercial lenders and companies whose Venezuela assets were taken over by former President Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013.

1. Who controls Citgo and why does Venezuela have to sell it?

The Venezuelan opposition currently controls the refiner. Citgo has been trapped in a battle between two political factions since 2019, following the US government’s recognition of Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate president. Guaido’s appointees were then authorized by the US to act as representatives of the company in US courts.

By then Venezuela’s creditors — a varied group that holds a mix of arbitration awards, unpaid loans and defaulted bonds — had begun to seek compensation in the courts, and Citgo had emerged as the most valuable asset in the mix.

The sanctions bar any transfer or sale of assets belonging to Venezuela’s state-owned energy company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, which owns PDV Holding, Citgo’s parent. But the US said in May that it wouldn’t block the court-ordered sale of PDV Holding or take action against companies participating in the process. That bolstered creditor optimism.

The Venezuelan opposition, which includes Guaido but is splintered, has tried to settle the most pressing claims, including by Canadian mining company Crystallex International Corp., but negotiations have been overtaken by the now imminent sale of the company.

The economic backdrop of the fight over Citgo includes Venezuela’s seven-year recession and one of the longest bouts of hyperinflation in world history, which were sparked by a steep drop in oil prices and the tough US sanctions. The country’s oil exports, responsible for more than 90% of its income, collapsed amid industry mismanagement, corruption and restrictions on international trade.

Even as Venezuela’s oil industry crashed, Citgo thrived under better refining margins and as market conditions improved.

2. How do creditors line up for the sale?

Creditors seeking payment from the sale of the shares of Citgo’s parent need to take a number of steps required by US Circuit Judge Leonard Stark, who is in charge of the process leading to the sale. He has favored a first-come, first-served basis for companies to participate in the auction, and all requirements must be fulfilled by May. More than 20 plaintiffs have filed for compensation, bringing the total claims to about $20 billion.

Only Crystallex, which won a $1.2 billion award against Venezuela, has completed all the requirements, from proving that Venezuela owes it money to obtaining a writ of attachment from the court against the shares of PDV Holding. The rest of the creditors have yet to complete all the steps. Some of them have had their proceedings slowed by Venezuela’s appeal.

3. How much is Citgo worth?

The value of Citgo, the parent company’s sole asset, has increased in the past few years as crude prices soared during the pandemic and now amid high energy prices driven partly by the war in Ukraine. Experts have valued the firm from $8.1 billion to $23.5 billion. EMFI Securities estimates that Citgo is worth between $13.3 billion and $14 billion. Citgo has said it could tap its $3 billion cash pile to settle claims.

Read More: Venezuela Faces Loss of Citgo — and Desperately Needed Dollars

Under these valuations, the share sale would be enough to satisfy at least the most immediate creditors, including Crystallex. But Venezuela has about $160 billion in outstanding debt, including defaulted bonds, loans and arbitration awards.

4. Who might buy Citgo?

The purchase of Citgo could be an attractive proposition for various potential buyers.

The refiner owns three refineries and has 38 fully or jointly owned terminals, as well as a network of about 4,200 gas stations. Its assets were highly profitable last year, with each site earning between $1.6 billion and $3 billion, and are “highly competitive” in North America, with two ranking in the second 25% in 2022, said Alan Gelder, an analyst for refining markets at the consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

It could interest buyers seeking to expand their businesses or as a financial investment, according to Jorge Piedrahita, the chief executive officer of Gear Capital Partners in New York.

Companies such as Marathon Petroleum Corp. and Valero Energy Corp. would be in the first group, Piedrahita said, while private equity funds may be interested because of Citgo’s competitiveness and ability to generate cash. Independent refiners might be interested, too.

Given the sanctions, any share transfer will require a license from the US Treasury. The buyer would have to pass government scrutiny as well.

5. What’s the timeline for Citgo’s sale?

An initial schedule set in July by Special Master Robert Pincus was modified on Monday, the launch date, nearly a week after US sanctions on Venezuela were eased. Pincus changed the selling procedure from a so-called stalking horse bidder to a traditional two-round bidding process, customary for merger-and-acquisition sales “in an effort to increase competition among potential bidders.” Creditors must complete some steps to be eligible to bid by Jan. 12, and first round of bids is set for Jan. 22. The second one is to be determined. The final hearing to approve the sale is set for July 15. The new key dates reflect a less restrictive calendar compared to the one approved in July of this year.

Remaining litigation could slow the process.

Last week, the Biden administration issued a set of licenses to suspend some sanctions against Venezuela’s oil and gas sector, bonds and gold. US Treasury also extended a protection on Citgo which prevents holders of the PDVSA 2020 bonds from seizing the shares of the refiner’s parent until after January 2024. However, as the US still doesn’t recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate ruler, the company remains under the opposition’s control.

US Justice Department officials say government wouldn’t take sanctions enforcement actions against entities participating in the sale of Citgo’s parent company


PDVSA notes due in 2020, backed by a 50.1% stake in Citgo Holding, jump as a date for the auction of Citgo’s parent is set


New York hedge fund Tenor Capital Management is set for a big win after investing in Crystallex


Federal judge sets date to launch the sale process


The US suspends sanctions on Venezuelan oil, gas and gold production and lifted some restrictions on bond trading

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MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Chevron buys Hess for $53 billion, 2nd megadeal in the oil patch this month as energy prices soar


Mon, October 23, 2023 


NEW YORK — Chevron is buying Hess Corp. for $53 billion and it’s not even the biggest acquisition in the energy sector this month as major producers seize the initiative while oil prices surge.

Crude prices rose sharply in early 2022 with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and are hovering around $90 per barrel after ticking another 9% higher this year. That has made big drillers cash rich and they are looking for places to invest.

The Chevron-Hess deal comes less than two weeks after Exxon Mobil said that it would acquire Pioneer Natural Resources for about $60 billion.

Upward pressure on oil prices are being applied from a number of fronts including the war in Ukraine. Oil markets are being stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia, and now, a war between Israel and Hamas runs the risk of igniting a broader conflict in the Middle East. While attacks on Israel do not disrupt global oil supply, according to an analysis by the U.S Energy Information Administration, “they raise the potential for oil supply disruptions and higher oil prices.”

Chevron said Monday that the acquisition of Hess adds a major oil field in Guyana as well as shale properties in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota. Guyana is a South American country of 791,000 people that is poised to become the world’s fourth-largest offshore oil producer, placing it ahead of Qatar, the United States, Mexico and Norway. It has become a major producer in recent years with oil giants, including Exxon Mobil, China’s CNOOC, and also Hess, squared off in a heated competition for highly lucrative oil fields in northern South America.

“This combination is aligned with our objective to safely deliver higher returns and lower carbon,” Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth said in prepared remarks. “In addition, Hess increases Chevron’s estimated production and free cash flow growth rates over the next five years, and is expected to extend our growth profile into the next decade supporting our plans to increase our peer-leading dividend growth and share repurchases.”

Chevron is paying for Hess with stock. Hess shareholders will receive 1.0250 shares of Chevron for each Hess share. Including debt, Chevron valued the deal at $60 billion.

And even with alarms being raised over climate change after a summer of record-smashing temperatures, elevated energy prices have driven more exploration and more drilling, and big payouts for investors.

There have been a number of acquisitions focused on U.S. shale fields and another round of consolidation in the energy sector began during the pandemic as big producers sought to cut costs. In the summer of 2020, Chevron announced that it was buying Noble Energy for $5 billion. Chevron made the deal when crude prices were down more than 30% in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. That same year, ConocoPhillips bought shale producer Concho Resources in an all-stock deal valued at $9.7 billion.

Last month Britain gave the go-ahead for a major oil and gas project in the North Sea, ignoring warnings from scientists and the United Nations that countries must stop developing new fossil fuel resources if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Chevron said the deal will help to increase the amount of cash given back to shareholders. The company anticipates that in January it will be able to recommend boosting its first-quarter dividend by 8% to $1.63. This would still need board approval. The company also expects to increase stock buybacks by $2.5 billion to the top end of its guidance range of $20 billion per year once the transaction closes.

The boards of both Chevron and Hess have approved the deal announced Monday after six months of negotiations, and is targeted to close in the first half of next year. It still needs approval by Hess shareholders. John Hess, the company's CEO, is expected to join Chevron’s board. His family owns a large chunk of Hess.

Shares of Chevron Corp., based in San, Ramon, California, fell 3.7% Monday. Shares of New York-based Hess Corp. ended down 1%.

Michelle Chapman, The Associated Press

The Unraveling Web of Chinese Cyber Scams in Southeast Asia

Story by Aqsa Younas Rana • 1d


The Unraveling Web of Chinese Cyber Scams in Southeast Asia

© Provided by BNN Breaking

In a digital era, where technology offers unprecedented opportunities for development, it also provides fertile ground for illicit activities. Southeast Asia has become the latest theatre for this digital duel, witnessing a dramatic rise in cyber scams orchestrated by Chinese criminal syndicates. These scams have ensnared tens of thousands of individuals, many of whom are Chinese nationals, and despite a series of crackdowns, continue to thrive in the region. This investigative piece delves into the rise of these cyber scam networks, their intricate strategies, and the challenges faced in dismantling them.

The Modus Operandi of Chinese Cyber Scam Networks

Social media platforms, the virtual marketplaces of our times, are the hunting grounds of these networks. They lure individuals with alluring yet fictitious investment schemes, job offers, and even digital romances. The tools of this trade are as diverse as they are devious - scripts, images of models and influencers, and translation software - all purposed to deceive their targets. The scams often originate from areas where China's Belt and Road Initiative has funded large construction projects, drawing Chinese criminals seeking to exploit the region's lax law enforcement.

The Role of Chinese Criminal Syndicates and Local Elites

The puppeteers behind these operations are Chinese criminal syndicates, often working in collusion with local elites. Myanmar, with its porous law enforcement, serves as a popular base for these syndicates. They frequently collaborate with ethnic minority armed groups controlling the country's border regions. The syndicates' reach extends to Chinese state enterprises, think tanks, and government officials, adding layers of complexity to the efforts aimed at dismantling these networks.

Challenges in Combating Chinese Cyber Scam Networks

The fight against these cyber scam networks has proven an uphill battle. Despite joint operations between regional and Chinese authorities, the enforcement actions are often seen as inadequate. The criminals simply relocate when one location is targeted, making it almost impossible to eradicate these operations. The involvement of local elites and the sprawling reach of Chinese crime syndicates represent formidable obstacles to dismantling these networks.

Implications for China and Southeast Asia

The pervasiveness of these cyber scam networks holds serious implications for both China and Southeast Asia. China's image abroad is tarnished, and the fear of becoming a victim discourages Chinese tourists from visiting Southeast Asia, impacting the region's tourism industry. Reports of young people exploited and forced into scam operations underline the human cost of these criminal networks. The difficulty in combating these networks also raises questions about the effectiveness of regional law enforcement and the need for closer cooperation among Southeast Asian nations.

The rise of Chinese cyber scam networks in Southeast Asia underscores a complex law enforcement challenge. These networks, exploiting lax law enforcement and facilitated by local elites, continue to operate with relative impunity. The efforts to crack down on these scams have so far seen limited success, underscoring the need for more comprehensive and sustained initiatives. The implications of these networks extend beyond financial losses, impacting China's global standing and deterring Chinese tourists. A solution to this issue requires closer cooperation between Southeast Asian countries and a concerted effort to dismantle the criminal networks that perpetuate these scams.

China's crackdown on cyber scams in Southeast Asia ensnares thousands but leaves the networks intact

Mon, October 23, 2023 



BANGKOK (AP) — Zhang Hongliang, a former restaurant manager in central China, took various gigs in and outside China to support his family after losing his job during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March, a job offer to teach Chinese cooking at a restaurant led him into a cyber scam compound in Myanmar, where he was instead ordered to lure Chinese into giving up their savings for fake investment schemes via social media platforms.

Zhang is one of tens of thousands of people, mostly but not all Chinese, who have become ensnared in cyber scam networks run by powerful Chinese criminal syndicates in Southeast Asia. Regional and Chinese authorities have netted thousands of people in a crackdown, but experts say they are failing to root out the local elites and criminal networks that are bound to keep running the schemes.

When scam operations are shut down in one place they often just resurface elsewhere. The problem is an embarrassment for Beijing and is discouraging ordinary Chinese from traveling to Southeast Asia out of fear they might be duped or kidnapped and caught up in a cyber scam operation.

In recent years, media reports have uncovered instances of young people being lured to places in Cambodia or Myanmar for high-paying jobs, only to be forced to work as scammers. Rescue organizations say people are regularly beaten or face physical punishments such as being forced to run laps if they don't perform well.

In August, China, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar agreed to set up a joint police operations center to tackle cyber scams in the region. On Oct. 10, China’s Ministry of Public Security announced that its “Summer Operation” had successfully brought back 2,317 scam suspects from northern Myanmar to China.

China calls such people suspects, though experts say most of them are victims who were forced to work for the criminals. They question how they will be treated once back in China.

The schemes based in countries like Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia are run by Chinese bosses hand-in-hand with local elites. Many are based in places where China has financed big construction projects through leader Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative.

Myanmar's border regions long have been a magnet for criminals — historically including drug producers and traffickers — because of lax law enforcement. Such places are generally under the control of ethnic minority armed groups, either opposed to or allied with Myanmar’s central government. Some also cooperate with organized crime gangs.

“From the vantage point of the Chinese government, it’s a source of extreme embarrassment that you have so many of these Chinese criminals operating all across Southeast Asia,” said Jason Tower, an expert on transnational crime with the United States Institute of Peace.

The syndicates also are known for “pig butchering” cons, where scammers entice individuals, often halfway across the world, to invest their money in bogus schemes after duping them into digital romances.

The scammers divide their targets into two categories: Chinese and non-Chinese. They use scripts, images of models and influencers and translation software to trick the people they contact by phone or online into parting with their money. Victims can be anywhere in the world.

The criminals have “ridden on the shoulders of the Belt and Road Initiative,” said Tower, who outlined links between the criminals and Chinese state enterprises, think tanks and government officials in a 2020 report written for the United States Institute of Peace.

Zhang was working in Thailand and on a visa run to Laos when he met the man who lured him to the scam compound in Myanmar. Giving what he said was his last name, Gao, he claimed to be a broker and travel agent for Chinese living in Thailand. Zhang and his wife wanted extra money to pay for in vitro fertilization to have another child. Gao suggested he go work in Myawaddy, in eastern Myanmar’s Kayin state, teaching a local chef how to cook Chinese dishes in Gao’s new restaurant. The pay would be double what Zhang made in China.

Zhang was wary. Since a 2021 coup, military-controlled Myanmar has been embroiled in civil conflict. But Gao reassured him that he wouldn’t be doing anything illegal and said the restaurant would have plenty of customers since many cyber scam businesses were operating in the area.

That might have raised a red flag but it was only once he got to Myanmar that Zhang realized his predicament. He asked to go back home, saying there was a family emergency. His family helped him scrape together some 40,000 yuan ($5,472) to pay off the debt Gao claimed he owed him, and he slipped away one night, swimming across the Moei River into Thailand, where he turned himself in to Thai police, who contacted the Chinese Embassy.

Zhang showed the AP copies of his deportation notice from the Thai Immigration police and a temporary ID card. He returned to China in late June and was questioned by Chinese police but not detained. He has been sharing his story on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to alert others to the risks and says people often contact him about relatives trapped in cyber scam compounds.

“We all went out with this wonderful sense of hope, but then reality slammed us in the face,” he said.

In total, China has detained some 4,000 suspects and returned them back to China.

The Ministry of Public Security has claimed “breakthrough results” through operations in coordination with Myanmar authorities. On Monday, they announced they had repatriated another 2,349 people. The ministry did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

One 31-year old former chef who was smuggled into Myanmar’s Wa State earlier this year said he saw his company hand over four people to Chinese police with little fanfare in September. Other companies did the same, said the man, who was smuggled into Myanmar and later rescued by a non-profit organization. He declined to be named out of fear of government retribution, and The Associated Press could not independently verify his account.

Overall, the enforcement actions don’t seem very comprehensive, experts say. The groups now based in Myanmar originally were located in Cambodia. When Cambodia cracked down on online gambling rings and illegal casinos in 2019, many of the groups just moved to less well policed places in Myanmar. Some were taken over by rival gangs.

China's efforts to repair its image have so far not made much headway, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University.

“You can crack down on these symptoms and the manifestations … that you can see in the borderland areas," he said, "but they’ll come back unless you really have a sustained effort."

-—-

AP researcher Wanqing Chen in Beijing and AP writers Grant Peck and Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Huizhong Wu, The Associated Press

‘Impossible’ to decarbonise F1 without alternative fuels, says Nico Rosberg




Danny Halpin, PA Environment Correspondent
Mon, 23 October 2023 

It is “impossible” for F1 to decarbonise without the development of alternative fuels, former driver Nico Rosberg has said.

The sport is aiming to become net zero by 2030 and is pinning its hopes on developing “drop-in” fuels that can be used with existing vehicles.

New cars are fuelled using 90% regular and 10% ethanol, and F1 is working with Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Aramco to try to develop a low or zero carbon alternative that can supply 100% of the cars’ fuel source by 2026.

A recent report found that F1 produced around 256,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2019 – whereas the average UK car produces nearly 1.7 tonnes annually – though only 0.7% of this comes from the racing vehicles themselves.

More than 70% of the sport’s emissions come from logistics and transport – the shipping and flying of people and equipment across the 23 annual grands prix races taking place on almost every continent.

Asked whether alternative fuels are necessary for F1’s decarbonisation, Mr Rosberg told the PA news agency: “It’s impossible without that ultimately, that’s a very important ingredient.

“F1 has a very ambitious target for 2030. What they need to do is make their races carbon neutral, so the way the fans arrive, all the logistics around that, the headquarters of the racing teams, the racing itself.

“The biggest challenge is the logistics, where they depend on the airline industry essentially. Also trucking, but trucking will be easier. It’s the airline industry that has the biggest challenge.”

Since retiring from F1 after his World Championship win at the age of 31, Mr Rosberg has turned his attention and fortunes towards low-carbon technologies that aim to decarbonise industries in the race to net zero.

Most recently he has been sponsoring graduates at Oxford University to support student research into removing carbon from the atmosphere, cleaning plastic from the oceans and developing alternative fuels for ships and planes.

Nico Rosberg toured Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, which dates back to the 15th century (Jacob King/PA)

He said he will also be supporting F1 with its decarbonisation aims but that his plans are too premature to go into any detail.

After touring the university’s Divinity School and Bodleian Library, which dates back to the 15th century, Mr Rosberg said: “I really wanted to contribute after racing, inspire my two young daughters, so this led me down this path.

“Also it’s a very unique time in the world now with potential for innovation here, technological innovation, to really have an impact.”

Varun Shankar, a DPhil engineering student and part of the one-year partnership between the Rosberg Climate Fellows Programme and Oxford University’s Sustainable Development Goals Impact Lab, said he wants to use his skills to help his home country of Zambia develop without relying on fossil fuels.

He said: “I think we are still on the path of economic growth but we need to do this whilst decarbonising.

“So it’s like how can we couple these two? And think about ways that you’re still growing economically but not dependent on fossil (fuels) but dependent on different renewable sources?

“I think the Global North has already successfully developed on that front, but we need to do it in a way that’s also decarbonised.”

His sponsored research aimed to test the feasibility of using alternative fuels for shipping, which he said contributes around 2.8% of global emissions.

He said: “The shipping sector is different to other sectors because the ship lasts for 25 to 30 years.

“So if you make a decision now it has to last until 2053. Whatever ship you build today would be running until 2053 so you can’t say let’s wait until 2050 to make that change.

“Whatever change you make now will impact how much you can reduce in 2050. I think that that narrative needs to really be understood.”

Ski competition ‘steals snow from vanishing glacier’ for race course

Henry Samuel
Mon, 23 October 2023 

A digger takes snow to dump on bald slopes, according to Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten - Capture de la vidéo ©20min.ch

Organisers of an international ski competition have been accused of stealing snow from a glacier in the Alps amid mild weather in the mountains.

Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten released images of diggers on the Theodul Glacier allegedly being used to prepare runs for the upcoming International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) Alpine World Cup meet, set to take place on November 11-12.

Two-thirds of the race course for the event is on the glacier and while some parts are authorised, other sections run over protected areas, according to 20 Minuten.


It alleged that the diggers have been used to scrape out the equivalent of five football pitches worth of snow and ice from out-of-bounds zones both to create the off-limit runs and plug bald patches and crevasses elsewhere.

The glacier lies high above the Matterhorn Ski Paradise – a cross-border ski resort between Zermatt, Switzerland, and Cervino, Italy, and has already seen its mass shrink by 10 per cent in the last two years due to climate change.

According to drone footage obtained by 20 Minutes and GPS calculations, the start of the women’s race is to be positioned outside of the area designated for winter sports and the men’s course will also traverse large areas of ground deemed off-limits.

Environmental groups have slammed organisers for the alleged digging on the glacier, claiming it is the result of their insistence on staging races this early in the season.

The race course for November's International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) Alpine World Cup meet

Last year, the same competition was cancelled because of a lack of snow.

The Protect Our Winters (POW) group launched a petition calling for the ski federation to become climate “leaders” and “adapt the competition calendar to reduce the impact of travel and respect the changing climate”.

Alexis Pinturault, the French triple world champion skier, expressed dismay and said: “Our sport is one of the most affected by global warming and, instead of changing our system, of adapting, we are doing the opposite.

“This competition, especially at this time of year, doesn’t make sense. The test is not in keeping with the times. It shocks everyone.”

Others accused the event’s organisers of placing money before the environment, arguing they had insisted on staging the race early because sponsors preferred drumming up public interest in skiing at the start of the season.

“To what extent should we adapt our environment to a schedule that we want? Or should we adapt our schedules to the environment?” asked Mikaela Shiffrin, an American World Cup alpine skier.


Meanwhile, organisers insisted the entirety of the competition’s track was within the permitted ski zone on the Swiss side at least.

In an interview with 20 Minuten, Franz Julen, president of the local organisation committee for the event, said although the digger images looked bad, no one was “breaking off the glacier”.

“That’s wrong, three excavators worked on the glacier for three weeks. However, they did not break anything, but filled and secured crevices with ice and snow,” he said.

“They made us a scapegoat. No one knows the issue of the receding glaciers as well as we do in Zermatt. We know what it’s about and take this sensitive topic seriously.”

However, with controversy mounting, authorities in the Wallis/Valais canton have ordered a halt to all digging on the glacier while they investigate.

Scientists predict that more than half of the Theodul Glacier will have disappeared by 2080 as the world continues to warm.

STOOPID HOOMANS

Flat-faced cats bought for social media likes are being abandoned

FELINE VERSION OF THE FRENCH BULLDOG

Catherine Lough
Mon, 23 October 2023 

Flat-faced felines are increasing popular but their 'cute' features can lead to health issues for the creature

Flat-faced cats bought for their “cute” appearance following social media trends have been abandoned in large numbers, the RSPCA said.

The charity revealed there had been a 92 per cent increase in Persian cats ending up in its care over a four-year period.

Demand for cat breeds with flatter faces, or brachycephaly, in which the shape of the skull is shorter than average for a species, has been fuelled by online trends in recent years.

The RSPCA said owners are attracted to the “cartoonish, baby-like features” caused by flat-faces, which can affect Persians, British shorthairs, Himalayan cats, Exotic shorthairs and Birmans. But it can also cause breathing difficulties, eye problems, problems with grooming, and even issues when giving birth.

Internet sensation Grumpy Cat, believed to be a Persian mix, had a grumpy facial expression caused by an underbite and dwarfism that made her especially popular. She appeared in various adverts in the 2010s, as well as featuring on myriad branded merchandise.

Celebrity owners such as Taylor Swift, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian have also posted photographs of their flat-faced pets, which may have also fuelled demand among the wider public.

Alice Potter, an RSPCA cat welfare expert, said: “Unfortunately, Persians and other flat-faced cats have become increasingly popular as people think the physical attributes which in reality cause them to suffer are cute.

“While we know many people love these cats and are very caring owners, breeding for features which compromise basic health and welfare is wrong,” she added.

The popularity in flat-faced cats surged in recent years, but now many of the animals are being dumped

The RSPCA said the rise in Persian cats being abandoned occurred between 2018 and 2022. The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) released data suggesting that British shorthair breed numbers had also surged, with a 66 per cent increase in registrations over the past decade.

Ms Potter said: “Just a few years ago, we had very few Persian cats coming into our care but we’ve now seen a huge increase in recent years as their popularity has boomed. This fuels demand and means that sadly more and more cats are being bred with features which can cause them to suffer.”

She added that the popularity of Grumpy Cat had fed into the vogue for flat-faced felines.

“We know that well-meaning people sometimes feel affection for animals with cartoonish, baby-like features which may be one of the reasons why cats with big eyes, a domed cranium and recessed chins, such as these flat-faced cats, are considered by some to be cute,” she said.

“We think the rise in their popularity over recent years could be due to being seen so widely on social media and in celebrity culture. Grumpy Cat became an internet sensation with meme after meme celebrating his squished features which made him permanently look grumpy.”

‘It can be scary for the cat’

Ms Potter said the more that celebrities and influencers are pictured with flat-faced cats and these images shared on social media the more popular they become with the general public, who see them as sought-after pets, “with little understanding of how these features actually impact their everyday lives”.

She pointed out that these cats can suffer from eye problems and other issues such as struggling to breathe. “This can be scary and debilitating and in some instances can make eating, climbing, playing, and all the things our cats naturally love to do, a daily struggle.”

Ms Potter added that the RSPCA wanted breeders to prioritise animal health and welfare rather than breeding for traits which could cause suffering, as well as pointing out a need to raise awareness among the general public about which physical traits might impact cats’ welfare.

The RSPCA has launched the next stage of its Save Our Breath campaign, aiming to highlight the difficulties flat-faced cats can experience.

Mummified mice found in Andes at altitude previously thought uninhabitable for mammals


Sarah Knapton
Mon, 23 October 2023

A live leaf-eared mouse was discovered at the top of the 22,000-foot peak of Llullaillaco volcano, alongside 13 mummified mice on nearby summits

Mummified mice found at the top of the Andes show that mammals can survive at far higher altitudes than previously thought possible.

Experts have discovered rodents living at more than 20,000 feet on the summit of volcanoes in the Puna de Atacama of Chile and Argentina.

Until now, it was thought that surviving in such extreme conditions - where oxygen is about half that at sea level - was impossible, with no mammals seen beyond 17,000 to 19,000 feet.


Although mouse remains were found at the tip of the Andes by archaeologists in the 1970s, it was thought they had been carried up accidentally by Inca travelling to the summit for macabre child sacrifices.

But Professor Jay Storz of the University of Nebraska captured a live leaf-eared mouse at the top of the 22,000-foot peak of Llullaillaco volcano and discovered 13 mummified mice on nearby summits.

Dating the mummified mice showed some were only a few decades old, meaning they could not have been transported by the Inca.

“These are basically freeze-dried, mummified mice,” said Prof Storz. “It now seems more and more clear that they are there of their own accord.”

“Even at the base of the volcanoes, the mice are living in an extreme, Martian environment, and then, on the summits of the volcanoes, it’s even more so. It feels like outer space.

“It just boggles the mind that any kind of animal, let alone a warm-blooded mammal, could be surviving and functioning in that environment. When you experience it all firsthand, it even further impresses upon you: How in God’s name is anything living up there?”
‘Mars-like’ conditions

Puna de Atacama ranks among the most inhospitable locales on the planet and is so arid, cold and oxygen-poor that Nasa uses the region to practise searching for life on Mars.

Experts say they are baffled as to why the mice live in such a hostile location, but believe they may be trying to avoid predators such as foxes and mountain lions.

“Certainly, if you’re hunkering down on top of a 6,000-metre volcano, you’re at least safe from that,” added Prof Storz, “You just have other things to worry about.

“But why they’re ascending to these extreme elevations is still a mystery.”

The team studied the mice’s DNA to discover whether they had acquired mutations enabling them to survive at such high altitudes, but found no differences to lower-dwelling rodents.

The research was published in the journal Current Biology.

How did mummified mice end up on volcanoes in the Atacama Desert?

It’s still a mystery how the leaf-eared mouse survives these Mars-like conditions.

BY LAURA BAISAS | PUBLISHED OCT 23, 2023 

A view from the summit of Volcán Salín, one of three Andean volcanoes where researchers uncovered the mummified cadavers of mice. Analyses of the mummies, combined with the capture of live specimens, suggest that the rodents scaled the Mars-like peaks on their own — and are somehow managing to live on them.

 Jay Storz/University of Nebraska,LincolnSHARE

It’s a little slice of Mars right here on Earth. The volcanoes of the dry and arid Atacama desert in Argentina and Chile climb roughly 20,000 feet above sea level, with blistering winds, parched conditions, and freezing temperatures. However, a team of biologists who discovered a living two ounce leaf-eared mouse three years ago, have now found multiple mummified mice in these extreme conditions. The findings are described in a study published October 23 in the journal Current Biology.

[Related: Male mice are utterly terrified of bananas.]

“The most surprising thing about our discovery is that mammals could be living on the summits of volcanoes in such an inhospitable, Mars-like environment,” study co-author and University of Nebraska, Lincoln evolutionary biologist Jay Storz said in a statement. “Well-trained mountain climbers can tolerate such extreme elevations during a one-day summit attempt, but the fact that mice are actually living at such elevations demonstrates that we have underestimated the physiological tolerances of small mammals.”

Finding freeze-dried mummy mice

As far back as the 1970s and 1980s, archaeologists reported seeing mouse cadavers at these extreme heights. The assumption was that they naturally must have hitched a ride up the summit with the Incas. These sites are considered sacred to the Inca and the belief was that they could have been brought up along with firewood up the slopes or potentially were offered up as sacrifices.

“You can’t fault the archaeologists for thinking this way, because what other explanation is there?” said Storz. “Nothing could be living up there, so they had to have been brought there.”

Inadvertently, doubts on the mice as hitchhikers theory were cast early in 2020. Storz and his friend and fellow mountaineer Mario Pérez Mamani, captured a live specimen of leaf-eared mouse atop the 22,000-foot peak of Llullaillaco, a volcano on Chile-Argentina border.

Along with the discovery of more live mice, they’ve now found 13 mouse mummies on the summits of three neighboring volcanoes—Salín, Púlar, and Copiapo—all close to four miles above sea level.

“These are basically freeze-dried, mummified mice,” Storz said.

It’s all relative

The frozen in time state also helped preserve their DNA and crucial genetic information. Alongside collaborators from the University of Montana, Storz compared the genetic variation among the leaf-eared mice collected in the lowlands, midlands, and highlands of Atacama Desert. This cross-habitat zone analysis can help trace the evolutionary history of animal populations that are separated by physical barriers, distance, or altitude.

[Related: 1,000-year-old mummy with full head of hair and intact jaw found in Peru.]

The team questioned whether the mummified mice living on top of the Andes Mountains may be a different subpopulation of the leaf-eared rodent that has a colonization history that differs from their more low-land dwelling peers. According to Storz, they found that the mice from the summits and those from the flanks or the base of the volcanoes in the surrounding desert are “one big happy family.”

Two pairs of the leaf-eared mummies found on Salín were also closely related, possibly siblings or parents and offspring. Along with the discovery of the live mouse burrows, the equal ratio of males to females found among the mummies, also points to the leaf-eared mouse living in and not just touring these summits.
‘How in God’s name is anything living up there?’

Puna de Atacama is among Earth’s most inhospitable places and NASA has visited the Atacama to practice for future missions on Mars. Its less than 0.6 inches of annual rainfall make it a good analogue for the Red Planet and a rovers designed to dig in Martian soil to search for microbial life have been tested here.

“Even at the base of the volcanoes, the mice are living in an extreme, Martian environment. And then, on the summits of the volcanoes, it’s even more so. It feels like outer space,” said Storz. “It just boggles the mind that any kind of animal, let alone a warm-blooded mammal, could be surviving and functioning in that environment. When you experience it all firsthand, it even further impresses upon you: How in God’s name is anything living up there?”

To learn more, Storz and team have established laboratory colonies of leaf-eared mice that were collected from various altitudes. They acclimated each group to conditions that simulate the Puna de Atacama, hoping to pinpoint the physiological adaptations that the rodents cope with life at the extreme. They’re are also continuing mountaineering surveys of small mammals living on high Andean peaks in Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile.

They believe it possible that avoiding predators such as birds of prey, foxes, mountain lions, and smaller cats could be what’s driving the mice to live here.

“But why they’re ascending to these extreme elevations is still a mystery,” Stoz said.

FOG OF WAR
Israel-Hamas war: Isaac Herzog documents under scrutiny

Sky News
Updated Mon, 23 October 2023 



Israel's president has claimed instructions on how to make chemical weapons were found on the body of a Hamas fighter. Sky News has fact-checked the alleged documents.

We spoke to a former al Qaeda member turned MI6 spy who was involved in the creation of the bomb referenced in the documents, as well as a number of independent experts to help verify the information that has been made available.

What did President Isaac Herzog do?


The Israeli president showed what he said was "al Qaeda material" found by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on the body of a dead fighter in Kibbutz Be'eri.

He said it showed Israel was "dealing with ISIS, al Qaeda and Hamas" as he held up a document referencing the two other terrorist organisations: "al Qaeda" written in English and a flag widely recognised as representing ISIS.

The red text reads "a brigade of Islamic international council for jihad against Jews and Christians", while the text at the bottom says it is a "publication for self-advancing knowledge for mujahids [fighters]".

Mr Herzog also held up a labelled diagram of a bomb with one version in Arabic, the second in English. Neither document includes step-by-step instructions on how to assemble the bomb, nor how to use it.

What else has Israel said about the documents?

The president's office later said the materials were found on a USB drive and contained "detailed instructions on creating chemical weapons and implementing their use among the civilian population".

The office claims "the source of the document is a manual from the al Qaeda terrorist organisation dated 2003" and that it "indicates" a "connection" between the organisations.

It is not clear if they purport that all the documents on the USB were from 2003 or just the materials related to bomb-making.

Sky News has not seen any public statement made by Hamas regarding the claims.

Are the documents real?

Trying to verify the material is difficult.

No independent evidence that the material was taken from a Hamas fighter has been provided.

Mr Herzog's team sent Sky News the three documents shown on air but the full material has not been sent to our research team.

In trying to verify the image of the bomb, Sky News has spoken to Aimen Dean, a former member of al Qaeda who turned against the terrorist group and became an MI6 spy. He helped create a poison bomb known as the mubtakkar.

He said: "I can confirm this is the exact diagram from a 2003 secret document written by an al Qaeda cell I was infiltrating in Saudi Arabia between 2002 and 2005."

This corroborates part of Israel's statement that at least some of the material comes from a 2003 manual.

He added that an al Qaeda member leaked the document to Hamas, a detail which is public knowledge as Mr Dean wrote about it in his autobiography, Nine Lives.

The diagram has since been widely distributed online.

"By 2009, al Qaeda released it online for wider distribution on their password protected web forums," Mr Dean told Sky News. "It is estimated that it was downloaded more than 900 times before it was taken down by security services and since then have I seen it posted again [online]."

Mr Dean believes the diagram alone is "enough to construct the mubtakkar as long as the person has basic chemistry skills".

However, this assertion is disputed by William Alberque, director of strategy, technology and arms control at the International Institute of Strategic Services (IISS), who believes some prior knowledge is required.

He said: "I believe that that image alone is not sufficient to create a viable device without additional information and/or prior training."

This is part of the diagram:

The image above shows the diagram given to Sky News by the president's office We have chosen to crop most of the labels, but the use of adhesive tape demonstrates just one of the basic components needed to make the weapon.

What about the other document?

The other document provided was what appears to be a cover or front page document.

The page can be found online.

For example, the page appears as the cover of a digital book.

Sky News viewed a 30-page version of the document which was a biography about Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York.

This publication does not include the annotated diagram.

However, materials such as these are removed by governments and internet providers once posted online and Sky News is unable to verify whether the diagrams are part of this manual.

When was the document found?

The first time the IDF claimed it had found the "cover of an al Qaeda/ISIS training and inspiration booklet" was on 12 October.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, Israeli forces posted that the material was found on the body of a dead fighter in Israel.

However, the post did not mention chemical weapons until Mr Herzog's interview and the IDF have not provided any independent proof that the documents were found on the body of a Hamas fighter, or any further details.

Do the documents link Hamas to al Qaeda?

Mr Herzog suggested the discovery linked Hamas to the two other terrorist organisations, saying: "It's al Qaeda material. Official al Qaeda material. We are dealing with ISIS, al Qaeda and Hamas."

His office also issued a statement saying it "indicates the connection between the organisations".

But is that the case?

Mr Alberque, of the IISS, told Sky News there are dozens of "manuals" on how to make and/or deliver chemical weapons that have been created and disseminated over the decades, including a number of materials attributed to al Qaeda.

Asked whether a Hamas fighter having these materials would mean the organisation is collaborating with al Qaeda, Mr Alberque said: "No, it does not. There are many, many variants on manuals like this, as mentioned, dating back years, decades, even centuries. It is not at all surprising that such manuals circulate in the jihadist community with or without direct collaboration."

His comments were echoed by Aymenn Jawad Al Tamimi, independent analyst and Fellow at the Middle East Forum, told Sky News: "The documents showed don't prove a Hamas link with al Qaeda. The fact is that jihadist materials on explosives, bomb making etc have been disseminated on the internet for a long time and it is possible for Hamas members and others to access and download them."

Has Hamas used or expressed an interest in chemical weapons before?

Joe Truzman, analyst at Foundation for Defending Democracies and expert on Palestinian militant groups, told Sky News: "I've never seen them express the interest of using chemical weapons.

"I have seen them express an interest killing civilians... In my experience of tracking this group and many other Palestinian groups inside Gaza, there's not a history of trying to use chemical weapons against Israelis, at least they haven't stated it.

"But I don't think it was planted by the Israeli government to make Hamas look more like a terror group than it already is."

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.