News round-up, July 29, 2023
In 2022, coal contributed approximately 36% of the world's electricity generation, with a total of 10,440 terawatt hours produced from coal.
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In 2022, coal contributed approximately 36% of the world's electricity generation, with a total of 10,440 terawatt hours produced from coal. 〰️
The UFO Enigma…
Historic Testimony Uncovers Secret Defence Program and —Nonhuman Biologics— print at UFO Crash Sites
Former intelligence official David Grusch captivated the nation on July 26, these years, when he testified before Congress, revealing a clandestine defense program solely dedicated to the study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Grusch's astounding revelations have pushed the enigmatic field of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) to the forefront of national security concerns, promoting transparency and shedding light on the enigmatic field. UFO sightings have increased in recent years, particularly among military personnel and pilots. These accounts have prompted lawmakers from all political parties to recognize the significance of UFOs as a pressing national security issue. During his testimony, Grusch shocked the nation once again by divulging the existence of —Nonhuman Biologics— discovered at alleged crash sites of UFOs. This revelation has ignited a renewed fascination with the possibility of extraterrestrial life and created an urgent need for further investigation. The emergence of this truth has placed intelligence agencies under unprecedented pressure to disclose information that has long been shrouded in stigma, confusion, and secrecy. In conclusion, as attention is drawn to this once-obscure topic, people demand transparency and more comprehensive information about the ongoing research.
Source: TimeMost read…
Witness Tells Congress 'Nonhuman Biologics' Were Found at Alleged UFO Crash Sites
Whistleblower Tells Congress U.S. Is Concealing Program That Captures UFOs
TIME BY NIK POPLI, JULY 26, 2023 Social poison
The Editorial of Le Monde Diplomatique for August by *Benoît Bréville
*Benoît Bréville is president and editorial director of Le Monde diplomatiqueStrong gas business helps to cushion Eni profit fall
Italian energy company Eni reported adjusted net profit of 1.94 billion euros ($2.13 billion) for the period, a decrease from the exceptional result of 3.81 billion euros recorded the previous year.
Reuters By Francesca Landini, july 28, 2023IEA says coal use hit an all-time high last year — and global demand will persist near record levels
In 2022, coal contributed approximately 36% of the world's electricity generation, with a total of 10,440 terawatt hours produced from coal.
CNBS by Anmar Frangoul, Editing by Germán & Co, JUL 27 2023Rhodes to ruin — fleeing the Greek inferno
“In Lindos, we marvelled at the panoramic acropolis and relaxed on stunning beaches, but little did we know that devastating fires would shatter our tranquil experience.
EUObserver by ARTHUR NESLEN, RHODES/BRUSSELS, July 24, 2023Trump charged with seeking to delete security footage in documents case
Unsealed indictment charges second aide at Mar-a-Lago and brings new counts against the former president and longtime valet Walt Nauta
TWP by Devlin Barrett, Perry Stein, Spencer S. Hsu and Josh Dawsey, July 27, 2023 
Andrés Gluski, the CEO & President of AES He's responsible for creating social responsibility and sustainability at AES
Andrés Gluski is the leader who introduced corporate social responsibility as a priority for AES. The result of these efforts has been extraordinary: AES was named one of the "World's Most Ethical Companies" by the Ethisphere Institute and has received this distinction for four consecutive years. There is nothing more to say about his leadership; it is commendable. In addition, he set goals for the company that culminated in the inclusion of the company in the North American Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
Source: Moneyinc.com
Image by Germán & CoWitness Tells Congress 'Nonhuman Biologics' Were Found at Alleged UFO Crash Sites
Whistleblower Tells Congress U.S. Is Concealing Program That Captures UFOs
TIME BY NIK POPLI, JULY 26, 2023
A former intelligence official claimed the U.S. government has been covering up a longstanding defense program that collects and reverse engineers unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and has found "nonhuman biologics" at alleged UFO crash sites.
The highly anticipated testimony from David Grusch, a former member of a U.S. Air Force panel on unidentified anomalous phenomena—also known as unidentified aerial phenomena—(UAP), was part of an effort by Congress to pressure intelligence agencies for more transparency into the existence of UFOs, a subject of heightened scrutiny following an increase in reported sightings by military personnel and pilots in recent years. Although extraterrestrial life has long been shrouded in stigma, confusion, and secrecy, lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum have been rallying around the push for more research on the topic as a national security matter.
“UAPs, whatever they may be, may pose a serious threat to our military and our civilian aircraft, and that must be understood,” Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California said. “We should encourage more reporting, not less on UAPs. The more we understand, the safer we will be.”
Testifying under oath at a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Grusch told lawmakers he believes the U.S. government is in possession of UAPs based on his interviews with 40 witnesses over four years, claiming that he was informed of "a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program" during the course of his work examining classified programs. He said he was denied access to those programs when he requested it, and accused the military of misappropriating funds to shield these operations from congressional oversight.
The Pentagon denies Grusch’s claims about a UAP crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering program. "To date, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently," Sue Gough, a Pentagon spokesperson, tells TIME in a statement. "The Department is fully committed to openness and accountability to the American people, which it must balance with its obligation to protect sensitive information, sources, and methods," the statement continued in part. "DoD is also committed to timely and thorough reporting to Congress."
During his testimony, Grusch added that he knows of “multiple colleagues” who were physically injured by UAP activity and by people within the U.S. government, but declined to share more details. He also said that “nonhuman biologics” were found at alleged UAP crash sites when asked about the pilots of the craft.
No government officials testified at Wednesday’s hearing, though Sean Kirkpatrick, the director of the Pentagon’s office focusing on UAPs, told a Senate subcommittee in April that the U.S. government was tracking 650 potential cases of unidentified aerial phenomena, playing video from two of the episodes. During that public testimony, Kirkpatrick emphasized there was no evidence of extraterrestrial life and that his office found “no credible evidence” of objects that defy the known laws of physics.
The House Oversight subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs heard additional witness testimony Wednesday from former U.S. Navy fighter pilots Ryan Graves and retired Commander David Fravor, who both claimed they had encountered aircraft of a nonhuman origin. “These sightings are not rare or isolated,” said Graves, who served in the Navy for over a decade. “Military aircrews and commercial pilots, trained observers whose lives depend on accurate identification, are frequently witnessing these phenomena.”
Graves told lawmakers that his aircrew encountered UAP during a training exercise off the coast of Virginia Beach, Va, when their lead jet came within 50 feet of what he described as a “dark gray or black cube inside of a clear sphere.” He estimated it to be five to 15 feet in diameter, motionless against the wind, fixed directly at the entry point. The mission was immediately terminated, and his squadron submitted a safety report that he claims received no official acknowledgement of the incident.
While the hearing marked a significant moment in shining light on unexplained objects in the sky, it was short on providing answers. National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby admitted last week that UFOs have been causing problems for the U.S. Air Force, particularly for pilot training exercises. “When pilots are out trying to do training in the air and they see these things, they’re not sure what they are and it can have an impact on their ability to perfect their skills. So it already had an impact here,” Kirby said at a White House press briefing. “We want to get to the bottom of it. We want to understand it better.”
There’s growing, bipartisan interest on Capitol Hill for reform. Provisions in the Senate’s version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act would require federal agencies to hand over records related to UAP to a panel with the power to declassify them.
“If UAP are foreign drones, it is an urgent national security problem,” Graves said. “If it is something else, it is an issue for science. In either case, unidentified objects are a concern for flight safety.”
The federal government has recorded 510 UFO sightings since 2004, according to an unclassified report Office of the Director of National Intelligence released in January.
The Power Of Protest Art/Félix Vallotton, “La Charge” (1893), Musée national d’Art moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, gift of Adèle and Georges Besson in 1963, on long-term loan to the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie de Besançon (© Centre Pompidou / MNAM; photo by Pierre Guenat, Besançon, Musée des beaux-arts et d’archéologie)Social poison
The Editorial of Le Monde Diplomatique for August by *Benoît Bréville*Benoît Bréville is president and editorial director of Le Monde diplomatique.Vaulx-en-Velin, Lyon, 6 October 1990. Thomas Claudio, 21, was riding his motorcycle when he was hit by a police car. He died instantly. Riots erupted in the city and lasted four days. Shops were looted, cars set alight, schools ransacked, firefighters injured and journalists attacked. ‘Unemployment and lack of education for young people are responsible for these events,’ according to Nicolas Sarkozy, then a rightwing deputy mayor (1).
Clichy-sous-Bois, Paris, 27 October 2005. Two teenagers being chased by the police, Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, took refuge in an electricity substation and died from electrocution. Clashes broke out in Seine-Saint-Denis and soon spread nationwide. After three turbulent weeks, President Jacques Chirac expressed regret that ‘some places accumulate too many disadvantages, too many problems’ and called for a fight against ‘the social poison of discrimination’. He also condemned ‘illegal immigration and the trafficking it generates’ and ‘families that refuse to take responsibility’.
Nanterre, Paris, 23 June 2023. Nahel Merzouk, 17, was shot in the chest during a traffic stop. Riots spread at lightning speed across the country. The episode was short (five days) but intense: 23,878 fires on public roads, 5,892 torched vehicles, 3,486 arrests, 1,105 buildings attacked, 269 police stations targeted, 243 schools damaged. ‘These events have nothing to do with a social crisis’ but everything to do with ‘the disintegration of the state and the nation’, according to the likely rightwing candidate for the next presidential election, Laurent Wauquiez (Les Républicains, LR) (2). And woe betide anyone claiming otherwise: they are instantly accused of justifying violence, fuelling a ‘culture of excuses’, or even being guilty of sedition and a ‘threat to the Republic’ (3).
In the reactions they provoke, these successive urban riots reflect how the French political landscape has been flattened by the steamroller of security and identity politics. The social explanation, which was once put forward as self-evident, however disingenuously, has been relegated to the background; mentioning it is now off-limits. In the past, any government that faced such events would announce a plan for the banlieues, to address the multiple disadvantages these areas suffer. Once public attention had subsided, this would be scaled back — a few subsidised jobs, grants to local organisations, credits for building refurbishments...
There have been around a dozen such plans since the 1980s, and they’ve solved nothing: not unemployment, not segregation and certainly not the tensions between young people and the police. Yet as each one follows the last, they have created the sense that the state has already done too much for the banlieues and that it’s now time to refocus on the ‘real’ problems: immigration, Islam, parental neglect, the leniency of the justice system, video games, social media... A discourse tailor-made to artificially set banlieues against the countryside — when both are abandoned territories where the working class live.
The AES Corporation's Andes Solar IIb
The facility's start-up in the region of Antofagasta, Chile, represents a —-unique—- milestone in the renewable energy sector. With an installed capacity of 180 MW and 112 MW of five-hour duration energy storage, this facility is now the largest system of its kind in Latin America. The Andes Solar IIb facility's capacity comprises 170 MW of bifacial solar panels and 10 MW of 5B's Maverick technology.
The construction of this facility utilized Maverick technology and pre-made modular components, resulting in a 33% reduction in installation time compared to other traditional solar systems. Adding Andes Solar IIb to AES Andes brings the total number of solar facilities managed in the Antofagasta region to 429 MW.
Reaffirming its commitment to sustainable and efficient power generation, AES Corporation continues to make significant strides in the renewable energy sector.
Image by Germán & CoStrong gas business helps to cushion Eni profit fall
Italian ener
gy company Eni reported adjusted net profit of 1.94 billion euros ($2.13 billion) for the period, a decrease from the exceptional result of 3.81 billion euros recorded the previous year.
Reuters By Francesca Landini, july 28, 2023Eni's logo is seen in front of its headquarters in San Donato Milanese, near Milan, Italy, April 27, 2016. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini/File Photo
MILAN, July 28 (Reuters) - Italian energy group Eni (ENI.MI) reported a 49% fall in its adjusted net profit in the second quarter because of weaker commodity prices but a strong performance from its gas business helped it to beat forecasts.
Adjusted net profit in the period came in at 1.94 billion euros ($2.13 billion) down from a bumper result of 3.81 billion euros a year ago, but above an analyst consensus of 1.64 billion euros.
The state-controlled group raised its 2023 guidance for its gas business (GGP) after it underpinned the group's results in the second quarter with an adjusted operating profit of 1.1 billion euros, more than double the 0.5 billion analysts had pencilled in.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, Eni moved quickly to replace Moscow's gas supplies with fuel it extracts in African countries, strengthening its position on the gas markets.
Trading activity related to its large gas portfolio and re-negotiations and settlements related to contracts were the factors behind the good performance of the division in the last three months, it said.
Eni now expects the gas business to reach an adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) figure of between 2.7 billion and 3.0 billion euros for the year versus previous guidance of 2.0-2.2 billion euros.
It also improved its full-year outlook for its low-carbon unit Plenitude and trimmed plans for capital expenditure this year to below 9 billion euros from a previous estimate of 9.2 billion euros.
Group's expectation for adjusted EBIT for this year is confirmed at 12 billion euros even after taking into account a weaker oil and gas prices.
REWARDING INVESTORS
On Thursday Shell (SHEL.L) and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) reported sharp falls in second-quarter profit from bumper 2022 earnings as oil and gas prices, refining margins and trading results all weakened.
"Eni has reported a strong set of second-quarter results, with adjusted EBIT and net income coming in well ahead of market expectations," said Royal Bank of Scotland in a note, adding the new guidance for the gas division was a significant move up relative to market expectations.
Shares in the group were up 1%, outperforming a flat Milan's blue-chip index (.FTSEMIB) at 0740 GMT.
In the second quarter Eni and other energy groups had to cope with a 30% fall in crude oil prices and a drop of more than 60% in the gas price and refining margins compared with the same period last year.
Despite a weaker outlook for commodity prices, Eni said it would continue a share buy-back programme started in May.
"Considering our first-half results and continuing business
performance that drives raised guidance, we have a solid position from which to pay our first quarterly instalment of the raised 0.94 euros per share 2023 dividend in September and continue our 2.2 billion euro buy-back," Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said.
Image: Germán & CoCooperate with objective and ethical thinking…
Image by Germán & Co IEA says coal use hit an all-time high last year — and global demand will persist near record levels
In 2022, coal contributed approximately 36% of the world's electricity generation, with a total of 10,440 terawatt hours produced from coal.
CNBS by Anmar Frangoul, Editing by Germán & Co, JUL 27 2023Coal consumption increased by 3.3% to hit a fresh record high of 8.3 billion metric tons in 2022, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.
According to the Paris-based organization’s Coal Market Update, demand increased “despite a weaker global economy, mainly driven by being more readily available and relatively cheaper than gas in many parts of the world.”
Overall, the IEA said 10,440 terawatt hours were generated from coal in 2022, a figure that accounted for 36% of the planet’s electricity generation.
Looking ahead, the IEA said coal consumption in 2023 would remain near last year’s record levels.
Geographically, the picture in 2023 is mixed. “By region, coal demand fell faster than previously expected in the first half of this year in the United States and the European Union — by 24% and 16%, respectively,” the IEA said in a statement accompanying its report.
“However, demand from the two largest consumers, China and India, grew by over 5% during the first half, more than offsetting declines elsewhere,” it added.
“Coal is the largest single source of carbon emissions from the energy sector, and in Europe and the United States, the growth of clean energy has put coal use into structural decline,” Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA’s director of energy markets and security, said Thursday.
“But demand remains stubbornly high in Asia, even as many of those economies have significantly ramped up renewable energy sources,” he added.
Going forward, Sadamori said “greater policy efforts and investments” were needed in order to “drive a massive surge in clean energy and energy efficiency to reduce coal demand in economies where energy needs are growing fast.
Seaboard: pioneers in power generation in the country…
…“More than 32 years ago, back in January 1990, Seaboard began operations as the first independent power producer (IPP) in the Dominican Republic. They became pioneers in the electricity market by way of the commercial operations of Estrella del Norte, a 40MW floating power generation plant and the first of three built for Seaboard by Wärtsilä.
Image by Germán & CoRhodes to ruin — fleeing the Greek inferno
“In Lindos, we marvelled at the panoramic acropolis and relaxed on stunning beaches, but little did we know that devastating fires would shatter our tranquil experience.
EUObserver by ARTHUR NESLEN, RHODES/BRUSSELS, July 24, 2023My family and I left Rhodes on Saturday morning (22 July) — just as the island's forest fire escaped all control. But ominous warnings had been in the (35 degree celsius) air all week.
The apologetic manager at the astronomy café on a hilltop who couldn't serve water as it was being siphoned to fight the fires further south; the taxi driver from Apollona in a state of shock and fear after his home village was evacuated, and of course the water-carrying helicopters at Rhodes airport as we departed, taking off from runways as if in some Vietnam movie pastiche.
Beyond counting our blessings — and our fears for those still trapped in the fire zone — we were left dazed and disoriented by the blazing spike which had punctured our tourist bubble. Last Monday we were in Lindos, marvelling at its panoramic acropolis and enjoying its beaches. Now it is the site of tourist evacuations. No relocation is possible though for the island's natural treasure trove.
With its dense, mixed, verdant interior, Rhodes is as rich in biodiversity as it is in fuel for fires. Endemic European fallow deer — popularised on the plinths of Rhodes' former colossus statue — roam its pine and cypress forests.
How many will be left when the embers have cooled?
Ten kilometres due north of the current inferno lies the valley of the butterflies, a 2km ravine lined by rare and medicinal oriental sweetgum trees that host millions of orange, white and brown Panaxia butterflies which swarm like clouds of Spanish flags at a fiesta. The destruction of this Natura 2000 sanctuary would spark another headline for a news cycle, and a loss that can never be made good.
As an environmental journalist in Brussels, this shouldn't surprise me. I am used to traveling to the frontlines of climate breakdown but now they are travelling to me, to all of us and, crazily, still catching us off guard. My daily twitter feed is full of climate cartographs showing the Mediteranean in flame red and ash brown hues. But the graphs' stitch-like plot lines are usually projected into an abstract future with years on axes too small to read.
What's playing out on Rhodes is a real-time process of climatic transition — and perhaps desertification — that we should see coming, again and again.
France, Spain and Ireland were all scorched by wildfires in the Spring, and the warning signs flashed crimson in June, when plumes from Canada's largest ever forest fire reached Europe. The smoke from 160 megatonnes of carbon emissions was literally on the water, and on the horizon.
Last month, the European Environment Agency reported that up to 145,000 people had been killed by extreme weather in Europe over the last 40 years, 85 percent of them by heatwaves.
A more detailed EU risk assessment is due out this autumn, possibly as early as October, and officials expect it to pull no punches. The need for strategic, funded, preventative measures in places like Rhodes is self-evident.
But the appetite for climate action is clearly waning at the European Parliament and within the Commission, where one official told me two weeks ago that an overwhelming backlash against the Green Deal was underway.
But Spain, the current council president, faces intransigent domestic opposition from an agribusiness lobby that spurred the Popular Party to turn shrug at the draining of the Donana wetland into an electoral motif.
Fire-fighting cuts due to austerity
More importantly, whatever Brussels says, its actions will speak louder. Greece's former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, told me two years ago that in negotiations with 'the troika' in 2015, two commission officials threatened to effectively shut down the country's banking system if it re-hired 2,000 firefighters and doctors. An austerity-based decision in 2011 had axed 20 percent of the firefighters budget.
Varoufakis said the officials told him: "If you hire one more fire brigade man or woman, we will consider this casus belli." The commission denies this claim, which Varoufakis has since repeated.
Around 100 people died in blazes around Athens in 2018. The chief of Greece's firefighting federation said that 5,000 more firefighters were needed, after yet another deadly fire season in 2021,
The increased fires are in line with IPCC predictions and the lackadaisical response — to the extent that the UK government seems more keen to reduce its climate commitments than its citizens' exposure to fire risk in Rhodes — underlines how package tourists themselves may become sacrificial lambs on the altar of our fossil fuel economy. Ironically, the increased visibility of their suffering could deal a savage blow to future July/August bookings in the Med that the UK government presumably wishes to prevent.
If governments will not curb emissions and protect their citizens, sadly, that may be one of the few positives to come out of this latest climate tragedy.
Image by Germán & Co/ShutterstockTrump charged with seeking to delete security footage in documents case
Unsealed indictment charges second aide at Mar-a-Lago and brings new counts against the former president and longtime valet Walt Nauta
TWP by Devlin Barrett, Perry Stein, Spencer S. Hsu and Josh Dawsey, July 27, 2023 Prosecutors announced additional charges against Donald Trump on Thursday in his alleged hoarding and hiding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, accusing the former president and a newly indicted aide of trying to keep security camera footage from being reviewed by investigators and bringing the number of total federal charges against Trump to 40.
Trump already faced 31 counts of illegally retaining national defense information, but federal prosecutors led by special counsel Jack Smith have added a 32nd to the list. That count centers on a now-infamous conversation Trump allegedly had at his golf club and summer residence in Bedminster, N.J., in July 2021, focused on what has been described by others as a secret military document concerning Iran.
In that conversation, which was recorded, Trump said: “As president I could have declassified it. … Now I can’t, you know, but this is still secret.”
The new indictment also levels accusations of a broader effort by Trump and some of those around him to cover their tracks as the FBI sought to retrieve highly classified documents kept at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s home and private club, long after his presidency ended. The indictment charges that Trump and two aides, Waltine “Walt” Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, requested that another Trump employee “delete security camera footage at the Mar-a-Lago Club to prevent the footage from being provided to a federal grand jury.”
While Trump has publicly claimed he was happy to hand over the footage in response to a grand jury subpoena, others close to him have said he was upset about it, and the indictment suggests a scramble among his aides soon after they received the demand for the footage. Prosecutors say that Nauta, Trump’s longtime valet, changed plans to travel with Trump to Illinois around the time the subpoena was sent, instead traveling to Florida to talk to other Trump employees about the camera footage. He appeared to try to keep the reason for the trip to Mar-a-Lago under wraps, the indictment says, telling others he was going there for different reasons.
Nauta was initially indicted alongside the former president in the documents case in June, accused of helping him mislead investigators as they sought to retrieve all of the classified material in Trump’s possession.
Both Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty to the charges in that initial indictment. The federal judge overseeing the case in Fort Pierce, Fla., has set the trial to begin in May, though it is not uncommon for such schedules to be delayed to deal with pretrial disputes and issues.
In audio recording, Trump says he did not declassify secret Iran documents
People familiar with the investigation have told The Washington Post that Smith’s team repeatedly pressed De Oliveira to explain his actions from June and July 2022, when he was recorded helping Nauta move boxes around Mar-a-Lago and allegedly had conversations with others about security camera footage. The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss secret grand jury proceedings, have said investigators grew increasingly skeptical of De Oliveira’s answers as the investigation proceeded.
De Oliveira’s attorney, John Irving, declined to comment Thursday evening. De Oliveira has worked for Trump for nearly 20 years, beginning as a car valet and becoming a property manager in January 2022. As the investigation progressed, he has told colleagues, his phone was seized. He has continued to work at Mar-a-Lago since the initial charges against Trump and Nauta were filed.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung called the charges unveiled Thursday “a continued desperate and flailing attempt” to harass the former president — who is again seeking the GOP nomination for the White House — and those around him. A lawyer for Nauta declined to comment on the new charges against his client.