Germany Plans Rapid State Intervention to Protect Key Industries – From China
November 29th, 2019Via: Reuters:
German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier wants to set up a new government body with powers to decide quickly whether to take stakes in key domestic companies to prevent foreign takeovers.
Altmaier presented his new industrial strategy on Friday, including plans to set up a standing committee which, as a last resort, could decide to take stakes in German companies that produce sensitive or security relevant technologies.
The stakes, which would be acquired by Germany’s KfW state development bank, would be held temporarily. This can already be done in some cases under German law, but Altmaier said the process was too slow.
“Structures have to be created to take the necessary decisions faster and more efficiently than has been the case thus far,” he said in his “Industry Strategy 2030”.
Under the plans, Germany also aims to step up screening of non-European investors that want to buy into firms in key sectors, in a move widely seen as targeting Chinese state-backed investors.
The plans come at a time when the European Union as a whole is reconsidering its industrial strategy and relations to China in the face of increased investment in critical sectors by Chinese state-owned enterprises.
Northland New Zealand Housing Crisis: People Living in Trees, Car Ports, Old Cars
November 28th, 2019The commentary I wrote back in 2018 describes why this is happening. Of course, the situation has only gotten worse since then.
Via: Radio New Zealand:
New Zealand government MPs have heard that the housing situation in Northland has become so desperate some families are living in the woods, in huts built in the forks of trees.
Northland is one of the most deprived regions of the country, with a median income of NZ$23,400. The population is also 32% M?ori – double that of the rest of the country.
At a housing hui (meeting) held in Whangarei on Thursday, the M?ori affairs minister, Nanaia Mahuta, who is also associate minister of housing, was told by local housing advocates that the shortage of affordable housing had become “desperate” in the north island region, with families forced to live in trees, self-built huts, old vehicles, lean-tos, derelict houses and carports.
Polio Outbreaks in Africa Caused by Mutation of Strain in Vaccine
November 28th, 2019Via: Guardian:
New cases of polio linked to the oral vaccine have been reported in four African countries and more children are now being paralysed by vaccine-derived viruses than those infected by viruses in the wild, according to global health numbers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners identified nine new cases caused by the vaccine in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic and Angola last week. Along with seven other African countries with outbreaks, cases have also been reported in Asia. In Afghanistan and Pakistan polio remains endemic, and in Pakistan officials have been accused of covering up vaccine-related cases.
Research Credit: Jb
New Zealand Startup Extracts Lithium from Fluid Used in Geothermal Powerplants
November 28th, 2019Via: Driven:
Taupo company Geo40 says it has cracked a chemical process to produce lithium at “near battery grade” from geothermal fluid discharged from central North Island power stations.
Scientists Turn Undersea Fiber Optic Cables Into Seismographs
November 28th, 2019Via: TechCrunch:
These cables carry data over long distances, sometimes as part of the internet’s backbones, and sometimes as part of private networks. But one thing they all have in common is that they use light to do so — light that gets scattered and distorted if the cable shifts or changes orientation.
By carefully monitoring this “backscatter” phenomenon it can be seen exactly where the cable bends and to what extent — sometimes to within a few nanometers. That means that researchers can observe a cable to find out the source of seismic activity with an extraordinary level of precision.
The technique is called Distributed Acoustic Sensing, and it essentially treats the cable as if it were a series of thousands of individual motion sensors. The cable the team tested on is 20 kilometers worth of of Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s underwater data infrastructure — which divided up into some ten thousand segments that can detect the slightest movement of the surface to which they’re attached.
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Of course most major undersea cables don’t just have a big exposed end for random researchers to connect to. And the signals that the technology uses to measure backscatter could conceivably interfere with others, though of course there is work underway to test that and prevent it if possible.
Trump Approves Legislation Backing Hong Kong Protesters
November 27th, 2019Via: Reuters:
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law congressional legislation backing protesters in Hong Kong despite angry objections from Beijing, with which he is seeking a deal to end a damaging trade war.
More: China Warns U.S. of Retaliation for Law Backing Hong Kong Protesters
“Deutsche Bank Executive Who Signed Off On Trump Loans Kills Himself At Age 55”
November 27th, 2019—
Rosemary Vrablic was introduced to Trump by Jared Kushner. She would go on to facilitate over $300 million in loans to Trump.
Thomas Bowers was Rosemary Vrablic’s boss at Deutsche Bank.
At this time, there are no mainstream media stories about the death of Thomas Bowers.
Via: Forensic News:
Thomas Bowers, a former Deutsche Bank executive and head of the American wealth-management division, killed himself in Malibu, California, on Tuesday, November 19th, according to the coroner’s initial report.
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Bowers was the boss of Trump’s personal banker Rosemary Vrablic, according to a New York Times article in early 2019. Vrablic’s other clients have included Jared Kushner and Stephen M. Ross.
Vrablic reportedly attended the Trump inauguration in the VIP section, and expects to be called before Congress regarding Trump’s relationship with the bank.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner/Coroner reported that Bowers died by suicide by hanging at his residence on the 19th.
New York: FedEx Receives Cease-and-Desist Order Over Robot Delivery Marketing Stunt
November 27th, 2019Via: Fast Company:
The tech industry’s perennial fantasy of replacing delivery workers with cutesy robots hasn’t quite panned out yet, but that didn’t stop FedEx from coming out with its own autonomous delivery machine and plopping one on a busy Manhattan sidewalk last week. The robot’s New York City debut was just a marketing stunt, but it caught the attention of city officials, who leaped at the chance to tell FedEx to screw off.
FedEx’s autonomous delivery robot was spotted near SoHo late last week as part of a press event to promote American Express’s “Small Business Saturday” campaign. The robot, which is named Roxo, only drew modest attention from passersby and press. (It’s New York City, after all.) But over the course of a couple days, FedEx landed itself a cease-and-desist order from the New York Department of Transportation, TechCrunch reports, as well as a threat from Mayor Bill de Blasio to “send them packing” if the city ever catches the robots in action without a special permit.
Hundreds of Banks and Government Sites Burned in Iran Unrest
November 27th, 2019Via: Reuters:
Approximately 731 banks and 140 government sites were torched in recent unrest in Iran, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said in remarks published by the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday.
More than 50 bases used by security forces were attacked and approximately 70 gas stations were also burned, he said, without specifying where the attacks took place.
According to IRNA, Rahmani Fazli also said up to 200,000 people took part nationwide in the unrest that began on Nov. 15 after the announcement of gasoline price hikes.
London-based Amnesty International said on Monday it had recorded at least 143 protesters killed in the protests, the worst anti-government unrest in Iran since authorities put down the “Green Revolution” demonstrations against election fraud in 2009.
Black Friday Deals? 48 Million Americans Still Paying Off Debt from Last Christmas
November 27th, 2019Via: Nerd Wallet:
Nearly 3 in 5 (59%) 2018 holiday shoppers incurred some credit card debt during the 2018 holiday season, and 35% of those who did say they’re still working to get it paid off, according to the survey. That’s 48 million Americans still paying off credit card debt from the 2018 holiday season. Last year, when we asked the same question, 28% of 2017 holiday shoppers were still paying off debt from the 2017 holiday season.
