Ashley Cornell, email: [email protected]

End of free “pollution rights” for industrialists, taxation of emissions related to heating and cars, social funds for the transition… The EU reached an agreement on Sunday on a comprehensive reform of its carbon market, the heart of the European plan climate.

After around 30 hours of tough talks, negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states have reached an overnight deal to raise ambition and expand the scope of the carbon market, according to a Parliament press release.

To cover their CO2 emissions, power producers and energy-intensive industries (steel, cement, etc.) in the EU must now buy “pollution certificates” in the European Emissions Quota Market (ETS), created in 2005, which covers 40%. of the continent’s emissions. The overall quotas created by states decrease over time to encourage them to emit less.

The reform proposed by the European Commission in July 2021 aimed to strengthen it in all directions in order to achieve the ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets of the EU climate plan.

Under the agreement reached, the rate of cuts in proposed quotas will accelerate, with a 62% cut by 2030 from 2005 (compared to a previous target of 43%), meaning affected manufacturers will be de facto obliged to reduce their emissions Reduce 62%.

The carbon market will gradually be extended to the maritime sector, to emissions from intra-European flights (for which the currently allocated free quotas will be abolished) and from 2028 to waste incinerators (subject to a study grant granted by Brussels).

In return for the introduction of a “CO2 tax” at the borders, the EU will successively reduce the emission quotas that were previously distributed free of charge to European manufacturers in order to give them the opportunity to face non-European competition.

At least 48.5% of these free “pollution rights” will be phased out by 2030 and completely gone by 2034, a timeline that has been the subject of lively wrangling between lawmakers and states.

Another controversial point: the Commission proposed to create a second carbon market (ETS2) for heating buildings and road fuels.

Frightened by the social impact of such additional costs, MEPs called for this measure to initially be reserved for office buildings and trucks.

In the end, households will indeed pay a carbon price on fuels and on gas or oil heating from 2027, but this price will be capped until 2030 and if the current energy price increase continues, the application will be postponed by a year.

Notably, the proceeds from this new market will go towards a €86.7 billion (US$125.70 billion) “Social Climate Fund” created to help vulnerable households and businesses make the energy transition.

During the Great Recession, the phrase “too big to fail” was applied to large banks whose implosion posed a systemic risk. It has been interpreted that their collapse could trigger such a deadly spiral that it was more worthwhile to intervene and bail them out with public money than to let them succumb to the mismanagement of managers who took excessive risks. Following the bankruptcy of cryptocurrency buying and selling platform FTX, this universe faces a similar scenario. On a much smaller scale, but with the ability to wreak havoc that millions of retail investors would not be immune to.

Binance is now the too big to fail in the industry, at least to continue to exist as we know it so far. For this reason, in such an interconnected ecosystem that is prone to contagion if poorly communicated, any news that sows doubts about its viability sets off alarm bells. Unlike the post-Lehman Brothers world, where the idea that financial institutions should hold their own sails was banned and government intervention was enshrined, no help is expected here in the event of a disaster.

Red lights flashed this week when it emerged Binance customers had withdrawn $1.14 billion in a single day on Tuesday. Its founder, Canadian Changpeng Zhao, acknowledged the outflow of funds, but was quick to clarify that while the amount was particularly large, it wasn’t even among the five days when most of the money had left its platform. “Some days we have net withdrawals, other days deposits come in. Business as usual for us,” he assures.

CZ, as it’s popularly known, has eight million followers on Twitter, and these days it’s proliferating not only on social networks but also on traditional media to reiterate the idea that Binance will not meet the same fate as FTX. His message is not always successful. “Obtaining licenses is the best way to discredit FUD” [siglas en inglés de Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, miedo, incertidumbre y duda], he said, sharing the news that his platform just received approval to operate in Guam and American Samoa. In response to that news, someone reminded him that FTX was licensed to operate in multiple markets, but that didn’t prevent its founder Sam Bankman-Fried – who was arrested in the Bahamas this Tuesday at the request of the US – from being charged to have staged fraud on a large scale for misusing their customers’ money.

In this nervous environment, CZ does not hide. He denies rumors and false news about a crisis at his company, makes sure deposits come back and tries to prevent millions of cryptocurrency investors from panicking. However, the calm he exudes from the doorway becomes a little less evident when he is allowed to express himself with the freedom and sincerity of privacy. “Although we expect the next few months to be turbulent, we will get through this challenging time and it will make us stronger,” he wrote in a message to Binance staff.

Knowing the status of Binance accounts and the weapons available to deal with a crisis is not easy. Blockchain analytics firm Nansen this week estimated the net withdrawal of funds from the platform over the past seven days at 3,000 million, but its CEO, Alex Svanevik, qualified that it’s a very small percentage considering it some reserves has been valued at $60,000 million.

One of its biggest competitors, Coinbase, has more transparency obligations since it’s the only one listed on Wall Street. And the news is not good. In the quarter ended September 30, it lost $545 million. And that was before FTX exploded. The company has lost 85% of its value in the stock market since its launch in April 2021: It’s currently worth just over $9,000 million, compared to more than $85,000 million when it started after it was punished by the FTX bust.

crypto winter

The mood in the industry is gloomy. Bitcoin, its main claim to attracting customers, has seen a 75% decline since its all-time high in November 2021. Basim El-Shoura, Vice President of Austrian firm Bitpanda, believes that cryptocurrencies’ bad moment cannot be separated from other assets’ suffering. “The focus is on the crypto winter, but in reality there is a generalized winter. There’s war, high inflation…’, he points to the phone.

The Executive understands that following the fall of FTX, a blanket of doubt is spreading across the crypto world, as has happened to others in the past. “When Lehman went bankrupt, there was distrust over the banking system, in the end we are an ecosystem,” he emphasizes. But he believes there is a need to differentiate. “Everything depends on regulation. We had KPMG among the auditors reviewing our findings so individual investors understand that we are a safe company that is not doing anything questionable with its assets.”

Raúl Marcos, CEO of the company Carbono.com, estimates that bankruptcies and collapses do not change the thesis of the future success of cryptocurrencies. “The case of Celsius, Three Arrows Capital or FTX, companies that have been in the industry but have been traditional continue to appreciate what cryptocurrencies and the ecosystem around them contribute: the need for decentralization, the importance of not trusting third parties no matter how serious they may appear and how valuable the independence they confer is”.

Users can store their cryptocurrencies in cold wallets without an internet connection, thereby avoiding exposure to bankruptcy-prone companies like FTX or Celsius. But there are also risks: if they lose the keys or the device they are kept on, they are left without them. “99% of people who are asked to own cryptocurrencies will end up losing them,” predicts Binance’s Zhao, who, on the other hand, finds it in his pocket that intermediaries continue to be used.

Tip on FTX

The first warning to Bahamian authorities that something was amiss at FTX came from inside the confidant of CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Executive Ryan Salame, director and president of FTX Digital, alerted regulators on Nov. 9 (four days before the bankruptcy) that client funds “were transferred to Alameda Research to cover their financial losses,” according to an affidavit from the company’s director Regulatory authority, Christina Rolle, referred to the courts. The Alameda fund was founded by Bankman-Fried and its irregular funding with funds from FTX is one of the investigations underway into it. According to Salame, only three people could have made the transfer to Alameda: Bankman-Fried or FTX’s two co-founders, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang. “Such acts can be considered criminal,” Rolle warns in the document. When police received a tip, they were ordered to investigate the matter, which eventually led to Bankman-Fried’s arrest.

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Emmanuel Macron urges not to make “small decisions” and to do “the maximum” two days before the end of the COP 15 in Montreal.

Two days before the end of the COP 15 on biodiversity, Emmanuel Macron published an appeal on Twitter this Saturday evening, saying that we “must do everything we can to protect our biodiversity”.

“My message to our partners is: let’s not make small decisions, let’s do the maximum! Let’s reach the most ambitious agreement together. The world needs them,” he wrote on the social network.

Before we continue: “We have protected 30% of the land and oceans in France. 33% of our territory already enjoys protected status and we have created the second largest marine protected area on the planet. Let’s make it global.”

France doubles its aid

“The most vulnerable countries harbor treasures of biological diversity. We must increase our funds to support them, give everything! France will double its aid, up to 1 billion euros a year. COP 15 Actors: Join Our Side! ‘ the head of state announced.

There was an air of optimism at COP 15 on Biodiversity this Saturday, where a compromise agreement seemed to be taking shape, although the financial issue remained unresolved.

“I am very confident that we will be able to maintain our ambitions and reach an agreement,” Chinese Environment Minister Huang Runqiu, president of COP15, told reporters on Saturday.

The goal of this COP on biodiversity remains to seal, by December 19, a deal on biodiversity as historic as that of Paris for climate in 2015. In the absence of leaders at this summit of the decade, which is of vital importance to humanity and the planet, environment ministers have been working hard for the third and final day in a row.

Clément Boutin Journalist BFMTV

Washington Post technology culture writer Taylor Lorenz has been permanently suspended from Twitter, while the company’s owner Elon Musk is purging journalists from the platform.

Her removal from Twitter comes shortly after the tech giant announced new policies on doxing, something Lorenz has been accused of in the past.

Shortly after Lorenz’s suspension was confirmed, the former New York Times journalist posted a video on TikTok in which she was seen in a formal dress, smiling from ear to ear and confirming to the world that she was suspended.

Lorenz, who says in the clip that she’s with the Times’ Ryan Mac, who has also been suspended, takes the opportunity to promote her other social media handles and proclaims she hasn’t broken any Twitter Rules .

The reporter adds that hours before her suspension, she reached out to Musk for comment on a story.

Taylor Lorenz revealed in a TikTok video how she announced her suspension to the world

According to Lorenz’s Twitter account landing page, her account was suspended for “violating the Twitter Rules,” but the disclaimer doesn’t provide specific information.

The new move comes shortly after Musk restored the accounts of several journalists he had banned for allegedly doping his private jet’s movements.

After her suspension, Lorenz also wrote a blog on her Substack page, saying she couldn’t log into her account shortly after she asked Twitter owner Elon Musk to comment on a story.

Lorenz said: “I only had three tweets on my account when it got suspended. Two have promoted my social media profiles on other platforms and one was the tweet below asking Musk for comment.

She had written to Musk: “Hi Elon, Drew Harwell and I are sending you some emails regarding this. We have received some information that we would like to share and discuss with you. We take this very seriously and want to make sure this is followed up in the right way.’

At the time of writing, Harwell’s account remains active.

The tweet that appears to have broken the camel’s back, Lorenz asked Musk for comment on a story hours before her suspension

In April, the Washington Post journalist faced criticism from conservative media after she published a revelation about Chaya Raichik, the orthodox Jewish mastermind behind the widely successful Twitter account Libs of TikTok

Lorenz continued: “When I tried to log in to see if he had responded to our request, I was suspended. I have received no communication from the company as to why I was suspended or what terms I violated.’

She added, “In my 13-year career on social media, I have never received a single violation of the Terms of Service or the Community Guidelines for my personal account or any account I maintain.”

“Twitter has served as a major real-time news source and played a pivotal role in the world of journalism, but Musk’s arbitrary suspension of journalists covering him should worry anyone who values ​​freedom of speech and expression,” Lorenz continued.

In April, the Washington Post journalist faced criticism from conservative media after she published a revelation about Chaya Raichik, the orthodox Jewish mastermind behind the widely successful Twitter account Libs of TikTok.

Taylor Lorenz, a Washington Post “internet culture” columnist, had expressed concern about the recent Twitter suspensions of journalists

The Libs of TikTok account tweeted Lorenz’s video announcing her suspension, saying, “It’s incredible to see these ‘journalists’ who are absolutely shocked to finally be able to reach the same standard as everyone else. They are so used to living by different rules.”

On TikTok, talent scout Ariadna Jacob tweeted screenshots of an interaction she had with Lorenz, in which Jacob accused the journalist of doxing her in a 2020 New York Times article and publicly revealing her address.

Musk responded to the tweet by saying, “Such shameful behavior will not be tolerated in the future.”

After suspending journalists including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, The New York Times’ Ryan Mac and Mashable’s Matt Binder, Lorenz had expressed anger at the decision.

She tweeted: “It’s very shady. I don’t understand how news organizations will continue to use this platform when censoring journalists.’

Lorenz followed suit by posting links to her other social media accounts.

Just last month, Lorenz was slammed for a tweet she sent criticizing former New York Times colleague Bari Weiss.

Weiss was one of the journalists hired by Elon Musk to release the Twitter files and uncover the company’s secrets regarding the suppression of Hunter Biden’s laptop history and other important issues.

In a tweet about Weiss launching a new media company called Free Press, Lorenz wrote, “Remarkable what’s been called a ‘buzzy media startup.’ If you start out rich, have a rich spouse and rich friends, don’t follow journalistic ethics rules, and focus your content solely on serving the interests of extremely powerful wealthy people, you can go far!’

Lorenz wrote on her Substack page, “In my 13-year career on social media, I have never received a single violation of the Terms of Service or the Community Guidelines for my personal account or any other account I have.”

Also in November, Lorenz made headlines for criticizing her own newspaper’s coverage of China and its opposition to Covid lockdowns in the country.

She responded to an article tweeted by the Post’s official account about China’s record number of coronavirus cases, noting that only a tiny fraction of its billion-dollar population is vaccinated.

“There is no permanent ‘natural immunity’ to COVID. You can get covid over and over again because there are so many endlessly evolving strains and antibodies are dwindling. Nor is the decision not to kill millions of people at risk (like the US is doing) a “critical error,” Lorenz wrote.

Twitter users were horrified that Lorenz would appear to defend the authoritarian country’s lockdowns and implied human rights abuses – with one user accusing her of “spreading misinformation” and noting that her editors were unlikely to sanction her because each controversy generated more calls for the Post’s website.

Lorenz later tried to clarify her earlier tweet by suddenly praising the Post’s coverage, adding that the article contained “a lot more nuance, by the way.”

There were also very few direct replies to Lorenz’s original tweet as her Twitter settings do not allow for a right to reply unless she follows her directly.

“A coronavirus outbreak on the verge of becoming China’s largest pandemic has exposed a critical flaw in Beijing’s ‘zero Covid’ strategy: a vast population without natural immunity,” the post said.

Indian authorities announced on December 17 that 37 people had died after ingesting adulterated alcohol. Consumption of alcoholic beverages is banned in the Bihar region, where the tragedy occurred, leading some to suggest unofficially producing them.

poisoning to alcoholic beverages. In the Bihar region of India, where alcohol consumption is banned, 37 people have died after consuming adulterated drinks circulating on the black market, according to the country’s health authorities.

local drink

Mahua or Desi Daru are alcohols that are locally produced. If they are strictly forbidden for consumption, they circulate very easily on the black market and are very popular. Consumed by residents of several villages gathered at a wedding, they killed at least 37 people, some local media even gave the number of 62 victims.

The victims initially complained of stomach pains before vomiting and losing their sight. Already 22 confirm that the cause of death is in fact consumption of adulterated alcohol.

confiscated by health authorities 600 liters of alcohol Around 100 people have been arrested over the past three days, accused of being linked to the manufacture or sale of illegal drinks.

presence of methanol

Adulterated alcohol is a homemade drink that is cut with methanol to increase the alcohol content. If swallowed, it can cause serious liver problems, including liver failure.

Every year in France, hundreds of people die after consuming such black market drinks. Globally, TF1 claims to be consumed by 5 billion liters of alcohol, around 40% are produced illegally, leading to numerous poisonings due to lack of control over dosages and compositions.

by Paolo Valentino

Kyiv fears new attacks from the north. The Pentagon: “The army lacks ammunition”

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
BERLIN – The shadow play of the Kremlin continues. Vladimir Putin reappeared yesterday. After three appointments that were traditional and important to him were canceled – in sequence the year-end press conference, the live radio broadcast in which he answered questions from the Russians and last but not least his participation in the ice hockey game on Red Square – the Russian President spent Friday the all day at the headquarters of the so-called “Special Military Operation” and had his picture taken with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov. Also present at the talks was General Sergei Surovikin, who has been in charge of military operations in Ukraine since October.

“We will listen to the operational leaders and their suggestions on our short- and medium-term actions,” Putin said in the short film aired on Russian TV. The departure of the Kremlin chief appears to have been deliberate in order to silence speculation about the health of Putin, which has been circulating again in recent days. According to some Telegram channels, he died in an accident at his Moscow residence on December 5. when he tripped over a step. This would have been the reason for abandoning the three events.

The visit to the headquarters, the location of which remains unknown, follows alerts from the Ukrainian military authorities that Moscow is preparing a new offensive after the series of defeats suffered in recent months that have forced its forces to withdraw from many areas. especially from the city of Kherson.

It was the commander of the Ukrainian army, General Valeriy Saluzhnyi, who predicted that the Kremlin could attack at the beginning of the new year, thanks to the 200,000 soldiers sent to the front after the partial mobilization decided by Putin. “I have no doubt that they will try to take Kyiv again,” the officer said, adding that the offensive could start from Belarus. The fact is that there are currently thousands of Russian reservists on Belarusian territory, where they are participating in what the Kremlin itself calls “intensive military training”. Vladimir Putin is already planning a visit to Minsk tomorrow, where he will meet his loyal ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

But the Ukrainian warnings have met with skepticism from many analysts. Not only because since October, when Surovikin was appointed, Russian troops seem to have been mainly focused on defence, not least with the digging of dozens of kilometers of trenches along the banks of the Dnieper River. But also because the American secret service, as Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, “at the moment has no indication that the Russians are about to move towards Kyiv.”

Which, of course, doesn’t mean that Moscow isn’t continuing its scorched-earth strategy, with continuous bombing raids aimed at destroying Ukraine’s infrastructure and the power grid in particular, including under heavy shelling on Friday. According to Pentagon estimates, reported by the BBC, “If we continue at this pace, Russia could run out of reliable ammunition as early as the first months of 2023.”

December 17, 2022 (change December 17, 2022 | 19:31)

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