European Parliament lawmakers are set to vote on a new law to hold firms accountable for environmental degradation and human rights abuses -- will it end up straining ASEAN ties? [_link]

— DW News (@dwnews) May 31, 2023

World Food Programme, Glencore Option and Famine in Horn of Africa

'Sapere aude'

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Storicamente, non si può dire che gli Stati uniti abbiano dimostrato una grande reattività all'avanzata nazista in Europa. Per tutta la prima fase della guerra, la disfatta dei paesi capitalistici di fronte all'esercito tedesco è totale e la resistenza al nazismo riposa quasi interamente sulle spalle dell'Unione sovietica. Stalin chiede ripetutamente agli alleati l'apertura di un secondo fronte contro la Germania -- il fronte occidentale -- per costringere Hitler ad allentare la presa a est. Ma gli Stati uniti e l'Inghilterra tergiversano.

Decidono di passare all'azione nel giugno del 1944, con lo sbarco in Normandia, dopo che l'Armata rossa ha stroncato le truppe naziste e avanza ormai inarrestabile verso Berlino. E soprattutto dopo aver organizzato minuziosamente la conferenza di Bretton Woods (New Hampshire, Usa), che si terrà nel mese successivo: un mega-incontro di tre settimane tra le principali potenze capitalistiche in cui si definisce il quadro economico-finanziario postbellico, incentrato sul dollaro e sul capitale finanziario statunitense.

Da allora, la penetrazione dei capitali americani in Europa è aumentata sensibilmente, prima attraverso il piano Marshall -- un colossale piano di investimenti Usa in Europa -- poi attraverso ulteriori esportazioni di capitali e fusioni con i capitali europei.

Finché è convenuto, gli Stati uniti hanno imposto un regime di tassi di cambio incentrato sul dollaro -- che ha consentito alla valuta statunitense di imporsi come riferimento internazionale -- e quando non è più servito, lo hanno abolito, nel 1971, con un gesto unilaterale del presidente Nixon, in violazione degli accordi che proprio gli Stati uniti avevano imposto. Risultato: il più grande default della storia del capitalismo (il rifiuto degli Stati uniti di onorare i propri impegni finanziari) si è risolto con nuovi accordi valutari tra i principali paesi capitalistici per scaricare i problemi finanziari degli Stati uniti sul resto del mondo.
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Wildfires have so far ravaged some 45,000 square kilometers of land in Canada.

Ten new wildfires were reported in Canada on Friday, bringing the total number of wildfires in the country so far this year to 2,405, the Canadian Interagency Wildfire Center reported.
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In Alberta, unsettled weather brought new starts. Hot, dry, and windy weather swept across the north, and extreme fires are expected. In Ontario, two large fires in the far north received some limited suppression and ignition action. More existing and new lightning fires are expected, the center said.

Wildfires have spread in the western Canadian province of British Columbia. About 2,500 people were ordered Thursday to evacuate [displace] the community of Tumbler Ridge in northeastern British Columbia. Authorities also extended evacuation [deportation] orders for the Donnie Creek fire, the second-largest fire on record in the province. Some rain is expected over Quebec and neighboring Ontario this weekend, but it may not be too helpful, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Gerald Cheng.

Poor air quality is expected to persist in cities such as Ottawa, Toronto, New York and Washington [?!] until Sunday, when the wind direction shifts

a [2 GW] $2.6 billion hydropower project in its northeastern states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh ...launched in 2003, the project took over 20 years to be built by the state-run National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) after facing protests from environmental groups over concerns of ecological damage to local surroundings.
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Trial runs on the Subansiri Lower project as it is called by state authorities are set to commence in July before the scheduled commissioning of its first unit in December 2023. However, the entire project comprising eight units will only become functional at the end of next year.
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In February, the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the 2.9-gigawatt Dibang project on the Dibang River in Arunachal Pradesh. As per government estimates, this hydropower project would take nine years to be completed.

The reactor, a two-megawatt liquid-fuelled thorium molten salt reactor (MSR), is located in the Gobi Desert city of Wuwei in Gansu province and is operated by the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The permit, issued by the National Nuclear Safety Administration on June 7, allows the Shanghai Institute to operate the reactor for 10 years and it will start by testing operations.
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The Shanghai Institute has also launched a follow-up project - a small-scale modular thorium molten salt reactor research facility - at the same desert site to advance the technology and address technical challenges, according to information on the institute's website.
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A test report should be submitted to the National Nuclear Safety Administration within two months of completing all the experiments specified in the testing plan, according to the permit.
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China reportedly plans to sell small thorium reactors to other countries as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing's global infrastructure plan.

GT | Xi meets Bill Gates in Beijing, hopes for enduring friendship between the peoples of China, US

Xi praised Gates and his foundation for their long-term commitment to facilitating global poverty reduction, health, development as well as philanthropy around the world. China is willing to work with him and his foundation to continue strengthening cooperation in relevant fields, and provide support and help to other developing countries, he said.
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Gates said during his meeting with Xi that China is speeding up innovative development, which is beneficial to China, developing countries, and the world. He also said that his foundation will further strengthen cooperation with China in areas including innovation, world poverty alleviation, public health, pharmaceutical R&D, rural and agricultural sectors.
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Experts said that the reception of US business executives by Chinese leaders and officials presents a stark contrast to the hostile approach adopted by some US politicians toward China. It also underscores the unpopularity and futility of Washington's "decoupling" or "de-risking" attempts.

Talon Metals Corp. filed papers with Minnesota regulators Wednesday to launch the environmental review process for its proposed underground nickel mine near the northern town of Tamarack, which would supply nickel to Tesla for electric car batteries.

The Department of Energy has already given the project a $114 million grant to build an ore processing plant in North Dakota, part of the Biden administration's efforts to boost domestic production of nickel, lithium, and other metals needed for electric vehicles and the FIGHT against climate change.

That funding contrasts with the administration's efforts to kill another proposed mining project in northern Minnesota, the Twin Metals copper-nickel mine near Ely, which is just upstream from the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness. And the federal government earlier this month raised a new obstacle to the separate NewRange Copper Nickel mine near Babbitt when the [US] Army Corps of Engineers revoked a crucial water quality permit.

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy said in a statement that the U.S. would be better off boosting recycling to secure its nickel and other metal supplies.

"We are being asked to trust in mining practices that have not been proven safe elsewhere," the [Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe] tribal government says on its website, "and we are not willing to risk our lands, people or culture as part of a safety experiment for corporate gain."
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Talon Metals is a joint venture with the Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation, which has long been criticized by environmental and indigenous groups around the world. Talon has an agreement with Tesla to supply 75,000 metric tons (165 million pounds) of nickel concentrate and smaller quantities of cobalt and iron from the mine over six years once it goes into commercial production.
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The review process historically takes several years, at least. The [Minnesota] DNR [Dept. of Natural Resources] launched a website on Wednesday outlining what Talon will face. But Talon is hoping the mine's design [strategy] will speed things up enough so that it can begin production for Tesla in 2027.