News of the World

[kyonides]

Biden Admin Proposes to Block Half of Current Gas Range Models

In a proposed regulation published at the beginning of February, DOE set a maximum annual gas consumption of 1,204 thousand British thermal units (kBtu), also known as the EL 2 standard, for all gas cooking tops.
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“DOE estimates that nearly half of the total gas cooking top market currently achieves EL 2 and therefore would not be impacted by the proposed standard, if finalized,” DOE said in an updated analysis (pdf).

DOE issued the updated analysis mainly because it excluded certain types of gas cooking tops in the previous analysis that was published on Feb. 1.

Only 4 percent of the gas cooking tops in 2027 could meet the EL 2 standard if the new standard was not implemented.
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The governmental agency includes gas cooking tops with high input rate (HIR) burners in the new analysis.
...all products with HIR can pass the new regulation, DOE said.

The new rule would be effective three years after it’s adopted.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) said they’re “very concerned” about the direction of the DOE.

Russia Halts Pipeline Oil Supplies to Poland

Russia has halted supplies of oil to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline, the chief executive of Polish refiner PKN Orlen said on Saturday, adding that the company would tap alternative sources to plug the gap.

The halt in supplies via the pipeline...came a day after Poland delivered its first Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

“We’re effectively securing supplies. Russia has halted supplies to Poland, for which we are prepared. Only 10% of crude oil has been coming from Russia and we will replace it with oil from other sources,” PKN Orlen Chief Executive Daniel Obajtek wrote on Twitter.

The company said it could fully supply its refineries via sea and that the halt in pipeline supplies would not impact deliveries of gasoline and diesel to clients.

As of February, after a contract with Russia’s Rosneft expired, Orlen has been getting oil under a deal with Russia’s oil and natural gas company Tatneft.

U.S. Consul Responds to Chinese Diplomat
Warning About Crossing Political ‘Red Lines’

During the meeting, Commissioner Liu stated “three red lines” that the U.S. consulate should not cross, namely endangering “China’s national security, not to engage in political interference in Hong Kong, and not to slander or damage Hong Kong’s development prospect,” according to a statement provided.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Consulate said that while they don’t generally comment on private diplomatic meetings, they don’t “hesitate to express publicly and privately the United States’ deep concern over the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy,” according to a statement provided to media outlets.
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On Jan. 25, Gregory May, who took up his post in Hong Kong in September 2022, expressed concern over the city’s rule of law following Beijing’s imposition of a national security law in 2020. At the time, the foreign ministry of CCP accused May of vilifying the city’s legal system and seeking to disrupt the city.
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He said more than 15,000 American citizens left Hong Kong and moved to other cities in the past two years.
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He also accused the Hong Kong government of curtailing press freedoms since the enactment of the NSL imposed in response to the 2019 anti-government protests.

Mysterious White Dust Sweeps Across Parts of America

Parts of the mid-Atlantic United States are reportedly seeing mysterious white dust falling in the region, with officials testing samples of the dust to identify its origin.

“Several reports of an unknown WHITE POWDER OR DUST SEDIMENT falling out of the sky throughout West Virginia and Maryland … Local fire departments suggesting people shut windows and doors and stay inside until it can be investigated,” political strategist Chuck Callesto said in a Feb. 24 Twitter post. An accompanying video showed cars being covered by the white dust.
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“Samples will also be taken to the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey in Morgantown to determine if the cause of the dust is related to recent dust storms in the Midwest,” the department added.
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Similar dust fell in the previous week in Connecticut that reportedly had an odor similar to chlorine.

Australia’s Torres Strait Sound Alarm Over ‘Invasion’ by Chinese Fishing Boats

Australia’s fisheries authority is also alarmed by the border intrusions and is working to ramp up surveillance.

Traditional owners claim more than 50 Chinese-sponsored Papua New Guinean fishing boats have been intensively and illegally working the Warrior Reefs in the archipelago’s northeast.

“They’re taking anything and everything off that reef: clams, turtles, octopus, small, big, anything, and they’ve been doing it since December,” Iama Fisheries Management Authority spokesman Charles David told AAP.

“Some nights on that reef it’s like a city with all the lights. These people don’t muck around. They’ve got nothing to lose and they are raping our reef.”
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“They’re harvesting endangered species too, including dugong, and they take up to 800 kilograms of product per boat.”

David believes the foreigners moved in after Australian Border Force vessels, which patrolled the maritime border in northern Queensland when migration was stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic, left the region in late 2022.

Japan’s Consumer Inflation Hits 41-year High, Keeps BOJ Under Pressure

The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food but includes energy costs, was 4.2 percent higher in January than a year earlier, matching a median market forecast and accelerating from a 4.0 percent annual gain in December.

January’s rise was the fastest since September 1981, when fuel costs spiked due to the Middle East oil crisis and hit Japan’s import-reliant economy.

Core consumer inflation has now exceeded the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent target for nine straight months, mostly reflecting persistent rises in fuel and raw material costs, the data showed.
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Incoming Governor Kazuo Ueda faces a challenge in sustaining the BOJ’s yield control policy, which has come under attack by markets betting strong inflation will force the bank to raise interest rates.

Speaking in parliament, Ueda said the BOJ must maintain ultra-low rates as the recent acceleration in inflation is driven largely by rising raw import costs, rather than strong demand.
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Upon approval by parliament, Ueda is expected to succeed incumbent Haruhiko Kuroda when his term ends in April. At Ueda’s debut policy meeting on April 28, the BOJ will release for the first time its inflation forecasts extending to fiscal 2025.

Climate Advocate Al Gore and CEO Tim Cook Must Be Ousted From Apple Board

The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a nonprofit that reports on the ethics of public officials.
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The SEC filing that called for voting against Al Gore’s twenty-first term on the board of directors pointed out that he has built a “personal brand” for himself on climate change after losing a presidential bid against George W. Bush in 2000. “Mr. Gore has little technology, financial, or leadership success. His board membership relies heavily on his climate change expertise. However, Mr. Gore’s climate predictions have been mostly false; he lives a hypocritical carbon-intensive lifestyle; and his climate activism has been a tool for his personal enrichment, much of which depends on industries whose existence relies on government tax credits and subsidies,” the filing stated.
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According to Apple’s 2023 proxy statement, “corporate governance” is stated as one of Gore’s director skills. The filing points out that prior to joining the Apple team, Gore has “never served on a corporate board.”
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“Innovation and technology” is another skill listed under Gore in the proxy statement. However, Gore has “no prior business or technology experience.”
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NLPC pointed out that Cook has failed “numerous times to live up to what he says are Apple’s ethical standards” ever since he took over as CEO in 2011. In addition, he has also made “multiple strategic mistakes” that ended up costing Apple billions of dollars.

“These include labor rights failures, privacy violations, and overreliance on China. But he is shielded from accountability, in part because of his position on Apple’s board. He should be removed as a director so the proper chain of command can be restored.”

German Chemical Giant BASF to Close Factories Without Cheap Russian Gas

BASF SE will cut 2,600 positions, about 2 percent of its global workforce, to save on operational costs, as the European Union’s biggest chemical firm is forced to deal without affordable Russian energy imports.
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Meanwhile, 65 percent of BASF’s proposed layoffs in Germany, will be mostly in administrative and research positions.

Germany’s chemical and pharmaceutical industry employs about 466,500 people worldwide and has an annual turnover in excess of $211 billion, according to government data from Berlin.

Manufactured products from Germany are also an integral part of the automotive and other supply chains.

The chemical giant will close several factories in Germany, including two ammonia plants and related fertilizer facilities, which will lead to 700 job cuts at its main plant in Ludwigshafen, the company announced on Feb. 24.

Former Black Panther Discovers
One of Her White Ancestors Arrived on the Mayflower

A radical social justice Marxist and former member of the Black Panthers discovered that one of her ancestors arrived in the New World from England on the 1620 Mayflower expedition.
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In the show’s final moments, Gates revealed that the investigation into her ancestry dated back to her tenth great-grandfather, a white man named William Brewster, who was born in England in 1570 and traveled to America on the Mayflower.

A visibly stunned Davis said, “No, I can’t believe this. My ancestors did not come here on the Mayflower. That’s a little bit too much to deal with right now.”

Davis emerged in California during the late 1960s as a prominent civil rights figure and a member of the Communist Party.

She’s continued to support radical, far-left politics, and is currently a professor at the University of California in Santa Cruz.

Amid her social justice activism, Davis was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for her alleged involvement in the armed seizure of a Marin County Courthouse in California that left four people dead, including a judge.