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US Carbon Credits Scheme Get Cold Reception at COP27 Climate Summit

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The Biden government has yet to do much to help poor nations deal with climate change, and now it hopes big business will pay. The Biden government has yet to convince Congress or the public to spend more on climate aid through carbon credits.

Now they’re trying to make it easier for private corporations to send money to the developing world in exchange for looking green at home.

John Kerry announced the plan at the Wednesday COP27 climate summit in Egypt. It involves tapping private funds to finance developing nations’ transition to clean energy by selling “high quality” carbon credits to companies trying to make their carbon emissions “net zero.”

Kerry said at a launch event, “We want to put the carbon market to work, deploy otherwise idle capital, and speed the transition from dirty to clean power.”

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Environmental groups and climate experts opposed the idea, saying it would encourage polluters to continue. It came a day after the U.N. warned businesses about shady carbon credits.

An activist heckled Kerry as he announced the plan, accusing him of “promoting false solutions” before security guards removed him. Poorer nations criticized wealthier nations at this year’s COP summit for not funding their “green transition.”

The developed world needs hundreds of billions of dollars to ditch coal, oil, and gas, but Congress is reluctant to help.

Kerry said that without more money, climate change could not be stopped.

Kerry’s Energy Transition Accelerator proposal is backed by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund. They hope it will unlock $100 billion for green projects by 2030. Kerry wants it operational by next year’s COP.

Under the plan, verified greenhouse gas emission reductions could be sold as carbon credits. Kerry said PepsiCo and Microsoft are interested in buying them.

Kerry said the credits would have “strong safeguards” Buyers, “not including fossil fuel companies,” need a net-zero CO2 emissions goal and a science-based interim target.

The credits can’t replace deep cuts to their emissions, and they only boost them.

Kerry said these carbon credits would only be allowed to phase out coal power plants in developing nations and create more renewable power. He called that “abuse-proofing.”

Companies, governments, and individuals who want to reduce their carbon footprint buy carbon credits. Environmental and climate activists say they’re problematic because they can’t guarantee reducing emissions.

Emissions from polluting human activities can be offset by farming practices that store carbon, planting trees, or capturing climate-changing gases from smokestacks and other equipment.

These activities are monetized and sold as offsets in net-zero plans.

A U.N. expert panel warned on Tuesday that tougher standards are needed to fight greenwash by companies and investors making net-zero pledges, including a ban on businesses and local governments buying cheap carbon credits instead of cutting their emissions.

Wednesday’s proposal drew skepticism.

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Mohamed Adow, director of a climate and energy think tank, called carbon offsets an “accounting trick” that allows big polluters to continue polluting.

Big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in both wealthy Northern nations and developing countries in the global South are needed, Adow said, “not rich polluting companies in the north paying to destroy the planet.”

“John Kerry knows the science on climate and what’s at stake for people, but his offsets threaten global efforts to cut emissions,” Adow said.

Climate scientist Bill Hare of Climate Analytics said the proposal shocked the climate summit and many governments.

“Because everyone must reduce emissions at this point in history.” John Kerry’s proposal means companies don’t have to reduce emissions if they buy offsets.

A senior European official questioned the U.S. launch proposal.

The official spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the topic.

Micah Carpenter-Lott, the heckler, wanted to call attention to big polluters, wealthy nations’ inaction, and Kerry’s “false solutions.”

“We don’t need to partner with polluters,” Carpenter-Lott said after being kicked out of the U.S. pavilion. “Polluters shouldn’t be here and shouldn’t be allowed to partner with governments because that won’t solve the climate crisis.”

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United CEO Tries To Reassure Customers Following Multiple Safety Incidents

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United Airlines is attempting to reassure passengers following a spate of accidents on its Boeing jets this year. In a statement to customers, the airline states that safety is “at the center of everything that we do.”

“While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these incidents have captured our attention and sharpened our focus,” CEO Scott Kirby wrote in a Monday morning statement to customers.

united

United CEO Tries To Reassure Customers Following Multiple Safety Incidents

On Friday, a United Boeing 737-800 landed in Medford, Oregon, missing an underside fuselage panel.

Earlier this month, United experienced four mishaps, all involving Boeing jets. A United Boeing 737-900ER blew flames from its engine after takeoff from Houston, a Boeing 777 lost a wheel during takeoff from San Francisco, a Boeing 737 Max slipped off a runway in Houston, and a United Boeing 777 trailed hydraulic fluid as it left Sydney.

“Our team is reviewing the details of each case to understand what happened and using those insights to inform our safety training and procedures across all employee groups,” Kirby continued.

The airline is extending pilot training by one day, retooling training for new mechanics, and “dedicating more resources to supplier network management.”

Passengers witnessing a run of negative articles about the airline and its Boeing jets may consider booking elsewhere. In its letter, the airline is attempting to keep consumers from departing. As of the end of last year, 81% of the jets used on United’s mainline operations were manufactured by Boeing, compared to little more than half of the jets in rivals Delta and American Airlines’ mainline fleets.

Aside from the problems on  flights, the most dramatic Boeing incident this year featured an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, which lost a door stopper on a January 5 flight, resulting in a gaping hole in the plane’s side. And last week, a Latam Airlines flight from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand, fell unexpectedly, throwing some passengers to the cabin ceiling.

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United CEO Tries To Reassure Customers Following Multiple Safety Incidents

Investigators are still investigating the causes of both events, but a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board showed Boeing left the bolts required to keep the door plug in place on the 10-week-old Alaska Air jet. Boeing asserted that an incident in the cockpit rather than a problem with the aircraft’s systems may have caused the Latam accident.

The age of the aircraft in the United incidents suggests that the problem could be with their staff rather than Boeing’s well-documented quality faults. For example, Boeing purchased the jet that lost its panel on a Friday trip in 1998. So, Boeing’s quality difficulties are likely unrelated to that occurrence.

However, Boeing’s issues have impeded United’s operations. Due to the FAA’s production slowdown, it has halted hiring a new class of pilots since it will receive fewer new planes from Boeing this year, as previously promised. In January, the Alaska Air incident grounded its 737 Max 9 jets for three weeks.

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United CEO Tries To Reassure Customers Following Multiple Safety Incidents

Furthermore, approval of a new generation of Boeing jets, the 737 Max 10, ordered by United, has been delayed due to the company’s quality and safety issues.

Kirby told investors last week that United is considering purchasing more jets from Boeing competitor Airbus. He also stated earlier this year that the Alaska Air incident was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” on United’s plans to receive deliveries of the Max 10 in the near future.’

SOURCE – (CNN)

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Hey YouTube Creators, It’s Time To Start Labeling AI-Generated Content In Your Videos

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YouTube Slowdown: The Culprit Might be Adblock Plus

Beginning Monday, YouTube producers must indicate when realistic-looking videos were created using artificial intelligence as part of the company’s larger attempt to be transparent about content that may otherwise confuse or mislead users.

When a user uploads a video to the site, they are presented with a checklist that questions whether their content causes a real person to say or do something they did not do, modifies footage of a genuine place or event, or presents a realistic-looking scene that did not occur.

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Hey YouTube Creators, It’s Time To Start Labeling AI-Generated Content In Your Videos

The disclosure is intended to help users avoid being deceived by synthetic content amid a flood of new, consumer-facing generative AI tools that make it quick and easy to create captivating text, images, video, and music that are frequently difficult to discern from the real thing. Online safety experts have warned that the development of AI-generated material could confuse and mislead internet users, particularly ahead of elections in the United States and worldwide in 2024.

YouTube creators will be forced to identify when their films contain AI-generated or otherwise modified information that appears realistic so that YouTube can attach a label for viewers. If they fail to do so regularly, they may face sanctions.

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Hey YouTube Creators, It’s Time To Start Labeling AI-Generated Content In Your Videos

The platform indicated that the upgrade would be available in the fall as part of a bigger deployment of updated AI policies.

When a YouTube creator discloses that their video contains AI-produced content, YouTube will add a label in the description to indicate that it contains “altered or synthetic content” and that the “sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated.” Videos about “sensitive” issues, such as politics, will display the label more prominently on the screen.

The firm announced last year that content made with YouTube’s generative AI tools, which were released in September, would also be prominently identified.

YouTube will only require creators to label realistic AI-generated videos that may mislead users into thinking it is real.

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Hey YouTube Creators, It’s Time To Start Labeling AI-Generated Content In Your Videos

Creators will not be required to reveal synthetic or AI-generated content that is manifestly unrealistic or “inconsequential,” such as AI-generated animations, lighting, or colour changes. According to the platform, creators will not be required “to disclose if generative AI was used for productivity, like generating scripts, content ideas, or automatic captions.”

Creators who repeatedly fail to utilize the new label on synthetic content that should be declared may face penalties such as content removal or suspension from YouTube’s Partner Program, which allows them to monetize their content.

source – (CNN)

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Fox News Sued By Family Of Ukrainian Journalist Killed While Covering War Over ‘Reckless And Negligent Conduct’

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Fox News is the target of yet another explosive lawsuit.

On the second anniversary of the attack in Ukraine that killed Fox News photojournalist Pierre Zakrzewski and contractor Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, the network was accused Thursday of being responsible for the fatal incident by engaging in “reckless and negligent conduct” that put the crew in danger.

The network was also accused of carrying out “a campaign of material misrepresentations and omissions to hide its own accountability for the disaster and shift blame” to then-security contractor Shane Thomson, who allegedly warned the crew against entering the dangerous zone near Kyiv, where they were killed.

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Fox News Sued By Family Of Ukrainian Journalist Killed While Covering War Over ‘Reckless And Negligent Conduct’

Kuvshynova’s parents and Thomson filed the lawsuit in New York State Court, naming Fox News as a defendant as well as Fox Corporation Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch, Fox News Chief Executive Suzanne Scott, and correspondent Benjamin Hall, who was severely injured but survived the attack.

Scott announced both deaths at the time, claiming that the team’s van was targeted while they were reporting. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, blamed Russian forces for artillery bombardment.

However, the lawsuit claims that Thomson and Kuvshynova’s parents’ attorneys conducted a thorough investigation to ascertain what transpired on March 14, 2022, and they found the circumstances that led to the 2022 catastrophe.

Their investigation revealed that the incident’s events were set in motion when the Fox News team ignored advice to avoid the Irpin-Hostomel area near Kyiv. According to the lawsuit, the mayor of Irpin prevented journalists from entering the city, and Thomson, the security contractor, denied the concept of reporting from there.

Disregarding such security warnings would be unusual in a combat zone, and Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, who was also reporting from the scene at the time, had stated days before the incident that the network’s journalists were following policy. According to the lawsuit, travelling to the location was deemed so risky that the Ukrainian driver working with the Fox News team “refused” to transport them there, forcing the crew to “find a different driver.”

When the crew got in the zone, they met up with a few Ukrainian soldiers who had earlier guided The New York Times reporters into the area. According to the lawsuit, they understood that the truck the soldiers were driving was “not large enough to carry all” of them. According to the lawsuit, the team opted to leave their security consultant behind.

“The absence of the security contractor was vital, as the crew made fatal mistakes,” according to the complaint.

The Fox News crew eventually came to a stop at an abandoned roadblock and were attacked. The claim states that the “car caught fire, and Sasha was burned to ashes inside it, causing her death.” The lawsuit stated that Zakrzewski “managed to escape the car but bled to death on the side of the road from a small puncture wound in his leg.” According to the lawsuit, “the bleeding could easily have been stemmed to save his life if the security contractor trained in battlefield first aid had been present.”

Hall survived the attack and was “later found grievously injured” before being transferred to an emergency medical facility.

Following the incident, the complaint claimed that Fox News attempted to cover up and hide its failures from the public.

According to the lawsuit, Fox News confiscated any electronic equipment that survived the attack and failed to document any evaluation or re-examination of the crew’s assignment. Hall’s description of the attack, as recorded in his HarperCollins book, was “misleading.” According to the lawsuit, Fox News “has attempted to impose non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements on all surviving family members.”

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Fox News Sued By Family Of Ukrainian Journalist Killed While Covering War Over ‘Reckless And Negligent Conduct’

The lawsuit also claimed that following the fatal incident, Fox News charged Thomson with delivering Zakrzewski’s body across the Polish border to his widow. According to the lawsuit, Thomson protested the task but was informed he had to finish it and was then “let go from his employment without explanation.”

According to the lawsuit, the combination of witnessing the deaths of his coworkers, moving his friend’s body, and then losing his job severely traumatized him. “Shane regularly asked Fox for help with the trauma. Fox did not reply, even after Shane tried suicide by hanging.

The lawsuit claimed that Thomson has had difficulty obtaining work because he is “frequently associated with the Fox News disaster of being the security advisor for the crew that was killed in Irpin the day after journalists were banned from the area.” The lawsuit also claimed that Fox News personnel circulated a false narrative that he had a “drinking problem in Kyiv at the time of the fatal incident, insinuating that this was the cause of the disastrous assignment in which Pierre and Sasha were killed.”

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Fox News Sued By Family Of Ukrainian Journalist Killed While Covering War Over ‘Reckless And Negligent Conduct’

Kuvshynova’s parents and Thomson seek unspecified punitive damages.

“Sasha Kuvshynova’s final text message — responding to her parents, who were highly alarmed by the dangerousness of the situation unfolding on March 14, with Russian forces closing in on Kyiv — was not to worry,” according to the lawsuit, “because Fox was a professional news organization that knew what it was doing and would not expose her to unnecessary danger.”

SOURCE – (CNN)

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