Pelican Press

Chevron Wants to Tap Into A.I. ***** by Selling Electricity to Data Centers Chevron Wants to Tap Into A.I. ***** by Selling Electricity to Data Centers The artificial intelligence ***** has turbocharged demand for electricity, and everyone who is anyone in the U.S. energy industry wants a piece of the action. The latest entrant is Chevron, the country’s second-largest oil and gas company, which sees opportunity in building natural gas-fueled power plants that will feed energy directly to data centers. Chevron is working with Engine No. 1, a San Francisco-based investment firm best known for waging a successful proxy battle against Exxon Mobil in 2021. The companies say they have ordered critical equipment, scouted potential sites and can have their first plant online within three years. “It’s a chance for us to help meet the moment and address this growing need for reliable and affordable power,” Mike Wirth, Chevron’s chief executive, said in an interview. Chevron’s announcement is the latest example of just how much the promise of A.I. — a voracious electricity consumer — is reshaping the economy. Oil producers are recalibrating their strategies and leaning into power generation, a business that many of them had previously sworn off because it was much less profitable than drilling and processing oil and gas. Just last month, Exxon said that it, too, wanted to get into the business of selling electricity to data centers. But in a reminder that the prospects for A.I. data centers and growing electricity demand are highly uncertain, technology and energy stocks tumbled on Monday. Investors were unnerved by the stunning advances in A.I. made by an unfamiliar ******** start-up, DeepSeek, that said it had made its gains using a modest number of computer chips that consumed relatively little energy. Shares of chip-maker Nvidia tumbled 17 percent and the stock of Constellation Energy, a large power producer, closed down more than 20 percent. “There’s always the potential for markets to surprise you,” Mr. Wirth said. But he added that being early to market and keeping its costs low would protect Chevron against the possibility that power demand growth falls short of current expectations. His company is hardly alone. Many power producers are bulking up, and many are investing in natural gas generating capacity specifically. Constellation, which has a large fleet of nuclear power plants, agreed this month to buy rival Calpine, which owns many natural gas plants, for $16.4 billion. And last week, NextEra Energy said it was planning to build more gas-fueled power plants. Expectations for how much and how quickly U.S. electricity demand will rise vary widely. What’s clear is that data centers are likely to consume a lot more of the country’s power than they do today. A recent study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that the facilities are poised to use up to 12 percent of U.S. electricity in 2028, up from 4.4 percent in 2023. Chevron and Engine No. 1 said they have reserved seven gas turbines from GE Vernova, one of the companies created by the breakup of General Electric. The equipment is set to be delivered beginning in 2026. Chevron and Engine No. 1, which did not say how much they plan to spend, have been in talks with prospective customers and expect to build up to four gigawatts of gas-generating capacity. Natural gas-fired power plants cost around $2 billion per gigawatt, Morgan Stanley recently estimated. In this case, the plants would be located alongside the data centers they power. Like Exxon, the partners expect their facilities would not be connected to the electric grid to start, so the plants can get up and running more quickly. It can take years for grid managers to approve connection requests. Eventually though, they aim to secure grid hookups, said Chris James, Engine No. 1’s chief investment officer. “A grid interconnect allows us to be able to supply power back to the grid when it needs it,” he said. Technology giants like Microsoft and Google have set targets to get all of their energy from sources that do not contribute to climate change after taking into account carbon capture and other technologies. But some tech companies now say that they will be hard-pressed to get all the power they need in the next few years without relying on natural gas, which produces carbon dioxide when it is burned. The greenhouse gas is the leading cause of climate change. “It’s this valley between now and then that leaves a lot of people scratching their heads and realizing that if you don’t lean on gas, the answer might be worse,” said Jesse Noffsinger, a partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Chevron and Engine No. 1 said their plants could be built in several regions. They have ruled out the East Coast because of infrastructure constraints and feedback from potential customers. The companies also looked for sites able to accommodate the capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide emissions, said Mr. James. The companies don’t plan to incorporate that technology or renewable energy at the outset, however. “We’re very confident that over time as the policy environment clarifies itself, as we make good progress on technology development, that some of these other alternatives will be part of it,” Mr. Wirth said. Source link #Chevron #Tap #A.I #***** #Selling #Electricity #Data #Centers Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Doomsday Clock Moves One Second Closer to Catastrophe Doomsday Clock Moves One Second Closer to Catastrophe The world is closer than ever to the apocalypse. That was the dire assessment issued on Tuesday by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit organization and publication whose signature Doomsday Clock has been estimating — in the stark terms of “minutes to midnight” — how close humanity is to annihilation since 1947. The organization said that it had moved the clock’s hands closer to that dreaded day — from 90 seconds to midnight to 89 seconds to midnight. It cited the threats posed by nuclear weapons, climate change and the potential misuse of biological science and artificial intelligence — existential dangers it said had been exacerbated by the spread of misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories. “In setting the Clock one second closer to midnight, we send a stark signal: Because the world is already perilously close to the precipice, a move of even a single second should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning that every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster,” the bulletin said in a statement. The clock is set by the organization’s Science and Security Board, made up of experts in nuclear technology, global security, climate science and other fields. The clock was created in 1947, when the organization’s concerns revolved around the prospect of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The time then was set at seven minutes to midnight. Since then, the scientists behind the project have broadened their focus to consider other threats like climate change, infectious disease and the spread of misinformation fueled by artificial intelligence. And the clock’s hands have moved back and forth. The last shift was in January 2023, when the clock was changed from 100 seconds to midnight to 90 seconds to midnight, largely because of the war in Ukraine. The clock was set farthest from midnight in 1991, after the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, designed to scale down their stockpiles of long-lange nuclear weapons. In response, the bulletin moved the clock to 17 minutes to midnight. The clock did not change during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 because “too little was known at the time about the circumstances of the standoff or what the outcome would be,” the bulletin says on its website. Critics have dismissed the clock as a stunt based on subjective assessments. Others have said that its repeated warnings of total annihilation could end up being dismissed by the public — the public policy equivalent of the boy who cried wolf. But the scientists who set the clock call it an internationally recognized symbol and “a reminder of the perils we must address if we are to survive on the planet.” “The purpose of the Doomsday Clock is to start a global conversation about the very real existential threats that keep the world’s top scientists awake at night,” said Daniel Holz, the chairman of the Science and Security Board and the founding director of the Existential Risk Laboratory at the University of Chicago. This year, the bulletin said that global leaders were failing to confront mounting threats to human survival. It said that the war in Ukraine, now in its third year, “could become nuclear at any moment because of a rash decision or through accident or miscalculation.” It warned that global nuclear arms controls were “collapsing.” And it said that the impacts of climate change had increased over the past year, which was almost certainly the hottest on record. The growth in solar and wind energy, the bulletin said, “has been impressive but remains insufficient to stabilize the climate.” In a clear allusion to President Trump, the organization said: “Judging from recent electoral campaigns, climate change is viewed as a low priority in the United States and many other countries.” Mr. Trump this month signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, the global pact to fight climate change, as part of a series of actions to promote fossil fuels and to withdraw support for renewable energy. The bulletin also warned of the spread of bird flu and said that rapid advances in artificial intelligence had “increased the risk that terrorists or countries may attain the capability of designing biological weapons for which countermeasures do not exist.” Despite the bleak outlook, the bulletin said that there was still an opportunity for the world to move back from the brink of collapse if countries — particularly the United States, China and Russia — work more closely to combat climate change, disease and other threats. “There is still time to make the right choices to turn back the hands of the Doomsday Clock,” Juan Manuel Santos, the former president of Colombia and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, said on Tuesday at a news conference. “In Colombia, we say, ‘Cada segundo cuenta.’ Every second counts. Let us use each one wisely.” Source link #Doomsday #Clock #Moves #Closer #Catastrophe Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump Justice Department sues Illinois and city of Chicago over immigration laws Trump Justice Department sues Illinois and city of Chicago over immigration laws The Justice Department sued the State of Illinois, the city of Chicago and other local jurisdictions alleging their laws are standing in the way of the Trump administration’s increased immigration enforcement in the area, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday. In the Trump administration’s first legal bid to stave off local efforts to impede immigration operations, federal officials are asking a judge to bar the Illinois, Chicago, Cook County and the Cook County Sheriff from using local laws that protect migrants to hamper law enforcement. The Justice Department said certain state and local provisions are “designed to and in fact interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law” and accused local officials of working to obstruct federal efforts to curb ******** migration, allegations state officials dispute. According to the complaint, more than 13,000 undocumented migrants were arrested by immigration officials in Illinois between 2016 and 2025. More Robert Legare Robert Legare is a CBS News multiplatform reporter and producer covering the Justice Department, federal courts and investigations. He was previously an associate producer for the “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell.” Source link #Trump #Justice #Department #sues #Illinois #city #Chicago #immigration #laws Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

*** expels Russian diplomat after British envoy accused of spying *** expels Russian diplomat after British envoy accused of spying A Russian diplomat has been expelled from the *** in the latest escalation of a ****-for-tat spat after Moscow threw out a British official last year. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said action had been taken “following Russia’s recent expulsion of a British diplomat” in November. Moscow accused the diplomat of giving false information and spying as grounds for asking him to leave. The government said the *** “will not stand for intimidation of our staff in this way” and that “any further action taken by Russia will be considered an escalation and responded to accordingly”. Russia’s ambassador to the *** Andrey Kelin, who has been in post since 2019, was summoned to the Foreign Office to be informed one of his diplomats was having their accreditation revoked. An accreditation is a recognition by a government of a diplomat’s status, and gives them certain immunities depending on rank. “We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests,” Lammy said. “My message to Russia is clear – if you take action against us, we will respond.” The Kremlin has yet to comment publicly on the expulsion. Moscow revoked the British diplomat’s accreditation in November, accusing them of spying and ordering the individual to leave the country within two weeks. Russian state-run news agencies reported that the country’s security service FSB had accused the diplomat of providing false information on his documents and carrying out espionage activities. His photo and name was also shared on Russian TV bulletins. At the time, the Foreign Office dismissed Russia’s accusations as “baseless” and said it was considering a response. Russia previously said it planned to take further action should the *** respond to its own expulsion. Diplomatic relations between the *** and Russia have worsened since the latter’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since then, expulsions of diplomats have become increasingly common. In September last year, Russia announced that the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow had been revoked, requiring them to leave the country. And in May, British diplomat Capt Adrian Coghill was given a week to leave Russia, days after the Russian defence attaché was expelled from London for alleged espionage as an “undeclared military intelligence officer”. A number of British politicians and members of the press have also been barred from entering Russia since the war began, including senior government officials and journalists from the BBC, Sky News and Channel 4. Most recently, 30 more people, including Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and other Labour cabinet members, were added to Russia’s “stop list”. Lammy and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer were added to the list in 2022, as was now-Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch. Source link #expels #Russian #diplomat #British #envoy #accused #spying Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The ESA Announces New Iicon Conference For “Visionaries” The ESA Announces New Iicon Conference For “Visionaries” The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) may be gone, but the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) isn’t done putting on events centered around the games industry. The ESA announced on Thursday the creation of the Interactive Innovation Conference, or iicon. Billed as an “essential convening for changemakers across industries”, the inaugural event will take place in Las Vegas from April 27-30, 2026. “For decades, video games have been at the forefront of technological and cultural innovation,” ESA president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis said. “With iicon, we are creating a space for visionaries across industries to come together, connect and reimagine what’s possible through interactive entertainment.” “The Entertainment Software Association and its member companies are among the innovators and leaders shaping the future of culture, business and human connection,” ESA’s Chairman of the Board Doug Bowser said. “It’s a natural role for ESA to host and support an event that fosters an open exchange of new ideas with our peer industry leaders. Iicon is bringing together changemakers from across industries to envision how the strengths of the interactive entertainment industry can break entirely new ground.” As far as what organizations will take part in the event, the ESA revealed that Amazon Games, Disney, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Games. will all have a presence. “Iicon will bring together some of the brightest minds from the games industry to navigate present challenges and harness the opportunities ahead,” Christoph Hartmann, vice president of Amazon Games, said. Despite being run by the same organization, this event isn’t being touted as a replacement for E3, which was often filled with large presentations and, in its later years, thousands of gamers. The ESA says that iicon is “tailored to visionaries, thought leaders and innovators across industries that intersect with interactive entertainment.” More details on the event such as speakers, general access, and more will be announced at a later date. Attendance will be invite only. What do you think of the ESA’s new iicon event? Let us know down below, and join more discussions in the official Insider Gaming forums. For more Insider Gaming, read about the changes atop the studio behind Project Ethos and read about the current plans for Apex Legends from EA. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam. Source link #ESA #Announces #Iicon #Conference #Visionaries Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump’s First Two Weeks Have Thrown U.S. Climate Spending Into Chaos Trump’s First Two Weeks Have Thrown U.S. Climate Spending Into Chaos Over the past four years during the Biden administration, the United States started spending ever-greater sums on efforts to blunt global warming and help communities adapt to a hotter world. Many analysts expected the total tab for this work to exceed $1 trillion over the next decade. But in a matter of days, President Trump has thrown much of that spending into question, though how much money is affected is unclear. Some funds are frozen. Some projects are paused. And while a portion of that money is already out the door, there is an acute sense of uncertainty among people doing climate-related work that relies on government funding and approvals. To take just one example of the chaos, consider the aid that the United States sends to foreign countries to deal with climate change. The United States Agency for International Development alone manages appropriations of roughly $40 billion annually, a fraction of which goes to climate-related projects. Raj Kumar, the chief executive officer of Devex, a media company that tracks foreign aid closely, said he had spent the past week on the phone with the leaders of organizations working on development projects around the world, and even he can’t make sense of this moment. “There’s no precedent to this,” he told me. “As the recipient of U.S. aid right now, you really don’t know what the state of your program is.” Even among people who track federal spending closely, there is widespread uncertainty about what the U.S. government is going to fund. The White House and State Department did not respond to requests for comment. And while the specifics are not all known, it’s already clear that U.S. efforts to address climate change could be affected on a number of fronts. Federal grants: On Monday, the Office of Management and Budget ordered a pause on almost all federal grants and loans, saying it was necessary to root out “D.E.I., woke gender ideology and the Green New Deal.” There is no such thing as the “Green New Deal,” but that language was clearly meant as a broadside attack on federal support for renewable energy projects. By Wednesday, the White House had rescinded that order, creating more confusion. But the scope of climate- and energy-related programs that could still be affected by such a freeze is vast, and includes several clean-energy programs and efforts working to limit pollution. Heatmap News compiled an extensive list. Foreign aid: Last week, after a Trump executive order, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a 90-day freeze on almost all foreign aid. The stop-work order affected scores of programs around the world. Some projects have received waivers that will allow them to continue operating. But officials have already warned that programs focused on managing the impact of climate change will be permanently cut. “It’s astonishing,” said the leader of a climate resilience nonprofit that receives U.S. funding, and declined to speak publicly to avoid possible retribution. “The gut reaction is just bewilderment.” Already, the nonprofit, which operates in Latin America, Europe and the South Pacific, was making plans to lay off staff and wind down programs aimed at helping the developing world adapt to rising seas and extreme heat. “We never seen anything like it in 30 years of foreign aid,” the nonprofit leader said. “What are they trying to do? Is it just provoke chaos?” Fuel economy rules: On Tuesday, the newly confirmed transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, signed an order seeking to roll back fuel economy standards for automakers that had been set by the Biden administration. The move could result in more tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks, and slow the adoption of electric vehicles. Wind power: Last week, one of President Trump’s first executive orders targeted wind energy. The move brought an immediate halt to all leasing of federal lands and waters for new wind farms, and directed federal agencies to stop issuing permits for all wind farms anywhere in the country for the time being. Wind projects already under construction are unlikely to be affected for now. But some projects that were far along in the development process but awaiting final approvals may be scuttled. Electric vehicles: Another executive order signed on Trump’s first day in office targeted electric vehicles. A tax credit for people buying EVs was scrapped, and federal funds intended to help install charging stations were put on hold. While some funds that have been allocated for charging stations are still expected to be used, the moves are likely to slow the development of the electric vehicle industry in the United States, and help President Trump’s ally, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk. While Tesla is the largest EV maker in the country, it has its own network of fast chargers and stands to benefit if rival networks are slow to be built. Some climate funding could survive: A Trump executive order targeting clean energy investments could affect the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office, which under the Biden administration awarded $107.6 billion in loans and loan guarantees to help bring new energy technologies to market. But more than $60 billion of that has been finalized and would be hard for the Trump administration to claw back. Companies that had received loan commitments from the agency say they are unsure when they might start receiving payments, though some pointed out that the agreements are legally binding and can’t simply be abandoned at will. “We do have a contract with the government,” said Andy Marsh, the chief executive of Plug Power, a company that aims to convert renewable electricity into hydrogen fuels. In January, the Biden administration finalized a $1.66 billion loan guarantee with Plug Power to build a hydrogen facility in Texas and several more after that. Brad Plumer contributed reporting. These are the winds that turn wildfires deadly in L.A. Fierce desert winds turned this month’s wildfires around Los Angeles into raging cauldrons of devastation. They also made the blazes fit a pattern. Fires driven by Santa Ana winds, the infamous gusts that howl in over the mountains to the city’s north, account for about 90 percent of the area burned by fall and winter wildfires in Southern California since 1950, scientists estimated in a recent study. Such findings raise a big question for Los Angeles as it rebuilds: How can the area better gird itself against a threat as consistent, and consistently menacing, as severe wind? Scientists say we know enough about Santa Anas to prepare better in several ways. — Raymond Zhong and Zach Levitt Source link #Trumps #Weeks #Thrown #U.S #Climate #Spending #Chaos Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Agreement to deliver 'vital services' for remote areas Agreement to deliver 'vital services' for remote areas An agreement between Indigenous organisations and the federal and NT governments is a step in the right direction for self-determination, advocates say. Source link #Agreement #deliver #039vital #services039 #remote #areas Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Madden Isn’t The Only Football Game You Can Play To Get Hyped For The Super Bowl Madden Isn’t The Only Football Game You Can Play To Get Hyped For The Super Bowl The big game is almost here, and for most of us, that means disappointment, as your team probably didn’t make the cut. (Unless you’re a dirty Chiefs bandwagoner). Fortunately for those of us who aren’t interested in playing yet another season of Madden NFL 25 to celebrate, there are other football games on the market that’ll scratch that itch. And of them, Mutant Football League 2 is certainly the bloodiest, and it’s coming to Xbox Series X|S’s Xbox Game Preview program on February 6. As part of the Super Bowl proceedings, Mutant Football League 2 is available for a discounted price of $25 on Xbox Game Preview. It’s coming to the console for the first time in Fall 2025, but this preview will give you a chance to try out the mayhem for yourself ahead of its release. As shown in the below trailer, the sequel allows you to create your own Mutant Dream Team, so you can make sure to always beat your friends, as well as the Doom Field Designer, which allows you to create the perfect home field advantage for your motley crew of misfits. Note that Mutant Football League 2 has no NFL license, so don’t expect real teams or players here. First released in early access on PC in May 2024, Mutant Football League 2 is a return to the heady arcade days of games like NFL Blitz. With plenty of blood and gore, a focus on local multiplayer, and special “dirty tricks” plays that allow you to literally injure and kill your opponents, this is your chance to get your revenge on that annoying Chiefs fan in your life. Then again, it’s just a good time, particularly if you’re willing to customize your own orc to look as twisted as possible. It also supports online multiplayer and features a robust dynasty mode. For those of you who prefer a more realistic football experience, there’s always the PC game Legend Bowl, which hits a level of complexity somewhere between Madden and classics like Tecmo Super Bowl. The latest Madden is also on Game Pass, so it’s easier to jump in than ever before. Source link #Madden #Isnt #Football #Game #Play #Hyped #Super #Bowl Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

***’s Cyber Monitoring Centre begins incident classification work ***’s Cyber Monitoring Centre begins incident classification work The Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC), a new ***-based project designed to independently declare and classify systemic cyber attacks using a unique classification scale with the objective of helping organisations understand the nature of systemic security incidents with widespread impacts, has formally begun its work. Initially a joint project between law firm Weightmans and insurer CFC, the CMC’s objective is to declare and classify systemic incidents on a scale of one through five, where one is the least severe type of incident and five the most dangerous and disruptive. It was initially designed as an aid to the insurance industry, but the results of its work will be freely available to all security risk owners. It hopes to bring greater clarity and transparency to complex incidents, and help organisations better react to them and prepare for future ones. “The risk of major cyber events is greater now than at any time in the past as *** organisations have become increasingly reliant on technology. The CMC has the potential to help businesses and individuals better understand the implications of cyber events, mitigate their impact on people’s lives, and improve cyber resilience and response plans,” said CMC CEO Will Mayes. When a systemic incident – defined by the CMC as one with a financial impact greater than £100m, affecting multiple organisations, and where there is data or information available to enable assessments – the CMC’s Technical Committee, which is led by former National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) chief executive Ciaran Martin, will measure key factors against the CMC’s core framework to make an effective judgement as to the incident’s classification. These factors are: External polling on an incident, for which it is partnering with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the British Chambers of Commerce; Observable technical indicators and incident data drawn from, for example, news reports, NHS or ONS data, and partnerships with third parties such as risk analytics house Parametrix, among others; And modelling against previous incidents, such as 2024’s CrowdStrike outage, and through conversations with individuals involved in the incident, such as victims, incident response and cyber forensics teams, lawyers, insurance claims handlers and industry bodies. I have no doubt the CMC will improve the way we tackle, learn from, and recover from cyber incidents. If we crack this, and I’m confident that we will, it could be a huge boost to cyber security efforts Ciaran Martin, Cyber Monitoring Centre The CMC said the target timeframe to categorise an event against these criteria will be 30 days, although this is not set in stone. Each published categorisation will be supported by an event report that will summarise the committee’s analysis and provide additional insights from its work. Committee chair Martin said that up to now, measuring the severity of cyber security incidents had been a big challenge. “This could be a huge leap forward [and] I have no doubt the CMC will improve the way we tackle, learn from, and recover from cyber incidents. If we crack this, and I’m confident that we will, ultimately it could be a huge boost to cyber security efforts not just here but internationally too,” he said. Mayes added: “I would also like to acknowledge the support from a wide range of world-leading experts who have contributed so much time and expertise to help establish the CMC, and continue to provide data and insights during events. Their ongoing support will be vital and we look forward to adding further expertise to our growing cohort of partners in the months and years ahead.” Source link #UKs #Cyber #Monitoring #Centre #begins #incident #classification #work Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

In Zimbabwe, Rhinos Are the Focus of a Village Tourism Project In Zimbabwe, Rhinos Are the Focus of a Village Tourism Project “We are very happy you are here,” Mr. Sibanda said to our group. In 2022, Mr. Butcher teamed up with Ngamo’s leaders for a pilot project that introduced a different pair of white rhinos into a sanctuary that was much smaller than Mlevu’s: the 420-acre Ngamo Rhino Sanctuary. The goal was to prove that villagers could protect the animals and engage with travelers. A few years later, the project has accomplished both, with more than 2,500 foreign visitors arriving in total, each of whom paid up to $180 to see and hike with the rhinos. So far, those fees have pumped about $100,000 into a community fund, an enormous amount for a village that once relied only on subsistence farming and had virtually no money in circulation. Now Ngamo has a medical clinic serving 90 homesteads. An outdoor market sells local handicrafts: tapestries, baskets and ornaments carved from nuts with rhinos etched on their sides. The school now has a roof, and the Ngamo Lions youth soccer club plays on a field nearby. Mlevu, on the other hand, has none of this — other than a school in deep need of repairs. It may soon, though, thanks to the new rhinos. “Everyone wants to see the Big Five and with the rhinos, that creates the opportunity for them to venture into the villages,” Mazayi Moyo, a headman and carpenter in Ngamo, told me as we talked in his kitchen. His wife, Siphiwe, sat next to him below earthen shelves holding neat rows of yellow plates and blue cups. “Everyone benefits,” Mr. Moyo said. Running with the Cobras Over the next few days, I did some traditional safari activities from my base near Bomani, and a few untraditional ones, too. Source link #Zimbabwe #Rhinos #Focus #Village #Tourism #Project Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

I Spent 32 Years Believing I Was Male. Then A Shocking Phone Call Exploded Everything I Knew. I Spent 32 Years Believing I Was Male. Then A Shocking Phone Call Exploded Everything I Knew. Courtesy of J. Ben Morton The day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, I opened my phone to a news update saying the president had signed an executive order mandating that the government acknowledge only two sexes: male and female. It felt like someone had walked up behind me and walloped me over the head with a phone book. I was angered by the basic misinformation and willful ignorance that this declaration promotes about an individual’s sex. As I involuntarily learned at 32 years old, sex and gender are continuums with many variations. Saying otherwise jeopardizes not only intersex and transgender people, but allAmericans, by increasing government overreach and a loss of privacy, reinforcing rigid gender roles, and complicating legal and medical processes. In 2017, a few weeks after I mailed a tube of my saliva to a company that offers genetic testing to provide ancestry breakdowns and insight into health conditions, an email arrived in my inbox. The message read, ”We would like to follow up with you via phone to verify additional information about your DNA analysis.” I replied within minutes, puzzled as to why in the world this ancestry company wanted to talk to me about my obvious northwestern European heritage. I’m as white as it gets. I answered my phone on the first ring. “Hi, this is Avery with the customer care team,” she said. “Would you mind confirming a few personal details for me, please?” I stated my name, and then Avery continued the questioning without hesitation or taking a breath: “And your address? Your age? Gender? Did you share your collection tube with a roommate or partner?” Why would I have shared a DNA sample tube with someone else? Definitely not. “Have you ever had a bone marrow transplant?” Again, no. As she neared the end of her interrogation, I got the feeling that the test results were going to be different than I expected. I wanted to be weird, but not too weird. My mind drifted toward fun potential outcomes. A birthright trip anywhere outside of Western Europe was ideal, but mostly I’d just hoped for a good 30-second story to tell strangers when the topic comes up at happy hours. Avery coughed, drawing me back into the phone. “OK,” she said, interrupting my thoughts. “Based on your answers, we’ve identified a mismatch in your DNA.” “A mismatch?” “Well,” she said, searching for the best customer-friendly language, “you completed your profile as ‘male.’ But your DNA appears to be female.” Biology was my favorite class at my private Christian high school in Tennessee. It was there that I learned about Punnett squares and how traits get passed down genetically. But I never learned that sex exists on a spectrum. I was taught that boys had XY chromosomes, male genitalia and high testosterone, and that girls had XX chromosomes, female genitalia and relatively low testosterone. I didn’t know that various combinations of chromosomes, hormones, external genitalia and internal reproductive structures existed. It wasn’t until many years after high school that I heard the term “intersex” for the first time. And even then, I didn’t realize that intersex traits could be found among as many as 2% of live births, seemingly making them as common as red hair globally. Holding the phone to my ear, I laughed nervously, stalling for time while my brain searched its depths for any remaining knowledge on DNA. “Our testing looks for genetic markers on your X and Y chromosomes to track your maternal and paternal lineages,” she said, “We were able to find the X markers of maternal lineage, but unfortunately none of the Y markers to show paternal lineage.” The rest of our phone conversation sounded like a price negotiation in the final hour of a flea market as I bargained for my old identity back. Avery reiterated that I wouldn’t be receiving any paternal results, but that she’d send me a list of genetic counselors in my area. “Maybe they could help,” she offered. I spent the next 13 months trying to grasp how I could have female DNA. Google searches exposed me to varying implications ranging from common to extreme, like Klinefelter syndrome (in which people have XXY chromosomes) and higher risk of diabetes, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular issues and poor cognitive functioning. I needed an educated professional to help me understand what it all meant for me personally. Finally, I made an appointment with a geneticist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She was warm and eager to talk as soon as I stepped into her sunlit office. After asking for my permission, a genetic counselor and medical student entered and stepped around my chair as my geneticist explained my condition to me. All three of us listened intently as she approached my diagnosis. “You have something called ‘disorder of ******* development.’ Specifically, your variation is called XX testicular DSD.” She called on her student to explain. “During male spermatogenesis, X and Y chromosomes perform their typical recombination in the pseudoautosomal regions,” she said while drawing a diagram of the complicated process on a blank sheet of paper on the table in front of me. “But during your own development” — the student circled a portion of my father’s Y chromosome — “one gene, the SRY gene, translocated from the Y chromosome to your X chromosome. So, from your karyotype chromosomal testing you’re considered female, but you likely grew up being classified as male, given your external expression.” It was a mouthful. I tried to repeat words back to the three of them, but it was like trying to recite a foreign language for the first time. The translocation of an SRY gene meant that some development of male sex organs had occurred. The primary implications for me were that I had external genitalia matching a stereotypical male, but my internal functioning was more blurred, including irregular hormone production and likely infertility. As I stumbled over my words, my geneticist broke down the big concepts further. “How do you feel about the word ‘intersex’?” she asked. “Well, I guess I’ve never really thought about it before.” Prior to my DNA test, I never regarded sex as a gray area. Growing up, my Southern ******** church didn’t teach me about this level of diversity in God’s creation. It was all Adam and Eve, and avoiding the age of dinosaurs. My references during puberty included the encyclopedias on our basement bookshelves and the Sears catalogs’ underwear sections. It was always men or women — separate, with no overlap. I had no questions until I was given a reason to question my own identity. My geneticist explained that “intersex” is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of natural variations that can affect things like genitals, hormones and chromosomes. Sometimes these characteristics are visible at birth, sometimes they appear during puberty, but often they are never physically noticeable. Virtually endless combinations of expressions exist in human bodies. Being intersex is not the same as being transgender, and it affects many more people than is obvious. My head spun as I tried to digest this news. It slid into my stomach like old milk as I began to think of worst-case scenarios. How would I explain this to other people? Could I keep this a secret? What did this mean for my future health? Should I follow prescriptions for males or females to live a long life? “I guess a lot of things make sense hearing this — things I couldn’t quite grasp about myself before,” I said, having wondered why my body’s testosterone was barely present for my age, among other, more personal signs that I’d never dreamed of speaking aloud. I’d felt like an oddball growing up, but this group of three women made me feel like maybe I wasn’t a mistake. Grappling with my health prior to these tests, I’d often felt like something was wrong with me — that parts of me were broken compared with other guys my age. I couldn’t build muscle as quickly, I was usually tired, and my brain seemed to operate differently. Now I had a reason why I didn’t fit the typical mold. My geneticist explained hormone replacement therapy, osteopenia prevention and other health resources and risks that might help me to have more energy and live a longer, healthier life. These wouldn’t have been available to me if I’d only been classified as male or female. This one meeting with a doctor made me believe that the more we understand about our bodies, the better our health can be. Promoting sex as binary is an oversimplification of real-life scenarios, and such reductive and completely unscientific approaches — and the policies that are created because of them — are harmful to all American citizens. If sex is strictly defined at birth with no room for changes, men like myself could face challenges in legal recognition, and it opens doors for the government and private companies to discriminate. Although an estimated 5.6 million people in the U.S. may have intersex traits, only about 1 in 5,000 are thought to be visibly intersex at birth. Many of us discover that we are intersex later in life — during puberty, medical exams or fertility treatments. Imagine your child, sibling or loved one hearing that they are intersex as an adult and being unable to receive the health care they need to live well. And for those who aren’t intersex, imagine insurance policies prohibiting coverage for conditions that don’t neatly align with sex-based classifications. Men can have breast *******, too. I’ve shared my diagnosis with my friends and family — many of them conservatives — slowly over the eight years following my DNA test. The common reaction has been disbelief. “That’s wild,” I’ve heard countless times. The idea of sex not being ****** and white was surprising — shocking, even — to many in my community. But they believe and support me. At the same time, some of these same people criticize transgender individuals who can’t walk into a conversation with a diagnosis on a piece of paper like I can. DNA proof or not, intersex and trans people are real and we should believe them. My own diagnosis allowed me to receive treatments that provide me with greater energy and quality of life. But more than that, my diagnosis has played a major role in my politics, as I empathize more with people who don’t fit typical molds. I’m on the easy-to-ignore end of the sex and gender spectrums, but many others have more urgent needs that require them to fight daily for health care necessities and acknowledgment of their existence. And even those who aren’t intersex or transgender should be bothered by the president’s order because at a minimum it allows government interference in private matters — not to mention that it’s just plain cruel. An executive order effectively declaring the nonexistence of intersex and trans individuals will never make us cease to exist. It just puts our lives at risk. At a time in our country when leaders aim to censor human stories from the national narrative, it’s essential that we share our truths. J. Ben Morton is an intersex writer exploring the impact of religious indoctrination and oppressive systems he was raised to believe in. He is currently completing his memoir, “Good Grief,” which examines the profound loss of a young Christian’s expectation for his future in the ****** Belt — and the resilience required to forge a new identity. Stories that grapple with belonging are the basis for his essays. Note: Some names or details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals mentioned in this essay. Do you have a compelling personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch at *****@*****.tld. Related… Source link #Spent #Years #Believing #Male #Shocking #Phone #Call #Exploded #Knew Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Amazon (AMZN) Q4 earnings report 2024 Amazon (AMZN) Q4 earnings report 2024 Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco on June 8, 2022. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Amazon is slated to report fourth-quarter earnings Thursday after the market close. Here’s what analysts are expecting: Earnings: $1.49 per share expected, according to LSEGRevenue: $187.3 billion expected, according to LSEG Wall Street is also watching several other numbers in the report: Amazon Web Services: $28.8 billion, according to StreetAccountAdvertising: $17.4 billion, according to StreetAccount Analysts are projecting revenue growth of roughly 10% during the quarter, which includes results from the holiday shopping season. Online spending jumped nearly 9% to $241.1 billion in November and December, according to data from Adobe Analytics, which tracks sales on retailers’ websites. That was slightly higher than analysts’ forecast for sales of $240.8 billion. Operating income during the fourth quarter is expected to grow 44% year over year to roughly $19 billion, according to FactSet estimates. The company’s bottom line has benefited from CEO Andy Jassy’s cost-cutting campaign, which has been ongoing since late 2022. The company laid off more than 27,000 employees in 2022 and 2023, and it’s had smaller rounds of job cuts in 2024 that have stretched into this year. Amazon has also continued to wind down some of its more experimental and unprofitable initiatives. Amazon rounds out a busy earnings ******* for the top tech companies. Google parent Alphabet on Tuesday posted disappointing fourth-quarter revenue. Apple, Meta and Microsoft reported results last week. Wall Street will be looking for any commentary from Amazon about the impact of President Donald Trump’s recently announced tariffs on its business. Tariffs on Canada and Mexico are now on hold for one month, while the import taxes remain in place for China. The company has long connected ******** manufacturers to American shoppers through its sprawling third-party marketplace. By some estimates, China-based merchants outnumber American sellers on the platform, according to data from Marketplace Pulse. Amazon’s first-party retail business has the highest exposure to Trump’s tariffs on ******** imports among the e-commerce companies it tracks, analysts at Morgan Stanley wrote in a Monday note. The analysts estimate that 25% of products sold by Amazon’s first-party retail business come direct from China. Over the years, Amazon has moved away from first-party sales to third-party sellers, which now account for 60% of products sold on the site. Read more CNBC Amazon coverage During the fourth quarter, Amazon launched its competitor to Temu and Shein, called Haul, which offers low-cost apparel, jewelry, electronics and other items. Trump’s tariffs also took aim at the “de minimis” trade exemption that has allowed direct-from-China services like Amazon Haul to bypass duties and taxes on packages worth less than $800. Prices on Amazon Haul could rise as a result of Trump shutting the de minimis loophole. The company’s investments in artificial intelligence are also likely to be an area of focus. Amazon planned to spend about $75 billion on capex in 2024, Jassy said last quarter, adding that he suspected the company would spend more in 2025. The jump in spending is primarily being driven by AI investments, Jassy said. An AI model created by ******** startup DeepSeek has captured headlines and roiled markets in recent weeks. DeepSeek claims it only took two months and less than $6 million to develop its R1 model, which it says rivals OpenAI’s o1. The announcement caught Wall Street and Silicon Valley by surprise, challenging the assumption that tech companies must spend heavily on chips and data centers in order to build cutting-edge AI models. Amazon has been racing to release new AI products and features as it looks to keep up with its competitors. The company in December launched a new set of AI models, called Nova. The company also offers Bedrock, which lets users access AI models from Amazon and others, and an AI chatbot for shopping called Rufus. The company is expected to release an updated version of its Alexa digital assistant with AI features. It first previewed the redesigned Alexa in 2023, though the rollout has reportedly been slowed by technical challenges, according to Bloomberg. In October, Jassy said the new Alexa could launch “in the near future.” WATCH: Amazon’s Jamil Ghani on Prime’s 2024 performance Source link #Amazon #AMZN #earnings #report Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

My Dear Farm+ is out now on Apple Arcade for free-to-play cosy fun My Dear Farm+ is out now on Apple Arcade for free-to-play cosy fun My Dear Farm is one of the latest additions to the Apple Arcade lineup Manage your own farm and decorate your own home, even partner up with others Think Stardew Valley, but even cosier, and available on Apple Arcade! Want to start up your own pocket farm? Want to enjoy a cosy life of tending to your agrarian ideal? Then look no further because alongside golf and doodle jumping Apple Arcade is also adding the cosy farming simulator My Dear Farm+ to its lineup today! In My Dear Farm+, you’re able to customise your own avatar to run and tend to your very own farm. Grow crops and then sell them to create a thriving business, spending your excess cash on new decorations for your very own home. Maybe you want to partner up and spend time with your very own companion too? Either way, My Dear Farm promises a lovingly crafted pastel farming experience in the same vein as something like Stardew Valley, just with a few softer edges. The best part? Because this is on Apple Arcade there’s no need to worry about purchases, in-app transactions or anything else if you’re a subscriber! So jump in today and create the farm of your dreams. Bought the farm When I say that I’m not sure My Dear Farm+ outweighs heavyweights of the cosy farming genre (which boy, what a sentence that is) like Stardew Valley I don’t want to make that seem like a criticism. My Dear Farm looks perfectly well put together and competent, but it’s hard to compete with more in-depth releases when it seems a bit simpler and more focused on being cosy than complex. I reckon that may turn some people away, but equally, it may also grab those who want a more laid-back experience as well. Still, there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you do want to check out what other options you have why not take a look at our newest list of the top five latest mobile games to try this week for top current launches? Source link #Dear #Farm #Apple #Arcade #freetoplay #cosy #fun Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Gemini AI can now watch YouTube videos for you, and this changes everything Gemini AI can now watch YouTube videos for you, and this changes everything The latest batch of Google Gemini 2.0 updates includes a rather cool new feature that means Gemini 2.0 Flash can now watch YouTube videos and extract information from them for you. So, rather than having to watch a whole video just to get that one vital piece of information you’re after, you can get Gemini to watch the whole thing in microseconds and then answer questions on it. Saving time on research is the most obvious use of this feature that comes to mind, but I can think of quite a few times recently when I’ve got frustrated watching a YouTube video because I just wanted some basic information from it, and I felt like they were dragging it out. Now I can extract that information in seconds. For example, there are a lot of baking videos that show you how to make something, like a cake or pastry, but because they want you to watch the whole video right to the end they often don’t provide a simple list of instructions along with the ingredients. Now Gemini 2.0 can watch the video for you, and send you a breakdown of the instructions in seconds. Get Gemini to do the heavy lifting (Image credit: Google/Apple) To get Gemini to watch videos for you you need to go to either the web-based Gemini, or the Gemini app on your phone. Log in with your account details as normal. (The ability to use Gemini with apps like YouTube is available whether you have a Gemini Advanced account or just a standard free account). Make sure you check this one thing: In the Gemini menu at the top-left of the web browser (or at the top of the app) you need to make sure that you select the “2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental with apps” option for this to work. Now you can ask Gemini to watch a video and answer questions on it. For example, this video shows you how to make the pistachio cake of your dreams. There’s an ingredients list in the YouTube description – that’s great – but I can’t be bothered to watch the whole video when all I want is a list of instructions. Just ask Gemini: “Can you watch this video and give me a list of ingredients and instructions? and the work is done for you. Top tip: I obtained the URL for the video from the YouTube Share option, using ‘Copy link’ – I found that cutting and pasting the video address from the browser URL bar didn’t work with Gemini, it kept saying that the video URL was wrong; however the ‘share’ version of the URL worked fine. The ability to use Gemini 2.0 Flash with apps also extends to Google search and Google Maps, but I think it’s the ability to use it with YouTube videos that will be a real game changer. Let me know how you get on with using it in the comments section. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. You may also like Source link #Gemini #watch #YouTube #videos Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

RFK Jr. Says He Won’t Keep Financial Stake in HPV Vaccine Lawsuits RFK Jr. Says He Won’t Keep Financial Stake in HPV Vaccine Lawsuits During intense questioning Thursday by members of the Senate health committee about his plan to keep a financial stake in major vaccine litigation, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that he would give away his rights to fees that might flow from it. It appears to be a reversal from the details of the government ethics agreement that he filed for his Senate confirmation hearings to become the nation’s health secretary. Just last week, the ethics agreement he provided to senators stated that he would retain a stake in the continuing litigation, meaning that if confirmed, he could receive payments while overseeing the vast U.S. health bureaucracy that includes regulating drug companies. The financial disclosure specified that Mr. Kennedy would collect fees from Wisner Baum, a personal injury law firm based in Los Angeles. Mr. Kennedy said that he had sent hundreds of clients to the firm, which is suing the drug maker Merck over claims that young people were injured by the company’s Gardasil vaccine, aimed at preventing cervical ******* caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV. In the ethics statement, he reported: “I am entitled to 10 percent of fees awarded” in cases that he referred to Wisner Baum. Lawmakers considering his confirmation on Wednesday and Thursday denounced the financial arrangement, with many Democrats suggesting that it posed an inherent conflict because he would stand to gain financially from decisions he made as health secretary that involved drug companies. “I have given away all of my rights to any fees in that lawsuit,” Mr. Kennedy told senators on Thursday. Asked to elaborate, Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy, said that he “isn’t personally retaining the fees.” But she did not respond to additional questions as to whether the arrangement with the law firm to pay Mr. Kennedy a 10 percent contingency fee — depending on the outcome of any lawsuit settlement or verdict — would somehow be altered or revised to redirect any payment. It is possible it could be placed in a trust or limited liability company of some sort, or be directed to a family member. The funds could also be dispersed to other lawyers at the firm. (Conor Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy’s son, is a lawyer at Wisner Baum.) The U.S. Office of Government Ethics, which tends to approve nominees’ agreements, and Wisner Baum did not respond immediately to questions on Thursday. The ethics office has reminded government nominees that they must clear substantive changes to their agreements. On Wednesday, a widely circulated clip of Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, outlined the ways Mr. Kennedy could influence the lawsuits. During her questioning, Mr. Kennedy would not commit to walking away from any proceeds of the Gardasil cases, saying he had complied with ethics rules. “Kennedy can kill off access to vaccines and make millions of dollars while he does it,” Ms. Warren said. “Kids might die, but Robert Kennedy can keep cashing in.” On Thursday, in the second hearing, Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat of Washington, picked up the thread, talking about how effective the HPV vaccine had been at preventing cervical *******. You have “said it actually increases the risk of cervical *******. Do you stand by those statements?” Ms. Murray asked. Mr. Kennedy did not answer directly, saying the matter was before a jury this week. Wisner Baum lawyers are representing a young plaintiff who claims she suffered from a blood circulation disorder after receiving the HPV vaccine in a trial that began this month in California. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat of Virginia, continued the line of questioning on Thursday, citing a number of positive studies about Gardasil, which he said is made in Virginia. He asked about Mr. Kennedy’s decision to keep a stake in the litigation. “How can folks who need to have confidence in federal vaccine programs trust you to be independent and science-based when you stand to gain significant funding if lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers are successful?” Mr. Kaine asked. That was the first time that Mr. Kennedy publicly disclosed that he was giving up the fees. Public records show that Mr. Kennedy has earned about $2.5 million from his work with Wisner Baum since 2022. After Senator Warren’s pointed questions about potential conflicts involving Mr. Kennedy’s financial interests in cases against drug makers, Wisner Baum released a statement saying the $2.5 million in payments were related to Mr. Kennedy’s work on cases involving the weed killer Roundup and others related to wildfires. None of that amount, the firm said, was related to vaccine litigation. Source link #RFK #Wont #Financial #Stake #HPV #Vaccine #Lawsuits Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Judge holds hearing on FBI agents’ lawsuits against Justice Dept. – The Washington Post Judge holds hearing on FBI agents’ lawsuits against Justice Dept. – The Washington Post Judge holds hearing on FBI agents’ lawsuits against Justice Dept. The Washington PostThe Capitol Rioters Are Free — But Ed Martin’s Crusade Against Jan. 6 Prosecutors Is Just Getting Started The InterceptF.B.I. Agents Ask Court to Bar Trump Team From Disclosing Their Names The New York TimesJudge to consider blocking FBI from assembling list of agents who investigated Jan. 6 ABC News Source link #Judge #holds #hearing #FBI #agents #lawsuits #Justice #Dept #Washington #Post Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

OpenAI co-founder John Schulman has left Anthropic after less than a year OpenAI co-founder John Schulman has left Anthropic after less than a year Less than a year into his tenure at the company, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman is leaving Anthropic. The startup confirmed Schulman’s departure after The Information, Reuters and other publications reported on the exit. “We are sad to see John go but fully support his decision to pursue new opportunities and wish him all the very best,” said Jared Kaplan, Anthropic’s chief science officer, in a statement the company shared with Engadget. Schulman left OpenAI last August alongside Peter Deng, the company’s former vice-president of consumer product. Schulman is considered one of the original architects of ChatGPT. Following his departure from OpenAI, Schulman said he was joining Anthropic to focus on AI alignment — the process of making machine learning models safe to use — and a desire to return “to more hands-on technical work.” Schulman hasn’t publicly said why he decided to leave Anthropic, nor what he plans to do next. His X profile still says he “recently joined” Anthropic. If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission. Source link #OpenAI #cofounder #John #Schulman #left #Anthropic #year Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Valve shoots down rumors of RDNA4-based Steam Console — it routinely tests new hardware that isn’t put into its own devices Valve shoots down rumors of RDNA4-based Steam Console — it routinely tests new hardware that isn’t put into its own devices Following a report from GamingOnLinux pointing out that recent rumors of an in-testing Steam Console were simply vapor, an official statement from Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais on BlueSky confirmed this to be the case. Griffais clarifies that the pre-release Mesa Vulkan work on AMD’s RDNA 4 architecture is perfectly in line with what Valve’s been doing since AMD’s Vega architecture. While it’s true that Valve is indeed testing with and updating software for an upcoming GPU architecture, this does not mean they’re suddenly relaunching the Steam Machine initiative. That blows the dreams of a new Steam Console out of the water, right? At least for the foreseeable future, yes… but let’s take a more critical look at Valve’s foray into the “console” space and discuss the various possibilities, both for a revived Steam Machine initiative as well as for the Steam Deck 2. What we know about Valve’s hardware plans A Steam Deck rebuilt into a “Steam Brick” (Image credit: Crastinator-Pro on GitHub) The smoking gun for an incoming Steam console was never going to be enablement of some pre-release GPU architecture like AMD’s RDNA 4. Consoles — even the likes of the Steam Deck — generally ship with custom hardware based on existing architectures. By the time a console actually releases, the GPU and CPU tech are almost always at least a generation behind the latest hardware. That’s because extensive pre-planning is needed to launch platforms like these. When the Steam Deck launched back in 2022, it used AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture that first appeared back in November 2020, putting about a year and a half between the Steam Deck and its original GPU architecture, and 2.5 years between the Steam Deck and the Zen 2 CPU architecture. RDNA 4 is AMD’s upcoming desktop architecture, and it would take even more time, effort, and money to roll that into an APU that would be feasible for a handheld. The current top iGPU solutions use AMD’s RDNA 3 and RDNA 3.5 iGPU architectures, and tangible performance gains while running on battery power haven’t been exactly forthcoming. Higher performance while plugged in is one thing, but handhelds are very much constrained by their batteries. We only just started getting Ryzen AI HX 300 Series APUs with RDNA 3.5 iGPUs in the past few months. Another major sign that a Steam Console isn’t Valve’s priority right now is that the confirmed Steam Deck 2 is “at least two or three years away,” and Valve is waiting for greater leaps in hardware capabilities. Consoles typically shoot for a larger generation gap between releases, so while an RDNA 4 iGPU isn’t out of the question for the eventual Steam Deck 2, it’s not coming out any time soon. It would seem a bit extreme for Valve to be launching three distinct SteamOS hardware platforms in the span of just under seven years. While RDNA 4 certainly looks tantalizing based on what we know, there’s too much we still don’t know — like what kind of power consumption it has, how much performance it offers, and how much it will cost. It will take time before we start seeing it in a form factor like a handheld PC. Peering into the future with our crystal ball (Image credit: Valve (via @xpaw.me on Bluesky.app)) Let’s move into the realm of the unknown and the speculation that comes with it, while still remaining rooted in what we do know about PC hardware and how it impacts the (handheld) console market. Late last year, there were legitimate leaks of new Valve designs for both a brand-new Steam Controller with an overhauled Deck-inspired design and next-gen VR controllers. The Steam Controller being iterated upon may point toward Valve reviving the Steam Link set-top box or the Steam Machine initiative in some manner… but it could also just be for providing parity between Steam Deck handheld and Docked play, especially for users who love making the most of Steam Input’s extra features, like touch-sensitive gyro support. Does this mean a Steam Console is totally outside the realm of possibility? Perhaps not — at the very least, it seems likely that once Steam OS 3 gets a wider release, more manufacturers may adopt it for mini PCs, laptops, handhelds, and the like. Additionally, a larger form factor would make it much easier for Valve to target features like real-time ray-tracing. On the current Deck hardware, RT is only feasible targeting 30 FPS in mostly-rasterized games, with full RT or path-traced games being completely out of the question thanks to both the old hardware and the very low power limits. For a true generational leap in handheld performance, Valve needs more than RDNA 4 improved RT capabilities. It also needs a GPU architecture that can deliver those RT results at a 25W TDP (ROG Ally, Legion Go, MSI Claw, etc.) or 15W TDP (Steam Deck). With full discrete RDNA 4 mobile GPUs estimated to run somewhere in the range of 80-175W TDP, it’s fair to say AMD isn’t quite there yet. But there are ways to get there if desired. RDNA 4 will use TSMC’s N4 process node, which has been around for over two years now. The Steam Deck’s Van Gogh APU is built on TSMC’s now ‘ancient’ N7 node. Certainly a move to N5 or N4 would help quite a bit. But in a couple of years, the N3 and N2 variants should be more readily available. Smaller nodes tuned for efficiency could be precisely what’s needed to make a more compelling chip for a future handheld — if the total die size and price can be kept in check. Is a Steam Console even necessary, though? Slap a Steam Deck onto a compatible docking station and you already have a much more powerful home console than the Nintendo Switch. If Nintendo has abandoned traditional home consoles, a company like Valve probably also sees more value in a hybrid-handheld approach to its custom hardware that won’t as-directly compete with the mainstream consoles and gaming PCs. Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Source link #Valve #shoots #rumors #RDNA4based #Steam #Console #routinely #tests #hardware #isnt #put #devices Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

How Trump’s Trade War Could Affect Climate Change How Trump’s Trade War Could Affect Climate Change President Trump’s trade war has begun, with tariffs against all ******** imports going into effect today. Levies against ******** and ********* imports were paused at the last minute, for 30 days, after Trump said both countries had offered concessions to his demands, though how significant these were is unclear. But the threat of steep tariffs against the United States’ closest trading partners remains. The effect of these disputes is already being felt worldwide. Global markets gyrated on Monday, and China retaliated with penalties of its own. Before the tariffs were paused, Mexico and Canada had also pledged to retaliate. And though most industries are set to be affected, the U.S. energy sector, including fossil fuels and renewables, is particularly vulnerable to trade disputes. Not only are oil and gas major imports and exports, but the complex supply chain needed to produce clean energy technologies is deeply reliant on global trade. To help make sense of a complex economic and geopolitical puzzle, I called up Kelly Sims Gallagher, the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. During the Obama administration, she was the senior China adviser in the office of the Special Envoy for Climate Change at the State Department. Gas Exports One thing about trade wars is that other countries often hit back. Already, China has announced a new 15 percent tax on coal and natural gas imported from the United States, and a 10 percent tax on crude oil. Those levies could dampen U.S. exports. “We have U.S. oil and gas exports going all over the world now, and those are in jeopardy,” Sims Gallagher said. China’s tariffs could also slow global efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions. While natural gas releases potent greenhouse gases when burned, it is cleaner than coal. And in recent years, as the United States has become the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, it has become a major supplier to countries that are replacing coal with gas. So far, Trump hasn’t made good on his threats to impose tariffs on European imports. But if he does, the same dynamic could play out in Europe, which has becoming increasingly reliant on U.S. gas imports as it seeks to wean itself from Russian energy. “Countries have options,” Sims Gallagher said. “A country like China could increase its gas imports from Russia rather than continuing to import from the United States.” Oil imports The tariffs on Canada were set to include a 10 percent tax on energy imports. Given that roughly 60 percent of the oil that the United States imports comes from Canada, such levies would have had major economic consequences. Most analysts say they would raise gas prices at the pump for consumers. The pain could be most acutely felt in the Midwest, where much of the oil imported from Canada is refined into gasoline and diesel. “We would be very likely to see those increased gasoline prices at the pump in certain regions that depend primarily on ********* oil,” Sims Gallagher said. On Sunday, before the implementation of the tariffs were paused, Irving Oil, a ********* company, said it was raising prices for U.S. customers. “The majority of the product produced at our Saint John refinery is bound for the U.S. market,” the company said. “This tariff will result in price increases for our U.S. customers and have impacts on energy security and the broader economy.” Renewables The effect of tariffs on oil, gas and electricity is relatively straightforward. What’s harder to predict is the myriad ways that a trade war could affect the complex supply chains that make it possible for companies to produce solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles and wind turbines. In recent years, the United States has become a major manufacturing hub for clean energy technologies, thanks in large part to the incentives provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, Joseph Biden’s signature climate law. American companies have expanded production, and many foreign corporations have invested in new facilities in the United States as well. The ******** tariffs will now raise costs for companies that need ******** parts, and the imposition of tariffs on Canada and Mexico would do more of the same. Sims Gallagher said that companies that have invested in building renewable energy facilities in the United States could be spooked by the sudden impediments to trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada. “They invested in supply chains across North America, and those investments are now jeopardized,” she said. Electricity imports In addition to sending oil to the United States, Canada is also a major supplier of electricity. Hydro-Québec, a ********* power producer that operates huge hydroelectric plants, sends electricity to New England and New York. If those electrons were subject to Trump’s tariffs, prices would probably go up for customers in those regions. Jason Grumet, chief executive officer of the American Clean Power Association, said in a statement that he was “concerned that increasing the costs of energy production inputs will put upward pressure on consumer energy costs.” China In recent years, under both Biden and Trump, the United States has introduced a series of levies on imported ******** solar panels. While that dampened sales of ******** solar panels in the U.S., plenty of other countries around the world were willing to buy the cheap ******** exports. A similar dynamic may play out this time around, but on an even grander scale. The global market for batteries, solar panels, electric vehicles and wind turbines is booming. But if it gets more expensive and onerous to manufacture renewable energy products in the United States, other countries are very likely to pick up the slack. That could mean other countries would simply buy more clean energy technologies from China, Japan and Korea, Sims Gallagher said. “It is puzzling why the United States would want to cede those markets to China and Japan,” she said. No more palm trees, and six other ways L.A. can protect itself from wildfires Fire and wind are certain to shape the future of Los Angeles as the world warms. Los Angeles had started taking steps to prepare. But there are lessons it can learn from other cities adapting to extreme fire weather: managing yards, taking care of neighbors, making it easier to get out of harm’s way. One big challenge, among many, is that plans like these need to be widely adopted. One home is only as safe as the home next door. Neighbors matter. Building codes and zoning rules matter. But perhaps most of all, money matters. Building for an age of fire can be expensive, and often out of reach for many homeowners living in fire-prone communities. — Somini Sengupta More climate news: In a Times opinion piece, Abrahm Lustgarten highlights a new report on how climate change could affect home prices. “Soaring home prices in the United States may have peaked in the places most at risk,” he writes, “leaving the nation on the precipice of a generational decline.” State Farm Insurance, the largest homeowners insurance provider in California, asked state insurance regulators on Monday to urgently approve a 22 percent average rate increase, the Times reports. Thanks for being a subscriber. Read past editions of the newsletter here. If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here. Browse all of our subscriber-only newsletters here. And follow The New York Times on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and TikTok at @nytimes. Reach us at *****@*****.tld. We read every message, and reply to many! Source link #Trumps #Trade #War #Affect #Climate #Change Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Teachers reject backdated pay rise of 5.5% Teachers reject backdated pay rise of 5.5% The majority of teachers in Northern Ireland have rejected a 5.5% pay offer for 2024/25 and are set to take action short of strike. BBC News NI understands that some of the terms of the offer on workload and strike action had proved to be contentious. Teaching unions had received the 5.5% offer from the employers, including the Department of Education (DE), on Friday. It was expected to have cost the Northern Ireland Executive about £49m. But members of a number of teaching unions have declined to ratify the offer. BBC News NI understands that members of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) were the exception. The NAHT’s position, which has just been communicated with members, has been to accept the pay offer. The offer from the employers had said that schools needed “a prolonged ******* of stability free from industrial action and the threat of industrial action.” It also asked teachers to accept that “industrial action should only be taken as a last resort in any dispute”. The offer also said that teachers should “commit to a ******* free from industrial action in the context of the agreed future pay negotiation timeframes and implementation of the agreed work programme.” Source link #Teachers #reject #backdated #pay #rise Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Former EA And BioWare Vets Unveil Zelda-Like Co-Op RPG Cloudheim Former EA And BioWare Vets Unveil Zelda-Like Co-Op RPG Cloudheim The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, were two of the most influential action-RPGs of the last decade. That influence is particularly felt in Cloudheim, the upcoming debut title from Noodle Cat Games. In the first trailer below, Cloudheim does an admirable job of creating a visual style that is very similar to the two Zelda games while keeping the crafting elements from Tears of the Kingdom as well. Noodle Cat Games is a developer that features veterans from EA, BioWare, Codemasters, Disney, and Epic Games. According to their team, Cloudheim takes place in “an ancient Norse-inspired world,” which players are tasked to restore to its former glory. The game can be played solo or with three online companions for a co-op experience. Additionally, all team members can share any weapons or abilities they uncover together. Story details are still light at the moment, but Noodle Cat notes that Cloudheim has “a fully breakable world,” and teammates can chain together their abilities for devastating combos when facing their enemies. Players can also team up with some of this world’s fantastic creatures, including “the resourceful Blins, the ever-hungry Gnasher, and the spiky yet loyal Swordcupine.” Crafting is also a big part of this game, as players can utilize their resources to create weapons, gear, and new abilities. Their world is extremely dangerous, which is why the players will be able to take refuge on Odin Shell, a giant turtle floating in the sky who “carries a fragment of a dead god’s power.” That’s where players can create their own customized spaces and expand their capabilities while also discovering the Odin Shell’s hidden secrets. Cloudheim is expected to debut in the third quarter of this year on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Source link #BioWare #Vets #Unveil #ZeldaLike #CoOp #RPG #Cloudheim Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Congo hospital bears the scars of clashes between rebels, army Congo hospital bears the scars of clashes between rebels, army STORY: Walking through the halls of a hospital in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Goma, Dr. Jules Kafitiye points out the damage from the conflict between M23 rebels and Congolese forces. “It was just behind here that the shell landed. Otherwise, just a few meters closer to the incubators, we could have had a tragedy involving those children.” Kafitiye is the director of the Charité Maternelle hospital. He says shells or bombs fell on the roof of the neonatal unit, damaging the roof and solar panels. Another room suffered roof damage as well. He says bullets or shrapnel destroyed the walls there. “If someone had been there, they would have died,” he said. :: Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo :: January 28, 2025 The United Nations estimates at least 2,800 people have died in recent fighting around Goma. Congo accuses Rwanda of using M23 to pillage valuable mineral deposits. Rwanda says it is acting in self-defense and to protect ethnic Tutsis. On Wednesday, the Rwandan-backed rebels took control of another town in eastern Congo despite the unilateral ceasefire they declared earlier this week. :: Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo :: File The advance could indicate M23 has renewed a push towards Bukavu. Source link #Congo #hospital #bears #scars #clashes #rebels #army Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Is Avowed Coming To Xbox Game Pass? Is Avowed Coming To Xbox Game Pass? Microsoft is set for an interesting year in 2025, and Avowed is leading the charge for the green brand. Xbox Game Pass is one of the company’s leading benefits, and a partnership with Avowed could help both Obsidian and Microsoft at the end of the day. Xbox Game Pass is a simple model—you pay a monthly fee, and you get free games. Game Pass’ library continues to grow month by month. It has players constantly wondering if they need to fork out top dollar on new AAA titles when they might be part of Xbox Game Pass. Avowed is looking like being one of Microsoft’s ******* exclusives in 2025—with titles such as Forza Horizon 5 making their way over to PS5—so let’s see if Game Pass users get to play it for nothing. Can You Play Avowed on Xbox Game Pass? It looks enchanting. Credit to Obsidian Entertainment Avowed is coming to Xbox Game Pass as a day-one title, meaning if you have an active subscription, you can play Avowed on Game Pass from February 18. The “Avowed – Official Announce Trailer” on Xbox’s official YouTube channel (back on July 23, 2020) made waves. It’s a teaser, for sure, but it has enough substance and gameplay to stir up players for a new Obsidian franchise. Curiously, it makes no mention of Xbox Game Pass throughout its duration. But thanks to some journalistic digging, I did find it in the video’s description: “Play day 1 on Xbox Game Pass.” With not long to go until February 18, five years is suddenly nothing! Its status has remained unchanged for the last five years, meaning it is indeed a day-one Game Pass launch for Xbox and PC users. The news was also confirmed in the February 2025 Xbox Game Pass games reveal. How Long is Avowed on Xbox Game Pass? Neither Microsoft nor Obsidian has commented on how long Avowed is staying on Xbox Game Pass. It’s the kind of question that always comes up. You don’t want to miss out, and neither do I. FOMO is a powerful tool, but sleep easy knowing exclusive games like Avowed are usually on Xbox Game Pass for several years—and longer. Are you happy to see Avowed coming to Xbox Game Pass? Do you think it can go one better and outdo Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds 2 in 2025? Share your thoughts and feelings. We have the latest on many other titles and their Xbox Game Pass status: Sniper Elite Resistance, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and Stalker 2. SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam. Source link #Avowed #Coming #Xbox #Game #Pass Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

CDC Web Pages and Data Vanish Following Trump’s DEI and Gender Orders CDC Web Pages and Data Vanish Following Trump’s DEI and Gender Orders Federal and state health officials and staff members scrambled on Friday to comply with a 5 p.m. deadline by the Trump administration to terminate any programs that promote “gender ideology,” and to withdraw documents and any other media that may do so. Federal workers had already been ordered to halt diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, to scrub public references to those efforts and to place employees involved in them on administrative leave. At federal health agencies, veterans hospitals, and local and state health departments, compliance took a variety of forms. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, employees hurried to remove terms like “transgender,” “immigrant,” “L.G.B.T.” and “pregnant people” from the website. Employees at some VA Hospitals were told that L.G.B.T.Q. flags and other displays were no longer acceptable, according to an administrative email reviewed by The New York Times. Bathrooms at health agencies were to be set aside for use by a single “biological sex,” according to federal directives, and the word “gender” was to be removed from agency forms. The instructions are a 180-degree pivot for health scientists and clinicians, who have worked for years to integrate diversity and equity into research and clinical services, including those for gay, lesbian and transgender individuals. The directives “risk dismantling programs that have been built up over decades to serve the needs of Americans,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health. “What I’m worried about here is that in this attempt to make headlines, we’re issuing very bold and broad statements,” she said of the administration. The upheaval followed two executive orders that President Trump issued on Jan. 20. The one entitled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” terminated the federal government’s D.E.I. efforts. The other, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” shut down governmental efforts to be more inclusive of a variety of gender expressions, including in scientific research. In both instances, the federal Office of Personnel Management followed up with memos explaining how to carry out the changes and issuing deadlines. The memos affected a broad swath of programs at all levels of government, but details were sparse. Some employees at the C.D.C. were befuddled by an order, for example, to delete mentions of gender from research databases, some dating back decades, as other government rules prohibit manipulation of scientific data. Agency web pages that have been deleted as part of President Trump’s “Defending Women” initiative include ones about ending gender-based violence and supporting L.G.B.T.Q. youths, and another about racism in health. C.D.C.’s AtlasPlus, which holds 20 years of surveillance data for H.I.V., tuberculosis, hepatitis B and other diseases, is missing. Also removed were the pages of the C.D.C.’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which surveys youngsters about dangerous activities like drinking and drug use, smoking and risky ******* behaviors that can lead to unintended pregnancies and ********* transmitted diseases. The survey reported recently on the high rates of depression among teenage girls and lesbian, gay and ********* youth. Some directives from agency administrators, including one emailed to Veterans Affairs hospitals and reviewed by The Times, ordered the termination of “accessibility” programs, as well as other diversity and inclusion initiatives. The hospitals treat military veterans, many of whom are disabled. The C.D.C. itself told funding recipients on Wednesday that “any vestige, remnant, or renamed piece” of diversity programs funded by the federal government “are immediately, completely, and permanently terminated,” according to an unsigned memo obtained by The Times. Diversity and inclusion programs at federal agencies have also been disbanded, and scientific work groups have been ordered to halt their activities, according to an email reviewed by The Times. Public health experts warned that the D.E.I. prohibitions affect not only diversity in staffing, but health equity programs aimed at disadvantaged populations. For example, some programs help seniors with low incomes gain access to vaccines and provide assistance to communities of color who are at increased risk of conditions like diabetes. Including gender as a research factor in studies helps identify groups at risk of ********* transmitted infections like *********, which has reached its highest levels in 50 years. “Health equity is basically all of public health,” Dr. Nuzzo said. “This work and these data and these studies are really important for us to answer the essential question of public health, which is, Who is being affected and how do we best target our limited resources?” she said. None of this would seem to align with the goals of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary, who has made chronic diseases a main talking point. Most chronic conditions disproportionately affect people who are socially disadvantaged, including rural Americans and people of color. Some state health administrators have interpreted the D.E.I. directives as applying only to hiring and promotion. Health programs that do outreach to disadvantaged populations, including ethnic and racial ********* groups, will not be affected, they have told staff members. But one employee at a state H.I.V. prevention program said the new edicts about gender may hamper the program. “We are still not sure how this will affect our work if we are not allowed to talk about individuals who are transgender, as that is a lot of the population we work with in H.I.V.,” said the employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution. Some V.A. hospitals have warned employees that prohibited D.E.I. activities include “displaying of pride symbols, e.g. flags, lanyards, signature blocks, etc.,” prompting employees at New York hospitals to remove wall hangings that indicated they were welcoming to lesbian, gay and transgender patients. Some asked their supervisors whether they also needed to remove books from their offices. The ambiguity of the federal directives, coupled with employees’ heightened anxiety, “may lead them to take a sledgehammer when they really need a scalpel,” Dr. Nuzzo said. At one V.A. facility, administrators deleted all computer folders and files with the term “D.E.I.” in the name. “We gave them access to files and they disappeared from our folders,” said one employee speaking on condition of anonymity. “I think no one knows what to say,” the employee said. “Everyone’s walking on eggshells.” Agencies were instructed to turn off software features that prompted users to enter their pronouns in their signatures. The C.D.C. also deleted personal pronouns from its internal directory. The administration has also threatened employees who don’t inform on colleagues who defy the orders or who try to “disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language.” Already, contractors working on health equity issues are being let go. At least one worker on a longtime contract was fired because of his role supporting such a project a year ago. Some C.D.C. officials began preemptively censoring material that discussed health equity even before Mr. Trump took office. Fearing that their programs would be shut down, they began deleting content from websites and holding back research findings, including those from a project that cost about $400,000. But for other projects, merely snipping out mentions of equity or gender is impossible, because they are aimed specifically at reducing health disparities in chronic conditions. “I don’t think that there’s anything that our division works on that wouldn’t have to stop,” said one C.D.C. employee who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. Anticipating that the Trump administration may take aim at certain issues, some scientific groups have archived data related to H.I.V. and other ********* transmitted infections, as well as births and deaths, education, environment and housing. On Friday, hundreds of scientists gathered for a “datathon,” in an attempt to preserve websites related to health equity. “There’s been a history in this country recently of trying to make data disappear, as if that makes problems disappear,” said Nancy Krieger, a social epidemiologist at Harvard University and a co-leader of the effort. “But the problems don’t disappear, and the suffering gets worse,” she said. Ellen Barry contributed reporting. Source link #CDC #Web #Pages #Data #Vanish #Trumps #DEI #Gender #Orders Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Can a boost in consumption spur India’s economy? Can a boost in consumption spur India’s economy? Brigade Road (Main Shopping Street), Bangalore, Karnataka, India Peter Adams | Stone | Getty Images This report is from this week’s CNBC’s “Inside India” newsletter, which brings you timely, insightful news and market commentary on the emerging powerhouse and the big businesses behind its meteoric rise. Like what you see? You can subscribe here. The big story India’s first budget under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s current government was highly anticipated as the country contends with a slowing economy, depreciating rupee and global macroeconomic headwinds. The government’s message was subtle, yet clear: the middle-income class has to spend more to boost corporate earnings and spur the economy. In a one-two punch, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman removed taxes for people with annual earnings of up to 1.2 million Indian rupees ($13,694), up from a previous threshold of 700,000 Indian rupees. The measure is expected to benefit 10 million more taxpayers with savings that can be channeled towards investing or buying goods and services. This translates to a 1-trillion-Indian-rupee shortfall in annual Treasury revenues. Consumption levels in India have nearly trebled to 200 trillion Indian rupees in the last decade, alongside a growth in the country’s population to 294.3 million households. The segment now accounts for around 60% of India’s economy — making it the top growth driver. Upasana Chachra, chief India economist at Morgan Stanley describes consumption as “one of the mainstays of the Indian economy.” “There’s no denying that it plays an important role in providing stability towards end demand,” she told CNBC’s Inside India. Cracks in consumption However, the government’s laser focus on boosting consumption — over infrastructure development, on which it has historically concentrated — comes in response to deep cracks in consumer spending. Excluding the luxury market and segments serving the rural population, consumption levels across sectors has dwindled as India’s city dwellers — who hit 522.9 million as of 2023 — cut back on spending. Among the factors prompting this are mounting inflation levels and stagnant wages, a recent report from market research consultancy Kantar highlights. From supermarket chains to automakers, companies have been feeling the pinch. Several of India’s largest corporations, such as Hindustan Unilever, Maruti Suzuki and Reliance Retail — the retail arm of Reliance Industries — reported a slowdown in revenue and weaker earnings last year, on account of languishing urban demand. The fault lines in household spending also bode poorly for foreign companies vying for a share of India’s much-hyped future growth. A cyclical slowdown India’s lull in consumer spending is in part owed to a “cyclical slowdown in consumption,” as households cut back on expenses to either save more or service loans incurred during the post-Covid 19 pandemic spending *****, says Dhiraj Nim, a foreign exchange strategist and economist at ANZ Bank. “Naturally, consumption will be weaker in this part of the cycle. So, we don’t have to worry too much as there are policy levers to address this, such as a cutting of rates by the RBI,” Nim told CNBC’s Inside India. India’s central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates on Feb. 7, in its first policy meeting with Sanjay Malhotra as governor. Against this backdrop, Nim says the government’s move to cut tax “won’t translate into a sizable boost to GDP growth.” Households’ marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is 0.6 to 0.7, which means their expenditure will only increase by 600-700 billion Indian rupees, despite the 1 trillion Indian rupee tax concessions, Nim estimates. MPC captures an individual’s willingness to spend, for each additional dollar of income. A reading of 0.6 or 0.7 implies that only 60%-70% will be spent per dollar earned. While reducing the fiscal deficit ratio, this tax relief will also result in a pullback of the government’s routine expenditure by 0.4 percentage points of the GDP, thereby “completely offsetting any increase from the tax relief,” Nim said. To him, a more effective approach would be to provide “broad-based relief for the economy,” by, say, cutting fuel prices or adopting measures that reduce inflation and increase incomes concurrently. Such measures, Nim adds, will buttress the higher costs that consumers are grappling with across income levels. Is a consumption boost enough? The sheer size of the consumption contribution to India’s GDP is reason enough for it to draw the government’s attention. However, with India’s real GDP growth expected to hit a four-year low of 6.4% in the current fiscal year ending in March, experts are calling for other measures to stymie the slowdown. Drawing reference to economic policies in other countries like China, Morgan Stanley’s Chachra noted that a rise in the government’s capital expenditure (capex) — along with consumption — could spur growth via the younger generation. This would involve investing in aspects such as job creation or the development of cities, which would benefit India’s growing educated and aspirational millennial population. “The incremental growth to GDP from investing in capex is more than for consumption. When capex picks up and jobs are created, income levels will also go up. That will ensure that consumption growth also remains sustained,” Chachra explained. Over 3% of GDP has been allocated to capex for India’s financial year starting in April. The proposed initiatives include a boost to foreign direct investment flows and a fund aimed at infrastructure and redevelopment initiatives in cities, which the recent budget encompassed. The hope now is that these initiatives work in tandem to create jobs, eventually improving productivity and wages. If executed well, this long process could stimulate urban consumption — and fuel much-needed economic growth. Need to know The Reserve Bank of India will likely cut interest rates. Economists expect India’s central bank to announce a 25-basis-point cut to its repo rate during its policy meeting on Friday. If the bank does lower rates, it would be the first trim in nearly five years. Investors will also scrutinize the statements of RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, who assumed the role in December, to assess the direction of the bank’s monetary policy. The Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to win the Delhi Assembly elections, exit polls show. If India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP forms the government in the nation’s capital, it’d be the first time the party prevails to do in 27 years. The incumbent Aam Aadmi Party has dismissed the exit polls, questioning their accuracy. India’s budget prioritizes reducing budget deficit. The Indian government is aiming for a fiscal deficit of 4.4% of gross domestic product for the fiscal year 2025 to 2026, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Saturday. That target is down from a 4.8% deficit set out in the current year and from a peak of over 9% in the fiscal year 2020–2021. Switching to debt-to-GDP from deficit-to-GDP as a metric in the next fiscal year, the government also said it plans to reduce its debt level to 50% of the GDP by March 31, 2031. U.S. President Donald Trump invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official visit. The White House announced the invitation on Monday, with the visit scheduled for the week of Feb. 10, after the U.S. deported ******** Indian migrants back to the country the same day. Modi had a call with Trump on Jan. 27, during which the leaders discussed bilateral ties and trade relationships. India also wants to avoid U.S. tariffs that Trump has so far imposed on Mexico, Canada and China. Volkswagen sued the Indian government over its $1.4 billion tax demand. In September, India issued a $1.4 billion tax notice to Volkswagen, saying that the ******* automaker paid lower duties of 5–15% by misclassifying its imports of car components as “individual parts” from separate shipments rather than “completely knocked down units,” which would have attracted a levy of 30–35%. Volkswagen said in its filing, which was reviewed by Reuters, that the tax dispute might compromise its $1.5 billion investment in India. What happened in the markets? Indian stocks traded mixed in the past week, after showing signs of a pick up the week before. The Nifty 50 index closed at 23,508.40 points in the week ending Jan. 31, a 1.8% rise compared to the previous week. The benchmark 10-year Indian government bond yield has ticked up slightly to the 6.78% mark. Stock Chart IconStock chart icon On CNBC TV this week, Anand Gupta, lead portfolio manager at Allianz Global, said that global geopolitics are “playing to the advantage of India,” which is the least exposed to the risks of a trade war sparked by Trump’s tariffs. Toward this, Gupta cited the growth in the electronics manufacturing sector and the shift away from China during Trump’s first term. Meanwhile, HSBC Chief India Economist Pranjul Bhandari said that the Indian government is “trying to do a lot of things” with its 2025 budget, namely to “bring down the fiscal deficit, give a big consumption boost and also hold on to its capex thrust.” However, “something’s gotta give” in those ambitious goals, Bhandari said, adding that if the New Delhi administration wants to reach its deficit target, it can’t give a big push to the economy. What’s happening next week? Consumer pride index reports for India, U.S. and China will be in focus next week. Investors will monitor whether inflation is coming under control in India and U.S., while watching for signs of deflation in China. February 7: India interest rate decision, U.S. nonfarm payrolls for January, preliminary reading of the Michigan Consumer Sentiment for February February 9: China consumer price index for January February 12: India consumer price index for January, U.S. consumer price index for January February 13: U.S. producer price index for January, U.K. gross domestic product for fourth quarter Source link #boost #consumption #spur #Indias #economy Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]