Nine weeks from Election Day in the United States, former Vice President Joe Biden is holding on to his monthslong lead over President Donald Trump in nationwide polling,But surveys show the race has narrowed and is even closer in key battleground states that are likely to determine the outcome.Biden, who was a U.S. senator for 36 years, and former President Barack Obama’s second in command for eight, has mostly led Trump by 8 to 10 percentage points in surveys throughout 2020.FILE – In this March 9, 2020, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally at Renaissance High School in Detroit.But his lead has diminished to an average of 6.2 percentage points in the aggregation of recent polls compiled by the RealClearPolitics website. Biden’s edge is even thinner in three key states often won by Democrats — Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — which Trump narrowly captured in 2016 to secure his election victory.The U.S. decides the presidency through an indirect form of democracy, not by the national popular vote but in the Electoral College, where the winner in each state receives all of that state’s electoral votes. Each state’s number of electoral votes is based on its population.Would-be presidents must win at least 270 of the 538 electoral votes. The most populous states — Democrat-leaning California with 55 votes, and Republican-controlled Texas with 38 — hold the most sway. Seven states and Washington, D.C., hold the least sway, with three electoral votes apiece.If Biden reclaims Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and the outcome in the other 47 states remains politically the same as in 2016, the 77-year-old Democrat will win the presidency. Current polling has Biden ahead in all three states, but narrowly, by 4.7 percentage points in Pennsylvania, 2.6 in Michigan and 3.5 in Wisconsin.FILE – In this May 21, 2020 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a tour of Ford’s Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Mich.Trump, 74, lost the national popular vote in 2016 by about 2 percentage points — nearly 3 million votes — to Democrat Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of State.In the days before the election, several pollsters predicted a Clinton national advantage, but did not account for Trump winning the three battleground states that Obama captured in 2012. Clinton’s popular vote advantage was largely due to an overwhelming win in California.Aside from the three highly contested states, polling shows other states are up for grabs in the Nov. 3 election that could also play a pivotal factor in the national outcome.RealClearPolitics polling shows Biden ahead in the important southeastern state of Florida, Trump’s adopted home, by 3.7 percentage points. Florida has 29 electoral votes, and a Trump loss there would likely make it very difficult, although not impossible, for him to win a second term.Biden and Trump are also neck-and-neck in eight other states, six of which Trump won in 2016. Biden now has small leads, according to the polling, in four of the states, including two that Trump won against Clinton — Ohio in the Midwest and Arizona in the Southwestern part of the country.Only two U.S. incumbent presidents, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992, have lost reelection bids in the past four decades.Trump and Biden are slated to debate each other three times, once later in September and twice in October. Their respective running mates, Vice President Mike Pence and California Sen. Kamala Harris, are to debate once in early October.
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Month: September 2020
Several COVID-19 Vaccines Enter Final Testing Stage
Several experimental COVID-19 vaccines have reached the final testing stage, officials involved in their development have said.The British-Swedish pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, said Monday the final testing stage in the U.S. will involve up to 30,000 adults from different racial, ethnic and geographical groups.
A vaccine created by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and manufactured by the U.S.-based Moderna Inc. also began testing thousands of people this summer in the U.S., as has another experimental vaccine developed jointly by Pfizer Inc., headquartered in New York, and Germany’s BioNtech.
AstraZeneca said its vaccine, known as AZD1222, is in late-stage trials in Brazil, South Africa and Britian, and that other trials of the vaccine are planned in Japan and Russia.For the experimental vaccines to be successful, they must pass tests that are more stringent than those in other trials because they will be administered to healthy people. Experts emphasize that final testing must be conducted among large numbers of people to determine whether the vaccines are safe and effective enough for mass vaccinations.
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Мін’юст вирішив продавати арештоване майно через Prozorr.Продажі
Міністерство юстиції вирішило продавати арештоване майно через систему електронних аукціонів «Prozorro.Продажі». За словами члена наглядової ради системи Світлани Панаіотіді, відповідний наказ підписав голова Мін’юсту Денис Малюська.
«Що ж це означає для ринку? По-перше, прозорість і принцип «усі бачать усе». По-друге, високий рівень конкуренції між численними маркетплейсами, підключеними до «Prozorro.Продажі». А завдяки цьому в аукціонах братимуть участь більше учасників, що сприятиме зростанню початкової ціни на торгах. Залишилось зробити лише один технічний крок: СЕТАМ має здійснити технічну інтеграцію з «Prozorro.Продажі», аби наказ «запрацював», – написала Панаіотіді у фейсбуці.
За її словами, система «Prozorro.Продажі» вже заробила для держави понад 29 мільярдів гривень.
НБУ послабив гривню до 27,6 за долар
Національний банк України встановив опівдні 1 вересня довідкове значення курсу 27 гривень 60 копійок за долар, це на 4 копійки більше за офіційний курс на сьогодні.
На українському міжбанківському валютному ринку, за даними Finance.ua, зростання котирувань американської валюти не зупиняється, станом на 12:55 показники сягнули 27 гривень 61,5–63,5 копійки за долар.
«На торгах по долару попит перевищує пропозицію, і продавці намагаються підтягнути котирування максимально вгору», – констатують експерти сайту «Мінфін», які відстежують перебіг торгів.
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Євро вперше з вересня 2018 року коштує більш ніж 33 гривні – НБУ
Євро вперше з вересня 2018 року коштує більш ніж 33 гривні, свідчать дані на сайті Національного банку України.
Євро подорожчав на 17 копійок і на 2 вересня його вартість встановлена на рівні 33 гривень 7 копійок.
Долар подорожчав на 5 копійок – до 27 гривень 61 копійки.
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Amazon Wins FAA Approval to Deliver Packages by Drone
Getting an Amazon package delivered from the sky is closer to becoming a reality.The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it had granted Amazon approval to deliver packages by drones.Amazon said that the approval is an “important step,” but added that it is still testing and flying the drones. It did not say when it expected drones to make deliveries to shoppers.The online shopping giant has been working on drone delivery for years, but it has been slowed by regulatory hurdles. Back in December 2013, Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos said in a TV interview that drones would be flying to customer’s homes within five years.Last year, Amazon unveiled self-piloting drones that are fully electric, can carry 5 pounds of goods and are designed to deliver items in 30 minutes by dropping them in a backyard. At the time, an Amazon executive said deliveries to shoppers would be happening “within months,” but more than 14 months have passed since then.Seattle-based Amazon is the third drone delivery service to win flight approval, the FAA said. Delivery company UPS and a company owned by search giant Google won approval last year.
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Botswana Hopes Mysterious Elephant Deaths Are Over; Zimbabwe Records Its First
Botswana says a string of mysterious elephant deaths has come to a halt since June, after at least 281 carcasses were found.Experts in the southern African country, with the world’s largest elephant population, said there were no signs of poaching or predators. Most of the blood samples sent abroad for testing indicate a toxin caused the deaths. However, it is not clear if the toxin is man-made or natural, says Botswana’s Ministry of Wildlife and Environment Permanent Secretary Oduetse Koboto. “We have received most of the results. A lot of variables that we suspected had tested negative. We ruled out any virus, no bacteria. Pathogens (are) also negative,” he said. “The only thing that we are waiting for is toxicology. What is evident is that we are now dealing with a poison.” Koboto says they are waiting on one last batch of test results from the United States before reaching a conclusion. Veterinarian Dr. Mbatshi Mazwinduma says a naturally occurring toxin would explain why no more elephants appear to be dying in Botswana’s Okavango panhandle. “In the period leading to June, remember this is a dry period, the amount of water is in low quantities. If it is because of a naturally occurring toxin, they would be in high concentration in the waters and those elephants that drink in particular spots get affected. With the rising waters of the Okavango in the last couple of weeks, the toxins are diluted and then washed out,” Mazwinduma said. Conservationist Neil Fitt agrees that changes in weather conditions could have diluted a natural toxin. “If it is an environmental toxin, they come and go depending on weather conditions,” he said. “Obviously, the conditions, if that’s the case, have now changed and that’s the reason why the deaths have stopped, which is a good thing. But until we get the results, which are extremely long in coming, we cannot say much more.” Koboto says getting quick results on the investigations and test samples was not possible due to COVID-19 restrictions. “There were lockdowns everywhere, even internationally,” he said. “Mostly, we are dependent on air transport. If there are no flights going outside the country even (to) South Africa here, how could we have taken them (samples) out?” Botswana’s neighbor, Zimbabwe, recorded its first mysterious deaths last week, with the loss of at least 11 elephants. Wildlife authorities there say the cause appears to be a bacterial infection. The two countries have the world’s combined largest elephant population at more than 200,000 animals – most of them in Botswana. Conservationists estimate the number of wild, African elephants has dropped by almost a third in the last decade due to drought, loss of habitat, and poaching.
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As Infections Rise Again, Spain Prepares to Reopen Schools
The number of COVID-19 infections has been rising in Spain, one of the early epicenters of the pandemic. In this report narrated by Jonathan Spier, Alfonso Beato has more from Barcelona on the dilemmas the country faces as it prepares to reopen schools.
PRODUCER: Jon Spier
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Charlie Hebdo Re-Runs Prophet Mohammad Cartoons to Mark Attack Trial
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is republishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad which unleashed a wave of anger in the Muslim world to mark the start of the trial of alleged accomplices in the militant attack against it 2015.
Among the cartoons, most of which were first published by a Danish newspaper in 2005 and then by Charlie Hebdo a year later, is one of Mohammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse protruding.
“We will never lie down. We will never give up,” editor Laurent “Riss” Sourisseau wrote in a piece to accompany the front cover that will be published in print on Wednesday.
Twelve people, including some of the magazine’s best-known cartoonists, were killed when Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo and sprayed the building with automatic gunfire.
The Kouachi brothers and a third Islamist gunman who killed five people in the 48 hours that followed the Charlie Hebdo massacre were shot dead by police in different stand-offs, but 14 of their alleged accomplices go on trial on Wednesday.
The decision to republish the cartoons will be seen by some as a defiant gesture in defense of free expression. But others may see it as a renewed provocation by a magazine that has long courted controversy with its satirical attacks on religion.
After the 2006 publication of the cartoons, Jihadists online warned the weekly would pay for its mockery. For Muslims, any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous.
“The freedom to caricature and the freedom to dislike them are enshrined and nothing justifies violence,” the French Council of the Muslim Faith wrote on Twitter in response.
Muslims have previously said the turban cartoon branded all Muslims as terrorists, as did a Charlie Hebdo cartoon showing the Prophet reacting to Islamist militants by saying: “It’s hard to be loved by idiots.”
In 2007, a French court rejected accusations by Islamic groups that the publication incited hatred against Muslims.
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Uganda Refugee Camp Locked Down After Coronavirus Surge
Uganda and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) have placed one of the largest refugee camps in Africa, Kyangwali, under lockdown after a jump in confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The refugees there say they are feeling the pinch.
Kyangwali, in southwestern Uganda, is home to more than 120,000 refugees. The lockdown is due to a rising number of coronavirus cases among both aid workers and refugees.
Rebecca Noel, a Congolese national and mother of two, has lived at the settlement in Kikuube district for 11 years. To supplement the monthly $6 cash for food money given to her and others by the World Food Program, Noel says she does casual labor and trades in shoes and clothes. With little food to put on the table, Noel says she too could be at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
“Life is hard. Because we are under a lockdown and we cannot leave,” Noel said. “We may get corona because when you and the children get hungry – as an adult you could persevere, but when the child cries you just have to get out and find food so the children don’t starve and die.”
According to a statement by the Ugandan government and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, 40 refugees and humanitarian workers at Kyangwali have tested positive for the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, and two refugees have died.
Musa Ecweru, Uganda’s state minister for refugees, says with the rising numbers, the settlement dwellers have to manage amid the circumstances.
“There have been cases of COVID-19 patients there, including a death. They are in Uganda and all the operating procedures that are given by the minister of health apply to all people who reside in this jurisdiction called Uganda. There are certainly going to be difficulties. There are certainly going to be inconveniences but it’s for their own good,” Ecweru said.
Uganda currently has 2,928 cases with 30 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the infection across the globe.
Yonna Tukundane, the UNHCR social media associate in Uganda, says more than 600,000 face masks have been already produced by refugee tailors and distributed to the communities.
“Critical and lifesaving activities continue to take place in the settlement to provide assistance to the most vulnerable. We began local procurement of an additional 860,000 reusable face masks for immediate distribution to refugees across the country, especially in Kyangwali,” Tukundane said.
The infections come as the World Food Program warns of further food ration cuts for refugees in east Africa. In Uganda, the WFP says, to provide full rations for 1.2 million refugees in the settlements from now until the end of the year, it needs $47.4 million immediately.
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Обиженный карлик пукин и его холопы смертельно завидуют США
Обиженный карлик пукин и его холопы смертельно завидуют США.
Банда обиженного карлика пукина внедряет в сознание своих холопов лживую мифологию о США, чтобы выглядеть более-менее на фоне правителей якобы загнивающей Америки
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Хитрый приём обиженного карлика пукина и конец путляндии
Хитрый приём обиженного карлика пукина и конец путляндии.
Обещание пукина прислать в Беларусь карателей из путляндии напомнило психологический приём, использовавшийся в совдепии. Если принять его во внимание, то станет понятней его стратегия
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У беларусов два врага – маньяк лука и обиженный карлик пукин
У беларусов два врага – маньяк лука и обиженный карлик пукин.
У лукашенко одно-единственное и простое желание – сохранить власть. Ради этого он, собственно, и живет. Карлику пукину тоже нужно сохранить власть в россии. Но не только. Поглощение соседних держав – его главная политическая задача
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Обиженный карлик пукин запретил жаловаться на чиновников! Как тебе такое Илон Маск?
Обиженный карлик пукин запретил жаловаться на чиновников! Как тебе такое Илон Маск?
Последние новости путляндии и мира, экономика, бизнес, культура, технологии, спорт
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Підняття мінімалки, як спосіб ще раз обдурити тупого зе-виборця!
Підняття мінімалки, як спосіб ще раз обдурити тупого зе-виборця!
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Найкращі пропозиції товарів і послуг в Мережі Купуй!
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Australian TV Anchor Detained in China
Australian officials say they have spoken with a high-profile Australian television news anchor who has been detained in China.Cheng Lei, an Australian citizen, has worked for the Chinese government’s English news service, CGTN. Cheng’s detention in Bejing is seen as another blow to already fragile Australia-China relations. Cheng Lei is being held under what is known in China as “residential surveillance at a designated location.” The TV presenter has not been charged but she can be detained for up to six months without access to a lawyer. Cheng has worked as an on-air anchor and reporter for the China Global Television Network, or CGTN, for the past eight years. Videos featuring the high-profile journalist have been removed from the channel’s online platforms and social media pages. Australia was officially notified of her arrest in the middle of August. A statement from Foreign Minister Marise Payne in Canberra said diplomats were allowed to speak to her last week via video link. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham says the government will do what it can to help her. “I feel for her family very much at this point in time, and it is why we will do what we can to assist her as we would and have any Australian in these sorts of circumstances. There is a long history of different consular cases and points of difficulty that we have seen over the years. So, we should not see this as a first, or a one-off. It is concerning for her family and we will provide the assistance that we can,” Birmingham said.It is highly unusual for foreign journalists to be detained in China. Friends of Cheng Lei have told Australian media that she was a “very skillful operator” who knew “where the limits on public comment” were in China’s highly monitored media. It is unclear what she might have done to upset Chinese authorities, or break any laws. Cheng was born in China and is an Australian citizen. In a statement, family members in Melbourne said they were optimistic that “in China, due process will be observed and we look forward to a satisfactory and timely conclusion to the matter.” She is the second Australian to be detained in Beijing. Writer Yang Hengjun is being investigated over alleged espionage and has been held since early 2019. In July, Canberra updated its information for Australians traveling to China, warning they could be at risk of arbitrary detention. Diplomatic tensions between Canberra and Beijing have also been enflamed by disputes over trade, as well as allegations of Chinese interference in Australia’s domestic politics and cyber espionage.
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Asian Markets in Mixed Territory Tuesday
Asian markets are mixed Tuesday. The Nikkei index in Tokyo lost 1.6 points during its trading session, but was unchanged percentage-wise. Sydney’s S&P/ASX index was down 1.7%. The KOSPI index in Seoul gained one percent, while Taipei’s TSEC index was up 0.8%. In late afternoon trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is up 13 points, but is unchanged percentage-wise. The Composite in Shanghai is 0.3% higher, and Mumbai’s Sensex is up 0.6%. In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,997.80 per ounce, up 0.9%. U.S. crude oil is trading at $43.08 per barrel, up 1.1%, while Brent crude oil, the international standard, is virtually unchanged at $45.08 per barrel. All three major U.S. indices are trending positively in futures trading.
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Vietnam Wildlife Trafficking Arrests Rise, After COVID-19 Link to Animals
After scientists determined that the coronavirus likely spread from an animal to a human, there came a flurry of statements from nations around Asia promising to ban the trafficking of animals. Now there is data to suggest that authorities, at least in Vietnam, are following through with enforcing the bans. Among the cases of trafficked wildlife that was seized in Vietnam, the percent that led to arrests reached 97% in the first half of this year, according to Education for Nature Vietnam, an environmental organization. From 2015 to 2019, the number had remained steady at around 87%. Scientists believe the pandemic may have begun after human contact with an infected bat or pangolin in China. Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations act as a frequent conduit for illicit animal products that end up in China. In recent years police have seized pangolins, a scaly mammal that resembles armadillos, as well as endangered turtles, gibbons, and langurs in Vietnam. ‘More serious’“ENV’s prosecution analysis attests to the strength of the current penal code and the elevated efforts of Vietnam’s law enforcement and criminal justice courts to take down wildlife criminals,” Bui Thi Ha, the vice director of Education for Nature Vietnam said, referring to the penal code that was revised in 2018. “Since the new law has been in force, and especially this year in 2020, evidence shows that wildlife trafficking crimes are being taken more seriously in Vietnam.”A view over the Saigon river next to Ho Chi Minh city’s financial district. An expert in illegal wildlife trafficking says many of the people involved in the illicit trade in rhino horn are from this and other Vietnamese cities.Ever since the outbreak of the coronavirus, ending wildlife trafficking has become more urgent to stop a potential source of disease, as well as any harm to wildlife, environmentalists say. Facebook has responded by taking down hundreds of posts offering illegal animals and animal parts in Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, in addition to the increase in the arrest rate, more criminals are going to prison. Among trafficking cases that went to court, the percent that resulted in a prison sentence reached 68% this year, according to data compiled by ENV. That contrasts with 2015 to 2019, when the percentage did not go beyond 49%. Prison Terms “This suggests the courts are taking a much more assertive stance to wipe out wildlife crime in 2020 than in previous years,” ENV said in an analysis of 552 cases in the past five years. It recommended that Vietnam, to fully end the trafficking, next turn its attention to the leaders of the trafficking rings, as well as the state officials who support them. The Southeast Asian nation can also focus enforcement on ports and airports, as well as on the use of money laundering, ENV said. Vietnam says it is taking a “whole of government” approach to enforcement. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc published a directive in July prohibiting the import and sale of wildlife products. The premier’s order assigns a task to each office, from the defense ministry increasing border patrols, to the health ministry checking that pharmacies don’t sell drugs with illegal animal parts. The state prosecutor said in a statement it will enforce the directive by increasing investigations of transnational criminals, as well as impose “severe penalties on masterminds and leaders who abuse positions and powers to commit crimes.”
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How China Dominates Global Battery Supply Chain
After years of planning, China now dominates the world’s production of new generation batteries that are key to transitioning away from fossil fuels. These new batteries are essential for electric vehicles and most portable consumer electronics such as cell phones and laptops. By 2040, energy analysts estimate over half of all passenger vehicles sold worldwide could be electric, according to 2019 report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. They expect a similar percentage of light commercial vehicles in the U.S., Europe and China sales will be electric within that time, BNEF predicts. If current trends continue, most of them will likely use Chinese batteries, a key element for transitioning away from fossil fuels, and most of those batteries will be lithium ion, which are also popular for cellphones and laptops because of their high energy per unit mass relative to other electrical energy storage systems, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.“Looking at the global automotive industry chain, China, for the first time, has taken the lead in the world in the manufacturing of key parts,” state media Xinhua said in August in a report titled “China’s dominant position in batteries needs to be further consolidated.” Switching from oil As the United States and China face off over advanced communication technologies like 5G, the world’s battery supply is not yet a major issue. But it will likely grow in importance if the U.S. continues to transition away from fossil fuel energy sources for items such as vehicles, power grids, mobile phones and laptop computers. And that could make the global battery supply an issue of national security. For nearly half a century, American politicians have sought to protect the country from disruptions caused by foreign oil producers. “All of our national security decisions were set against the backdrop of what they might mean to our energy security, following the 1973 Yom Kippur war when Egypt and Syria invaded Israel and the Arab nations cut off supplies to the US and allies who helped Israel.” Dan Kish, senior vice president for policy at the American Energy Alliance, a not-for-profit energy advocacy organization, told VOA. In 2019, the U.S. achieved its long-held goal of energy independence” producing enough oil and gas for its domestic needs. The achievement points to the challenge of controlling the raw materials that will power the world’s next energy revolution. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), last year the U.S. imported 78% of its cobalt, and all of its graphite. For the foreseeable future, the country will likely need to depend on Chinese supply chains to produce the batteries that help power America’s economy. Graphite, cobalt, lithium According to data released from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a London-based research firm for the lithium-ion battery industry, in 2019, Chinese chemical companies accounted for 80% of the world’s total output of raw materials for advanced batteries. “Of the 136 lithium-ion battery plants in the pipeline to 2029, 101 are based in China,” the firm said in May. “China controls the processing of pretty much all the critical minerals, whether it’s rare earth, lithium, cobalt or graphite,” Pini Althaus, the chief executive of USA Rare Earth, said in a telephone interview with VOA. A little-known Chinese company that was founded in 2011 is now the world’s biggest maker of electric vehicle batteries. For three consecutive years ending in 2019, South Korea’s market tracker SNE Research has ranked China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) as No. 1 in the electric vehicle battery production, with a 27.9% market share. CATL makes electric-car batteries for Tesla. CATL hairman Zeng Yuqun told Bloomberg last month that they have developed a power pack that lasts more than a million miles. Among their top customers are Daimler AG, BMW and Toyota. Battery supply chain China has focused on building capacity at every stage of the battery supply chain. In addition to rare earths, the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries depends on some key materials like graphite, the material used in pencil tips. In 2019, China produced more than 60% of the world’s graphite, according to U.S. government research. That means Beijing can set world prices. “This is a completely untenable situation,” said Althaus, whose company has a pilot project in Colorado with the goal of producing a full range of rare earths as well as lithium. He said that it could take the U.S. 20 to 30 years to catch up with China. “It does not matter whether it is China or any other country. It is very dangerous if the world only depends on one country to provide key raw materials. African cobalt, Chinese factories Cobalt has emerged as one of the hottest commodities in the new energy revolution because it is widely used in electric vehicles as well as computer and consumer electronics. But unlike graphite, which China has significant natural reserves, the country’s cobalt reserves accounts for only about 1% of the world’s total. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) produces more than 60% of the world’s mined cobalt. But Beijing controls the global supply of this silvery-blue metal. According to a working paper published last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), eight of the 14 largest cobalt mines in the DRC are Chinese-owned and account for almost half of the country’s output. DRC mining ownership was not always controlled by China. For example, the largest mine in DRC, the Tenke Fungurume Mine where cobalt is a by-product of its copper mining, was owned by an American company until 2016. That year, for $2.65 billion, Freeport-McMoRan Inc., a leading international mining company with headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, sold its mine to China Molybdenum. China’s influence dominates cobalt processing with Chinese companies controlling about 80% of the cobalt refining industry, where it is turned into commercial-grade cobalt metal and power, according to Benchmark Minerals. World lithium reserves China is among the five top countries with the most lithium resources, according to the 2020 USGS, but it has been buying stakes in mining operations in Australia and South America where most of the world’s lithium reserves are found. China’s Tianqi Lithium now owns 51% of the world’s largest lithium reserve, Australia’s Greenbushes lithium mine. In 2018, the same company also paid about $4 billion to become the second-largest shareholder in Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM), the largest lithium producer in Chile. Another Chinese company, Ganfeng Lithium, now has a long-term agreement to underwrite all lithium raw materials produced by Australia’s Mount Marion mine, the world’s second-biggest, high-grade lithium reserve.
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Facebook Says Will Stop News Sharing in Australia if New Regulations Become Law
Facebook Inc said it would block news publishers and people in Australia from sharing news on Facebook and Instagram if a proposal to force the U.S. tech giant to pay local media outlets for content becomes law. The Australian government said in July it would require tech giants Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google to pay for news provided by media companies under a royalty-style system that is scheduled to become law this year. “This is not our first choice – it is our last. But it is the only way to protect against an outcome that defies logic and will hurt, not help, the long-term vibrancy of Australia’s news and media sector,” Facebook Australia managing director Will Easton said in a statement published on Tuesday. Following an inquiry into the state of the media market and the power of the U.S. platforms, the Australian government late last year told Facebook and Google to negotiate a voluntary deal with media companies to use their content. After those negotiations failed, Australia’s competition regulator drafted laws that it said would allow news businesses to negotiate for fair payment for their journalists’ work. Easton said the proposed legislation misunderstands the dynamic of the internet and will damage news organizations. Australia’s Ministry for Communications did not immediately respond to questions on Tuesday.
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