Sunday, 30 June 2024

தினப்பொறி 010724

Cobalt powers our lives. What is it—and why is it so controversial?

The silvery blue metal is used to make lithium-ion batteries that supply energy to everything from cars to e-cigarettes. It’s also toxic and mined in Congo—where thousands of workers toil in “subhuman” conditions.

ByKara Norton December 21, 2023

Cobalt is essential for powering our modern technology. The metal is commonly used to make lithium-ion batteries, which are found in items such as electric vehicles, computers, smartphones, and even e-cigarettes.  

As many countries pivot towards renewable energy, demand for these batteries has never been higher. Global demand for cobalt is expected to grow fourfold by 2030, according to a white paper report from the World Economic Forum, largely thanks to widespread adoption of electric vehicles. 

Yet the cobalt that helps power them and other technology comes with serious humanitarian concerns where it’s mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

These mines have been the subject of investigations and news reports, and they recently gained widespread attention on social media platforms like TikTok. Concerned about the conditions that produce cobalt, TikTok users have pledged to give up their e-cigarettes or vapes, which contain trace amounts of cobalt in their batteries. 

In a video from last month that now has more than 1.8 million views, one creator announced that she would quit vaping amid cobalt mining concerns. But to truly limit demand for cobalt, we would have to give up a lot more.

Here’s what you should know about this versatile, yet controversial metal. 

What is cobalt and how is it used?

This lustrous, silvery-blue metal helps batteries store a vast amount of energy while also keeping temperatures stable in the freezing cold and scorching hot temperatures, which has made it useful for many aerospace, defense, and medical applications and a key element in many clean energy technologies. 

Cobalt also plays a vital role in the performance of lithium-ion batteries. In contrast to common household batteries, lithium-ion batteries can be recharged and reused for years, but they are also more expensive and difficult to recycle.  

These batteries do everything from powering handheld devices to storing energy on electrical grids. But this dynamic material is also expensive, toxic, and difficult to extract and process. 

More than 70 percent of the world’s cobalt comes from mines in the Congo. There, 15-30 percent is sourced from “artisanal mines” where thousands of freelance miners work in “subhuman” and “degrading” conditions for only a few dollars a day, explained Siddharth Kara, a fellow at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, to NPR. 

Kara has been researching modern-day slavery, human trafficking, and child labor for two decades, and his recent book, Cobalt Red, outlines how the so-called cobalt rush has resulted in untold deaths and widespread contamination of the area’s water, soil, and air.  

What’s more, copper and uranium are found alongside cobalt in Congolese mines—the latter is a known carcinogen. 

To determine just how much of a toll cobalt takes on people who live near mines, researchers at KU Leuven in Belgium and the University of Lubumbashi in the DRC conducted a case study in Kasulo, an urban neighborhood in the city of Kolwezi. The city is in the heart of a Congolese mining deposit. When cobalt ore was first discovered under one of the houses there, the entire neighborhood was quickly swallowed by an artisanal mine, noted the researchers. Houses became interspersed with dozens of mine pits where hundreds of artisanal miners hunted for cobalt, all while residents continued to live nearby, with seemingly no health or safety precautions.

"Children living in the mining district had ten times as much cobalt in their urine as children living elsewhere,” says Benoit Nemery, one of the study’s authors and a pulmonary specialist at KU Leuven. “Their values were much higher than what we'd accept for European factory workers.”

A major health concern for miners and communities living in close proximity to mines is the dust, says Nemery. It contains airborne cobalt and other metals, including uranium—that’s released during the mining process. Some scientists worry this exposure may cause long term health conditions like lung disease.

“The uranium also releases a gas called radon gas, and in the mines, the radon levels are very very high. Radon is a carcinogen that could lead to lung cancer,” says Nemery. “But we don't know to what extent there is an increased amount of lung cancer in the area because it's an underserved area medically.”      

Are there alternatives to cobalt?

In response to cobalt’s environmental impact and human rights concerns, several high-profile companies, including Apple and Tesla, have pledged to reduce their cobalt use or source it from more responsible producers. Automaker BMW has been sourcing cobalt from Morocco and Australia for its electric vehicles since 2020. 

While Tesla has reduced its average cobalt use by more than 60 percent and is now using cobalt-free batteries in its new car models, the EV automaker has also inked a long-term deal with the world’s largest mining company Glencore, for 6,000 tons of DRC-sourced cobalt a year. The deal suggests that Congolese cobalt will continue to be a crucial resource for battery manufacturers, according to the World Economic Forum’s white paper on artisanal cobalt extraction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  

Recycling these rechargeable devices could be a major solution to decrease global reliance on mining while also lowering the cost to consumers and reducing the environmental impact of electronic waste. 

Redwood Materials, a battery and e-waste recycling company founded by former Tesla chief technology officer JB Straubel specializes in recovering materials like cobalt. The company takes spent lithium-ion batteries, breaks them down, and extracts their metals—including cobalt, lithium, copper, and nickel—to reuse them for new batteries. 

By 2025, Redwood Materials estimates they will produce enough recycled materials for one million electric vehicles annually. 

Cobalt mining leads to controversy in the U.S.

To expand its domestic supply of rare Earth minerals and reduce its near total reliance on foreign sources of cobalt, the U.S. has ramped up its domestic mining operations. These materials are part of a long term national strategy to transition to renewable energy and zero emission vehicles. 

The transportation sector remains the largest source of U.S. carbon emissions, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and transitioning to EVs will play a critical role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

But these new domestic mines needed to produce the raw materials for EV batteries could also encroach on Indigenous land. Several metals, like cobalt, have been found within 35 miles of Native American reservations. This includes 97 percent of nickel, 89 percent of copper, 79 percent of lithium, and 68 percent of cobalt reserves in the U.S., found MSCI ESG Research. 

Lisa Benjamin, associate professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, says that while these metals are crucial for a renewable energy revolution, it’s important to not sacrifice the health and safety of communities living near these deposits. 

In order to prevent harming Native communities, Benjamin says the Bureau of Land Management should adopt stricter policies that prohibit mining at sacred sites on reservations, in nearby areas regarded as culturally important, and guarantee tribal leaders a seat at the table. 

Benjamin adds, “They should really have a say in whether or not these projects move forward, and they don't at the moment.”⍐

Source: Nationalgeographic.com/environment     நன்றி: ஈழநாடு

ආර් සම්පන්දන් දිවියෙන් සමුගනී


හිටපු විපක්ෂ නායකවරයෙකු මෙන්ම දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ආර්.සම්පන්දන් මහතා අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වී තිබේ.

කොළඹ පෞද්ගලික රෝහලක ප්‍රතිකාර ලබමින් සිටියදී අද (30) රාත්‍රීයේ ඒ මහතා අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වී ඇති බව වාර්තා වේ.

1933 පෙබරවාරි මස 05 වන දින උපත ලද ආර්. සම්පන්දන් මහතා මිය යන විට 91 හැවිරිදි වියේ පසු වුණි.

ආර්.සම්පන්දන් මහතා දෙමළ එක්සත් විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ නියෝජනය කරමින් ත්‍රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්‍රික්කයෙන් 1977 වසරේ දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට තේරී පත්වුණි.

එමෙන්ම ඔහු 2015 වසරේ සැප්තැම්බර් 03 වන දින සිට 2018 දෙසැම්බර් 18 වන දින දක්වා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ විපක්ෂ නායකවරයා ලෙස ද කටයුතු කරනු ලැබීය.

මේ අතර ආර්. සම්පන්දන් මහතාගේ අවමංගල්‍ය කටයුතු පිළිබඳ වැඩිදුර තොරතුරු ඉදිරියේ දී දැනුම්දීමට නියමිතව තිබේ.

Source: ADA June 30, 2024



France’s far right wins in first round of elections

Marine Le Pen

Exit polls put the RN of Marine Le Pen on 34 percent with President Emmanuel Macron’s alliance trailing in third in the first round of parliamentary elections.

France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party has won the first round of the country’s snap parliamentary elections, bringing the party closer to being able to form a government in round two.

Pollsters IFOP, Ipsos, OpinionWay and Elabe showed Marine Le Pen’s RN winning about 34 percent of the votes, the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition about 29 percent, and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble Alliance in third spot with about 20.5 percent.

The election’s ultimate outcome remains uncertain, though, as the final result will depend on yet another week of campaigning before the decisive final voting next Sunday.


Polls close 

in Iran’s snap presidential election

Four candidates are in the race to succeed Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash in May.

Iranians voted for a new president following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, choosing from a tightly controlled group of four candidates loyal to the supreme leader at a time of growing public frustration.

Polls closed at about 12am local time (20:30 GMT) after a series of extensions on Friday to allow people to vote with Iranian officials pushing for a high turnout

Turnout is key 

Many Iranians did not turn out to vote earlier Friday because it is a weekend in the country and because of the hot weather. Many voters reportedly cast their ballots in the evening in previous elections.

Voter turnout has plunged over the past four years as a mostly youthful population chafes at political and social curbs.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said voter turnout is key to the outcome because a higher turnout would give the only reformist candidate a larger chance. “The very fact there’s a split vote among the conservatives means the likelihood of a second round is real. The turnout is also important for the establishment.”


Is AI the end of human supremacy? 

Have you ever thought about machines one day taking over and controlling us? It may be less farfetched than we used to think. And experts in technology and artificial intelligence are starting to sound a little concerned. 

They call it the "technological singularity," which refers to a point in time where machines become so advanced they surpass human intelligence. With such rapid advances in AI, some people believe this singularity could be just around the corner. If it happens, would it mean the end of human supremacy?

In this episode, adapted from the hit Arabic series Dahaleez, Amr Waked takes a closer look at what the future might hold for us humans. 


In downtown Ningbo, a historic city of learning and culture in East China's Zhejiang Province, there lies a library that has survived for more than 450 years, making it the oldest library not only in China but in Asia, and one of the three oldest private libraries in the world.


Tamil Nadu’s silence hampers resolution of Indo-Lanka fisheries issue: Minister

''Most trawl boat owners are politically influential in Tamil Nadu making the resolution of this problem through diplomatic channels difficult''- Minister

The 10 Indian fishermen, arrested for  engaged in illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters

In the backdrop of the death of a Navy sailor in the attempt to contain IUU (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated) fishing, Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda said the central government of India alone could not address this issue without the cooperation of the state government Tamil Nadu which is still maintaining stoic silence despite its impact on livelihoods of Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen in particular.

The 10 Indian fishermen, arrested for allegedly engaged in illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters, will be charged with the death of the Navy sailor whose funeral was conducted even with the participation.

A senior sailor from the Navy Special Boat Squadron sustained critical injuries due to “the aggressive manoeuvres of the Indian trawler, resisting its seizure, the Navy said.

The Minister who also carried the coffin of the sailor told Daily Mirror that the state government of Tamil Nadu is not keen to address the issue festering for decades with a heavy toll on the Sri Lankan economy and marine ecosystem.

He said Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, during his latest visit to Sri Lanka, invited him to New Delhi for talks on the matter.

“The Indian government in New Delhi alone cannot address this issue. I should visit Tamil Nadu. The state government is not ready to resolve this matter. If it is interested in doing so, it can easily do it by resorting to cancel fishing licences of trawl boat owners who cross the international maritime boundary line into Sri Lankan waters for fishing,” he said.

The Minister said most trawl boat owners are politically influential in Tamil Nadu making the resolution of this problem through diplomatic channels difficult.

Asked about the gravity of the issue at the moment, he said hundreds of mechanised Indian boats are involved in IUU fishing.

“Our fishermen have stopped venturing out to sea at times for fishing because of this menace. Our people only have small fibre boats,” he said.⍐

Daily Mirror Colombo, June 29 

ENB-Snap shot News First


Adani in the running for sea bed exploration in Sri Lankan waters

 


Adani, the Indian company involved in the West Terminal development at the Colombo Port and the controversial wind power project in Mannar, is also engaged in a third project here – proposed mining for valuable minerals in Sri Lanka’s ocean bed.

According to a high official associated with the negotiations, the Adani Group has stepped in to form a joint venture with a Taiwanese company Umicore Taiwan to exploit the cobalt reserves.

This deal has not been finalised as negotiations are still ongoing.

Sri Lanka is contemplating to harness substantial benefits in partnering with India in its expedition to find valuable minerals concealed in the depths of the Indian Ocean after the settlement of sea bed mining rights issue between the two countries, informed sources confirmed.

The country has gained an extension of the limits of its continental shelf from 200 nautical miles, the general limit to the continental shelf, as per the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Following an application submitted to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in 2009.

At present it has exclusive rights of 200 nautical miles from the shore as the exclusive economic zone to exploit the area cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts’ in the Afanasy Nikitin Seamount in the Central Indian Ocean, for economic purposes without hindering international shipping traffic.

India has also claimed its continental shelf up to 350 nautical miles from its border but awaits official recognition to carry out sea bed explorations.

Without waiting till the finalisation of negotiations to form a strategic partnership between the two countries to settle the dispute, India has submitted an application to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) on January 18, 2024 to explore ‘cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts’ at the Seamount, official documents showed.

It has been turned down by the ISA as Afanasy Nikitin Seamount lies within an area under the jurisdiction of Sri Lanka and it was notified to Indian authorities.

The Indian authorities have failed to send any reply to ISA’s notification in time for it to be considered during the ISA’s 29th Session of the Legal and Technical Commission held on March 12, 2024.

India’s application is still on hold and it is up to the two countries to mutually settle the matter and inform the ISA to receive the licence to begin sea bed exploration

Chinese vessels surveillance in the Sri Lankan territorial waters has prompted India to claim the rights to explore the Indian Ocean Seabed beyond its Jurisdiction, including Cobalt-Rich Afanasy Nikitin Seamount (AN Seamount) coming under the authority  of Sri Lanka.

The Seamount has a rare metal Cobalt deposit worth billions of dollars as this metal is essential for various commercial, industrial, and military applications, particularly in rechargeable batteries.⍐

Sunday, June 30, 2024 By Bandula Sirimanna                                                                            Business Times

Friday, 28 June 2024

Kamala Harris Could Win This Election. Let Her.

 

Kamala Harris Could Win This Election. Let Her.



Opinion Columnist

Like many Americans who watched the presidential debate on Thursday night, I knew when it was over that there was no way I was going to sleep. So I did something I almost never do: tuned in to the pundit commentary on cable news. I’m glad I did. Not long after the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on CNN with Anderson Cooper. Watching her calmly and methodically respond to a battering ram of questions from Cooper, it occurred to me: The obvious, logical path out of the mess President Biden created with his disastrous debate performance is for him to bow out with honor and endorse his young, vigorous and talented vice president to stand in his stead.

I know, I know. You think I just fell out of a coconut tree. Didn’t Harris flame out in the last Democratic presidential primary, leaving just in time to avoid an embarrassing loss in her home state, California? Yes. But to win a primary you must thread the needle of introducing yourself to the base of the party while burnishing the case for your ideas and dissing the talents of your rivals, all while keeping your options open, because your opponents are also your future surrogates and allies. For women — and for Black women in particular — the gender and racial dynamics of a presidential primary race seem especially difficult to navigate.

Those dynamics would play out very differently on a national stage shared with Donald Trump. There, Harris would not be hectoring a fellow Democrat over relatively small differences in policy or attempting to polish her own record in comparison to a governor or fellow lawmaker. She can use her true superpower: She will be a relentless prosecutor of the very clear political case against Donald John Trump, a felon, a man found liable for sexual abuse, an inveterate liar, a demagogue, a threat to our democracy and to our Constitution.

I think I speak for a lot of women, probably the most decisive voting bloc in this election, when I say that I would love to see Harris cut Trump down to size. And unlike the blow she landed on Biden during the 2020 primary debate — “That little girl was me,” in response to Biden’s terrible answer about school busing policy — she would be in a ring with an actual bully who will be unable to help himself and treat her with menacing disrespect. Unlike Trump’s previous female debate rival, Hillary Clinton, nary a whiff of scandal has besmirched Harris. All Trump would have is personal attacks, which would only further reinforce his image as a bully. That could play especially poorly with moderate voters when directed at a mature Black woman.







In the wake of Thursday night’s debate, it is easy to overlook how weak Trump is. He gave a dismal performance. He served up a platter of falsehoods and insults that actually turned off some voters, according to interviews I saw with debate viewers on television. But a rambling, sputtering Biden utterly failed to counter him.

''Giving the nod to Harris would have another benefit. It would allow Biden to end his long career in public service with dignity and honor. He will go down in history as the man who stopped Trump in 2020''. 

Harris, with her killer instincts and poise, could have wiped the floor with Trump on the issues that matter most to voters. We forget that she was very successful not just as a prosecutor but also as a candidate for statewide office in California. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the first Trump administration she drew blood with her tough, calm and deliberate questions, managing to score viral moments without seeming like a theatrical showboater.⍐

It would have been satisfying to watch her face off against Trump on Thursday, not just for progressives but also for suburban women who wanted to see a full-throated fight for their reproductive rights, an issue on which Harris has been especially — and passionately — outspoken and Biden, a devout Catholic, has been more muted. I disagree with her policies on the border, but there is no question Harris has been tough and compelling on immigration. She has been a popular surrogate on the campaign trail, and while she may not help that much with Black and Latino men, who in any case are less consistent voters, I believe she could energize Black women and young people.

A campaign is not a debate, and there is a long road ahead. But the job is to rouse the country out of an alternative universe in which the Trump presidency was actually not that bad. I think she can make that case better than almost anyone in the Democratic Party.

Her polling before this debate was not great — her favorables are as dismal as Biden’s — but recent polls in swing states have shown she could gain trust with voters should she step in for the president. Unlike a drafted candidate, she would start with low expectations she could quite easily exceed. In a world filled with peril, she has been involved in major national security issues, not relegated to ribbon cuttings. Paired with, say, a strong, centrist governor like Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania or Andy Beshear of Kentucky as her running mate, she could win this.

If Harris were to become the first woman elected president through this strange and extremely unlikely series of events, it would also be a perfect illustration of what it usually takes for women to get a chance to lead: A man makes a hash of an important job, and a woman must roll up her sleeves and clean it up. It would not be the same kind of triumphant moment that brought us our first Black president. But it would finally break that hardest and highest glass ceiling. I hope that the next woman president could come to office under more auspicious circumstances.

Giving the nod to Harris would have another benefit. It would allow Biden to end his long career in public service with dignity and honor. He will go down in history as the man who stopped Trump in 2020. Whatever expediency led Biden to choose Harris as his running mate, and it is clear that she was not a natural choice for him, she was ultimately his choice of successor should he be unable to serve. Creating a mad scramble to find a replacement while passing over the talented politician he already chose would simply be another example of Biden blowing it. Bowing out allows him to be a patriot and let the natural order of succession as he envisioned it unfold, preserving his legacy and sense of agency. That is not a small thing. Harris 2024: It has a pretty nice ring to it.

New York Times June 28, 2024

IMF- India welcomes debt deal

 


IMF welcomes debt deal


The IMF has welcomed the announcement of Sri Lanka’s finalization of its debt agreements with its major official creditors. Peter Breuer, Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka has said that the finalization of the debt agreements is a key milestone and takes Sri Lanka one step closer towards completing its debt restructuring and restoring debt sustainability.

“We hope that there will be swift progress on reaching agreements with external private creditors in the near future,” Breuer told the media on Thursday.

On June 26, 2024, Sri Lanka concluded negotiations with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) and China Exim Bank, marking pivotal strides towards stabilizing its financial footing amid recent economic challenges.

The agreements, valued at a combined USD 10 billion, encompass restructuring arrangements with major bilateral lenders under the auspices of the OCC, co-chaired by Japan, India, and France. Notable members of the committee include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Korea, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

2024/06/28 The Island

Sri Lanka seals debt deal with China, others after crash

Colombo (AFP) – Sri Lanka said on Wednesday it had clinched a restructuring deal with key bilateral lender China and other nations, covering up to $10 billion in debt, a critical step towards recovery after a 2022 financial crash.

The agreement is expected to revive stalled infrastructure projects, including a Japanese-funded airport expansion and a new mass transit light rail in the capital, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debt in April 2022 after running out of foreign exchange, and the unprecedented economic crisis forced then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down.

"Sri Lanka concluded negotiations with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) and the Exim Bank of China," Wickremesinghe said in a televised Sinhalese-language address to the nation.

"Sri Lanka won," he added in English while thanking the OCC, which included Japan, India, the United States, Canada and several European nations.

He said the deal with OCC nations was reached in Paris, while an agreement with the Exim Bank of China was signed in Beijing on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka secured a moratorium on repayments until 2028, he said, but gave no further details.

His supporters in the capital Colombo let off firecrackers and distributed milk rice in celebration as he spoke.

Wickremesinghe said the nation was bankrupt when he took over almost two years ago and he hoped the International Monetary Fund bailout of $2.9 billion he secured last year would be the island's last.

Colombo had gone to the IMF, the international lender of last resort, on 16 previous occasions and the debt restructuring is a condition of the IMF bailout.

Wickremesinghe has doubled taxes, removed generous energy subsidies and is set to sell off loss-making state enterprises to shore up state revenue under that deal.

Neighbouring India welcomed Sri Lanka's

deal and pledged more support.

"This milestone (agreement) demonstrates the strong progress made by Sri Lanka in stabilising its economy and moving towards reform and growth," the Indian government said in a statement.

Bilateral creditors account for 28.5 percent of Sri Lanka's outstanding foreign debt of $37 billion, according to treasury data from the end of March.

China accounts for $4.66 billion of a total of $10.58 billion borrowed from other countries.

Japan accounts for $2.35 billion and India for $1.36 billion.

The government said it was in talks with international bondholders but there was no agreement. A previous round of talks ended in deadlock in April.

Sri Lanka is unable to raise commercial loans until a deal with private creditors is struck.

However, the agreement with bilateral creditors allows the unfreezing of loans for ongoing infrastructure projects financed with funding from other countries.

Thousands of teachers from government schools went on strike in Colombo on Wednesday demanding higher pay, with police using water cannon and tear gas to disperse the protest.

Sri Lanka is due to hold a presidential election this year and opposition parties have vowed to renegotiate the terms of the IMF bailout.

The IMF's Sri Lanka mission chief Peter Breuer said the fund was willing to listen to alternative proposals from rival political parties, but said it was necessary to stick to the benchmarks set in the bailout.

Sri Lanka had made good progress but was not out of the woods yet, he said.


China Strikes Debt Deal With Sri Lanka, Cathing the IMF Off Guard

How Trump’s tariffs could spark a trade war and ‘Europe’s worst economic nightmare’

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