blocking – USMAIL24.COM

Apple sued in landmark case for blocking competitors’ apps, sending shares down and wiping out $100 million in value in minutes

Albert Elence — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 18:49:19 +0000

Justice officials said Thursday they are suing Apple, saying its devices and software constitute a monopoly and generate huge profits at the expense of customers.

“Every step in Apple’s course of action built and strengthened the moat around its smartphone monopoly,” the lawsuit said.

The U.S. Department of Justice and 15 states allege it used strong demand for its iPhone and other products to drive up prices and hurt smaller rivals in the first major antitrust effort against Apple.

For example, it is claimed that Apple is making it more difficult for competing payment apps and smartwatches to work with iPhones.

Instead, it prioritizes Apple Pay and Watch, rather than PayPal or Garmin, for example. Shares in both companies rose today on news of the lawsuit.

Another major complaint concerns messaging. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said users who try to message owners of other brands of smartphones end up experiencing issues such as videos not being sent.

Apple shares are having their worst day since August 2023 – down 4 percent at one point – on a day when the stock market hit record highs across the board.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, along with Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco (L), announce an antitrust lawsuit against Apple at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on March 21

Apple CEO Tim Cook

The Justice Department has announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of having an illegal monopoly on smartphones in the United States.

Apple joins a list of major tech companies indicted by U.S. regulators, including Alphabet’s Google, Meta Platforms and Amazon.com under the administrations of both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

The lawsuit accuses Apple of five key areas in which it has denied rival companies full access to its technology – in an effort to stifle competition.

In addition to messaging apps, smartwatches and digital wallets, Apple has been accused of blocking competition so-called ‘super apps’ and cloud streaming gaming apps.

Apple is said to be making it harder for competing messaging apps and smartwatches to work with iPhones.

Officials also say it has blocked access to its contactless technology that enables mobile payments – meaning iPhone owners can only use the Apple Pay service.

Meanwhile, App Store rules surrounding game streaming services have hurt competition.

Super apps are apps that combine multiple functions, such as calling, messaging and payments, in one place, making it easier to switch between smartphone platforms. They are common in China and include WeChat.

How Apple limits access to sensors and chips

Consumer hardware companies, such as smart tracker maker Tile, have long complained that Apple has limited the ways they can work with the iPhone’s sensors while developing competing products that have better access.

Apple started selling AirTags — which can be attached to items like car keys so users can find them if they’re lost — several years after Tile sold a similar product.

Similarly, Apple has restricted access to a chip in the iPhone that enables contactless payments.

Credit cards can only be added to the iPhone through Apple’s own Apple Pay service.

And Apple has also faced criticism for its iMessage service, which only works on Apple devices.

The Justice Department cited an email chain from Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder who died in 2011, in which he said it “wasn’t nice to see” how easily consumers could switch from iPhones to Android phones and promised to protect developers ‘force’ its payment systems in an effort to capture both developers and consumers.

The case could drag on for years. If the DoJ wins or Apple makes concessions, Apple’s rivals will initially benefit.

But it would also mean better and cheaper apps and products made by third-party companies like Spotify or tracking gadget Tile.

“Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies violate antitrust laws,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Garland said monopoly power is classified by the Supreme Court as “the power to control prices or exclude competition.”

He said: “As outlined in our complaint, Apple has that power in the smartphone market.

“If there’s no doubt about it. Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly.”

The Justice Department alleges that Apple uses its market power to get more money not just from consumers, but also from developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses and merchants.

The 88-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. federal court in Newark, New Jersey, said it aimed to “free the smartphone markets from Apple’s anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct and restore competition to lower smartphone prices for consumers , reduce costs for developers and preserve innovation for the future.”

The case takes direct aim at the digital fortress Apple has built around the iPhone and other popular products like the iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

They have created what is often called a ‘walled garden’ – where the carefully designed hardware and software can flourish together seamlessly, while the consumer has to do little more than turn on the devices.

But the complaint is that this prevents other companies from working together so seamlessly.

The strategy has helped make Apple one of the largest companies in the world, with annual revenues of nearly $400 billion and, until recently a market value of more than $3 trillion.

Shares of Apple are down 7 percent this year, while most of the stock market has soared to new highs.

It has led to longtime rival Microsoft – the target of a major Justice Department antitrust lawsuit a quarter-century ago – taking the title of the world’s most valuable company.

According to the lawsuit, rules and decisions are designed to force Apple users to remain in the Apple ecosystem and purchase the company’s iconic but expensive hardware, the iPhone.

Apple is already subject to antitrust investigations and injunctions in Europe, Japan and Korea, as well as lawsuits from corporate rivals such as Epic Games.

One of Apple’s most lucrative businesses – the App Store, which charges developers commissions of up to 30 percent – has already survived a lengthy legal challenge under US law by Epic.

Although the lawsuit found that Apple had not violated antitrust laws, a federal judge ordered Apple to allow links and buttons to pay for apps without using Apple’s in-app payment commission.

“We believe this lawsuit is flawed on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend ourselves against it,” Apple said in a statement.

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The Supreme Court sets rules for blocking citizens from public officials’ accounts

Jeffrey Bailey — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 16:57:29 +0000

The Supreme Court has in a a few unanimous decisions added some clarity Friday to a tricky constitutional puzzle: how to decide when elected officials violate the First Amendment by denying people access to their social media accounts.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the court in the main case, said two things are necessary before officials can be sued by people they blocked. The officials must have had the authority to speak on behalf of the government on the issues they raised on their sites, she wrote, and they must have exercised that authority in the relevant posts.

The court did not apply the new standard to the cases before it, involving a city manager in Port Huron, Michigan, and two members of a California school board. Instead, it sent the cases back to lower courts to complete that task.

The cases were the first of several this period in which the Supreme Court is examining how the First Amendment applies to social media. The court heard arguments last month on whether states can ban major tech platforms from removing posts based on the views they express, and it will consider on Monday whether Biden administration officials can contact social media platforms to combat what according to them is disinformation.

Friday’s cases were less significant than the others, and the caution of the two rulings showed the difficulty of applying old doctrines to new technology.

In both cases, the question was whether the officials’ use of the accounts amounted to state action, which is covered by the First Amendment, or private activity, which is not.

The matter involving the city manager, Lindke v. Freed, No. 22-611, involved James R. Freed’s public Facebook page, which he used to comment on a variety of topics, some personal and some official.

Judge Barrett described the mixed messages on Mr. Freed’s page. “For his profile photo, Freed chose a photo of himself in a suit with a city lapel pin,” she wrote. “In the ‘About’ section, Freed added his title, a link to the city’s website and the city’s general email address. He described himself as “Dad to Lucy, husband to Jessie and city manager, chief administrative officer for the residents of Port Huron, Michigan.”

Mr. Freed, the judge wrote, “posted a lot (and mostly) about his personal life.” But he also posted information about his work.

“He shared news of the city’s efforts to streamline leaf intake and stabilize water intake from a local river,” Judge Barrett wrote. “He highlighted communications from other city officials, such as a press release from the fire chief and an annual financial report from the finance department. Occasionally, Freed would solicit feedback from the audience – for example, he once posted a link to a city survey on housing and encouraged his audience to complete it.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Freed wrote about the city’s response. These posts led to critical comments from one resident, Kevin Lindke, who ultimately blocked Mr. Freed.

Mr. Lindke sued and lost. Judge Amul R. Thaparto write for a unanimous panel of three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, said that Mr. Freed’s Facebook account was personal, meaning the First Amendment was not a factor.

“Freed has not used his page to discharge any actual or apparent duty of his office,” Judge Thapar wrote. “And he didn’t use his governmental authority to maintain it. So he was acting in his personal capacity – and there was no state action.”

Judge Barrett wrote that “the question is a difficult one, especially in a case involving a state or local official who routinely interacts with the public.”

“The distinction between private behavior and state action,” she added, “arises from the substance, not from the label: private parties can act with the authority of the state, and state officials have private lives and their own constitutional rights.” Categorizing behavior may therefore require further consideration.”

The Supreme Court’s handling of the second case, in an unsigned three-page opinion, was even more cryptic. The case was sent back to the lower courts for reconsideration in light of the case involving Mr. Freed.

That case, O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier, No. 22-324, involved the Facebook and Twitter accounts of two members of the Poway Unified School District in California, Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and TJ Zane. They used the accounts, created during their campaigns, to communicate with their constituents about the school board’s activities, inviting them to public meetings, soliciting comments on the board’s activities and discussing school safety issues.

Two parents, Christopher and Kimberly Garnier, regularly posted long and repetitive critical comments, and officials eventually blocked them. The parents filed a lawsuit and lower courts ruled in their favor.

“We have no doubt that social media will continue to play an essential role in organizing public debate and facilitating the free expression that is at the heart of the First Amendment.” Judge Marsha S. Berzon prescribed a unanimous panel of three judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. “When state actors enter that virtual world and invoke their governmental status to create a forum for such expression, the First Amendment kicks in with them.”

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O2 unveils big changes for mobile customers after blocking more than 89 million unreliable text messages

Jeffrey Bailey — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 19:21:15 +0000

VIRGIN Media O2 has announced a major change for all mobile customers after blocking more than 89 million untrusted text messages.

A new partnership with Hiya, the leader in spam and fraud calls, will see AI-powered tools and enhanced caller ID services rolled out for free.

Virgin Media 02 customers will soon see a huge changeCredit: Alamy

Adaptive AI blocks known fraudulent calls and gives customers more information about callers before they answer the phone.

The service will run alongside Virgin Media O2's existing fraud protection services.

And this includes firewall technology that stopped more than 89 million fraudulent text messages from reaching customers by 2023.

Hiya, a leader in voice security, uses adaptive AI to analyze phone number behavior to determine whether to flag a customer call as suspected spam or block fraud.

Virgin Media O2 will also roll out Hiya's advanced caller ID service, Hiya Connect, which allows businesses to add identity information to their calls with their company name, logo, call purpose and location.

This means that recipients immediately know who is calling and why.

This rollout is predicted to benefit businesses as their customers get greater peace of mind when receiving their calls.

And Virgin Media 02 makes it more likely that someone will respond.

Murray Mackenzie, director of fraud at Virgin Media O2, said: “In the fight against fraud, we want to roll out the latest technology to protect our customers.

“From AI tools to help us block fraudulent calls to services that help identify callers before a customer has even picked up the phone, our expanded partnership with Hiya allows us to continue to enhance our existing measures and provide customers with additional protection against spam. and fraudsters.”

And Kush Parikh, president of Hiya, said the company is “doing its part” to restore trust in voice calling.

He said: “We are proud to offer our spam and fraud solution and branded calling service to Virgin Media O2, a company renowned for its exceptional service across the UK.

“Carriers around the world are struggling with how to prevent phone spam and scams and protect the reputation of business customers. Hiya is doing its part to restore trust in voice calling by joining leaders like Virgin Media O2.”

Phone spam and fraud are persistent challenges for telecom providers around the world.

In the UK alone, according to the latest Hiya research, 28 percent of unknown calls were spam – and almost 10% of these were fraud calls.

With scammers constantly evolving their methods, Virgin Media O2 is urging all mobile customers to report suspicious text messages for free by forwarding them to 7726.

How to block 'no caller ID' calls on iPhone

It is important to note that unknown callers on iPhone can still leave a voicemail.

They also appear in your Recent list.

All this feature does is silence the calls so they don't appear for you.

Start by opening the Institutions app.

Find Telephone further down the list.

Tap on Silence unknown callers.

To turn on.

How to block 'no caller ID' calls on Android

On Android, start by going to the Telephone app.

Of the Keyboard tab, look for the three-dot menu in the top right corner.

Crane Institutions.

Then go to Block numbers.

Switch on Block calls from unknown numbers.

Best phone and gadget tips and hacks

Looking for tips and hacks for your phone? Want to find those secret features in social media apps? We've got you covered…

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'It can't be played' Amazon warns of four Fire TV errors blocking 4K

Jeffrey Bailey — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 15:54:31 +0000

AMAZON has revealed the common mistakes that prevent you from getting a 4K picture.

There are plenty of reasons why you might not be seeing TV shows and movies in 4K, so make sure you have the right setup.

Make sure your Amazon Fire TV Stick is a 4K modelCredit: Amazon

The first thing you need to check is whether your Amazon Fire TV device actually supports 4K video.

It's possible – and even likely – that you bought a regular Amazon Fire TV Stick or box that doesn't deliver 4K.

Make sure your Amazon Fire TV device has the 4K, UHD, or Ultra HD branding on the box or you're out of luck.

You can also look up the model number online to check.

Secondly, you need to make sure that your TV itself has a 4K resolution.

If your TV's resolution only lists HD (or 720p) or Full HD (or 1080p), you won't be able to watch content in full 4K on it.

There's actually a special tool built into your Amazon Fire TV device to see if it's set up for 4K.

Just go to Settings > Display & Sound > Audio/Video Diagnostics.

Third, Amazon recommends making sure your connections are set up correctly.

For example, check your TV's picture input settings to ensure it is set to 4K.

'Please stop messing around,' Amazon Fire TV Stick owners beg after complaints about a big change they all hate

Amazon adds: “Try moving your Fire TV device closer to the router or use a wired connection with an Ethernet adapter.

“Make sure you are using a high-speed HDMI cable. Try disconnecting and reconnecting the HDMI cable.”

And the company notes: “Sometimes your Fire TV device will stream at 1080p 60 Hz for smoother playback if you have a 4K 30 Hz Dolby Vision TV.

“Your TV may support 4K 60 Hz resolutions with other formats. To set your resolution to 4K 60 Hz, go to Settings on your Fire TV device and then to Display & Sounds.

“If the resolution you want to use is not detected, it cannot be played with your current equipment configuration.”

As for connections, it is important that you have a sufficiently high internet speed.

For example, here are Netflix's internet speed recommendations:

High Definition (HD) – 3 Mbps or higher
Full High Definition (FHD) – 5 Mbps or higher
Ultra High Definition (UHD) – 15 Mbps or higher

And the last mistake you may make is choosing the content you want to watch.

There is a huge amount of 4K footage online these days, but not everything is available in such a high resolution.

It's entirely possible that you're just trying to watch something that isn't yet available in 4K.

Or perhaps you rented or purchased a lower-resolution version of a movie at a lower price than the full 4K download.

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Harry Potter and the Illegally Parked Car: Emma Watson's £30,000 Audi A3 is towed away by police after she left it blocking access to a car park while enjoying a night out at the pub

Albert Elence — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:38:29 +0000

Harry Potter star Emma Watson may have wished she had stayed on the Hogwarts Express after a night out ended with her car being seized by police.

The celebrated actress found herself in trouble after parking her £30,000 Audi A3 'illegally' while enjoying an evening in a pub across the street.

Watson, 33, apparently did not see a 'no parking' sign and did not realize she had left the vehicle outside the entrance to a car park in Stratford-upon-Avon's historic town centre.

To make matters worse, the surveillance led to an irate pizza restaurant manager's own vehicle being stuck in the gated compound for three and a half hours.

The frustrated manager – who had completed a 12-hour shift at pizzeria Red Hot Mamma – searched local restaurants in a failed attempt to locate the owner before calling police, who summoned a tow truck to remove the offending car.

Harry Potter actress Emma Watson's vehicle is seized in Stratford-upon-Avon

Eyewitnesses told how Watson 'came flying out of the nearby Rose and Crown pub'

It was only when the blue Audi was towed onto a low loader that Watson was alerted to the real-life tragedy near William Shakespeare's birthplace.

Eyewitnesses told how she 'came flying out of the nearby Rose and Crown pub' when she realized what was happening before pleading with police not to take her car.

In photos obtained by MailOnline, the actress – who wore a black French beret and a long dark coat – is seen at the scene with a police officer present and the tow truck driver dressed in high-visibility overalls.

But it seems no amount of magic could prevent her car from being towed to the compound as her calls to be allowed to take back possession of the car fell on deaf ears.

Watson had to pay a fine of £192 to get her car released and a further £26 for each day the vehicle remained at the police station.

Watson apparently had not noticed a 'no parking' sign in Stratford-upon-Avon

Watson left the vehicle at the entrance to a city center parking lot

Watson reportedly begged police not to take her car during the incident

The angry pizza boss, who asked not to be named, told MailOnline: 'I was stuck in the car park for three and a half hours because a blue car was blocking the exit.

'Three and a half hours of searching for the driver was the last thing I needed after a twelve-hour shift.

'The car was parked in front of our gate, a parking ban. I went to every restaurant in the area and asked if anyone owned the car.

'Nobody admitted it was their car, so I had to call the police so they would move the car and I could get out.

'But when the police started to tow her car away, she came flying out of the pub shouting: 'That's my car, that's my car!'

Emma Watson is pictured opening the door of her Audi car in North London in January 2015

Emma Watson was pictured with her car in St John's Wood, north London, in December last year

An onlooker told MailOnline: 'It must have been about 11pm when I saw Emma Watson outside in the street.

'The police had seized her Audi A3 and it was loaded into a recovery vehicle. She begged them not to take her car.

“But they didn't listen and it was towed away. Apparently she had parked in front of a fence and blocked this guy for hours.

'Earlier a man had entered the pub to say that a blue Audi A3 had blocked the entrance to a car park. The police came first and then called a recovery vehicle and towed it away.”

Watson has been contacted for comment.

Watson appeared alongside Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe in all eight Harry Potter films

Warwickshire Police confirmed a report had been registered and a blue Audi had been 'taken and seized'.

It comes just weeks after Watson, who is reportedly worth £67 million, appeared to have had an accident in the same vehicle after she was spotted driving the Audi, which had noticeable damage to the front wing and had been repaired together with duct tape.

Watson became one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses after appearing in all eight Harry Potter films.

But she made the decision to step out of the spotlight and take a break from her career after the release of her most recent film Little Women in 2019.

During that time she directed a Prada fragrance commercial and also studied for an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford.

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Biden criticizes Republicans for blocking the bill with aid for Israel and Gaza

Jeffrey Bailey — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 23:32:52 +0000

President Biden on Tuesday criticized Republican lawmakers for their efforts to thwart bipartisan legislation that would overhaul the country's immigration system and, among other things, authorize billions of dollars in aid to Israel.

In a televised speech from the White Housesaid Mr. Biden that opposing the bill would deny military aid to Israel and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, who he emphasized are “really suffering and in urgent need of assistance.” In particular, he blasted former President Donald J. Trump, who lobbied Republicans to kill the bill to deny Mr. Biden a political victory, blaming him for helping create the gridlock in Congress .

Mr. Biden also suggested that the political impasse in Washington would hinder progress toward an agreement to release Israeli hostages.

He said there was “some movement” in negotiations with Hamas to release hostages taken during the brutal October 7 terrorist attack.

“There has been a reaction from the opposition,” he said, referring to Hamas, “but it seems a bit exaggerated.”

At about the same time Mr. Biden spoke, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken held a joint press conference in DohaQatar, with the Prime Minister of Qatar, where they announced that Hamas had responded to the latest offer of an agreement for a pause in the fighting in Gaza and an exchange of hostages and prisoners.

Senators from both parties have pushed the bill, which links a crackdown on illegal migration across the U.S. border with Mexico to providing emergency aid to Ukraine and Israel, but far-right Republicans have condemned the immigration restrictions as too weak. The proposal includes $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine.

In a unusual letterA group of US ambassadors stationed in the Indo-Pacific region on Monday urged congressional leaders to consider the passage of legislation providing support to UkraineIsrael and its Pacific allies said America's credibility with its strategic partners was at stake.

Mr. Biden said on Tuesday that he would not consider supporting separate bills that addressed only military aid to Israel or Ukraine.

“I'm not going to admit that now,” he said. “We all need it. The rest of the world is watching us.”

Carl Hulse reporting contributed.

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Israel wants to prevent demonstrators from blocking the flow of aid to Gaza

Jeffrey Bailey — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 18:29:41 +0000

Israel stepped up efforts on Sunday to prevent Israeli protesters from blocking the flow of aid into Gaza, two days after the United Nations' top court said it should allow more supplies into the enclave.

The Israeli army has declared the area around a border crossing into Gaza a closed military zone, in an attempt to halt protests that have been hampering the flow of aid through the only open border crossing between Israel and Gaza for several days. The decision was made on Saturday evening, but not publicly announced until Sunday afternoon.

Dozens of protesters had blocked the Kerem Shalom border crossing in southern Israel since Wednesday, arguing that no humanitarian aid should enter Gaza until Hamas releases all the prisoners it is holding there.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague issued a preliminary ruling on Friday in a case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. the delivery of more humanitarian aid to the Palestiniansand called for the release of hostages held by armed groups in the enclave.

Before the military declared the closed zone, many protesters had walked through open fields to avoid police roadblocks, thwarting Israeli authorities' attempts to stop them, according to footage posted online by a group behind the demonstrations. According to Israeli news media reports, some trucks managed to enter Gaza before the demonstrators arrived at the intersection.

The military order is intended to block access to all unauthorized persons and will remain in effect until February 3.

The protests at the Kerem Shalom border crossing have led to dozens of aid trucks being diverted through Egypt, with only some crossing the border, the United Nations said.

The United Nations said Friday that protesters had blocked trucks carrying flour, food, hygiene items, tents and other goods from entering Gaza for two days. assistance.”

Israel opened the Kerem Shalom crossing in December following pressure from the United States to speed up the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where most of the territory's 2.2 million civilians face severe shortages food, water and supplies. At the time, Israel said it had committed to 200 trucks per day, but the number of registrations is fell short of that goal.

Kerem Shalom is one of two border crossings through which aid enters Gaza; most of it goes through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. The United Nations said about a fifth of aid has gone through Kerem Shalom since it reopened.

Video footage filmed by the Israeli news media and reposted Social media from the group behind the demonstrations showed Israeli security forces standing by at the border crossing on Sunday as protesters waved Israeli flags and chanted through megaphones that no aid would pass until all the hostages were returned.

The protest came as the American-led negotiators have done drawn up a written draft agreement calling for the phased release of prisoners held by Hamas in return for a halt to the Israeli military offensive for about two months. That framework will be the subject of discussions in Paris on Sunday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was asked at a televised news conference on Saturday evening why Israel did not make access to aid to Gaza conditional on a humanitarian gesture on the part of Hamas. He responded that without allowing “minimal” humanitarian aid, Israel could not complete its mission or achieve its war goals.

Gabby Sobelman And Nada Rashwan reporting contributed.

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Israel is trying to prevent protesters from blocking the flow of aid to Gaza.

Jeffrey Bailey — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 17:33:54 +0000

The military order is intended to block access to all unauthorized persons and will remain in effect until February 3.

The protests at the Kerem Shalom border crossing have led to dozens of aid trucks being diverted through Egypt, with only some crossing the border, the United Nations said.

The United Nations said Friday that protesters had blocked trucks carrying flour, food, hygiene items, tents and other goods from entering Gaza for two days. assistance.”

Gabby Sobelman And Nada Rashwan reporting contributed.

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One after another, Russia is blocking candidates from organizing the next climate summit

Albert Elence — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 17:45:15 +0000

At the annual United Nations climate summit, governments must agree on how to prevent catastrophic climate change.

So far, they cannot agree on the location of next year’s conference.

Tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine have hampered the ability of diplomats meeting in the United Arab Emirates for this year’s summit, known as COP28, to find a venue for 2024.

Under UN rules, the location of the summit rotates between regions and countries within those regions must agree on the host.

Next year it will take place in Eastern Europe or the Caucasus, both of which have been ravaged by war. Russia has blocked almost every viable candidate in the region, effectively holding next year’s event hostage.

The latest standoff came on Friday when Azerbaijan received the blessing of neighboring country and old enemy Armenia to host the summit – only to be blocked by Russia hours later, according to European diplomats.

Observers called countries’ inability to select a host for next year a worrying sign for efforts to find global consensus on the far more serious issue of tackling climate change.

“Russia just wants to be a troublemaker in everything in the international context,” said Jake Schmidt, senior strategic director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. “I don’t remember a time when we couldn’t find a location for the next meeting.”

Although the next summit is still a year away, the choice of host country is made well in advance as it takes months of preparation to hold a productive summit. The current host, the UAE, began its work in 2021.

It is also logistically a challenge. The annual ‘conference of parties’, or COP, as it is commonly known, has become a spectacle in recent years, requiring facilities and infrastructure. This is the 28th year (i.e. COP28) and Dubai has more than 100,000 registered visitors.

Most Eastern European countries have strongly condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine and joined Western powers in imposing tough sanctions in response to the invasion. Russia, in turn, has used various UN forums, such as the COP, to hit back.

So far it has stopped Bulgaria, Slovenia and Moldova from hosting next year’s summit and is unlikely to endorse any country in the European Union.

When Azerbaijan threw its hat into the ring, it initially encountered opposition from neighboring Armenia, which itself submitted a bid. Turkey, which is not considered by the UN as part of the slate of countries expected to host next year’s climate talks, has also expressed willingness to host.

On Friday, following Armenia’s unexpected endorsement of Azerbaijan, it suddenly appeared that a consensus candidate had emerged.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office in Armenia said that as a goodwill measure to restore relations between the two warring countries, the country would release two Azerbaijani soldiers and endorse its bid to host COP29 in exchange for 32 of its own soldiers held by Azerbaijan. . Bulgaria was prepared to drop its bid. Azerbaijani diplomats congratulated each other.

But hours later on Friday, Russia vetoed Azerbaijan and the countries were back to square one.

Julian Popov, Bulgaria’s Environment Minister, called the situation “absurd.”

“You cannot have a position where one member can block the entire process,” Mr. Popov said.

If countries cannot agree on a host by 2024, the summit will default to Germany, according to UN climate body rules. It could also take place in the United Arab Emirates for a second year, but that seems unlikely. Sultan Al Jaber, the Emirati oil executive who is chairing the summit and has drawn criticism from environmentalists, has indicated he is not keen to take up the mantle again, according to a person familiar with his thinking.

“This is a unique situation,” said Alden Meyer, a strategic advisor at E3G, an environmental research group, adding: “It’s amazing that we can make any progress on climate.”

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The financial paradox blocking efforts to combat climate change

Sabir Ansary — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 13:14:34 +0000

The annual United Nations Climate Change Conference is underway in Dubai, and a complex, bitter international battle over money revolves around the COP28 negotiations:

How much capital is available to help developing countries transition to renewable energy and cope with extreme weather events?
Where will that investment come from?
And crucially, what interest rates will lenders charge?

It is no exaggeration to say that the answers to these questions will help determine the fate of the planet.

The average temperature on Earth has already risen about 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Without a rapid shift away from fossil fuels, scientists warn that catastrophic warming will destroy coastal cities, devastate farmland and endanger millions of lives.

And yet there is a baffling economic paradox that is hampering efforts to create a more sustainable world: it is relatively easy to find financing for the dirty projects that the world needs less of, but insanely difficult to finance the clean ones. to finance projects that the world needs more of.

This mismatch shapes projects around the world. In the United States, rising interest rates are causing major companies to cancel plans for massive sustainable developments. But the disconnect is especially acute in developing countries, and especially in Africa, where many people have little or no access to electricity.

Financial institutions and development banks typically view investments in these countries as excessively risky, causing lenders to become more conservative. And central banks’ efforts to curb inflation are producing particularly high interest rates in Africa.

“The world is talking about a big game to green the African continent,” says Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder of Acumen, an impact investment fund. “And yet the kind of capital we deploy is usually too expensive, too low-risk and too short-term.”

That is, if lenders make the loans at all. In many cases, projects simply cannot be financed.

Take the case of Kofie Macauley, an engineer from Sierra Leone who is working to build a small hydropower project that would cost $80 million – a pittance in terms of project financing. He has courted dozens of equity partners, large and small, from around the world for years, as my colleague Max Bearak reported. But after ten years of effort, no one will put up the money.

Given the choice between a new coal-fired power plant and an equally powerful new wind farm, most countries would choose the wind farm. In the long run, the absence of fuel costs makes sustainable projects much more economical. This means that there are unique opportunities in developing countries.

“Unlike other countries where the infrastructure is well developed and you have to roll it back and make it green, Africa can take the leap from the start and develop a green energy infrastructure,” said Bilha Ndirangu, the CEO of Great Carbon Valley. development company based in Kenya.

Efforts to make better financing options available to developing countries are emerging. The World Bank is under pressure to lend more money for climate projects at more competitive rates, and the hope is that as development banks take on more risk, huge amounts of private capital will disappear from the sidelines. So far, these reforms have been slow.

When the money shows up, the energy transition could happen with surprising speed. Just look at the United States.

Over the past year, the Inflation Reduction Act has sparked a boom in wind, solar, battery and electric vehicle production that is reshaping the U.S. economy and allowing one of the world’s biggest polluters to say it really is on its way to reducing emissions.

“This transition is underway,” said Peter Gardett, executive director of climate and clean technology at S&P Global. “What surprised us is the speed and scale of the investment.”

Formal negotiations at COP28 are likely to focus on renewed commitments to limit global temperature rise. Yet any reasonable chance of achieving these goals will depend on the efforts of global and business leaders the trillions of dollars needed for a large-scale redesign of the world’s energy infrastructure.

That could mean development banks taking on more risk, private lenders accepting lower returns, new public-private partnerships or more subsidies and tax breaks. But there is no chance of solving the problem of climate change without also solving the money problem. – David Gelles

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Leaked documents suggest COP28 host is using the event to promote fossil fuels. The choice of the United Arab Emirates, a leading oil producer, to host the climate talks angered environmentalists. That anger increased after the Center for Climate Reporting And the BBC has obtained documents showing that the country planned to lobby for oil and gas deals during the summit.

Nations pledge about $550 million to a new climate damage fund which will help vulnerable countries affected by climate disasters. Some activists criticized the United States’ pledge of $17.5 million as too low. And the overall fund still has a long way to go before it can significantly contribute to covering climate-related damage, which is expected to cost developing countries $280 billion to $580 billion per year by 2030.

An Emirati financial company is joining US asset managers in a new climate fund. Lunate Capital, a new firm controlled by Abu Dhabi’s royal family, plans to invest at least $30 billion in the fund, along with a handful of prominent asset managers including TPG, BlackRock and Brookfield Asset Management, according to people familiar with the matter with the plans. Lunate launched several months ago with at least $50 billion in assets.

Net what again?

Hundreds of companies have gone out of their way to announce their climate commitments in recent years, usually by setting net-zero targets: dates by which they plan to remove the equivalent of all the carbon they emit from the atmosphere.

Following that goal is harder than setting it. Despite years of COP discussions, the world has yet to agree on a standard audit method to measure progress toward curbing global warming. And that can make it extremely complicated to hold companies and countries responsible in the climate fight, writes Vivienne Walt for DealBook.

Only around 4 percent of companies with a net zero target meet the minimum criteria set by top experts appointed by the UN. said John Lang, the project leader in London Net Zero tracker, which uses around 40 indicators to assess the climate strategy of countries and companies. Companies rarely include end-use, or scope 3, carbon emissions in their calculations; indicate how much their progress depends on the use of compensation, such as tree planting; or publicize their use of emerging technologies such as carbon capture and storage. Until last year’s COP, the definition of “net zero” was unclear. Now the UN’s criteria include making Scope 3 emissions public and using offsets only for residual carbon, exposing weaknesses in some companies’ plans. “All we’re asking for is clarity,” Lang told DealBook.

Offsets are not measurable. Companies are increasingly offering customers ways to balance their polluting habits, such as air travel, with environmental gestures called offsets, which are then deducted from companies’ carbon emissions; for a small additional fee, the company will contribute to projects such as planting new trees or preventing existing forests from being cut down.

But there’s no good way to determine how well these initiatives are working, or even whether these actions are ever taken. “No one knows whether ten people count the same forest, or whether it will burn down in the next fire,” said Ian Goldin, professor of globalization and development at the University of Oxford. “There is no regulation or accountability.”

It is too early to count on carbon capture or storage, technologies that prevent carbon from escaping into the atmosphere in the first place. Oil companies in particular have promoted the future use of the technology as a way to maintain fossil fuel production while adhering to their climate goals. This is what Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world, says CCS technology allows carbon to be reused its chemical production, and that it will bury other used carbon under forests of mangrove trees, which act as natural carbon sinks. Yet it is not yet clear how effective these techniques will be if they are deployed on a large scale. “It’s really overkill as a solution, in terms of the amount of carbon you’re removing,” Goldin said.

A global hodgepodge of regulations has made tracking progress even more difficult. The United States remains deeply divided over climate action, with 11 states this year passing laws limiting how many investment funds use environmental indicators in financial decisions. This is in contrast to the European Union, which will be needed from 2025 onwards all companies – inclusive some great Americans companies doing business in Europe – to report the environmental impacts of their activities.

“You probably have 500 different frameworks, ratings, star ratings, whatever,” says Emmanuel Faber, chairman of the International Sustainability Standards Board, a multinational body created after the 2021 COP talks to set climate accounting standards . Faber told DealBook that he had spent the past few months scouring the world to secure agreements from countries to follow ISSB rules. “The work has been done to put an end to this alphabet soup,” he said.

Thank you for reading! See you tomorrow.

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