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US Senate bill's clean-energy cuts spark backlash from business, labor
Since they were announced over the weekend, the U.S. Senate has been criticized for its proposed cuts to clean-energy subsidies and introduction of a tax on wind and sun energy. Elon Musk, a Trump ally, also took a shot at the senators as they began voting on Monday on the long list of possible amendments. This gave renewable energy supporters on both sides of politics a final window to make changes. In a weekend post on X, Neil Bradley, the policy director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said, "Taxing the production of energy is never a good policy. "Electricity consumption is expected to grow at a rapid rate & the tax will raise prices." It should be removed." "This would be incredibly damaging to America!" Musk said in a post on X that the cuts would be detrimental to the development of artificial intelligence, which is energy-hungry. Trump said that he plans to maximize U.S. Energy production with a special focus on fossil fuels. This is partly to ensure that the AI industry has enough power to grow. He has promised to eliminate subsidies for renewables. The Senate bill would repeal incentives for wind, battery, solar and other clean technologies that were created by President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation reduction Act. It would also add a tax to these projects if the companies cannot prove they are not made with Chinese components. These provisions were more harsh on credits than either the Senate version or even the House version. On Monday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright seemed to dismiss warnings of a loss in generation capacity due to soaring demand. He posted the following on social media: "The more intermittent generation we add to our grid, the worse it performs at times of peak demand." The One Big Beautiful Bill is designed to end the wasteful subsidy system and provide more reliable energy for Americans. The grid operator in Texas, ERCOT, said last week at its Board of Directors' meeting that the The grid is in a strong state The new generation of solar energy and batteries has made it possible to be "ready for extreme weather challenges" this summer. JOB LOSSES AND HIGHER BILLS Sean McGarvey of the North America’s Building Trades Unions, which represents more than 3 million construction workers in the United States, has criticized the bill’s impact on the jobs. If passed, it would be the largest job-killing law in the history this country. It is equivalent to terminating 1,000 Keystone XL projects, he said, referring an oil pipeline project that was blocked by Biden’s administration. The bill was also attacked on the Senate floor by Republican Senator Thom Tillis, of North Carolina. He is one of the two Republicans that voted against it. Tillis has said that he will not run for reelection after Trump criticized him for voting against a motion to advance the Bill. He said, "You have created a blip on the power service because there won't be a generator powered by gas anytime soon." Tillis, a consultant in the utility industry, said that the bill ignored the reality of data centers' soaring power demand. Brian Schatz is a Democratic senator from Hawaii who also spoke out against the impact of the bill. This bill will raise prices. He said that the 500-GW of energy we'll need in the next decade to meet the rising demand is exactly what we'll need. He said: "You don't need to be an environmentalist or a fan of clean energy to realize that this is fundamentally a question of supply-and-demand." (Reporting and Editing by Margueritachoy)
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As Europe suffers an early heatwave, thousands of people flee the wildfires in Turkey
Firefighters fought wildfires on Monday in Turkey and France and evacuated more than 50,000 Europeans as a heatwave early this summer hit Europe. France, Spain and Portugal all issued health alerts. Even the Netherlands, which is used to a more mild climate, has issued a warning about high temperatures and high humidity in the next few days. Samantha Burgess is the Strategic Lead for Climate Change at EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. She said: "Large areas of Western Europe experience extreme heat and conditions that normally occur in July or August rather than June." She said that temperatures were 5-10 degrees Celsius higher in some places than what they should have been for this time of year. Ibrahim Yumakli, the Forestry Minister in Turkey, said that wildfires continued to rage for a second consecutive day in Izmir province, which was fanned on by strong winds. Turkey's AFAD emergency response authority reported that more than 50,000 people were evacuated, including 42,000 from Izmir. Scientists say that climate change has caused the summers to become hotter and dryer, resulting in wildfires along Turkey's coast. Wildfires broke out in France on Sunday, when temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius. (104 degrees Fahrenheit). They burned 400 hectares, forcing an evacuation of both a camping and abbey. Authorities said Monday that the fires had been brought under control, but were not yet out. Meteo France, the weather service in France, placed a record number of 84 out of 101 departments under orange heatwave warnings from Monday to midweek. WESTERN EUROPE BAKES Heat was a problem for everyone, from tennis spectators at the All England Club in London to tourists in Rome at the Colosseum and Seville, Spain. Scott Henderson, a tennis fan from Scotland who was attending Wimbledon, said: "I'm sunburnt everywhere." The national weather service AEMET has said that Spain is on track to have its hottest ever June. Ruben delCampo, spokesperson for the weather service, said that intense heat would continue to be felt in Spain over the next few days. Temperatures reached 42 C in Seville, south Spain, where world leaders were gathered to attend a United Nations Conference. Bernabe Rufo, a municipal worker, said "It is awful" as he was cleaning a fountain. We need to look for shade all the time. El Granado recorded the highest temperature of 43.7 C. The Health Ministry in Italy issued red alerts on heatwaves for 16 Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, and Florence. According to its president, the Lombardy Region, which is part of Italy's industrial heartland in northern Italy, plans to ban outdoor work during the hottest time of the day. This follows a union request. CONSUMERS URGED TO REDUCE WATER USE Heat warnings were also in effect on Monday across many parts of Germany's western and southwest regions, with temperatures reaching up to 34 C. Authorities urged consumers to reduce their water consumption. Commodity traders claim that the heatwave has caused the Rhine River to be lower, causing shipping problems and increasing freight costs. The heatwave has led to a spike in German and French baseload electricity prices on Tuesday. Heat can have a variety of health effects, but experts are particularly concerned for the elderly, babies, outdoor workers, and those who are struggling financially. Swiss Re stated earlier this month that extreme heat deaths worldwide are up to 488,000 people per year, exceeding the total toll of floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes. It also poses increasing risks to infrastructure, economy, and healthcare systems. Scientists believe that the burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of climate changes. The planet was at its hottest ever last year. (Additional reporting by Emma Pinedo, Alvise Armillini, Guillermo Martinez, Nina Chestney, Anthony Deutsch, Rachel More, and Rachel More, in Berlin. Writing by Ingrid Melander, Michele Kambas, and Janet Lawrence.
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Enbridge challenges the venue of Michigan's pipeline case before the US Supreme Court
Enbridge filed a motion on Monday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the location of a Michigan lawsuit that sought to force Enbridge to cease operating a pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac (waterways connecting two of the Great Lakes) due to environmental concerns. The Justices heard Enbridge's appeal against a lower court ruling that rejected the company's request for the case to be moved from state court to federal court. Federal court is generally more favorable to defendants. The Supreme Court will hear the case during its next session, which begins in October. Enbridge, based in Calgary, has been involved in a longstanding dispute with Michigan regarding the Line 5 pipeline. The pipeline, which is aging, transports 540,000 barrels of crude oil and refined products per day from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia (Ontario). Environmentalists are worried about an oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac (which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron). A section of this aging pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac is four miles long. The 6th U.S. The Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that Enbridge waited far too long before attempting to remove the lawsuit brought by Democratic Attorney-General Dana Nessel on June 19, 2019 to federal court. It tried to do this in November 20,21. The lawsuit was filed to stop Enbridge from operating Line 5 due to violations of environmental and public nuisance laws. In court papers, Nessel's Office described the 6th Circuit ruling as the right result in an Enbridge case where the deadline for transferring the litigation from state court to federal court was missed by over two years. Enbridge's attorneys in a petition filed with the Supreme Court stated that the 6th Circuit ruling had added to the split among the regional U.S. appellate courts on whether the judiciary could create exceptions to a 30-day limit for cases filed in state courts to be removed to federal court. Enbridge, in a statement to the Supreme Court, said that this split had created an untenable uncertainty within the law which resulted defendants in certain parts of the nation being subject to a strict deadline whereas others were not. Last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said that it expected to make a final decision on Enbridge's plan to build a pipeline tunnel in this fall. Enbridge's Line 5 Project received an emergency designation in April after President Donald Trump declared that a national energy crisis had occurred. This gave the Army Corps the power to expedite its review of the Line 5 Project. Nessel filed a lawsuit in Ingham County state court. In November 2022, while the case was still being litigated in state court, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (a Democrat) revoked the easement which allowed the pipeline's operation and filed a suit to enforce that revocation. Enbridge was successful in getting this case transferred from the state court to the federal court. They argued that Whitmer’s state-law demands raised federal questions relating to foreign affairs, and that they were potentially preempted under the federal Pipeline Safety Act as well as the Submerged Lands Act. Whitmer's request to have the case remanded to state court for November 2021 was rejected by a federal judge. Enbridge moved a month after that order to transfer Nessel's previous lawsuit to federal court. Enbridge claimed it could transfer the lawsuit 887 days after Nessel filed suit based on a statute that governs case removals. This allows a case be removed 30 day after an order which determines if a case can be heard in federal courts.
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US Supreme Court dismisses American Airlines' appeal of the ruling that bars JetBlue alliance
The U.S. Supreme Court denied on Monday the request of American Airlines that a court decision overturning a ruling that found that American Airlines' now-scrapped U.S. Northeast Partnership with JetBlue Airways had violated federal antitrust laws. The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from American Airlines against a lower-court decision that was made in a case brought by the U.S. Justice Department. This lawsuit led to the demise of the "Northeast Alliance" which would have enabled the two carriers coordinate flights and pool revenues. American Airlines described the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case as disappointing. It had argued the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston's ruling was wrong. Circuit Court of Appeals embraced a hostile attitude towards collaboration between businesses, and invalidated a venture that increased competition in the market. American Airlines released a statement saying that the Northeast Alliance was created to increase competition in the Northeast and to expand the options for customers. It was able to do this during the period it was permitted to operate. American Airlines, the largest airline in the United States, and JetBlue, which is the sixth largest, have teamed up to fly into and out of New York City, Boston and coordinating their schedules, while also pooling revenues. The 1st Circuit's ruling in November came as a result of a lawsuit that the Justice Department, along with six other states, filed in 2021 during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. Under Biden's administration, the Justice Department gave a high priority to boosting airline competition and enforced U.S. Antitrust laws aggressively. The Justice Department, under Republican President Donald Trump, continued to defend government's win in the American Airlines/JetBlue case despite a change of administrations. The alliance was announced by the U.S. Transportation Department in July 2020, and approved just a few days before Trump's first term ended in January 2021. The Justice Department claimed that the alliance would harm consumers by removing incentives for American Airlines to lower prices in order to attract customers away from JetBlue, an historically disruptive competitor with low fares. In Boston, U.S. district judge Leo Sorokin sided with Justice Department in 2023 and found that the alliance was illegal. JetBlue ended the alliance after Sorokin’s ruling. It was trying to gain approval for its now-rejected $3.8 billion purchase of Spirit Airlines. Biden’s Justice Department had also successfully challenged the deal. American Airlines filed an appeal, however, because it said the ruling would prevent them from entering into a similar arrangement in the future, including one with JetBlue. The 1st Circuit, however, upheld Sorokin’s decision. (Reporting and editing by Will Dunham in Boston, with Nate Raymond reporting from Boston)
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US Senate bill's clean-energy cuts evoke backlash from business, labor
Since they were announced over the weekend, the U.S. Senate has been criticized by business and labor groups for its proposed cuts to clean-energy subsidies in the version of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending plan. Some have argued that the changes will increase power prices and destroy jobs. Elon Musk, a Trump ally, also took a shot at the senators as they began voting on amendments to the bill Monday morning. This gave renewable energy advocates from both sides of politics a final window to make changes. In a weekend post on X, Neil Bradley, the policy director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said, "Taxing the production of energy is never a good policy. "Electricity consumption is expected to grow at a rapid rate & the tax will raise prices." It should be removed." "This would be incredibly damaging to America!" Musk said in a post on X that the cuts would be detrimental to the development of artificial intelligence, which is energy-hungry. Trump said that he plans to maximize U.S. Energy production with a special focus on fossil fuels. This is partly to ensure that the AI industry has enough power to grow. He has promised to eliminate subsidies for renewables. The Senate bill would repeal incentives for wind, battery, solar and other clean technologies that were created by President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation reduction Act. It would also add a tax to these projects if the companies cannot prove they are not made with Chinese components. These provisions were more harsh on credits than either the Senate version or even the House version. Sean McGarvey of the North America’s Building Trades Unions, which represents more than 3 million construction workers in the United States, has criticized the bill’s impact on the jobs. If passed, it would be the largest job-killing law in the history this country. It is equivalent to terminating 1,000 Keystone XL projects, he said, referring an oil pipeline project that was blocked by Biden’s administration. The bill was also attacked on the Senate floor by Republican Senator Thom Tillis, of North Carolina. He is one of the two Republicans that voted against it. Tillis has said that he will not run for reelection after Trump criticized him for voting against the motion for the bill to be advanced. He said, "You have created a blip on the power service because there won't be a generator powered by gas anytime soon." Tillis, a consultant in the utility industry, said that the bill ignored the reality of data centers' soaring power demand. Brian Schatz is a Democratic senator from Hawaii who also spoke out against the impact of the bill. This bill will raise prices. He said that the 500-GW of energy we'll need in the next decade to meet the rising demand is exactly what we'll need. He said: "You don't need to be an environmentalist or a fan of clean energy to realize that this is fundamentally a question of supply-and-demand." (Reporting and Editing by Margueritachoy)
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As Europe suffers from an early summer heatwave, thousands of people have fled to Turkey
Firefighters battled fires in Turkey, France and other European countries on Monday. More than 50,000 people had to be evacuated due to a heatwave that hit Europe early this summer. France, Spain and Portugal all issued health alerts. Even the Netherlands, which is used to a more mild climate, has issued a warning about high temperatures and high humidity in the next few days. Samantha Burgess is the Strategic Lead for Climate Change at EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. She said: "Large areas of Western Europe experience extreme heat and conditions that normally occur in July or August rather than June." She said that temperatures were 5-10 degrees Celsius higher in some places than what they should have been for this time of year. Ibrahim Yumakli, the Forestry Minister in Turkey, said that wildfires continued to rage for a second consecutive day in Izmir province, which was fanned on by strong winds. Turkey's AFAD emergency response authority reported that more than 50,000 people were evacuated, including 42,000 from Izmir. Scientists say that climate change has caused the summers to become hotter and dryer, resulting in wildfires along Turkey's coast. Wildfires broke out in France on Sunday, when temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius. (104 degrees Fahrenheit). They burned 400 hectares, forcing an evacuation of both a camping and abbey. Authorities said Monday that the fires had been brought under control, but were not yet out. Meteo France, the weather service in France, placed a record number of 84 out of 101 departments under orange heatwave warnings from Monday to midweek. WESTERN EUROPE BAKES Heat was a problem for everyone, from tennis spectators at the All England Club in London to tourists in Rome at the Colosseum and Seville in Spain. Scott Henderson, a tennis fan from Scotland who was attending Wimbledon, said: "I'm sunburned all over." The national weather service AEMET has said that Spain is on track to have its hottest ever June. Ruben delCampo, spokesperson for the weather service, said that intense heat would continue to be felt in Spain over the next few days. Temperatures reached 42 C in Seville, south Spain, where world leaders were gathered to attend a United Nations Conference. Bernabe rufo, a municipal worker, said "It is awful" as he was cleaning a fountain. We need to look for shade all the time. The Health Ministry in Italy issued red alerts on heatwaves for 16 Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, and Florence. According to its president, the Lombardy Region, which is part of Italy's industrial heartland in northern Italy, plans to ban outdoor work during the hottest time of the day. This follows a union request. CONSUMERS URGED TO REDUCE WATER USE Heat warnings were also in effect on Monday across many parts of Germany's western and southwest regions, with temperatures reaching up to 34 C. Authorities urged consumers to reduce their water consumption. Commodity traders claim that the heatwave has caused the Rhine River to be lower, causing shipping problems and increasing freight costs. The heatwave has led to a spike in German and French baseload electricity prices on Tuesday. Heat can have a variety of health effects, but experts are particularly concerned for the elderly, babies, outdoor workers, and those who are struggling financially. Swiss Re stated earlier this month that extreme heat deaths worldwide are up to 488,000 people per year, exceeding the total toll of floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes. It also poses growing risks for infrastructure, the economy, and healthcare systems. Scientists believe that the burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of climate changes. The planet was at its hottest ever last year. (Additional reporting from Emma Pinedo, Alvise Armillini, Guillermo Martinez, Nina Chestney, Anthony Deutsch, Rachel More, and Rachel More, in Berlin. Writing by Ingrid Melander, Michele Kambas, and Janet Lawrence.
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Meta, TikTok may be sued by the mother of a NYC teen who was killed while "subway surfing"
A New York judge has ruled that Meta Platforms, TikTok's owner ByteDance and the mother of 15-year old Manhattan boy who was killed while "subway-surfing" on a moving subway train must face a lawsuit for wrongful death. Justice Paul Goetz ruled that Norma Nazario could try to prove Meta, ByteDance and TikTok "goaded" Zackery to subway surfing after he became addicted to Instagram and TikTok where he viewed "dangerous challenge" content. Meta, ByteDance, and Snapchat parent Snap are facing thousands of lawsuits claiming that their platforms cause harm to schools, governments, and children. Zackery Nazaario died in 2023 after he and a girlfriend climbed on top of a Brooklyn bound J train while it was crossing the Williamsburg Bridge. His mother claimed that a low beam hit Zackery and caused him to fall, between subway cars which ran over him. Zackery, she said, had posted several videos on his social media pages about subway surfing. Meta and ByteDance referred to Nazario's passing as "heartbreaking," while claiming immunity from any user-generated content under Section 230 (of the federal Communications Decency act) and the First Amendment's free speech clause. The Manhattan judge told Norma Nazario that she could prove that her son was targeted due to his age. Goetz wrote that "based on the allegations made in the complaint, it is plausible that social media defendants played a role that went beyond neutral assistance in promoting the content and involved active identification of the users most likely to be affected." Goetz stated that Norma Nazario could pursue wrongful-death, product liability and negligent claims. He said that common sense, "reality of living in this city," and the "realities" of New York City should have made Zackery aware that subway-surfing was dangerous. Meta, ByteDance, and their attorneys had no immediate comments. The lawyers of Norma Nazario did not respond immediately to requests for comments. The MTA didn't immediately respond to the same request. New York City Police has said that at least six people will die from subway-surfing in 2024. Nazario v ByteDance Ltd et al., New York State Supreme Court New York County No. 151540/2024. Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, New York Editing Mark Potter
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US Supreme Court dismisses American Airlines' appeal of the ruling that bars JetBlue alliance
The U.S. Supreme Court denied on Monday the request of American Airlines that a court decision overturning a ruling that found that American Airlines' now-scrapped U.S. Northeast Partnership with JetBlue Airways had violated federal antitrust laws. The Justices rejected an appeal by American Airlines from a lower court decision in a case brought by the U.S. Justice Department, which led to the termination of the proposed “Northeast Alliance,” which would have permitted the two carriers coordinate flights and pool revenues. American Airlines argued the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston had ruled that antitrust violations were committed. Circuit Court of Appeals embraced a hostile attitude towards collaboration between businesses. This was in contrast to other courts who require proof of harm to all consumers, not only the customers of collaborators. The company said that the ruling invalidated an airline joint venture which increased competition on all markets and "threatens a havoc to productive collaborations in all shapes and sizes." The Justice Department, along with six other states and Democratic President Joe Biden, filed a lawsuit in 2021. Under Biden's administration, the Justice Department gave a high priority to boosting airline competition and enforced U.S. Antitrust laws aggressively. The Justice Department, under Republican President Donald Trump, has continued to defend government's win in the American Airlines/JetBlue case. They claim that the 1st Circuit ruling upholding the judge's decision preventing the alliance was based on "uncontroversial" antitrust principles. The alliance was announced by the U.S. Transportation Department in July 2020, and approved just days before Trump's first term ended in January 2021. American Airlines, the largest airline in the United States, and JetBlue, which is the sixth largest, have teamed up to fly into and out of New York City, Boston and coordinating their schedules, as well as pooling revenue. The Justice Department argued the alliance would harm consumers by removing incentives for American Airlines to lower prices in order to attract customers away from JetBlue. JetBlue is a disruptive competitor with historically low fares. In Boston, U.S. district judge Leo Sorokin sided with Justice Department in 2023 and found that the alliance was in violation of antitrust laws. JetBlue ended the alliance after Sorokin’s ruling. It was unsuccessful in its attempts to gain approval for the $3.8 billion purchase of Spirit Airlines that has been dropped. Biden’s Justice Department successfully challenged the deal. American Airlines filed an appeal, however, because it said the ruling would prevent them from entering into a similar arrangement in the future, including one with JetBlue. A panel of three judges from the 1st Circuit upheld Sorokin’s decision.
Second ally of Biya's Biya in the presidential race
Bello Bouba Maigari, the Tourism Minister of Cameroon, has accepted nomination by his party to run for president in an upcoming election expected to take place in October. The long-serving president Paul Biya is yet to declare whether he intends to run again.
Why it's important
Maigari is a former Prime Minister who has served President Biya as a close ally for over 30 years. He accepted the nomination of the National Union for Democracy and Progress on Saturday. However, he did remain in his cabinet position.
In recent days, he is the second minister of government from the north to announce his presidential candidacy. This could signal a possible rupture in the strategic alliance that Biya’s central government has with influential northern elites.
CONTEXT
Biya, 92, has been in power since 1982. He hasn't confirmed if he intends to run for reelection.
Maigari announced her candidacy last week, following the resignation of Issa Bakary from the government. He was a former spokesperson for the government and cited widespread calls for change.
Three provinces in northern Cameroon, Adamawa, North, and Far North, have over 2,000,000 voters. They hold significant electoral power.
By the Numbers
According to preliminary data, more than 8 million Cameroonians are registered to vote in the nation of 30 million people that produces cocoa and oil. Reporting by Amindeh Blaise Atabong, Editing by Ayen deng Bior and Joe Bavier
(source: Reuters)