Honda to Start Manufacturing Sustainable Aviation Fuel
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2023
Honda Motor Co. is to start manufacturing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), it has been learned.
SAF, which has been touted as a means of significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions, can be made from used cooking oil, household waste and algae, among other materials. By using SAF, CO2 emissions can be cut by more than half, compared to crude oil-based fuels.
Honda will expand its algae-cultivating business at plants in Japan and overseas, with an eye on the practical application of the fuel in the 2030s. Cultured algae can be used to absorb CO2 emissions produced in automobile manufacturing.
Japan currently relies on imports for its SAF, which has been attracting attention as a way to decarbonize the aviation industry. Observers say Honda’s new business could provide a fillip to domestic SAF production.
Honda has begun collaborating with a domestic energy-related company over production and distribution of SAF.
Airplanes that produce high levels of CO2 emissions are often criticized overseas. According to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, aircraft emitted 98 grams of CO2 per kilometre for each passenger in fiscal 2019, far exceeding the figures for trains (17 grams) and buses (57 grams).
In October, the International Civil Aviation Organization – a specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes cooperation in the field of aviation – adopted a goal to reduce the CO2 emissions of international flights to net-zero by 2050. Global supply of SAF currently accounts for less than 1% of annual aviation fuel consumption, so competition to procure SAF among airline companies is likely to intensify in the future.
Honda believes that if it can procure and utilize SAF independently, it will be able to increase the competitiveness of its HondaJet small business jet and a “flying car,” which it is currently developing as a new generation means of transportation.
The government has set a goal of using SAF for 10% of the fuel used by Japanese airline companies by 2030.
SAF is not yet being commercially produced in Japan, but changes are afoot. Petroleum wholesaler Eneos Corp. and major trading house Mitsubishi Corp. are considering jointly commercializing supplies of SAF. Real estate firm Mitsubishi Estate Co. and major plant operator JGC Holdings Corp., meanwhile, are cooperating to collect used cooking oil for use in SAF manufacturing.
Major earthquake strikes Turkey, Syria; about 300 dead, many trapped
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2023
A major earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck central Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, killing about 300 people and injuring hundreds as buildings collapsed across the region, triggering searches for survivors in the rubble.
The quake, which hit in the early darkness of a winter morning, was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon.
“I have never felt anything like it in the 40 years I’ve lived,” said Erdem, a resident of the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the quake’s epicentre, who declined to give his surname.
“We were shaken at least three times very strongly, like a baby in a crib.”
Turkey’s disaster agency said 76 people had been killed, and 440 hurt, as authorities scrambled rescue teams and supply aircraft to the affected area, while declaring a “level 4 alarm” that calls for international assistance.
State broadcaster RTR showed rescue workers in Osmaniye province using a blanket to carry an injured man out of a collapsed four-storey building and putting him in an ambulance. He was the fifth to be pulled from the rubble, it said.
Footage on broadcaster CNNTurk showed the historic Gaziantep Castle was severely damaged.
President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone with the governors of eight affected provinces to gather information on the situation and rescue efforts, his office said in a statement.
A Syrian health official said more than 230 people had been killed and some 600 injured there, most in the provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia, where numerous buildings tumbled down.
“The situation is very tragic, tens of buildings have collapsed in the city of Salqin,” a member of the White Helmets rescue organisation said in a video clip on Twitter, referring to a town about 5 km (3 miles) from the Turkish border.
Home were “totally destroyed”, said the rescuer on the clip, which showed a street strewn with rubble.
President Bashar al-Assad was holding an emergency cabinet meeting to review the damage and discuss the next steps, his office said.
State television showed footage of rescue teams searching for survivors in heavy rain and sleet. Health officials urged the public to help take the injured to emergency rooms.
“Wounded people are still arriving in waves,” Aleppo’s health director, Ziad Hage Taha, told Reuters by telephone.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in Aleppo posted photographs of blocks of stone that had crashed down onto its mezzanine.
In nearby countryside, rescuers carried a bloodied, wailing baby out of a collapsed building, while, in the town of Azaz, a crane prised away slabs of concrete as rescuers carried away a body wrapped in a sheet.
Many buildings in the region had already suffered damage in fighting during Syria’s nearly 12-year-long civil war.
People in Damascus, and in the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Tripoli, ran into the street and took to their cars to get away from their buildings in case they collapsed, witnesses said.
The United States was “profoundly concerned” about the quake in Turkey and Syria and was monitoring events closely, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Twitter.
“I have been in touch with Turkish officials to relay that we stand ready to provide any and all needed assistance,” he said.
The US Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.8 quake struck at a depth of 17.9 km. It reported a series of earthquakes, one of 6.7 magnitude.
The region straddles seismic fault lines.
The tremor lasted about a minute and shattered windows, according to a Reuters witness in Diyarbakir, 350 km (218 miles)to the east, where a security official said at least 17 buildings collapsed.
Authorities said 16 structures collapsed in Sanliurfa and 34 in Osmaniye.
Broadcasters TRT and Haberturk showed footage of people picking through building wreckage, moving stretchers and seeking survivors in the city of Kahramanmaras, where it was still dark.
“Our primary job is to carry out the search and rescue work and to do that all our teams are on alert,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters.
Tremors were also felt in the Turkish capital of Ankara, 460 km (286 miles) northwest of the epicentre, and in Cyprus, where police reported no damage.
“The earthquake struck in a region that we feared. There is serious widespread damage,” Kerem Kinik, the chief of the Turkish Red Crescent relief agency, told Haberturk, issuing an appeal for blood donations.
Turkey is among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. More than 17,000 people were killed in 1999 when a 7.6-magnitude quake struck Izmit, a city southeast of Istanbul. In 2011, a quake in the eastern city of Van killed more than 500.
Passersby save driver trapped in car in river | The Nation
A car plunged into a river in Nantong City of east China’s Jiangsu Province. Two passersby raced against time to save the driver who was stuck inside the vehicle.
Giraffes take a keen interest in the putting at the tenth hole of Magical Kenya Open
The final group at the Magical Kenya Open experienced a likely first in all of their careers on Sunday (5th February) as a group of giraffes watched them putting out.
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An occupation hazard at the Vipingo Ridge course, it’s rare that the animals choose to get that close to the action.
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Aditi Ashok of India captured the fourth Ladies European Tour title of her career on Sunday (5th February) winning the Magical Kenya Ladies Open by a significant nine shots.
Her overall score of 12-under-par left her way ahead of the chasing pack.
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Alice Hewson produced a strong final round of 72 to finish in second place at three-under-par, tied with April Angurasaranee while Gabriela Ruffels was one shot further back in fourth place.
Minderoo Foundation’s Plastic Waste Makers Index (PWMI) 2023 shows the planet’s plastic pollution problem is worsening, and new estimates of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from single-use plastics demonstrate how single-use plastics producers also contribute to the climate crisis.
The report’s key findings reveal:
Despite rising consumer awareness, corporate attention, and regulation, there is more single-use plastic waste than ever before – an additional 6 million metric tons (equivalent to almost 1 kg per person on the planet) generated in 2021 compared to 2019 – still almost entirely made from fossil fuels.
Single-use plastic is not only a pollution crisis but a climate one. Lifecycle greenhouse gas (Scope 1, 2 and 3) emissions from single-use plastics in 2021 were equivalent to the total emissions of the United Kingdom (450 million metric tons CO₂e).
Recycling is failing to scale fast enough and remains a marginal activity for the plastics sector – from 2019 to 2021, growth in single-use plastics made from fossil fuels was 15 times that from recycled plastics.
Within the petrochemical industry, two outliers are firmly committed to recycling and producing recycled polymers at scale: Taiwan’s Far Eastern New Century and Thailand’s Indorama Ventures.
The Plastic Waste Makers Index 2023 brings the benchmark up to date with data to the end of 2021 (the first edition covered 2019). It discovered that the global population used 139 MMT (million metric tons) of single-use plastic in 2021, up from 133 MMT in 2019.
The composition of the top 100 petrochemical companies with the largest plastic waste footprint is strikingly similar to the first PWMI.
Andrew Forrest AO, Chairman of Minderoo Foundation, said: “The fossil-fuel giants aren’t tackling the problem of plastics – it’s the opposite, they’re making even more of a product that threatens our people and planet.
“We need a fundamentally different approach that turns the tap off on new plastic production. We need a ‘polymer premium’ on every kilogram of plastic polymer made from fossil fuel. We need financial incentives that encourage reuse and recycling and the building of new, critical infrastructure.
“If you’re investing in polymer producers right now when there isn’t a polymer premium in place, then your hands are covered in the blood of the destruction of nature.”
Among the report’s key recommendations is a stark call for investors and financial institutions to use engagement, proxy voting and divestment strategies to pressure petrochemical companies to build new fossil fuel-based polymer production facilities.
“This comprehensive report provides a useful benchmark for embarking on plastic and climate-related research and shareholder engagement efforts,” said Casey Clark, President and Chief Investment Officer of Rockefeller Asset Management. “Investors, regulatory bodies, and civil society have emphasised the need to reduce plastic consumption, increase waste management efforts, and transition to ‘circular’ modes of living. Even with that backdrop, the global intake of raw virgin materials and single-use plastics continues to rise.”
At least 17 killed in Turkey earthquake, dozens trapped under rubble
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2023
A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck southern Turkey early on Monday and was felt in Cyprus, Lebanon and Syria, collapsing buildings and sending residents into the snowy streets, witnesses and broadcasters said.
The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said the quake struck at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) near the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, while the EMSC monitoring service said the chance of a tsunami risk was being evaluated.
The tremor lasted about a minute and shattered windows, according to a Reuters witness in Diyarbakir, 350 km (218 miles)to the east.
Broadcasters TRT and Haberturk showed images of people gathered around the wrecked building in Kahramanmaras, seeking survivors.
The governor of Turkey’s southeastern province of Sanliurfa province, Salih Ayhan, said on Twitter, “we have destroyed buildings” and urged people to move to safe locations.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) put the magnitude of the quake at 7.4 near Kahramanmaras and the larger city of Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border.
Syrian state media said a large number of buildings collapsed in the province of Aleppo, while a source in the Hama civil service said several buildings collapsed there.
The area is regularly hit by strong earthquakes.
The head of the Turkish Red Cross said it was mobilising resources for the region as it had received information of serious damage and collapsed buildings, and urged people to evacuate damaged homes.
Firefighters battled dozens of raging wildfires in Chile on Sunday, seeking to gain control of one of the country’s worst natural disasters in years as the death toll rose to at least 24 with nearly 1,000 more injured.
International help was set to arrive on Sunday from a handful of countries that have pledged resources, including planes and expert firefighting teams, as the most intense wildfires torched forests and farmland clustered around three regions near the middle of the South American country’s long Pacific coastline.
The government of President Gabriel Boric has issued emergency declarations for the largely rural southern regions of Biobio, Nuble and Araucania in an effort to speed up relief.
Officials said the fires consumed some 270,000 hectares on Sunday, or an area roughly the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
A searing heat wave in the Southern Hemisphere’s summer has complicated efforts to extinguish the flames, as temperatures in some of the most affected areas have exceeded 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius).
Thirteen of the dead, more than half of the fires’ reported victims, come from Biobio, which, like Nuble and Araucania, is home to extensive forests as well as farms that grow grapes and other fruit for export.
Some 260 fires are active across the parched region, interior ministry officials said on Sunday, with 28 of them considered especially dangerous.
Nearly 1,500 people have fled to area shelters. At least 26 of the 970 injured are listed in grave condition at local hospitals.
Chilean officials have sought international assistance to battle the fires, with new ones sparking to life each day.
While authorities on Saturday said assistance would soon arrive from countries including the United States, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil and Venezuela, a specialized team of personnel from Spain was en route on Sunday.
Iran’s supreme leader pardons large number of prisoners linked to protests
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2023
Iran’s supreme leader has pardoned “tens of thousands” of prisoners including some arrested in recent anti-government protests, state media reported on Sunday after a deadly state crackdown helped quell the nationwide unrest.
However, the pardon approved by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came with conditions, according to details announced in state media reports, which said the measure would not apply to any of the numerous dual nationals held in Iran.
State news agency IRNA said those accused of “corruption on earth” – a capital charge brought against some protesters, four of whom have been executed – would also not be pardoned.
Neither would it apply to those charged with “spying for foreign agencies” or those “affiliated with groups hostile to the Islamic Republic,” state media reported.
Iran was swept by protests following the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of the country’s morality police last September. Iranians from all walks of life took part, marking one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.
According to the HRANA activist news agency, about 20,000 people have been arrested in connection with the protests, which the authorities accused Iran’s foreign enemies of fomenting.
Rights groups say over 500 have been killed in the crackdown, including 70 minors. At least four people have been hanged, according to the Iranian judiciary.
In a letter to Khamenei requesting the pardon, judiciary head Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said: “During recent events, a number of people, especially young people, committed wrong actions and crimes as a result of the indoctrination and propaganda of the enemy.
Protests have slowed considerably since the hangings began.
Khamenei approved the pardons in honour of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Ukraine to replace defence minister in wartime reshuffle
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2023
Ukraine is set to replace Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov with the chief of its military spy agency, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, in a reshuffle at the forefront of Ukraine’s war campaign.
Reznikov would be transferred to another ministerial job and replaced by Kyrylo Budanov, head of the GUR military intelligence agency, said David Arakhamia, a senior lawmaker and chief of Servant of the People parliamentary bloc.
“War dictates changes in personnel policy,” Arakhamia said on the Telegram messaging app.
He said that Ukraine’s “force” agencies – like the defence ministry – should not be headed by politicians, but by career defence or security officials.
Arakhamia did not say when the move would be formalised. There was no immediate comment from Reznikov.
Asked earlier at a news conference about media reports of his possible exit from the ministry, the defence minister told reporters that any decision was up to Zelenskiy.
Reznikov, 56, became defence minister in Nov. 2021, just a few months before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
During the war, he fostered relationships with Western defence officials and helped oversee the receipt of billions of dollars of military assistance – including rocket launchers and tanks – to help Kyiv fend off the Russian invasion.
As a wartime defence minister, Reznikov singled out Ukraine’s “de facto” integration into the NATO military alliance as a top priority, even if joining the bloc was not immediately possible de jure.
During his tenure as defence minister, he spoke out strongly about wartime corruption, which he said was akin to “marauding”.
But in recent weeks his own defence ministry became embroiled in a corruption scandal over an army food contract that envisaged paying vastly inflated prices.
One of his deputy ministers has been fired and named a suspect in the scandal, and another one has since resigned separately.
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