Bloomberg Shell Energy Europe Ltd (SEEL) has agreed to trade power from what will be the UK’s largest battery storage project. The Royal Dutch Shell Plc unit agreed to a multi-year deal to “optimise the use of renewable power†in the China-backed project, which is expected to come online by the end of this year. Batteries, Shell says, will play ...
Read More »Britain to spend $1.6bn on climate supercomputer
Bloomberg The UK said it will spend 1.2 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) on developing the most powerful weather and climate supercomputer in the world. The programme aims to improve weather and climate modelling by the government forecaster, the Met Office, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said in a statement on Monday. The machine will replace the UK’s existing supercomputer, which is ...
Read More »UK’s consumers to face higher prices for EU goods, deal or not
Bloomberg UK consumers will face higher prices on goods coming from the European Union (EU) after Brexit, whether Boris Johnson signs a free trade agreement with the bloc or not, according to a major business group. Products imported from the EU after January 1 2021 will require customs declarations, which cost between 16 pounds ($21) and 56 pounds per product ...
Read More »GM to exit Australia, retire Holden brand in $1.1 billion overhaul
Bloomberg General Motors Co will leave Australia, New Zealand and Thailand by year-end as it exits poor-performing markets and focuses on new technologies such as self-driving cars and electric vehicles. The largest US automaker will take $1.1 billion in charges mostly in the first quarter, of which $300 million is cash, to cover the costs of leaving those markets, it ...
Read More »EU fights for ‘purpose’ in grand plan for AI, technology rules
Bloomberg China might have data and the US might have money, but Europe has purpose. That’s the message European Union tech czar Margrethe Vestager aims to convey on Wednesday when she unveils plans to help the bloc compete with the US and China’s technological might on its own terms, conforming with fundamental EU rights including strict privacy and non-discrimination rules. ...
Read More »Vodacom sees African growth in nano-loans
Bloomberg Vodacom Group Ltd sees its African financial-services business as a cornerstone of growth as the wireless carrier expands into products such as funeral insurance and loans of as little as $2. The unit of the UK’s Vodafone Group Plc uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to customise its financial offering depending on the different needs of markets ranging from ...
Read More »Tesla Berlin factory risks legal delay over wildlife
Bloomberg Elon Musk’s first electric car plant in Europe is facing legal delays that could set the project back by several months after a court halted work on clearing a forest for the new Tesla Inc factory near Berlin while it considers a challenge by environmentalists. The Berlin-Brandenburg higher administrative court issued a temporary injunction against further logging, overturning a ...
Read More »US, Taliban expected to sign peace deal by February-end
Bloomberg The US and Taliban will sign a peace deal at the end of February, more than a year after negotiations started, paving the way for broader talks between the Afghan government and the extremist group on the country’s post-war future. The peace agreement will be signed during a ceremony, according to the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed, as well as ...
Read More »It’ll be ‘Namaste Trump’ in India after ‘Howdy Modi’ in US
Bloomberg We’ve had “Howdy Modi.†Now it’s “Namaste Trump.†That’s how the Indian city of Ahmedabad is advertising the event where President Donald Trump and India’s PM Narendra Modi are expected to share the stage at a cricket stadium on February 24. “Get ready to say #NamasteTrump,†the municipal corporation of Ahmedabad, the largest city in Modi’s home state of ...
Read More »EU agrees to deploy warships off Libya
Bloomberg The European Union agreed to deploy warships to enforce an arms embargo on Libya in a move that underscores the increasing importance the bloc places on geopolitics and that seeks to defuse the conflict ravaging a major African oil producer. EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to launch aerial, satellite and maritime assets in the Mediterranean Sea tasked with ...
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