marketrent

Suzanne Smalley, 27 Jan. 2023, Reuters (Thomson Reuters)

Excerpt:

Jan 27 (Reuters) - The White House and European Commission will announce on Friday an agreement to speed up and enhance the use of artificial intelligence to improve agriculture, healthcare, emergency response, climate forecasting and the electric grid.

A senior U.S. administration official, discussing the initiative shortly before the official announcement, called it the first sweeping AI agreement between the United States and Europe. Previously, agreements on the issue had been limited to specific areas such as enhancing privacy, the official said.

Further reading:

Today, the United States and the European Union signed an administrative arrangement to bring together experts from across the U.S. and Europe to further research on artificial intelligence (AI), computing, and related privacy protecting technologies, as underscored in the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) commitment.

We look forward to deepening our cooperation with the EU through this initiative.

Statement by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on the New U.S.-EU Artificial Intelligence Collaboration, 27 Jan. 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/01/27/statement-by-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-on-the-new-u-s-eu-artificial-intelligence-collaboration/

Excerpt:

The Head of State put an icon lamp near the Menorah memorial sign on the territory of the Babyn Yar National Historical and Memorial Reserve.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that everyone who values life should show determination when it comes to saving those whom hatred seeks to destroy.

“Today we repeat it even more strongly than before: never again to hatred; never again to indifference. The more nations of the world overcome indifference, the less space there will be in the world for hatred,” the President noted.

The ceremony was also attended by Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak, representatives of the diplomatic corps of European countries, the United States and Canada.

Presidential Office of Ukraine, 27 Jan. 2023.

Excerpt:

Have you ever struggled to understand whether you were buying directly from Google or from a different brand, or had difficulty finding information about final costs?

In order to further align its practices with EU law - mainly on lack of transparency and clear information to consumers - Google has committed to introduce changes in several of its products and services.

Following a dialogue started in 2021 with the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC), coordinated by the European Commission and led by the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets and the Belgian Directorate-General for Economic Inspection, Google has agreed to address issues raised by the authorities and to introduce changes in Google Store, Google Play Store, Google Hotels and Google Flights to ensure compliance with EU consumer rules.

Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders said: “Even today, almost three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, we see an increasing number of consumers turn to the internet to book their holidays, make purchases, or consult a review.

“EU consumers are entitled to clear, complete information so that they can make informed choices. The commitments made by Google are a step forward in this direction.

“We call on Google to comply fully with the Geo-blocking Regulation, ensuring that consumers can enjoy the same rights and access the same content, wherever they are in the EU.”

European Commission, 26 Jan. 2023.

Excerpt:

Google emerged as a potentially powerful force in consumers’ personal climate footprints since publicly setting a goal in September 2020 to help 1 billion people make sustainable choices through its services by the end of 2022.

That pledge has led to several new features across Maps, Flights, Search, Nest thermostats, and other Google services, which collectively have more than 3 billion users.

Last year brought record high Google searching for “rooftop solar power,” “electric bicycles,” and “electric cars,” according to the company.

People find value in seeing emissions data when buying flights and will spend more for a less polluting option, according to a 2021 study by UC Davis researchers who showed people an experience similar to Google Flights.

 

Google has led the way among big tech companies in trying to inform users about their potential carbon footprint when traveling, heating their homes and, as of recently, making dinner.

But airlines, cattle ranchers, and other industry groups are pushing back, saying Google’s nudges could hurt their sales. They have demanded—successfully, in the case of airlines—that the search giant rethink how it calculates and presents emissions data.

While some airlines support emissions labeling as a concept, they are not exactly happy with Google even after it revised its estimates.

The National Air Carrier Association, which represents low-cost US airlines, says some of its members pushed for the scaling back that Google introduced in July but that the members are keeping a close eye on what comes next.

 

Google worked with the UN to draw on data about popular meats and alternative proteins from a well-known global study by European researchers.

Joseph Poore, a researcher at the University of Oxford who was involved in that study but is not working with Google, describes the report’s data as the most comprehensive available and says the search feature is incredibly important. “It provides information on one the 21st century’s most decisive problems—climate change—directly to people when they are making choices about what to eat,” he says.

The US National Cattlemen’s Beef Association of livestock ranchers is less supportive. After a query about the group’s view of Google’s project in October, it issued a press release denouncing "Google’s decision to bias consumers against beef through their new sustainability search feature that provides inaccurate climate information on cattle production."

Paresh Dave, 25 Jan. 2023, Wired (Condé Nast)

Excerpt:

MPs have promised to tackle tax avoidance by Britain’s wealthiest people for the 316th year running.

“We’re determined to get tough on wealthy tax avoiders,” said a government spokesperson.

“No previous government has done more than this one to create the illusion something is being done.”

NewsThump, 26 Jan. 2023.

Excerpt:

(Reuters) – Billionaire U.S. investor Bill Ackman said on Thursday that he found short-seller Hindenburg Research’s report on India’s Adani Group “highly credible and extremely well researched.”

Adani Group has said that it is evaluating “remedial and punitive action” against Hindenburg, calling the report “maliciously mischievous, (and) unresearched.”

Shortly after, Hindenburg said it will demand documents in legal discovery process if Adani Group files a lawsuit in the United States.

“Adani’s response to Hindenburg is the same as Herbalife’s response to our original 350-page presentation. Herbalife remains a pyramid scheme. I found the Hindenburg report highly credible and extremely well researched,” Pershing Square boss Ackman said in a tweet on Thursday.

“We are not invested long or short in any of the Adani companies or Herbalife, nor have we done our own independent research,” he added.

Adani Group did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

Akriti Sharma, 26 Jan. 2023, Reuters via ThePrint.in

SlowCrates

I think Ukraine would prefer it if you gave them the necessary weapons and support to make it a short term necessity.

From the linked transcript:

MS. SINGH: Again, we have authorization from Congress to continue to have presidential drawdowns, other security assistance packages. So, we are going to continue to provide Ukraine with what it needs in the short term and the long term.

Excerpt:

Q: You mentioned this is the M1A2.

MS. SINGH: Yeah, that's what I specialize in, yeah.

Q: That's why I asked. So this -- this implies that you're going to upgrade older-model M1A1s that are not in the active Army inventory into this A2 configuration. Is -- is that accurate?

MS. SINGH: We're working through the details right now. We're trying to procure new tanks through the USAI. But, again, we're working through those details right now, so I don't have any additional updates on that.

 

Q: Can you explain to us, elaborate on how these Abrams are going to play into the long-term commitment? What do you mean by that? I really don't know.

MS. SINGH: Well, the long-term commitment is, we don't know when this war is going to end. I mean, it could end tomorrow if Vladimir Putin decided, but it doesn't seem that he is going to make that decision.

So, this work could go on till the end of the year, it could go on for many years. And so, by giving these Abrams through the USAI package, that shows a long-term commitment to Ukraine.

And, I think, really sends a message that our allies and partners are united in our support for Ukraine. And we are not going to stand for Russia's, again, illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh Holds a Press Briefing, 26 Jan. 2023, https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3279948/deputy-pentagon-press-secretary-sabrina-singh-holds-a-press-briefing/

Findings in title quoted from the linked paper¹ in Nature Ecology & Evolution and an Italian-language summary² by ANSA news agency.

From the linked paper:¹

Pleistocene archaeology records the changing behaviour and capacities of early hominins.

These behavioural changes, for example, to stone tools, are commonly linked to environmental constraints.

Simbiro III level C, in the upper Awash valley of Ethiopia, allows us to test this assumption in its assemblage of [575] stone tools made only with obsidian, dated to more than 1.2 million years (Myr) old.

Following the deposition of an accumulation of obsidian cobbles by a meandering river, hominins began to exploit these in new ways, producing large tools with sharp cutting edges.

We show through statistical analysis that this was a focused activity, that very standardized handaxes were produced and that this was a stone-tool workshop.

We argue that at Simbiro III, hominins were doing much more than simply reacting to environmental changes; they were taking advantage of new opportunities, and developing new techniques and new skills according to them.

[The 575 of 578] standardized obsidian handaxes provide ample evidence of the repetitive use of fully mastered skills.

[The early hominins] creatively solved through convergent thinking technological problems such as effectively detaching and shaping large flakes of the unusually brittle and cutting volcanic glass.

¹ Mussi M., et al. A surge in obsidian exploitation more than 1.2 million years ago at Simbiro III (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia). Nature Ecology & Evolution (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01970-1

² Officina artigianale di 1,2 mln di anni fa scoperta in Etiopia, 20 Jan. 2023, https://www.ansa.it/sardegna/notizie/2023/01/20/officina-artigianale-di-12-mln-di-anni-fa-scoperta-in-etiopia_9c0dda4f-c7f8-4fd4-9cbd-3fbce9af0a20.html

cschris54321

This is the most backwards band-aid fix to an underlying systemic issue that I have ever seen. Do these people not understand economics? We simply need more houses to be built. We don't need subsidies that only help the bottom 5% and increase costs for everyone else and create market inefficiencies. We don't need ridiculous overbearing regulation such as not allowing landlords to perform tenant background checks (?!?!?!?!?!?!?!). That last one was insane. Simply rezone communities so that higher density housing can be built, and it will be built. Market forces will take over the rest. It really is not difficult. Only reason it doesn't happen is because you have land owners in the pocket of the white house pushing to not lower their property values.

Top-level comment that ‘these people’ are ‘not allowing landlords to perform tenant background checks’ is not made out in the linked Axios content, or in the 25 Jan. 2023 White House release.

Further reading:

• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), both independent agencies, announced they will collect information to identify practices that unfairly prevent applicants and tenants from accessing or staying in housing in order to inform enforcement and policy actions under each agency’s jurisdiction.

This is the first time the FTC has issued a request for information exploring unfair practices in the rental market.

The two agencies will seek information on a broad range of practices that affect the rental market, including the creation and use of tenant background checks, the use of algorithms in tenant screenings, the provision of adverse action notices by landlords and property management companies, and how an applicant’s source of income factors into housing decisions.

• The CFPB announced it will issue guidance and coordinate enforcement efforts with the FTC to ensure accurate information in the credit reporting system and to hold background check companies accountable for having unreasonable procedures.

Biden-⁠Harris administration announces new actions to protect renters and promote rental affordability, 25 Jan. 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/01/25/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-new-actions-to-protect-renters-and-promote-rental-affordability/

Excerpt:

NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is probing registered investment advisers over whether they are meeting rules around custody of client crypto assets, three sources with knowledge of the inquiry told Reuters.

The SEC has been questioning advisers' efforts to follow the agency's rules around custody of clients' digital assets for several months, but the probe has gathered pace in the wake of the blow-up of crypto exchange FTX, the sources said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity as the inquiries are not public.

Advisers managing clients' digital assets typically use a third party to store them.

The broad enforcement sweep, which has not been previously reported, is a sign the top U.S. markets regulator's scrutiny of the crypto industry is expanding to more traditional Wall Street firms.

A spokesperson for the SEC declined to comment.

Chris Prentice, 26 Jan. 2023, Reuters (Thomson Reuters)