All posts tagged: package

Creating a Global Package to Solve the Problem of Plastics

Creating a Global Package to Solve the Problem of Plastics

Published by skeptic

According to the United Nations, plastic production skyrocketed from 2 million metric tons in 1950 to about 400 million in 2024. This number is expected to triple by 2060. Only 10 percent of this plastic is currently being recycled and reused. The rest will remain in our environment for centuries, polluting the planet, from oceans to mountains, contaminating food chains and human bodies, where it risks damage to our organs and brains. In 2025, we will start putting an end to plastic pollution. Since 2022, policymakers in the United Nations, representing over 170 countries, have been negotiating a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty addressing the full lifecycle of plastics, from design to production to disposal. This treaty shares many of the mechanisms present in the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which eventually led to the phasing out of CFCs, the chemicals responsible for ozone depletion. As such, it can be as successful, despite opposition to it. The treaty was due to be finalized by the fifth and final session, in Busan, South Korea, at the end of …

U.S. unveils 8 million aid package for Ukraine including rockets and drones

U.S. unveils $988 million aid package for Ukraine including rockets and drones

Published by Sam

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies before a U.S. House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on President Biden’s proposed budget request for the Department of Defense, on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 23, 2023. Michael A. McCoy | Reuters The United States unveiled a $988 million aid package of new arms and equipment to Ukraine for its ongoing fight against Russia’s invasion on Saturday. The package nearly halves the available $2.21 billion remaining in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative as the Biden administration works to commit to buying weapons from industry, rather than pulling from U.S. weapons stocks. The USAI funds will be put toward buying ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) made by Lockheed Martin as well as drones and spare parts to maintain artillery equipment, according to the Pentagon. Announcement of the package came on Saturday as the defense industry and policy makers meet at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California. The Biden administration has often used Presidential Drawdown Authority, which authorizes President Joe Biden to transfer excess articles and services …

Bullet Wounds Are Only Covered Under Our Platinum+ Package

Bullet Wounds Are Only Covered Under Our Platinum+ Package

Published by José

Image by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot outside of a Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan earlier this morning, in what the New York Police Department is calling a “brazen, targeted attack.” “I want to be clear at this time, every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters, as quoted by CNBC. Let’s be clear: any act of violence or loss of life is a tragedy. But the internet’s indifference to Thompson’s passing — and gallows humor about the notorious deficiencies of the private insurance industry — are simultaneously ghoulish and illustrative of America’s profoundly dysfunctional medical system. “All human life is sacred, so it’s not proper to laugh when serious harm befalls someone,” one Bluesky user wrote. “The moral thing to do is instead charge them hundreds of thousands of dollars.” “Our apologies, but bullet wounds are only covered under our platinum+ package,” another user added. The reactions highlight widespread disillusionment and anger over a woefully inadequate …

€3B assets package ‘almost nothing,’ Ukrainian minister says – POLITICO

€3B assets package ‘almost nothing,’ Ukrainian minister says – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

“If we are talking about the needs of Ukraine and the needs of the war, military and non-military, €3 billion is actually almost nothing— we need hundreds of billions in order to win the war,” Maliuska told POLITICO at the G7 justice ministers’ meeting in Venice on Thursday. “It’s a good first step,” he said. Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has immobilized more than €200 billion of Russian state assets to help Kyiv’s reconstruction efforts. “The Ukrainian government really would like to get full confiscation [of Russian assets] and really believe this is lawful and this is the only approach which will be decisive in terms of the resolution of the war [with Russia],” he added. In February, EU leaders agreed on an additional €50 billion support package for Ukraine within the bloc’s budget, with European Council President Charles Michel saying: “This locks in steadfast, long-term, predictable funding for Ukraine.” Source link

The ,000 iPad Pro package proves Apple’s evil genius

The $3,000 iPad Pro package proves Apple’s evil genius

Published by skeptic

My 2019 iPad Pro had a pretty good run, all things considered. Outwardly, the nearly 5-year-old Apple tablet is in good shape. The Magic Keyboard still makes for a useful mini-laptop, especially with the magnetic Pencil. Yet on the inside, its heart seems heavier (literally heavier with that Magic Keyboard, compared to the 2019 iPad Pro keyboard). The battery is still functional, but drains out overnight if I don’t plug it in, even with the power hog “background refresh” feature turned off. This doesn’t feel like planned obsolecence, not exactly. More like a tired workhorse whispering in my ear: “I’ve had a good life. It’s OK if you put me out to pasture now. You’d probably get a good trade-in price, you know.” SEE ALSO: Everything Apple announced during its iPad event, including new OLED iPad Pro And right on time, here comes Apple with its slimmest, lightest, most powerful iPad Pros yet (unveiled, mercifully, in the company’s shortest event yet). Now here I am, lusting after the iPad Pro 13-inch, which just got significantly …

US Pushing G-7 To Accept Long-Term Billion Aid Package For Ukraine

US Pushing G-7 To Accept Long-Term $50 Billion Aid Package For Ukraine

Published by skeptic

As part of the latest in the Western allies’ (some of them at least) controversial push to confiscate Russian sovereign assets and give them to Ukraine, the Biden administration is leading talks among G7 nations to commit to a new military aid package for Kiev worth up to $50 billion. “Ideally, this is something we would like the entire G7 to participate in, be part of, not just have the United States doing it alone,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Bloomberg. She further confirmed that Group of Seven countries are currently “discussing” the plan. Image via Yahoo News The package would be funded from interest accrued via investments utilizing the some $300 billion in Russian assets currently frozen in Western banks. The bulk of the frozen funds are in European banks, and some EU leaders fear devastating backlash and global distrust in its banking system would be the end result. These frozen assets within the European Union (some $280 billion) are currently said to generate about 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in windfall profits annually.  According to …

UK arts need ‘rescue package’ to avoid lost generation, says Royal Court boss | Royal Court theatre

UK arts need ‘rescue package’ to avoid lost generation, says Royal Court boss | Royal Court theatre

Published by skeptic

David Byrne, the artistic director of the Royal Court theatre in London, has called for the next government to create a “rescue package” to keep young people in the arts or risk losing a generation of playwrights who cannot afford to stay in the sector. In his first major interview since taking over in January, Byrne called for an urgent intervention to support younger artists, particularly those from black, disabled, working-class or LGBTQ+ backgrounds. “We don’t just need a scheme – we need an entire rescue package to come to the support of younger artists,” he said. Byrne said he welcomed the pledges from the shadow culture secretary, Thangam Debbonaire, who told crowds at the Future of Theatre 2024 conference that Labour saw “the creative industries as central to our plan for a decade of national renewal”. David Byrne said accusations that the Royal Court theatre was dumbing down its offering were misplaced. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian But he added that the cost of not following through would be detrimental for British culture. “In 10 …

The Download: Inside the US defense tech aid package, and how AI is improving vegan cheese

The Download: Inside the US defense tech aid package, and how AI is improving vegan cheese

Published by skeptic

After weeks of drawn-out congressional debate over how much the United States should spend on conflicts abroad, President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion aid package into law last week. The bill will send a significant quantity of supplies to Ukraine and Israel, while also supporting Taiwan with submarine technology to aid its defenses against China. It’s also sparked renewed calls for stronger crackdowns on Iranian-produced drones.  James O’Donnell, our AI reporter, spoke to Andrew Metrick, a fellow with the defense program at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank, to discuss how the spending bill provides a window into US strategies around four key defense technologies with the power to reshape how today’s major conflicts are being fought. Read the full story. This piece is part of MIT Technology Review Explains: a series delving into the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here. Hear more about how AI intersects with hardware Hear first-hand from James in our latest …

US to give Ukraine new Patriot missiles as part of billion aid package

US to give Ukraine new Patriot missiles as part of $6 billion aid package

Published by Sam

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday announced the United States will provide key air defense munitions and artillery rounds to Ukraine as part of a $6 billion military aid package that is its largest ever for Kyiv.  Issued on: 27/04/2024 – 07:07 2 min The package is the second this week, following another valued at $1 billion that was announced just after US President Joe Biden signed a much-delayed bill to provide new funding for Ukraine as it struggles to hold back Russian advances. “This is the largest security assistance package that we’ve committed to date,” Austin told journalists following the conclusion of a virtual meeting of dozens of Kyiv’s international supporters. “They need air defense interceptors, they need artillery systems and munitions. They need… armored vehicles, they need maintenance and sustainment. So all of those kinds of things are included” in the package,” he said. Ukraine has in recent months pleaded for more air defenses from its Western allies as it struggles to fend off a surge in deadly attacks on civilian infrastructure, and …

U.S. unveils billion Ukraine weapons package

U.S. unveils $1 billion Ukraine weapons package

Published by Sam

The United States will send a substantial security package to Ukraine, including badly needed air defense systems and artillery rounds, the White House said Wednesday, as the administration — its war chest replenished after months of gridlock in Congress — moves quickly to help Kyiv counter a resurgent Russian campaign. The announcement coincided with a separate disclosure from the U.S. government acknowledging that last month the Pentagon secretly shipped Ukraine’s military powerful long-range missiles, which were used last week to attack a Russian airfield on the Crimean Peninsula. Taken together, the developments appeared to suggest that Washington, having overcome an acrimonious period of political paralysis, was ready to reinvigorate its expansive initiative to support and sustain Ukraine’s embattled military as the war with Russia bleeds into its third year. Officials said that elements of the new weapons package, with an overall estimated value of $1 billion, would reach the battlefield within days. The Pentagon, having anticipated lawmakers would end their impasse, signaled in recent days it was working behind the scenes to prepare. President Biden, …