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When in 2018, Smash Ventures showed up as an investor in a $1.25 billion round for Epic Games reportedly the largest ever investment in a video game company at the time it was the first time many had heard of the investing outfit.

When the brand showed up again last summer in an even bigger round for Epic last August, the games giant announced $1.78 billion in fresh funding at a post-money equity valuation of $17.3 billion a diner near Epics Cary, North Carolina headquarters that sells smash waffles started getting calls from reporters, says Eric Garland, who used to lead venture and growth deals for The Walt Disney Company after selling his company, BigChampagne, to Live Nation in 2011.

Some reporters really turned over rocks, he says.

Garland knows this, he says, because he co-founded Smash Ventures with Evan Richter, a former member of Disneys corporate strategy and business development team (and who, before that, was an investor at Insight Partners).

The pair say they werent trying to duck the press after striking out on their own a few years ago; they were mostly just trying to get their firm off the ground, which theyve seemingly done and then some. First, theres the newly closed $75 million debut fund from strategic partners and notable investors like Kevin Mayer, the former CEO of TikTok and the former Disney executive; Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull; and journalist Willow Bay, who is now dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Yet its just a small piece of what they have assembled.

Indeed, at a time when money is more of a commodity than ever and can be accessed easily by many founders, Smash has a few tricks up its sleeve, Richter and Garland suggest.

One thing to know, for example, is that the two apparently have little trouble spinning up side vehicles when they wedge their way into an interesting deal. While they got to know Epic Games through Disney (it made an investment in the company in 2017 when Epic took part in its accelerator program), when they persuaded founder Tim Sweeney to take a bigger check from Smash Ventures in 2018, they were able to package together several hundred million dollars from their LPs for a stake in the business.

They also flexed up with the help of their limited partners to put a separate $200 million into others of its handful of portfolio companies. These include DraftKings, before it went public through a blank-check company last year; the footwear, apparel and accessory brand Nobull; the mens grooming company Manscaped; and Indias biggest e-learning startup, Byjus.

Disney one of the worlds most powerful brands is a common thread throughout. In addition to inviting Epic into its accelerator program, Disney began work on an education app with Byjus back in 2018 and it owned 6% of DraftKings when it went public last year.

Mayer, the former Disney exec who more recently began launching special purpose acquisition vehicles, credits Richter and Garland with finding a lot of really cool companies like Epic while inside Disney, saying he has been supporting them ever since, because I think theyre great.

Underscoring the strength of that former Disney network another apparent advantage here Mayer says that in addition to being a limited partner, he will sometimes try and talk to their CEOs, give strategic advice, and talk about exits and M&A with some of their portfolio companies. (Catmull, who was the president of Walt Disney Animation Studios after Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, was also pulled in to help seal the Epic deal, says Garland.)

As for whether Smashs dealings have irritated current execs at Disney it isnt hard to imagine the entertainment giant would have liked a bigger stake in Epic Garland says no, adding that, Outside of its accelerator, Disney is not generally in the venture business.

In the meantime, Smash also says its getting into deals by helping companies tell stories to their respective, captive audiences. As Richter explains it, The leading consumer software and internet businesses are building massive, and dedicated, user bases, and media, whether its a Travis Scott experience within Epic Games, or an IP collaboration between Marvel or Disney [and Byjus], or whether its doing something with the UFC [which last year partnered with Manscaped], can be an incredible way to keep and grow a user base.

The firm certainly appears to spend a lot of time with its portfolio companies on these efforts. While Smash wrote its first check in 2018, it has just five portfolio companies to date, and it plans only to invest in 10 to 12 companies altogether with that $75 million pool of capital, writing checks as small as $5 million to $10 million, with the ability to write far larger checks when the opportunity arises and its LP network says yes to it.

Its because the firm is on the hunt now for that next big thing that Smash is suddenly going public with its efforts, Richter suggests. Not that a lot of public speaking is in the partners future, seemingly. We like to stay focused, Garland says. We make a lot of noise for our portfolio companies, but we are ourselves very heads down.

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Meet Smash Ventures, the low-flying outfit that has quietly funded Epic Games among others - TechCrunch

EXCLUSIVE: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard wont be facing off in a Virginia courtroom anytime soon, it seems. In yet another delay in the trial start of the former Pirates of the Caribbean stars acetous $50 million defamation lawsuit against the Aquaman actress, the former couple now will trade barbs and evidence starting April 11, 2022. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

Already rescheduled several times, the trial had been set to start May 7, which was looking like the final mad rush of discovery and depositions.

The new date was decided Tuesday by Fairfax County Circuit Court Chief Judge Bruce White. The last time the fuming matter was postponed was back in September of last year. While Depp had been advocating for a new delay then because of his Fantastic Beasts 3 shooting schedule, White actually pushed the date from January 2021 to May due to backlogs in the states court system because of the coronavirus pandemic.

And, to the frustration of some involved, thats kind of the reason this time too, as the April 2022 date was the first available slot for a civil jury trial, I hear.

As with last September, criminal cases are still the priority in Virginia. In that context, and with proceedings slowly starting up again as Covid-19 continues to rage across the nation, a murder trial with a defendant who is already behind bars was given the Depp-Heard May 7 date.

With Depps UK lawyers anticipating an oral hearing next month in their attempt to appeal their loss in the actors libel suit against The Sun tabloid, the significant date shift in Virginia barely lowers the volume in the loud matter. For once thing, Heard countersued her ex-husbandfor $100 million last summer after failing to get the initial suit dismissed.

In fact, in the UK, Heards team recently filed an opposition to the appeal there, and Depps barristers have until February 28 to reply.

Having been axed from the Fantastic Beasts franchise in November, mere days after Judge Andrew Nicols damning wife-beater ruling against Depp, the actor has been on a subpoena binge in the U.S. of late. The ACLU and Elon Musk were pulled into the Virginia case earlier this month, by Depp. That follows Heard dragging Pirates studio Disney and the LAPD into the matter in January for basically everything that they might or might not have on her ex.

Among those high-profile names in this very high-profile case, free speech nonprofit the ACLU is in the spotlight again in the case because the group was among the two organizations to which Heard said five years ago she was donating half of her $7 million divorce settlement. Despite years of insisting on the donation and an ACLU Ambassador for womens rights role for Heard, it turns out that big-bucks payments have been delayed, according to what the actress attorney Elaine Bredehoft told Deadline in January.

This all started when Depp sued Heard in Virginia state court for $50 million in March 2019 after she wrote a Washington Post op-ed about being a victim of domestic abuse. The December 2018 piece never actually named the actor, but the already fairly litigious Depp alleged that the op-ed damaged his already tainted rep and cost him a well-paying gig in Disneys planned Pirates of the Caribbean reboot.

The filed paperwork went on to say that in fact it was Depp who was the real victim in the couples short-lived marriage that ended in full public view in 2016. Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator, the suit read in part.

Obviously, Heard disagreed.

As depositions are taken and more motions are to be decided in the case, this latest delay may ended up cranking up the volume on the near ear-splitting matter all the more and could be pushed back again.

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Delayed Again! Johnny Depps $50M Defamation Trial Against Amber Heard Pushed To Next Year - Deadline

The second season of the reboot of The Twilight Zone was submitted for your approval, to borrow the famous phrase of original sci-fi creator Rod Serling. Apparently, there wasnt enough approval, as sources have confirmed to Deadline that the CBS All Access show wont continue on Paramount+ for a third season.

The series end was revealed on Wednesday when The Twilight Zone was not listed among the CBS All Access series set to continue on the service as it transforms into Paramount+.

Julie McNamara, executive VP and head of programming for Paramount+, praised the series as the network bids farewell. Jordan Peele, Simon Kinberg and the entire production team truly reimagined The Twilight Zone for the modern age. They upheld the classic series legacy of socially conscious storytelling and pushed todays viewers to explore all new dimensions of thought-provoking and topical themes that we hope will resonate with audiences for years to come.

Cancellations/Renewals Scorecard: TV Shows Ended Or Continuing In 2020-21 Season

The 10-episode second season of the anthology series, reimagined by Jordan Peele and Simon Kinberg, gad such stars as Kylie Bunbury, Sky Ferreira, Topher Grace, David Krumholtz, Thomas Lennon, Natalie Martinez, Gretchen Mol, Paula Newsome, Jurnee Smollett, and Damon Wayans Jr. on board. Apparently, it wasnt enough.

The season two cast and episode titles, in no particular order, included:

Episode: 8Starring (previously announced) Joel McHale (Community, Stargirl) and Brandon Jay McLaren (UnREAL, Graceland)Written by Glen MorganDirected by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead

Episode: A Small TownStarring Damon Wayans Jr. (Happy Endings, Lets Be Cops), David Krumholtz (The Deuce, Evel), Natalie Martinez (Reminiscence, The I-Land), and Paula Newsome (Barry, Chicago Med)Written by Steven Barnes and Tananarive DueDirected by Alonso Alvarez-Barreda

Episode: Try, TryStarring Topher Grace (Blackkklansman, Black Mirror) and Kylie Bunbury (When They See Us, Pitch)Written by Alex RubensDirected by Jen McGowan

Episode: You Might Also LikeStarring Gretchen Mol (Boardwalk Empire, Manchester by the Sea) and Greta Lee (Russian Doll, High Maintenance)Written and Directed by Osgood Perkins

Episode: OvationStarring Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey, Lovecraft Country), Tawny Newsome (Space Force, Lower Decks), Sky Ferreira (Baby Driver, Twin Peaks), Paul F. Tompkins (BoJack Horseman, Comedy Bang! Bang!), and Thomas Lennon (Reno 911! Night at the Museum franchise)Written by Emily C. Chang and Sara AminiDirected by Ana Lily Amirpour

Episode: Downtime

Starring Morena Baccarin (Deadpool franchise, Homeland), Colman Domingo (If Beale Street Could Talk, Fear the Walking Dead) and Tony Hale (Veep, Toy Story 4)Written by Jordan PeeleDirected by JD Dillard

Episode: The Who of YouStarring Ethan Embry (Grace and Frankie, Blindspotting), Daniel Sunjata (Graceland, Rescue Me), and Billy Porter (Pose, Like a Boss)Written by Win RosenfeldDirected by Peter Atencio

Episode: A Human FaceStarring Jenna Elfman (Fear the Walking Dead, Dharma & Greg), Chris Meloni (The Handmaids Tale, 42), and Tavi Gevinson (Person to Person, Enough Said)Written by Alex RubensDirected by Christina Choe

Episode: Among The UntroddenIntroducing Abbie Hern and Sophia MacyWritten by Heather Anne CampbellDirected by Tayarisha Poe

Episode: Meet in the MiddleStarring Jimmi Simpson (Westworld, Black Mirror: USS Callister) and Gillian Jacobs (Community, Love)Written by Emily C. Chang and Sara AminiDirected by Mathias Herndl

Dominic Patten and Dino Ramos contributed to this report

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The Twilight Zone Reboot Canceled By CBS All Access After 2 Seasons - Deadline

Climate change is profoundly altering our oceans and marine ecosystems. Some of these changes are happening quickly and are potentially irreversible. Many are taking place silently and unnoticed.

In recent years, tipping points thresholds where a small change could push a system into a completely new state have increasingly become a focus for the climate research community.

However, these are typically thought of in terms of unlikely changes with huge global ramifications often referred to as low probability, high impact events. Examples include the slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and the rapid disintegration of the West Antarctic ice sheet.

In a new paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, my co-authors and I instead focus on the potential for what we call high probability, high impact tipping points caused by the cumulative impact of warming, acidification and deoxygenation.

We present the challenge of dealing with these imminent and long-lasting changes in the Earth system, and discuss options for mitigation and management measures to avoid crossing these tipping points.

The ocean is a giant reservoir of heat and carbon. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the oceans have taken up around 30-40% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) and 93% of the heat added to the atmosphere through human activity.

Without ocean uptake, the scale of atmospheric warming would already be much larger. But this comes with a high cost in the form of ocean warming, acidification where the alkaline ocean becomes more acidic and deoxygenation where the oxygen content of the ocean falls.

The potential impact of these processes on the marine environment is well documented. However, in some cases, they could trigger a number of regional tipping points with potentially widespread consequences for marine ecosystems and ocean functioning.

Here are some examples:

Warming

Each species has an optimal temperature range for their physiological functioning. Like humans, most marine organisms are vulnerable to warming above their optimal temperature. Without adaptation, some species will be hit hard by ocean warming. A well-known example is the threat to tropical coral reef systems, such as Australias Great Barrier Reef, to mass coral bleaching from extreme heat.

These coral reef systems play an important role for fisheries, for coastal protection, as fish nurseries, and for a number of other ecosystem services. This serves as an example of how the impact of ocean warming extends far beyond the most sensitive marine organisms, with range shifts being observed across the food web from phytoplankton to marine mammals.

Deoxygenation

Most marine organisms can only exist in seawater with sufficiently high concentrations of dissolved oxygen. Warming of the ocean decreases the solubility of oxygen in the water and slows down ocean mixing, which, in turn, decreases oxygen transport from the surface into the ocean interior.

In addition, run-off of nutrients from the land such as from agriculture and domestic waste increases the biological productivity in coastal areas, disrupting ecosystems and enhancing deoxygenation. Consequences for marine organisms are huge, with species distribution, growth, survival and ability to reproduce negatively affected.

Acidification

Besides being the primary driver of global warming, CO2 also changes ocean chemistry, causing the acidification of seawater. Many marine organisms have shells or skeletal structures made of mineral forms particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification. A well-known example are pteropods free-swimming sea snails and sea slugs that live in the upper 10 metres of the ocean, which are a keystone species in the marine food web.

Currently observed acidification conditions are already unprecedented within the last 65m years, and are projected to continue and aggravate for many centuries even with the reduction of carbon emissions to net-zero.

While these different processes are individually a danger to marine life, in combination with other threats such as overfishing, high nutrient input from land and invasive species they have the potential to cause ecosystem-wide regime shifts.

In addition, extreme events such as marine heatwaves or high-acidity, low-oxygen events lead to severe consequences for marine biodiversity. Across the globe, the observed local and regional changes already add up to a substantial regional and possibly global problem. Examples include coastal acidification and anoxic ocean dead zones.

The figure below highlights some of the regions of the world ocean that are under threat from these impacts.

While these impacts already need dealing with today, ocean circulation patterns mean that they are also being stored up for the future.

The upper ocean mixes on a timescale of decades, while the deep ocean water masses are renewed from the surface on a much longer timescale from hundreds to thousands of years. The present-day accumulation of heat and carbon are initially largest at the ocean surface. But, through mixing and ocean currents, this excess of heat and carbon is transported away from the surface and into deeper layers.

These short and long-term timescales have two consequences. The first is that mixing is not fast enough to prevent the accumulation of heat and carbon in the upper ocean.

The second is that deep mixing transports some of the surface excess heat and carbon to greater depths, where long-lasting changes can gradually build up. Consequently, the deep ocean can be altered by climate change irreversibly for thousands of years, even under strong emission reduction scenarios. These impacts are incredibly difficult to monitor at such depths.

While the threats to the ocean from human-caused climate change are many and varied, there is still time for them to be minimised. We highlight a few action points where scientists are contributing to the development and implementation of mitigation actions.

Receive our free Daily Briefing for a digest of the past 24 hours of climate and energy media coverage, or our Weekly Briefing for a round-up of our content from the past seven days. Just enter your email below:

First, scientists are using models and observations to determine the regions where the most severe hazards have occurred, are occurring, and may occur in the future. Laboratory and in-situ experiments can help identify vulnerabilities in organisms and ecosystems.

Second, progress is being made to define important thresholds in the physiological tolerance of key organisms for changes in temperature, oxygen concentration, nutrient levels and acidity. This also draws attention to the need for metrics of global change that go beyond atmospheric CO2 concentration and global average surface temperature. Keeping a close watch on potential ocean tipping points means tracking ocean temperature changes, acidification, deoxygenation and marine productivity.

Third, communication of these threats is improving. While there is still much progress to be made for example, in building climate and ocean literacy and working with indigenous groups research into empowering science communication to address global challenges is growing.

While headway is being made, much more action is needed. We suggest four system management and societal transformation actions for minimising the likelihood of encountering high-probability, high-impact ocean tipping points:

Heinze, C. et al. (2021) The quiet crossing of ocean tipping points, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, doi:10.1073/pnas.2008478118

This work received funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 820989. The contents of this article reflect only the authors views the European Commission and their executive agencies are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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Guest post: The threat of high-probability ocean 'tipping points' - Carbon Brief

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Climate change is a crisis multiplier that has profound implications for international peace and stability, Secretary-General Antnio Guterres told the Security Council today, amid calls for deep partnerships within and beyond the United Nations system to blunt its acute effects on food security, natural resources and migration patterns fuelling tensions across countries and regions.

Throughout the morning, the Councils high-level open debate on climate and security heard from a range of influential voices, including naturalist David Attenborough, who called climate change the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced. In video remarks telecast at the outset, he warned that concentrations of carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere have not been equalled for millions of years.

If we continue on our current path, we will face the collapse of everything that gives us our security, he said: food production, access to fresh water, habitable ambient temperature and ocean food chains. The poorest those with the least security are certain to suffer. Our duty right now is surely to do all we can to help those in the most immediate danger.

While the world will never return to the stable climate that gave birth to civilization, he said that, if Governments attending the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in November recognize climate change as a global security threat, we may yet act proportionately and in time.

Climate change can only be dealt with by unparalleled levels of global cooperation, he said. It will compel countries to question economic models, invent new industries and recognize the moral responsibility that wealthy nations have to the rest of the world, placing a value on nature that goes far beyond money. He challenged the international community to finally create a stable, healthy world where resources are equally shared and where for the first time in history people come to know what it feels like to be secure.

Mr. Guterres echoed those calls, describing the climate emergency as the defining issue of our time. Noting that the last decade was the hottest in human history, he said wildfires, cyclones, floods and droughts are now the new normal. These shocks not only damage the environment on which we depend, they also weaken our political, economic and social systems, he said.

Indeed, where climate change dries up rivers, reduces harvests, destroys critical infrastructure and displaces communities, it exacerbates the risks of conflict, he said. A study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that 8 of the 10 countries hosting the largest multilateral peace operations in 2018 were in areas highly exposed to climate change.

The impact is greatest where fragility and conflict have weakened coping mechanisms, he said, where people depend on natural capital for their livelihoods and where women who bear the greatest burden of the climate emergency do not enjoy equal rights. He highlighted examples in Afghanistan, where reduced harvests have pushed people into poverty, leaving them susceptible to recruitment by armed groups, and across West Africa and the Sahel, where changes in grazing patterns have fostered conflict between pastoralists and farmers. In some Pacific small island nations, entire communities have been forced to relocate.

The forced movement of larger numbers of people around the world will clearly increase the potential for conflict and insecurity, he observed. He called for greater efforts to address climaterelated security risks, starting with a focus on prevention, and creating a global coalition committed to achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century. The United Nations is asking companies, cities and financial institutions to prepare credible decarbonization plans.

In addition, immediate actions are needed to protect countries from increasingly frequent and severe climate effects. He urged donors and multilateral and national development banks to increase the share of adaptation and resilience finance to at least 50 per cent of their climate finance support. Developed countries, too, must keep their pledge to channel $100 billion annually to the global South. They have already missed the deadline of 2020, he acknowledged.

Above all, he called for embracing a concept of security that places people at its centre, stressing that COVID-19 has laid bare the devastation that nontraditional security threats can cause on a global scale. In all such efforts, it will be essential to build on the strengths of the Security Council, Peacebuilding Commission, international financial institutions, regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, academia and others.

Issuing a call to action, Nisreen Elsaim, Chair of the Youth Organization on Climate Change and the United Nations Youth Advisory Group, said young people around the globe are watching the Security Council as it grapples with climate change. Each of the organs four meetings on the issue in 2007, 2011, 2018 and 2019 have referenced serious climate-related security risks in Somalia, Darfur, West Africa and the Sahel, Mali and the Lake Chad Basin. Science has forecasted many more countries will join this list if we did not take the right measures now, and if we did not start adaptation specially in Africa, she said, adding that, in her country, we are living in continuous insecurity due to many factors that put Sudan on the top of the list when it comes to climate vulnerability.

She recalled that, in a 2018 Council resolution on Sudan, members recognized the adverse effects of climate change, ecological changes and natural hazards on the situation in Darfur, focusing specifically on drought, desertification, land degradation and food insecurity. Human survival, in a situation of resources degradation, hunger, poverty and uncontrolled climate migration, will make conflict an inevitable result, she said. Moreover, climate-related emergencies cause major disruptions in access to health, life-saving sexual and reproductive health services, and result in loss of livelihoods and drive displacement and migration. They also increase the risk of gender-based violence and harmful practices and force young people to flee in search of a decent life.

Welcoming the Councils recent deployment of a new special political mission, the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS), she said it has a historic opportunity to speak to the root causes of the conflict. Climate change and youth participation is mentioned twice in the Missions mandate, and climate change challenges are included in the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement. Emphasizing that young people must be part of the solution, she declared: We are the present, we have the future, lets not repeat previous generations lapse.

In the ensuing dialogue, Heads of State and Government, along with ministers and other senior officials described national actions to attenuate the negative impact of climate change and offered their views on the related security risks. Some pressed the Council to broaden its thinking about non-traditional security threats. Several including leaders from Kenya and Niger stressed that the link between climate and conflict could not be more evident, while others explored the ability of Governments to meet peoples basic needs, and still others cast doubt on the assertion that the relationship between climate and conflict is causal, instead pointing to political and economic factors that are known to drive tensions.

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Council President for February, speaking in his national capacity, said the Council, while imperfect, has been willing to lead the way in confronting threats to international security. That is exactly what climate change represents, he said, acknowledging that, while there are some who disagree, these cynics could not be more wrong. While the causes of climate change may not sit within the Councils traditional purview, its effects most certainly do. He asked delegates to consider the young man forced onto the road when his oncefertile home becomes a desert one of the 16 million people displaced by weather-related disasters each year who becomes easy prey for violent extremists, or the girl who drops out of school because her daily search for water takes her away from her family and into the sights of the human traffickers.

If such scenes were triggered by the actions of some despotic warlord or internecine conflict, few would question this Councils right to act or its duty to do so, he assured. This is not a subject from which we should shy away. The world must move from 51 billion metric tons of greenhousegas emissions each year to net zero, so that the increase in global temperatures remains within manageable levels. For its part, the United Kingdom Parliament passed a law committing to net zero by 2050, he said, drawing attention to his pledge that the nation would slash emissions by 68 per cent by 2030. He urged the Council to act, because climate change is a geopolitical issue every bit as much as an environmental one, stressing that, if it is to succeed in maintaining peace and security worldwide, it must galvanize and support the United Nations family of agencies into a swift and effective response.

Kas Saed, President of Tunisia, agreed with Ms. Elsaim that the world must listen to youth on climate change. More broadly, humans and not money must be placed at the centre of the issue. Voicing support for the Secretary-Generals 2021 priorities, especially his efforts to galvanize Member States to confront the multiple impacts of climate change, he described it as ironic that humans are, at the same time, the phenomenons drivers and its greatest victims. It is no ones right to [] to commit all of humanity to death, he stressed, noting that Council resolution 2532 (2020) confirmed that insecurity can be driven by a multitude of factors, not just armed conflict. One such driver is the deepening poverty and resource scarcity resulting from a changing climate, particularly in Africa. Climate factors often prolong conflict and create conditions conducive to deprivation, exclusion, terrorism and organized crime.

Calling on the Council to adopt a new, more comprehensive approach and for sufficient resources for all specialized agencies related to climate change, he underlined the need for early warning systems and better prevention strategies. Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent crises have once again revealed the need for States to strengthen their solidarity, he emphasized the need for prompt action while stressing that the burden borne by States must be differentiated based on their degree of responsibility for causing the crisis. Moreover, mitigation cannot be at the expense of developing countries, he said.

Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya, said that new approaches to investment by the public and private sector need to reach the countries and regions worst hit by climate change. Persistent droughts, constant sealevel rise and increasingly frequent extreme weather patterns are reversing economic growth and development gains achieved over decades. The result is increased fragility to instability and armed conflict that then come to the attention of this Security Council. The implementation of the Councils mandate to maintain global peace and security will only get more difficult with time if climate change remains on its present course. Rather than wait for a future tipping point, we must redouble the efforts to direct all the resources and multilateral frameworks of our rules-based international order to mitigate the effects of climate change. While the bulk of this work is happening outside the Council, no body with such a strong mandate should step aside from this challenge.

The climate-security nexus is already impacting Africa. Listen to us Africans when we tell you that the link is clear, its impact tangible and the need for solutions urgent, he said. Making recommendations, he said that the Council must do more when crafting mandates for conflict resolution and post-conflict resolution to ensure they dovetail with the efforts to deploy climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. In this regard, he applauded Council resolutions 2349 (2017) and 2502 (2019), respectively on Lake Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that have integrated measures to address the impact of climate change. The 15-member organ can also act strongly against illicit financial outflows, illicit resource exploitation, terrorism financing and moneylaundering in the most fragile regions in Africa. Doing so immediately boosts the resources available to Governments to undertake climate change mitigation and offer the public services and goods needed to consolidate and protect peace.

Brigi Rafini, Prime Minister of Niger, agreed that the impact of climate change on peace and security is increasingly evident, stressing that water scarcity exacerbated by climate change could see gross domestic product (GDP) in the Sahel fall by 6 per cent and hunger increase 20 per cent by 2050. Climate change has increased competition for diminished land and water resources, ramping up tensions between livestock owners and others. He underscored the collective responsibility to tackle this existential challenge, stressing that climate change and land degradation are no longer purely environmental matters. Rather, they are part of a broader view that links environmental goals with those for economic and social development, and the pursuit of international peace and stability.

We need to consider climate change as a threat to peace and security, he said, urging the Council to shore up its understanding of impact on security and to systematically consider climate change in its resolutions pertaining to specific country and regional contexts. In such efforts, it should rely on the advisory role of the Peacebuilding Commission, and the Informal Expert Group on Climate and Security, co-chaired by Niger and Ireland. The appointment of a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Climate and Security likewise will raise the profile of this dimension within the Councils work.

Nguyn Xun Phc, Prime Minister of Viet Nam, said the Earths recent calamities have placed great burdens on the political and socioeconomic life of many countries, causing unemployment and poverty, creating instability and exacerbating current conflicts. Against that backdrop, the Council should galvanize the international communitys collective efforts with an approach that is balanced between traditional and non-traditional security challenges. That includes addressing the root causes of conflicts such as poverty, inequality, power politics and unilateral interference and coercion.

Calling for strict adherence to the Charter of the United Nations and international law, he said the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement on climate change must guide the way, and greater resources are needed to support developing countries, least developed countries, small island developing States and landlocked countries. The Council should also enhance its early warning capacity, bolster its mediation and conflict prevention roles, work more closely with regional organizations and fully respect States sovereignty and national ownership. Noting that Viet Nam is among the six countries most severely affected by climate change, he outlined various national efforts to address the challenge while requesting more international assistance.

Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway, emphasized that climate change is redefining the global security landscape. We must rethink and adapt the Councils approaches to peacebuilding and sustaining peace in three ways, she said. First, the Council needs better information on climate-related security risks. International research networks and the informal expert group will be important in that regard. Norway has helped establish a Nordic-Baltic expert network. Second, the Council should discuss climate risks in specific country contexts, based on country reporting and briefings. The United Nations must be at the forefront of preventive diplomacy. To achieve sustainable solutions, peace diplomacy must be climate-sensitive, and climate action must be conflictsensitive. Third, it is imperative to strengthen partnerships within and beyond the United Nations system, including with affected States and regional organizations. The active participation of diverse groups, including women and youth, is also vital.

The national security communities in many countries have understood the security risks posed by climate change, she continued. While climate change can lead to hard security challenges, there are no hard security solutions. The first line of defence is ambitious climate action. It must begin with the full implementation of the Paris Agreement and 2030 Agenda. Climate action depends on multilateral cooperation. By shouldering a common responsibility to counter climate change, the Council will be better prepared to maintain international peace and stability.

Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, emphasizing that the Council has a responsibility to address the consequences of climate change, said a failure to do so would be, in part, an abdication of our duty. It is time for the organ to seriously consider drafting a resolution on the matter and to map out a coherent approach, aiming for a working consensus. Affirming UNFCCCs role as the primary body for dealing with climate change and the Paris Agreement as a major part of the rules-based international system, he said the Council should play its role without encroaching on the work of UNFCCCs inclusive decision-making body. It should also engage with the Peacebuilding Commission and the General Assembly on climate and security risks that touch on issues of humanitarian support, sustainable development, health pandemics, peace and security.

Stressing that the first step to prevent or contain climate-security risks is for the major, and historical, emitters to fulfil and indeed exceed the commitments made in the Paris Agreement, he underlined the principle of common but differentiated responsibility. Climate change is an existential threat that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable, especially small island developing States such as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It has become distressingly commonplace for an entire years [gross domestic product] to be washed away by a hurricane overnight, even as we are hindered by a lack of a sufficient inclusion, on favourable terms, into the global financial architecture, he said. Citing the many natural hazards in Haiti, in particular, he also drew attention to the Sahel region and the battle for dwindling resources. However, no country is immune to such human-made challenges and all must stand in solidarity, with the Council paying close attention to climate change as it crafts its mandates, he said.

Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia, said 7 of the 10 countries most vulnerable and least prepared to deal with climate change host a United Nations peacekeeping operation or a special political mission a fact the Council cannot ignore. She expressed support for the statement to be delivered by Germanys Foreign Minister on behalf of like-minded countries pointing the way forward for the Council, stressing that we need to acknowledge that the climate emergency can pose a danger to peace and we must make it a part of our security policy planning and discussions here. She pressed the Council to do more to fully aspects of its work, noting that the Secretary-General must receive a mandate to collect data and coordinate policy to this aim.

Among other efforts, she said that Estonia cooperates with small island States and least developed countries in green technology solutions and know-how transfer. The Government also recently launched the Data for the Environment Alliance, a coalition of State and non-State actors that will support the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in developing a global environmental data strategy by 2025.

Simon Coveney, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence of Ireland, said that climate change has many complex impacts, not least on international peace and security, the very business of this Council. Climate change is already causing upheaval, affecting peace and security and the stability of societies. Pointing out that the relationship between climate and security works in complex ways, he said political instability undermines efforts to build climate resilience, and the impact of climactic shocks is compounded when institutions are strained. Ireland is proud to join the Weathering Risk Project to help guide action at the Security Council and beyond, and is keen to understand better not just how climate change contributes to insecurity but how climate action can build peace. Ireland chairs the Informal Expert Group of Member States on this topic, together with Niger, also partnering with Nauru and Germany, as Chairs of the Group of Friends on Climate and Security.

Irelands core message today is that the inclusion of climate in Council discussions and actions will strengthen conflict prevention and support peacebuilding efforts. Stressing the need to ensure the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and youth in decision-making processes related to climate issues and the management of natural resources, he declared: But, in listening to and understanding the concerns and insights of future generations, we cannot abrogate our responsibility to provide leadership today.

Marcelo Ebrard Casaubn, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mexico, said the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that international peace and security can no longer be viewed through a single lens, but must also consider multiple drivers of insecurity. Food insecurity, water scarcity and droughts all exacerbated by climate change have reached severe levels in several regions of the world. Pledging Mexicos support to the next Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in Glasgow, later in 2021, he said climate change requires a comprehensive global response with a focus on ecosystem preservations. Mexico recently submitted its own national plan in that arena, which is coupled with a focus on prevention and adaptation, as well as efforts to reduce inequality and strengthen communities. Stressing that all efforts must be taken in line with the 2030 Agenda, he welcomed the Councils creation of an informal group to monitor the links between climate and peace and security as a timely measure. Underlining the importance of ensuring sustainable peacebuilding and protecting livelihoods, he agreed with the Secretary-General that post-pandemic recovery efforts are an opportunity to build back better and build more egalitarian, adaptable societies.

Emmanuel Macron, President of France, said protecting the environment has, in recent years, meant recognizing climate change as a peace and security issue. Of the 20 countries most affected by conflict in the world, 12 are also severely impacted by climate change, he said, spotlighting the impacts of desertification, the increase in forced migration and agricultural challenges all of which have resulted in such fallout as the advent of climate refugees and growing conflicts over land and water. Endorsing the initiative to address such matters under the auspices of the Council, he echoed calls for the appointment of a United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Security, as well as for an annual Secretary-Generals report with relevant recommendations.

Recognizing that the effects of climate change are unfairly distributed worldwide, he recalled his recent call for Frances contribution to the Green Climate Fund to be increased to one third of its total. France strongly supports the creation of a Great Green Wall in Africa, which aims to restore 250 million hectares of land for agriculture, create 10 million green new jobs and sequester carbon. He also pledged Frances commitment to accelerating the preservation of biodiversity, while calling for strengthened dialogue between the African Union and the United Nations on climate and security. Turning to the Pacific, where many nations are struggling to implement mitigation measures, he called for additional international support and an easing of geopolitical tensions across the region.

Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change of India, recalled the global democratic effort to take climate action in a nationally determined manner, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities. He cautioned the Council against building a parallel climate track where such principles are brushed aside. Noting that there is no common, widely accepted methodology for assessing the links between climate change, conflict and fragility, he said fragility and climate impact are highly contextspecific. In fragile contexts, where Governments struggle to provide basic services, emergency conditions are largely driven by political violence disrupting harvests and aid supplies, rather than by climate factors alone. A complete picture of climate vulnerability only emerges with an assessment of the States capacity to be the primary responder to interrelated environmental, social, economic and security dynamics, he said. While climate change does not directly cause violent conflict, its interaction with other social, political and economic factors can exacerbate conflict drivers. He called for the building of robust governance structures at local, national and regional levels to address climate and fragility-related risks, pressing donor countries to provide greater financial, technological and capacity-building assistance to help fragile States enact adaption and mitigation strategies.

John F. Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate of the United States, thanked European and other countries for their leadership on climate change during what he described as the United States inexcusable absence from the debate over the past four years. Though climate change is indeed an existential threat, the world has yet to adequately respond to it. Noting that the question of climate change is no longer one for debate, he declared: The evidence, the science, is screaming at us. Many of the worlds regions most impacted by climate change are also projected to become future conflict hotspots. Therefore, the issue must feature in all of the Councils work and reporting. Emphasizing that President Joseph R. Biden understands that we do not have a moment to waste, he cited his new coordinated, whole-of-Government approach which aims to elevate the issue and put the United States on the path to sustainability that can never be reversed by any future President or demagogue.

Addressing climate change will require every country to step up and boost their level of ambition, he said, noting that the worlds largest carbon emitters bear the greatest responsibility. First and foremost will be the need to reduce the use of coal globally. Inaction comes with a far higher price tag than action, he said, stressing that, not since the industrial revolution has there been such potential to build back better in every part of the globe. Just by doing nothing, humanity will march forward in what is tantamount to a mutual suicide pact, he warned, spotlighting the importance of the climate summit to be hosted by President Biden in the coming weeks, as well as the Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC to be held in Glasgow later in 2021. The United States will also work with like-minded countries in the Council, he said, urging Member States to begin treating climate change as the security crisis that it is.

Xie Zhenhua, Special Envoy for Climate Change of China, said that, even as global climate governance enters a new and crucial phase, the spread of COVID-19 poses serious threats to the global response. Given the differences in historical responsibility and development levels between States, he underscored the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and urged developed nations to lead the way. In building back after the pandemic, countries should respect nature, protect biodiversity, champion green lifestyles and avoid old paths of giving without taking from the Earth. In that context, he described climate change as a development issue, urging the international community to support developing nations, least developed countries and small island developing States in implementing mitigation and adaptation measures.

We need to stay committed to multilateralism, he stressed, underlining the importance of UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement as the main channels for those critical discussions. Any role to be played by the Security Council on climate change must fall under its purview, he added. Outlining Chinas commitment to fulfilling its responsibilities under the Paris Agreement, he spotlighted its recently announced plan to have national CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality prior to 2060. He also pointed out that the countrys forest cover has been rising steadily for many years, that it leads the world in green power generation and that it tops the list of clean energy patents registered.

The representative of the Russian Federation agreed that addressing climate change requires a global approach that is coordinated, targeted at reducing emissions and implementing effective adaptation measures, especially through UNFCCC. Noting that the Council has discussed climate change on several occasions, he said the issue is often presented as a fundamental threat to stability and as a root cause of problems, particularly in Africa, with warnings about the increasing risks of conflict. While he agreed that climate change can exacerbate conflict, he questioned whether it is the root cause of violence. There are serious doubts, he said. The connection between climate and conflict can be examined only in certain countries and regions. Discussing it in the global context is not relevant. Not all conflicts are threats to international peace and security, he explained. In addition, considering climate as a root cause of security issues distracts from the true root causes, and thus, hinders solutions. Political and socioeconomic factors, which have a greater influence on conflict risk, cannot be ignored, he said, pointing out that COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities within and between countries and sparked an uptick in hunger including in countries that were already in conflict. He urged donors to address the problem of green protectionism, seen in their refusal to exchange technology that would allow others to adapt. While discussing climate issues in the Council is seen as beneficial, the real work of improving coordination of international activities would be better accomplished in the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and UNFCC. Conflicts in and of themselves reduce the ability of States to adapt to climate change, he said, explaining that the increased security risks in the Sahel are, in fact, caused by countries pursuing regime change in Libya.

Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of Malawi, speaking for the least developed countries, said building resilience to mitigate the security risks associated with climate change must begin with reflections on COVID-19, as Governments have relegated many other priorities in the quest to fight the virus. Describing the impact of the nexus between climate change and security is indiscriminate and consequential, he said water scarcity, desertification and cyclones all foster competition for resources, and in the process, turn people into climate refugees. Least developed countries bear the brunt of these phenomena, despite that their emissions are 30 times lower than those of highincome countries. Stressing that recovery from the coronavirus must be aligned with efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C, he pressed developed countries to approach the 2021 UNFCC meeting with more ambition than in years past, as their current commitments to cut emissions remain woefully inadequate. They must fulfil their pledges to provide $100 billion in climate financing annually, answer the call to earmark 50 per cent of financing in the Green Climate Fund for adaptation, especially in least developed countries, and to meaningfully transfer climatefriendly technologies to help least developed countries accelerate their green development efforts.

Gaston Alphonso Browne, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Corporate Governance of Antigua and Barbuda, spoke on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, declaring: Make no mistake [] climate changes existential threat to our own survival is not a future consideration, but a current reality. For the past 30 years, the Alliance has been the single most consistent advocate on climate, he said, highlighting the often-overlooked threats faced by small island developing States. He urged the international community to simultaneously plan and operationalize a system to address inevitable loss and damage which uproot peace and security of small island developing States. Equitable solutions are needed to systematically address difficult issues, such as climate change displacement, including the treatment of climate refugees, and loss of territory. For the past three decades, small island and low-lying States have been sounding the alarm, sending the SOS distress signal. They are losing their territories, populations, resources and very existence due to climate change. The Secretary-General recently stated: Without natures help, we will not thrive or even survive[] For too long, we have been waging a senseless and suicidal war on nature. Sadly, small island developing States continue to be the front line for this war. Our appeal for the Council is to take this threat very seriously before it is too late, he said.

Heiko Maas, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, speaking for the Group of Friends of Climate and Security, said those countries are united by the common belief that climate change is the fundamental challenge of our time. The poorest and most vulnerable are suffering the most, with entire islands at risk of disappearing. We are putting their future, their safety and their wellbeing at risk if we dont act, he stressed, calling for concerted efforts by the United Nations in making climate change its top priority. Agreeing with other speakers that the issue has major implications for peace and security, he said it therefore belongs firmly on the Councils agenda. In July 2020, the Nauru delegation presented the organ with a plan of action, including calling for the appointment of a Special Envoy on Climate and Security; regular reporting to the Council; climatesensitive peacebuilding; and more cooperation with civil society, regional and national actors on climate-related security risks. Now, it is time for the Council to adopt a strong resolution reflecting each of those points, he said.

For information media. Not an official record.

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Climate Change 'Biggest Threat Modern Humans Have Ever Faced', World-Renowned Naturalist Tells Security Council, Calls for Greater Global Cooperation...

Image: VMware, ZDNet

More than 6,700 VMware vCenter servers are currently exposed online and vulnerable to a new attack that can allow hackers to take over unpatched devices and effectively take over companies' entire networks.

Scans for VMware vCenter devices are currently underway, according to threat intelligence firm Bad Packets.

The scans have started earlier today after a Chinese security researcherpublished proof-of-concept code on their blogfor a vulnerability tracked as CVE-2021-21972.

This vulnerability impacts vSphere Client (HTML5), a plugin of VMware vCenter, a type of server usually deployed inside large enterprise networks as a centralized management utility through which IT personnel manage VMware products installed on local workstations.

Last year, security firm Positive Technologies discovered that an attacker could target the HTTPS interface of this vCenter plugin and execute malicious code with elevated privileges on the device without having to authenticate.

Because of the central role of a vCenter server inside corporate networks, the issue was classified as highly critical and privately reported to VMware, which releasedofficial patchesyesterday, on February 23, 2021.

Due to the large number of companies that run vCenter software on their networks, Positive Technologiesinitially plannedto keep details about this bug secret until system administrators had enough time to test and apply the patch.

However, the proof-of-concept code posted by the Chinese researcher, andothers, effectively denied companies any grace period to apply the patch and also started a free-for-all mass-scan for vulnerable vCenter systems left connected online, with hackers hurrying to compromise systems before rival gangs.

Making matters worse, the exploit for this bug is also a one-line cURL request, which makes it easy even for low-skilled threat actors to automate attacks.

According toa Shodan query, more than 6,700 VMware vCenter servers are currently connected to the internet. All these systems are now vulnerable to takeover attacks if administrators failed to apply yesterday's CVE-2021-21972 patches.

VMware has taken this bug very seriously and has assigned a severity score of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10 and is now urging customers to update their systems as soon as possible.

Due to the critical and central role that VMware vCenter servers play in enterprise networks, a compromise of this device could allow attackers access to any system that's connected or managed through the central server.

These are the types of devices that threat actors (known as "network access brokers") like to compromise and then sell on underground cybercrime forums to ransomware gangs, which then encrypt victims' files and demand huge ransoms. Furthermore, ransomware gangs like Darkside and RansomExx have already started going after VMware systems last year, showing just how effective targeting these VM-based enterprise networks can be.

Since a PoC is now out in the open, Positive Technologies has also decided to publish an in-depth technical report on the bug, so network defenders can learn how the exploit work and prepare additional defenses or forensics tools to detect past attacks.

Excerpt from:
More than 6,700 VMware servers exposed online and vulnerable to major new bug - ZDNet

The European Union has kicked off the first stage of a consultation process involving gig platforms and workers.

Regional lawmakers have said they want to improve working conditions for people who provide labor via platforms which EU digital policy chief, Margrethe Vestager, accepted in a speech today can be poor and precarious. Yet she also made it clear the Commissions agenda vis-a-vis the issue of gig work is to find some kind of balance between (poor) platform work and, er, good and stable (rights protected) employment.

Theres no detail yet on how exactly regional lawmakers plan to square the circle of giving gig platforms a continued pass on not providing good/stable work given that their sustainability as businesses (still with only theoretical profits, in many cases) is chain-linked to not shelling out for the full suite of employment rights for the thousands of people they rely upon to be engaged in the sweating toil of delivering their services off the corporate payroll.

But that, presumably, is what the Commissions consultation process is aimed at figuring out. Baked into the first stage of the process is getting the two sides together to try to hash out what better platform work looks like.

The platform economy is here to stay new technologies, new sources of knowledge, new forms of work will shape the world in the years ahead, said Vestager, segueing into a red-line that there must be no reduction in the rights or the social safety net for platform workers (NB: The word should is doing rather a lot of heavy lifting here): And for all of our work on the digital economy, these new opportunities must not come with different rights. Online just as offline, all people should be protected and allowed to work safely and with dignity.

The key issue in our consultations is to find a balance between making the most of the opportunities of the platform economy and ensuring that the social rights of people working in it are the same as in the traditional economy, she also said, adding: It is also a matter of a fair competition and level playing field between platforms and traditional companies that have higher labour costs because they are subject to traditional labour laws.

The Commissions two-stage consultation process on gig work starts with a consultation of social partners on the need and direction of possible EU action to improve the working conditions in platform work, as it puts it.

This will be open for at least six weeks. It will involve platforms talking with workers (and/or their representatives) to try to come up with agreement on what better looks like in the context of platform working conditions, either to steer the direction of any Commission initiative. Or else to kick the legislative can down the road on said initiative if the two sides come up with a way forward they can agree to implement themselves.

The second phase of the consultation assuming the social partners dont agree among themselves is planned to take place before the summer and will focus on the content of the initiative, per Vestager. (Aka: what exactly the EU ends up proposing to square the circle that must be squared.)

The competition component of the gig work conundrum whereby theres also the employer fairness dynamic to consider, given platforms arent playing by the same rules as traditional employers so are potentially undercutting rivals who are offering those good and stable jobs explains why the Commission is launching a competition-focused parallel consultation alongside the social stakeholder chats.

We will soon start a public consultation on this initiative that has another legal base since it is about competition law and not social policies. This is the reason why we consult differently on the two initiatives, noted Vestager.

She said this will aim to ensure that EU competition rules do not stand in the way of collective bargaining for those who need it suggesting the Commission is hoping that collective bargaining will form some part of the solution to achieving the sought for (precarious) balance of better platform work.

Albeit, a cynical person might predict the end goal of all this solicitation of views will probably be some kind of fudge that offers the perception of a plug for the platform rights gap without actually disrupting the platform economy which Vestager has sworn is here to say.

Uber for one has scented opportunity in the Commissions talk of improving legal clarity for platforms.

The ride-hailing giant put out a white paper last week in which it lobbied lawmakers to deregulate platform work pushing for a Prop-22 style outcome in Europe, having succeeded in getting a carve out from tightened employment laws in California.

Expect other platforms to follow with similarly self-serving suggestions aimed at encouraging Europes social contract to be retooled at the points where it intersects with their business models. (Last week Uber was accused of intentionally stalling on improving conditions for workers in favor of lobbying for deregulation, for example.)

The start of the Commissions gig work consultation comes hard on heels of a landmark ruling by the UKs Supreme Court (also last week) which dismissed Ubers final appeal against a long running employment tribunal.

The judges cemented the view that the group of drivers who sued Uber had indeed been erroneously classified as self employed, making Uber liable to pay compensation for the (workers) rights it should have been paying for all along.

So if the EU ends up offering a lower level of employment rights to platform workers vis-a-vis the (post-brexit) UK that would surely make for some uncomfortable faces in Brussels.

While it may be unrealistic to talk about striking a balance in the context of business models that are inherently imbalanced, given theyre based on dodging existing employment regulations and disrupting the usual social playbook for profit, the Commission seems to think that a consultation process and a network of overlapping pan-EU regulations is the way to rein in the worst excesses of the gig economy/big tech more generally.

In a press release about the consultation, it notes that platform work is developing rapidly across various business sectors in the region. So theres a heavy tone of we cant stand in the way of tech-fuelled progress.

It can offer increased flexibility, job opportunities and additional revenue, including for people who might find it more difficult to enter the traditional labour market, the Commission writes, starting with some of the perceived positives that are, presumably, feeding its desire for a balanced outcome.

However, certain types of platform work are also associated with precarious working conditions, reflected in the lack of transparency and predictability of contractual arrangements, health and safety challenges, and insufficient access to social protection. Additional challenges related to platform work include its cross-border dimension and the issue of algorithmic management.

It also notes the role of the coronavirus pandemic in both accelerating uptake of platform work and increasing societal concern about the vulnerable situation of gig workers who may have to choose between earning money and risking their health (and the health of other people) because they cant afford to stop working (if they dont have full access to sick pay).

The Commission reports that around 11% of the EU workforce (some 24 million people) say they have already provided services through a platform.

Vestager said most of these people only have platform work as a secondary or a marginal source of income but added that some three million people do it as a main job.

And just imagine the cost to gig platforms if those three million people had to be put on the payroll in Europe

In the bit of her speech leading up to her conclusion that platform work is here to stay, Vestager quoted a recent study she said had indicated that 35% to 55% of consumers say they intend to continue to ask for home delivery more in the future.

We see that the platform economy is growing rapidly, she added. Worldwide, the online labour platform market has grown by 30% over a period of 2 years. This growth is expected to continue and the number of people working through platforms is expected to become more significant in the years ahead.

European values are at the heart of our work to shape Europes digital future, she also went on to say, taking her cue to point to the smorgasbord of digital regulations in the EUs pipeline and tacitly illustrating the concept of an overlapping regulatory net which the Commission wants to straightjacket platform giants into more socially acceptable and fair behavior (though EU regulations havent done that yet).

Our proposals from December for a Digital Services Act and a Digital Markets Act are meant to protect us as consumers if technology poses a risk to fundamental rights, she said. In April we will follow up on our white paper on Artificial Intelligence from last year and our upcoming proposal will also have the aim to protect us as citizens. The fairness aspect and the integration of European values will also be a driver for our upcoming proposal on a digital tax that we plan to present before summer.

All these initiatives are part of our ambition to balance the great potential that the digital transformation holds for our societies and economies.

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Europe kicks off bid to find a route to better gig work - TechCrunch

Angelo Plessas was doing plank pose in the narrow space between the foot of his bed and the hotel wall. Several of his quilted sculptures were spread out beneath him to soften the hard floor. Hotel staff dropped off warm meals several times a day.

It is sort of like a residency, the Greek artist told me over a WhatsApp call on day seven of his 14-day quarantine in an 18-square-meter room in Seoul. (The artist had been uploading the footage to Instagram as a kind of performative ritual.) Following his stay, Plessas planned to head to a sacred mountain to meet the South Korean shaman Dodam, with whom he is collaborating for the 13th Gwangju Biennial.

Production still from John Gerrard Mirror Pavilion: Leaf Work (Derrigimlagh) (2019). Courtesy of the artist.

Its not exactly how Plessas imagined he would return to South Korea after an initial trip there in late 2019. Back then, a large group of international artists, shepherded by artistic directors Defne Ayas and Natasha Ginwala, went on a series of site visits ahead of the esteemed exhibitionAsias largest and oldest. At the time, the virus was perhaps already somewhere in the world, but it was nowhere near their imaginations.

Since then, Gwangjus organizers have had to delay, adapt, rethink, and rework to accommodate a constantly shifting public-health situation. After two postponements, the biennial is preparing, finally, to open on April 1. (South Korea has been praised for its response to the pandemic; its most recent seven-day case count came in at under 500.)

Yet the opening will look very different from the buzzy biennials of previous years. Of the 69 participating artists (who are responsible for 41 new commissions), only four individualsincluding a two-person collectivewere able to travel to South Korea to install their works in situ.

Natasha Ginwala (R) and Defne Ayas (L). Photo: Victoria Tomaschko.

The challenges posed by the lockdown era have rushed the biennial circuit into a future that many were already discussing. Had the daring, female-led show in South Korea intended to be a spectacle reminiscent of biennials past, it likely would have been rendered moot by the pandemic.

But neither Ayas nor Ginwala wanted to continue with this machine of biennials, as Ayas put it. Instead, they sought to offer an antidote to it, by exploring spirituality, resistance, and community healing. The events of 2020 gave those themes a new sense of urgency.

We were ready to debunk the biennial format and stretch it, but we did not know we would be stretching it this much, Ayas said with a laugh from her own room a few floors above Plessas. The cracks we were looking into just got deeper.

Video still from Theo Eshetus, Ghostdance (2020). Courtesy of the artist.

The biennial, titled Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, comes at a moment when loss, grief, and separation are globally felt. And so the duo has gravitated toward two seemingly disparate themes: shamanism, a dominant form of spirituality in South Korea, and technology. A form of cosmic gravitas pulses through the exhibitions preamble of essays, talks, and online programming.

The surreality of the enterprise was clear from conversations with a number of participants who traveled to Gwangju for the opening. All were performance artists whose works could not be presented remotely. Plessas, who came from Athens, shared his hotel wall with Canadian conceptual artist Judy Radul.They would see each other for brief moments when they picked up their food in the hall.

The shows co-curator Defne Ayas, meanwhile, was in her room on video calls with Ginwala, who was already on the ground helping to install the show. It will beset across four locations over a now-shortened four weeks: a historic theater, a sacred mountain, a classical biennial hall, and the Gwangju National Museum. One could consider the Internet the fifth, unplanned venue.

Still from Judy Raduls Good Night Vision (2013). Courtesy the artist.

For the artists who did travel to Gwangju, the mandated pause was surprisingly welcome. There is something special about stopping just before you make an artwork and waiting for two weeks, having the time to just keep thinking about it, Radul said.

Ahead of the trip, she worked closely with two South Korean musicians on her eerily prescient commission. With help from Gina Hwang, who plays a geomungo (a plucked guitar-like instrument), and Hannah Kim (who plays the more percussive janggu drum and gong), Radul created a psychedelic, folkloric soundscape that she plans to record live inside a historic theater.

To film it, she long ago decided to use heat-tracking camerasa medium she began exploring in 2013that will record the heat imprints created by the musicians. Another camera will be pointed at the audience, should there be one come April. There is, of course, a certain irony to preparing this work in a world where free movement is contingent upon body temperature. (Radul was having her temperature taken at the hotel every few hours.)

Proximity, touching, creating sound in a room togetherall of this has shifted, she said.The questions around biennials, where we just drop in and drop out, have been posed for years now. It does make you wonder what you will do for art. We are finding out right now what artists actually bring to a scenario when they show up or dont show up.

OS Session, 2019, V.A.C. Foundation, photo: Marco Franceschin.

Participation in the show has been challenging even for artists who could not show up in person. Korakrit Arunanondchais new video,Songs for Dying, reflects on his own losses this past year, including the death of his grandfather. Itpairs footage drawn from pro-democracy protests in Thailand (whereArunanondchai moved from New York at the beginning of the pandemic) and the 1948 Jeju Island massacre in South Korea with the minutiae that comes from witnessing the death of a loved one. His incisive editingmoving between surrealism, the news cycle, and a very personal narrativefeels fluid and familiar after the past year.

The artist directed the South Korea portion of the videowhich captures a shaman conducting a ritual for the dead on Jeju Islandremotely after it became clear he would be unable to travel.It was hard, he said. I work with hidden narratives to begin with. And often, the thing that pulls you in is not what you can find on the internet. (The films second chapter, Songs for the Living, will be shown at the Migros Museum in Zurich in September.)

Video still from Korakrit Arunanondchai, Songs for Dying (2021). Co-commissioned by the 13th Gwangju Biennale, Han Nefkens Foundation and Kunsthall Trondheim. Courtesy the artist.

While the biennial plays an important role in the regionit was created to process and memorialize the Gwangju Uprising in 1980attendance will necessarily be limited.Then, there is the so-called art world to consider. The traveling band of curators, writers, collectors, and art dealers that would normally attend will also be in absentia. Even the participating curators and artists will have packed up and left.

Thats where the fifth venue, the online forum, comes in. Artists have generously shared their processes and created new online commissions. The catalogue chronicles a year-long conversation that was once meant for Gwangju, but which has now become more global.

Ayas spoke of a mad loyalty that the artists and curators have for one another and for the project. All that matters, she says, is that it installs itself in peoples minds in some important way. In our case, the biennial is not small, but we know from experience that small can also be beautiful and more meaningful, she added.

Emo de Medeiros, Kaleta/Kaleta (2016). Courtesy of theartist.

Her conviction begs the question: how much did wereallysee of these massive shows when we were running around previews trying to take it all in? Perhaps the slow and virtual drip of Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning offers a teachable moment. Maybe we do not need to see the whole in order to be touched by a part.

This biennial was prophetic, in a way, because it was predicting the penetration of the virtual and this post-human feeling of virtuality, Plessas said from his hotel room. It will be interesting to see how it will be remembered.

The 13th Gwangju Biennale is on view from April 1 to May 9.

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Why the Artistic Directors of the Gwangju Biennial Are Quarantining for Weeks (and Working Overtime) to Mount a Show Very Few People Will See - artnet...

Nearly half of people believe those who lost their job during the pandemic were likely to have been underperforming, a survey has found.

In findings that will raise fears over inequalities in Britain, a study of attitudes by researchers at Kings College London showed a significant minority thought a widening post-Covid income gap between white people and BAME groups would not be a problem.

This analysis throws up the complexity of peoples view about inequalities, said Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which will use the research for its five-year review of inequalities. The British public is clearly concerned about some inequalities, but also sets great store by individual responsibility.

People care more about differences between geographical areas than races, genders and generations, found researchers in the study entitled Unequal Britain.

The findings may suggest widespread support for the levelling up agenda espoused by the government as the country attempts to rebound after Covid, the authors said. But it will also raise questions about the popularity of anti-inequality policies focusing on ethnic minorities and women.

Unemployment rose to 1.74 million people this week, its highest level in five years and business shutdowns are disproportionately affecting women and ethnic minorities.

In one of the starkest findings, one in eight Britons (13%) said they think black people are more likely to be unemployed and have lower incomes because they lack motivation or willpower.

This attitude was held by more than one in five of the Conservative voters polled, compared with less than one in 20 Labour supporters. Overall, 47% said those inequalities are because of discrimination but strikingly racist views remain, with 4% of respondents saying inequality was because most black people have less in-born ability to learn. The researchers discovered this by asking questions rarely posed in the UK, but often included in US social surveys.

The authors said the overall findings showed meritocratic and individualistic tendencies are likely to temper calls for action on inequality.

There is a strong belief in meritocracy in Britain that hard work and ambition remain key drivers of success, and this colours views, even during a pandemic, the report said. Despite the exceptional circumstances [of Covid], Britons are more likely to think that job losses caused by the crisis are the result of personal failure than chance.

The view that individual performance was important in determining whether workers were made unemployed during the Covid crisis was held by 47% of people. Only 31% put it down to luck. Study author Bobby Duffy, professor of social policy at KCL, said this was surprising. By 57% to 39%, Conservative voters are much more likely than Labour voters to attribute these job losses to poor performance at work.

Of the more than 2,000 people polled, the largest number thought gulfs between geographical areas of more and less deprivation were the most serious form of inequality faced by the nation, followed by income and wealth. This view was held by Labour and Conservative supporters alike one of the only issues in the study that united the political spectrum.

Duffy said this rare moment of unity in attitudes toward inequalities points to [support for] policies that are not just about moving the odd government department [out of London] or listening more to the north it is the sense of supporting local community initiatives. It is something that has been underemphasised since the late 2000s.

Less than half of people polled put racial differences in their top three or four most serious types of inequalities and less than a third included gender inequality.

Amid evidence of adverse labour market consequences for women in Britain resulting from the crisis, the study found that a third of people would not consider it a problem if inequality between genders got worse because of the crisis.

These findings underline all too clearly the increased importance of place in debates about politics in general and inequality in particular, said Prof Anand Menon, director of the UK in a Changing Europe, which collaborated in the study. The government should view this emergent consensus as providing a window of opportunity to act on the ambitious promises it has made to level up the country.

Link:
Job losses in pandemic due to performance issues, say nearly half of Britons - The Guardian

The 2017 Lexus NX was an impressively premium compact crossover that felt unrelated to its humble Toyota underpinnings when we last reviewed it. Now alleged images of the latest update to the edgy crossover have leaked online revealing a dramatically updated interior.

Lexus engineers claimed back in 2015 that the NX had reengineered at least 90-percent of the vehicles parts independently from the Toyota Rav4 it is based on, using multiple different manufacturing processes. Every time weve driven the NX, those claims have proven to result in a comfortable, premium ride and user experience in spite of some tricky and confusing interior controls and infotainment systems.

Images reveal an exterior that is a modest update to the current vehicles angular and edgy signature bodywork. The NX gets an expected LED and DRL signature update in the lights as well. The real revelation in these leaked images, which were originally posted on the ClubLexus forums and reported via Autocar, is that the Lexus NX interior has undergone a much-needed overhaul and digital upgrade.

The leaked images of the NX interior reveal a new screen infotainment interface slightly angled toward the driver. Considering the lack of physical buttons anywhere within reach of driver or passenger, it appears the screen will take over almost all of the system, media and vehicle setting adjustments save for that suspicious little blurry knob by the drivers knee. There also still appears to be a physical volume knob and physical temperature climate controls.

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The old wretched Lexus touchpad is apparently gone, as are most of the outgoing models hard, pale black plastic button and trimmings that bewilders the otherwise premium character of the current NX. There now appears to be a wireless charging pad for phones and other devices.

A second digital screen sits ahead of the driver in place of physical vehicle information dials. One leaked image shows a centralized numerical speed readout hovering above what appears to be a cruise control vehicle distance graphic. The dashboard appears to have a cutout for a heads-up display projector, and Im also moderately pleased to find some paddle shifters sticking their ears out from behind the steering wheel. It may be a sporty novelty, but its nice that Lexus is still committing to it for those of us (me) who enjoy them.

Lexus has sold an average of around 55,770 NX models per year over the last six years, and almost exactly that many in 2020. Hence its obvious why the changes outside arent radical, but the stuff owners will touch has improved dramatically. Its not clear when Lexus intends to officially unveil the new NX crossover, but its now likely soon. The current car starts at $37,610 but theres no indication of the new models price. In the meantime, there are plenty of images of it from the now-deleted forum post for you to check out in full over on Autocar.

Original post:
Here's The Leaked Lexus NX Way Before You're Supposed To See It - Jalopnik