The Mercedes-Benz logo outside a car dealer in Brussels, Belgium. PHOTO: CNA
CNA – The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on Thursday approved Mercedes-Benz’s automated driving system on designated highways under certain conditions without the active control of a driver.
California is one of Tesla’s largest markets, accounting for 16 per cent of the carmaker’s global deliveries last year, according to media calculations.
But the German carmaker beat Tesla to become the first carmaker to receive authorisation to sell or lease cars with an automated driving system to the public in California. The approval was granted to Level 3 Mercedes-Benz ‘Drive Pilot’ system that allows a driver to legally take their eyes off the wheel but must be available to resume control in need.
The ‘Drive Pilot’ system can only operate on highways during daylight at speeds not exceeding 40 miles per hour, the DMV said.
Mercedes-Benz said in a statement it will make the automated driving system available in the American market as an option for its model year 2024 S-Class and EQS Sedan vehicles. The first deliveries for the respective S-Class and EQS Sedan models are expected later this year.
Other systems currently on public roads such as Tesla’s Autopilot or General Motors’ Super Cruise are classified SAE Level 2, which handle some driving tasks but require drivers to pay attention at all times.
Tesla calls its level 2 driving assistant system as ‘Full Self-Driving’ and says a driver must constantly supervise the feature and intervene as needed to maintain a safe operation.
The permit grants Mercedes-Benz permission to offer its ‘Drive Pilot’ system on California highways in the Bay Area, Central Valley, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego and interstate highway connecting Southern California to Nevada.
The Mercedes-Benz logo outside a car dealer in Brussels, Belgium. PHOTO: CNA
CNA – Holders United States (US) will head into next month’s Women’s World Cup as the top-ranked team, with no changes in the top five in the latest FIFA rankings published yesterday.
The US, who have held the top spot since June 2017, continue to lead ahead of Germany, Sweden, European champions England and France, respectively.
Spain and Brazil, ranked sixth and eighth, swapped places with Canada (seventh) and the Netherlands (ninth) in the only changes in the top 20.
Following friendlies in April, Spain equalled their best ever ranking after high-scoring wins over Norway and China while Copa America Femenina champions Brazil earned an impressive victory over Germany.
World Cup co-hosts Australia and New Zealand are 10th and 26th. Debutants Zambia will be the lowest-ranked team in the tournament at 77th.
BONN (AFP) – The head of the upcoming Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) climate summit, who also is the chief executive of the United Arab Emirate’s national oil company, acknowledged on Thursday that a reduction in the use of fossil fuels is inescapable.
“The phase down of fossil fuels is inevitable,” Sultan Al-Jaber (AP, pic below) said on the sidelines of technical climate talks six months ahead of the summit.
“The speed at which this happens depends on how quickly we can phase up zero carbon alternatives, while ensuring energy security, accessibility and affordability,” added Al-Jaber, who runs the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
Al-Jaber defended a COP28 roadmap that includes a “global goal to triple renewable energy, double energy efficiency, and double clean hydrogen, all by 2030”.
His comments came as numerous participants and observers in the United Nations climate negotiations have called on Al-Jaber to explicitly acknowledge the importance of ending the use of fossil fuels, an objective no COP summit to date has been able to put down in writing.
Director of Power Shift Africa, an African climate and energy think tank, Mohamed Adow told AFP that Al-Jaber is right to acknowledge the inevitability of the phaseout of fossil fuels.
“Like a drug addict, we need to kick the habit if we’re going to heal and start getting better,” he said.
After coming close to getting a COP resolution to phase out fossil fuels in Glasgow in 2021, and again in Sharm-El-Sheikh in 2022, Adow said this was the year to get it done.
Senior policy analyst at climate think tank E3G Alden Meyer, called the acknowledgement of the need to phase down fossil fuels “a useful first step”.
However he added that the vast majority of emissions reductions to be achieved by 2030 “needs to come from cutting use and production of oil, gas, and coal”, rather than from carbon capture or hydrogen.
Christian Aid Ireland Policy and Advocacy Officer Ross Fitzpatrick said it was great to see the COP28 chief “waking up to the inevitability of phasing out fossil fuels”.
“The UAE would be a very fitting location to mark the end of the fossil fuel age,” he added.
On Wednesday, Al-Jaber signed a statement with European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen calling for “a transition towards energy systems free of unabated fossil fuels”, meaning fossil fuels without carbon capture systems, hinting at a possible compromise in the coming months between different camps in the negotiations.
“We must be laser-focussed on phasing out fossil fuel emissions, while phasing up viable, affordable zero carbon alternatives,” Al-Jaber said at an event in Germany last month.
At the talks in Bonn, the exit from fossil fuel use dominated the talk among activists and experts who pointed to the fact that burning fossil fuels is the main driver of global warming.
Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez, Hakan Calhanoglu and Romelu Lukaku. PHOTO: AP
AFP – Manchester City are huge favourites heading into tomorrow’s (Sunday 3am Brunei time) Champions League final against Inter Milan in Istanbul as Pep Guardiola’s side aim to finally get their hands on the greatest prize in European club football, and complete a historic treble.
City have been building towards this moment ever since the transformative 2008 takeover of the club by the Abu Dhabi United Group. They have become England’s dominant force, winning seven Premier League titles in the last 12 seasons and following their latest triumph by claiming the FA Cup last weekend.
It has happened just as they have become the club with the greatest revenues in world football according to analysts Deloitte, with income of EUR731 million (USD788million) last season.
Question marks surround their success, given that City were charged in February by the Premier League with 115 alleged breaches of its financial rules between 2009 and 2018.
In Europe, meanwhile, City were banned for two years from UEFA competitions in February 2020 for “serious financial fair-play breaches”, but that sanction was overturned later by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Now they can match the achievement of Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in 1999 by beating Inter at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium and securing a treble.
Kevin De Bruyne and Pep Guardiola. PHOTO: AFPInter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez, Hakan Calhanoglu and Romelu Lukaku. PHOTO: AP
Beaten finalists in 2021, City lost in last year’s semi-finals to Real Madrid, but the addition of Erling Haaland appears to have taken Guardiola’s team to a new level.
The Norwegian has scored 52 goals since arriving from Borussia Dortmund, and City land in Turkiye having been beaten just once in their last 27 games.
That 1-0 defeat at Brentford came on the last day of the Premier League season, after the title had been secured.
City have not lost in Europe this season and dished out heavy beatings to RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Madrid in the knockout rounds.
So there is surely nothing to fear in the final against the third-best team in Italy, except perhaps their own past demons in crucial Champions League games.
“We’ve still not won it yet,” warned Kevin De Bruyne.
“I’ve been here eight years and it’s been incredible. Could I come here and think about all the amount of games and trophies we would win in eight years?
“Probably not. But it is something we have not won yet and it is something that we want to win. Hopefully it will be today.”
Yet as Guardiola eyes what would be the third Champions League of his career, City cannot overlook the threat of an Inter team who qualified from their group ahead of Barcelona before seeing off Porto, Benfica and city rivals AC Milan.
They have maybe not faced a team of City’s calibre, but they have a clear Cup pedigree, having recently retained the Coppa Italia.
“I mean, they’re in the Champions League final for a reason,” warned John Stones, whose move from central defence into midfield has been key to City’s outstanding form.
“They’ve got incredible players, we can all see that. How they played in a big occasion, in a derby game in the Champions League semi-final, is never easy. We know what we’re up against.”
Inter know what they are up against too, not least veteran 37-year-old forward Edin Dzeko. The Bosnian played for City between 2011 and 2016.
He has scored 14 goals this season and has been an excellent foil for Inter’s star forward, Lautaro Martinez.
Simone Inzaghi’s side may not have as many superstars as City, but they have a grizzled back line, dangerous wing-backs and a hard-working midfield in which Nicolo Barella excels.
“We’re talking about a football match, there’s no fear,” said Inzaghi, who was appointed in 2021 after the Nerazzurri had won Serie A under Antonio Conte.
Defender Alessandro Bastoni added: “You are scared of murderers, not football players. It would be a mistake to talk about fear.”
Inter are in their first final since winning the trophy under Jose Mourinho in 2010, the last victory in the competition for an Italian side.
They have lifted the trophy three times before, while City’s only European silverware to date remains the Cup Winners’ Cup, which they won in 1970 by beating Poland’s Gornik Zabrze 2-1 in the final.
Today’s game will need to go a long way to equal the drama of the last final at the Ataturk stadium.
In 2005, Liverpool recovered from a three-goal half-time deficit to draw 3-3 with Milan before winning on penalties.
ABOVE & BELOW: Emmisions from a coal-fired power plant are silhouetted against the setting sun in Kansas City, Missouri in the United States; and a young boy plays on a hill called ‘Teletubbies Hill’, a popular tourist attraction, as the chimneys of Suralaya coal power plant loom in the background, in Cilegon, Indonesia. PHOTOS: AP
PARIS (AFP) – Nearly all of 35 countries accounting for more than four-fifths of global greenhouse gas emissions got low marks for their net zero plans in a peer-reviewed assessment published on Thursday.
Of the four biggest carbon polluters, only the European Union’s (EU) plan was deemed credible, while those of China, the United States (US) and India were found lacking.
Most nations have set targets to eliminate their carbon footprint around mid-century, with commitments from China and India for 2060 and 2070, respectively.
The extent to which Earth remains hospitable in a warming world depends in large measure on whether these pledges are kept, but assessing their credibility has proven difficult.
Many net-zero goals lack details, and some do not even specify if they cover just carbon dioxide or other important planet-warming gases as well, such as methane and nitrous oxide.
These uncertainties have confounded attempts to project global temperature increases, and whether the Paris climate treaty goals of capping global warming at “well below” two degrees Celsius (°C), and at 1.5 °C if possible, remains within reach.
If both short-term and long-term plans from all countries are accepted at face value, global warming could stabilise in that critical range between 1.5°C and 2°C. But if only policies already in place are taken into account and vague promises are set aside, temperatures are more likely to settle between 2.5°C and 3°C.
ABOVE & BELOW: Emmisions from a coal-fired power plant are silhouetted against the setting sun in Kansas City, Missouri in the United States; and a young boy plays on a hill called ‘Teletubbies Hill’, a popular tourist attraction, as the chimneys of Suralaya coal power plant loom in the background, in Cilegon, Indonesia. PHOTOS: AP
“The two outcomes could not contrast more,” Director of research at Imperial College’s Grantham Institute Joeri Rogelj and a team of international scientists wrote in the journal Science.
One scenario sees climate damages capped a “potentially manageable level”, and the other “climate change continues toward levels that undermine sustainable development”.
Every country in the world whose greenhouse gas emissions comprise at least 0.1 per cent of the global total was then given a “credibility rating” of higher, lower or much lower.
A handful of countries besides the EU got top marks, including Britain and New Zealand.
But around 90 per cent inspired lower or much lower confidence, including the US and China, which together account for more than a third of global emissions.
Most of the worlds major emerging economies – Brazil, India, South Africa and Indonesia, for example – got the lowest ratings, as did Gulf states Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, hosts respectively of last year’s COP27 climate summit and COP28 in Dubai in December.
Among wealthy nations, only Australia was in the least credible tier. Today, a third of the 35 nations have net zero policies enshrined in law.
“Making targets legally binding is crucial to ensure long-term plans are adopted,” said co-author Robin Lamboll, from Imperial College’s Centre for Environmental Policy. “We need to see concrete legislation in order to trust that action will follow promises.”
Detailed, step-by-step plans showing how emissions cuts will be distributed over time across all economic and social sectors is key, the authors said. The researchers applied the new credibility ratings to model different scenarios for future emissions and the temperatures they will yield.
When only net-zero plans that inspired high confidence were added to policies already under way, global warming was projected to top out at 2.4°C by 2100 – still far above the Paris targets.
“The world is still on a high-risk climate track, and we are far from delivering a safe climate future,” Rogelj said in a statement.
Electric vehicle batteries are manufactured at a factory in Dongguan, China. PHOTO: CNA
CNA – China should standardise requirements for electric vehicle (EV) batteries in order to keep its edge over other markets such as the United States (US) and Europe in the rapidly growing industry, the country’s former industry minister said yesterday.
“Europe and the US are ramping up efforts to develop local battery makers, while protectionism has resurfaced,” Miao Wei told the World Power Battery Conference in China’s city of Yibin.
He said it was therefore urgent to standardise battery specifications and sizes for electric vehicles to secure China’s leadership in the industry, adding there were currently 145 types of battery requirements in the country.
Miao is now Deputy Director of an economic affairs committee within the top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
China dominates EV battery supply, with 63 per cent of the batteries installed in EVs in 2022 coming from Chinese companies, Miao said, adding the country also supplied 70 per cent of lithium, 70 per cent of cathode materials and 90 per cent of anode materials used in batteries worldwide last year.
Miao said in light of the global consensus on the need to cut carbon emissions, it would help Chinese battery makers in world markets if they build a carbon footprint management system in line with global standards for the battery-making industry.
Chinese battery giant CATL announced in April its targets to achieve carbon neutrality with all its battery-making plants by 2025, and across its battery value chain by 2035.
Electric vehicle batteries are manufactured at a factory in Dongguan, China. PHOTO: CNA
Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun shoots the ball against Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson. PHOTO: AP
DENVER (AP) – Denver Nuggets rookie Christian Braun is showing that the NBA finals is not too big of a stage for him.
The 21st pick in the draft last summer, Braun has made the most of his minutes off the bench, sinking 10 of 12 shots, grabbing a half dozen rebounds and collecting four steals against the Miami Heat while giving teammates an extended breather.
“That’s a rare rookie right here,” Aaron Gordon said. “From Day one he’s been on top of it. This is a real winner right here. I say that because he’s always in the right spot. He’s in the right place at the right time, and he’s been doing that all year.”
Braun has a chance to become just the fifth player in NBA history to win an NBA title a year after winning the NCAA championship, joining Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Henry Bibby and Billy Thompson.
Braun gave the Nuggets a much-needed lift in Denver’s Game 3 rout of the Heat. With Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray making history with the first dual triple-double in the NBA Finals, Braun scored 15 points in 19 minutes on a night starters Michael Porter Jr and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope struggled again.
Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun shoots the ball against Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson. PHOTO: AP
Braun’s remarkable resume includes three state championships at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas, and a national title with the Jayhawks last year.
Most rookies who cap their college careers with championships have to bide their time in the pros until it’s, well, their time. Braun is two wins away from an incredible fifth championship in seven years.
And one of those years without a title came in 2020, when the pandemic shuttered sports and society at a time the Jayhawks were entering the NCAA tournament as the nation’s number one team.
“Getting shut down, we feel like we were definitely held back from something,” said Braun, who helped Kansas win the national title two years later when he had 12 points and 12 rebounds in the Jayhawks’ 72-69 win over North Carolina in the national championship.
“I’m definitely blessed,” Braun said. “It’s not necessarily an individual accomplishment. I’ve been a part of some really good teams with really good coaches and really good players.”
Like on the court, he’s been in the right place at the right time his whole life.
“All year long the one thing I’ve talked about with Christian is that he’s a winner,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “The guy has won at every level, and here he is in the NBA Finals. It’s kind of staying true to form for Christian Brawn.”
Malone said he knew Braun’s addition was going to be big when the 6-7 shooting guard whose last name is pronounced “Brown”, helped Denver to a 128-123 win at Golden State in the second game of the season with Murray in street clothes as he worked his way back from a torn ACL.
CNA – Next week’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal will be a bigger challenge for resurgent Mercedes than last Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, the team’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said on Thursday.
Mercedes finished second and third at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya with seven times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell securing the team’s first double podium of the campaign.
Shovlin said in a team debrief that an upgrade package and the track characteristics helped Mercedes in Spain but Montreal was a very different circuit.
“There are more low-speed corners, quite a lot of straight-line full throttle and we would expect more of a challenge there,” he said.
“We are not thinking that we are going in nipping at the heels of Red Bull.
“We are going in there prepared for a battle with Ferrari, Aston Martin and maybe even Alpine.”
Champions Red Bull have won all seven races so far this season, with championship leader Max Verstappen taking five victories and Mexican team mate Sergio Perez his closest title rival with two.
Aston Martin are third overall, ahead of Ferrari and Renault-owned Alpine.
Shovlin noted that the difference between qualifying in second place and 10th on the grid came down to only a few tenths of a second.
“We are looking forward to more exciting racing but certainly we are aware that Canada is likely to be a bigger challenge than the Sunday we just had in Barcelona,” he added.
Verstappen won from pole in Canada last year with Hamilton third, behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Russell was fourth.
Hamilton took the first win of his Formula One career in Canada in 2007 with McLaren and has won that race seven times in total – a record he shares with Ferrari great Michael Schumacher.
CNA – Ferrari swept the front row in qualifying for the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race on Thursday, with the number 50 car taking the Italian marque’s first pole at the Sarthe circuit in 50 years.
Italian Antonio Fuoco was at the wheel of the 499P car he shares with Spaniard Miguel Molina and Denmark’s Nicklas Nielsen as Ferrari ended champions Toyota’s run of six successive Le Mans poles.
“It feels amazing, in front of all these people. Ferrari’s back after 50 years and we scored a pole position,” Fuoco told Eurosport television after the 30 minute hyperpole session.
“It was a really good lap, a really tough qualifying.”
The sister number 51 car, shared by Italian Alessandro Pier Guidi, Britain’s James Calado and ex-Formula One racer Antonio Giovinazzi, qualified 0.773 slower than the pole lap of three minutes 22.982 seconds.
Ferrari logo. PHOTO: CNA
The number eight hybrid Toyota of defending champions Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland, New Zealander Brendon Hartley and Japan’s Ryo Hirakawa qualified third.
The Porsche 963 shared by France’s Mathieu Jaminet, Brazilian Felipe Nasr and Britain’s former winner Nick Tandy qualified fourth.
The number seven Toyota of Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi, Britain’s Mike Conway and Argentina’s Jose Maria Lopez will line up fifth and ahead of the Cadillac driven by New Zealand’s two times winner Earl Bamber and Britons Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook.
The qualifying session was red-flagged with five minutes and 15 seconds still on the clock when the number three Cadillac driven by Le Mans-born Sebastien Bourdais stopped at the first chicane after catching fire.
Bourdais had set the third fastest time but it was deleted for causing the red flag and the car qualified eighth. Kobayashi also lost his best lap, allowing Nasr to take fourth.
The last Ferrari pole at Le Mans was set by Italian Arturo Merzario in 1973, the last time the Italian marque entered as a factory outfit in the top category.
Le Mans is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first 24 hours held in 1923.
Workers at the construction site of an apartment building in Pasay, Metro Manila in the Philippines. PHOTO: CNA
CNA – The Philippine government yesterday maintained its 2023 gross domestic product (GDP) growth target at six per cent to seven per cent, confident the country can withstand external and domestic risks, including the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon.
The GDP growth target for the 2024 to 2028 period was kept at 6.5 per cent to eight per cent, an inter-agency panel added, following a review of macroeconomic and fiscal assumptions.
The panel includes the central bank, departments of finance and budget and the economic planning agency.
“These projections have already taken into account the risks posed by El Nino and other natural disasters, global trade tensions, and value chain disruptions, among other factors,” it said.
In the Philippines and other parts of Asia, El Nino usually causes hot, dry weather that results in lower agricultural production and disruption in water and power supplies.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, also the agriculture secretary, has directed all government agencies to implement water conservation measures in light of the looming long dry spell due to El Nino, his office said yesterday.
Workers at the construction site of an apartment building in Pasay, Metro Manila in the Philippines. PHOTO: CNA
The agriculture department has also come up with measures to support the farm sector, including buffer stocking of inputs, adjusting planting calendar, and promoting drought tolerant crops.
The Philippine economy grew at an annual pace of 6.4 per cent in the first quarter, cooling to its slowest in two years as red-hot inflation and high interest rates dampened consumption.
Economic Planning Minister Arsenio Balisacan, however, painted a rosy outlook for the year.
“Three-fourths of growth is domestic demand, and we plan to strengthen that to offset headwinds from the global economy,” he said.
The panel revised the 2023 inflation assumption to a narrower five per cent to six per cent versus the previous five per cent to seven per cent, taking into account a recent easing of consumer price pressures.
The 2024-2028 inflation assumption was kept at two per cent to four per cent.
The government’s 2023 GDP growth target is anchored on an exchange-rate assumption of PHP54 to PHP57 per dollar for 2023, revised from PHP53 to PHP57.
The rate assumption for 2024-2028 was unchanged at PHP53 to PHP57 per dollar.
The fiscal assumptions were also unchanged, with annual budget deficits programmed at 6.1 per cent of GDP for 2023, 5.1 per cent for 2024, 4.1 per cent for 2025, 3.5 per cent for 2026, 3.2 per cent for 2027 and three per cent for 2028.
