millions – Business News Updates https://newsdaily.business Wed, 18 Jan 2023 04:50:48 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://newsdaily.business/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-handshake-hand-gesture-dollar-money-finance-coin_96px-32x32.png millions - Business News Updates https://newsdaily.business 32 32 Magic Millions Proves Sales Market Still Strong https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/18/magic-millions-proves-sales-market-still-strong/ https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/18/magic-millions-proves-sales-market-still-strong/#respond Wed, 18 Jan 2023 04:50:48 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/18/magic-millions-proves-sales-market-still-strong/ Syndicators have reported continued insatiable demand for shares in racehorses, following an affluent Magic Millions yearling sale on the Gold Coast, giving confidence to the strength of the middle market underlying racehorse ownership in Australia.   Some prominent players in the industry had forecast an element of trepidation within the market leading into the season-opening […]]]>


Syndicators have reported continued insatiable demand for shares in racehorses, following an affluent Magic Millions yearling sale on the Gold Coast, giving confidence to the strength of the middle market underlying racehorse ownership in Australia.  

Some prominent players in the industry had forecast an element of trepidation within the market leading into the season-opening auction, amid suggestions of a retracting economy and rising interest rates, factors that would likely put a squeeze on the disposable income of Australian households—in contrast with the relentless demand for racehorse ownership during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the record-breaking Magic Millions sale defied any such pessimism within the bloodstock industry, as unprecedented aggregate and average figures were set on the Gold Coast.

While the strength at the top end of the market was prevalent for all to see, and resulted in four $2 million-plus (AU) lots for the first time at Magic Millions, the middle market also played its hand, as syndicators splashed in excess of AU$24 million across the seven-day sale.

And their confidence in the market appears to be justified, with one syndicator reporting shares in all 10 of their horses purchased last week to be already “70 percent sold,” less than 48 hours after the conclusion of the Magic Millions sale on Jan. 16.

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Victoria-based syndicators Bennett Racing spent AU$2,465,000 (US$1,722,936) during the Magic Millions sale, breaking their record price paid for a yearling no less than four times, as the operation secured an AU$400,000 Snitzel  (US$279,584) filly, alongside an AU$370,000 (US$258,615) filly by Zoustar  in conjunction with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, an AU$330,000 (US$230,657) Extreme Choice colt with Ciaron Maher, and an AU$310,000 (US$216,678) colt by the same Newgate stallion.

“The market was very solid. I think it’s the strongest market that we’ve ever been involved with,” said Nathan Bennett, principal of Bennett Racing.

“All the nice horses were making good money, and everything in Australia is going up (in price). The old $150,000 horse is now $250,000, so if you don’t back yourself in, you’re not going to be able to buy those horses.

Scene, 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale
Photo: Courtesy of Magic Millions/Bronwen Healy & Darren Tindale Photography

Sales were brisk at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale

“The take up of shares has been fantastic. From the 10 horses we’ve purchased, we’re sitting at about 70 percent sold across the horses. Some are pretty much done, others have a little way to go, but 70 percent across all 10 is a good position to be in.”

Syndicators expending with record purchases was not an uncommon feature of the Gold Coast yearling sale. In addition to Bennett Racing’s new benchmark, Jamie Walter of Proven Thoroughbreds went to AU$470,000 (US$328,511) for a filly by Deep Field, surpassing the AU$450,000 Walter paid in 2021 for Proven’s listed-winning filly Stroll.

Joe O’Neill’s Prime Thoroughbreds and Triple Crown Syndications last week both went to their second-highest-ever price paid for a yearling; Darby Racing paid AU$1,705,000 (US$1,191,727) for eight yearlings; while Star Thoroughbreds, the leading buyer by aggregate among syndicators with 11 purchases amassing AU$2.9 million (US$2,026,984), paid a top price of AU$410,000 (US$286,574) for a filly by I Am Invincible .

Dynamic Syndications were also active at the Magic Millions sale, purchasing 13 horses for a total of AU$2,040,000 (US$1,425,878).

Among those lots was a three-quarter brother to Capitalist, a Pierro  colt out of a half sister to Fastnet Rock, and a Justify   colt out of a half-sister to group 1 winner Takedown.

Dynamic director Adam Watt spoke of how he believed the middle market presented an opportunity at the Gold Coast, with that section of the market “not as strong” as he had anticipated.

“We exceeded the quality of the horses we wanted, so we were delighted to be able to walk away with what we did,” said Adam Watt of Dynamic Syndications. “I think the market at the moment is a two-speed market, and I think that’s probably backed up by the median and the sale averages.

“The big stallion funds are going to unprecedented levels, but I thought that in the middle market there was unbelievable value for money. We’ve walked away with three Snitzels with two of them out of proper black-type mares.

“We thought some of those horses would go for much more than what we were able to get them for. I thought they’d well and truly exceed our values for what we could go to with our budgets.”

Watt said Dynamic, who sold out of all shares of horses purchased last year in November, were “ahead” of where they were 12 months ago in terms of share take up from their clients.

“Take up of shares has been unbelievable,” he said. “People are still after quality. It doesn’t matter what environment you’re in, economically, people will still want quality.

“They still want to go out and buy BMWs and look at nice homes, and the bloodstock market is exactly the same. When you’re giving people the opportunity to race three-quarter brothers to Capitalists and horses out of half-relations to Fastnet Rock…  we went there and shopped really hard and our clients have responded in kind.”

 



Read More:
Magic Millions Proves Sales Market Still Strong

2023-01-18 01:25:00

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Netanyahu: ‘Millions Of Israelis Demanded To Reform The Justice System’ https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/15/netanyahu-millions-of-israelis-demanded-to-reform-the-justice-system/ https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/15/netanyahu-millions-of-israelis-demanded-to-reform-the-justice-system/#respond Sun, 15 Jan 2023 11:27:57 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/15/netanyahu-millions-of-israelis-demanded-to-reform-the-justice-system/ ‘Many of those who did not vote for us who knew and agreed that it was necessary to make fundamental corrections in the judicial system,’ says Netanyahu During Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the Saturday night protests, comparing them to the November elections. “Two months ago, there was a huge […]]]>


‘Many of those who did not vote for us who knew and agreed that it was necessary to make fundamental corrections in the judicial system,’ says Netanyahu

During Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the Saturday night protests, comparing them to the November elections.

“Two months ago, there was a huge demonstration in Israel, the mother of all demonstrations,” Netanyahu stated. “Millions of people took to the streets to vote in the elections. One of the main issues they voted for is reforming the judicial system.”

Amos Ben Gershom / GPO
Amos Ben Gershom / GPOPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (third from the left) speaks during a cabinet meeting, January 15, 2023.

On Saturday night, an estimated 80,000 in the central city of Tel Aviv and many thousands in Jerusalem turned out to protest against reforms to Israel’s judicial system proposed by a minister. The November 2022 elections – the fifth since 2019 – saw some of the highest voter turnout in recent Israeli history. The result saw the Netanyahu bloc outpoll the so-called “anti-Netanyahu” bloc by roughly 30,000 votes. 

“In recent days, I have heard an attempt to claim that the public did not know what they were voting for,” Netanyahu continued. “So here is a quote, one of many, from my friends from the election campaign and me: ‘We will make the necessary corrections in the judicial system out of consideration and responsibility. We are going to fix the system, save it and not destroy it.'”

Amos Ben Gershom / GPO
Amos Ben Gershom / GPOPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) speaks during a cabinet meeting, January 15, 2023.

“My friends and I, many of whom are here around the table, have said this countless times, and millions of citizens who voted for the right-wing camp knew about the intention to reform the judicial system comprehensively,” the prime minister added. “More than that, they demanded it from us. Anyone who was at our election rallies, in the city centers, in the neighborhoods, we heard the voice rising from the crowd.” 

“And many of those who did not vote for us who knew and agreed that it was necessary to make fundamental corrections in the judicial system,” he added. Netanyahu then noted that when other governments – both on the right and the left – called to reform the judicial system, no one called it the “end of democracy.” 



Read More:Netanyahu: ‘Millions Of Israelis Demanded To Reform The Justice System’

2023-01-15 10:41:16

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Mega Millions numbers: 1 winning ticket for the $1.35B jackpot; $1M tickets sold in Manhattan, Long Island City https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/14/mega-millions-numbers-1-winning-ticket-for-the-1-35b-jackpot-1m-tickets-sold-in-manhattan-long-island-city/ https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/14/mega-millions-numbers-1-winning-ticket-for-the-1-35b-jackpot-1m-tickets-sold-in-manhattan-long-island-city/#respond Sat, 14 Jan 2023 17:14:47 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/14/mega-millions-numbers-1-winning-ticket-for-the-1-35b-jackpot-1m-tickets-sold-in-manhattan-long-island-city/ NEW YORK (WABC) — A single ticket-holder in Maine will be celebrating a very happy new year after that ticket is the only one to match all six numbers drawn in Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing. The prize is an estimated $1.35 billion ($724.6 million cash), which is the second-largest jackpot in the history of […]]]>


NEW YORK (WABC) — A single ticket-holder in Maine will be celebrating a very happy new year after that ticket is the only one to match all six numbers drawn in Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing.

The prize is an estimated $1.35 billion ($724.6 million cash), which is the second-largest jackpot in the history of the game!

The numbers drawn late Friday night were: 30, 43, 45, 46, 61 and gold Mega Ball 14.

Even if you weren’t that one winning ticket-holder, don’t throw your tickets out just yet. Tickets worth $1 million were sold at Mega News Inc in Manhattan and Momta Grocery Inc in Long Island City.

The jackpot had been rolling since it was last won on October 14, when a $502 million prize was shared by winning tickets in California and Florida.

This 26-drawing jackpot run ends with a bang, with 7,072,832 winning tickets across all nine prize tiers in the January 13 drawing alone, including the jackpot-winning ticket. Fourteen tickets matched all five white balls to win the game’s second-tier prize of $1 million. Four were sold in New York, two in California, and one each in Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas.

For matching four white balls plus the Mega Ball, 164 tickets have a third-tier win. Of those, 27 included the optional Megaplier (available in most states with an extra $1 purchase), which was 2X on Friday night; they are worth $20,000 each. The remaining 137 second-tier winning tickets take home the standard $10,000 prize.

The chances of winning a Mega Millions drawing are slim at one in nearly 303 million.

Friday night’s jackpot win is the seventh on a Friday the 13th since the game began in 2002, and the first on such a day since October 2017.

Michigan has been particularly lucky with Mega Millions jackpots on Friday the 13th, winning four of them (June 2008, May 2011, June 2014 and October 2017). That 2017 jackpot was shared with a winner in Rhode Island. Other jackpots on Friday the 13th have been won in New York (March 2009) and Ohio (November 2015). None of them, however, came close in size to the estimated $1.35 billion won this time.

Here is a look at the 10 largest U.S. jackpots that have been won and the states where the winning tickets were sold:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)

2. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)

3. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)

4. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023 (one ticket from Maine)

5. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)

6. $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)

7. $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)

8. $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)

9. $731.1 million, Powerball, Jan. 20, 2021 (one ticket, from Maryland)

10. $699.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 4, 2021 (one ticket, from California)

RELATED: Here’s what you could buy if you win

The credit for the recent big prizes is actually due to math — and more difficult odds.

In the fall of 2017, lottery officials approved changes to Mega Millions that significantly lengthened the odds from one in 258.9 million to one in 302.6 million. They made similar changes to Powerball in October 2015, worsening the odds from one in 175.2 million to one in 292.2 million.

The idea was that by making jackpots less common, ticket revenue could build up week after week, creating giant prizes that would attract attention and pull in more players who had grown blasé about $100 million or $200 million top prizes.

In August 2021, Powerball also added a third weekly drawing, which enabled the jackpot to roll over and grow even more quickly as people had more chances to play, and lose. Mega Millions has stuck with the two weekly drawings.

Thanks to those moves, nine of the top 10 largest lottery prizes have been won since 2017.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WATCH: New York state lottery drawings live daily at 2:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. and Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8:15 p.m.

Powerball drawings are also streamed here on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 p.m.

Mega Millions drawings are streamed on Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 p.m.

The New York Lottery is North America’s largest and most profitable, contributing billions of dollars to help support education in New York State.

Revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education. According to the New York lottery, the formula takes into account both a school district’s size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of Lottery school funding.

For more information about the New York lottery and to see lottery results, please visit nylottery.ny.gov..

New Yorkers struggling with a gambling addiction, or who know someone who is, can find help by calling the State’s toll-free, confidential HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY (1-877-846-7369) or by texting HOPENY (467369). Standard text rates may apply.

———-

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Read More:Mega Millions numbers: 1 winning ticket for the $1.35B jackpot; $1M tickets sold in Manhattan, Long Island City

2023-01-14 16:26:57

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Mega Millions winning numbers tonight 2023: $1.35B up for grabs on Friday the 13th https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/14/mega-millions-winning-numbers-tonight-2023-1-35b-up-for-grabs-on-friday-the-13th/ https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/14/mega-millions-winning-numbers-tonight-2023-1-35b-up-for-grabs-on-friday-the-13th/#respond Sat, 14 Jan 2023 05:12:44 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/14/mega-millions-winning-numbers-tonight-2023-1-35b-up-for-grabs-on-friday-the-13th/ NEW YORK (WABC) — The numbers for an estimated $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot were drawn and now all hopeful players can do is wait until word of a possible winner. The numbers drawn late Friday night were: 30, 43, 45, 46, 61 and gold Mega Ball 14. The jackpot is the second largest in […]]]>


NEW YORK (WABC) — The numbers for an estimated $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot were drawn and now all hopeful players can do is wait until word of a possible winner.

The numbers drawn late Friday night were: 30, 43, 45, 46, 61 and gold Mega Ball 14.

The jackpot is the second largest in Mega Millions history!

The chances of winning a Mega Millions drawing are slim at one in nearly 303 million.

Don’t be discouraged by those odds. Friday the 13th is the day many play and win. So far, six people have won the lottery on a Friday the 13th.

Michigan has been particularly lucky with Mega Millions jackpots on Friday the 13th, winning four of them (June 2008, May 2011, June 2014 and October 2017). That 2017 jackpot was shared with a winner in Rhode Island. Other jackpots on Friday the 13th have been won in New York (March 2009) and Ohio (November 2015). None of them, however, came close in size to the estimated $1.35 billion up for grabs.

Even though no one came out of Tuesday night’s drawing a billionaire, three people did win $3 million, including someone in New York and another in Connecticut.

People in New York and New Jersey also held tickets worth $1 million.

The last time someone won the top prize was on Oct. 14. Since then, there have been 25 straight drawings without anyone snagging the jackpot.

“So you are 1,363 times more likely to get hit by lightning than to win the lottery,” Professor Bruce Torff said.

Torff said you are also 27,000 times more likely to die in a plane crash or 1,210 times more likely to die by getting hit by a meteorite than win the lotter.

Here is a look at the 10 largest U.S. jackpots that have been won and the states where the winning tickets were sold:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)

2. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)

3. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)

4. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)

5. $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)

6. $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)

7. $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)

8. $731.1 million, Powerball, Jan. 20, 2021 (one ticket, from Maryland)

9. $699.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 4, 2021 (one ticket, from California)

10. $687.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 27, 2018 (two tickets, from Iowa and New York)

RELATED: Here’s what you could buy if you win

The credit for the recent big prizes is actually due to math — and more difficult odds.

In the fall of 2017, lottery officials approved changes to Mega Millions that significantly lengthened the odds from one in 258.9 million to one in 302.6 million. They made similar changes to Powerball in October 2015, worsening the odds from one in 175.2 million to one in 292.2 million.

The idea was that by making jackpots less common, ticket revenue could build up week after week, creating giant prizes that would attract attention and pull in more players who had grown blasé about $100 million or $200 million top prizes.

In August 2021, Powerball also added a third weekly drawing, which enabled the jackpot to roll over and grow even more quickly as people had more chances to play, and lose. Mega Millions has stuck with the two weekly drawings.

Thanks to those moves, nine of the top 10 largest lottery prizes have been won since 2017.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WATCH: New York state lottery drawings live daily at 2:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. and Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8:15 p.m.

Powerball drawings are also streamed here on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 p.m.

Mega Millions drawings are streamed on Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 p.m.

The New York Lottery is North America’s largest and most profitable, contributing billions of dollars to help support education in New York State.

Revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education. According to the New York lottery, the formula takes into account both a school district’s size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of Lottery school funding.

For more information about the New York lottery and to see lottery results, please visit nylottery.ny.gov..

New Yorkers struggling with a gambling addiction, or who know someone who is, can find help by calling the State’s toll-free, confidential HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY (1-877-846-7369) or by texting HOPENY (467369). Standard text rates may apply.

———-

* Get Eyewitness News Delivered

* Follow us on YouTube

* More local news

* Send us a news tip

* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts

Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News

Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.

Copyright © 2023 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.



Read More:Mega Millions winning numbers tonight 2023: $1.35B up for grabs on Friday the 13th

2023-01-14 04:48:21

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Analysis: State anti-ESG laws could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/14/analysis-state-anti-esg-laws-could-cost-taxpayers-hundreds-of-millions/ https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/14/analysis-state-anti-esg-laws-could-cost-taxpayers-hundreds-of-millions/#respond Sat, 14 Jan 2023 03:39:51 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/14/analysis-state-anti-esg-laws-could-cost-taxpayers-hundreds-of-millions/ State-level efforts to penalize companies for use of environmental, social or governance (ESG) goals in investments could cost taxpayers over $708 million, according to a study published by the nonprofit Sunrise Project. ESG incorporates environmental and social factors into investment decisions along with traditional financial metrics. Conservative critics of the practice have argued it introduces […]]]>


State-level efforts to penalize companies for use of environmental, social or governance (ESG) goals in investments could cost taxpayers over $708 million, according to a study published by the nonprofit Sunrise Project.

ESG incorporates environmental and social factors into investment decisions along with traditional financial metrics. Conservative critics of the practice have argued it introduces a political agenda to what should be a purely financial decision.

Eighteen states have either proposed or passed legislation restricting the state from doing business with companies that practice ESG, and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) has announced an investigation into the use of ESG in state pension funds. These bills are based on model legislation written by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative nonprofit that creates draft bills for state legislatures.

In the study, researchers analyzed a Wharton School of Business paper on Texas’s anti-ESG law, which linked the state law to $532 million in higher interest payments on municipal bonds. Sunrise Project analysts extrapolated this to six other states — Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and West Virginia — and estimated the same impacts would cost taxpayers a total of $708 million over the past 12 months.

The range of potential additional costs varies state by state, according to the study.

Florida has both the widest range and highest ceiling, with a range of $97 million to $361 million. While Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has proposed an anti-ESG rule for state pension funds and pulled $2 billion in assets from BlackRock over its use of ESG, the state does not have a law that would specifically affect bond issuance.

“Setting aside the implications of politics interfering in financial decisions, there is the question of how removing major, proven financial companies from the marketplace will affect competition,” the authors wrote. “Restrictions on financial market participants, (and in this analysis we look at large investment banks), alter the outcomes of municipal bond market transactions and modify contractual engagements with state governments.”



Read More:Analysis: State anti-ESG laws could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions

2023-01-13 21:25:00

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Withholding millions from PA, Smotrich says he has ‘no interest’ in its existence https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/08/withholding-millions-from-pa-smotrich-says-he-has-no-interest-in-its-existence/ https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/08/withholding-millions-from-pa-smotrich-says-he-has-no-interest-in-its-existence/#respond Sun, 08 Jan 2023 22:29:29 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2023/01/08/withholding-millions-from-pa-smotrich-says-he-has-no-interest-in-its-existence/ Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday signed a decree to block NIS 139 million ($39.6 million) in tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority and redirect it to families of terror victims, as part of punitive measures against the PA’s international legal action against Israel, decided upon by the government. During a press conference, Smotrich was […]]]>


Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday signed a decree to block NIS 139 million ($39.6 million) in tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority and redirect it to families of terror victims, as part of punitive measures against the PA’s international legal action against Israel, decided upon by the government.

During a press conference, Smotrich was asked whether he was concerned the move could bring about the collapse of the PA, answering: “As long as the Palestinian Authority encourages terror and is an enemy, I have no interest for it to continue to exist.”

Smotrich hailed a years-long campaign to offset the PA’s regular payments to terror convicts and to families of dead Palestinian attackers, which Israel and other critics say offer a direct incentive for terror, calling it a “just struggle…not only in providing retroactive justice, but also as a deterrent.”

Israel has made such deductions in the past, following 2018 legislation on the matter, but only partially upholds the policy, as officials are keenly aware that the PA is dangerously close to financial collapse.

“There is no solace for the families of those murdered, but there is justice,” Smotrich said.

The move is one of the steps approved by the government on Friday to penalize the Palestinians in retaliation for their push for the United Nation’s highest judicial body to give its opinion on Israel’s control of the West Bank. The decision highlights the tough line the new government is taking toward the Palestinians, at a time of spiking violence in the West Bank and with peace talks a distant memory.

Illustrative: Police and security personnel at the scene of a terror attack in Jerusalem, on November 23, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussil/Flash90)

The Palestinian Authority’s practice of paying allowances to those convicted of carrying out terror attacks and to the families of those killed while carrying out attacks — often referred to by some Israeli officials as a pay-to-slay policy — has been defended by Palestinian leaders, who describe them as a form of social welfare and necessary compensation for victims of Israel’s military justice system in the West Bank.

Smotrich told reporters on Sunday that as long as the PA “operates according to agreements, takes care of civilian life and thwarts terror activities in cooperation with Israel’s security establishment, then, of course, it is possible to have relations with the authority.

“This is on the condition that the authority does not resort to terror,” he added.

Abie Moses, the head of the national the Organization of Victims of Terrorism, praised the “important decision,” but added it was only a first step among several demands by those hurt in attacks.

“The inauguration of a new Knesset is an opportunity to atone for the long-standing neglect of the victims of enemy hostilities, and to allocate the necessary resources in order to take care of the rights of thousands who lost their loved ones, who are struggling to survive and trying to continue to live,” he said.

Attorney Avi Segal of Israeli legal advocacy group Shurat HaDin thanked Smotrich and the government for the decision, adding “there is empirical research” that cutting off funds was crucial to preventing terror.

Ron Alon, a relative of terror victims killed in a 2002 Jerusalem attack, called the move “a historic day,” echoing Smotrich’s words about both doing justice for terror victims and potentially deterring future would-be-assailants.

Other punitive measures against the PA include the revocation of travel permits for top Palestinian officials that allow them to travel easily in and out of the West Bank, unlike ordinary Palestinians, and the freezing of Palestinian construction in parts of the West Bank.


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Read More:Withholding millions from PA, Smotrich says he has ‘no interest’ in its existence

2023-01-08 19:45:13

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This little-known bottleneck is blocking clean energy for millions https://newsdaily.business/2022/12/20/this-little-known-bottleneck-is-blocking-clean-energy-for-millions/ https://newsdaily.business/2022/12/20/this-little-known-bottleneck-is-blocking-clean-energy-for-millions/#respond Tue, 20 Dec 2022 13:51:48 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2022/12/20/this-little-known-bottleneck-is-blocking-clean-energy-for-millions/ Comment on this story Comment To achieve America’s goal of shifting 80 percent of the country’s electricity away from fossil fuels by the end of the decade, there will have to be a massive transformation. That means solar farms peppering the landscape from California to New York; offshore wind turbines standing high above the waves […]]]>


Comment

To achieve America’s goal of shifting 80 percent of the country’s electricity away from fossil fuels by the end of the decade, there will have to be a massive transformation. That means solar farms peppering the landscape from California to New York; offshore wind turbines standing high above the waves off the coast of New Jersey; nuclear power plants emitting steam in rural areas. Together, these projects would have to add around 950 gigawatts of new clean energy and 225 gigawatts of energy storage to the grid.

And right now, projects accounting for at least 930 gigawatts of clean energy capacity and 420 gigawatts of storage are waiting to be built across the country.

They just can’t get connected to the grid.

These roadblocks known as “interconnection queues” — are slowing America’s energy transition and the country’s ability to respond to climate change.

“It’s a huge problem,” said David Gahl, executive director of the Solar and Storage Industries Institute, a research group affiliated with the solar industry. “If we don’t make changes, we’re not going to meet state and federal targets for climate change.”

To understand the lines blocking the U.S.’s progress on climate change, you first have to understand a bit about how the electricity grid works. It’s easiest to think about the grid — which carries electrons — like the country’s roads carrying cars.

Electrons are produced by a power plant, sent to a substation (those big systems of crisscrossing wires and transformers often near a big city center), and then connected to huge, high-voltage transmission lines that carry power across the country. Transmission lines carry electrons long distances across the country, much like interstate highways. Those electrons then pass into the “distribution” system, which is much like the smaller side streets, expressways, and roads that lead to individual homes and businesses.

When an energy developer wants to build a new power plant, they have to submit an application to see how adding that facility will affect the grid — sort of like trying to build an on-ramp onto a big interstate highway, according to Joe Rand, a senior engineering associate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Regional authorities have to check to make sure that the highway can accommodate a new on-ramp without causing traffic pileups. In the same way that an authority might ask the road-builder to pay for the construction of the on-ramp — or, if the highway is really congested already, to pay to add an extra lane — regional authorities ask energy developers to pay to connect their solar or wind farms to the grid.

Biden wants to expand offshore wind energy, but choppy seas lie ahead

Getting the okay to connect has gotten harder and harder. According to Rand’s research, between 2000 and 2010 it took around two years for a project to make it through the queue. Now, it’s taking almost twice as long. At the end of 2021, there were 8,100 projects sitting in line, waiting for permission to get connected. Together, they represent more than the combined power capacity of all U.S. electricity plants.

And 93 percent of those projects are solar, wind, or battery storage. One transmission authority, PJM — which covers Pennsylvania, West Virginia, D.C., and other areas on the Eastern Seaboard — accounts for nearly a third of the delays.

Asked about the matter, PJM spokeswoman Susan Buehler said the authority has recently improved its process, and that the changes will reduce the backlog.

Part of the reason for the backlog is that clean energy is booming. In the past, most of the power plants connected to the grid were coal or natural gas — big, fairly centralized power plants that had a set way of connecting to the larger grid. But now, with the rapid increase in wind and solar, there are different kinds of projects trying to connect to it, and they are much more widely scattered across the landscape.

“The system just wasn’t built to handle this kind of volume,” Gahl said.

At the same time, the country’s high-voltage transmission lines — again, a bit like a bunch of interstate highways — are almost at full capacity, jammed with tons of electron traffic. “Limited transmission capacity is really the root cause,” said Rob Gramlich, president and founder of the consulting group Grid Strategies. When transmission is jammed up, developers may have to pay more money to get their connection to the grid. That may cause a developer to rethink their plan, or potentially cancel their wind, solar, or geothermal plant entirely.

To fight climate change, environmentalists may have to give up a core belief

Rand, the researcher at Berkeley Laboratory, says that not all projects that enter the queue ultimately get built. Developers may decide to focus on other projects or try to get permits later on. But, he added, the projects that withdraw from the queue “have drastically higher interconnection costs” indicating that some wind and solar farms may not be getting built because it costs so much to connect to the grid. In one study, Rand and a team of researchers from Berkeley Lab found that connecting a wind farm to the grid between 2019 and 2021 in areas of the Midwest and Canada cost about double what it did from 2000 to 2018.

Some experts and developers have offered solutions. Gahl says that some of the problem can be solved simply by making more data available to developers about the costs of connecting to the grid at different locations. Right now many companies throw a lot of applications in, hoping one will stick.

“When a developer goes into the process, they go into it kind of with a blindfold on,” he added.

Changing the order that transmission authorities receive and manage applications could also speed up approvals. Most of the time, the queues operate as “first-come, first-served” — meaning that they assess the projects in the order they were received. But some regional authorities already plan to shift to a “first-ready, first-served” model, where wind, solar, and other power plant proposals are clustered into groups and then approved in batches.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — the agency that regulates transmission across the United States — also plans to create a new rule that it says will help streamline the process.

But experts say the United States needs to radically expand transmission lines — now spanning 700,000 miles across the country — to accelerate the energy transition. Scientists estimate that transmission will have to increase 25 percent over the course of the decade to meet U.S. climate goals.

That will make it easier and cheaper for new projects to connect to the grid, and for all the country’s electricity to get to where it needs to go.

Even as money flows into the development of renewable energy, those transmission lines have lagged behind. “If you look over the past decade, you’re actually seeing fewer miles of high-voltage transmission builds per year than we used to in the past,” Rand said. “That trend line is going in the wrong direction.”

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Read More:This little-known bottleneck is blocking clean energy for millions

2022-12-20 13:11:41

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Darknet markets generate millions in revenue selling stolen personal data, supply chain study finds https://newsdaily.business/2022/12/12/darknet-markets-generate-millions-in-revenue-selling-stolen-personal-data-supply-chain-study-finds/ https://newsdaily.business/2022/12/12/darknet-markets-generate-millions-in-revenue-selling-stolen-personal-data-supply-chain-study-finds/#respond Mon, 12 Dec 2022 20:30:05 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2022/12/12/darknet-markets-generate-millions-in-revenue-selling-stolen-personal-data-supply-chain-study-finds/ It is common to hear news reports about large data breaches, but what happens once your personal data is stolen? Our research shows that, like most legal commodities, stolen data products flow through a supply chain consisting of producers, wholesalers and consumers. But this supply chain involves the interconnection of multiple criminal organizations operating in […]]]>


It is common to hear news reports about large data breaches, but what happens once your personal data is stolen? Our research shows that, like most legal commodities, stolen data products flow through a supply chain consisting of producers, wholesalers and consumers. But this supply chain involves the interconnection of multiple criminal organizations operating in illicit underground marketplaces.

The stolen data supply chain begins with producers – hackers who exploit vulnerable systems and steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers, bank account information and Social Security numbers. Next, the stolen data is advertised by wholesalers and distributors who sell the data. Finally, the data is purchased by consumers who use it to commit various forms of fraud, including fraudulent credit card transactions, identity theft and phishing attacks.

This trafficking of stolen data between producers, wholesalers and consumers is enabled by darknet markets, which are websites that resemble ordinary e-commerce websites but are accessible only using special browsers or authorization codes.

We found several thousand vendors selling tens of thousands of stolen data products on 30 darknet markets. These vendors had more than US$140 million in revenue over an eight-month period.

Darknet markets

Just like traditional e-commerce sites, darknet markets provide a platform for vendors to connect with potential buyers to facilitate transactions. Darknet markets, though, are notorious for the sale of illicit products. Another key distinction is that access to darknet markets requires the use of special software such as the Onion Router, or TOR, which provides security and anonymity.

Silk Road, which emerged in 2011, combined TOR and bitcoin to become the first known darknet market. The market was eventually seized in 2013, and the founder, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years without the possibility of parole. Ulbricht’s hefty prison sentence did not appear to have the intended deterrent effect. Multiple markets emerged to fill the void and, in doing so, created a thriving ecosystem profiting from stolen personal data.

Stolen data ecosystem

Recognizing the role of darknet markets in trafficking stolen data, we conducted the largest systematic examination of stolen data markets that we are aware of to better understand the size and scope of this illicit online ecosystem. To do this, we first identified 30 darknet markets advertising stolen data products.

Next, we extracted information about stolen data products from the markets on a weekly basis for eight months, from Sept. 1, 2020, through April 30, 2021. We then used this information to determine the number of vendors selling stolen data products, the number of stolen data products advertised, the number of products sold and the amount of revenue generated.

In total, there were 2,158 vendors who advertised at least one of the 96,672 product listings across the 30 marketplaces. Vendors and product listings were not distributed equally across markets. On average, marketplaces had 109 unique vendor aliases and 3,222 product listings related to stolen data products. Marketplaces recorded 632,207 sales across these markets, which generated $140,337,999 in total revenue. Again, there is high variation across the markets. On average, marketplaces had 26,342 sales and generated $5,847,417 in revenue.

After assessing the aggregate characteristics of the ecosystem, we analyzed each of the markets individually. In doing so, we found that a handful of markets were responsible for trafficking most of the stolen data products. The three largest markets – Apollon, WhiteHouse and Agartha – contained 58% of all vendors. The number of listings ranged from 38 to 16,296, and the total number of sales ranged from 0 to 237,512. The total revenue of markets also varied substantially during the 35-week period: It ranged from $0 to $91,582,216 for the most successful market, Agartha.

For comparison, most midsize companies operating in the U.S. earn between $10 million and $1 billion annually. Both Agartha and Cartel earned enough revenue within the 35-week period we tracked them to be characterized as midsize companies, earning $91.6 million and $32.3 million, respectively. Other markets like Aurora, DeepMart and WhiteHouse were also on track to reach the revenue of a midsize company if given a full year to earn.

Our research details a thriving underground economy and illicit supply chain enabled by darknet markets. As long as data is routinely stolen, there are likely to be marketplaces for the stolen information.

These darknet markets are difficult to disrupt directly, but efforts to thwart customers of stolen data from using it offers some hope. We believe that advances in artificial intelligence can provide law enforcement agencies, financial institutions and others with information needed to prevent stolen data from being used to commit fraud. This could stop the flow of stolen data through the supply chain and disrupt the underground economy that profits from your personal data.

The Conversation

Christian Jordan Howell, Assistant Professor in Cybercrime, University of South Florida and David Maimon, Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.





Read More:Darknet markets generate millions in revenue selling stolen personal data, supply chain study finds

2022-12-12 19:44:47

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‘Gasland’ driller will pay millions for new water system in Dimock https://newsdaily.business/2022/11/30/gasland-driller-will-pay-millions-for-new-water-system-in-dimock/ https://newsdaily.business/2022/11/30/gasland-driller-will-pay-millions-for-new-water-system-in-dimock/#respond Wed, 30 Nov 2022 06:18:24 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2022/11/30/gasland-driller-will-pay-millions-for-new-water-system-in-dimock/ Attorney General Josh Shapiro spoke after the hearing Tuesday at Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas in Montrose, saying 14 years was too long for residents to wait for clean water. “There were failures at every level,” he said. “The local elected officials where someone would normally go, ignored them. The regulators whose job it […]]]>


Attorney General Josh Shapiro spoke after the hearing Tuesday at Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas in Montrose, saying 14 years was too long for residents to wait for clean water.

“There were failures at every level,” he said. “The local elected officials where someone would normally go, ignored them. The regulators whose job it is to set the boundaries for industry to operate in, failed.”

Shapiro charged Houston-based Cabot Oil and Gas in June 2020 after recommendations from a grand jury found that the company “failed to acknowledge and correct conduct that polluted Pennsylvania water through stray gas migration.”

The company’s plea stems from violations of the state’s Clean Streams law, as well as illegal industrial discharges. The grand jury report also said the company’s “long-term indifference” to the damage it caused warrants penalties that rise beyond technical violations. Read the charging document here.

Shapiro and residents also pointed the finger at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Victoria Switzer of Dimock reminded those present of those who chose to move out, those who passed away, and that the DEP had promised a water line back in 2012.

“It’s the people’s lawyer who got it done,” said Spitzer, a retired school teacher. “Our own elected officials, DEP, EPA failed us miserably.”

DEP could not be reached for comment by Tuesday evening.

Victoria Switzer in her home in Dimock, 2012. Switzer and her neighbors complained to DEP, which did find Cabot Oil and Gas responsible for methane migration, but not other contaminants listed on water tests. Residents, who did not have baseline water tests, sued Cabot. Most, including Switzer, settled their cases. (Susan Phillips/StateImpact PA)

“Denied, Denied Denied”

The company, which is now Coterra, released a statement saying it has “worked closely with the Office of Attorney General to resolve historical matters.”

“As our operations today showcase, Coterra strives to follow best practices, exceed industry standards, and to continue to be a valuable community partner,” wrote spokesman George Stark in an email. “We are committed to being a responsible steward of the Commonwealth’s natural resources and will continue to work closely with our landowners and community leaders.”

Cabot had consistently denied responsibility for the damage despite findings by several state and federal agencies to the contrary.

“They’re all going to have to sit there and eat crow because every one of them has been lying about us for a decade,” Kemble said. “Saying this is fake, it’s false and everything else. Well after today, me and the rest of my neighbors of Dimock, we’re vindicated. Showing we’ve been telling the truth all these years.”

As much as Kemble says it’s a good day, he says he still has to haul water for several years before construction is complete. And, he would have liked to see someone do jail time.

“The higher ups of these companies, they should be going to jail,” Kemble said. “Every damn one of them should be going to jail. Because they knew exactly what was going on here. They knew the water pollution was happening. They knew people were dying, they knew it was toxic, and they just sat there and denied, denied, denied, denied.”

The company itself, not Cabot leaders or employees, was charged. On Tuesday, Shapiro said even had they taken the company to trial and won, the maximum penalty would have been about $600,000, which he called “pocket change for such a company.”

“I know people are frustrated because no CEO is led away in handcuffs,” he said.

He called for a change in the law to have environmental polluters face stricter penalties. Legal experts say it’s very difficult and rare to hold individuals accountable for environmental crimes.

Gas drilling in Dimock has drawn both national and international attention. Here, actor Mark Ruffalo attends a rally in the village after the DEP decided Cabot could end free water deliveries. (Susan Phillips/StateImpact PA)

Amidst promises of riches, water ruined

Cabot came to Dimock Township, population roughly 1,200, around 2008 at the start of the fracking boom in Pennsylvania and amid the U.S. economic recession. It paid landowners per acre for the right to drill, with the promise of royalties on the natural gas that came out of the ground. And some residents did experience economic benefits without damage to their drinking water. But the battles with Cabot over lack of potable water for some ended up dividing a once tight-knit community.

In his comments after the court hearing, Shapiro cited Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment, which guarantees clean air and water to all residents, and had a warning for other companies.

“We will not allow communities like this to be taken advantage of, or forgotten,” he said. “Your constitutional rights matter here in Pennsylvania.”

Shapiro won election as governor in November and will take office in January.

Although issues with gas drilling and water contamination began surfacing soon after drilling began in 2008 in Dimock, it wasn’t until the release of the 2010 HBO documentary Gasland that the town was thrust into the spotlight.

Methane is a colorless and odorless gas and, in the right concentration, can lead to explosions in an enclosed space.

Natural gas production in deep formations like the Marcellus Shale requires drilling miles below the surface, and includes angling the wellbore from vertical to horizontal to reach previously unreachable gas deposits. The “fracking” aspect of production includes shooting water and chemicals at high pressure into the wellbore to pry open tiny cracks and release the gas. Poor well construction has been blamed for leaks of Marcellus Shale gas into the porous subsurface geology of Pennsylvania.

In the case of Dimock, investigations revealed poor well construction.

Levels of methane were so high in some instances that residents could light their tap water on fire. They complained of headaches and rashes after they showered. They described their water looking like Alka Seltzer, or muddy.



Read More:‘Gasland’ driller will pay millions for new water system in Dimock

2022-11-30 00:48:31

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Ukraine: Zelensky accuses Russia of energy ‘terrorism’ as Russian strikes knock out power for millions https://newsdaily.business/2022/11/04/ukraine-zelensky-accuses-russia-of-energy-terrorism-as-russian-strikes-knock-out-power-for-millions/ https://newsdaily.business/2022/11/04/ukraine-zelensky-accuses-russia-of-energy-terrorism-as-russian-strikes-knock-out-power-for-millions/#respond Fri, 04 Nov 2022 16:17:47 +0000 https://newsdaily.business/2022/11/04/ukraine-zelensky-accuses-russia-of-energy-terrorism-as-russian-strikes-knock-out-power-for-millions/ CNN  —  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of “energy terrorism” after Moscow’s repeated attacks on key infrastructure knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people. About 450,000 households across Kyiv were without electricity on Friday as power outages across the country continue, according to the city’s mayor Vitalii Klitschko. “It is one […]]]>




CNN
 — 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of “energy terrorism” after Moscow’s repeated attacks on key infrastructure knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people.

About 450,000 households across Kyiv were without electricity on Friday as power outages across the country continue, according to the city’s mayor Vitalii Klitschko. “It is one and a half times more than the recent days,” Klitschko said on Telegram.

Across the country, about 4.5 million consumers were temporarily disconnected from the power supply on Thursday under emergency and stabilization schedules, according to Zelensky.

The outages follow dire warnings about a cold and difficult winter ahead for those staying in the country, after weeks of Russian airstrikes and rocket attacks on Ukraine’s power grid .

Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to alleviate such fears and said Friday that Moscow would “continue to treat the Ukrainian people with respect and warmth. This is how it was and is, despite today’s tragic confrontation.”

“A clash with neo-Nazis was inevitable, brought to the point where the situation has become deadly for Russia,” Putin added.

But this week alone, attacks on critical infrastructure in the regions of Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia have left millions without electricity and water intermittently.

“The very fact that Russia has resorted to terror against the energy sector indicates the weakness of the enemy. They cannot defeat Ukraine on the battlefield and therefore they are trying to break our people in this way,” Zelensky said during his nightly address.

Russia’s recurrent aerial attacks have dragged cities in central and western Ukraine back to the forefront of the war, leaving residents in the capital struggling to keep businesses running, along with water and other resources.

Ukraine’s national power supply company, Ukrenergo, said earlier this week that several regions will face extended power cuts as they try to repair damage caused by recent strikes.

The G7 group of wealthy nations will coordinate their support for Ukraine as winter approaches the conflict-torn country, German Foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said Thursday, ahead of a meeting of the group’s foreign ministers in the western German city of Muenster.

”We will not allow the brutality of the war to lead to the death of lots of elderly people, children, teenagers and families to die from hunger or cold over the upcoming winter months due to the brutal tactics of the Russian president,” Baerbock told reporters.

The Ukrainian military says that Russian forces have meanwhile stepped up air attacks near the eastern frontlines, using multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), especially in Donetsk region.

The military’s General Staff said 80 such attacks were recorded Wednesday, while on Thursday “the enemy carried out four missile and 28 air strikes, and fired more than 45 times from MLRS.”

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the overall commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, said that during a conversation on Thursday with General Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, he noted that “the enemy tripled the intensity of hostilities on certain areas of the front – up to 80 attacks daily.”

Russian forces and “collaborators” also began a census in the city of Enerhodar, which is next to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to Ukrainian officials.

Dmytro Orlov, the displaced mayor of Enerhodar, said “they are doing it in their typical manner, by force since one cannot decline participation in the ‘census’.”

“For the second day now, the ruscists along with collaborators with the so-called police are doing the door-to-door tours and intercepting people in the courtyards. This was reported by local residents who had to participate in the ‘census’,” Orlov claimed.

“In many cases the census ends up with a rummage and browsing through the apps of mobile phones. Please be aware!” he said. The pre-war population of the city was about 50,000. It has been under Russian occupation since early March.

The state company that runs the nuclear plant, Energoatom, reported Thursday that further Russian shelling some 50 kilometers from the plant had disabled two high voltage transmission lines, and that the power plant had gone to “full black-out mode. All 20 diesel generators started operating.” The plant is run by Ukrainian technicians but is under the control of the Russian state operator Rusatom.

Footage on social media indicated explosions in the southern region of Kherson, where fighting has escalated in recent weeks as the battle for control intensifies.

Further south, social media video and local Telegram channels indicated explosions near an airfield just north of Kherson city, in an area occupied by Russian forces.

The video showed a large plume of black smoke rising from the area of Chornobaivka.

Ukrainian troops and Russian-appointed officials in the area have not officially commented on the footage.

On the east bank of the Dnipro river further north, unofficial Telegram channels say that Russian forces are forcing local people to leave the village of Velyka Lepetykha. Russian-backed authorities have already announced an evacuation of civilians from a 15-kilometer zone along the river as they create new defenses in the area.

Those same channels say a mandatory evacuation is also underway in the village of Hornostayivka further downstream, while new explosions have been heard in the town of Nova Kakhovka, also on the east bank and close to a dam and hydro electric plant on the river.

Humanitarian bodies have said such a strategy could constitute human rights violations.



Read More:Ukraine: Zelensky accuses Russia of energy ‘terrorism’ as Russian strikes knock out power for millions

2022-11-04 15:12:00

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