Futurology Today

New Democrats say Conservative MPs were missing in action as Canadian parliamentarians visited Capitol Hill and met with American lawmakers and business leaders this week.

Canadian MPs and senators were in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of Parliament's diplomatic efforts. The trip coincided with the start of the U.S.-Canada trade war.

In a social media post, NDP MP Brian Masse noted the Conservative MPs' absence at a critical time.

"The Conservative House of Commons members are a no show despite having the most spots for our delegation," posted Masse, who represents the border riding of Windsor West. "We even have the Bloc [Québécois] represented to show solidarity for all those who live in our great nation."

Eg you create art to cope with depression, so your depression created all your art and it's actually not yours. And if it's popular or successful, your depression is talented and successful, not you.

The Israeli army is developing an AI language model using millions of intercepted conversations between Palestinians, which could accelerate the process of incrimination and arrest, a joint investigation reveals.

Friendly reminder: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/yes-science-is-political/

In reference to the community Subscribe, Favorite, and Block actions accessible via the three dot icon to the right of the community name at the top of the screen, the Favorite/Unfavorite actions function normally on community feed pages, but don't switch to the opposite action when tapped as the other two actions do, or as Favorite itself does do when attempting the same from one of that community's post pages.

Note that the Favorite action can be manually updated on the community feed screen either by leaving the screen and returning to it, or adjusting the Block or Subscribe setting after adjusting the Favorite setting.

While French President Emmanuel Macron has talked of the need for “an incredible awakening” and German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz described Europe as being “five minutes to midnight,” the worry from those close to the discussion is that events are happening more quickly than they can cope with.

“The nightmare scenario is that the U.S. announces a deal soon that accepts most of Russia’s demands and then tells Ukraine and Europe to take it or leave it,” said Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director general at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

And they’re not only scared of the United States. They’re also wary of some of their own. While Thursday’s hastily arranged summit, just days after less formal gatherings in Paris and London, signals an intention to come up with solutions, diplomats are already bracing for a pro-Russia group of leaders led by Hungary’s Victor Orbán derailing the whole thing.

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Johannesburg (AFP) – The United States has pulled out of a climate funding deal struck by rich nations to help their developing counterparts transition to clean energy, the programme's first beneficiary South Africa and Indonesia said Thursday.

The so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP) are ambitious financing deals between a small group of wealthy countries and emerging economies to help them ditch planet-polluting coal.

Coal-rich but energy-starved South Africa was the first developing country to reach a deal on a JETP in 2021. Indonesia's partnership for more than $20 billion in financing to wean itself off coal was unveiled in late 2022.

But the United States has withdrawn from its multi-million-dollar deal with Pretoria under President Donald Trump's administration, a unit in South Africa's presidency said in a statement.

"The Just Energy Transition Project Management Unit in the Presidency acknowledges the decision of the United States of America to withdraw from the Just Energy Transition Partnership with South Africa," it said.

"The South African government was formally informed of this decision by the US Embassy on 28 February 2025," the statement read, adding that Washington had cited executive orders by Trump in January and February.

Indonesia's JETP Secretariat head Paul Butarbutar confirmed the US embassy in Jakarta informed him Tuesday of Washington's decision to withdraw.

"Correct... it is part of the executive order," he told AFP when asked if the Trump administration had ordered the withdrawal.

Butarbutar said the pledge of $21.6 billion from private and public donors remained unchanged, but expected the US withdrawal to impact transition studies and the issuance of grants.

"My understanding... is the US will still collaborate with Indonesia for development of renewable energy and other forms of energy, as long as it is still in line with US interests," he said.

The United States had pledged $56 million in grants to the South African initiative and an additional $1 billion in potential commercial investments.

Introduced during the UN climate talks in Scotland in 2021, the initiative's backers counted France, Germany, Britain, Canada and the European Union.

South Africa alongside Senegal, Vietnam and Indonesia were named as the first recipients of the support.

The US withdrawal leaves South Africa with $12.8 billion in pledges, Pretoria said.

Pretoria and Washington have been at odds over a range of policies, including a recent land ownership law.

Trump, whose tycoon ally Elon Musk was born in South Africa, last month froze aid to the country over the law that he alleges, without evidence, would allow land to be seized from the white minority.

The claims came in an executive order, which also noted foreign policy clashes between the United States and South Africa over the war in Gaza, particularly its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

South Africa last week said it would push on with the clean energy transition and would explore partnerships with the private sector.

"Our commitment to a just energy transition is not conditional on other sovereign powers," Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told reporters on the sidelines of a Group of 20 leading economies meeting.

Africa's most industrialised nation is one of the largest polluters in the world and generates about 80 percent of its electricity through coal.

So, we're not leaving Firefox after all?

(re, an earlier post, I guess I can replace Chrome with Vivaldi and keep on using Firefox, then)

https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/03/mozilla-rewrites-firefoxs-terms-of-use-after-user-backlash/

#Firefox #Mozilla #browsers