XPost: alt.global-warming   
      
   Total reports $7.2bn loss but keeps dividend   
   David Keohane and Anjli Raval, Financial Times via Carbon Brief   
      
   The Financial Times reports that Total has joined the "list of oil   
   majors reporting multibn-dollar full-year losses", but has also   
   provided a "rare glimmer of hope" during the Covid-19 pandemic by   
   beating fourth-quarter expectations and maintaining its dividend. The   
   article notes that, as well as the impact of the pandemic, the fossil   
   fuel sector is also facing growing pressure from investors and   
   environmentalists to take action against climate change. It adds that   
   European energy majors such as Total have been "re-evaluating their   
   long-term price assumptions to reflect the impact of the pandemic and   
   the energy transition to cleaner fuels". City AM reports that, in line   
   with this, Total has said it would change its name as to "Total   
   Energies" as "the firm looks to reduce the share of sales it derives   
   from oil products over the next decade". The Financial Times`s Lex   
   column says "big corporations rebrand themselves in response to a   
   reputational disaster, boringness or a merger", adding: "Tedium is   
   rather to Total's advantage right now. Investors see it as a   
   relatively safe bet in a disrupted sector, providing steady oil volume   
   growth even as it pivots."   
      
   Bloomberg looks at China's goals to peak fossil fuel demand, noting   
   that consumption bounced back quickly after China contained the   
   coronavirus, "raising concerns about its goal to cap demand". It   
   states that the comeback complicates efforts by the nation to reach   
   peak fossil energy consumption by 2025 and "turn the country into a   
   nation of net-zero emissions less than 40 years later".   
      
   --   
   Powering up: UK hills could be used as energy 'batteries'   
   The Guardian, 08 Feb 2021 13:40Z   
   Hundreds of hills across the UK could be transformed into renewable energy "   
   batteries" through a pioneering hydropower system embedded   
   underground.   
      
   A Surprise in Africa: Air Pollution Falls as Economies Rise   
   The New York Times, 08 Feb 2021 20:39Z   
   Lagos, Nigeria. Rapidly growing countries generally see sharp increases in   
   air pollution as their populations and economies expand. But a new study of   
   air ...   
      
   Georgia secretary of state's office investigates Trump phone call asking   
   to 'find' more votes   
   POLITICO, 09 Feb 2021 01:38Z   
   The Georgia secretary of state's office is investigating former President   
   Donald Trump for pressuring the state's elections officials to overturn the   
   results of the ...   
      
   Huge Fish, Once Believed Extinct, Isn't the `Living Fossil' Scientists Thought   
   Gizmodo, 09 Feb 2021 21:41Z   
   An analysis of coelacanth DNA suggests its genome has experienced some   
   significant changes in recent evolutionary history, potentially dispelling   
   the popular ...   
      
   United Arab Emirates becomes the first Arab country to reach Mars   
   CNBC, 09 Feb 2021 21:29Z   
   The Emirates Mars mission, named the Hope probe, has made the UAE the first   
   Arab country and the fifth globally to reach the red planet.   
      
   Experts growing more concerned about COVID-19 variants   
   WISHTV.com, 09 Feb 2021 01:17Z   
   Indianapolis. Two new coronavirus variants are raising concern among experts   
   across the globe as increasing researchers show they are more ...   
      
     Nine-year-old girl dies in her sleep after testing positive for Covid   
     The Independent, 09 Feb 2021 11:17Z   
      
   Robinhood faces class-action lawsuit over trading platform that's `designed   
   to go down'   
   Fox Business, 09 Feb 2021 15:35Z   
   Robinhood is facing a class-action lawsuit after restricting trades on   
   several stocks, including GameStop and AMC, 2 weeks ago.   
      
   Europe to stop hiding secrets from US now Biden is in charge: sources   
   Business Insider, 08 Feb 2021   
   European spy sources said Biden's reluctance to give Trump intelligence   
   briefings was making it easier to share key information with the US again.   
      
   28 garment workers killed in flooded factory in Morocco   
   The Associated Press, 09 Feb 2021 01:34Z   
   Rabat, Morocco. Heavy rains flooded an illegal garment factory in the   
   northern Moroccan city of Tangier, killing at least 28 workers Mon, state ...   
      
   Study Finds People With Dementia Are Twice as Likely to Get Covid   
   The New York Times, 09 Feb 2021 14:46Z   
   People with dementia had significantly greater risk of contracting the   
   coronavirus, and they were much more likely to be hospitalized and die from   
   it, than people ...   
      
   WHO team: Coronavirus unlikely to have leaked from Chinese lab   
   POLITICO, 09 Feb 2021 12:43Z   
   Wuhan, China. The coronavirus is unlikely to have leaked from a Chinese lab   
   and is more likely to have jumped to humans from an animal, a World Health ...   
      
   Scary 22% vaccine efficacy in South Africa comes with heaps of caveats   
   Dismal preliminary data on AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa-   
   where the B.1.351/ 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant is spreading widely-lead the ...   
   Ars Technica, 09 Feb 2021 0:12Z   
   [This is more like the number I was modelling back in Mar 2020].   
      
   [Sityashun Normul: we dunno].   
   WHO says 'most likely' pathway of virus was from animals to humans, but   
   investigation still a 'work in progress'   
   CNBC, 09 Feb 2021 11:21Z   
   Liang Wannian, head of the expert Covid-19 panel at China's National   
   Health Commission, said ongoing research into the origins of the virus   
   must focus on how ...   
   [A live UN press conf from China I saw on the local 24/7 news channel   
   seemed to be a lot of introductory med school material followed by "we   
   learned nothing new"].   
      
   Mystery of gamma radiation solved: Hidden cannibal star is just having dinner   
   Livescience.com, 08 Feb 2021 19:08Z   
   The mystery at the heart of an unexplained, bright point of gamma-ray light   
   in the sky has been solved: There's a deadly spider star flaying a second,   
   wimpier ...   
      
   The role of midsized phytoplankton in Earth's biological pump   
   Phys.org, 08 Feb 2021 19:08Z   
   Every spring, phytoplankton blooms flourish across the ocean. The single-   
   celled, photosynthetic organisms pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and   
   ...   
      
   Chief Medical Officer says the South African COVID strain is becoming   
   dominant. What does this mean?   
   ABC News, 09 Feb 2021 09:24Z   
   With early data from an Oxford University study suggesting the AstraZeneca   
   vaccine offers only "minimal protection" against mild disease caused by the   
   South African variant, here's what this could mean for Australia's vaccine   
   rollout.   
      
   Victoria reports first coronavirus patient in ICU in months   
   ABC News, 8 Feb 2021 at 10:32pm   
   For the first time since Oct, Victorian health authorities report a   
   person with COVID-19 is being treated in the intensive care unit of a hospital.   
      
   Weekend cold snap blamed for mass deaths of a small native bird in WA   
   ABC South West WA, 09 Feb 2021 04:38Z   
   Unseasonal cold temperatures are believed to have led to widespread deaths   
   of tree martin birds across WA's South West region.   
      
   `Dangerous Stuff': Hackers Tried to Poison Water Supply of Florida Town   
   The New York Times, 09 Feb 2021 02:40Z   
   Hackers remotely accessed the water treatment plant of a small Florida city   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)