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It seems like the mining sector is following in the footsteps of oil and gas with the era of the megamerger in full swing. There is great speculation about the potential merger between industry giants Rio Tinto and Glencore and expectations for more mergers across the board. Last week, it was widely reported that the British-Australian multinational Rio Tinto and Switzerland-based Glencore were in discussions over a potential merger. Rio Tinto is the world’s second-largest mining company, and Glencore is a major coal and copper miner, meaning…
Plans for Europe’s largest cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) centre near the M25 in Hertfordshire have been approved, in wake of the UK launching its so-called ‘action plan’. The state of art facility will be built near the Elstree substation, 30 minutes from central London, and will span up to two million square feet, carrying a projected £3.75bn in construction costs. Once completed, it will be one of the largest data centres in Europe, with the potential to serve major tech giants like Google, Amazon or Microsoft.…
Indonesia was admitted as a full member of the BRICS group of major emerging economies on January 6, 2025. As Statista's Felix Richter shows in the following chart, the bloc’s footprint in the Global South has continued to expand, growing its economic and political clout on the world stage, establishing a real counterweight to the Western-dominated G7. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates formally joined on January 1, 2024. You will find more infographics at Statista Speaking on the expansion of the BRICS, South…
Will the Trump administration attempt to kill the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently promulgated standards designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants? Will the courts try to kill them? Will the electric industry continue its relentless effort to hold the title of the second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter in a nation that is itself the second-biggest greenhouse emitter? We suspect that the answer to those questions in the order asked is yes, yes, and, of course, yes. As consumers, shouldn’t we rejoice? After…
Germany may have to rely on standby coal-fired power generation longer than previously expected, to keep its power system stable and power prices from spikes when renewable output is low. The German plans to build new natural gas-fired power plants are behind schedule while the reserve margins on the system have shrunk since Europe’s biggest economy shut down its last nuclear power plant in 2023. Without alternatives for backup generation to secure power supply at peak demand and low wind speeds, coal plants could be needed into the 2030s,…

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