Germany’s nuclear power plant operators have paid over 24 billion euros into a publicly-owned fund that is charged with financing the country’s nuclear clean-up. While the energy companies pay for deconstructing their nuclear plants, the state is responsible for ensuring that nuclear waste is stored safely. Clean Energy Wire
Shares in Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International tumbled by more than 12% on March 5th after a complaint was filed accusing it (and, to a lesser extent, other Austrian banks) of “gross negligence or acquiescence” in connection with suspicious flows from Danske. Raiffeisen says it is investigating. The Economist
Our task is not to make the perfect human society, but rather a good enough world in which each of us has sufficient (but never too many) resources to handle our encounters with the inevitable sufferings of a world full of chance and complexity. New York Times
The old rules are being rejected, among liberals and conservatives, politicians and economists. New York Times
Modern Monetary Theory holds that a government able to borrow in its own currency need not be constrained by budget deficits and debt — meaning that it can act more boldly than economists have assumed, without negative consequences. New York Times
With 12 candidates already in the 2020 US presidential race, Democrats clearly believe that President Donald Trump is extremely vulnerable. If current trends continue, the next presidential election could be as dramatic and unpredictable as the last one. Project Syndicate
Liquid natural gas producers from Qatar, Norway and the U.S. are in line to deliver enough fuel to keep the lights on in Poland — and to complicate relations between Russia and the U.S. New York Times
As battle lines harden between climate advocates and deniers, both are increasingly using bouts of extreme weather as a weapon to try to win people to their side. New York Times
When news broke late last year that Chinese scientist He Jiankui might have created genetically-edited twins, he quickly drew the condemnation of scientists globally. An investigation, published by the Boston-based health and medicine-focused news outlet STAT, suggests three government institutions, including the country’s science ministry, may have funded He’s research. QUARTZ
The Global Centre—the tale of its construction, its occupants and its evolution is neither a spectacular success nor a catastrophic failure but a long economic struggle, a contest between China’s tremendous potential and the cracks in its foundations. America is only a secondary player in the drama. China, for better and for worse, is writing its own story. The Economist
© Stefan P. Schleicher 2019
