Updates from Old Trafford (4.30pm KO GMT)Get in touch: email Rob with your thoughtsRuud van Nistelrooy’s pre-match thoughtsIt’s been a week of mixed emotions – Erik leaving, taking over, Wednesday’s game and how it went.There’s been no contact [with Ruben Amorim]. It’s been communicated to the players that I’ll be in charge until next Sunday and then the new manager will take over. That means we can focus on trying to win the next three games.A League Cup meeting on New Year’s Day, instantly forgettable were it not for one of football’s greatest-ever juxtapositions of beauty and the beast. Ron Harris had many qualities, but subtlety was not one of them.Here he is heaving into view from way out, belabouring George Best’s ankles with a proper old-school reducer. It’s a textbook piece of uberviolence – a vicious sliding tackle perfectly timed and executed, as graceful as brutality can ever get – but it was all for naught. Best ignored Chopper’s galoot-isms, somehow retained his balance – despite being kicked almost horizontal in mid-air – and continued his run. Continue reading...
Amnesty International calls on authorities to release student, who reportedly had a violent confrontation with Basij paramilitariesAmnesty International has called on authorities in Iran to “immediately and unconditionally” release a female student who was arrested after stripping to her underwear in what the organisation described as a public protest against harassment relating to the country’s strict dress code.The incident took place after the woman, who has not been identified, reportedly had a confrontation with members of the Basij paramilitary force who ripped her headscarf and tore at her clothes inside Tehran’s prestigious Islamic Azad University. Continue reading...
"One technology critical to fighting climate change is lagging," reports the Washington Post, "thanks to a combination of high interest rates, rising costs, misinformation and the cycle of home construction. Adoption of heat pumps, one of the primary ways to cut emissions from buildings, has slowed in the United States and stalled in Europe, endangering the switch to clean energy.
"Heat pump investment in the United States has dropped by 4 percent in the past two years, even as sales of EVs have almost doubled, according to data from MIT and the Rhodium Group. In 13 European countries, heat pump sales dropped nearly in half in the first half of 2024, putting the European Union off-track for its climate goals."
"Many many markets are falling," said Paul Kenny, the director general of the European Heat Pump Association. "It takes time to change people's minds about a heating system." Heat pumps — essentially air conditioners that can also work in reverse, heating a space as well as cooling it — are crucial to making buildings more climate-friendly. Around 60 percent of American homes are still heated with furnaces running on oil, natural gas, or even propane; to cut emissions from homes, all American houses and apartments will need to be powered by electricity...
In the United States, experts point to lags in construction, high interest rates, and general belt-tightening from inflation... [Cora Wyent, director of research for the electrification advocacy group Rewiring America] added, heat pumps are still growing as a share of overall heating systems, gaining ground on gas furnaces. In 2023, heat pumps made up 55 percent of all heating systems sold, while gas furnaces made up just 45 percent. "Heat pumps are continuing to increase their total market share," she said.
Homeowners may also run into trouble when trying to find contractors to install heat pumps. Barton James, the president and CEO of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, says many contractors don't have training on how to properly install heat pumps; if they install them incorrectly, the ensuing problems can sour consumers on the technology... In the United States, low gas prices also make the economics of heat pumps more challenging. Gas is around three times cheaper than electricity — while heat pumps make up most of that ground with efficiency, they aren't the most cost-effective option for every household.
The Post also spoke to the manager for the carbon-free buildings team at the clean energy think tank RMI. They pointed out that heating systems need to be replaced roughly every 15 years — and the next cycle doesn't start until 2035.
The article concludes that "even with government policies and subsidies, many parts of the move to clean energy will require individual people to make changes to their lives. According to the International Energy Agency, the number of heat pumps will have to triple by 2030 to stay on track with climate goals. The only way to do that, experts say, is if incentives, personal beliefs, and technology all align."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The military stand-off between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) found an amicable solution recently. However, another kind of tug-of-war between India and China - a continuous and ancient tectonic one - has been going on.
At least six people have been injured after terrorists threw a grenade at a Sunday market in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar. Six people have been rushed to hospital. More details are awaited.
A successful anti-terror operation that led to the elimination of a high-profile terrorist commander in Jammu and Kashmir was marked not only by strategic planning but also by an unconventional solution -- biscuits.
New research reveals Americans' concerns about retirement income planning, with many lacking a plan. Advisors should focus on secure income strategies.
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