France

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/62509

European refinery outages are closely monitored after strikes in France led to a severe tightening in the continent's diesel supplies. Supply woes come as the EU plans to cease Russian diesel imports.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/61783

Nuclear power generation in France has suffered setbacks this year, and currently, just over 50% of the French nuclear power fleet is available.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/57731

"The situation changed drastically this year, when France swung from being one of Europe's largest exporters of electricity to a net importer because of issues with its reactors. The outages worried officials that France and the broader region might run short of electricity in the winter, when power demand in Europe peaks,"

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/54528

U.S. natural gas exports to France increased 421% during the first eight months of 2022—but the value of that LNG increased by 1094% in August alone due to the higher prices of LNG.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/53269

Even if I were fully vaccinated, I would admire the unvaccinated for standing up to the greatest pressure I have ever seen, including from spouses, parents, children, friends, colleagues, and doctors.

People who have been capable of such personality, courage, and such critical ability undoubtedly embody the best of humanity.

They are found everywhere, in all ages, levels of education, countries, and opinions.

They are of a particular kind; these are the soldiers that any army of light wishes to have in its ranks.

They are the parents that every child wishes to have and the children that every parent dreams of having.

They are beings above the average of their societies; they are the essence of the peoples who have built all cultures and conquered horizons.

They are there, by your side, they seem normal, but they are superheroes.

They did what others could not do; they were the tree that withstood the hurricane of insults, discrimination, and social exclusion.

And they did it because they thought they were alone and believed they were alone.

Excluded from their families’ Christmas tables, they have never seen anything so cruel. They lost their jobs, let their careers sink, and had no more money… but they didn’t care. They suffered immeasurable discrimination, denunciations, betrayals, and humiliation… but they continued.

Never before in humanity has there been such a casting; we now know who the resisters are on planet Earth.

Women, men, old, young, rich, poor, of all races and all religions, the unvaccinated, the chosen ones of the invisible ark, the only ones who managed to resist when everything fell apart. Collapsed.

You’ve passed an unimaginable test that many of the toughest marines, commandos, green berets, astronauts, and geniuses couldn’t pass.

You are made of the stuff of the greatest that ever lived, those heroes born among ordinary men who shine in the dark.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/52052

Fuel supply is already tight in Europe amid an ongoing strike at most of France’s refineries, and if the Dutch refinery malfunction leads to further supply losses, the European diesel market will find itself even shorter on supply, less than four months before the EU embargo on imports of Russian fuels by sea.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/51438

“Today some unions, despite the deal, wants to continue the strike action and blockades, we cannot accept that,” Borne told the lower house , according to Reuters, adding that she wants "this situation to change fast," adding the government was prepared to take further action if needed.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/51058

“Because I was an MP and I didn’t want to give the feeling that I wasn’t doing my job. But I did not know that Emmanuel Macron was not vaccinated. I did not know that most of the government members were not, and I did not know, as many of my fellow MPs were not either. I wanted to set an example.” Lasalle said.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/50621

France's domestic fuel output has fallen by more than 60%, straining nerves across the country, as waiting lines grow and supplies have run dry.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/48107

This attempt to harvest highly sensitive bank account data from French citizens in real-time reflects a growing push by governments around the world to scoop up increased amounts of financial data from their citizens.

In the US, the Biden administration has started forcing banks and other financial technology companies, such as PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp, to report every deposit and withdrawal for accounts that receive or have a balance of at least $600 per year to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS is also harvesting data from thousands of cryptocurrency owners in what has been described as a “dragnet” data collection operation.

Not only are governments forcing banks to collect and hand over more data but many bank, including those in Norway, Australia, and Canada, are embracing digital ID – a type of surveillance tech that allows governments to scoop up even more sensitive data from their citizens.

Developed by Google and Capgemini, the AI software uses aerial images to identify residential pools and cross-checks land registry databases in real-time to see if the pools were registered with the government. If pools weren't registered, the AI tool flags the property for further investigation by tax authorities.

So far, the AI tool has uncovered 20,356 undeclared pools.

The continent is facing the worst energy crisis in half a century, sending prices of NatGas to record highs on supply shortage concerns ahead of the winter season.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/34937

The French minister’s plan to bring in 3,000 new “green police” comes as officials in Europe look at expanding their own resources, ostensibly to fight the effects of climate change.

In particular, one Eurocrat last week asked for Brussels to be handed more powers to create a “Civil Protection Force” directly under its control that would be able to “protect” member-states from disasters allegedly caused by the changing climate.

“We have animals, which are usually in the meadows at this time, that have nothing left to eat”. As a result, the breeders will feed the animals the fodder in stocks, usually set aside for winter.

“We are very worried about the ability of many breeders to be able to feed their herds throughout the winter of 2022-2023”, he explained, hoping for a “rise” in the price of milk to compensate for the spending and ensure the survival of the sector, but he also predicted a possible lack of milk. “I think that in the coming months, we will have a shortage of milk in France.”

Some 56 nuclear reactors at 18 locations normally supply France with electricity. But 18 of these reactors are already shut down. Long-term maintenance work is to be carried out. That had been planned for a long time, authorities said. But then France also had to shut down 12 more reactors last week.

Damage caused by corrosion is said to be the reason for this. The supply in Europe’s power grid seems all the more uncertain in winter.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/30390

"I think that in the coming months, we will have a shortage of milk in France. To make milk, you need fodder, mainly alfalfa and corn, which have grown little this year," said Yannick Fialip, president of the economic commission of the FNSEA and a breeder