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Big oil companies and their investors are suing governments to thwart climate change policies, Rishika Pardikar reported for The Lever in June 2022. These fossil fuel stakeholders claim that laws designed to address climate change are undermining their profits—and, therefore, that they must be compensated for any resulting financial losses. According to Pardikar, “such moves could have a chilling effect on countries’ ability to take climate action” because of the fear and uncertainty they cause.

One case featuring Vermilion, a Canadian oil and gas company, demonstrates how investor threats are making it difficult for countries to act against climate change. As described in Pardikar’s article, in 2017, France’s environmental minister at the time, Nicolas Hulot, drafted a law to end fossil fuel extraction by 2040. In response, the Canadian oil company threatened to use an “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS) to sue the French government, thus taking advantage of a provision that allows investors to sue governments for treaty violations. Due to the ISDS, Hulot’s climate change bill was diluted, enabling oil and gas companies to continue extraction after the originally approved 2040 deadline.

Other reports citing ISDS actions indicated that these efforts consistently benefit fossil fuel companies and their investors. Lea Di Salvatore’s 2021 inquiry into climate-related ISDS reports for the International Institute for Sustainable Development found that fossil fuel investors won their settlements 72 percent of the time. This resulted in fossil fuel investors being awarded more than $600 million in compensation.

The situation has only gotten worse since fifty countries, most of them in Europe, enacted the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Pardikar cited specific articles from the ECT that call for “fair and equitable treatment” of investors and “payment of prompt, adequate and effective compensation.” Additionally, in instances where governments obtain investor assets, investors can invoke clauses in the ECT to threaten legal action against lawmakers for future climate proposals.

The European Union (EU) recently attempted to push back by “revising” the ECT to account for climate goals. However, as The Lever reported, European Parliament Chairman Pascal Canfin announced that mediation efforts failed, and the ECT will likely “continue to be used by investors to sue states taking climate action.” Consequently, the chairman called on all EU countries to exit the Energy Charter Treaty.

Many climate activists and lawmakers are concerned that the ISDS system will prompt future actions against climate progress. Laura Létourneau-Tremblay, an international investment law researcher at the University of Oslo, explained that ISDS provisions requiring states to compensate fossil fuel companies could “prevent governments from taking ambitious climate actions.” Létourneau-Tremblay told The Lever, there are “real concerns as to whether the ECT is compatible with the net-zero energy transition.”

Shortly after President Biden revoked the Keystone Pipeline permits in January 2021, the Canadian company TC Energy took legal action against the US government. The company filed a lawsuit, citing a “responsibility to our shareholders to seek recovery of the losses incurred due to the permit revocation.” TC Energy won and was awarded $15 billion in damages.

One of the most concerning aspects of the ISDS is that it offers foreign companies a loophole allowing them to avoid local courts––which frequently operate under stricter regulations. Instead, suits brought by companies against countries in which they have investments are decided by international arbitration tribunals, which are notoriously lacking in transparency. Moreover, under ISDS rules nations cannot file suits against foreign companies, they can only react to claims filed against them.

Grist published an article on the topic in January 2023, more than a year after Di Salvatore’s report for the International Institute for Sustainable Development. The Independent also reported on fossil fuel companies suing governments, mentioning the ISDS and specific countries that have faced lawsuits (such as Italy and Slovenia). However, it only briefly touched on the concern that these lawsuits could prevent climate action. Beyond this handful of reports, the topic has received little coverage from major news outlets.

Rishika Pardikar, “Big Oil Is Suing Countries to Block Climate Action,” The Lever, June 8, 2022.

Lois Parshley, “The Secretive Legal Weapon That Fossil Fuel Interests Use Against Climate-Conscious Countries,” Grist, January 17, 2023.

Kyla Tienhaara et al., “Investor-State Disputes Threaten the Global Green Energy Transition,” Science 376, no. 6594 (May 5, 2022): 701-03.

Student Researcher: Reagan Haynie (Loyola Marymount University)

Faculty Evaluator: Mickey Huff (Diablo Valley College

The US government says it is considering whether to ask a judge to break up search engine giant Google, in a move that could reshape how technology giants do business.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) says the measures may include “structural requirements” to prevent Google from maintaining its internet search “monopoly”.

In response, Google warned that the proposed changes could have unintended consequences for US businesses and consumers.

The DoJ’s announcement comes after a landmark court ruling in August that found Google had maintained its dominance of online search through illegal practices.

The DoJ said in a court filing that it is considering “remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products”.

In a blog post, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, said the recommendations constitute “government overreach”.

The DoJ is expected to submit a more detailed set of proposals by 20 November.

Google will be able to submit its own proposed remedies by 20 December.

The court decision in August was a major blow to Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

It came after a 10-week trial, in which prosecutors accused Google of paying billions of dollars a year to firms, including Apple and Samsung, to ensure it was their default search engine.

Google’s lawyers argued that users are attracted to the search engine because they find it useful, and that Google is investing to make it better for consumers.

Other pending lawsuits against big US technology firms – including Facebook-owner Meta, Amazon and Apple – accusing them of anti-competitive practices.

The lawsuits are part of attempts by US authorities to strengthen competition in the industry.

WASHINGTON — The FBI has arrested an Afghan man who officials say was inspired by the Islamic State militant organization and was plotting an Election Day attack targeting large crowds in the U.S., the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City told investigators after his arrest Monday that he had planned his attack to coincide with Election Day next month and that he and a co-conspirator expected to die as martyrs, according to charging documents.

Tawhedi, who arrived in the U.S. in 2021, had taken steps in recent weeks to advance his attack plans, including by ordering AK-47 rifles, liquidating his family’s assets and buying one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan.

The arrest comes as the FBI confronts heightened concerns over the possibility of extremist violence on U.S. soil, with Director Christopher Wray telling The Associated Press in August that he was “hard pressed to think of a time in my career where so many different kinds of threats are all elevated at once.”

“Terrorism is still the FBI’s number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people,” Wray said in a statement Tuesday.

An FBI affidavit does not reveal precisely how Tawhedi came onto investigators’ radar, but cites what it says is evidence from recent months showing his determination in planning an attack. A photograph from July included in the affidavit depicts a man investigators identified as Tawhedi reading to two young children, including his daughter, “a text that describes the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife.”

Officials say Tawhedi also consumed Islamic State propaganda, contributed to a charity that functions as a front for the militant group and communicated with a person who the FBI determined from a prior investigation was involved in recruitment and indoctrination. He also viewed webcams for the White House and the Washington Monument in July.

Tawhedi’s alleged co-conspirator was not identified by the Justice Department, which described him only as a juvenile, a fellow Afghan national and the brother of Tawhedi’s wife.

After the two advertised the sale of personal property on Facebook last month, the FBI enlisted an informant to respond to the offer and strike up a relationship. The informant later invited them to a gun range, where they ordered weapons from an undercover FBI official.

Tawhedi was arrested Monday after taking possession of two AK-47 rifles and ammunition, officials said. The unidentified co-conspirator was also arrested but the Justice Department did not provide details because he is a juvenile.

After he was arrested, the Justice Department said, Tawhedi told investigators he had planned an attack for Election Day that would target large gatherings of people.

Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, which is designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. A message was left with the federal public defender’s office in Oklahoma City and no telephone numbers were listed for Tawhedi or his relatives in public records.

Tawhedi entered the U.S. on a special immigrant visa, a program that permits eligible Afghans who helped Americans despite great personal risk to themselves and their loved ones to apply for entry into America with their families.

Eligible Afghans include interpreters for the U.S. military as well as individuals integral to the American embassy in Kabul. While the program has existed since 2009, the number of applicants skyrocketed after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

—Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed to this report.

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Alimentation Couche-Tard has told Japan’s Seven & i Holdings it is willing to pay close to $47bn to take over the convenience store giant, 20 per cent more than its previously rejected bid.

The non-binding offer by the Canadian company was sent to the Tokyo-based owner of the 7-Eleven chain last month and no material negotiations have taken place since, according to people familiar with the matter.

Seven & i shares initially surged more than 10 per cent on the news, which was first reported by Bloomberg, on Wednesday before paring gains to trade up 4 per cent by mid-morning in Tokyo.

Seven & i and Couche-Tard declined to comment.

The Japanese group received and rejected an almost $39bn opening offer from Couche-Tard in September, saying it “grossly undervalues” the business and does not account for the difficulty of getting a deal past competition regulators in the US.

Last month the US Federal Trade Commission told lawyers for the two companies to retain documents linked with the potential merger of their petrol station and convenience store chains.

The combination of Couche-Tard, operator of the Circle K brand, and Seven & i would create one of the largest retail chains in the US.

One person familiar with Seven & i’s thinking said the group was focused on second-quarter results, due to be announced on Thursday, and proving to shareholders it could deliver sufficient value as a standalone entity.

The group has been exploring selling non-core assets to private equity and other investors, while accelerating plans to focus on its convenience store business.

Alongside other plans, the company is considering accelerating the sale of its stake in its financial services arm, Seven Bank, as well as selling its supermarket business.

If accepted, Couche-Tard’s takeover bid would be the largest in Japan by a foreign company and follows years of stop-start progress on corporate governance reform in the country, which has put boards under greater pressure to prioritise shareholders’ interests.

One investor, whose fund holds a substantial stake in Seven & i, said if the company continued to resist Couche-Tard the pressure would now be on the Japanese company.

“It will need to explain why it is rejecting an offer given that the overall valuation has not risen that much since the summer, and the board’s special committee will need to be clearer on what level of price or what conditions would be required for serious negotiations to begin,” said the person who did not wish to be named.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve at breakneck speed, so do the demands on newsrooms to deliver content faster, smarter, and across multiple platforms. Newsrooms 2.0, a new guide published by WordPress VIP and Big Bite, explores how media organisations around the world are leveraging WordPress to meet these challenges head-on.

Highlighting how newsrooms at The Times, Al Jazeera, and the New York Post have turned to WordPress to drive innovation and scale with ease, the guide offers key insights into why the open-source CMS is now the number one solution for news sites.

WordPress for publishers: From blogging to breaking news 

First released as a simple blogging tool in 2003 – the same year that saw the launch of Skype, MySpace, and LinkedIn – WordPress has matured into the go-to platform for brands big and small, and today powers over 43% of the web. Fueled by milestone innovations such as the rollout of its block-based editor in 2018, which made content creation much more accessible for editorial teams, WordPress is now also relied on by a growing number of major news publishers, including Vox Media and News Corp.

“The impact of WordPress in the digital newsroom space has been transformative,” says Iain McPherson, chief growth officer of Big Bite – a leading enterprise WordPress agency based in the UK. “With its flexibility and ease of use, it has allowed some of the world’s most prestigious publications to adapt quickly and efficiently in a fast-changing digital environment, which is why we’ve seen a rapid rise in adoption – particularly over the last two years – and high-profile titles moving across to the open source CMS.”

Tackling industry-wide challenges

While many newsrooms still struggle with outdated, proprietary systems that can’t keep pace with the needs of modern journalism, WordPress has continued to expand and advance, offering solutions to the most pressing challenges.