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Thyssenkrupp Nucera abandons US green hydrogen projects no longer deemed feasible -CEO

Thyssenkrupp Nucera abandons US green hydrogen projects no longer deemed feasible -CEO

Reuters19 hours ago
Aug 13 (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp Nucera (NCH2.DE), opens new tab is in intensive discussions with stakeholders in its U.S. projects and is abandoning those no longer deemed feasible due to tax and spending changes initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump, its CEO said on Wednesday.
Global demand for green hydrogen had stalled amid concern among clean-tech players over what Trump's policies would mean for the industry.
But Thyssenkrupp Nucera's chief executive Werner Ponikwar said the company had more clarity around the financial viability of U.S. projects after the enactment of U.S. legislation that eliminated some tax credits for low-carbon energy sources.
"We have sorted out all projects that have less chance of being realized due to the new framework conditions in the U.S.," Ponikwar said in a call with journalists after the company reported results.
Trump's sweeping spending and tax legislation has made it harder to develop green tech projects in the U.S. by effectively phasing out renewable energy tax credits after 2026 if projects have not started construction.
Ponikwar said that with projects still expected to receive funding if they start construction work before a revised end of 2027 deadline, Thyssenkrupp Nucera will be able to advance state-side projects, especially those in advanced stages.
"We are convinced that the hydrogen electrolysis market continues to offer enormous potential," Ponikwar said, while adding that the company needs to be more patient than initially hoped.
If U.S. projects do not come to fruition, Thyssenkrupp Nucera will utilize its U.S. resources "for other purposes", Ponikwar said, echoing his sentiments from December.
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Popular beach resort set to ban shops from displaying clothing emblazoned with vulgar slogans to clean up their reputation
Popular beach resort set to ban shops from displaying clothing emblazoned with vulgar slogans to clean up their reputation

Daily Mail​

time22 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Popular beach resort set to ban shops from displaying clothing emblazoned with vulgar slogans to clean up their reputation

The Virginia Beach City Council is trying to ban shops along the famous boardwalk from displaying clothing with raunchy slogans to 'clean up' the family-friendly resort. The southeastern Virginia coastal city has long attracted families for its abundance of activities for all ages and stunning shores. But its three-mile oceanfront boardwalk has always been the star of the show for its games, restaurants and stores. And many of those stores have caught the eye of visitors for their attention-grabbing merchandise, which local officials say is wildly inappropriate. Some clothing and gift shops sell shorts with innuendos on the back, with some pairs reading 'all you can eat,' 'it ain't gonna spank itself' and 'roll your weed on it' with marijuana leaves. Other items include profanity, such as shirts reading 'I'm not always a d*ck' and 'f*ck around and find out.' Another top reads, 'I [heart] boobs.' 'The new generation, they like this so much,' Adam Desouki, the manager of Ocean 11 Clothing and Gift Shop, told The Virginian-Pilot. Desouki said vulgar apparel flies off the shelves and guests, especially young adults, cannot get enough of the merchandise. The southeastern Virginia coastal city has long attracted families for its abundance of activities for all ages and stunning shores But local officials believe these novelty clothing items have no place lining the boardwalk. 'Enough is enough,' Councilman Worth Remick, who represents a portion of the Oceanfront Boardwalk community, told The Virginian-Pilot. He said many constituents are less than thrilled with the non-PG sentiments printed on the clothes. 'This is a calm, gentle, nice way to say this is not good for our brand, for our city.' On Tuesday night, the City Council unanimously voted to approve a resolution to request Oceanfront stores remove 'indecent' items from their displays. But the resolution is voluntary, as criminal enforcement for obscenity is a difficult threshold to meet. So, the members of the council are asking for retailers to abide by the resolution for the community's greater good. The resolution also asked for the Atlantic Avenue Association and the Resort Advisory Commission to back their stance and try to 'inspire Oceanfront retailers to act in accordance with such environment.' 'We're not telling store owners not to carry the shirts,' president of the Atlantic Avenue Association Deepak Nachnani told WHRO. 'We're just telling them to not put them in the store windows or on the mannequins at the front of the store.' Regardless, this 'peer pressure' approach being taken by the City Council is not sitting well with many of the boardwalk businesses. 'The owners need to make money in a certain period of time, and in the winter nobody's here,' Desouki said about Ocean 11. He believes that taking the controversial clothing off display would cause sales to plummet, as those shirts and shorts are a main attraction to the shop. But other businesses are willing to comply, as their management understands where the city is coming from on the matter. Avinash Basnet, owner of The T-Shirt Factory at the resort, told WHRO he would be willing to participate in this boardwalk clean-up, but it must be a unified effort. 'I'm willing to commit to that, but it has to be for everybody,' he told the outlet. Virginia Beach visitors have seemingly sided with the council, as the swear words and provocative language are far from family-friendly. 'They're just shoving this in kids' faces,' Kecia Magnus, of New Jersey, told WHRO. Angie Whitlock, 68, of Georgia, was also not fond of the clothing. 'I think it's awful. This is a family-friendly place, and as a community we need to protect our children. Maybe move that stuff to the back for the bachelors,' she told The Virginian-Pilot.

Focus: 'Tesla shame' bypasses Norway as sales jump despite Musk's politics
Focus: 'Tesla shame' bypasses Norway as sales jump despite Musk's politics

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timean hour ago

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Focus: 'Tesla shame' bypasses Norway as sales jump despite Musk's politics

SKI, Norway, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Like many Norwegians, Espen Lysholm is not a fan of Elon Musk these days, uncomfortable with the world's richest man's lurch into right-wing politics. He does, however, love Musk's cars. "I'll be honest that it's a bit of a double-edged sword having a Tesla," said Lysholm, who bought a Model Y in May - his third new Tesla in less than a decade. Musk's politics - he helped bankrollDonald Trump's U.S. election win last year and has championed European far-right parties - have sparked a fierce consumer backlash. But while that anger has provoked acts of vandalism against Tesla cars and dealerships and pushed once loyal customers, particularly in Europe, to ditch the brand, sales in tiny Norway are booming, at least for now. "I did think a bit around all that's going on with the company and the brand," said Lysholm, who works at a cartech company in the city of Trondheim. "But it's really all about the charging infrastructure and the seamless technology of the car. No one comes even close." In the first half of this year as Tesla sales plunged by half or more in Germany, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, they grew by 24% year-on-year in Norway, making the country of 5.5 million the company's second-largest European market. Tesla and Musk did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Reuters interviews with Norwegian Tesla owners as well as EV industry experts highlight a 12-year relationship between the Nordic nation and the carmaker that, despite recent signs of strain, has bred brand loyalty and insulated against blowback. "In many ways, you could say Norway helped build Tesla," said Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian EV Association. "Everyone in Norway knows someone who owns a Tesla," she said. "It's more personal." Though small - its market represented less than 12% of Tesla's European sales in the first half of the year and a tiny fraction of the company's global revenues - Norway holds symbolic importance for the brand. It was the first country outside of North America to receive Tesla's flagship EV, the Model S, in 2013. And the company helped build Norway into the world's leader in EV adoption. Tesla built its first Supercharger network outside of North America in Norway, locking in new customers with the promise of a vast web of fast-charging stations for their EVs. In return, Norway gave Tesla a global showcase for its technology, and Musk, once a regular visitor to the country, praised its government's subsidy-backed EV policies. "Norway rocks," he wrote in 2022, opens new tab on Twitter, the social media platform he bought and later renamed X. The Model S rapidly became the best-selling car in Norway where EVs now account for 94% of all new vehicle sales. In 2021, Tesla took the title of the country's leading car brand outright and has accounted for between 11% and 20% of total new car registrations in each of the last five years. That dominance, however, is now being challenged. Volkswagen temporarily seized the top spot in the first quarter. Volvo Cars' ( opens new tab EV offering is also fast winning over Norwegian drivers. And Chinese manufacturers, including BYD ( opens new tab, XPeng ( opens new tab and SAIC Motor's ( opens new tab brand MG, together seized a 12.3% share of new sales in June. Tesla is, for now, successfully fending off the growing threats to its crown in Norway and overcoming the popular disenchantment with CEO Musk. New Tesla registrations dipped 4% last year and the early months of 2025 were marked by subdued sales. But Norwegians snapped up its refreshed Model Y SUV, which first came out in March, as well as a lower-priced version released in May. "Having the ease of operation, having a car that fulfills your needs and for a very affordable price, that is much more important to the Norwegian car buyer than dealing with Tesla shame," said Oyvind Solberg Thorsen, head of the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV). A promotional blitz that saw Tesla offer zero-interest financing and free supercharging in May likely contributed to a 213% spike in Tesla's new car registrations. "It's practically free money, so I jumped at it," Lysholm said. The same promotion did not prevent steep sales declines in Nordic neighbours Sweden and Denmark, however, where no Tesla models cracked the list of top-10 sellers in July, according to OFV. The big question for Tesla is whether Norwegians' loyalty to the brand will last. Research from polling agency Norstat published in February showed that 40% of Norway's Tesla owners believe Musk's political activism is hurting the brand, though more than half of Tesla owners polled said they intended to buy another Tesla. Odd Bakken, a Tesla owner since 2014 who once admired Musk as a visionary, won't be one of them. Driving his Model S from Oslo to his home in the southern town of Ski, he told Reuters he still loves the technology. "Tesla was the first electric car that was actually a good car," said Bakken, who at one point sat on the board of the Norwegian Tesla owners club. It was a two-way relationship, with Tesla posting pictures, opens new tab on its social media of Bakken's Model S on a 2014 trip to northern Norway. But after Musk moved to back Trump and rally behind political movements like Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany, he decided Norwegians needed to show their displeasure via their pocketbooks and convince the company to push him out. "To save Tesla, we need to boycott Tesla," he said. That doesn't mean he wouldn't buy a second-hand model though. "Because the company doesn't benefit from us buying their used cars," he said.

The degrees that may not be worth the paper they're written on
The degrees that may not be worth the paper they're written on

Times

timean hour ago

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The degrees that may not be worth the paper they're written on

There are many reasons to go to university, whether that be a yearning for independence, a desire for further study or, for many, the chance to have an iron-clad excuse to have a good time. These are all worthy motivations but it's worth remembering the fundamental driver for getting a degree in the first place: the hope that in the future, you will earn more money because of that shiny certificate. While university might once have been the golden ticket to a good career, a soaring number of graduates, an increase in what critics describe as 'Mickey Mouse' degrees and the rising threat of artificial intelligence (AI) have all made the decision more complex. • The degrees that earn the best salaries — and protect you from AI According to the Department for Education, those who specifically study teaching as a first degree are unlikely to earn large salaries, even after a decade of working. The average salary of someone who had a degree in education and teaching was just £27,700 after 10 years — the lowest of all the subjects. The majority of teachers earn more than this, but will have studied different degrees. Other low-return degrees included performing arts, creative arts and design, and agricultural studies. Graduates of these subjects typically failed to breach the £30,000 salary mark after 10 years. For context, £34,300 is the median graduate earnings 10 years after graduation, according to the latest longitudinal education outcomes data from the ministry. Victoria McLean from the career consultants City CV and Hanover said: 'It's a shame, but some of the most intellectually rich and socially vital degrees often don't convert to high salaries, at least not in the early years. 'It's not a judgment on their value, but a reflection of how these sectors are structured and funded. It's entirely possible to build a brilliant, lucrative career from these degrees, but it takes longer and demands more pivots along the way.' • How do student loans work and when do you start repaying? Generic or wide-reaching degrees were also unlikely to lead to six-figure careers. A degree in 'combined and general studies' typically had a starting salary of £24,100 and after a decade, this moved up to £30,700. Oliver Sidwell from Higherin, an early careers jobs platform, said that such degrees were typically less likely to get you a degree-level job after university in the first place, so ended up leading to lower-paid jobs. He added that while degrees were still sought-after in general, this was increasingly becoming 'a more outdated view'. The money available in any given sector won't matter, however, if the jobs are likely to be done by AI in the future. Graduate jobs are already among the most affected by the advent of artificial intelligence software. The recruitment firm Adzuna found that the number of entry-level roles had fallen 32 per cent since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. David Morel from the London firm Tiger Recruitment said: 'We are already beginning to see a decline in entry-level job opportunities. Many sectors are cutting costs, and businesses are increasingly turning to software like AI to perform tasks that were once handled by less qualified employees.' • Read more money advice and tips on investing from our experts Data entry and content writing roles have been the first to go, while fields such as proofreading and customer service are now beginning to be automated. According to Lacey Kaelani, who has been tracking AI threats through her jobs platform Metaintro, there has been a drop in roles that require business graduates because AI can handle basic business analysis and generate reports. Kaelani said: 'There is also a 31 per cent decline in entry-level roles in communications roles, and we are seeing 25 per cent fewer 'economic analyst' graduate positions. In all industries, those who can interpret AI and combine AI with expertise and strategic thinking are managing to buck the trend.' Another way of judging AI risks is to look at AI occupational exposure (AIOE) scores — the higher the score, the more replaceable occupations are by AI. According to the Department for Education, industries such as sport, leisure and recreation, engineering and sociology are among the least exposed. Economics, maths and accounting are among the most. Vicky Harvey from the University of Salford said that the pace of change was rapid and so the true impact on jobs was unknown. But she added that many universities were integrating AI into their teaching and research to help students understand and adapt to the evolving landscape. If you want to look at the potential return on investment of different degrees, you need to first understand the initial cost. The average student debt built up by those studying in England is now £53,000, and this is likely to increase as the cap on fees for full-time students will rise to £9,535 a year from September, up from £9,250. However, most students never pay back their loans in full. Instead, those thinking about university should look at the repayment system and how it will affect their take-home pay in the future. Those starting university this year will be on the Plan 5 repayment system. This means that 9 per cent of earnings above £25,000 will go towards paying back their loan. If they have not repaid it within 40 years, the debt is cancelled. It gives a basic-rate taxpayer with a salary above that threshold a marginal tax rate of 37 per cent. A higher-rate taxpayer pays a marginal rate of 51 per cent. While the system can mean that high earners will begin to feel their student loan repayments in their pay cheque — someone earning £100,000 would pay £6,750 a year or £563 a month, for instance — those with smaller salaries are somewhat protected. Those on the average graduate salary of £34,300 a decade after graduation would pay just £837 a year, or £70 a month. McLean added: 'Before choosing a course, I would urge students to ask: what roles do I want to target? What do they pay? What's the outlook for three or five years? And is there a high enough salary to justify the debt? 'You don't need to have it all figured out by 18, but that doesn't mean you can't think strategically. This is one of the biggest investments you will make.'

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