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Bangladesh CIRT to Build Sensor Network for Banks

The Bangladesh eGovernment Computer Incident Response Team, or CIRT, is taking several steps to strengthen cybersecurity, including building a sensor network to help enable all banks to share threat intelligence, says Tawhidur Rahman, CIRT's head of digital security and diplomacy.




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HKMA: Banking (Amendment) Ordinance 2012

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is informing authorized institutions that on Feb. 29, 2012, the Banking (Amendment) Ordinance 2012 bill was passed by the Legislative Council.




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Bangladesh CIRT to Build Sensor Network for Banks

The Bangladesh eGovernment Computer Incident Response Team, or CIRT, is taking several steps to strengthen cybersecurity, including building a sensor network to help enable all banks to share threat intelligence, says Tawhidur Rahman, CIRT's head of digital security and diplomacy.




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RBI: Transaction Limit Update to Mobile Banking Circular

The Reserve Bank of India has updated its mobile banking circular, dated Dec. 24, 2009, removing the 50,000 Rupees per customer, per day limit.




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RBI: Mobile Banking Security Lab Launches

The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology has launched the Mobile Banking Security Lab to explore solutions to the evolving challenges in the area of mobile banking and security.




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Bangladesh CIRT to Build Sensor Network for Banks

The Bangladesh eGovernment Computer Incident Response Team, or CIRT, is taking several steps to strengthen cybersecurity, including building a sensor network to help enable all banks to share threat intelligence, says Tawhidur Rahman, CIRT's head of digital security and diplomacy.




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[Ticker] EU to hold virtual Western Balkan summit today

Six Western-Balkans leaders will sit down with the 27 EU ones in a videoconference summit on Wednesday that was to have taken place in Zagreb as the centrepiece of the Croatian EU presidency. "The summit itself is the message, to say: we want you to join," an EU diplomat told Reuters, adding: "We will also say that you cannot pander to the Chinese and the Russians when it suits you".




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[Ticker] Baltic states reopen their borders to each other

The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania plan to open their mutual borders on 15 May for their residents, prime ministers of the countries said on Wednesday. However, people arriving from any other country to the Baltic three will have to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine. Most member states within the EU's passport-free Schengen zone have closed their borders in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.




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EU restates marriage proposal to Balkan hopefuls

The EU has restated its accession promises to Western Balkan aspirants, while tacitly warning them on Chinese and Russian influence.




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[Ticker] UK enters deepest recession on record, bank warns

The Bank of England on Thursday warned that the UK economy is heading towards its deepest recession on record, as the British economy will shrink by 14 percent this year. The Covid-19 pandemic was "dramatically reducing jobs and incomes in the UK", it said. Bank governor Andrew Bailey told the BBC there would be no quick return to normality. The EU has forecast an eight-percent contraction for the UK.




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[Coronavirus] Borrell: Coronavirus has 'blown up' global order

"The coronavirus has ending blowing up the model of global multilateral governance that has been functioning over the past few years," EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell told a group of reporters on Thursday.




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'Disappointing' watchdog may get new EU banking role

The European Commission is floating plans to beef up the fight against money-laundering, including possibly giving a supervisor role to the European Banking Authority. Yet the authority's board refused to act on a €200bn money-laundering scandal involving Danske Bank.




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[Letter] Right-of-reply from Chinese embassy to Belgium

Such claims, based on internal reports four years ago, fall far from the truth, and are mainly based on conjectures and presumptions. The so-called 'Chinese espionage menace' is nothing new and has time and again been proven fictitious.




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MEPs: Czech PM Babis can't be in budget talks

MEPs said the Czech PM should fully resolve the possible conflict of interest in a company that receives EU funds - or resign.




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[Ticker] EU top court hits back after German ruling

The EU's top court, the European Court of Justice, warned Friday the bloc's legal order could unravel if national courts started to question the primacy of EU law and ECJ decisions. In an unprecedented statement, after the German Constitutional Court's ruling on the European Central Bank diverging from an earlier ECJ decision, the ECJ said it alone has the right to rule on EU institutions and interpret EU law.




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Citi Sees Capital Markets Reviving Renewables as Banks Bow Out

Renewable energy companies will derive more of their funding from bond markets as banks curb lending to the industry, Citigroup Inc.’s head of environmental finance said.




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Iberdrola-Backed AlgaEnergy May Build Mexico Biomass Plant

AlgaEnergy SA, part-owned by Spain’s Iberdrola SA and Repsol SA, is in talks with potential partners to set up a plant in Mexico to supply the American markets with biomass made from algae.




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Clean Energy Investment Rises in Several Countries Amid Global Decline

Three G-20 nations saw an increase in clean-energy investments last year even as funding declined globally for the second consecutive year, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts.




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Global Renewable Energy Should Triple to Save Climate, UN Panel Says

The world needs to triple the energy it gets from renewables, nuclear reactors and power plants that use emissions-capture technology to avoid dangerous levels of global warming, United Nations scientists said.




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Obama May Consider Power Plant Rule That Tests Clean Air Act

The Obama administration is considering cutting greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants by reaching beyond the plants themselves — an unusual approach that could run afoul of anti-pollution laws.




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Obama Bid to Cut Greenhouse Gases Divides Utility, Coal Industries

Bracing for greenhouse-gas rules from the Obama administration, two industries are staking out different positions. Coal companies are pledging to sue. Electric utilities are ready to talk.




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UK Green Investment Bank Aims to Spend $1.2 Billion This Year

The U.K. Green Investment Bank aims to boost the capital it commits to carbon-cutting projects to 700 million pounds ($1.2 billion) this year as it chases deals in offshore wind, waste and energy efficiency.




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Former Banker Will Now Oversee Renewable Energy in India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed a former banker to oversee coal, power and clean-energy reforms in a move aimed at resolving fuel bottlenecks and chronic blackouts hampering economic growth.




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French State Bank Sets Aside 5 Billion Euros for Green Projects

Caisse des Depots et Consignations, a French state bank, is setting aside 5 billion euros ($6.8 billion) for green projects after the government proposed a law to spur use of renewable electricity and boost efficiency.




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US Ex-Im Hangs in Balance as Chief Defends Bank Against Critics

U.S. Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg mounted a defense of the 80-year-old agency as Republicans weigh eliminating the lender they say backs major corporations with political connections.




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Renewables to Receive Lion's Share of $7.7 Trillion in Global Power Funding

Renewable energy may reap as much as two-thirds of the $7.7 trillion in investment forecast for building new power plants by 2030 as declining costs make it more competitive with fossil fuels.




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Japan Bank Sets Aside $2 Billion for Clean Energy

Shinsei Bank Ltd., a lender for Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s clean-energy projects in Japan, plans to provide as much as 200 billion yen (US $2 billion) in loans for renewable developments.




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Obama Delay on Biofuel Rule Puts Intended Beneficiaries in Bind

In the arid Imperial Valley of California, Tim Brummels is trying to turn an agricultural cousin of sugarcane into low-carbon ethanol.




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India to Sart Construction on German-backed $8 Billion Renewable Grid Project

India will begin construction this year on an $8 billion project backed by Germany’s development bank to upgrade its grid to handle a more than doubling of renewable power capacity by 2022.




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Chevron’s Search for Plant-Based Alternative Fuels Flounders

Chevron Corp.’s attempts to turn plants into alternative fuels for profitable, large-scale production have failed.




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UK Green Bank Set to Draw Offshore Wind Investors to $1.6 Billion Fund

The U.K. Green Investment Bank is set to tie up the first investments in a $1.6 billion fund by the end of March, part of Britain’s push to cement its dominance in offshore wind power.




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Khosla-Backed Biofuel Firm Kior Files Bankruptcy, Plans Sale

Kior Inc., a maker of biofuels from crops such as switchgrass, wood chips and corn husks, filed for bankruptcy protection with a plan to sell its assets to affiliates of backer Vinod Khosla if no better offer emerges.




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Obama to Pledge $3 Billion for Climate Change Fund

President Barack Obama will pledge $3 billion to a United Nations climate-change fund that’s intended to help poor nations boost renewable energy and counter the ill effects of global warming.




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Global Clean Energy Investment Jumps 16 Percent in 2014

Clean energy investment rose for the first time in three years in 2014, overcoming a slump in oil prices that unsettled the outlook for the industry.




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Brazilian Bank Raises $408 Million for Renewable Energy and Water Projects

The Brazilian bank Itau Unibanco Holding SA raised 1.05 billion reais ($408 million) to finance renewable energy and water treatment projects.




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Obama Proposes $4 Billion for States Beating Climate Goals

The Obama administration is proposing a $4 billion fund to reward states that exceed cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, and wants Congress to back steeper royalty rates for oil, gas and coal extraction from public land.




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Obama Orders US Agencies to Cut Carbon Emissions 40 Percent by 2025

President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 2008 levels over the next 10 years by shifting to renewable energy sources such as solar power.




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Republican Texas Bows to California and Backs Energy Finance Plan

Jim Keffer is Republican state lawmaker in Texas with a permit to carry a concealed weapon and doubts about whether human activity is causing global warming.




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Obama To Announce $100 Million Grants for Ethanol

The Obama administration is set to pledge $100 million Friday to expand the use of special fuel pumps that allow drivers to blend more ethanol into their gasoline, according to people briefed on the announcement.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has long championed these so-called blender pumps, may unveil the plan on the same day that the Environmental Protection Agency announces quotas for the use of renewable fuels. With ethanol makers facing a possible cut in their quota below the statutory level of 15 billion gallons, the grant program will let the administration of President Barack Obama demonstrate that it still supports the fuel, which in the U.S. is produced mostly from corn.

“Blender pumps are a huge part of the equation when it comes to the deployment of the second generation biofuels, because investors need a market to invest in,” said Brooke Coleman, the executive director of the Advanced Ethanol Council. “It allows the consumer to choose based on price.”

The grant program would be fast-tracked to states to help defray the cost of installing the pumps, which allow drivers to choose how much ethanol they want to mix with gasoline pumped into their tanks, said the people, who asked not to be identified before the formal announcement.

The USDA, which in 2011 said it wanted to get 10,000 blender pumps installed, has scheduled an announcement Friday on biofuels infrastructure. USDA spokesman Cullen Schwarz said he couldn’t comment on the announcement.

 

Quotas Overdue

 

The EPA is scheduled to issue renewable fuel quotas for 2014, 2015 and 2016 before June 1, and the two people said that announcement will also come Friday. The EPA abandoned its proposal for quotas last year, after ethanol makers bristled at the attempt to cut quotas based on the argument that more than 10 percent ethanol couldn’t be absorbed by the domestic market.

Separately, production of cellulosic ethanol -- a fuel made from wood, grass and other plant material -- is far below the 3 billion gallons set in the legislation for this year. Taken together EPA will have to propose some cuts, analysts say.

“The statutory volume targets of the RFS are now totally implausible, so something has to give,” Jeremy Martin, a senior scientist the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote in a report released Thursday. “Whatever they do will likely be challenged in court, so the final answer to these questions may take some time to shake out.”

 

--With assistance from Alan Bjerga in Washington.




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World Bank makes US$390 million loan Pakistan's Tarbela hydroelectric plant extension

The World Bank has approved US$390 million in additional financing to be used by Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority for extensions of its Tarbela hydroelectric plant.




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Banking on AI: NerdWallet’s Recommendation Engine Matches Customers with Relevant Financial Products

Dating apps may get all the press, but NerdWallet has been refining the art of financial matchmaking for more than a decade. The company provides its members with sound financial advice generated by machine learning algorithms. But as computing has advanced, so has NerdWallet’s ambition. Now the company is using AI to better match casual Read article >

The post Banking on AI: NerdWallet’s Recommendation Engine Matches Customers with Relevant Financial Products appeared first on The Official NVIDIA Blog.




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The Believer’s Lifelong Battle for Holiness (Galatians 5:16–26)

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.




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Irreconcilable Views of Reconciliation (Voddie Baucham) (Ephesians 2:11-22)

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.




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Winning the Battle Against Sin, Part 1 (Romans 7:1-6)

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.




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Winning the Battle Against Sin, Part 3 (Romans 8)

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.




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Winning the Battle Against Sin, Part 4 (Romans 8)

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.




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Winning the Battle Against Sin, Part 5 (Romans 8)

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.




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Winning the Battle Against Sin, Part 6 (Romans 8)

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.




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Publications Highlighting Center's Global Impact Make Debut at 50th Anniversery Conference

Publications Highlighting Center’s Global Impact Make Debut at 50th Anniversary International Conference

The roughly 800 participants who gathered from more than 35 nations at the recent EWC/EWCA 50th Anniversary International Conference received a special gift conveying the significance of the celebration.  Opening their conference bags, they found two new publications – Fifty Years, Fifty Stories , focusing on the lives and achievements of select Center alumni; and The East-West Center Legacy , sharing a behind-the-scenes look at some of the Center’s institutional accomplishments.




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EWC 50 Spotlight: International Graduate Student Conference Addresses Global Challenges

EWC 50 Spotlight: International Graduate Student Conference Addresses Global Challenges

Conference co-coordinator Vandana Krishnamurthy welcomes the audience to the International Graduate Student Conference. Seated in the front row ( L to R) are Beryl Yang, the other co-coordinator, EWC President Charles E. Morrison, keynote speaker C.H. Tung, EWC Board of Governors Chairman Puongpun Sananikone, Mr. and Mrs. John K. Tsui, and Jean Ariyoshi.