NORWEGIAN BILLIONAIRE FUNDS WORLD’S LARGEST YACHT TO SCOOP UP PLASTIC
The vessel will be able to scoop up around five tons of plastic every day, and then melt it down – all in yet another private effort to help clean up the ocean.
Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke has profited from offshore drilling. But now the businessman, who started as a fisherman, wants to give back with a colossal yacht for marine research. The vessel will be able to scoop up around five tons of plastic every day, and then melt it down – all in yet another private effort to help clean up the ocean.
Røkke, who’s worth around $2.6 billion, owns almost 67 percent of shipping and offshore drilling conglomerate Aker ASA. But now he’s contracted a 595-foot Research Expedition Vessel (REV) to be built by VARD and designed by superyacht designer Espen Oeino. Scientists and marine researchers will be invited aboard to study and innovate around issues like climate change, overfishing, plastic pollution, and extraction, according to owner Rosellinis Four-10, a subsidiary of the Røkke family company TRG.
Rosellinis Four-10 will collaborate with none other than World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Norway, who will manage the ship. Aboard, scientists will have access to laboratory space, sea and air drones, an auditorium, two helipads, and an autonomous underwater vehicle. 60 scientists and 40 crew could travel aboard the immense ship. According to Yacht Harbour, the REV will be largest yacht in the world – it will narrowly beat out the 592-foot Azzam yacht rumored to be owned by a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family.
You may be wondering about the carbon footprint of such a massive ship. According to VARD, environmental performance was important in the vessel’s design. The REV will be equipped with an “energy recovery rudder system, medium speed engines, a direct drive diesel-electric propulsion system with battery package, and an exhaust cleaning system.” An energy management system will also help the crew lessen the REV’s carbon footprint.
Røkke told Oslo’s Aftenposen publication, “I want to give back to society the bulk of what I’ve earned. This ship is a part of it…sea covers 70 percent of Earth’s surface and much is not researched.”
He’s given WWF Norway total independence over the REV’s mission. WWF Norway Secretary General Nina Jensen told Aftenposten they may disagree over oil, and the organization is willing to challenge Røkke when they disagree, “but in this project we will meet to collectively make a big difference in the environmental struggle.”
The REV should be ready to go around 2020.
US courts are still torn about how to handle defendants who refuse to give up passcodes for encrypted smartphones, judging by two recent court cases reported in the Miami Herald. In one, child abuse defendant Christopher Wheeler got six months in jail for failing to provide a correct code, despite pleas to the judge that he couldn't remember it. In a different court, a judge let off Wesley Victor (accused of extortion), even though he also claimed to have forgotten his iPhone code.
The main difference in the cases is that ten months had passed after Victor's initial arrest, and as his lawyer argued, "many people, including myself, can't remember passwords from a year ago." In the same case Victor's girlfriend (and reality TV star) Hencha Voigt was ordered to divulge her code to police, but provided one that didn't work. She's also facing contempt of court charges, and is scheduled to appear next week. Both defendants are accused of threatening to release sex tapes stolen from social media celeb YesJulz unless she paid $18,000.
The cases underscore the dilemma faced by law enforcement officials in dealing with new-fangled encryption tech. According to the Fifth Amendment, defendants have the right not to say anything that could be used against them, including, you'd think, divulging a passcode. However, the judge in the celebrity case, Charles Johnson, thinks it's not a Fifth Amendment matter. "For me, this is like turning over a key to a safe-deposit box," he said.
[An accused] may in some cases be forced to surrender a key to a strongbox containing incriminating documents, but I do not believe he can be compelled to reveal the combination to his wall safe -- by word or deed.
He's referring to a statement made by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens in a 1998 case dissent that stated police should be able to compel defendants to turn over a safe key, but not a combination. "[An accused] may in some cases be forced to surrender a key to a strongbox containing incriminating documents, but I do not believe he can be compelled to reveal the combination to his wall safe -- by word or deed." In other words, if a defendant makes use of "the contents of his own mind," as the SCOTUS put it, he should be protected by the Fifth.
In Florida where both of the recent passcode cases took place, the state Court of Appeals ruled that defendants can sometimes be compelled to give up codes, based on the "foregone conclusion" doctrine of the Fifth Amendment. That states that if police are reasonably certain of exactly what they're going to find (whether we're talking about papers in a safe or messages on a smartphone), then a defendant can be compelled to testify in spite of the Fifth.
However, experts have argued that smartphones should largely be exempt from that doctrine. Police often have no idea what they'll find on a device, so passcode demands are tantamount to "fishing expeditions," wrote Orin Kerr in the Washington Post. Confusing matters, courts have ruled that police can force subjects to use fingerprints to unlock phones, since that doesn't require the contents of their minds.
Judge Johnson cited the Court of Appeals judgement in the case of Voigt, saying "that's the law in Florida at this point." There's no word on an appeal by Wheeler, but at this point, it seems the final word on passcodes and encryption must eventually come from the US Supreme Court.
BP - CEO: supply and demand is now in balance, which should bring down oil stock levels globally - press - OPEC production cut is healthy for the market
Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:
- EXPR -15.2%, SMTC -3.1%, DSGX -1.4%, OLLI -1.3%, HPE -1.1%
Other news:
- MBOT -7.1% (modestly pulling back following yesterday's 68% gain)
- SHPG -1.3% (light volume, catalyst unclear - co presents this weekend at ASCO)
Analyst comments:
- ADM -0.6% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus)