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Morocco Prepares Port Infrastructure For LNG Imports –Energy Minister

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The Moroccan government is preparing port infrastructure for imports of liquefied natural gas to boost reserves after Algeria ended gas supplies through a pipeline on Oct. 31, the country’s energy minister said on Monday. The infrastructure will help lower the cost of LNG imports for private operators.

The Energy Department is also examining financial and gas supply details for a future floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) that would guarantee all of Morocco’s gas needs. A source told Reuters last month that Tangier was added as a possible location for the FSRU, where it could plug into the now-discontinued Algeria-Spain pipeline.

Following a year of worsening relations between Algiers and Rabat before a pipeline deal expired on Oct. 31, Algeria said it would supply Spain through a different pipeline and would no longer send gas to Morocco. Morocco’s local gas production is expected to reach 110 million cubic metres in 2021, while its annual consumption stands at 1 billion cubic metres. Most of it was once supplied by the halted pipeline.

Morocco’s natural gas needs would triple to 3 billion cubic metres by 2040 as the country looks to LNG to boost its low carbon transition and address the irregular supply of renewables, Benali said. The minister also confirmed reports that Morocco plans to increase its renewable energy target to over 52% of the energy mix by 2025.

The current share of renewables in the energy mix is 37% or 3950 megawatts, according to official figures

Steven Gerrard: Rangers Manager High On Aston Villa Shortlist To Replace Dean Smith

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Rangers boss Steven Gerrard remains high on Aston Villa’s list of potential targets to replace Dean Smith – but other contenders are under discussion.

Villa’s hierarchy are impressed by Gerrard’s work in revitalising Rangers in what is his first managerial job.

He has long been seen as a future Liverpool boss, but Villa may be ready to try to tempt him to Villa Park.

The 41-year-old is also well known to Villa chief executive and ex-Reds managing director Christian Purslow.

Gerrard, however, is not the only name being considered and Villa are determined to conduct a proper recruitment process during the international break to identify their new manager, with the hope of having him in charge for their next game at home to Brighton on 20 November.

Belgium coach Roberto Martinez and his Denmark counterpart Kasper Hjulmand, who led his country to the Euro 2020 semi-finals, are also of interest to the Villa board.

Southampton’s Ralph Hasenhuttl is another admired by Villa but has strong loyalty to Southampton, while Brighton’s Graham Potter would be another prime contender for any vacant post, but it is highly doubted he would currently be tempted away from the Amex Stadium.

‘Gerrard may have come to end of Rangers shelf life’

“Eventually Gerrard will come down south and of course the talk is he is going to end up at Liverpool. I don’t want to call Aston Villa a stepping stone – they are an enormous club – but he needs to maybe learn his trade at a club like Villa, not at a club who are going to compete at the very top of the table.

“I think it will suit him – Gary McAllister, his assistant, spent time there with Gerard Houllier, so there’s a link there.

“In truth you manage Rangers, you manage Celtic, it has a shelf life and I just wonder if Gerrard has come to the end of his shelf life. If he’s offered the job I’m pretty sure he’ll take it.”

EU Countries Agree Commission To Be Sole Enforcer Of Tech Rules

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European Union Representatives have agreed that the EU Commission will be the sole enforcer of new tech rules, with a limited role for national antitrust watchdogs instead of the wider powers sought for them, officials said on Monday.

EU ministers will formally ratify the agreement on November 25 as part of the bloc’s common position ahead of negotiations with EU lawmakers and the Commission on the draft rules known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) before they can become law.

The DMA, proposed by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager last year, aim to curb the powers of Alphabet unit Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon with a list of dos and don’ts.

German and French antitrust watchdogs and their counterparts in the other 25 EU countries in a joint letter in June argued for a bigger role in enforcing the DMA and cited their expertise in digital cases.

“The Commission is the sole authority empowered to enforce this Regulation,” said an EU document agreed by a working group of the EU Council and seen by Reuters.

Niger classroom fire kills at least 25 schoolchildren

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At least 25 children aged five to six have died after their straw-hut classrooms caught fire in southern Niger, officials say.

Several others were injured during the blaze, which broke out on Monday morning as children took part in school lessons in the country’s Maradi region.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

In Niger, overflow classrooms are often built using wood and straw when the main brick structures are unable to accommodate all schoolchildren.

Monday’s blaze destroyed three such classrooms, the mayor of Maradi city, Chaibou Aboubacar, told local media.

With some of those injured said to be in a critical condition all classes at the school have been suspended.

Sierra Leone tanker explosion: Mass burial in Freetown

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The 115 people killed in Friday’s massive fuel tanker explosion in Sierra Leone are being buried in a mass ceremony in the capital, Freetown.

Many of the dead were burnt beyond recognition after fuel leaked before catching fire at a busy junction.

The authorities have also made an urgent appeal for blood donations to treat more than 100 burn victims admitted to hospitals.

Officials say that blood supplies might run out in the next 72 hours.

Those being buried on Monday will be laid to rest in the same cemetery as some of those who died in the 2017 mudslide that killed some 1,000 people in the city, says local journalist Umaru Fofana.

A health ministry spokesman has confirmed that the number of known deaths has risen to 115.

Malawian leader tells off citizens over demands

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Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera has asked each citizen to take responsibility for the country’s development rather than always demanding it from the politicians.

He said he had hundreds of messages on his phone from people asking him “to run their families for them” just because he is president – adding that MPs had similar messages from their constituents.

The Malawian president asked citizens to implement plans at household level that were in line with a national development plan, which he was launching.

He gave an example of the country’s plan to improve productivity and commercialisation of agriculture – which he said could not happen “without fundamental changes at the household level”.

He said farmers had to think of diversifying the crops they grow and how they do it in order to improve harvests.

Ghana sees need for energy transition, still sees gas as key -deputy minister

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Ghana’s deputy energy minister said on Tuesday that he recognises the need for an energy transition but still strongly believes that gas will be an important source of energy going forward.

Ghana discovered oil in 2007 and began production at the end of 2010, boosting economic growth to around 14% the following year and raising hopes of a bonanza.

The country’s state owned petroleum company is looking to acquire oil assets in order to accelerate exploration before a transition from fossil fuels reshapes the market, the finance minister said in July.

Ghana was aiming for 100% energy access by 2024 and is working on a nuclear facility, the deputy minister added on Tuesday.

Today In History – Nov. 9 – 1858 – 1st Performance Of NY Symphony Orchestra

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1494 Piero the Unfortunate of the de’ Medici family, ruler of Florence, loses his power and flees the state

1799 Napoleon Bonaparte pulls off a coup and becomes the dictator of France under the title of First Consul

1865 Henry Ballantine mastered Marathi to preach Christ in India

1980 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declares holy war against Iran

1994 Darmstadtium, Chemical element 110, discovered at GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research near Darmstadt, Germany

1998 Brokerage houses are ordered to pay 1.03 billion USD to NASDAQ investors to compensate for price-fixing – largest civil settlement in US history

2020 Drugmakers BioNTech and Pfizer announce their COVID-19 vaccine to be over 90% effective in a first look at the results from their phase 3 trial involving nearly 44,000 people

TODAY’S HISTORICAL EVENTS

TODAY IN FILM & TV

1984 Wes Craven’s horror film “A Nightmare on Elm Street” premieres in the US

TODAY IN MUSIC

1858 1st performance of NY Symphony Orchestra

TODAY IN SPORT

1985 Garry Kasparov becomes the youngest ever world chess champion (22), with a 13-11 win over fellow Russian Anatoly Karpov

DO YOU KNOW THIS FACT ABOUT TODAY? DID YOU KNOW?

1888 – Jack Ripper’s 5th and probably last victim, Mary Jane Kelly, found on her bed

WOULD YOU BELIEVE THIS FACT ABOUT TODAY? WOULD YOU BELIEVE?

1842 – The first U.S. design patent for typefaces and borders was issued to George Bruce of New York City

Jitters In Europe As Russia Shows No Sign Of Increasing Gas Supplies

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With high prices and energy dependence lingering European concerns about tight supplies deepens, as Russia showed no sign on Monday of carrying out an order by President Vladimir Putin to pump more gas to Europe, as winter looms.

In a sign of those concerns, the Dutch TTF December gas futures contract — a European benchmark — rose almost 10% on Monday before easing.

The Kremlin has said Russia is committed to sending more gas to Europe once its domestic storage tanks are replenished, in line with Putin’s order to state energy company Gazprom , which said this would be done by Monday.

But Gazprom has booked no new capacity on a gas transit pipeline via Ukraine, and flows via the Yamal-Europe pipeline into Germany from Poland were at zero on Monday, data on German transmission company Gascade’s website showed.

With Gazprom’s production and exports near record highs, and its European storage at about one third of the levels of a year ago, some European politicians say Russia can do more to reduce prices and consumer bills.

They are concerned that Moscow is using the situation for political purposes and accuse Russia of manipulating the market to push up prices. Russia denies this.

Wang Yaping Becomes China’s 1st Woman To Conduct Spacewalk

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has become the first Chinese woman to conduct a spacewalk as part of a six-month mission to the country’s space station.

Wang and fellow astronaut Zhai Zhigang left the station’s main module on Sunday evening, spending more than six hours outside installing equipment and carrying out tests alongside the station’s robotic service arm, according to the China Manned Space agency.

The third member of the crew, Ye Guangfu, assisted from inside the station, CMS said on its website.

Wang, 41, and Zhai, 55, had both traveled to China’s now-retired experimental space stations, and Zhai conducted China’s first spacewalk 13 years ago.

The three are the second crew on the permanent station, and the mission that began with their arrival Oct. 16 is scheduled to be the longest stretch of time in space yet for Chinese astronauts.

The Tianhe module of the station will be connected next year to two more sections named Mengtian and Wentian. The completed station will weigh about 66 tons, much smaller than the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and weighs around 450 tons.

Three spacewalks are planned to install equipment in preparation for the station’s expansion, while the crew will also assess living conditions in the Tianhe module and conduct experiments in space medicine and other fields.

China’s military-run space program plans to send multiple crews to the station over the next two years to make it fully functional.