The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday that it has set a goal to vastly expand the nation’s offshore wind energy capacity in the coming decade by opening new areas to development, speeding environmental permitting, and boosting public financing for projects.

The plan is part of Biden’s broader effort to rapidly transition the U.S. economy to net zero greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change, a politically controversial agenda that Republicans say could bring economic ruin but which Democrats say can create jobs while protecting the environment.

“President Biden believes we have an enormous opportunity in front of us to not only address the threats of climate change, but use it as a chance to create millions of good-paying, union jobs,” National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy said in announcing the plan. “Nowhere is the scale of that opportunity clearer than for offshore wind.”

The plan sets a target to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, which the administration said would be enough to power 10 million homes and cut 78 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, while creating jobs in construction, development, and steel-making.

As investors focus on the economic recovery, while oil prices dropped on news that a cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal had been refloated, Asian markets mostly rose Monday, extending last week’s positive finish and tracking a record-breaking lead from Wall Street.

Egypt’s Suez Canal resumed Monday after a giant container ship which had been blocking the busy waterway for almost a week was refloated.

The 400-metre long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early last Tuesday, halting traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

A below-forecast reading on US prices on Friday provided support as it eased fears that inflation caused by an expected strong global rebound will force central banks to wind back their ultra-loose monetary policies or hike interest rates.

The week ahead will provide plenty for traders to get their teeth into including the release of key US jobs data for March and figures on manufacturing activity around the world.

US President Joe Biden is also tipped to soon unveil the next leg of his economic recovery plan targeting infrastructure, which some suggest could come in around $3 trillion. That comes just as his recently passed $1.9 trillion stimulus begins to kick in.

Nigerian states and federal debt stock as of December 31, 2020 stood at N32.92 trillion, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.

The bureau, in its Nigerian domestic and foreign debt Q4 2020 report released Monday, said Nigeria’s total public debt portfolio showed that N12.71 trillion or 38.60 per cent of the debt was external while N20.21 trillion or 61.40 per cent of the debt was domestic.

The NBS gave further disaggregation of Nigeria’s foreign debt to include $17.93 billion of the debt as multilateral; $4.06 billion as bilateral from the AFD, Exim Bank of China, JICA, India, and KFW while $11.17 billion was commercial which are Eurobonds and Diaspora Bonds and $186.70 million as promissory notes.

Details of the debt figures show that the domestic debt figures of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT were put at N4.19 trillion with Lagos accounting the highest.

The report said the total states and FCT domestic debt was put at N4.19 trillion with Lagos State accounting for 12.15 per cent of the debt stock while Jigawa State has the least debt stock in this category with a contribution of 0.74 per cent, it said.

Tower of David Museum said Monday, A box of artifacts was rediscovered during a major conservation project to restore the stones of the “Phasael” tower of the Jerusalem citadel’s $40 million renewal project.

Additionally, the team discovered a box of artifacts, originally excavated in the 1980s. Within it, they uncovered a rare silver coin from the Second Temple period  — a “Tyre shekel.”

Two images are imprinted on either side of the coin: On one face is Melqart, the chief god of the Phoenician city of Tyre, and on the other, an eagle.

The coins were struck at some point between 125 BCE and the outbreak of the Great Revolt in 66 CE, when they were used to pay a half-shekel tax. Talmudic sources suggest that the Tyrian shekel was likely the only means of paying the head tax at the Temple for its upkeep.

Although well-known in ancient and biblical sources, these coins are rare — only a few have been found. The coin will be displayed as part of the museum’s new permanent exhibition next year.

During the planning stages of the project, conservationists discovered a large, structural crack running from the top to the bottom of the tower, which soon became the project’s central focus, according to the museum.

As part of the team’s renewal project, conservationists cleaned and treated the stones of the tower — dating back more than 2,000 years — with temporary glue to maintain stability.

A pipe system was then threaded within the tower, and liquid lime-based mortar injected into the cracks. This process helps the team ascertain how large the cracks are, by examining how far up the mortar rises.