China fines global shipping firms for price-fixing
Chinese regulators have fined seven major international shipping companies 407 million yuan for fixing prices after a year-long investigation. Korean, Japanese and European shipping companies that carry vehicles were found to have coordinated bids and routes in order to keep prices high. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said executives from the firms met over a period of four years to share information and create deals to avoid competition on routes linking China with Europe, North America and Latin America. The companies fined include Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Eastern Car Liner, South Korea’s Eukor Car Carriers, Norway’s Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, and Chile’s Cia. Sud Americana de Vapore. The fines are equivalent to 4 to 9 percent of the firm’s international shipping sales to and from China, the regulator said. Authorities have been penalising firms under China’s 2008 anti-monopoly law. Several sectors have been affected by the crackdown including automakers, dairy and technology suppliers in an attempt to keep prices down for Chinese consumers. (BBC)
Zuckerberg fights for net neutrality in India amidst criticism
Last week, India’s telecom regulatory body put a stop to Internet.org, Facebook’s initiative to provide internet to the developing world, as it determines whether operators should be able to price their services based on content. Responding to criticisms of the program, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, penned an op-ed published in the Times of India. In it, he expressed annoyance that India is debating net neutrality, a principle dictating that telecom operators provide people with equal access to the internet. In the process of defending Internet.org, Zuckerberg paints India—where about a billion people are not connected to the internet—as backwards for questioning the benefits of Facebook’s charity-like endeavor. Net neutrality activists have long argued that Internet.org provides a “walled garden” experience because the sites that users can access for free are determined by Facebook and its telecom partners, essentially making them gatekeepers to the internet for poor people. (Quartz)
Gender Diversity
More female heroes appear in big-budget games
Official statistics are hard to come by, but experts see a distinct shift underway for better representation of female protagonists in gaming. There are at least five major releases featuring female protagonists that have recently debuted or will arrive soon for the Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One. Among them are well-known titles like Assassin’s Creed and new arrivals like Horizon Zero Dawn and ReCore. “There are more female-led titles than ever in games, and I think that’s in large part due to social media,” said Sam Maggs, a game journalist. She added that the Internet has allowed women to “form our own communities and given us a platform from which our voices can be heard — and it’s hard for companies to ignore nearly 50 percent of their customers demanding better representation in games.” The online harassment of women who have spoken out against stereotypes in games has given the issue more visibility. Independent and PC game developers have had, over the years, a better gender mix of protagonists in their products, but big-budget console games have lagged behind. “Women have always played games, but we’ve been largely ignored by the market,” Ms. Maggs said. (NY Times)
Consumers
Ethical spending rose in 2014 but solar cuts could hit this year’s figures
Stronger sales of solar panels, electric cars and free-range poultry helped to grow the UK’s overall “ethical market” by 8 percent in 2014, a new report from the magazine Ethical Consumer and Triodos Bank claims. However, the report’s authors warned that recent government changes such as cuts to subsidies for householders installing rooftop solar panels would make it tougher to repeat this growth in spending on low carbon home energy and cars. The overall value of sales for a sector that spans charity shops, vegetarian food and energy efficient lightbulbs, rose to £38 billion in 2014 from £35 billion the previous year, according to the report. “Disappointing changes to government incentives for home renewable energy installations and lower impact motoring in 2015 will threaten the strong growth in sales of lower carbon choices identified in this report,” said Rob Harrison, editor of Ethical Consumer. “Successive reports have shown that government incentives to encourage ethical behaviours can bring the most dramatic changes in consumer impacts and should be used more rather than less.” (Guardian)
Energy
UPS to power alternative fuel fleet with natural gas from landfills
UPS has announced it will supply its fleet in Tennessee, and Mississippi, with an estimated 15 million diesel gallon gas equivalents of renewable natural gas (RNG) as part of a multi-year agreement with Memphis Light, Gas and Water and Atmos Energy Marketing. The deal is part of an initiative announced earlier this year by UPS to significantly expand its use of renewable natural gas in its alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet. The company has a goal of driving one billion miles with its alternative fuels fleet, known as the Rolling Laboratory by the end of 2017 — an effort aimed at reducing environmental impact and helping to advance new sustainability solutions and markets. UPS logged 154 million miles in 2014 toward its goal of driving 1 billion miles with its alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet by the end of 2017, according to the company’s 13th annual Sustainability Report. The RNG will fuel more than 140 heavy duty trucks in Memphis and Jackson, part of UPS’s natural gas fleet, which includes more than 3,800 medium and heavy duty vehicles worldwide. (Sustainable Brands)
Image Source: UPS Package Car by William J. Grimes / Public Domain
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