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Flying comes with a lot of carbon emissions, but not all plane seats are environmentally equal. Seats that take up more space, like business or first class, come with a higher personal carbon footprint than the tightly packed seats in economy. Private jets, which have fewer than 20 seats total, are even more polluting per person. Now a coalition of eight countries has pledged to tax so-called premium fliers as a way to raise funds for climate action. The countries in the coalition are France, Kenya, Barbados, Spain, Somalia, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Antigua and Barbudaall members of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, a group launched at the COP28 climate conference in 2023. Municipalities have increasingly considered taxes on polluting activities, like private jet use or carbon emissions, as a way to make it less profitable to pollute, and to finance sustainable development initiatives. This initiative will also be supported by the European Commission. The tax on premium fliers will affect first- and business-class tickets as well as passengers on private jets, though its not yet clear how high the tax will be (a recent unrelated study on private jet use found that taxing private jet fuels at $1.95 per gallon could generate $3 billion annually for decarbonization efforts). A study for the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force found that broad aviation taxes, like on commercial jet fuels and for frequent fliers as well as private jets, combined could generate 187 billion euros (upwards of $220 billion) per year. Countries have tried to take other steps to curb aviation emissions, like by banning short flights. In 2021, France announced it would ban any flight that could be replaced by a 180-minute train ride. France also recently released plans to drastically cut marine shipping emissions. Only a small percentage of the world is responsible for aviation emissions. Overall, aviation accounts for 2.5% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions (its warming effect is stronger, however; aviation has contributed around 4% to global temperature rise since preindustrial times). But that comes from a limited group: Only around 10% of the worlds population flies most years. Just 1% of the worlds population is responsible for more than half of all aviation emissions, a group that has been dubbed super emitters. Flying is the most elite and polluting form of travel, so this is an important step towards ensuring that the binge users of this undertaxed sector are made to pay their fair share, Rebecca Newsom of Greenpeace International said in a statement about the coalitions pledge. With the cost of climate impacts surging in countries least responsible for the crisis, bold, cooperative action that makes polluters pay is not just fairits essential. But Newsom noted that the task force, and other rich countries, should go even further. The obvious next step is to hold oil and gas corporations to account, she said, by committing to higher taxes on fossil fuel profits and extraction by COP30.
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E-Commerce
A U.S. judge has ruled that China’s Huawei Technologies, a leading telecoms equipment company, must face criminal charges in a wide reaching case alleging it stole technology and engaged in racketeering, wire and bank fraud and other crimes.U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly on Tuesday rejected Huawei’s request to dismiss the allegations in a 16-count federal indictment against the company, saying in a 52-page ruling that its arguments were premature.The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The U.S. accuses Huawei and some of its subsidiaries of plotting to steal U.S. trade secrets, installing surveillance equipment that enabled Iran to spy on protesters during 2009 anti-government demonstrations in Iran, and of doing business in North Korea despite U.S. sanctions there.During President Donald Trump’s first term in office, his administration raised national security concerns and began lobbying Western allies against including Huawei in their wireless, high-speed networks.In its January 2019 indictment, the Justice Department accused Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions and charged its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, with fraud by misleading the HSBC bank about the company’s business dealings in Iran.Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, was arrested in Canada in late 2018 on a U.S. extradition request but released in September 2021 in a high-stakes prisoner swap that freed two Canadians held by China and allowed her to return home.Chinese officials have accused the U.S. government of “economic bullying” and of improperly using national security as a pretext for “oppressing Chinese companies.” In their motion to dismiss the broad criminal case, among other arguments Huawei’s lawyers contended that the U.S. allegations were too vague and some were “impermissibly extraterritorial,” and do not involve domestic wire and bank fraud.The biggest maker of network gear, Huawei struggled to hold onto its market share under sanctions that have blocked its access to most U.S. processor chips and other technology. The limits led it to ramp up its own development of computer chips and other advanced technologies.The company also shifted its focus to the Chinese market and to network technology for hospitals, factories and other industrial customers and other products that would not be affected by U.S. sanctions. Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
Sean “Diddy” Combs was found guilty on Wednesday of prostitution-related offenses, but cleared of more serious charges after a criminal trial in which two of the music mogul’s former girlfriends testified that he physically and sexually abused them. Combs was convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking, a partial win for the former billionaire known for elevating hip-hop in American culture. After the jury read its verdict, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo asked Subramanian to release Combs on bail. “This is his first conviction and it’s a prostitution offense, and so he should be released on appropriate conditions,” Agnifilo said. Combs faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence on each of the two prostitution counts. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian will determine Combs’ sentence at a later date. The acquittals on the sex trafficking counts means he will avoid a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence. He could have faced life in prison if he were convicted on sex trafficking or racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors say Combs for two decades used his business empire to force two of his romantic partners to take part in drug-fueled, days-long sexual performances sometimes known as “Freak Offs” with male sex workers in hotel rooms while Combs watched, masturbated and occasionally filmed. During raids of Combs’ homes, authorities found drugs and 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant that he would use in the performances, prosecutors said. Combs, 55, had pleaded not guilty to all five counts. His lawyers acknowledged that the Bad Boy Records founder, once famed for hosting lavish parties for the cultural elite in luxurious locales like the Hamptons and Saint-Tropez, was at times violent in his domestic relationships. But they said the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual. The seven-week trial in Manhattan federal court exposed the inner workings of Combs’ business empire and gave the 12-member jury an intimate look into his volatile romantic relationships with the rhythm and blues singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman known in court by the pseudonym Jane. Ventura sued Combs in November 2023 for sex trafficking, the first of dozens of civil lawsuits accusing him of abuse. Combs, also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy and once feted for turning artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars, settled with Ventura for $20 million. He has denied all wrongdoing. At the trial, jurors saw surveillance footage from 2016 showing Combs kicking and dragging Ventura in the hallway of an InterContinental hotel in Los Angeles, where she said she was trying to leave a “Freak Off.” Jane later testified that Combs in June 2024 attacked her and directed her to perform oral sex on a male entertainer, even though she told him she did not want to. That alleged attack took place a month after Combs apologized on social media for his 2016 attack of Ventura, footage of which had been broadcast on CNN. According to prosecutors, physical violence was just one way Combs compelled Ventura and Jane to take part in the performances – an act of coercion they say amounts to sex trafficking because the male escorts were paid. Both women testified that he threatened to withhold financial support and to leak sexually explicit images of them if they refused to comply. “The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” prosecutor Christy Slavik said in her closing argument on June 26. “He doesn’t take no for an answer.” Combs’ defense lawyers argued that while Combs may have committed domestic violence in the context of volatile romantic partnerships, his conduct did not amount to sex trafficking. They argued that Ventura and Jane were strong, independent women who voluntarily took part in the sexual performances because they wanted to please Combs. Both women testified they spent time with Combs and took part in sexual performances after he beat them. Defense lawyers argued that Ventura and Jane were retrospectively accusing Combs of forcing their participation in the performances because they were jealous he was seeing other women. “If he was charged with domestic violence, we wouldn’t all be here,” Combs’ defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said in his closing argument on June 27. “He did not do the things he’s charged with.” RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY Besides Ventura and Jane, jurors also heard testimony from Combs’ former personal assistants who said their jobs included setting up hotel rooms for “Freak Offs” and buying their boss drugs. An InterContinental security guard testified that Combs, in the presence of his chief of staff, paid him $100,000 to hand over what he thought was the only copy of the surveillance tape of his attack on Ventura. And Scott Mescudi, the rapper known as Kid Cudi, told jurors Combs was likely involved in an arson on his car after Combs found out he was romantically involved with Ventura. According to prosecutors, those were all acts Combs and his associates undertook in furtherance of a racketeering conspiracy whose aim was, in part, to facilitate his abuse and keep evidence of his wrongdoing under wraps. The defense argued Combs was a successful entrepreneur who used drugs recreationally, but kept his professional and personal lives separate. Combs has been held in federal lockup in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest. Luc Cohen and Jack Queen, Reuters
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