The BBC deemed Bob Vylan “high risk” before their controversial Glastonbury set, the corporation has said.
The punk duo led a chant of “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” during their set, which was available to watch via a live stream on iPlayer on Saturday.
In a statement, the BBC said the corporation is taking action to “ensure proper accountability” for those found to be responsible for the broadcast.
BBC News understands that a number of staff have been moved off their day-to-day duties from the music and live events team.
BBC chair Samir Shah said the decision not to pull the live feed was “unquestionably an error of judgement”.
In a statement to staff, director general Tim Davie said he “deeply regrets that such offensive and deplorable behaviour appeared on the BBC and want to apologise to our viewers and listeners and in particular the Jewish community”.
The BBC said Bob Vylan had been “deemed high risk following a risk assessment process applied to all acts appearing at Glastonbury”.
“Seven acts including Bob Vylan were included in this category and they were all deemed suitable for live streaming with appropriate mitigations.”
The statement continued: “Prior to Glastonbury, a decision was taken that compliance risks could be mitigated in real time on the live stream – through the use of language or content warnings – without the need for a delay. This was clearly not the case.”
The BBC noted the live stream was monitored “in line with the agreed compliance protocols and a number of issues were escalated”.
Warnings appeared on the stream on two occasions, but, he added: “The editorial team took the decision not to cut the feed. This was an error.”
Davie, who was attending Glastonbury himself on the day, was “subsequently made aware of what had happened and instructed the team that none of the performance should feature in further coverage”.
The BBC said the team on duty prioritised stopping the performance from becoming available on demand, meaning that the set would not appear on iPlayer or BBC Sounds.
However, the live feed remained available for several hours, meaning viewers were able to rewind and view the content.
“Given the failings that have been acknowledged we are taking actions to ensure proper accountability for those found to be responsible for those failings in the live broadcast,” the BBC said. “We will not comment further on those processes at this time.”
The BBC also said it would be making “immediate changes to livestreaming music events”.
These would, it said, include:
Any music performances deemed high risk by the BBC will now not be broadcast live or streamed live
The corporation’s Editorial Policy unit will always be available on site at major music festivals and events, to improve compliance processes and the speed of available advice
The BBC will provide more detailed, practical guidance on the threshold for withdrawing a live stream.
In a statement, BBC chair Samir Shah apologised “to all our viewers and listeners and particularly the Jewish community for allowing the ‘artist’ Bob Vylan to express unconscionable anti-semitic views live on the BBC”.
“This was unquestionably an error of judgement. I was very pleased to note that as soon as this came to the notice of Tim Davie – who was on the Glastonbury site at the time visiting BBC staff – he took immediate action and instructed the team to withdraw the performance from on demand coverage.”
Solstad Offshore ASA: Invitation to webcast – presentation of Q2 quarter and first half year 2025 financial results
Skudeneshavn, July 3, 2025
Solstad Offshore ASA (SOFF) welcomes to presentation of its Q2 2025 report, Monday, July 14th, at 10:00 am CEST. The presentation will be held by CEO Lars Peder Solstad and CFO Kjetil Ramstad. It will be possible to ask questions.
The report and the presentation will be released 07:00 am CEST. Monday, July 14th, 2025, and made available on www.solstad.com and www.newsweb.no.
ISLAMABAD, Jul 3 (APP)::“Nuclear Weapon states don’t go to war”…..an established dictum in Strategic Studies. Perhaps, the Modi-led Government of India intends to establish a New Normal in South Asia. Instead of toiling for cooperation, it gives precedence to confrontation.
The Modi-led Government is purportedly obsessed with hurling antagonistic remarks against Pakistan and undermining the potency of its military. In pursuit of hegemonic designs, hawkish elements of the Indian politico-security establishment are ploying to carve out space for limited war under the nuclear threshold. The ultranationalist Indian prime minister even went on to declare Pakistan a sanctuary for terrorist groups without providing any actionable evidence. In his post-ceasefire statement, he said military operations have been paused, and will resume in the wake of any terror attack. Such aggressive stance from the top echelon of the Indian Government proves horrendous for regional stability and sustainable peace.
The doctrinal evolution of their military strategy to integrate offensive-defense threatens fragile peace in South Asia. Pakistan has always maintained its commitment and will to establish peace while showcasing the resolve and capability of its Armed Forces to respond to Indian aggression.
The aerial strikes conducted by India against Pakistan in the aftermath of Pulwama and Pahalgam episodes stand as a testament to the recklessness, impulsiveness, and irresponsible attitude of its civil-military leadership. In both cases, India attempted to materialize its so-called punitive strikes against alleged militant camps inside Pakistani territory, as enshrined in its Basic IAF Doctrine (2012), Joint Armed Forces Doctrine (2017), and Land Warfare Doctrine (2018). In addition to kinetic operations, the Indian Government launched a disinformation campaign to justify its illegal actions and clinch domestic legitimacy.
Under the Article 51 of The UN charter, Pakistan’s response was in line with its Full Spectrum Deterrence. In Feb 2019, PAF targeted open spaces near sensitive military installations of India to demonstrate its will and capacity to inflict massive damage to the adversary. In May 2025, Pakistan’s response encompassed Airstrikes and precision missile strikes against military targets. Pakistan denied India the feasibility of limited War in South Asia via its Quid Pro Quo Plus (QPQ+) response.
South Asia is a least-integrated, conflict-prone, and impoverished region. All these factors exacerbate belligerence between rival states. Interestingly, it is becoming the center of focus for global powers owing to its strategic significance. The USA is bolstering India’s defense capabilities by engaging it in alliances like QUAD and establishing intelligence-sharing platforms like COMCASA and BECA. The convergence of global power competition and historical hostility between India and Pakistan proves cataclysmic for regional stability and peace.
Moreover, scholars of International Relations cannot rule out the possibility of limited war between asymmetric militaries, as evident in recent military engagements. The development of Full Spectrum Deterrence by Pakistan, with the introduction of Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNWs), tremendously increases the cost of military adventurism for India. India terms the threat of TNW deployment in response to Blitzkrieg-style warfare formations—Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs)—as a nuclear bluff. The befitting response, with an additional premium package from Pakistan, vehemently denies such irrational strategic calculus of Indian politico-military leadership.
Expressing his opinion in a recent roundtable at the Institute of Regional Studies, titled Pakistan-India Confrontation 2025: Decoding the New Normal, Air Commodore (R) Dr. Zia Ul Haque Shamsi underscored immaculate professionalism and impeccable performance of PAF during the high-intensity aerial battle in the wake of Ops Bunyan Um Marsoos, which culminated in the downing of six highly advanced IAF platforms. He rightly proposed that the strategy of D2—Deterrence and Diplomacy—must be seamlessly augmented into Pakistan’s integrated response to effectively counter the flawed narrative and reckless aggression of the adversary.
In a nutshell, the risk of nuclear conflict persists in South Asia owing to the extremist, Hindutva-driven leadership of India. With its effective, precise, and proportionate response, Pakistan has increased the cost of so-called punitive strikes. Furthermore, Pakistan’s robust, synchronized conventional retaliation, coupled with a credible strategic force, puts cold water on Modi’s hot pursuit of establishing a New Normal in South Asia.
The competition is being co-organised by Neeraj himself, along with JSW Sports – the firm that manages him – the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and World Athletics.
Neeraj has also taken part in high-level meetings with AFI and World Athletics officials and has been regularly coordinating with multiple departments within JSW Sports to make the NC Classic a success.
“I’m spending time with every department at JSW Sports, understanding things, giving my inputs and suggestions and it’s been a fantastic experience,” the Indian javelin throw ace noted.
Originally slated for May 24 at Panchkula’s Tau Devi Lal Stadium, the NC Classic was shifted to the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru due to issues with the floodlight at the earlier venue.
The event hit another roadblock as it had to be postponed due to India-Pakistan political tensions and was later rescheduled to July 5.
Neeraj has been heavily invested throughout and has played an active role in navigating through the challenges. In fact, he had reached out to the Karnataka Chief Minister personally to help facilitate the shift from Panchkula to Bengaluru.
As part of his many roles, Neeraj has approved personalised welcome letters and banners for each of his 11 competitors at the NC Classic, including seven international athletes.
He’s also involved in finalising the entertainment line-up, vetting the stadium video content and supervising the athlete fan zone. On Wednesday, he also personally inspected the gym at the Kanteerava Stadium.
Taking time out from promotional shoots to training sessions, Neeraj has also made time to go over the dinner menu for athletes and officials.
In the lead-up to the competition, Neeraj has been heavily involved in promotional activities for the NC Classic
Former tennis player and Olympian Manisha Malhotra, who works closely with Neeraj at JSW Sports, revealed exactly how hands-on Neeraj has been in making sure that the NC Classic ends up as a success.
“Every day he’s going to the stadium and is monitoring stuff. He’s also saying that he’s never been to a city so many days before the event. Usually, he flies in, does a press conference, competes and flies out. He’s having to do some running in Bengaluru other than just training,” she revealed.
“It’s his event so he can’t say it is my training time, so don’t ask me anything. Everybody is surprised to see his new avatar.”
The cost of government borrowing has fallen in early trade, partly reversing a surge prompted by the chancellor’s emotional appearance in the Commons the previous day.
The yield on UK 10-year bonds fell to 4.52%, down from 4.61% at Wednesday’s close, as markets reacted to the prime minister’s comments that he worked “in lockstep” with Rachel Reeves.
The pound, which also fell on Wednesday, rose to $1.3668, although it has not regained all the ground it lost.
One analyst told the BBC that financial markets seemed to be backing the chancellor, afraid that if she left her job then control over the government’s finances would weaken.
“It looks to me like this is a rare example of financial markets actually enhancing the career prospects of a politician,” Will Walker Arnott, head of private clients at the bank Charles Stanley, told the BBC’s Today programme.
“I think the markets are concerned that if the chancellor goes then any fiscal discipline would follow her out the door and that would mean bigger deficits.”
Mohamed El-Erian, president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and chief economic adviser at Allianz, warned that markets were likely to remain on edge.
“The minute you put a risk premium in the marketplace, it’s very hard to take out,” he told the Today programme.
“I suspect that we will see some moderation, but we will not go back to where we were 24 hours ago.”
One reason sharp movements in bond yields matter to individuals is because they can have an impact on the mortgage market, with higher yields potentially making mortgage deals more expensive.
Rises or falls, particularly in five-year bond yields, can feed through to so-called swap rates which lenders use to price their new fixed mortgage deals.
This was most obviously made clear following the mini-budget during the premiership of Liz Truss.
Mortgage rates have been steady of late, with lenders making some relatively small cuts as they compete for customers.
Reeves was at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, following the government’s U-turn on plans to cut billions of pounds through welfare reforms, when she became emotional and started crying.
The reversal of welfare reforms puts an almost £5bn black hole in Reeves’s financial plans.
The rise in borrowing costs was initially sparked by the feeling the chancellor might step down, seeming to indicate that the markets are supportive of her.
A Treasury spokesperson later said the chancellor was upset due to a “personal matter”.
On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer backed Reeves, telling BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson that he worked “in lockstep” with Reeves and she was “doing an excellent job as chancellor”.
Reeves has said her fiscal rules are “non-negotiable”. One is that day-to-day spending should be paid for with government revenue, which is mainly taxes. Borrowing is only for investment.
Jane Foley head of FX strategy at Rabobank said the “gutting” of the welfare bill made the chancellor’s job more difficult because the “savings that she had planned for will not be forthcoming”.
In consequence, she said, Reeves faces a choice of raising taxes, cutting spending elsewhere or issuing more government debt, all of which options face opposition from one quarter or another, meaning the government is “boxed in”.
“However, investors do place a lot of store in political stability. Reeves has demonstrated an understanding about the importance of the maintaining fiscal discipline and it is not clear who would replace her and if that person would have the same credibility amongst the investment community.
“Thus, Starmer’s demonstration of faith in Reeves has provided some reassurance to the market this morning.”
Canonical has some extra toppings, flavorings, and offers coming for its bigger Java fans – because the suits swallow a lot of the stuff.
A cluster of related announcements from the house of Ubuntu indicate it is taking Java – and supporting Java – seriously.
It’s introducing its own builds of OpenJDK and offering extended support for them via Ubuntu Pro. It’s offering new chiseled Ubuntu containers for three LTS versions of OpenJRE: 8, 17, and 21 (Chisel is Canonical’s FOSS tool for cutting down packages to their essentials). It’s also making it easier to get started developing apps using the Spring framework with a new pre-assembled “devpack” for Spring.
You don’t tend to see it around much anymore, but Java is very much alive, even thriving. It’s not that it’s not there, it’s just that you may not recognize it. It got middle-aged, lost its hair, put on a suit, and went to work in a big office block.
Java – getting older, ditching the red nose and cyberpunk accessories
It’s also not coincidental that, thanks to this very enterprise use, there’s gold in them thar JARs. Java is probably the main reason Oracle bought Sun 15 years ago, and some half a dozen years later, after everyone relaxed, Big Red figured out how to monetize it.
Once Oracle began charging for the JDK, that drove people to open source equivalents built from OpenJDK. One company trying to help with that was Spring developer Pivotal, which offered prebuilt OpenJDK binaries at a website called AdoptOpenJDK. That’s evolved into an Eclipse-based working group with the whimsical name of Adoptium. (Eclipse started out inside IBM, which is also an Adoptium backer. See what we meant about it going corporate?)
So, for instance, Eclipse offers a pre-built Java SE runtime called Temurin, maintained by Adoptium. Because there are multiple Java runtimes out there now, there’s a quality evaluation toolkit, too, called AQAvit. We’re only bringing up Adoptium and its tools because Canonical references them. Its enterprise Java datasheet [PDF] compares its “chiseled” containers with what it repeatedly calls the “Apache” Temurin ones – favorably, naturally. Apparently, they’re half the size. It also says that they’re tested with “Eclipse Aquavit” [sic], but honestly, after trying to nail this stuff down, we could use a stiff drink, too.
The gist is that you can easily install OpenJDK on Ubuntu. It’s tested, and you can obtain compliancy certification for it. Canonical has documentation on installing a development environment, and it also covers Java build tools such as Maven and Gradle. You can get long-term commercial support through Ubuntu Pro, which has been free for up to five machines for a few years now, and which since last year increased the long-term support lifetime from 10 years to 12.
There are wider aspects than this, as a May blog post on Discourse discussed. As well as the new Devpack for Spring, Ubuntu also supports building native binaries with GraalVM, a special CRaC JDK that enables taking snapshots of the entire Java environment. Outside of Java, it also offers Rust and Zig. Aside from Java, though, its main focus is .NET. As we covered in 2022, it built .NET 6 in as standard and, just a few months later, .NET 7 as well. .NET 10 is coming soon.
In terms of why this emphasis, it’s probably relevant to note the changing landscape outside of Ubuntu. As The Register reported in January, Oracle’s move to charge a lot more for Java licenses is not winning it any friends, with users urged to check their usage before the bills arrive. The change has stung UK higher education, despite some discounts. Separately, promoting its appeal for developers is a big part of the Fedora marketing, complete with a special developer portal. ®
Bootnote
Java SE, incidentally, refers to the Standard Edition, in other words the ordinary standalone version for local applications. The fancy corporate edition, once called Java Enterprise Edition, is now called Jakarta EE for reasons that no doubt made sense at some point. Java ME targeted mobile phones in the era before smartphones, but now it’s more aimed at the Internet of Things. As far as smartphones go, Android dominates and it uses Java too, but that is a whole other story.
The Flame 1750 H2 detector can pick up a 1m flame at a distance of up to 40m within 5 seconds, according to Dräger.
While hydrogen has advantages that explain its ongoing use as a putative green replacement for many other fuels, it does present a quite distinct set of safety challenges. But it seems the risks can be mitigated with sufficient awareness, and the deployment of appropriate technologies and best practices, as Envirotec discovered in conversation with industrial safety and gas detection expert Dräger. The firm assists organisations to work safely with hydrogen, and to equip their sites accordingly. Gas detection systems are a key ingredient.
Hydrogen’s particular strength is with its versatility as a means to store, transport and distribute energy over large distances and between sectors – indeed, it’s the only at-scale technology able to do so. It can be produced wherever renewable energy such as wind or solar is generated, and then transported to where it is required. This is the ideal, at least.
There are certainly similarities between hydrogen and methane, and some of the existing infrastructure for natural gas can be repurposed for it. Both are explosive, for one thing. But there are key differences in terms of their properties and the specific risks they present. Adam Pope, Marketing Manager and Gas Detection Lead with Dräger suggests this is not always apparent to operators and staff who have worked with natural gas or LPG. “They’ll maybe have some idea about the Hindenburg disaster,” he muses, referencing the 1937 calamity that drew a line under an earlier era’s exploration of hydrogen as a fuel, but they’ll often be unfamiliar with hydrogen’s special challenges, and the necessary risk-mitigation strategies.
For one thing, hydrogen’s flame characteristics are quite distinct from other common fuels, in that it is difficult to detect with the naked eye in daylight (although it can be seen in darker conditions). It also emits very little heat – so you can’t feel it until you are in very close proximity.
One way it can be detected is by the electromagnetic radiation emitted when it burns – a signature that can be picked up by certain classes of detector.
Some of the key risk factors specific to hydrogen are listed in the side panel (“Hydrogen risk factors”, see end of article). Its flammability and propensity to leak from structures place a premium on high-integrity storage. And leak detection is a vital element of safeguarding.
These risk factors will obviously be unfamiliar where hydrogen is a recent add-on to an organisation’s core expertise. For example, at a wind or solar energy site where the operators have opted to produce hydrogen via electrolysis.
Points of vulnerability in the value chain are explored in an ebook from Dräger.1 Even where existing infrastructure can be adapted there will be vital new ideas to grasp. For example, existing gas pipelines, where suitable, will require new monitoring and maintenance regimes.
The ebook explains that “the probability of safety incidents increases when people are involved”. The document adds: “When heavy machines such as trucks are moved around, even minor bumps need to be taken seriously as they increase the risk of leakage.”
Profiling a site Gaining a full picture of a site’s risks is a vital precursor to designing mitigation measures – and requires an individualised risk assessment, something Dräger’s literature recommends “before joining the hydrogen economy”. There is no standard risk profile, seemingly, and the risks manifest in different ways in each site.
Fire and gas mapping is one service the group introduces at this early stage, says Adam Pope, which will result in a colour-coded 3d map of a site intended to afford a clear understanding of the different risks, and of where leaked gases will travel in different circumstances.
Fixed gas and flame detection is the primary means to protect a site from explosion risk, by alerting operators to the presence of a leak, so that premises can be evacuated and processes can potentially be shut down.
A range of different technologies is used here, each with different strengths and weaknesses. Best practice involves a mix of technologies, as Adam explains.
Three layers of protection Point detectors are the core technology for gas detection and form the foundation of most safety systems, he says. These will be located anywhere there is a danger that gas can accumulate, such as in confined spaces. The downside is that the gas must be able to make contact with the detector or it might be missed.
The choice of sensor technology is crucial here. As Adam points out, the infrared sensors used to detect hydrocarbons are completely blind to hydrogen. Instead, catalytic bead (CatEx) sensors, or electrochemical (EC) sensors, can be used here. CatEx sensors offer a robust way to detect hydrogen up to the explosive limit (i.e., below 100% LEL, the Lower Explosion Level), providing a fast response time. EC sensors are typically used where lower (ppm) concentration levels of hydrogen are to be detected, and also offer a fast response time and high accuracy.
An earlier warning of leakage is available with ultrasonic detectors, to be deployed as an additional layer of detection where appropriate. These exploit the fact that hydrogen’s small molecule size results in a high-frequency noise, wherever there’s a leak. The acoustic sensor can detect leaks occurring up to 7 – 15 m away from the leak source, and deliver an on/off signal that can be used to trigger an alarm or automatic shutdown of equipment.
Ultrasonic detectors are good for outdoor locations, where the wind might otherwise carry hydrogen away from point detectors.
The relative invisibility of hydrogen flames means an additional layer of detection can sometimes be appropriate for a site, in the form of hydrogen flame detectors. Two technologies appear to stand out: UV/IR detectors, and 3IR.2 A traditional option for detecting hydrocarbon fires is a UV/IR detector, employing one ultraviolet and one infrared sensor, and providing a swift response time but with some potential for false alarms, particularly when trying to detect hydrogen.
To assist with hydrogen detection specifically, Dräger has adopted a technology called “3IR” – so-named for its use of three separate IR sensors, and this is incorporated in the company’s Flame 1750 H₂ detector. The 3IR technology produces a low rate of false alarms and a fast response – as Adam says, it can detect a 1m flame at a distance of up to 40m, within 5 seconds. It also provides a wide field of detection in comparison to UV/IR. A case study explores the details of these claims, which is also the focus of a recent white paper.
Dräger’s flame-detection technology partner Micropack conducted the analysis and used HazMap3D software to model a complex industrial installation, and to indicate the detection coverage available with ten Dräger Flame 1750 H2 detectors. A colour-coded analysis displayed the detected fire-risk areas in green, and blind spots in red. And this seemingly showed that it provided 64% coverage, with 36% of the target areas remaining outside the flame detector’s range or obstructed. In comparison, twenty UV/IR flame detectors in the same installation achieved only 44% coverage, leaving 56% unprotected. The conclusion? 3IR technology reduces cost and increases coverage.
Multichannel approach Unlike hydrocarbon combustion, which is typically detected through CO₂ emissions, hydrogen flames are primarily identified by the presence of water vapour — a difference that appears central to this detection method. The 3IR detector focuses on the 2–4 µm region of the electromagnetic spectrum, where hydrogen’s characteristic spectral features are found. Each of the three separate IR sensors focuses on a specific region of this band: One focuses on the area where combustion signatures are strongest, and the other two provide reference channels, to help distinguish any detected hydrogen flame signature from other potential heat sources in the vicinity. By a continuous comparison of the three signals, the detector is able to filter out sources of false positives such as welding equipment or sunlight.
A variety of issues come into play when safeguarding a site that uses or stores hydrogen in any way. When conducting a risk assessment, Dräger advises on issues such as the placement and choice of gas and flame detectors, in addition to matters such as suitable storage locations for hydrogen, and working out where any gas will go if it escapes.
Safeguarding a site may also involve integrating gas and flame detectors with an internal alarm management system, and other systems that can, for example, shut down processes that might carry an explosion risk when combined with hydrogen.
Dräger provides an end-to-end service which also incorporates third-party products such as alarms, “to create a seamless safety infrastructure”.
While the landscape of risks might be unfamiliar to many at this point – or the world is in the process of getting familiar with them – a consistent message from Dräger seems to be that all the risks can be managed. With awareness of the appropriate safeguards, selection of the right technologies, and putting best-practice into action, this promising clean energy source can become as routine as any other form of fuel.
Notes [1] “Hydrogen: How to meet the safety challenges.” Ebook available from Dräger. https://www.draeger.com/Content/Documents/Content/hydrogen-safety-challenges-ebk-11064-en-master.pdf. [2] “Detecting the Invisible: Understanding hydrogen flames and choosing the right detector”, PDF, available from Dräger.
Hydrogen risk factors – SIDE PANEL The universe’s lightest element presents its own unique set of risk factors, some of which are listed here.
Explosion risk: While hydrogen is not explosive on its own, it becomes highly explosive when mixed with air in certain concentrations. It also has a relatively low ignition energy. After production, hydrogen will tend to be compressed to prepare it for storage or transport, and this adds to the explosion risk. It also produces a much bigger explosion than natural gas, with around 7x the explosion velocity.
Leak risk: With its small molecule size, and low viscosity, hydrogen leaks more readily than other fuels such as methane. A container that is “air-tight” for methane, might not necessarily be “air-tight” for hydrogen. This also means pipelines and other structures have to be engineered to hydrogen-ready specifications, and it will be important to ensure there are regular inspections of things like joints in pipelines.
Threat to structures: The small size of molecules also accounts for hydrogen’s ability to embrittle structures, by permeating their interior. To protect against this, storage tanks tend to be made of stainless steel or composites.
Forms gas pockets: Its lightness is one important difference with methane, and the fact of hydrogen’s being lighter than air means leaks are not so easily detected at ground level, even when dangerous amounts might be accumulating beneath a nearby ceiling, as Dräger’s literature explains. The placement of gas detectors should reflect this.
Odourless: Hydrogen is odourless, like methane. An odourant marker is added to the latter (most commonly a particular blend of mercaptans), to get around this nasal invisibility. Such a possibility is being investigated and trialled with hydrogen, but the results are still awaited.
Other clean sources met an additional 33% of the increase in electricity generation in 2024, bringing the total share of clean sources to 70%. This represents a significant shift compared to the 2014-2023 period, when clean sources met 50% of the increase in electricity generation, with the rest coming from fossil fuels. In the decade before that, clean sources met just 25% of the increase in generation.
The 50% clean share during the 2014-2023 period might come as a surprise, given how narratives around BRICS energy systems often highlight growing coal and gas use. However, consistent capacity additions in both solar and wind power, along with moderate additions in hydro and nuclear, have shifted this paradigm.
China stands out as a leading example. In 2024, solar alone accounted for 41% of the increase in electricity generation, and all clean sources combined made up 82%, as reported in Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2025. That 41% solar contribution was more than three times higher than its share in the previous decade (2014-2023), when it met 14% of the increase in generation.
Other BRICS countries are also making noticeable progress. In 2024, solar met a quarter of their electricity generation growth, a substantial increase from 14% across the previous decade.
Solar’s rise is bringing fossil fuels to a tipping point in China
Recent Ember data shows that so far in 2025, China is meeting and exceeding its growth in demand with clean sources. Solar generation increased 120 TWh in the first five months of 2025 and met 86% of the increase in demand of 139 TWh. This, together with substantial growth in wind and other clean sources, led to a fall in fossil generation of 64 TWh, a 2.6% decrease from January to May 2024.
The new interstellar object A11pl3Z: online observation – 3 July 2025 – YouTube
Watch On
A rare but faint interstellar visitor from beyond our solar system is racing toward the sun — and you can watch it live online today!
Astronomers have identified this cosmic interloper as 3I/ATLAS, making it only the third confirmed object from outside the solar system after ‘Oumuamua (2017) and comet 2I/Borisov (2019). The interstellar comet, originally designated C/2025 N1 (ATLAS), was observed on July 1 by the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile. It has since been designated 3I/ATLAS by the Minor Planet Center (MPC), with “3I” marking it as the third known interstellar object.
“There are tentative reports of cometary activity,” The MPC report states. “With a marginal coma and a short 3″ tail”.
You can watch comet 3I/ATLAS live online tonight (July 3), thanks to the Virtual Telescope Project, which will livestream views beginning at 6:00 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT). The feed will showcase imagery from telescopes in Manciano, Italy, weather permitting. Tune in via Virtual Telescope’s WebTV, YouTube channel or here on Space.com.
Currently, 3I/ATLAS is about 4.5 astronomical units (AU) — or 670 million kilometers (416 million miles) — from the sun according to NASA, and around magnitude 18.8, far too faint for backyard telescopes.
Trajectory of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the solar system. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
But it’s expected to brighten slightly as it approaches perihelion (closest point to the sun) on Oct. 30, when it will pass just 1.4 AU (130 million miles or 210 million km) from the sun inside the orbit of Mars.
The Virtual Telescope Project captured a photo of the interstellar visitor on July 2, using one of its robotic telescopes to track the object’s motion across the sky. In the 120-second exposure, the comet appears as a sharp point of light, while the background stars show short trails due to their relative movement.
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
3I/ATLAS imaged on July 2 by Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project. (Image credit: Gianluca Masi, The Virtual Telescope Project)
The object is speeding through the solar system at 68 kilometers per second (152,000 mph) relative to the sun, and it poses no threat to Earth, according to NASA.
After dipping behind the sun in late fall, 3I/ATLAS is expected to reappear in early December, giving astronomers another chance to study this rare visitor from beyond our cosmic neighborhood.
