Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan’s aging, shrinking population was not a burden, but an incentive to boost productivity through innovations like robots, wireless sensors and Artificial Intelligence. Abe’s comments on Wednesday came days after official data showed that Japan has 34.6 million people aged 65 and older, or 27.3 percent of the population – the highest proportion among advanced nations. Source Reuters
Britain, which faces soaring natural gas prices, has been forced to run coal-fired power stations in order to secure energy supplies, electricity generation company Drax said on Thursday. Source France24
Two more energy firms have ceased trading as rocketing wholesale gas and electricity prices push the majority of the UK’s smaller energy suppliers to the brink. Avro Energy and energy firm Green have both collapsed today putting hundreds of thousands of customers into limbo. Ofgem has reassured people affected that their energy supplies will continue. Source Wales Online
Russian gas giant Gazprom has turned down an option to maximize gas shipments to Europe as the continent faces a looming energy crisis amid surging natural gas prices. Gazprom did not book any of the additional capacity available in transit pipelines running through Ukraine in auctions for October, the state-run Interfax news agency reported Monday. The company also reserved only a third of the space it was offered on the Yamal gas pipeline, which goes through Poland. Source The Moscow Times
