It’s official: Gas and nuclear energy are green in the eyes of the EU…cue the facepalm: EU lawmakers voted yesterday in favor of labeling gas and nuclear projects green in its controversial green taxonomy, in a landmark vote for the bloc’s energy policies, Bloomberg reports. The vote allows nuclear and gas projects to tap into ESG funding. The taxonomy — which it’s hoped will act as a gold standard for green investing amid the energy transition — had looked to be on shaky ground in recent months as member states objected to the inclusion of nuclear and gas. It now looks set to go into effect at the start of 2023.

Objecting: Austria and Luxembourg, who may pursue a lengthy legal challenge.

Either way, it’s good news for us: We’ve signed an agreement with the EU and Israel that will see us increase gas exports to the EU, which will also see the bloc encourage its energy companies to increase investment in gas exploration and production in Egypt. The inclusion of gas in the EU’s green taxonomy could unlock USD bns in funding for those kinds of projects — helping us realize our ambitions to become a Mediterranean energy hub.

Interested in taking an online course from an esteemed US university? It might really be taught by an online education company. In an attempt to bolster revenues, universities in the US appear to be outsourcing some of their key services, including actually running courses and teaching, to for-profit education companies, the Wall Street Journal reports. Under these partnerships universities hand education companies, such as 2U Inc. much of the responsibility for recruiting students and delivering instructional materials for courses, especially for non-degree programs. The education companies use universities’ ‘.edu’ email addresses and tools to make their recruiters’ outgoing communications appear as though they are coming from legit schools and universities’ area codes.

And these courses cost a pretty penny, with tuition fees for online programs equal to or exceeding those for in-person programs, with the companies taking the lionshare. One partnership saw 2U keeping 80% of the revenues from a University of Oregon program and the University maintaining a 20% share of tuition revenues (USD 600k), according to a contract with the university the newspaper reviewed.

Students are often unaware of the terms or existence of such agreements and are left unable to differentiate between schools and recruiters, students told the newspaper.

Calling all iSheep: Apple is planning on releasing a new sports smartwatch with the biggest display yet, with 7% more screen space compared to the largest Apple watch in the market, sources in the know reportedly told Bloomberg. The sports watch will pack a bigger battery and will be encased in a rugged metallic exterior to cater to the needs of extreme-sports athletes. Their new models are likely designed in a bid to compete with the smartwatches offered by Garmin, Google, and Samsung, the newspaper notes.

Apple is also planning on debuting new fitness features to go with their new product including multi-sport workouts and enhanced intensity tracking during training routines, and will be unveiling 2 more watch models later this year. Apple made USD 38.4 bn — or 10% of the company’s total revenues — in smart watch sales last year.

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