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Hitachi Energy supports huge step in Germany’s energy transition

HVDC Light® transmission system will transfer vast amounts of renewable energy for up to 5 million households and help Germany achieve its 2045 carbon neutrality goal

Zurich, Switzerland, Aug. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Hitachi Energy, a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all, today announced it has won a major order from TenneT and TransnetBW, two of Germany’s four transmission system operators, to supply a transmission solution for the SuedLink DC4 high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnection between the north and south of the country.

SuedLink DC4 is one of the most important power grid and energy transition projects in Germany. It will play a crucial role in Germany’s energy transition, enabling a reduction in the use of fossil fuels and helping the country achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.*1

Using Hitachi Energy’s HVDC Light® technology, SuedLink DC4 will transfer up to 2,000 megawatts of emission-free electricity, enough to power 5 million German households.*2 The link will efficiently transmit electricity for 550 kilometers underground, at ±525 kilovolts, sending wind power from the north to the industrial south, or alternatively solar power from the south to the north when needed.

“We are proud to play a crucial role in this very important investment in Germany’s transition to renewable energy and carbon neutrality,” said Niklas Persson, Managing Director of Hitachi Energy’s Grid Integration business. “HVDC Light is the enabling technology for large-scale transfers of renewable energy, both onshore and offshore.”

“SuedLink will form the backbone of the energy transition in Germany. With the award of the DC4 high-voltage direct current system to Hitachi Energy, we are now moving towards the realization of this important power link,” says Tim Meyerjürgens, Chief Operations Officer of TenneT.

Hitachi Energy will supply an HVDC Light converter station at each end of SuedLink DC4 to convert AC power from the transmitting grid to DC for delivery through the link, and back to AC for transfer to the receiving grid. The contract includes three cable section stations to speed up fault detection in the link.

As part of its long-term commitment to Germany’s energy transition, Hitachi Energy has recently won or completed orders for solutions that integrate large-scale renewables*3. These include the converter stations for the NordLink*4 HVDC interconnector between Germany and Norway, the converter stations for the connection of the 900-megawatt DolWin5 offshore wind farm in the German North Sea, the Kriegers Flak Combined Grid Solution which connects the German power grids with two offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea and Denmark, and power quality solutions to enable more renewable energy to flow from north to south Germany.

Note to editors:

Hitachi Energy’s HVDC solution combines world-leading expertise in HVDC converter valves; the MACH™ digital control platform*5, which enables renewables integration and manages voltage and frequency disturbances in the grid; converter power transformers and high-voltage switchgear; as well as system studies, design and engineering, supply, installation supervision and commissioning.

HVDC Light® is a voltage source converter technology developed by Hitachi Energy. It is the preferred technology for many grid applications, including interconnecting countries, integrating renewables and “power-from-shore” connections to offshore production facilities. HVDC Light’s defining features include uniquely compact converter stations and exceptionally low electrical losses.

Hitachi Energy pioneered commercial HVDC technology almost 70 years ago and has delivered more than half of the world’s HVDC projects.

*1 Generationenvertrag für das Klima
*2 Suedlink – TenneT
*3 Hitachi Energy HVDC projects in Germany
*4 NordLink
*5 Modular Advanced Control for HVDC (MACH™)

HVDC website:
https://www.hitachienergy.com/offering/product-and-system/hvdc

– End –

About Hitachi Energy
Hitachi Energy is a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all. We serve customers in the utility, industry and infrastructure sectors with innovative solutions and services across the value chain. Together with customers and partners, we pioneer technologies and enable the digital transformation required to accelerate the energy transition towards a carbon-neutral future. We are advancing the world’s energy system to become more sustainable, flexible and secure whilst balancing social, environmental and economic value. Hitachi Energy has a proven track record and unparalleled installed base in more than 140 countries. Headquartered in Switzerland, we employ around 38,000 people in 90 countries and generate business volumes of approximately $10 billion USD.

About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi drives Social Innovation Business, creating a sustainable society with data and technology. We will solve customers’ and society’s challenges with Lumada solutions leveraging IT, OT (Operational Technology) and products, under the business structure of Digital Systems & Services, Green Energy & Mobility, Connective Industries and Automotive Systems. Driven by green, digital, and innovation, we aim for growth through collaboration with our customers. The company’s consolidated revenues for fiscal year 2021 (ended March 31, 2022) totaled 10,264.6 billion yen ($84,136 million USD), with 853 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 370,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company’s website at https://www.hitachi.com.

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Jocelyn Chang
Hitachi Energy Ltd.
+41 79384 7775

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International leading scientists issue critical guide for using microbiomes to combat the global issue of biodiversity loss

Beneficial Microorganisms

Beneficial Microorganisms benefit diverse forms of life, including a) marine life, b) corals, c) honeybees, and d) terrestrial land forms. Photo: KAUST

THUWAL, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A group of leading experts have issued a critical framework for using microbiomes to protect wildlife in an ethical and efficient way.

Beneficial Microbes for Marine Organisms (BMMO), an international network of collaborators with expertise in crosscutting areas of probiotic research, have published a paper in Nature Microbiology, Harnessing the microbiome to prevent global biodiversity loss, that provides a science-based framework to accelerate the responsible research and development of microbiome solutions.

Dr. Raquel Peixoto, founder and co-chair of BMMO, and associate professor of marine science at KAUST, said, “Key ecosystems, which host many forms of life, are at the brink of ecological collapse, driving enormous biodiversity losses and mass extinctions, and disrupting ecosystems central to supporting livelihoods.”

Contributing authors include professors Gabriele Berg of The Graz University of Technology; Christian Voolstra of the University of Konstanz; Ute Hentschel of GEOMAR; Rodrigo Costa of the University of Lisbon; Carlos Duarte of KAUST; and ethicist Jeantine Lunsh of Harvard, among other distinguished academics.

A guide to accelerate the use of macrobiotics to restore coral

The scientists examine the use of probiotics to “reboot” healthy microbiomes and protect key, and sensitive, symbiotic relationships between hosts and their associated microbes. Probiotics are now conventionally applied in agroecosystems, showing that successful applications in open environments are possible with controlled risks.

The team propose a science-based framework, outlining a path from laboratory bench to pilot and large-scale applications of microbiomes, to save threatened ecosystems.

“We as a network of leading scientists are concerned that the technological development of an urgently-needed tool may be delayed by unclear and undefined risk assessment steps,” said KAUST Distinguished Professor of Marine Science Carlos Duarte, who serves as executive director of the Coral Research & Development Accelerator Platform (CORDAP).

Lionfish

Lionfish of the genus Pterois is among the many forms of marine life that depend on healthy coral ecosystems. Photo courtesy Morgan Bennett Smith / KAUST

“In addition, no ethical discussions are available to provide guidelines and rules to accelerate the transition from devising to applying environmental probiotics in a practical and safe way. Therefore, we are highlighting the path from concept to real-world solutions, addressing ethical considerations, as well as risks against benefits.”

The paper serves to address this gap. The framework also considers the risk of inaction, and can be adapted to other urgent scientific developments.

Marine scientist Dr. Raquel Peixoto

Marine scientist Dr. Raquel Peixoto uses probiotics to boost the recovery of threatened coral ecosystems, shown here at the world’s first Coral Probiotics Village, located in the Red Sea near King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Photo courtesy Morgan Bennett Smith / KAUST

“Our framework provides a pragmatic regulatory wildlife-adapted tool to guide scientists and stakeholders through the fight against biodiversity loss,” Peixoto said.   “It takes into consideration potential side effects of its application, while also considering the high toll of inaction.”

Additional context:

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/00597509-4bef-4735-ab8b-40f55417a96b

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/30e36740-28d6-40bc-9a9a-cfc9ea0c4531

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cf556ef1-0d59-4c8a-959a-3c6aad7a5481

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Authentix, Inc. signe un contrat de 10 ans avec le Botswana Unified Revenue Service en vue de fournir un programme de gouvernance du marché pour le marquage numérique et le suivi du tabac et des produits alcoolisés.

ADDISON, Texas et GABORONE, Botswana, 3 août 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Authentix a annoncé aujourd’hui avoir signé un contrat de 10 ans avec le Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) pour une solution de marquage fiscal et de suivi numérique du tabac et des produits alcoolisés vendus dans le pays. Ce programme de timbres fiscaux numériques vise à prévenir le commerce illicite et les contrefaçons tout en veillant à ce que les citoyens bénéficient de produits authentiques et sûrs.

Le nouveau système numérique de suivi et de traçabilité permettra d’augmenter les recettes fiscales perçues auprès des fabricants et des importateurs en renforçant la conformité industrielle, en réduisant le commerce illicite et en empêchant la sous-déclaration des volumes. Ce nouveau contrat porte sur le marquage et le suivi numérique d’environ 500 millions d’unités de produits par an.

Authentix TransAct™, une plateforme de données informatiques sécurisée basée sur le SaaS, sera associée à l’impression directe de codes produits numériques sécurisés et sérialisés pour former la principale solution de suivi et d’application numérique de haute sécurité du secteur. Ce système permettra de réduire et de dissuader les activités frauduleuses, protégeant ainsi la population des effets néfastes de la contrebande et garantissant une concurrence équitable à tous les acteurs légaux du secteur. Ce programme national comprendra la mise en œuvre, la formation, le support technique, l’installation du matériel, la maintenance continue et la gestion du programme assurée par le bureau des opérations d’Authentix au Botswana.

Kevin McKenna, PDG d’Authentix, a déclaré : « Nous sommes ravis que BURS nous ait choisis et fait confiance pour la mise en œuvre et la gestion de la première et très importante solution de suivi numérique de ces produits dans le pays. Nous sommes impatients de travailler avec BURS et de mettre en œuvre ce programme afin que les citoyens du Botswana en retirent rapidement de nombreux avantages. »

En collaborant avec des gouvernements du monde entier, les programmes de gouvernance des marchés d’Authentix ont permis de garantir l’authentification et la traçabilité des produits tout en récupérant des milliards de dollars de recettes fiscales.

À propos d’Authentix :

En tant qu’autorité en matière de solutions d’authentification, Authentix prospère dans la complexité de la chaîne d’approvisionnement. Authentix fournit des solutions d’authentification avancées pour les gouvernements, les banques centrales et les produits commerciaux, assurant la croissance des économies locales et garantissant que la sécurité des billets de banque demeure intacte et que les produits commerciaux bénéficient de meilleures opportunités de marché. L’approche de partenariat d’Authentix et son expertise éprouvée du secteur inspirent l’innovation et aident les clients à atténuer les risques pour augmenter les revenus et acquérir un avantage concurrentiel. Basée à Addison, au Texas (États-Unis), Authentix, Inc. a des bureaux aux États-Unis, au Royaume-Uni, en Arabie saoudite, en Asie et en Afrique. De plus, l’entreprise offre ses services aux clients dans le monde entier. Pour en savoir plus, rendez-vous sur le site https://www.authentix.com. Authentix® est une marque déposée d’Authentix, Inc.

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Biden Celebrates Semiconductor Legislation to Boost US Competitiveness Against China

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden virtually joined Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Tuesday to celebrate the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost U.S. competitiveness against China by allocating billions of dollars toward domestic semiconductor manufacturing and scientific research.

“This bill makes it clear the world’s leading innovation will happen in America. We will both invent in America and make it in America,” Biden said. He was scheduled to join the event in person but had to remain in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 again on Saturday in what his physician described as a “rebound” case.

In the coming days, Biden is expected to sign the legislation, which passed in a 243-187 vote in the House of Representatives and 64-33 vote in the Senate last week.

The $280 billion act includes $52 billion in incentives for domestic semiconductor production and research, as well as an investment tax credit for semiconductor manufacturing. Advocates say it will allow the U.S. to catch up in the global semiconductor manufacturing race currently dominated by China, Taiwan and South Korea.

Last year, a semiconductor shortage affected the supply of automobiles, electronic appliances and other goods, causing higher inflation globally and pummeling Biden’s public approval among American voters.

Michigan, a major hub for the American auto industry, has been one of the states hardest hit by the semiconductor shortage.

“This bill will mean humming factories and lower costs on electronics, medical devices, farm equipment and cars for working families,” Whitmer said.

The act includes $4.2 billion to fund defense initiatives and the U.S. mobile broadband market, particularly efforts to promote non-Chinese 5G equipment manufacturing.

Catching up with China

The U.S. share of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity has decreased from 37% in 1990 to 12% today, largely because other governments have offered manufacturing incentives and invested in research to strengthen domestic chipmaking capabilities, according to a state of the industry report by the Semiconductor Industry Association.

Now China accounts for 24% of the world’s semiconductor production, followed by Taiwan at 21%, South Korea at 19% and Japan at 13%, the report said.

With the CHIPS Act, the administration hopes to bring as much semiconductor manufacturing to the U.S. as practically possible, said Bonnie Glick, director of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University.

“And what can’t be reasonably onshore, either because it’s cost prohibitive or other allied countries simply do it better, we can ally-shore manufacturing and support that,” she told VOA.

The two allies the administration has leveraged are South Korea and Japan, both of which Biden visited in May. In Seoul, he toured a Samsung computer chip factory that is the model for a $17 billion facility that the South Korean technology giant is setting up in the U.S. state of Texas.

Last week, the U.S. and Japan launched a new joint international semiconductor research hub under a “bilateral chip technology partnership” to bolster manufacturing for 2-nanometer chips as early as 2025.

Washington has also persuaded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. (TSMC) to open a U.S. foundry to produce advanced semiconductors. The $12 billion facility in the state of Arizona was completed last month and is scheduled to start production of 5 nm chips by 2024. TMSC also has plants in China.

“We’re back in the game,” Biden said Tuesday. “Remember, we invented these chips, we modernized these chips, we made them work, and there’s a lot more we can get done.”

The CHIPS Act has laid out a clear strategy for Washington, said Volker Sorger, Professor at the George Washington University and co-founder of Optelligence Company.

“Gain autonomy and eliminate political dependencies on these global supply chain values,” Sorger told VOA.

That strategy puts the U.S. on a collision course with China, which also aims to be the global leader in semiconductors. In 2015, Beijing launched the Made in China 2025 project, which aimed to increase chip production from less than 10% of global demand at the time to 40% in 2020 and 70% in 2025.

The Made in China 2025 program and the People’s Liberation Army’s goal of military-civil fusion make it “overtly clear that Beijing is seeking to dominate global technology and supply chains through anti-competitive trade practices and infiltration of dual-use technology research,” Glick said.

The U.S. government has been pushing for stricter export regulations to China by prohibiting export of equipment needed for manufacturing chips at 14 nm and below. “That would mark an escalation from the previous ban covering 10 nm and below,” Glick added.

Taiwan’s strategic importance

Taiwan — a self-governed island that Beijing claims to be its breakaway province — lies at the heart of the increasingly tense U.S.-China rivalry.

Taipei has dominated manufacture of the world’s most high-tech chips, accounting for 92% of the global production of 10 nm or smaller semiconductors, essentially creating what some observers have characterized as a “silicon shield” that ensures American support in the event of a Chinese attack, as well as a deterrence to such a move.

A military conflict over Taiwan could disrupt TMSC’s semiconductor production and have disastrous effects on global manufacturing.

U.S.-China tensions are already spooking technology investors. TSMC shares fell nearly 3% on Tuesday as U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei in a visit she said demonstrated American solidarity with the Taiwanese people.

Beijing has condemned the visit, the first by a U.S. House speaker in 25 years, as a threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Rare earths

The CHIPS Act does not include provisions to secure supply chains of rare earths — and other critical minerals used in semiconductors and other high-tech elements — to reduce the nation’s dependence on China, a major producer of these elements.

“I don’t know that we have developed a coherent strategy on accessing both rare and nonrare elements,” Glick said.

Last June, following Biden’s executive order to improve supply chains, the administration released a report concluding that the U.S. was overly reliant on China for critical minerals. Currently, China controls 87% of the global permanent magnet market, 55% of rare earths mining capacity and 85% of rare earths refining.

Earlier this year, the administration announced actions it said would bolster the supply chain of these elements, including a contract for U.S. company MP Materials to process heavy rare earth elements at its California production site — the first processing and separation facility of its kind in the nation.

Source: Voice of America

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Statement on Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan

At a time when the flaws and follies of its global policy have become more apparent, and in an attempt to ramp up its policy of containment of China, Washington has concocted the provocative visit of House Speaker Pelosi to Taiwan with all its perilous ramifications. The latest act is but a continuation of reckless policies that the US Administration has pursued in the past years in Asia to advance this singular objective.

The latest act is deplorable as it is in contravention of international law; the norms and provisions of State sovereignty; as well as, the “One-China” policy, and the process of Chinese reunification.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

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Nigerian Police Deploy Massively in Abuja

Nigerian police have increased security around the capital of Abuja after last week’s ambush of presidential guards in a suburb and a deadly attack on a military checkpoint.

Nigerian media reported two soldiers were killed in the July 28 attack and others were injured. The attack came just weeks after a brazen jailbreak in Abuja that freed hundreds, including high profile terrorism convicts.

The reinforcement was announced Tuesday by national police spokesperson Muyiwa Adejobi, following a national security management team meeting held in Abuja.

Adejobi said the police have ordered a massive deployment of operatives and operational assets around the capital but did disclose how many more officers will be deployed.

Adejobi did not respond to VOA’s request for more details on Wednesday. But Abuja police spokesperson Josephine Adeh told VOA the decision to withhold operational details was in the interest of security.

“Crimes have taken a new trend and we too are strategizing, that’s all,” Adeh said. “We are doing more deployment, that is the strategy we’re taking. You’ll see more visibility policing.”

The massive deployment comes amid rising security threats in the Nigerian capital, even though authorities have told citizens not to worry.

Local media reported two soldiers were killed during an attack on a military checkpoint in Niger state near Abuja last Thursday.

It was the second recent attack in Abuja blamed on the militant group Islamic State West Africa Province. An attack last month on an Abuja prison freed about 440 inmates, including many alleged terrorists.

The American non-profit SITE intelligence group said Friday’s attack was an indication that the Islamic State group has drawn too close to the Nigerian capital.

Police spokesperson Adeh said residents should trust the security forces.

“We’ve always been assuring the residents that everything is under control but they choose to believe fake news and whatever they see on social media,” she said. “There’s no cause for alarm. People should go about their lawful businesses.”

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned latest attacks in the country and said he had “given security forces full freedom to bring an end to this madness.”

But security analyst Senator Ireogbu said authorities have failed to deliver on its promise to make the country safe.

“Though we have a very faulty security architecture, the security apparatus can effectively deal with the problem arising from these terrorists,” Ireogbu said. “The challenge we’re having is that the political will is not there, especially from the presidency, they keep on pushing, outsourcing the blames to others, not taking responsibility.”

Nigeria faces growing insecurity, especially in its northern states.

Last week, an Abuja-based security and risk management firm, Beacon Security Consulting, said violent attacks in Nigeria increased by 47% in the first half of the year compared to 2021.

Source: Voice of America

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Reporter’s Notebook: Remembering Al-Zawahiri’s Last News Conference

In 1998, I joined a group of journalists traveling to Afghanistan’s Khost province to meet the leaders of a militant group who’d already logged a string of attacks and were announcing a new terrorism conglomerate. As we arrived, Arab fighters fired into the air to welcome their leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and his patron-in-chief, Osama bin Laden, at their makeshift headquarters in the eastern Afghan province, not far from the Pakistan border.

The sky lit up with tracer rounds and the tall mountains echoed gunfire and jihadist chants of camouflaged bodyguards as the two white-robed men disembarked from their Toyota trucks. At the time, bin Laden was already a known figure in the region; al-Zawahiri’s name was then confined mostly to Egyptian media, but the cleric brought with him an air of seriousness and international focus for the cluster of Arab, Afghan, Punjabi, Kashmiri and Bengali fighters congregating in Afghanistan.

Despite his years in an Egyptian prison, al-Zawahiri, who had studied medicine as a younger man, left his mark on militant Islamist movements in his home country, including an alleged role in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, a leadership role in the Islamic Jihad, and the 1995 attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad. He also popularized the writings of Egyptian radical Sayyid Qutb, making him well-known among his extremist contemporaries.

Both in their 40s, al-Zawahiri and bin Laden had contrasting physiques. The former was significantly shorter (hardly 5 feet or 152 centimeters tall) and rounder than the tall and slim bin Laden, who was five years his junior — an age gap the slender Saudi appeared to respect.

It was May 26, 1998, and the two men, along with another Saudi radical, Sheikh Taseer, sat in a hall before 13 journalists to announce the merger of a new terror conglomerate, the International Islamic Front. None of them then used the title al-Qaida for the joint venture.

Al-Zawahiri was then leader of the Egypt-based Jama’at-ul-Jehad (Islamic Jihad) and bin Laden told the reporters that the newly formed front had won the support of al-Zawahiri’s organization. The two had a common goal: taking out infidels from the Arabian Peninsula.

That much was announced by bin Laden during the presser, but al-Zawahiri explained the purpose of their new group in a more informal discussion during a break for tea, during which he spun stories promoting their cause. Bin Laden opted to watch, letting the articulate al-Zawahiri indulge reporters’ curiosity about the group’s plans, life in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, and his doctrine of revenge.

Throughout the discussion, al-Zawahiri’s embrace of Islamist fundamentalism at age 15 and his deep dive into radicalism was evident.

He introduced us to loyalists, including Muhammad Showqi al-Islambuli, brother of Khalid Islambuli, the main assailant in Sadat’s murder. He appeared to take special pride announcing that he was also hosting the three sons of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the radical Egyptian cleric with ties to the 1993 bombing at New York’s World Trade Center.

Foreshadowing of larger war

Calling himself a staunch enemy of the U.S. and its allies in the Arab world, he recited a litany of complaints against the West while referencing attacks on U.S. bases and personnel in Saudi Arabia and Somalia, foreshadowing the war that his followers would soon expand. In August that year, terrorists backed by bin Laden and al-Zawahiri attacked U.S. embassies in Tanzania, and Kenya. Around 200 people, including 12 Americans, were killed in the August 7 attacks. The U.S. retaliated weeks later, firing cruise missiles at a training camp in Khost, near where journalists had interviewed the men about two months before.

While al-Zawahiri at the time was already an ideological leader in his movement with bin Laden, the August attacks expanded his public profile.

It was al-Zawahiri who was talking on a satellite phone with a journalist in Peshawar about the terrorist attack in eastern Africa that was traced by the U.S. and used to train Tomahawk missiles on the compound. The two men survived the attack, but the compound crumbled as about 20 Pakistani radicals were killed in an instant.

But that was not the last time that the U.S. missed al-Zawahiri. Intel communities later said he also survived the U.S.-led bombing of the cave complex at Tora Bora, a mountainous range on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in December 2001.

When they were both alive, bin Laden and al-Zawahiri were believed to be living together in Afghanistan under the Taliban’s first reign, from 1996 to 2001. Some videotapes showed them walking together along rocky mountain slopes after the 9/11 attacks. Al-Zawahiri was lucky again in May 2011 when U.S. Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in a compound in Abbottabad, a garrison city in Pakistan. Analysts believed al-Zawahiri was probably hiding somewhere else along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, or perhaps somewhere closer to bin Laden inside Pakistan.

Afghanistan was then not a desirable location for al-Qaida leaders, in part because U.S.-led forces had the ability to strike anywhere within the country. Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last August, media reports said the al-Qaida leader felt comfortable moving to a house in central Kabul, where on Sunday a U.S. drone strike killed him while he stood on a balcony.

Source: Voice of America