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US will extend ceasefire indefinitely, but it is unclear whether Iran agrees
?U.S. Donald Trump announced that he would extend the ceasefire indefinitely with Iran in order to facilitate further peace talks. However, it was unclear on Wednesday whether Iran or Israel, a U.S. allie in the two-month conflict, would agree. Trump stated in a social media statement that the U.S. agreed to the request of Pakistani'mediators' "to delay our attack on the Country of Iran" until their?leaders or representatives could come up with an unified proposal... and discussions were concluded. Pakistani leaders hosted peace talks at Islamabad in order to put an end to a war which has claimed thousands of lives and shook the global economy. Trump said that he would not only continue the U.S. Navy blockade on Iran's maritime trade, which Iran considers an act of warfare, even though he appeared to announce a unilateral ceasefire. Early on Wednesday, senior Iranian officials did not respond to Trump's statement. However, some early reactions from Tehran indicated that Trump's remarks were being treated with skepticism. Tasnim News Agency affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said Iran did not ask for a ceasefire and repeatedly threatened to break the U.S. Blockade. The adviser of Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Trump's announcement carried little weight, and could be a ploy. Trump's wartime rhetoric has been erratic. Trump's wartime rhetoric has veered between extremes. Trump's announcement was a last-minute retreat from his threat to bomb Iran’s bridges and power plants. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations and others condemned these threats. They noted that international humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure. Next Peace Talks Uncertain On February 28, the U.S., Israel and other countries began a war by bombarding Iran with air strikes. The conflict spread quickly to Gulf states which host?U.S. The conflict quickly spread to Gulf states that host?U.S. military bases, and then to Lebanon when the Iran-allied militant group Hezbollah entered the fight. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has been trying to remove Iran's leadership for decades. Trump, however, has provided shifting and contradictory reasons for joining Israel in launching this war, and for how he sees it ending. This has caused confusion on global markets. The war has caused more than 3,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of displacements in the region, mainly in Iran and Lebanon. It also led to a virtual closure of Strait of Hormuz - a crucial chokepoint between Iran and Oman in the global energy market. This sent oil prices skyrocketing and sparked fears of a global recession. Iran has used its control over oil tankers, and other ships in the strait to respond to U.S. attacks and Israeli strikes. Trump stated in his statement that he would be willing to extend the truce because "the government of Iran is severely fractured, and not unexpectedly," a reference the U.S./Israeli assassinations in the first weeks of the war of some of Iran's leaders, including the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has now been succeeded by his child. Trump told CNBC a few hours prior to his announcement that the U.S. Military was "ready to go" and he did not intend to continue the temporary truce. These comments were made as tentatively planned peace talks in Islamabad appeared to be on the brink of collapse: U.S. vice president JD Vance was scheduled to return to Pakistan, on Tuesday, after the Iranians had requested his presence. A senior Iranian official said that Iran's negotiators were willing to continue talks with the U.S. if they abandoned their policy of?threats and pressure, and rejected any negotiations that would lead to surrender. Iran's foreign ministry has accused the U.S. government of "state terrorism" and "piracy at Sea" for seizing and intercepting two commercial Iranian vessels at sea, the second on Tuesday. Iran has been condemned by the U.S. and other countries for preventing freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. The first round of talks, which took place 10 days ago, failed to produce an agreement. Iran's high-enriched uranium stockpiles were the main focus. Trump wants the uranium to be removed from Iran to stop the country enriching the material to the point that it could produce a nuclear bomb. Iran claims it only has a civilian peaceful nuclear program, and that the country has a sovereign right as a signatory to the nuclear weapons nonproliferation agreement to continue this.
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EU finds Chinese bidder for Lisbon subway line benefitted from unfair subsidies
The European Commission revealed on Tuesday that a Chinese company, which was among those selected to build a new subway line in Lisbon, had received unfair foreign subsidies. This forced consortium leader Mota-Engil, to hire a Polish firm instead. The Commission issued a statement saying that the Metropolitano de Lisboa - which commissioned the Violet Line - was authorized to hire a consortium led by?Mota - Engil, provided the Chinese rolling stock maker Portugal CRRC - Tangshan is replaced with the Polish rival PESA. In late 2025, the Commission?began a thorough investigation that?found that the unit CRRC of the Chinese state-owned CRRC benefited from foreign subsidies which distorted the procurement process and gave it an "unfair competitive edge" at the expense of other bidders. In a statement issued after the announcement, the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU stated that the EU's rules on foreign subsidies "grant the European Commission an excessively wide and?unenforceable" discretionary power. Portugal?CRRC Tangshan has not responded to a comment request immediately. The Violet Line is a surface light-rail metro that connects Odivelas to Loures in the north of Lisbon. The project is expected to be completed in 2029. It has a price of around 700 million euros.
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US Transportation Secretary seeks $10 Billion for Air Traffic Control Upgrade
Transportation Secretary Sean 'Duffy' said he wanted $10 billion for the next phase of a massive project to modernize America’s aging air-traffic control?system, and reduce flight delays. In the last?year Congress allocated $12.5 billion to?the project?to replace outdated technology and increase understaffed air traffic towers. Duffy said in an interview that the majority of new spending will be spent on developing new software to make air travel more efficient. He said that the software used to manage airspace was the real magic. FAA air traffic telecom system was hit by several failures including major outages at Newark Airport last year. Initial $12.5 billion was raised after decades of complaints about airport congestion, flight delays and faulty technology. In March, the FAA was forced to stop all traffic at Washington's three airports for more than an hour twice because of problems with outdated technology. Duffy has asked for more money to improve towers and surface-awareness technologies. He had previously stated that he wanted $19 billion, but he is now asking Congress to give him $10 billion. Often, airlines schedule more traffic than the FAA can handle. Duffy said he could look 45 days out and see a schedule that was 50% over capacity. The FAA could now move flights in order to avoid delays. Duffy explained that "this tool allows us to see and then spread flights in a manner which allows for much less disruption." "We could fix it." In a report from 2023, it was stated that the FAA’s communications system had been outdated for years. It also said that many of its systems were no longer able to be repaired. A separate report stated that 51 of 138 air traffic control telecoms systems owned by the FAA were not sustainable. Duffy stated that the FAA had 'already replaced almost 50% of all copper wiring, converted 270 radio stations nationwide, installed new surface awareness systems in 54 airports, and changed 17 towers into electronic flight strips. Rebuilding our aviation system is not a big task for America. Duffy told an audience of aviation professionals, "We can do this." By the end of 2028 airports will be equipped with 5,000 high-speed network links on fiber, wireless and satellite, as well as 27,000 new radios, and 612 radars. (Reporting and editing by Franklin Paul, Jamie Freed, and David Shepardson)
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Transportation chief Duffy believes that saving Spirit Airlines could be a case of putting 'good money into bad'.
Sean Duffy, the U.S. Transportation Secretary, raised concerns on Tuesday about using taxpayer funds to save a?low-cost?bankrupt airline Spirit Airlines. "We don't want Spirit to lose money. They've spent a lot and haven't been profitable. Would we then just delay the inevitable, and own it? Duffy stated in an interview. "Or is Spirit on a path to success and I don't know what the answer to this question is." Donald Trump stated Tuesday that he would love to see someone buy bankrupt low-cost airline Spirit and said the federal government might get involved. Trump said, "It's a 14,000 job situation. Maybe the federal government could help out." Duffy said that it seems no one wants Spirit, and it's not clear what Spirit's customers feel about the airline. What would someone buy? Duffy asked. Duffy asked. Spirit?did not immediately respond to an?request? for comment. Duffy said that he will speak to Trump about Spirit's fate on Tuesday. Duffy said that it takes more effort from within the government to determine where we should be going. If you decide to do Spirit, then who is next? "Who is the third?" "I am concerned about the Spirit employees... we also need to be good stewards with the tax dollars." We can't just put money into investments that will be lost, or to forestall the inevitable. Duffy stated that some people believe the administration wants all primary carriers to be merged with low-cost carriers. Duffy stated, "I envision a world in which I would like low-cost carriers." Low-cost carriers are well suited to a certain?market. There are also premium carriers. "I want to see each market vibrant and competitive." Spirit Airlines' bankruptcy plan was under renewed pressure last week after a sharp increase in jet fuel prices. Spirit seeks court approval for its second restructuring in less that a year after it emerged from bankruptcy in March of 2025. In 2024, the administration of 'Joe Biden' went to court to block JetBlue Airways from acquiring Spirit. They argued that this would eliminate an airline which helped keep fares low. Duffy stated, "If Spirit disappears, JetBlue will be better off." JetBlue wouldn't be happy if we bailed out Spirit. (Reporting and editing by David Shepardson, Chizu Nomiyama, and Chris Sanders).
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Senators urge US Postal Service to not implement Trump's mail-in voting order
On Tuesday, a group of?of?37 Democratic U.S. Senators urged the U.S. The U.S. Postal Service is urging the President Donald Trump to not comply with an executive order issued on March 31, tightening rules for mail-in voting. In a letter, Gary Peters and Alex Padilla along with Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Maria Cantwell and others said that the executive order, issued by President Donald Trump on March 31, sought to illegally transform USPS into an election administration agency, with the ability to decide who can vote via mail, as well as to set ballot specifications. USPS has not yet commented. Trump's executive orders requires USPS only to deliver ballots to those voters who are on the approved mail-in voter list of each state. States are also required to keep election records for a period of five years. The senators stated that "this directive will have a chilling impact on the eligibility of?Americans voters to exercise their right to vote constitutionally by imposing unnecessary obstacles and would?corrupt? the independent mission of?Postal Service in determining who can vote via mail," adding USPS has the final say over whether or not to transmit a vote's absentee votes to election officials. A coalition of Democratic state attorney generals filed a lawsuit against Trump's order earlier this month. They joined other suits being pursued by the Democratic Party, voting rights activists, and arms of the Democratic Party. Trump, as a Republican has been promoting the false claim for years that his defeat in the 2020 elections was due to widespread voter fraud. He has also called for tighter voting rules by mail ahead of the midterm elections of November. In March 2025, Trump forced Postmaster General Louis DeJoy out of his job. David Steiner, the current postmaster general of USPS, warned that USPS may run out money as early as next year. Trump has nominated 4 candidates to the U.S. Postal Board of Governors are currently awaiting confirmation hearings. The state attorneys general argue that Trump's order interferes unlawfully with mail-in votes by ordering USPS to block delivery of ballots on criteria outside the control of the states. Trump has also urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act. This bill would require proofs of U.S. Citizenship to register to vote, and photo IDs to cast a ballot. The bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives but is facing a long road in the Senate. (Reporting and editing by Nick Zieminski; David Shepardson)
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United Airlines' outlook is disappointing as jet fuel surge threatens near term
United Airlines forecast Tuesday that its second-quarter and annual profits would be below Wall Street's estimates as high jet fuel prices squeeze margins. This will cloud the airline's near-term outlook even though demand for premium travel remains robust. The Chicago-based carrier expects to earn between $1 and $2 per share adjusted in the second quarter. According to LSEG data, the midpoint, $1.50 is lower than analysts' average estimates of $2.08 per share. It predicted a full-year profit between $7 and $11 per share compared to an expectation of $9.58. United's stock was down about 2% after-hours. The airline's?forecast is based on a forward curve for Gulf Coast jet fuel as of April 17. It cautioned that the results could be at the upper or lower end of its guidance, depending on whether prices are falling or increasing. The cautious forecast is further evidence that the fuel shock caused by the Iran War has reshaped the economics of U.S. airlines. Delta Air Lines already canceled its growth plans, while Alaska Air retracted its full-year forecast and claimed that current fare increases only covered about a third its increased fuel bill. Spirit Airlines, a financially weaker carrier, is facing renewed strain. GE Aerospace has warned that the rising oil prices have created a more difficult environment for its airline customers. United expects to spend about $4.30 a gallon on fuel during the current quarter. This highlights the rising cost of energy. The airline expects to recover 40% to 50% of fuel price increases through fares and revenue measures during the second quarter. This will improve to 70% to 80% by the third quarter and up to 85% to 100 percent in the fourth quarter. This suggests that the airline is expecting its ability to recover fuel costs via fares and other revenue measures will improve over time but not enough to offset the latest cost'surge in near-term. PREMIUM DEMAND HOLDS United beat analysts' expectations of $1.07 per share by reporting a first-quarter adjusted profit of $1.19. The total revenue increased 10.6% on an annual basis to $14.6 billion. Premium revenue increased by 14% compared to a year ago, corporate revenue was up 14%, and loyalty revenue was up 13%. This shows that the higher-margin areas of its business are still thriving. Fuel costs rose $340 million in the third quarter, a 12.6% increase from a year ago. United Airlines said that capacity for the third and fourth quarters of 2018 is expected to remain flat or increase by 2% compared to a year ago. This indicates a more "restrained" approach to growth, as airlines seek to protect their margins. The airline will continue to be flexible with its capacity and may make further reductions or additions based on demand. The company will hold a conference call on Wednesday morning with analysts and investors to discuss its financial performance. (Reporting and editing by Pooja Deai; Rajesh Kumar Singh)
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Fuel shock causes United Airlines to see a weak Q2 and full-year profit
United Airlines?forecast?second-quarter and?full-year -profits -below Wall Street expectations on Tuesday as a'surge in fuel -prices?squeezes -margins and clouds -its near-term outlook. The Chicago-based carrier expects to earn adjusted earnings between $1 and $2 per share during the second quarter. LSEG data shows that the midpoint, $1.50 is lower than analysts' avg. estimate of $2.08. It predicted a full-year profit of $7 to $10 per share, compared to an expectation of $9.58. United expects to spend about $4.30 a gallon of fuel during the current quarter based on the curve forward as of April 17. This highlights the increasing pressure due to higher energy prices. The airline said it expected to recover only 40% - 50% of the fuel price increase through fares and other revenue measures during the second quarter. This figure would improve to 70% - 80% by the third quarter, and up to as much as 85% % to 100% in the fourth quarter. (Reporting and editing by Pooja De Sai; Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh)
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US warns that it will soon run out of money for paying airport security staff
U.S. airports may face long security lines as early as next month after the homeland security chief announced 'on Tuesday' that he would run out of money in order to pay for 50,000 workers because of a partial shutdown of the government. Donald Trump directed DHS in late March to use emergency funding to pay Transportation Security Administration employees who had been without paychecks for six weeks. This caused disruptions at U.S. Airports. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on "Fox and Friends," Tuesday, that the funds would run out in early May. Mullin stated that "that money will be gone if I continue on this path in the first week of may, as my payroll at DHS amounts to just over $1.6 billion every two weeks." Mullin said that after the next pay check, "there is no emergency fund. The president cannot do another executive order to allow us to use the money because there is no money left." TSA workers were also not paid for six weeks during a partial shutdown of the government in autumn last year. Airlines for America CEO Chris Sununu said on Tuesday that Congress must move quickly to fund DHS. Sununu is the CEO of Airlines for America, which represents American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. The TSA has been in existence for nearly 25 years. In March, a weeks-long standoff between Congress and the TSA caused some security lines to exceed 4 hours. Since mid-February, more than 500 TSA agents have quit. Senate Republicans are expected to'move forward in this week on a budget plan that would increase funding for DHS agencies over the next three-year period, said Senate Majority leader John?Thune as Congress seeks to end a partial shutdown at?DHS. Before authorizing any additional funding, Democrats have pushed to impose a number of new restrictions on ICE and Border Patrol. Both operate under DHS's direction. They have argued that ICE & Border?Patrol must follow the same rules as other police forces in the United States. This includes a requirement for agents to obtain judicial permits before entering private homes. (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese, Lisa Shumaker, and David Shepardson)
South Korea's FLC receives offers for 65,000 T of feed wheat
European traders reported that the lowest price offered by South Korea's Feed Leaders Committee for its international tender to buy around 65,000 tons of animal feed was $267.35 per ton, including freight and cost.
Trading house CHS is believed to be the one who made the offer of 63,000 tonnes. Traders said that offers are still being reviewed and that no purchases have yet been reported.
The negotiations were extended following a private deal made by another Korean importer on Wednesday, the Major Feedmill Group.
The FLC continued negotiations on Wednesday night, traders reported. They wanted to keep the price of a c&f ton below $265.
The FLC was looking for wheat to arrive in South Korea by June 30. The reports reflect the assessments of traders, and future estimates on prices and volume are possible. (Reporting and editing by Louise Heavens, Michael Hogan)
(source: Reuters)