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Philippines' Black Nazarene procession draws numerous countless devotees
Numerous thousands of barefoot fans signed up with a yearly procession in the Philippines of a centuriesold statue of Jesus Christ on Thursday in one of the world's grandest displays of Catholic devotion and expression of faith. Filipinos turned the streets of Manila to a sea of maroon and gold and swarmed the Black Nazarene, a life-sized picture of Jesus Christ bearing down a cross, as followers jostled for a. chance to pull the thick rope towing the carriage throughout the. Philippine capital. The procession's organisers have estimated about 220,000. individuals went to mass before the procession, while 94,500 remained in. the march as of 8 a.m. (0000 GMT). That number is anticipated to. swell as it moves along its 5.8 km (3.6 mile) path. Other fans tossed white towels at the image as marshals. cleaned them of its surface area, thinking that touching the statue. would bless them and heal their illnesses. Nearly 80% of Filipinos recognize as Roman Catholic, a key. legacy of Spanish colonisation in the Philippine archipelago for. more than 300 years. The late Filipino priest and theologian Sabino Vengco said. in 2019 the statue's revered black colour was because of the. mesquite wood used in constructing the image, debunking a. longstanding myth its blackened image was because of a fire that. emerged on the ship that brought it to the Philippines from. Mexico in the early 17th century. The procession, called the traslacion, or translation,. honors the transfer of the Black Nazarene from a church. inside the old Spanish capital of Intramuros to its present. location in Quiapo church. Cardinal Jose Advincula, Manila's archbishop, told devotees. on Thursday to turn away from wicked, greed and vices and follow. the mentors of Jesus Christ. Let us live up to his rules, embrace his mentors. and follow his example. It is much better to follow the Beloved. Lord, Advincula stated in his homily ahead of the procession.
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Australia's Telstra brings home satellite tech with Musk's SpaceX
Leading Australian telco Telstra stated on Thursday it is working together with billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX to bring satellite connection technology to its local customers. Telstra has actually partnered with satellite-based internet supplier Starlink to bring the latter's Starlink-to-Mobile technology to Australia, allowing the U.S. company to provide satellite broadband connectivity directly to suitable mobile phones, particularly in remote areas. The cooperation would allow Telstra clients to send out and get SMSes on a suitable smart phone in most parts of Australia where there is a direct view to the sky, said Telstra Group Executive of Global Network and Innovation Shailin Sehgal. This is not the very first partnership between the two companies; in 2023, Telstra signed a contract with Starlink to use voice-only and voice-plus-broadband services in rural and remote areas of Australia. Additionally, U.S. EV maker Tesla, where Musk serves as the CEO, is chaired by Robyn Denholm, a previous finance and operations head of Telstra.
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Hong Kong airport raises $4.15 bln in 3 tranche dollar bond deal, term sheet programs
Airport Authority Hong Kong has raised $4.15 billion in a three tranche dollar bond deal, according to a term sheet evaluated on Thursday. The operator of Hong Kong's airport raised $1.3 billion in a. 3.5-year bond, $1.85 billion in a 5.5-year deal and $1 billion. in a 10-year tranche, the term sheet said. Airport Authority Hong Kong did not right away react. to an emailed ask for remark from Reuters. Financiers lodged $3.4 billion worth of a bids for the. quickest dated bond, $5.8 billion for the 5.5-year offer and $8.5. billion for the 10-year bond, a book runners messaged sent out on. Thursday said. Airport Authority of Hong Kong also raised the. equivalent of $2.8 billion in Hong Kong dollar and Chinese yuan. bonds previously this week, term sheets for those offers showed. The deal indicates more than $10 billion has been raised in. dollars in Asia today, according to LSEG data and term. sheets seen . Dealmakers expect about a 20% increase in dollar issuance throughout the area in 2025, as lower U.S. interest rates make dollar bonds more attractive to providers.
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Brazil's Azul inching closer to merger with Gol, says regional media
Brazilian airline Azul is expected to check in the next couple of weeks a. memorandum of understandings with rival provider Gol's. parent Abra for a possible merger in between Azul and Gol,. newspaper Valor Economico reported on Wednesday. The memorandum would stress the intention to merge while. establishing information pertaining to governance, capital structure. and different alternatives to structure the deal, according to the. report, which cited sources involved in the talks. Gol did not right away react to an ask for remark,. while Azul declined to comment. Azul has actually been in talks with Abra Group to check out chances, amidst. speculation about a prospective tie-up with Gol. The two carriers. announced a codeshare deal last May. An essential variable for the prospective merger is the. conclusion of Gol's Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy case, Valor. added, noting this is anticipated in April.
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Maguire: Texas is the top US state for battery and renewable energy capacity.
Texas dominates the development of renewable energies and battery capacities in the United States. It is estimated that Texas has installed nearly 80% greater combined solar, battery and wind capacity than the second largest state. Cleanview and U.S. Energy Information Administration data show that Texas will have 42,000 megawatts of wind power and 22,000 MW solar farms, and 6,500 MW utility-scale batteries by the end of 2024. California is the second largest state in terms of the number of batteries and renewable energy sources. Florida, Arizona, and Colorado complete the top five list of U.S. States that are using renewables to increase their power supply. The following is a breakdown on the size and growth rate of solar, battery storage and wind energy in the United States. THE BIG 3. Texas's rise as the nation's leader in clean energy has been fueled by rapid capacity expansion on multiple fronts. According to the energy data portal Cleanview using EIA data and state-level statistics, Texas power companies have increased solar generation by 800% since 2019, wind capacity by 50%, and battery storage by a staggering 5,500%. Texas installed 19,000 MW solar, 14,000MW wind, and 6,200MW battery capacity in the last five years. According to Ember's estimates, these installations will result in wind and solar farms producing roughly 30% of electricity for the state in 2024. This is an increase from a combined solar-and-wind share of about 18% in 2019. California now gets about 40% of its energy from solar and wind sources. This is up from 25% in 2019. The main reason for this increase in solar production has been the aggressive growth in solar generation. California has added around 9,000 MW to its solar power system in the last year, bringing it to a total of 21,500 MW by 2024. California's battery network grew from 240 MW to 11,000 MW over the same period. It is now the largest in the nation. California's wind power footprint has remained largely constant at 6,430 MW over the past few years. This translates to a combined solar-wind and battery storage capability of about 40,000 MW. Florida is the third largest state in terms of the footprint of renewables, and has the most battery capacity. However, it has no wind capacity. It trails behind the top five states when it comes to the cumulative solar, battery, and wind capacity of 11,500 MW. The state's solar footprint has increased from less than 50MW in 2019 up to more than 10,500MW in 2024. This shows a strong current momentum in renewables production. According to EIA's data, Florida's current battery capacity is around 575 MW. This places Florida fifth in the category. The U.S. Department of Energy announced recently that it would invest nearly $30 million to increase the battery capacity of the power sector in California. This will help boost the overall battery capacity. GROWTH MARKETS Arizona, Colorado New Mexico, and Nevada are the second largest states when it comes to grid-scale renewables and battery storage combined. The combined capacity of solar, wind, and batteries in each of these states is approximately 7,500-8300 MW. Each state's electricity sector will likely add solar and battery capacities over the next few years. Arizona and Nevada are the states with the largest battery storage systems, at around 2,000MW and 1,125MW respectively. This should allow local utilities the ability to store excess solar power and distribute it later. According to a Wood Mackenzie report, the United States is expected to deploy 62,000 MW grid-scale batteries between 2024-2028. Before the end of this decade, an additional 10,000 MW residential storage capacity as well as around 2,500MW commercial and industrial storage are expected to be developed. These are the opinions of the author who is a market analyst at.
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Ocean data climate tech firm XOCEAN raises 115 million euros
Investors, including Big Oil's Climate Investment Fund and Morgan Stanley 1GT Fund, have invested 115 millions euros ($119.20million) in Irish geophysical-data firm XOCEAN. This investment will help the company expand its operations. The company uses uncrewed surfaces vehicles to maintain offshore wind infrastructure and other energy infrastructure. This includes checking for leaks in pipelines and developing carbon storage and capture projects. The technology of the company allows clients to control their vessels remotely and stay on site for longer. This is unlike traditional providers who rely on crewed boats that cost thousands of dollar a day, even when bad weather forces these vessels into port. XOCEAN claims that the technology can be delivered with just 0.1% of carbon emissions from manned vessels. S2G Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Chicago, and CC Industries owned by the Crown Family are also part of the growth equity round, which will help XOCEAN to expand its fleet and develop new technologies and products. Francis O'Sullivan said that XOCEAN, working with some of the largest energy companies in the world, has reimagined the delivery of geophysical data, which is crucial to unlocking the potential of the blue economy. S2G helped structure the deal. The investment in XOCEAN was the first to be made through Climate Investment's growth equity strategy. Climate Investment is an independent investor founded by members of Oil and Gas Climate Initiative. Some of these, like Shell and BP are already clients. Patrick Yip, Climate Investment's director of growth and managing director for XOCEAN, said that "several customers cited XOCEAN" as their 'platform' of choice. The company was founded in Ireland in 2017. It has over 240 employees in offices located in Ireland, Britain and the United States.
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Union and employers reach agreement to avoid a second US port strike
The union that represents 45,000 dockworkers on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coasts, and their employers announced on Wednesday they had reached a tentative agreement on a six-year contract. This prevented further strikes which could have disrupted supply chains and taken its toll on U.S. economic growth. In a joint press release, the International Longshoremen's Association and the United States Maritime Alliance employer group called the agreement a win-win. The agreement includes a resolution on automation, the most difficult issue to resolve. The groups stated that "this agreement protects existing ILA jobs, establishes a frame work for implementing new technologies to create more jobs, while modernizing East Coast and Gulf Coast ports. It will make them safer and efficient and provide the capacity needed to keep our supply chain strong." The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The talks were extended until January 15 in order to reach an agreement on automation. Analysts, shipping executives and customers were concerned that the parties could not resolve their impasse. This would lead to a second ILA-led strike, just days before Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2019. A three-day ILA walkout in October triggered an increase in shipping costs and cargo backlogs in the 36 ports affected. After employers agreed to an increase of 62% in wages over the next six year, longshoremen returned back to work. The ports from Maine to Texas are home to terminal operators such as APM, which is owned by Danish container carrier Maersk. Other major carriers, like China's COSCO and Switzerland's MSC, also have U.S.-based subsidiaries. ILA and USMX agreed to continue working under the current contract, until the union could meet with the full Wage Scale Committee in order to schedule a vote of ratification and USMX's members were able ratify the final contract.
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Union and employers reach agreement to avoid a second US port strike
The union that represents 45,000 dockworkers in the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coasts, and their employer groups said on Wednesday they had reached a tentative agreement on a six-year contract. This avoided a strike which could have disrupted supply chains and taken its toll on U.S. economic growth. In a joint press release, the United States Maritime Alliance and the International Longshoremen's Association called the agreement a win-win that avoided a possible strike by landing ahead of the January 15th deadline for negotiations. The groups stated that "this agreement protects existing ILA jobs, establishes a frame work for implementing new technologies to create more jobs, while modernizing East Coast and Gulf Coast ports. It will make them safer and efficient and provide the capacity needed to keep our supply chain strong." Both sides agreed to operate under the current contract, until the union could meet with the full Wage Scale Committee in order to schedule a vote of ratification and USMX can ratify terms of the final agreement.
Consortium providing to take over Malaysia Airports protects 84.1% stake
A consortium consisting of Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah and BlackRock's Global Facilities Partners that used to take over Malaysia Airports Holdings stated late on Wednesday it had secured an 84.1% stake of the company.
The consortium, which includes Malaysia's Staff members Provident Fund and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, said it had reached the level as of Wednesday, moving it decisively towards the 90% limit to de-list Malaysia Airports.
A stock filing on Monday revealed the deal had been extended to Jan. 17 from Wednesday.
The consortium announced in May in 2015 a deal to get all shares in Malaysia Airports not currently owned by it at 11 ringgit per share, offering the airports operator an equity value of 18.4 billion ringgit ($ 4.09 billion).
Malaysia Airports' shares have jumped 40.9% over the past one year, LSEG information showed. It ended Wednesday 1.3% higher at 10.78 ringgit.
(source: Reuters)