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Greek port workers are jailed while they await trial for drug smuggling
Legal sources reported that six workers in Greece's biggest port Piraeus were arrested on Friday for allegedly being part of a gang involved in the smuggling of cocaine concealed in shipping containers imported from Latin America. They have been jailed until their trial. This is the third case since 2023 where port workers have been arrested on charges of drug trafficking. On Monday, the suspects were arrested. They worked for a private cargo company in Piraeus. According to police officials, they answered charges on Friday including membership in an international criminal organization at least since 2024. They deny any wrongdoing. Police said that the drugs were hidden in containers that were loaded with bananas and shipped from Ecuador. The Greek police confirmed that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had tipped them off about the investigation. It revealed the tactics of the gang and also included the surveillance of their communications. Police officials reported that the criminal ring led by an Albanian group exploited workers' knowledge and access to port facilities, as well as their familiarity with loading and unloading procedures. Officials added that the alleged gang members had been tasked with finding the ships and extracting cocaine parcels from containers. One of them was also in contact with drug buyers in Albania. During the operation, three guns and bullets have been confiscated. Nikos Aletras, the defence lawyer, said that the investigation was rushed and the charges were more serious. Seven suspects responded to the allegations before a prosecutor in court on Friday. Six of the seven suspects were detained and will be tried in due course. A seventh was released. South American cocaine production has risen over the last decade. Traffickers have helped turn Europe into an important transit and consumer of cocaine. Since 2017, European countries have seized record amounts of cocaine each year. Reporting by Yannis Souiotis, Writing by Renee Maltezou and Editing by Diane Craft
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Oil loadings in western Russian ports to fall in August
The differentials between Brent and Urals crude were not much different on Friday. However, the falling oil loads from Russia's western port in August helped to support this grade. The daily Russian oil exports to the ports of Primorsk (Ust-Luga), Novorossiisk and Ust-Luga are expected to reach around 1,77 million barrels a day in August. This is down from 1.93 millions bpd as planned in July, due in part, because of the anticipated increase in refinery runs. The daily oil loadings in these ports, including Urals and Kazakh KEBCO as well as Siberian Light grades of oil will decrease by 8% from the current month. Four sources familiar with the situation said that the Russian-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy named a new CEO after the previous one resigned due to sanctions imposed by the European Union against the company. PLATTS WINDOW On Friday, no bids or offers for Urals BTC, Azeri BTC Blend or CPC blend were made in the Platts Window. * The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said that the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which is scheduled to meet on Monday, has no decision-making power over production levels. Diane Craft (Reporting)
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US closes investigation into Waymo collisions and unexpected behavior
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced on Friday that it had closed a 14 month investigation into a number of minor accidents and unexpected behaviors from Alphabet’s self-driving Waymo vehicles, without taking any further action. In May 2024, the U.S. regulator for auto safety opened an investigation following 22 reports of Waymo robotaxis driving in a manner that could violate traffic safety laws or showing other "unexpected behaviors," including 17 accidents. NHTSA closed the investigation citing two recalls by Waymo, and its analysis of data available. This included a recall for 2024 to address a collision involving a utility pole. The agency also cited Waymo’s recall in May of more than 1200 vehicles, which updated software for better detection and avoidance. These barriers include chains strung across a travel path, gates and other gatelike barriers. A spokesperson for Waymo said on Friday that the company is committed to safety, and they were pleased with NHTSA's conclusion of their investigation. The NHTSA probed potential violations of traffic safety laws by Waymo vehicles, unexpected responses to traffic control equipment and issues when entering construction areas. Last year, the agency stated that several incidents involved collisions with objects that were clearly visible and that a driver of competence would have been expected to avoid. Waymo operates more than 250.000 fully autonomous paid rides per week in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin. It plans to expand service to New York, Miami, and Washington, D.C., and has already launched service in Atlanta with Uber. Waymo, General Motors and other self-driving car companies are now under greater regulatory scrutiny after a 2023 accident in which a pedestrian was injured by a cruise vehicle. GM reduced Cruise's funding, and folded it in with its broader operations. (Reporting and editing by David Shepardson; Kirsten Donovan, Nick Zieminski)
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The extent of illegal gold mining in Amazonia is revealed by smuggled mercury
The massive seizure of mercury by Peru shows the widespread use of toxic metal Mercury used in gold mines destroys Amazon rainforest Gold prices soar in Amazon, fuelling illegal mining By Dan Collyns According to a report from the Environmental Investigations Agency, SUNAT (Peru's Customs Agency) found illegal mercury in Lima’s Callao port district, four metric tons. "This SUNAT action has prevented this chemical having a severe impact on the health of people and the environment as can be seen by several areas of the nation devastated by illegal mercury use and illicit activities," SUNAT stated in a press release. According to EIA and SUNAT, the vast transnational smuggling network trafficked 200 tonnes of elemental Mercury over a period of six years. This amount would have contributed to at least $8 billion in illegal gold production. Alexander von Bismarck is the Executive Director of EIA US. He said, "For too many years the toxic flow to illegal gold mines on the Amazon was presented and accepted as inevitable." He said: "It's time to challenge the status quo, which affects Amazonian community and benefits organized crime." Between April 2019 and 2025, the scheme covered at least four countries: Mexico, which is the country of origin; Peru, where three-quarters the mercury will be sent, Colombia, and Bolivia. All four countries are signatories to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which aims to protect human health through reducing and eventually eliminating mercury usage. The undeclared shipments violated the convention. Gold prices are at record highs, which has encouraged an illegal mining industry to flourish. This trade is damaging local biodiversity and nature and raising serious health concerns. Mercury, used in illegal gold mines in Amazon to extract gold, is now worth four times more than gold. According to the World Health Organization, mercury is a neurotoxin that poses a serious threat to public health. Amazonian communities suffer from a variety of serious health issues, including cognitive impairment, developmental delays, and other serious health problems. "To extract gold rivers and streams polluted and territories plundered," said Julio Cusurichi a leader Indigenous and Goldman Environmental Prize-winner in Madre de Dios, the Peruvian Amazon area most severely affected by illegal gold mining. Mercury pollution affects even fish, which are a staple food for our Indigenous communities. "Now the contamination is reaching everyone who lives in the Madre de Dios area, whether we are Indigenous or not," said he. The WHO safety standards for mercury air pollution are more than 5.5-times higher in some parts of Madre de Dios. According to EIA and Peruvian officials, the investigation revealed a network of organized crime groups that allegedly revolved around a mercury dealer identified as Juan Jose Zamorano Davila. He is based in Queretaro, Mexico. According to the EIA, Zamorano was allegedly in charge of procurement, concealment and export logistics, as well as financial structuring. "MERCURY FEVER" The route starts in Queretaro where a few mercury mines are active, located in the Sierra Gorda UNESCO Biosphere reserve, which is considered a unique eco-system of cultural importance. They produce dozens and tonnes of mercury every year to supply the gold mining industry in the Amazon. EIA collected evidence that some mines were controlled by Jalisco New Generation Cartel (one of Mexico's most powerful illegal drug networks). Sources from the Queretaro mining area told investigators in May that mercury fever has hit the region due to record prices offered by mercury traders of $330 per kilogram as a result of the skyrocketing price of gold. Mercury was allegedly smuggled from Mexico's port of Manzanillo to South America, where it was transported through ports and companies allegedly linked to organized crime, and then resold illegal gold-mining zones, such as territories controlled by armed criminal organizations like the Clan de Golfo in Colombia and the ELN. Mercury found in Callao port was concealed in bags of gravel, and falsely declared to be crushed stone or decorative stones in order to avoid customs. The invoices were inflated and classified incorrectly to hide the contents. Each 20-tonne shipping container was valued at $11,000, which is about 20 times more than the price of gravel. However, it contained mercury worth up to $2,000,000. The container found in Peru contained mercury vapor at levels that were 480 times higher than the safety threshold. The shipment, marked for Bolivia, went through the port in Callao, and the investigation revealed that it was diverted via Arequipa in southern Peru, a major distribution center for destinations like Madre de Dios. Similar shipments to Colombia and Bolivia were often traced via the U.S. Port of Houston, Texas. This created a possible jurisdiction issue for the United States.
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Report: Tesla will roll out Bay Area roboticaxis with safety driver
Business Insider reported Friday that Tesla was preparing to launch its robotaxi service with a safety-driver in San Francisco and Bay Area as early as this weekend. The company is trying to expand rapidly amid falling sales of electric vehicles. Tesla shares were up by nearly 5% on Friday morning. Tesla's CEO Elon Musk warned that the robotaxi service would be a challenge for a while due to the unfavorable policy towards electric vehicles. However, revenue from this service and the software will start making a difference by the end of next year. The company conducted a small robotaxi test in Austin, Texas last month. It used about a dozen Model Y SUVs with a few passengers, and placed human safety monitors on the front passenger seat. Musk did not reveal during Tesla's earnings call Wednesday when safety monitors will be removed. These are expensive for Tesla. The report cited an internal memo to say that the robotaxis planned for the Bay Area would have humans driving the vehicle. They will be able control it using the steering and brakes. It added that the robotaxi service would ferry Tesla owners who have been invited to pay a fee in a restricted region covering the Bay Area. This area included Marin, San Francisco, the East Bay and a stretch southwards up to San Jose. Musk said earlier this month that Tesla would expand into the Bay Area in "a month or two," pending regulatory approvals. California regulators who failed to respond to Friday's requests for comments Tesla said that it had not yet submitted the permits required to charge and pick up passengers in its fully autonomous vehicles. Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, has shifted the company's focus to robots and self driving taxis after sales of its old EV line plummeted. This bet is a big part of Tesla's trillion dollar valuation. The Information also reported that Tesla was well behind schedule in meeting Musk's goal to produce at least 5,000 Optimus robots by the end of this year. Tesla has only produced a few hundreds of them. Tesla has not responded to any requests for comment about the Business Insider and Information stories. Musk announced during the earnings call of this week that Tesla has received regulatory approval to launch robotaxis across several states including California, Nevada Arizona and Florida. California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) permits are required for companies to test and deploy self-driving vehicles in California. Tesla faces regulatory hurdles as it seeks to gain the confidence of safety officials prior to launching its fully autonomous services. (Reporting from Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru, and Abhirup Ro in San Francisco. Additional reporting by Harshita Varghese. Editing by Tasim Zahid and Arun Koyyur.
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Sources say that Russia's daily oil exports to its western ports will drop by 8% in August.
Calculations based on two sources indicate that Russia's daily oil output from its western ports is expected to drop from the 1.93 million barrels per days (bpd), which was planned for July, due to an increase in refinery operations. In August, daily oil loadings in Russia from Primorsk and Novorossiisk, as well as from Kazakhstan's KEBCO, and Siberian Light grades of oil will be down 8% from this month. According to calculations based upon data from industry sources, Russia's offline primary refining capacity will drop from 4 million to 3.74 million metric tonnes (about 27.4 millions barrels) in August. The data are provisional, and will be updated at the end of each month. The Russian oil companies will have less crude oil to export due to higher refinery runs. Last week, the European Union approved an 18th package against Russia for the conflict in Ukraine. The measures included measures to deal further blows with the Russian oil industry and energy sector, such as a moving price limit on Russian crude. Russia has managed to sell the majority of its oil, the lifeblood of the state finances, above the previous price limit as the current mechanism is unclear about who will be policing its implementation. Russian government and trade sources downplayed the impact of new sanctions on trade in Russian crude. (Reporting and Editing by Louise Heavens).
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Meta will stop political advertising in the EU by October, blaming EU rules
Meta Platforms, the U.S.-based social media company, announced on Friday that it will stop political, election, and social issue ads on its platform within the EU by early October. The social media firm blamed legal uncertainty due to the new EU rules regarding political advertising. Meta's announcement is similar to the decision made by Alphabet's Google unit in November last year, highlighting Big Tech's resistance against EU regulations aimed at reining them in and making them more accountable and transparent. Concerns about disinformation and foreign influence in elections throughout the 27-country EU, which prompted the legislation called the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising Regulation and will be applicable from 10 October, were the catalyst for the European Union legislation. The law requires that Big Tech companies clearly label their political advertising, including who paid for it, how much and which elections were targeted. Otherwise, they could be fined up to 6% their annual revenue. Meta wrote in a post on her blog that "from early October 2025 we will no longer be allowing political, electoral, and social issue advertisements on our platforms within the EU." It said: "This is a hard decision - one that we have taken as a response to the EU’s upcoming Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising Regulation (TTPA), which introduces significant legal and operational uncertainties." Meta stated that the EU regulations would eventually hurt Europeans. It said: "We think that personalized ads are crucial for a broad range of advertisers, such as those who engage in campaigns to inform voters on important social issues which shape public discourse." "Regulations like the TTPA significantly undercut our ability to provide these services. They not only affect the effectiveness of advertising outreach, but also impact the ability of voters access comprehensive information." The European Commission is currently investigating Meta's Facebook, Instagram and their alleged failure to combat disinformation and deceptive advertisements in the lead-up to 2024 European Parliament Elections. The EU investigation is being conducted under the Digital Services Act which mandates that Big Tech do more to combat illegal and harmful content or face fines up to 6% of global annual revenue. ByteDance TikTok, the app developed by ByteDance, is also under the EU's glare for its alleged failure to combat election interference. This was particularly true in the Romanian Presidential vote in November last year. Reporting by Foo Yon Chee. Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout. Mark Potter (Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout)
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Cleo Laine died at the age of 97. She was a British jazz singer and performed with Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles.
William Schomberg LONDON, JULY 25, 2025: British jazz singer Cleo laine, who sang with Frank Sinatra, and was an actor on Broadway and in London's West End, died at the age of 97. The Guardian reported this on Friday, citing her children Jacqui, and Alec. She was born in 1927 to an English mother, and a Jamaican dad, in a London suburb. At first, she worked as a librarian, hat-trimmer, and hairdresser. She was married in 1946, and gave birth to a son when she was still a teenager. She divorced at 24, but her desire to become a singer drove her on. In 1951, she got her big break when she joined John Dankworth's band, an English saxophonist/clarinettist. Dankworth's Band decided that her name was just too long. At the time, she believed she had been Clementine Campbell. However, a passport application revealed later that her mother used her surname Hitching in the birth certificate. They thought that Clem's nickname was too cowboyish for her to be on a poster. The men of the Dankworth Seven band decided to give her a new stage name by drawing "Cleo", "Laine", and "Cleo" on hats. She and Dankworth were married in 1958. Their home became a magnet to London's jazz scene: their friends included stars such as Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald and Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie and Dizzy Gillespie. Laine, who had been singing and acting in Britain since the 1960s toured Australia and New York in 1972. A recording of another show at Carnegie Hall won her a Grammy. Ray Charles recorded "Porgy and Bess". She appeared in a series at London's Royal Albert Hall with Frank Sinatra, but was better known for her work as a member of Dankworth's band. Later, he became her musical advisor. They built an auditorium on the grounds of their house near London. Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II and the late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late queen Elizabeth II was a friend of theirs. The couple's two children became musicians. Dankworth, who Laine said was "joined by the hip" to her, died in 2010. Laine announced the news of her husband's death only hours after it happened. She performed in the auditorium. (Editing by Andrew Heavens & Olivier Holmey).
What are the differences between the militaries of Cambodia and Thailand?
The tensions that had been simmering between Cambodia and Thailand for months erupted into an armed conflict between the two countries on Thursday. A Thai F-16 fighter plane was deployed, in what is the most intense fighting between Southeast Asian neighbors in more than a decade.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies in London has compiled data on the arsenals and defence forces of two countries.
Budgets and Ground Personnel
In 2024, Cambodia had a defense budget of $1.3billion and 124.300 active military personnel. The Armed Forces were formed in 1993 by merging the former Communist military of Cambodia with two other resistance armies.
The largest of these is the Cambodian Army, which has around 75,000 soldiers and more than 200 battle tank, along with 480 pieces artillery.
Thailand is classified by the U.S. as a major non NATO ally. It has a well-funded, large military with a budget of $5.73billion in 2024. There are also over 360,000 active members.
The Thai army is composed of a total 245,000 soldiers, including 115,000 conscripts. It also has 400 battle tanks, more than 1,200 armored personnel carriers, and 2,600 artillery guns.
The army's fleet includes passenger planes, Black Hawk helicopters (made in the USA) and unmanned aerial vehicle.
Air Forces
The Cambodian air force is composed of 1,500 personnel and a fleet that includes 10 transport aircrafts and 10 helicopters.
The country does not have any fighter aircraft, but it has 16 helicopters that can be used for multiple roles. These include six Mi-17s from the Soviet era and 10 Z-9s from China.
Thailand's air force is one of the most well-equipped and best trained in Southeast Asia. It has an estimated 46,000 people, 112 combat aircraft including 28 F-16s, 11 Swedish Gripen jet fighters, as well as dozens of helicopters.
NAVIES
The Cambodian Navy has an estimated 2,800 members, including 1,500 naval soldiers, and 13 patrol and coastal battle vessels, as well as one amphibious landing vehicle.
Thailand's Navy is larger than most, with 70,000 people, including marines, naval aviation, coastal defense, and conscripts.
The fleet consists of one aircraft carrier and seven frigates. There are also 68 patrol vessels and coastal combat ships. Thai naval forces also include amphibious landing ships that can hold hundreds of soldiers each, as well as 14 smaller landing craft.
Thailand's Naval Aviation Division has its own fleet, including UAVs and helicopters. It also has a Marine Corps with 23,000 members, supported by dozens of armed combat vehicles. (Reporting and editing by Frances Kerry. Devjyot ghoshal)
(source: Reuters)