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California Governor vetoes Bill that would have Limited Air Quality Regulation
California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed this week a bill that would have restricted the regulatory powers for air quality agencies in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach - the two busiest ports complexes in the country - which are the main sources of local air pollution. California Senate Bill No. 34 prohibited the South Coast Air Quality Management District, located in the logistic hub counties of Los Angeles Orange Riverside and San Bernardino, from taking any actions that would, for example, impose a limit on the cargo throughput at ports or the number of cruise ship passengers. Newsom, in a Monday veto declaration, said: "With the federal administration directly undermining state and local air pollution reduction strategies and encouraging cooperative action at all level to avoid the worst climate and health impacts."
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Canada's transport safety agency raises alarm over a record number of runway incidents
MONTREAL - October 15, The Transportation Safety Board of Canada raised new concerns on Wednesday about near-misses after the number of cases of runway incursions reached a record in Canada last year. This was despite there being no actual collisions. In its annual watchlist, the transport safety agency calls for better use of technology and infrastructure. Data from the air traffic service provider NAV Canada shows that runway incursions increased to 639 in 2018 from 566 by 2023. This is the highest number recorded in the 15-year period for which data is available. When an aircraft or vehicle lands or takes off on a runway that is not intended for it, this is called a runway incursion. In the past few years, several near-misses have raised concerns about aviation safety, especially in the United States, where the understaffed air traffic controls are a concern. Southwest Airlines was only 200 feet behind the business jet in February when the pilot of the commercial airline aborted his landing to avoid a collision. Recent high-profile runway accidents are increasing pressure on aviation authorities, who want to mandate cockpit alert systems that prevent incursions.
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Ardian and Finint Infrastrutture agree to jointly buy Venice's airport operator
Ardian, an investment firm, and Finint Infrastrutture, a company that manages assets in Italy, have agreed to acquire Milione Spa together, which is the holding company of Save, which operates several airports, including Venice Marco Polo. According to a source familiar with the transaction, the equity value for the company is approximately 1.2 billion euro ($1.4 billion). The value of the company increases to 2.1 billion euro when debt is included. Milione is controlled by DWS Infrastructure & Infravia Capital Partners. The two companies announced their partnership on Wednesday. It was "designed to support the growth of Save and (Italian North-East Airport System) as well as establish a strategic operator who would pursue new acquisitions in order to achieve an external growth strategy." Save operates a network including Venice, Verona and Treviso in northern Italy. It also holds a stake at Charleroi Airport in Belgium. Banca Finint, Goldman Sachs and Mediobanca acted as advisors for Ardian. Rothschild, Morgan Stanley and Infravia assisted DWS and Infravia.
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Minister: Ukraine talks about US LNG imports following Russian attacks on gas sector
Oleksii Sbolev, Ukraine's Economy Minister, said that the United States and Ukraine are in talks to import liquefied gas following Russian attacks on Ukraine's gas infrastructure. Sobolev, after a meeting in Washington, said that "we are looking at financing mechanisms to purchase American LNG and compressors" due to Russian attacks. He gave no more details. In recent weeks, Russia has increased its attacks on Ukraine's energy system. It is targeting both gas and power plants. Svitlana Svitlana Hrynchuk, Ukrainian Energy Minister, said last week Ukraine wants to increase its gas purchases by 30% after airstrikes against its gas infrastructure. In a statement made earlier this month, Naftogaz, Ukraine's national oil and gas company, said that his firm had purchased around 0.5 billion cubic metres of U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas, of which the majority had been delivered.
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Storms, drone strikes and record oil exports put pressure on Russian port Novorossiisk
Three market sources reported that the Black Sea port in Russia, Novorossiisk, has reached its export capacity limit. This leaves traders scrambling to find a new route for crude oil, which it is unable to refine at home and can only produce because of increased OPEC+ quotas. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies have been easing up on output restrictions. In addition, Russia's refining facilities carried out record amounts of maintenance in August, and September. This was partly due to damage caused by Ukrainian drones. As a result, its ability to process crude oil domestically has been reduced, and it now exports more. RECORD EXPORTS & REFINERY OUTAGES Refinery failures pushed Russia's monthly exports to a new record of 2.5 million barrels. Sources and estimates claim that the exports of Urals, KEBCO, and Siberian Light crude through Transneft’s pipeline system reached 0.8m bpd, the highest in at least five-years. According to market sources, the preliminary plan for October indicates that crude shipments will be at least 0,73 million bpd through Novorossiisk. The Transneft System has virtually no spare capacity, according to a source from a Russian oil firm who spoke under condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to speak in public. Transneft, the Russian pipeline monopoly, declined to comment. Export plans may be revised upwards if drone attacks cause damage. In 2025, drones and unmanned boats have repeatedly disrupted Russia's oil infrastructure. Transneft, the trunk pipeline system of Transneft, as well as several refineries, have all been targeted. In the months to come, there is a greater risk of disruption as storms frequently occur in Novorossiisk, which can cause delays and impede loading, while the Turkish Straits can also be a problem. Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022 Russia has lost several buyers for pipeline-delivered oil, including Germany and Poland. This has increased its dependence on seaborne products. Other options for Russia to export crude oil by sea are Primorsk, Ust-Luga, and Kozmino in the Pacific, but diverting away from the Black Sea oil hub, Novorossiisk can be technically difficult. Barbara Lewis (Reporting and editing)
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Air India is expanding its talks with up to 300 new aircraft, according to sources
Air India has been in discussions with Airbus and Boeing about adding more wide-body aircraft to its planned purchase of up to 300 aircraft. This is a sign that the turnaround for the Tata Group's Air India has accelerated. Sources say that the negotiations include 80 to 100 wide body jets in addition to 200 narrow body jets and 25-30 large-body aircraft previously reported. Airbus stated that it "does not comment on confidential conversations, which may or might not happen with customers." Air India and Boeing didn't immediately respond to requests for comments. Air India had been reported to be in negotiations with Airbus or Boeing in June for a massive new aircraft order, including 200 additional narrow-body planes. This deal will top up the mammoth 2023 deal. This was on top of the earlier discussion involving 25-30 wide body jets that reported in March. According to people familiar with this matter, under the latest plans, the airline is looking at adding up to 300 planes. There was no immediate indication of how many of the orders were options and not firm orders. One source said that the split of such a deal is not finalised. Air India is currently in talks to get over a Boeing 787 crash that occurred in June in Ahmedabad, India. The crash killed 260 people. Air India could replace its aging planes and improve its international reach by adding more wide-body aircraft to its fleet. (Aditi Sha Abhijith Gaapavaram Tim Hepher; Editing by Adityakalra and Kirsten Doovan)
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Archer Aviation buys Lilium's 300 patent portfolio for $21 Million, shares soar
Archer Aviation, a provider of air taxi services, announced on Wednesday that it had won the bid to purchase Lilium's patent portfolio of approximately 300 patents related to advanced air mobility for a total price tag 18 million euros (20.91 million dollars). This will expand its portfolio to more than 1,000 patents. In morning trading, shares of the San Jose-based California company rose by approximately 8.5%. The Lilium portfolio includes high-voltage system, battery management and advanced aircraft design. It also covers flight controls, electric motors, propellers and ducted fan technologies. In 2015, German air taxi maker Lilium invested over $1.5 billion into electric vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft (eVTOL). However, the company filed for bankruptcy last year due to unresolved issues with its finances. Despite the fact that commercial launch is still many years off, the eVTOL sector continues to burn through money as companies seek new investments to maintain operations. Experts in the industry say that further consolidation is inevitable, as firms rush to gain regulatory approvals, strengthen supplier networks, and bring aircraft to market. This is driven by the demand for cleaner, faster urban transportation. Air taxi companies in the United States are expected to gain from Washington's efforts to accelerate deployment via executive orders and pilot program announced last week. ($1 = 0.8607 euros)
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Azerbaijani oil exports through BTC pipeline fell 5.1% year-on-year between January and September amid contamination
Azerbaijani figures released on Wednesday showed that the country's oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi - Ceyhan pipeline dropped to 20.6 millions metric tons during the period January-September, a 5.1% drop from the previous year. In July, organic chloride contamination was found in Azeri BTC crude shipments. This caused several days of delays in loading from Turkey's BTC Ceyhan Terminal. The BTC pipeline is used by BP to export oil from its Azeri, Chirag, and Guneshli fields. Azerbaijan shipped 27.6 millions tons of oil in the first nine month of this year, with 74.5% of that going through the BTC. This is according to the statistics committee of the country. Data showed that the volume of transit oil imported from other countries such as Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan via the BTC dropped to 3,164 million tons, from 4.005 millions tons during the same period in 2024. Reporting by Nailia bagirova, Editing by Andrew Osborn
Rubio to take up Trump's Panama gambit, migration crusade in Latam see
When Marco Rubio shows up in Latin America this weekend on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump's secretary of state, he'll find an area reeling from the new administration's shockandawe approach to diplomacy.
In the first days of Trump's second term, the new president has actually doubled down on his objective to reclaim the Panama Canal, irate Brazilians by returning migrants in shackles and briefly enforced crushing sanctions and tariffs on Colombia in a tussle over deportee flights.
Rubio's very first stop will be Panama City as the Trump administration shifts back Washington's focus to Latin America, aiming to counter the currently extensive Chinese influence in the region and stem migration.
The first Latino secretary of state, Rubio, has already showed that the State Department will be instrumental in assisting Trump attain his policy to suppress mass migration and the topic will be front and center as he continues on to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
The Trump administration has stepped up deportations, sending migrants in military airplane to Latin American nations, including Guatemala. The flights triggered a short spat with Colombia on Sunday after President Gustavo Petro refused to allow 2 military planes to land, in the past later accepting send out Colombian aircrafts to bring back deportees.
Kevin Whitaker, a previous U.S. ambassador to Colombia, stated Trump's immediate imposition of tariffs in addition to hardly ever utilized sanctions and visa constraints against Colombia, a longstanding U.S. ally, in reaction signified to countries in the region how seriously the Trump administration is taking migration.
The message it sent is how prepared the Trump administration is to use these tools, Whitaker, now at the Atlantic Council believe tank, stated in a call with reporters.
Trump has actually shown he wishes to reassert U.S. supremacy over the Western Hemisphere, stating Washington also needs to manage Greenland, an autonomous area of Denmark - a goal steadfastly declined by Danish and Greenland officials - together with his threats over the Panama Canal.
Rubio, the kid of Cuban immigrants and a proficient Spanish speaker, is a longtime hawk on Cuba and Venezuela policy.
During Trump's very first term, he was a driving force behind a. rollback of predecessor Barack Obama's historical rapprochement. with Cuba and also played a major role in crafting a optimum. pressure campaign versus Venezuela, consisting of sweeping. sanctions on the OPEC nation's energy sector.
MIGRATION FOCUS
Instantly after taking workplace, Trump declared a nationwide. emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, banned asylum for people. running away dispute in their home nations and issued an order. that attempts to obstruct the children of some immigrants from. becoming U.S. people.
Rubio quickly took up the mantle.
Our diplomatic relations with other nations, especially. in the Western Hemisphere, will focus on securing America's. borders, stopping unlawful and destabilizing migration, and. working out the repatriation of prohibited immigrants, Rubio stated.
Rubio could use his journey to press so-called 3rd nation. contracts, in which countries accept residents of other countries. deported by the U.S., in addition to smoothing the method for more. flights returning migrants to their own countries, specialists said.
Cuba and Venezuela have wintry relations with the U.S. and. have actually restricted the variety of deportees they will accept, so Trump. will likely require to discover other countries to take them--. possibly consisting of some countries on Rubio's itinerary.
These are the places Trump probably thinks he can press. into taking these deportees from other countries, stated Will. Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on. Foreign Relations.
CHINA TENSION
Rubio's talks with Panama will take place in the shadow of. Trump's threats. The president throughout his inauguration promised. that the United States would take back the Panama Canal however has. given no information on when or how he intended to reclaim the. strategic waterway - which is sovereign area of a close. partner.
Trump has lashed out at charges U.S. shipping pays to utilize the. canal however seems most animated by the participation of a Chinese. company in its operations. The State Department's representative. stated the trip would partially have to do with countering China in the. area.
At his Senate confirmation hearing this month, Rubio said it. could be argued that the terms of the U.S. agreement with Panama. that the canal can not be committed a foreign power had been. breached since of the participation of Chinese companies.
A foreign power today possesses through their business,. which we know are not independent, the capability to turn the canal. into a choke point and a moment of dispute. And that is a. direct danger to the national interest in security of the United. States, Rubio stated.
U.S. senators on Tuesday participated in expressing alarm over. China's role in the canal, consisting of a Chinese business's deal with. a bridge throughout the canal, and stated it postures dangers to U.S. national security.
The Panamanian federal government has emphatically rejected ceding. operation of the strategic waterway to China and insists it. administers the canal fairly to all shipping.
On Thursday, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino ruled out. going over control over the canal with Rubio. I can not. work out and much less open a process of negotiation on the. canal, he informed press reporters. That is sealed. The canal comes from. Panama.
Isaac Kardon, senior fellow for China research studies at the. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace stated he believed. there was space for arrangement-- something that would please. Trump as a win without being disruptive.
I picture Rubio is going to be far more nuanced and I. believe there's a little bit of an excellent police, bad police design of. diplomacy underway, Kardon stated.
Critics have accused Trump of modern-day imperialism in his. hazards over the canal and Greenland, suggesting such rhetoric. could motivate Russia on its war in Ukraine and offer. justification to China if it chooses to invade self-ruled. Taiwan.
China has in current years gained financial and diplomatic. impact in Central America, where countries consisting of Panama. have in recent years stopped acknowledging the democratically. governed island of Taiwan, falling in line with Beijing's view. that Taiwan is China's area.
(source: Reuters)