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NTSB finds evidence that bird strikes occurred before fatal New York helicopter crash
The National Transportation Safety Board announced Thursday that it had 'found evidence of bird strikes before a tourist heli smashed upside down in the Hudson River, 'New York City,?April 2025 killing all six passengers. Agustin Escobar was the CEO of Rail Infrastructure for Siemens Mobility, a train transportation division of Germany's Siemens, and he died in this accident. The NTSB confirmed that evidence had been found of a bird'strike' on the Bell 206L-4 helicopter. At least two dozen helicopter operators are listed on the tour website Viator. They offer tourists a bird’s eye view of Manhattan. Many operators offer shuttle helicopter services to area airports. This was the eighth tourist flight of the day. It flew from the Statue of Liberty over to the George Washington Bridge and then turned south to fly over the Hudson River. Witnesses reported hearing loud "bangs and pops" before the helicopter broke apart and fell into the Hudson River. A witness also reported that, just minutes before, she had seen a large flock take off near the Newport lighthouse, Jersey City, New Jersey. The NTSB report stated that "when the helicopter banged, I immediately believed it was a Bird Strike." Five passengers on a helicopter in New York died when it crashed into the East River. The pilot, however, survived. The helicopter was on charter flight with an open door that allowed passengers to take photos of the skyline. After 67 people were killed in a crash between an American Airlines regional plane and an Army helicopter near Reagan National Airport, Washington D.C. in January 2025, regulators focused on helicopter safety. The FAA has restricted helicopter traffic in the vicinity of that airport permanently and also imposed restrictions on helicopters around the country. David Shepardson, David Gaffen and David Shepardson contributed to this report.
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Ontario asks for federal assistance to evacuate remote Canadian towns as wildfires ravage them
Canada is experiencing more wildfires now than in mid-July of the previous two years, and the area that has been burned has increased compared to the year 2025. The majority of fires are located in remote parts of central provinces such as Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. In recent years, wildfires have affected remote indigenous communities disproportionately. Indigenous Services Canada reported that 1,600 people had been evacuated due to fires in First Nations communities as of July 15, 2015. CBC News reported that the Namaygoosisagagun First Nation in northwestern Ontario, also known by its former name Collins First Nation was evacuated Monday following a rapid-moving fire which swept through an area near 'Armstrong', located more than 500 km (310 miles), north of Toronto. Video showed community members going door-to-door to warn residents. Then, as the flames approached their homes, more than 20 people and their pets escaped on boats. Helen Paavola, chief of the community in question, told CBC that it was all destroyed within an hour. According to Ontario's Aviation Fire and Emergency Services, the wildfire that affected the Armstrong area, which included Namaygoosisagagun?and Whitesand First Nation nearby, had reached more than 350,000 ha by Thursday. Jill Dunlop said, "In response?to the significant threat of wildland fire activities in northern Ontario, Ontario has issued a Request for Assistance. The province is prepared to expedite deployment of federal resources that will support evacuations." She added that the Canadian Armed Forces were among those who would be able to help. Prime Minister Mark Carney stated that the federal government will continue to work closely with its provincial and municipal counterparts, and provide any additional assistance needed. According to the government, there were 859 fires burning across the country as of Thursday. 113 were deemed out-of-control. 2.384 hectares (5.89 acre) of land have been burned so far. Carney stated on Wednesday that "the wildfire situation in Canada has deteriorated dramatically over the past three weeks, particularly in Northwestern Ontario." "Thousands of people were forced to leave their communities because they didn't know if their houses would survive." Canadian National Railway?said that employees and residents in the town of Armstrong had been evacuated Monday night following a viral video posted on social media showing a CN Train surrounded by a?fire? in the surrounding area. CN announced that it had temporarily suspended rail operations in the vicinity of Armstrong due to a?wildfire'. Fury Gold Mines, based in Vancouver, announced on Wednesday it had suspended exploration and drill at its Eau Claire Project in northern Quebec following the evacuation of all personnel because of a nearby forest fire. Green Technology Metals is an Australian-listed company that focuses on lithium exploration. It has a mine near Armstrong. Green Technology Metals did not reply to an email asking if it evacuated staff. The majority of gold mines in northern Ontario are located away from the fires. Thunder Bay is the largest city in Northwest Ontario and has many wildfire evacuees.
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Carney: Canada won't share bridge tolls until US debt is repaid.
Mark Carney, the Prime Minister, said that Canada would not share toll revenue with the United States until Canada had recovered its initial investment. The delay in opening the Gordie-Howe bridge, which was paid for by Canada has caused tensions between the United States, and Canada. This is at a time when the two countries are trying to update their trade agreement. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said last week that he had negotiated "a better deal" with Canada to enable the U.S. bridge's July 27 opening. Carney was criticized by political opponents for caving in to the U.S., after American officials claimed that they had "gone from receiving no revenue" to a significant amount of revenue. Carney told a Thursday press conference that the agreement between Michigan and Canada on the Gordie-Howe bridge was unchanged since 2012, when Canada agreed pay for the bridge. According to the deal, Canada had the right to keep all toll revenues until it recovered its bridge investment costs. Carney said that any sharing of?toll revenues will not happen until the entire debt has been repaid. Carney added that Canada and the U.S. would share net revenues during the first fifteen years, after operating costs such as maintenance and snow removal. He said that he expected net revenues to be modest for the first couple of years after these costs. "When the splitting starts, all the portions that are going to the U.S. Government will be reinvested?into economic development." Details of the agreement reached between Canada and the U.S. are not public. Two sources said that a deal was reached last week, and the U.S. It would receive 50% of the toll revenue profit and be able veto any toll increase that is 10% higher than current tolls. Fen Hampson is a professor at Carleton University who specializes in international affairs. He said that the deal represented a win for Canada. If you do the math on when Canada will split the revenues, it won't leave much to?split." Carney said that it was in Carney's interest that Americans thought they forced a Canadian concession. It's better for Trump to think that he has won, or else he could be vindictive. Shuvaloy Majumdar, a Conservative Member of Parliament from the opposition, called it "a terrible?deal" in a letter he sent to government last week. Majumdar wrote: "Canadians are entitled to the complete agreement, an accounting of all costs and a clear explanation about what was given."
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US networks are faced with a dilemma about whether or not to broadcast Trump's speech on election security
U.S. TV networks are considering whether or not to broadcast a planned address by President Donald Trump on Thursday, who will reportedly?focus his remarks on the security of elections, four months before?critical midterm election. Most of these speeches have been broadcast on television because they are considered to be important for the public. Reports on Wednesday said that the White House was considering using the speech as a way to reveal sensitive intelligence about China's intent or ability to influence the 2020 U.S. elections. Some Trump officials are concerned this could be misleading. Karoline Lavitt, White House Press secretary, said during a press briefing on Thursday that it is "also very likely" that Trump will address the current economic situation and Iran at the beginning of his speech. She said it is "all the more reason" that the networks should broadcast the speech in real time and Americans should tune in. Trump has spent many years sowing doubts over the outcome of elections, falsely claiming that his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 was rigged. Trump has claimed, without any evidence, that mail-in votes are rife in fraud and voting machines can be manipulated. Non-citizens voting is also widespread. Democrats such as U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez have asked networks to not air the speech. They claim Trump will likely?repeat false claims. The three?major U.S. television networks - ABC, CBS, and NBC - did not answer questions regarding whether or not they would be broadcasting the speech live. CNN and Fox News did not reply to requests for comment. Refusing to broadcast the speech could anger an administration which has already put unprecedented pressure on major broadcast networks. Walt Disney's ABC faces two pending Federal Communications Commission inquiries, one of which examines whether the daytime talk show 'The View' violated equal time rules by interviewing Democratic Senate candidate in Texas. Trump has attacked NBC, and Comcast (which he calls "Concast"), repeatedly. He stormed out last month of an interview with NBC's political reporter Kristen Welker, after calling it "a one-sided crooked" network. Comcast?announced plans to split into 2 publicly traded companies by a spinoff NBCUniversal Sky. Analysts?have stated that the move could'make NBCUniversal a takeover target. The takeover of Paramount, by David Ellison - whose billionaire dad Larry is an ally of Trump - has caused a stir in the CBS newsroom, and led to the departure of senior staffers from "60 Minutes". Several employees have claimed that political influence was used to make editorial decisions. The network has denied this claim. Ellison now awaits FCC approval of Paramount's purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery could allow him to control CNN, which Trump has long criticized as unfair. Last month, the?Antitrust Division of the U.S. Justice Department approved this deal. The ?conservative-leaning cable news network Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch, generally carries all of Trump's speeches but may also be wary of this one. The network was ordered to pay $787 million in 2023 to settle a lawsuit for defamation over false claims it made about the 2020 elections. (Reporting Helen Coster, Additional reporting Edmund Lee; Editing Alistair Bell).
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New York's hydropower line outage irks governor who championed the project
The administration of New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday condemned an "ongoing outage" on the Champlain-Hudson Power Express transmission line. She had championed the $6 billion project to reduce the use of dirty oil-fired power plants and increase the razor-thin'state grid's buffer against unforeseen events. According to the latest transmission outage calendar from grid operator New York ISO, the?1,250 megawatt Champlain Hudson Power Express is expected to remain offline until July 31. New York ISO's data previously indicated that CHPE would not be in service until the end of this week. New York ISO didn't respond to a request for comment. Ken Lovett is Hochul's spokesperson and he said that the CHPE outage was unacceptable. "On the Governor's instruction, administration officials are in daily contact with developers to help identify and solve the problem." CHPE is able to deliver as much as 20% of New York City’s electricity. Hydro-Quebec said on Monday that it is currently offline because of a cable problem. Hydro-Quebec stated that the current cable problem on the U.S. end of the line has nothing to do with the shutdown on July 1. Blackstone Inc. and Hydro-Quebec jointly developed the project. Hochul said last month that CHPE would help replace the lost power with the?closure of the Indian Point nuclear facility. Since then, New York City is relying more on fossil-fuel generators and this has increased pollution in the downstate area. According to the NYISO, this month, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit,?oil-fired-generators have been ramped up in order to meet a surge in energy demand due to increased air conditioning usage. The power line runs 339 miles (546 km) along the length of New York State from the Canadian border, to the converter station in Astoria Queens where the energy enters the New York City grid. New York ISO announced earlier this week that it would not be relying upon CHPE for this summer's grid, despite the fact that grid reserves were "extremely low."
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Ontario seeks federal assistance for evacuations due to wildfires, as the smoke spreads
Ontario asked for federal assistance on Thursday to evacuate people from remote northern communities that were ravaged by wildfires. Smoke brought poor air quality to Toronto and the Northeastern U.S. Canada now has more active fires than in the previous two years, and has a larger burned area compared to the year 2025. The majority of fires are located in remote parts of central provinces such as Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. Jill Dunlop said that Ontario's Minister of Emergency Preparedness, Jill Dunlop stated on X, "In response the the significant threat of wildland fires in the north of Ontario, the Province has issued a formal request for assistance to the Government of Canada. We are prepared to expedite deployment of federal resources as support to evacuations." She said that the Canadian Armed Forces were among those who would be able to help. In prepared remarks, Prime Minister Mark Carney stated that the federal and provincial governments are in constant communication and will provide assistance as required. In recent years, wildfires have mostly affected'remote indigenous community. Indigenous Services Canada reported that?1,600 people had been evacuated due to fires in First Nations communities this season as of July 15th. According to the government, there were 859 fires burning across the country as of Thursday. Of those, 113 were considered uncontrollable. So far, 5.89 million acres (2.384 million hectares) of land have been burned. Carney said on Wednesday that the wildfire situation had gotten worse in the past three weeks, especially in Northwestern Ontario. "Thousands of people were forced to leave their homes, not knowing whether they would survive." Canadian National Railway announced that employees and residents in the town of Armstrong had been evacuated Monday night following a viral video posted on'social media showing a CN train engulfed in fire. CN announced that it has suspended rail operations in the area of Armstrong, which is more than 500 km (310 miles), north of Toronto. This was done as a precaution because wildfires were raging. Fury Gold Mines, based in Vancouver, announced on Wednesday that they had temporarily suspended exploration and drill at their Eau Claire project located in northern Quebec. This was after the company evacuated all its personnel because of a forest fire nearby. The Australian-listed 'Green Technology Metals', which focuses primarily on lithium exploration, operates a mine near Armstrong. Green Technology Metals did not reply to an email asking if it evacuated staff. The majority of gold mines in northern Ontario are located away from the current fires.
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U.S. networks are faced with a dilemma about whether or not to broadcast Trump's speech on election security
U.S. TV networks are considering whether or not to broadcast a planned address by President Donald Trump on Thursday, which is scheduled to be centered around election security. This comes four months before the crucial midterm elections. Most of these speeches have been broadcast on networks because they are deemed to be 'information of public interest. Reports on Wednesday said that the White House is considering using the speech as a way to reveal sensitive intelligence about China's ability or intention to interfere with the 2020 U.S. elections. However, some Trump officials are concerned this could lead to misleading information. Trump has spent many years spreading doubts about the outcome of elections, falsely claiming that his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 was rigged. He also said without any evidence that voting machines were vulnerable to manipulation, and that non-citizens were voting in large numbers. Some Democrats, such as U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, have asked networks to not air the speech. They claim that Trump will likely repeat false claims. The three major U.S. television networks -- ABC, CBS and NBC - did not answer questions regarding whether or not they would be broadcasting the speech live. CNN and Fox News did not reply to a comment request. The refusal to broadcast the speech could anger an administration which has already put unprecedented pressure on major broadcast networks. Walt Disney's ABC faces two pending Federal Communications Commission inquiries, one of which examines whether the daytime talk show 'The View' violated equal time rules by interviewing Democratic Senate candidates in Texas. Trump has attacked NBC, and Comcast (which he calls "Concast"), repeatedly. He stormed out last month of an interview with NBC's political reporter Kristen Welker, after calling it "a one-sided crooked channel." Comcast announced last month plans to split NBCUniversal into two publicly-traded companies via a spinoff. Analysts said that the move would make NBCUniversal a desirable takeover target. CBS's?takeover of Paramount by David Ellison - whose billionaire dad Larry is a Trump supporter - has?roiled its newsroom, and led to the departure of several senior staffers from "60 Minutes". The network denied allegations that political influence was involved in the editorial decisions. Ellison now awaits FCC approval of Paramount's purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery could allow him to control CNN, the network Trump has long criticised for its unfair coverage. Last month, the U.S. Justice Department Antitrust Division approved?the deal. Fox News is a conservative cable news network owned by Rupert Murdoch. They usually carry all of Trump's speech, but they may be wary about this one. The network was ordered to pay $787 million in 2023 to settle a lawsuit for defamation over false claims it made about the 2020 elections. (Reporting Helen Coster, Additional reporting Edmund Lee, Editing Alistair Bell).
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Ireland passes law lifting Dublin Airport passenger limit
Ireland's Transport Minister lifted a passenger cap at Dublin Airport on Thursday after President Catherine Connolly signed a new law. The government is under pressure to lift its 32 million passenger limit per year, which has been suspended in anticipation of a ruling from the European Court. Last year, the airport exceeded its limit by four million passengers. Irish Transport Minister Darragh O'Brien welcomed Connolly's signing of the law and expressed his hope that an order would be issued to "amend or repeal the cap" as soon as possible after an environmental assessment. He said, "I intend to immediately begin the relevant provisions of the Act." This will now enable the sustainable development at Dublin Airport. O'Brien said in May that his hope was for the bill to become law by July. Planners in 2007 set a limit of 32 million passengers for Ireland's major airport, in part to prevent local traffic congestion. Local residents are in favor of limiting the number of passengers at the airport. The airport carries 80% or more of the country's air traffic. Environmental groups warned that its removal could weaken the oversight of an industry with high emissions. Irish airline chiefs have warned that the measure would harm the economy of the country. U.S. Airlines have also criticized the 'cap. Their representative body, as well as 'Irish carriers', warned that the U.S. Government could retaliate by restricting transatlantic flights out of Dublin if it is not scrapped quickly. Conor Humphries wrote the article, Sam Tabahriti edited it.
Bousso: Big Oil's long-term bullish outlook is despite the short-term doom.
Energy companies may be retrenching due to a poor outlook for oil and natural gas in the near future, but their investment plans indicate that they are confident the situation will change dramatically by the end decade.
The spending plans of energy companies are a good indicator of their confidence about the long-term prospects for this sector, as it can take years to develop a new oil or gas field. It also takes many years before any profits come from these investments.
In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to accurately predict the future fortunes of the oil and gas industry.
The energy transition has raised concerns about the future demand for fossil energies. The renewed focus of governments on energy security following the war in Ukraine in 2022 has revived the investment appetite. Companies such as BP, Shell, and others have redirected their strategies from renewable energy to their core oil-and-gas businesses.
Even though prices are expected in the short term to drop, the current investment and expenditure plans of the top Western energy companies suggest that bullish arguments regarding the future of fossils fuels have gained ground.
SHORT-TERM CAUTIONS
The price forecasts for crude oil in the next two-year period are gloomy. Many agencies and investors expect a significant glut of oil due to increased production by OPEC and non OPEC countries. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Brent prices will fall from $68 per barrel on average this year to $50 in 2026. A surge in liquefied gas capacity, mainly from the U.S., Qatar and other countries, in the next few years is expected to place pressure on another important growth market in the sector.
The oil and gas industry has responded to the bleak outlook by cutting jobs, costs and most importantly - buying back shares.
In recent years, the majors have increasingly used share repurchases as a way to attract investors. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the scale of share buybacks increased dramatically. This was mainly due to the rise in energy prices that followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Calculations show that the top five western energy giants BP, Chevron Exxon Mobil Shell TotalEnergies repurchased a combined $61.5 billion in shares by 2024. This is more than they paid out in dividends of $51 billion. This trend is now stagnant. TotalEnergies announced last week that it would slow down the pace of its stock buyback program from $2 billion per quarterly this year to between $750 million and $1.5 billion each quarter in 2019.
Justifications for this move included "economic and geopolitical uncertainty" and the need to "retain room to maneuver".
Chevron and BP slowed down their buyback rate earlier this year.
Reduced share repurchases come with deep cost reductions. Chevron has announced a $3 billion budget-cutting initiative by 2026, which will result in it laying off up to 20% (or 9,000) of its employees. ConocoPhillips, a rival company in the United States, plans to reduce its workforce by up to 25%. BP announced plans earlier this year to cut more than 7,000 jobs. Last month, a cost review was added on top of a $4-5billion cost-cutting goal for 2023-2027. Exxon, Shell and other companies are cutting expenses aggressively.
The cuts are the most significant in recent times, even during the pandemic. This shows a greater focus on the competitiveness of the industry and an increasing pessimism about the outlook for the energy price near term.
LONG-TERM FORTUNE
Big Oil is more optimistic about the future, as evidenced by their willingness to invest in mega projects and acquire huge companies. BP announced on Monday that it would proceed with a $5 billion offshore project in the Gulf of Mexico. The Tiber-Guadalupe Project, which is expected to start oil and gas production by 2030, will feature a floating platform that can produce 80,000 barrels per day. TotalEnergies announced on Monday that it acquired assets in the U.S. producing gas onshore. Exxon is the largest western major and has maintained its capital expenditure plans for 2025 at $27-29billion as it continues to grow output in the U.S. Shale Basins and Guyana. In August, it said that the company was prepared to make acquisitions and take advantage of lower prices for oil.
This confidence is backed up by forecasts that indicate the strong growth of oil production in the next decade will reverse itself.
The International Energy Agency predicts that world oil production will grow by 4.5 millions bpd from 2024 to 2028, to 107.6million bpd. It then stagnates in 2029 before declining by 400,000bpd by 2030.
The natural decline in oilfields, along with the slower growth rate, means that companies must invest significantly to maintain their production.
Oil demand growth will also slow down in the next few years, partly due to the rise of electric cars. Even if oil supply grows slower, a faster-than-anticipated slowdown in demand could impact oil prices.
For now, however, the willingness of companies to ignore a possible downturn indicates that they believe crude oil prices will continue to rise through the end decade and into the next decade. This would allow them to recoup their large investments in new fields.
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(source: Reuters)