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CK Hutchison shares fall after China issues critical comments on the port sale to U.S. interest
The shares of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison fell more than 6% after China's Hong Kong Macau Affairs Office published a commentary on state media that criticized the company's sale of a port as a betrayal to China. The Hong Kong-based group said last week it agreed to sell most of its global $22.8 billion ports business, including assets it holds along the strategically-important Panama Canal, to a group led by U.S. investment firm BlackRock. The deal has been hailed by U.S. president Donald Trump who had called for the removal of the waterway from what he said was Chinese ownership. The state-owned Ta Kung Pao, based in Hong Kong, published a comment on Thursday saying that the deal "betrays the Chinese people and sells them out", neglects national interest and shows CK Hutchison's "backbone" as well as his profit-seeking. The column was also posted on the website of the State Council, China's highest-level authority overseeing Hong Kong affairs. CK Hutchison is a Hong Kong-based and listed company owned by billionaire Li Kashing. The firm has insisted that its business operations remain independent of China. The comment and the fall in CK Hutchison’s share price is an indication of the complicated geopolitical situation the company faces, amid Trump's pressure on China and investor fears that the deal may not have been backed by Beijing. CK Hutchison and Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. After a drop of up to 6.7% during the early trading, its shares fell 4.6% by noon. The main Heng Sang Index rose 2.5%. Reporting by Clare Jim, James Pomfret and Editing by
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Officials say that the Pentagon requested military options for access to the Panama Canal.
Two U.S. officials said on Thursday that the U.S. Military must provide options in order to guarantee the United States full access to Panama Canal. Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he wants "to take back" Panama Canal He has not provided any details about the specifics of how he will do this, or whether military action may be necessary. Unnamed U.S. officials said that a document - described as a interim national security guide by the new administration - called for the military to consider military options in order to protect access to the Panama Canal. A second official stated that the U.S. Military had many options for safeguarding access. This included ensuring a strong partnership with Panamanian military. In 2022, the Pentagon published its last National Defense Strategy. This document outlines the military's priorities. A document interim provides broad policy direction, similar to what Trump's executive order and public comments have done. This is in advance of a more detailed policy document such as a formal NDS. The Pentagon didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. CNN was the first to report on this interim document. NBC News reported earlier Thursday that the White House ordered the Pentagon create options for the Panama Canal. Trump asserted the U.S. must take back the canal, because China has control of it and could use it to undermine American interests. In his inaugural speech In January, Trump repeated his accusations that Panama had broken its promises for the final transfer canal in 1999. A foreign power that attempted to forcefully take over the canal would be in violation of international law. Both the U.S.A. and Panama have signed treaties requiring them to defend their canals against any threats to neutrality. They are allowed to act unilaterally to achieve this. Early in the 20th century, the U.S. gained the right to construct and operate the canal. The U.S. signed a 1979 treaty, under the Democratic administration of Jimmy Carter, that agreed to hand over the control of the Canal to Panama by the end of 1999. Reporting by Idrees Al and Phil Stewart. (Additional reporting by Costas Pittas, editing by Leslie Adler.
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Trump, New York governor may discuss Constitution gas pipeline
Donald Trump and New York Governor Kathy Hochul will meet on Friday morning. The U.S. President said that the talks could include reviving a natural gas pipeline called the Constitution in the Northeast. Williams Cos had planned to build a pipeline that would have brought gas from Pennsylvania’s drilling fields into New York. However, the company canceled it in 2020 due to opposition from New York politicians and environmentalists. Trump claimed that a pipeline could lower energy prices in the region. It is still unclear how the pipeline could be approved. Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office: "Kathy Hochul is a very nice woman. She's coming tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock, to meet with me about that and other issues." I hope we won't need to use the extraordinary power of the federal government in order to accomplish this. We will do it if necessary, but I doubt we'll need to. Trump and his Energy Dominance Council, co-chaired with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum & Energy Secretary Chris Wright, have made such pipelines a priority. Williams representatives did not reply to our request for comment. Hochul demanded earlier this week that Trump reverse U.S. Tariffs on Canadian Energy Imports. He argued the tariffs and Canadian Retaliatory Actions threatened to increase electricity and heating costs in New York. Hochul told reporters, "I reached out yesterday to the President and said that I wanted to continue the conversation we had in the Oval Office two weeks ago." "I've got a lot of things on my schedule." We discussed infrastructure and Penn Station. He knows that I would like to discuss congestion pricing once again. "I want to discuss, you know our concerns regarding energy in light the tariffs." (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese, Rod Nickel, Trevor Hunnicutt, and Timothy Gardner. Reporting by Steve Holland and Ryan Patrick Jones.
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The building of a data center in the US has raised concerns about overburdening the largest US grid.
Energy executives and regulators at CERAWeek, a conference held in Houston last week, expressed concern about the ability of an aging U.S. electric grid to meet this demand. Electricity consumption in the United States is reaching record levels due to the construction of giant computer warehouses by Big Tech. A single site can use as much energy as a medium-sized U.S. town. The government agencies predict that data center demand is expected to triple in the next three-years, and consume 12% of all U.S. electricity. In an interview, Samir Vora said that the challenges facing the grid are becoming more pronounced. As electricity demand grows, fossil fuel-powered generators are being retired. Interconnection queues for new generation and power lines can last years, affecting the delicate balance between supply and demand needed to prevent blackouts. Mark Christie, the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said this at a conference held on Thursday. Christie stated that the reality of the situation has been made most apparent in the largest electrical grid of the United States, PJM Interconnection. This grid covers 13 states plus the District of Columbia. PJM has the largest concentration of data centres in the world. Virginia, a member state of PJM, routes about 70% of the global internet traffic. PJM's latest capacity auction saw prices more than 800% above the previous year. The grid operator cited rising demand and shrinking supplies as the reason for the increase. Manu Asthana said in a panel discussion that he was optimistic about the solution to this problem, but it wasn't a trivial one. Asthana, PJM's CEO, said that he expects the peak demand of 184 gigawatts in 2030. Asthana added that nearly all of these additions will come from data centers. FERC's Christie warned that if new power is not added quickly, the supply and demand squeeze will spread to other areas of the country. He warned that the problem would be magnified in other regions with multiple states. (Reporting and editing by Laila KEARNEY; Liz Hampton)
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Trump brings South Africa closer to the EU with 4.7 billion Euros pledged by the EU
On Thursday, European Union leaders visited South Africa and announced a 5.10 billion euro (5.10 billion euros) investment package. This comes at a moment when the United States is on a worse relationship with both countries than it has been in decades. The European leaders claimed that the visit would be an opportunity to deepen ties with Africa’s most developed economy. This coincided with the presidency of the G-20 nations by the African nation, which U.S. officials had so far largely ignored. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, has shocked European leaders by his shift towards Russia during the Ukraine conflict. This is a major change in U.S. foreign policy following Moscow's invasion of 2022. His pro-Israel stance brought him into conflict over South Africa's genocide case at the World Court against Israel. The U.S. Administration has also intervened in Europe's and South Africa’s domestic politics. It criticised Europe for trying to isolate the extreme right and ignoring voter concerns about immigrants while cutting aid to South Africa due to its efforts to correct historic racial injustice. The EU visit was an opportunity for South Africa to improve relations, which had soured after it refused to condemn Vladimir Putin of Russia for his invasion of Ukraine. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that South Africa played a crucial role in the global stage as the leading voice for the Global South. She said, "In an era of increasing confrontation and competition we must further strengthen our partnership." She told President Cyril Ramaphosa at a meeting in Cape Town that Europe wants to grow the South African economy. She said this while sitting next to the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa. She mentioned clean hydrogen as an example of how South Africa can make use its abundant raw materials and vast renewable energies potential. Ramaphosa stated that South Africa valued European support of multilateralism in a time when nationalism is on the rise. He said that African relations with the European Union must be built upon a partnership of mutual benefit. $1 = 0.9223 Euros (Additional reporting and writing by Alexander Winning, Tim Cocks, and Sfundo parakozov. Editing and proofreading by Tim Cocks, Alison Williams and Tim Cocks)
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US sanctions Iranian oil minister and shadow fleet
Treasury Department: The United States sanctioned Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Pakhnejad on Thursday, as well as some Hong Kong flagged vessels that form part of an "shadow fleet" that is used to disguise Iranian oil shipments. Treasury released a statement saying that Paknejad oversees the export of Iranian oil worth tens and tens billions dollars, and has given billions worth of oil to Iran’s armed forces. Treasury said it also identified owners or operators for vessels that delivered Iranian oil into China or removed it from its storage. It said that these vessels were located in multiple jurisdictions including India and China. Iran's military uses a large fleet of shadow ships to conceal shipments worth billions of dollars to China. Thursday's designated vessels include the Hong Kong-flagged Peace Hill and its owner Hong Kong Heshun Transportation Trading Limited, the Iran-flagged Polaris 1, the Seychelles-registered Fallon Shipping Company Ltd, and the Liberia-registered Itaugua Services Inc, Treasury said. It said that the U.S. Department of State has designated three entities and three ships as blocked property. Reporting by Doina chiacu, Editing by Brendan O'Brien & Toina Chopra
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Starmer: UK tanker crash after-effects'reasonably controlled'
Keir starmer, British Prime Minister said that the aftermath of the tanker crash near the English coast this week was "reasonably contained". Fears of an environmental catastrophe had eased as the focus shifted to the investigation of how the incident occurred. The Solong, a container ship flying the Portuguese flag, collided with the Stena Immaculate on Monday, an anchored tanker carrying U.S. Military jet fuel. The collision resulted in huge explosions and fires. Jet fuel was also spilled into the ocean. The tanker is still at anchor, with a huge hole in its side. Meanwhile, the container ship that was badly burned has been stabilized after initial fears of it sinking. Starmer stated that the situation was reasonably contained at the moment. Starmer said that the cause has yet to be determined. We have a process, but we need to dig deeper. The initial concerns about an environmental catastrophe have diminished. According to preliminary assessments, the jet fuel has mostly been burned off. After his arrest on February 2, the captain of Solong, a Russian, was placed in custody under suspicion of gross negligence. This offence is for situations in which a death occurs as a result of a grossly negligent action or omission. Local police released a statement saying that a judge had granted detectives extra time to interview the captain. The 36 crew members of the vessel who survived the incident were brought to land. In a separate press release, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch of Britain (MAIB), said that it would be leading the safety investigation. It was seeking to determine the cause of the accident and prevent similar accidents from happening again. The MAIB stated that it would inspect the two vessels and retrieve the Voyage Data Recorders as soon as it was safe. The MAIB's investigations would look at "fatigue management", navigation practices, and weather conditions. (Reporting and additional reporting by Muvija; editing by Michael Holden, Bernadettebaum and Michael Holden)
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Farm lobby: Increase in Ukraine rail tariffs will add $3 to $6 per ton to logistic costs
The proposed increase in tariffs of Ukraine's railways monopoly Ukrzaliznytsia could increase the cost of agrarian transportation logistics by $3 to 6 per metric ton, and lead to bankruptcy for some farmers. Ukrzaliznytsia raised freight rates by 37% last year to cover significant increases in fuel, electricity, and equipment repair costs as it tried to deal with the effects from Russian attacks. Farmers and steelmakers have already expressed their opposition to price increases. The railways are essential for the export of grain, metallurgical and other products. Oleg Khomenko, the head of UCAB on Facebook, said: "If this decision is not revised then some farmers may be forced to reduce their production." He claimed that the past two years had been unprofitable for Ukrainian agricultural producers, and that a possible increase in tariffs could mean higher production costs as the majority of Ukrainian grain is shipped through the Odesa port region. (Reporting and editing by Tomaszjanowski, with Pavel Polityuk)
Italy, Saudi Arabia ink strategic collaboration deals worth $10 billion
Italy signed contracts worth around $10 billion with Saudi Arabia as part of an enhanced strategic partnership, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday after fulfilling Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Amongst the offers, Italy's credit export company SACE stated it would offer loan warranties worth 3 billion dollars for Saudi Arabia's NEOM real estate task. The offer had already been reported on in November.
NEOM, a Red Sea city and industrial advancement nearly the size of Belgium that is because of house roughly 9 million people, is main to bin Salman's Vision 2030 plan to develop new sources of economic development beyond oil.
There is enormous potential in our cooperation and my desire is that this check out can open an entirely brand-new stage in our partnership, Meloni said following her talks with the de facto Saudi ruler in the Saudi sanctuary city of Al-Ula.
This is what the joint statement we signed today anticipates. It states that our 2 countries can expand their horizons and explore many brand-new opportunities together.
She cited facilities, energy, defence, sport, home entertainment and tourist as locations where bilateral cooperation might become stronger, more reliable and much deeper.
SACE also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). with Saudi Electrical power Company to supply credit. guarantees for green tasks along with engineering,. procurement and construction activities.
Italian gas grid operator Snam signed an offer. with ACWA Power to explore collaborations and joint. financial investments on the supply of green hydrogen to Europe, while. Italian defence group Leonardo signed an MoU to boost. cooperation with Saudi partners in aerospace and defence.
Meloni and bin Salman likewise talked about a just and lasting. peace in Ukraine, combining the ceasefire in Gaza,. supporting post-war restoration efforts in Syria and helping. Lebanon, Meloni's workplace said in a statement.
Speaking on Monday from Bahrain, the next stop in her. Middle East journey, Meloni stated she backed Saudi Arabia joining. the
GCAP jet fighter programme
, currently involving Italy, Britain and Japan, adding,. however, that this would take some time.
(source: Reuters)