Latest News
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China Eastern to debut C919 on Shanghai-Hong Kong route in January
China Eastern Airlines will launch the first commercial crossborder service operated by C919 between Shanghai and Hong Kong on January 1, stateowned China Central Tv (CCTV) stated on Thursday. Currently, the 3 big state-owned airline companies in China all operate the C919, the narrow-body jet locally developed by the Commercial Airplane Corporation of China (COMAC), but they just fly within mainland China. The brand-new service, a daily return flight, comes as China looks for to protect the first worldwide client for the C919, a jet with the potential to equal the Boeing 737 MAX and Plane A320neo. China Eastern, the very first to launch the C919, commands a. fleet of 9 C919s that service various domestic paths. The addition of Hong Kong - a special administrative area. of China with its own air travel regulative system - as a. destination will broaden China Eastern's network to nine cities. COMAC has been focusing on its global growth,. opening an office in Hong Kong in October, following the. establishment of its Asia-Pacific office in Singapore. COMAC has. said that the Hong Kong workplace is a crucial element of its. global technique. The aircraft maker is seeking to acquire. accreditations for the C919 from the European Union and has. revealed hopes to attain it by 2025.
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Wall Street Journal - Dec 26
The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has actually not verified these stories and does not guarantee their accuracy. - Signify, previously known as Philips Lighting, has actually been bought by a German court to remember items apparently infringing on patents of South Korea's Seoul Semiconductor for more than 7 years. - Chinese consumer-electronics expert Xiaomi will sign up with the electric-vehicle charging networks of competitors NIO , XPeng and Li Automobile, giving its customers access to 10s of countless charging stations in China. - Taiwan has actually blocked Uber Technologies' planned $ 950 million takeover of Foodpanda's regional shipment organization on anti-competition concerns. - A number of Japan Airlines flights were postponed following a cyberattack, the provider stated, adding that both domestic and global flights were impacted and that two dozen domestic flights were delayed by half an hour or more as of 0200 GMT.
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China's first batch of 2025 fuel export quota flat vs a year earlier
China has issued 19 million metric lots of export quotas for fuel, diesel and aviation fuel under the batch of allowances for 2025, a level that is consistent versus a year previously, several traders and a. Chinese market consultancy said on Wednesday. China manages its refined oil exports via a rigorous quota. system, using exports as a tool to balance and make sure the. domestic market is sufficiently provided. State-owned oil firms Sinopec and CNPC, the essential receivers of. these quotas, were provided a combined 13.34-million-ton. allowances, or 70% out of the 19 million lots, according to. traders and consultancy JLC. On the other hand, personal refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp was. awarded 1.67 million tons of export quotas in this batch. Independently, China has likewise launched 8 million tons of. low-sulfur marine fuel export quotas for the very first problem of. 2025, likewise flat compared with a year ago, traders and JLC said. Of the total, around 90% were allotted to Sinopec and CNPC. For the first 11 months of 2024, China's exports of refined. oil items - consisting of primarily gas, diesel, aviation fuel. and marine bunker - totalled 54.4 million lots, down 6.3% versus. the matching period of 2023.
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Japan Airlines struck by cyberattack, causing some delays to its flights
Japan Airlines (JAL). stated on Thursday it was hit by a cyberattack that caused delays. to some domestic and global flights. The attack started at 7:24 a.m. (2224 GMT) and affected the. business's internal and external systems, JAL said. The company. stated it momentarily closed down a router that was triggering system. breakdowns and also suspended ticket sales for flights. departing on Thursday. ANA Holdings, Japan's other significant air carrier, saw. no signs of an attack on its systems, a representative stated. Earlier this week, American Airlines briefly. grounded all flights for an hour, disrupting travel for. thousands on Christmas Eve, due to a technical glitch including. its network hardware.
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Dead body discovered in wheel well after United flight lands in Hawaii
A dead body was discovered in the wheel well of a United Airlines jetliner after the aircraft landed in the Hawaiian island of Maui, the airline company said on Wednesday. The body was found in the among the compartments that homes the plane's landing gear when United Flight 202 from Chicago O'Hare International Airport landed at Kahului Airport on Tuesday afternoon, according to the airline company's site. No even more information about the departed person were supplied. The wheel well was just accessible from outside of the airplane. At this time, it is not clear how or when the person accessed the wheel well, it said. United stated it was dealing with authorities on the investigation. The Federal Aviation Administration did not right away respond to a request for remark. Stowaways in the unpressurized wheel-houses and cargo holds of airplanes can face temperature levels of in between minus 50 degrees and minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 58 and minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit), in addition to a lack of oxygen. While the casualty rate for most wheel-well stowaways is high, some people have actually made it through the ordeal. A person was discovered alive in the undercarriage bay of an Algerian carrier's aircraft in Paris in 2015. In January 2022, a stowaway was discovered alive in the wheel section under the front of a Cargolux freight plane that arrived at Amsterdam's. Schiphol Airport from Africa.
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Finland authorities investigate function of foreign ship after power cable television outage
Finnish police said on Thursday they are examining whether a foreign ship was involved in the damage of an undersea power cable television linking Finland and Estonia following an abrupt blackout on Wednesday. Baltic Sea countries are on high alert for potential acts of sabotage following a string of outages of power cable televisions, telecom links and gas pipelines given that 2022, although subsea equipment is also based on technical malfunction and mishaps. The 658 megawatt (MW) Estlink 2 power interconnector remains offline following the outage that began at midday local time on Wednesday, leaving only the 358 MW Estlink 1 in operation in between the 2 nations, operator Fingrid stated. The cops, in cooperation with the Border Guard and other authorities, are examining the chain of events of the incident, Finnish police said in a declaration. Investigators were probing the potential role of a foreign ship, cops stated without calling the vessel. Authorities in Sweden are on the other hand leading an investigation into the breach last month of two Baltic Sea telecom cables, in an incident German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has actually stated he assumed was caused by sabotage. Separately, Finnish police continue to examine damage caused last year to the Balticconnector gas pipeline linking Finland and Estonia, along with several telecoms cable televisions, and have said this was most likely brought on by a ship dragging its anchor. In 2022 the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream gas pipelines running along the seabed in the very same waters were blown up, in a. case still under examination by Germany.
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New York taxi jumps walkway outside Macy's on Christmas Day, injuring 7
Seven people were injured in New York City on Christmas Day when a taxi jumped a pathway and hit pedestrians outside a Macy's outlet store after the cab driver suffered a medical episode, authorities said on Wednesday. The occurrence happened in Midtown Manhattan near Macy's. flagship store in Herald Square near the corner of West 34th. Street and Avenue of the Americas, or Sixth Avenue. The store,. with its elaborately embellished display windows, is a magnet for. tourists and native Brand-new Yorkers around the holidays. In addition to the 58-year-old taxi driver, the injured. consisted of a 9-year-old young boy, two females aged 49 and four other. women aged 19, 37 and 41, cops added. One 49-year-old woman with a leg injury, the 9-year-old young boy. who suffered a cut and the 41-year-old lady who sustained an. injury to her head were taken to medical facility, authorities stated. The remaining 3 pedestrians declined medical attention,. according to cops, which added that all injuries were. non-life-threatening. Media pictures of the taxi revealed a heavily broken car. with broken parts and damages all over it.
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More than 200,000 homes without power in Bosnia after Balkan snowstorm
More than 200,000 homes across Bosnia and Herzegovina were without electrical power for a. 2nd day on Wednesday, authorities stated, after a snowstorm the. day before triggered widespread disturbance throughout numerous Balkan. countries. Primarily in northwestern and central Bosnia, towns and. towns suffered continuous power outages, the nation's 2 power. energies stated. The snowfall had actually stopped on Wednesday, when the Catholic. population was commemorating Christmas, however lots of roadways stayed. blocked, cutting off access to towns and towns. Our teams are on website all the time, doing everything in. their power, Jelena Markovic, representative for the. Elektroprenos BiH distribution company, said. Many transmission. lines were in inaccessible locations, she stated. In neighbouring Croatia, emergency situation teams stated they rescued. 48 individuals who had actually been buried in the snow in the central Lika. area. In Slovenia, authorities stated strong winds and snow made it. impossible for a rescue helicopter to reach a Hungarian hiker. who has been stranded in the Alps given that Sunday. As many as 10,000 homes were also without electrical energy for. much of Wednesday in western Serbia, the Tanjug news company. priced estimate Ivan Spajic, the head of the department for emergency situations. in the town of Sabac as saying, although the issue was mostly. restored by late in the day.
France's political problems may activate fresh Europe energy crisis: Maguire
The collapse of France's government on Wednesday could have farreaching repercussions for Europe's energy markets and send local electricity expenses skyrocketing.
France is by far the largest electrical power exporter in Europe, representing roughly 60% of net electrical energy exports up until now in 2024, according to energy data service energy-charts. info.
Record French electricity exports this year have supplied neighbours with important supplies of cheap and clean power while the area remains hobbled by high energy costs, weak economic development and political disarray.
However France's own political turmoil now casts doubt on whether the nation can sustain its high levels of electrical power output and exports.
BUDGET BUSTING
French energy EDF is closely entangled in the nation's. political system, as the company was taken control of by the. federal government in 2022 after racking financial obligations of approximately $10 billion.
EDF runs the country's nuclear power fleet, which provides. around 70% of France's electrical energy, therefore is viewed as of. critical nationwide value.
Nevertheless, the business's massive financial obligation pile has actually just added to. the government's own growing financial obligation obligations, a major element. behind the government's collapse.
As a state-owned entity, EDF can access capital at. preferential rates, and simply last month the federal government was. planning to make interest-free loans to EDF to cover the. building expense of brand-new reactors.
Nevertheless, the energy sector is also searched as a capacity. source of federal government funds, and outbound Prime Minister Michel. Barnier had to desert propositions for new taxes on electrical energy. products simply days before being ousted.
The resulting power vacuum now clouds the outlook for the. entire energy generation and distribution sector, as EDF still. requirements regular and considerable investments just to keep the. nation's aging nuclear fleet and power grids.
RECORD EXPORTS NOW IN JEOPARDY
The fairly low cost of French nuclear generation has. allowed the country to enjoy dramatically lower power prices than its. neighbours, and the ways to export surplus electricity into. interconnected markets.
Up until now in 2024, France's wholesale power costs have. balanced around 25% less than those of Germany and The. Netherlands, and 45% less than Italy's, according to LSEG.
That expense differential has actually inspired French power traders to. export surplus supplies at a neat earnings.
Nevertheless, any forced cuts to France's power generation tied. to spending plan tussles might rapidly curtail electrical power exports.
And no other country can changing France's. electrical energy supplies at such low expense.
Over the very first eleven months of 2024, France exported almost. 84 terawatt hours (TWh) of electrical power to neighbouring countries,. according to energy-charts. information.
That export tally was 85% more than throughout the exact same duration. in 2023, and the highest for that period on records returning. to 2015.
The country's mammoth nuclear fleet - the largest in Europe. - has actually been the essential driver of those exports, with nuclear-powered. generation climbing by around 12% from 2023's levels to. three-year highs in 2024, according to LSEG.
A 31% dive in hydro power output to the greatest in over a. decade has likewise helped fuel French generation and exports.
However, both nuclear and hydro production are currently. approaching the upper limits of historical output levels, and so. are at risk of decrease throughout any drawn-out political impasse. or due to funding cuts.
GRIDLOCKED
Germany and Italy are 2 of Europe's largest electrical power. importers, and will be particularly affected by any loss of. French power circulations.
Both nations have big natural gas-fired power plant. networks that have actually been struck hard by the drop in Russian gas. materials considering that 2022.
And Germany and Italy have actually stepped up imports of melted. natural gas (LNG) in recent years in an effort to restore. domestic energy production.
However the dramatically higher expense of LNG compared to pipelined. supplies has actually indicated that markets reliant on gas for power or. as a feedstock have actually seen expenses balloon.
Those rising costs have actually driven an acceleration in the. electrification of energy intake, and a surge in. electrical power imports by almost all European countries.
So far, France has actually been able to provide most of that required. electricity, and helped keep local electricity expenses in. check.
But if France's power system loses steam as a result of the. impending political skirmish, electricity importers may be faced. with a drop in offered supplies and surging power costs that. could spark a fresh regional energy crisis.
The opinions revealed here are those of the author, a market. analyst .
(source: Reuters)