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Wall Street Journal, January 14, 2019
These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. ? The accuracy of these stories has not been verified by the site. Saks Global, a high-end department store conglomerate, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday night in what was one of the biggest retail collapses since pandemic. The Trump administration gave the formal green light on Tuesday to China-bound sales of Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI chip. They put in place a rule which will likely start shipments of?H200, despite concerns from China hawks?in Washington. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, defended the Federal Reserve on Tuesday after it was subpoenaed to appear by the Justice Department. Dimon said that "anything" that undermines the independence of the central bank "is not a good thing." Netflix is planning to make a cash-only?offer on Warner Bros Discovery’s streaming and studio businesses. The U.S. government will invest $1 billion in the growing rocket motor business of L3Harris Technologies, ensuring a steady supply of?motors for a wide range missiles such as Tomahawks?and Patriot interceptors. The U.S. government will invest $1 Billion in L3Harris Technologies, a growing rocket motor company. This investment will ensure a steady supply of motors that are needed for many missiles including Tomahawks and Patriot interceptors. Diana Shipping has said that Genco Shipping & Trading's board rejected its bid to acquire the company without engaging with it.
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In Thailand, crane accident kills 19 and injures 80 after it falls onto a train
Police said that a train derailed on Wednesday in northeastern Thailand after a crane fell?on to three of its carriages. At least 19 people were killed and about 80 injured. The accident occurred on Wednesday morning, in the Sikhio District of Nakhon Ratchasima Province, 230 kilometers (143 miles), northeast of Bangkok. It happened on a train from the capital heading for Ubon Ratchathani. The local police informed? Local police told? The team backed off for safety reasons after discovering that 19 bodies had been recovered. However, there were still some bodies inside the train carriages, which could not be removed because the crane began to move. In a press release, Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said that there were 195 people on board. He also ordered an extensive investigation. He said that the victims were found in two of three carriages struck by the crane. The crane collapsed while working on a high speed rail project, and struck a passing train. This caused it to derail?and briefly catch blaze. The ministry shared images of carriages overturned near shrubland, and firefighters extinguishing an blaze while smoke billowed out. The elevated high-speed railway line is one of many under construction in Thailand. It was built above the existing rail track.
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US warns of urgent safety after two fatal crashes involving airbags
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued an urgent alert to used car owners, buyers and repair shops on Tuesday after two more drivers died in crashes caused by unsafe Chinese airbag inflators which were likely illegally imported. Auto safety agency reported that it knew of 10 accidents involving ruptured replacement inflators manufactured in China by Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System Co. Ltd. (also known as DTN) and likely illegally imported to the United States. NHTSA reported that eight drivers were killed in otherwise avoidable accidents, and two others suffered serious injuries after their original airbags had been replaced by substandard ones. NHTSA stated that the airbag inflators?DTN malfunctioned during crashes, "sending large metallic fragments into driver's chests, necks and eyes." NHTSA opened an investigation in October into DTN replacement airbags following?eight crashes resulting in six deaths. NHTSA has partnered with law enforcement agencies in order to investigate any illegal activities related to the importation of DTN replacement inflators. NHTSA could not confirm that the risks are limited to these models or makes, but all of the replacement airbags in fatal crashes were installed on used Chevrolet Malibu and Hyundai Sonata cars. Hyundai Motor expressed concern over reports that counterfeit airbag inflators were installed as replacement parts on three older Sonata cars. Hyundai said that these 'dangerous' components were not authorized or supplied by the company and were installed on vehicles with salvaged titles or rebuilt titles. "Protecting customers is our number one priority. We 'fully support NHTSA in its ongoing efforts to identify counterfeit inflators." General Motors, the maker of Chevrolets, declined to comment. DTN likewise did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison stated that the agency is focused on the industry and the consumers. The agency issued an alert to auto repair industries to be on the lookout and to notify NHTSA as soon as they have any information regarding these inflators. As DTN acknowledged on its site, inflators were prohibited in the United States. NHTSA stated that whoever is bringing these inflators into the country and installing then is putting American family members at risk. If you are buying a used vehicle that was involved in an accident where the airbag deployed, inspect it immediately to make sure the replacement air bag is equivalent to the original. (Reporting and editing by Franklin Paul, Nick Zieminski, and David Shepardson from Washington)
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Officials say that a drone attack in Ukraine has ignited an industrial fire in Rostov-on Don, Russia.
Regional officials reported on Wednesday that a Ukrainian drone attack on Rostov-on-Don overnight resulted in?two fires, four injuries and damage to apartment buildings. Yuri Slyusar is the governor of Russia's Rostov Region. He said that four people were injured, including a child aged four, when debris from?fallen drones damaged their apartment. Rostov-on Don is the administrative centre of Rostov Region. Slyusar, a Telegram user, said that all the injured were hospitalized. He refused to say which industrial facility was on fire, but said that one of the blazes had been extinguished and the other contained by Wednesday morning. Aleksandr Skryabin said that temporary housing was provided for families displaced from damaged apartments. It was not possible to determine the full impact of this attack immediately. Ukraine has not commented on the attack. Ukraine used drones against targets in Russia. They claim that such attacks are meant to weaken Moscow's energy and military infrastructure, and to respond to Russia's ongoing strikes on Ukrainian cities. The war Moscow was launched nearly four years ago. Rostov on Don, a major transport and logistic hub near Ukraine, is home to key military headquarters, and it's also a centre of operations for Moscow. Drones are increasingly targeting this area. (Reporting and editing by Tom Hogue in Melbourne, and Thomas Derpinghaus.)
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US withdraws appeal of order blocking Trump's plan to tie state transport funds to immigration enforcement
The U.S. Justice Department asked on Tuesday a federal appeals?court to dismiss its appeal against a lower court order that blocked President Donald Trump from requiring 20?Democratic?states?to cooperate with immigration enforcement in order to receive billions of dollar's worth of grant funding for transportation. A U.S. Judge in Rhode Island decided that the U.S. Department of Transportation did not have the authority to force the states to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for transportation funding and that the condition was against the U.S. Constitution. California Attorney General Rob Bonta led the legal challenge which included also the District of Columbia. He said that the "Trump Administration tried to use vital transportation funds as a 'bargaining chip' for its political agenda." He pointed out that California receives billions in federal funding for transportation every year. Bonta said he was "pleased" that the Trump Administration had accepted defeat and dropped its appeal. California "is not playing around when it comes vital transportation dollars which support our public infrastructure and we will continue to take the President to court every time he uses federal funding to bully communities." Last year, the judge found that USDOT did not provide any plausible link between cooperating with immigration and the purposes Congress intended for funding highways, bridges, and other transportation projects. USDOT declined to comment immediately on Tuesday. USDOT withheld $160 million from California last week for failing to cancel 17,000 commercial driver's licences issued by non-U.S. nationals. California has said that it fully complies with federal and state regulations. A spokesperson for the state said this. They also strongly disagree with the decision of the 'federal government to withhold funding vital for transportation in California. California filed a lawsuit against USDOT last month for withholding federal funding of more than $33 million dollars because USDOT claimed that the state had not met rules requiring English language proficiency for truckers. California dropped its separate lawsuit in December, which it filed in response to USDOT's revocation of $4 billion in funding for high-speed rail. (Reporting and editing by Tom Hogue, Christopher Cushing, and David Shepardson from Washington)
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Claudette Colvin, a pioneer in civil rights for the United States, has died at 86.
Claudette Colvin died at the age of 86. She was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama at 15 years old for refusing to surrender her seat on a bus to a 'white woman.' This happened nine months before Rosa Parks committed a similar, but arguably more famous act of defiance. Colvin was a relatively unknown figure in the civil right movement, but her act of rebellion in 1955 inspired Parks and other activists and formed the basis of the federal lawsuit which outlawed segregation on U.S. public transport. Ashley Roseboro confirmed her death in hospice care, Texas, as a spokesperson for the Claudette Colvin Foundation and her family. In one of the earliest publicized acts against Jim Crow laws governing city bus seats by race in Montgomery,?Colvin refused her seat to a white woman as ordered by the bus driver and remained seated until she was dragged from the bus by police. Colvin, in her court testimony, recalled that she studied anti-slavery abolitionists in school and felt she had Harriet Tubman on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth the other. "History had me glued on the seat," she said. Parks, a?seamstress older than Parks who was the secretary of the local NAACP, was seen by many as a dignified and sympathetic figure. She was viewed as the ideal person to rally around as civil rights leaders planned what would become the year-long boycott of buses that propelled the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was thrust onto the national stage. Roseboro says that in the months leading up to the boycott which began in December 1955, civil rights leaders were concerned about the "colorism" of Colvin, who was from a lower class background and had lighter skin than Parks. They also feared the teenager would be a bad representative for the movement. Around a year after being arrested, she became pregnant from a man she had met in an encounter she described later as statutory rape. Colvin was one of the plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, a lawsuit that challenged the Jim Crow policies on city buses. The case led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1956 that declared segregation on public transportation unconstitutional. Colvin lived in obscurity for many decades, as she worked as a nurse's assistant and caregiver, and struggled as a single mother. However, historians have brought to light her pivotal role in the early civil right movement. Fred Gray is the lawyer behind Browder. Gayle credited Colvin for helping ignite the fight against segregation. "I'm not trying to belittle Mrs. Parks but Claudette's courage gave us all the motivation to act as we did, Gray told the Washington Post. Roseboro stated that Colvin has been able to expunge her juvenile arrest record in recent years.
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According to the military, a Russian drone attack caused power cuts in Ukraine's Kryvyi Rih.
Oleksandr vilkul, the head of the military administration, said that Russian drones had struck Kryvyi rih in central Ukraine on Wednesday, forcing power outages for over?45,000 people and disrupting heat supply. If you can, please charge your mobile devices and fill up with water. Vilkul told Telegram users that it was going to be a difficult day. The water pumping stations in the system could have pressure problems. It was not possible to determine the exact scale of 'the attack immediately. Russia has not commented on the?strike. Russia repeatedly attacked Ukraine's power plants, substations, and transmission lines with drones and missiles to disrupt electricity, heating, and industry in the four-year conflict. Kyiv claims that the campaign has caused rolling outages in cities throughout the country. Repair crews are working under fire, and Ukraine is relying on electricity imports and air defences to stabilize the grid. Kryvyi Rih is a steel and mining hub in the Dnipropetrovsk Region and home to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Strikes have repeatedly killed civilians, damaged homes and industries, and caused other damage. It is close enough to the southern frontlines to be within striking distance, and its factories, logistic links, and workforce make it a vital rear-area support centre for Ukraine's war efforts. (Reporting and editing by Stephen Coates in Melbourne, Lidia Kelly from Melbourne)
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UK commits 45 billion pounds rail project in Northern England
Britain committed Tuesday to a new rail-infrastructure programme for the North of England worth up to 60 billion pounds (45 billion pounds), a region that has been held back by a lack of investment. The government pledged that it would deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail over three phases. Then, a new rail line will run between Liverpool and Manchester via Manchester Airport. Finally, improved connections will be made between Manchester and Yorkshire. The OECD has identified outdated and insufficient transport links as a major factor in the productivity gap between British cities outside of the capital. Rail lines in the north of England, which is home to three out of the five largest metropolitan areas, are plagued with bottlenecks that date back to Victorian times. The Labour Government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which is far behind the Reform Party UK on the right in the 'opinion polls', has stated that reducing the regional?inequality? between London and the remainder of the UK, is a priority. Investment and renewal are the answer to the economic growth challenge. "We are reversing decades of chronic underinvestment" in the North, said Finance Minister Rachel Reeves. The majority of the expenditure - which is capped at 45 billion pound in constant price - will occur in 'the 2030s and '2040s. No dates will be set for the opening of the high-speed rail system. This is a lesson learned from the HS2 project, which was cut short due to soaring costs. Rishi Sunak was the Conservative Prime Minister at the time. He canceled the northern leg of the HS2 project in October 2023 because costs were soaring and infrastructure watchdogs warned that Britain had a fundamental issue with its?ability? to manage large projects. The government announced on Tuesday that it 'intended' to build a new rail line between Manchester and Birmingham, the central English city after Northern Powerhouse Rail was completed. However, it would not constitute a reintroduction of previous HS2 plans. It said that it had learned from the failures of HS2, which will now only run between London and slightly to the north of Birmingham, and open some time beyond the original 2033 target date. Reporting by Andy Bruce, Editing by Alison Williams. $1 = 0.7448 pounds
Is the US Uranium Market about to go Nuclear in 2026? Maguire
The market for uranium, the primary fuel in nuclear power plants, is becoming tighter as reactor construction increases. This is setting up a price rally for uranium this year.
Data from Canadian uranium mining company Cameco showed that U.S. spot uranium prices in 2025 ended at $82 per pound, a rise of $10 or 12 percent compared to the end 2024.
This is a far cry from the increase of over 100% that was seen in the 2025 share prices of major uranium producers and fuel suppliers, whose shares soared due to the U.S. Government's efforts to restart nuclear power production.
While equities linked to the "nuclear supply" chain are likely to continue to be popular with investors, the industry is now focusing on the state of uranium which is experiencing a growing structural deficit due to consumption exceeding production.
The uranium shortage is being exacerbated by the surge in demand for electricity due to the AI-driven boom in data centres, as well as the construction of modular reactors. This is especially true in the U.S., where the mine supply has been at historic lows over the last decade.
The U.S. mine uranium production is increasing again, but it is still only expected to be 1 million pounds in comparison to the 50 million pounds consumed annually by the U.S.
The mismatch between supply and demand is causing the U.S. price of uranium to rise, which could intensify by 2026.
While spot prices are still below $90 per pound, executives who track discussions between mine suppliers?and power?generators?have noted that long-term contracts for pricing are closer to $100.
If deals are confirmed above or at the psychologically important $100 mark - which was last consistently exceeded in 2007 – that could help spark new momentum in spot markets and establish uranium among 2026's most exciting markets.
STOCKS DRAWDOWN
In recent years, the U.S. supply deficit of uranium was filled by imports from the secondary market. This includes stockpiles at utility companies, decommissioned warheads, and material left over in enrichment plants.
The increased purchases of utilities and government agencies has now reduced those secondary supplies. In addition, restrictions on future uranium exports from a belligerent Russia (which will be prohibited in 2028) have also narrowed sources for imports.
The combination of reduced stockpiles in the local secondary market, and import restrictions has increased the focus on the spot-market and any new but uncontracted outputs from uranium mining.
Investors' increased uranium purchase is further tightening the supply imbalance, and they are another driver of positive market sentiment.
The Sprott Physical Uranium Trust's (SPUT) holdings of uranium, the largest fund in the world that stocks physical uranium, increased by 9 millions pounds to reach a record high of 72.5 million pounds by 2025.
Investor holdings of nuclear fuel, which is needed to power the sector, are expected to grow as the fleet grows and more reactors start up. This will give prices a boost.
Record Nuclear Generation
The world's output of nuclear electricity is likely to reach a record by 2025 after several major nuclear power plants reached all-time highs or multi-year peaks.
Data from the energy think tank Ember revealed that nuclear-powered electricity supply in China, India South Korea and France will all rise to their highest levels for at least five year in 2025.
The nuclear power industry in Japan has recovered after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. It is expected to continue growing in 2026 when the world's biggest reactor will be restarted in Niigata Prefecture.
In 2026, new nuclear reactors will also be operational in China, India Turkey and the United States, which will help to boost total nuclear power production to new record highs.
Power Pipeline
Europe is home to the majority of nuclear power reactors in the world, with 39% located there.
Global Energy Monitor data shows that Europe has a nuclear power generation capacity of around 157,000 megawatts.
Asia has the second largest nuclear footprint, with 120,000 MW. North America follows closely behind at 117,000 MW.
The nuclear pipeline is dominated by Asia, with 82,000 MW reactors being built globally, but 66,000 MW in Asia.
Asia is also home to two-thirds (or 67%) of all nuclear power plants that are in pre-construction. This means the sites have already been chosen and permits obtained, but crews still haven't broken ground.
GEM data shows that 107,000 MW of power is in the pre-construction stage around the world. This includes 60,000 MW Asia, 36,000 in Europe, 8,0 MW North America, and 4,000 in Africa.
Asia will become the main nuclear power hub in the world once the plants under construction or in pre-construction have been completed. This batch has around 246,000 MW out of the total 590,000MW nuclear power generation capacity.
China is the leader in the nuclear sector with a capacity of around 65,000 megawatts, followed by India at 32,000 megawatts.
Around 8,000 MW in the United States are in development. This would, when completed, represent a roughly 7 % increase in installed nuclear capacity.
It is possible that, due to the aggressive policies being implemented in the U.S. Nuclear Sector, additional capacity plans may be developed in the future.
This will in turn tighten up the country's supply of uranium and keep the price of uranium prone to surges for the foreseeable. These are the opinions of the columnist, who is also an author.
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(source: Reuters)