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Kenyan capital blocked by police on anniversary of prodemocracy demonstrations
Kenyan media and witnesses reported that police blocked major roads to Nairobi on Monday and severely restricted vehicle traffic, as Kenya prepared for protests marking the anniversary of the pro-democracy rally. Every year, activists gather on the 7th of July to commemorate the 1990 date when Daniel Arap Moi's opponents launched an attempt to turn the country into multiparty democracy. Due to the date, this protest is known as "Saba Saba", which means "seven sevens" in Kiswahili. The rally this year follows a series of mostly youth-led demonstrations that took place in June, last year. These protests initially focused on taxes but soon expanded to include issues like corruption, police brutality, and unexplained disappeared government critics. Kipchumba Mukomen, the Interior Minister, said on Sunday on his X Twitter account that the government is committed in protecting lives and property during protests. He said that "our security agencies are on alert" to deal with criminals or other elements who have ill intentions and may try to infiltrate peaceful procession to cause mayhem, destruction of property, havoc, etc. Unidentified individuals forced their way in to the Kenya Human Rights Commission offices on Sunday. They wanted to stop a planned press conference before Monday's demonstrations. Ernest Cornel who works for the commission said that at least one person was injured. A request for comment from the police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga was not responded to immediately. Witnesses reported that most schools, and at least one mall remained shut on Monday. Witnesses said that the death of Albert Ojwang in police custody, a blogger and teacher, in June, gave new impetus for protests. The government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported 19 deaths in Kenya during demonstrations in the last month. Six people, including three officers of the police, were charged with murder in connection with Ojwang's demise. All six people pleaded innocent. (Reporting and editing by Ammu Kanampilly, Sharon Singleton, Edwin Okoth; Reporting by George Obulutsa)
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South Korean car manufacturers seek to reduce US port fees for vehicle carriers
South Korea's auto industry and its association asked for relief on Monday from the U.S. plan that would levy port charges on all foreign-built vehicles carriers. They said it would be a burden on an automobile industry which has made large investments in the United States. The U.S. trade representative announced the fees on 17 April as part of a continuing effort to penalise certain China-linked vessels calling at U.S. port with fees in order to fund a domestic vessel building revival and counter China’s dominance on high seas. These fees are not just aimed at Chinese-owned and Chinese-built ships, but have a wide impact on the entire vehicle carrier industry. According to comments made to the USTR, the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association represents Hyundai Motors, Kia, and the South Korean subsidiaries of General Motors, and Renault. It also expressed concern that the fees imposed "additional burdens" on automobiles imported that already face 25% tariffs. Separate comments from the South Korean trade ministry and maritime minister stated that "such a measure could impose undue costs to companies, workers and customers in both countries." The association also highlighted Hyundai Motor Group’s $21 billion investment plans announced by its chairman at the White House and U.S. president Donald Trump in March. It said that the rule "may adversely affect the contributions made by Korean firms to U.S. trade." Reporting by Hyunjoo Ji Editing by Ed Davies
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Russian President Vladimir Putin dismisses transport minister Starovoit
According to a decree issued by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, his transport minister was fired on Monday. Roman Starovoit had been in his position for just over a month. Starovoit was abruptly dismissed without explanation. After almost five years of serving as the governor of Russia's west Kursk region, he was appointed Transport Minister in May 2024. Few months after leaving this role, Ukrainian forces spilled across the border to Kursk when Kyiv launched their The biggest incursion Since the beginning of the war, in 2022. Vitaly Savelyev was Starovoit’s predecessor in the role of transport minister. He became deputy prime minister. Vedomosti newspaper reported that Starovoit could be replaced by his deputy minister Andrei Nikitin. Nikitin was previously the governor of Novgorod Region. Starovoit was a regional governor before he became a federal road agency Rosavtodor. He led the Rosavtodor in Russia for six years. (Reporting and writing by Gleb Stlyarov and Anastasia Teterevleva, with editing by Andrew Osborn.)
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INDIA RUPEE - Rupee is weighed down by weak Asia forex, interbank dollar offers
On Monday, the Indian rupee fell in line with its regional counterparts due to uncertainty over U.S. Tariff policies. The rupee was also under pressure from dollar bids by a large private bank in India and a few foreign lenders. It fell 0.4%, to 85.72 US dollars at 10:25 am IST. A trader from a Mumbai bank stated that the price movement appears to be "flow driven". India's benchmark equity indices, the BSE Sensex, and Nifty 50 were both down by 0.1%. This was due to losses in regional equities sparked off by confusion about U.S. tariff policy. Donald Trump, President of the United States, said that the United States will be finalising several trade deals in the next few days and will notify the other countries about higher tariff rates before July 9. The higher rates are expected to come into effect by August 1. Trump threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on countries that align themselves with the BRICS group's "Anti-American Policies" - a group of developing nation leaders who kicked off a large summit in Brazil Sunday. Trump didn't elaborate or clarify the "anti-American policies" comment. India is one of the founding members in the BRICS and it was not immediately clear if this tariff threat would affect the ongoing trade negotiations between the U.S. and India. Amit Pabari of FX advisory firm CR Forex said that there is a very high likelihood that the rupee will fall below 86-86.20 in the near term. The dollar index rose 0.1%, to 97.1. Asian currencies fell by 0.1%, or 0.5%. (Reporting and editing by Jaspreet K. Kalra.
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Official: Indonesia's top negotiator will visit the U.S. Monday, ahead of the tariff deadline.
An official confirmed that Indonesia's senior economist Airlangga Hartarto will be visiting the United States Monday. She is the main negotiator for the country in the U.S. Tariff talks. Airlangga, who is in Brazil with President Prabowo for the BRICS Conference, is then scheduled to travel to the United States to supervise tariff negotiations before the deadline of July 9, said Haryo LImanseto, a spokesperson for the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs. Jakarta offered to reduce duties on U.S. goods to almost zero. For smoother tariff talks, Jakarta has also offered U.S. investments in its essential minerals and offered more U.S. goods. Indofood Director Franciscus Welirang said on Monday that a $34 billion deal was expected to be announced on Monday between Indonesian companies, including the state carrier Garuda, and U.S. counterparts. However, the exact date and time have not been revealed. Indofood and other members of Indonesia’s wheat flour mills' association have agreed on a purchase of 2 million tons U.S. Wheat worth $500 million. According to U.S. trade representative, the United States will be Indonesia's second-largest export market, after China. The value of goods exported to the United States by 2024 is expected to reach $28.1 billion. Last year, the Southeast Asian nation had a goods trade surplus of $17.9billion with the United States. Sri Mulyani indrawati, Indonesia's Finance Minister, warned that U.S. Tariffs could reduce Indonesian growth potential by 0.3-0.5 percentage points. Indonesia's GDP forecast for 2025 has been revised downwards from an earlier target of 5,2% to a range between 4,7% and 5.0%. (Reporting and editing by Martin Petty, David Stanway, and Stefanno Sulaiman)
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Star Entertainment extends threatened casino deal by last-minute
Star Entertainment Australia said that it had managed to secure a last minute reprieve from Hong Kong Investors who had threatened their Queen's Wharf Casino deal. Both sides agreed to extend the talks beyond an looming deadline of five days. Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, Far East Consortium and each of them holding 25% in the project had sent a termination letter last Monday. They threatened to cancel their agreement to purchase Star's 50% remaining stake if certain conditions weren't met within five working days. Star reported that the Hong Kong firms had agreed on Monday morning "a set principles whereby there will be some departures from the head of agreement", extending the deadline for termination to 31 July to allow the parties to finalise the long-form documents. As of 0024 GMT the shares in Star had fallen as much as 3.85%, to A$0.125. The broader benchmark was largely unchanged. Far East Consortium said in a separate press release that discussions during the past week were centered on "issues primarily relating to an orderly transition of management of Queen's Wharf Project, to provide certainty to JV partners and relevant stakeholders to facilitate the exit of The Star equity and management from the project." Star may face financial penalties in the event of a deal's collapse. The casino operator will have to repay A$10m ($6.55m) that it received from its Hong Kong partners in 30 days and reimburse their equity contributions for the new Queen's Wharf Casino and Hotel complex, which opened on March 31, 2015. Star's shareholders backed, in late June, a A$300m bailout package to keep the struggling casino operator on its feet. Bally's Corp, a U.S. gaming firm, is leading the rescue effort in collaboration with the Mathieson Family, Star's largest existing investor. Reporting and editing by Rashmi aich in Bengaluru.
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Israel says it has attacked three Yemeni ports, including a power plant and port.
Israel's military announced early Monday that it had attacked Houthi targets at three Yemeni ports, as well as a power station. This was the first Israeli strike on Yemen for almost a whole month. The military said that the strikes on Hodeidah and other ports such as Ras Isa, Salif, and Ras Qantib were a result of repeated Houthi attacks against Israel. Israel also destroyed the Galaxy Leader in Ras Isa, a ship that was captured by Houthis at the end of 2023. The military reported that "the Houthi terrorists regime's forces have installed a Radar system on the vessel and are using it in order to track vessels within international maritime space in order to promote their activities", Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-run channel, reported that Israel had launched a series strikes on Hodeidah shortly after Israel's military issued an evacuation alert for the three Yemeni port cities. The attack comes just hours after a ship off the port city of Hodeidah on the Red Sea was attacked and its crew fled as the vessel began to take in water. Ambrey, a security firm, said that the vessel matched the profile of a typical Houthi target. The Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, have been firing at Israel since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023. They also fired at ships in the Red Sea to disrupt global trade. The majority of missiles and drones that were fired at Israel either fell short or were intercepted. Israel has launched a series retaliatory attacks. Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, Yomna and Menna Alaa El Din and Yomna and Menna Ehab; writing and editing by Lisa Shumaker and Diane Craft
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Carney: New oil pipeline proposal for Canada highly likely
In an interview with the Calgary Herald published on Sunday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that a new oil pipeline along the coast of British Columbia is likely to make the list of projects considered to be of national significance by the Canadian government. Carney stated in an interview on Saturday that "given the size of the economic opportunity and the resources, expertise, and knowledge we have that it's highly, highly probable that we will be proposing a pipeline as one of these national-interest projects." The Prime Minister said it was up to the private industry to come up with the idea, and not a government "top-down" approach, where they say "we want that, we want this." Carney, who attended the annual Calgary Stampede in Calgary, said he also supported a proposed C$16.5 Billion ($12.14 Billion) carbon capture system to be built for Alberta's Oil Sands. Carney's remarks come just weeks after the Canadian Senate passed a law to expedite approval of natural resource and infrastructure project. The bill expedites approval of projects of national importance, including oil pipelines and mines. It also eliminates certain trade barriers between provinces. Canada is the fourth largest oil producer in the world. Canada has put oil and gas projects on its list as it tries to reduce its economic dependency on the United States. It sends 75% of all exports there.
After robotaxi failure, GM software bet turns to chauffeur support
General Motors is charting a technological future concentrated on its Super Cruise chauffeur help technology, similar to Tesla's. Auto-pilot, with the expectation of bringing in billions of. dollars in income. GM's push on handsoff driving system Super Cruise comes as the. automaker exits its multibilliondollarlosing robotaxi. company Cruise, which focused on selfdriving vehicles hailed. by an app. GM projection on Tuesday that Super Cruise would bring in about $2. billion in total yearly income within 5 years, aiding in its. efforts to be understood like Tesla for innovation as much as it is. for cars.
The earnings from Super Cruise is much higher-margin than. making lorries and would lead the way for customer. approval of entirely self-driving automobiles, stated Morningstar. expert David Whiston.
Super Cruise is conceptually similar to Tesla's Autopilot. in that they both offer partly automated driving innovation.
The difference is Super Cruise utilizes a more robust noticing. system than Auto-pilot to make sure the chauffeur stays mindful to. the roadway, according to Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market. research for Telemetry Insights.
Super Cruise is offered on about 20 more recent higher-end. fuel and electric automobile models, consisting of many Cadillacs. and big SUVs.
It is standard on some lorries and optional on others. For. the optional cars, customers can access the technology for. $ 2,200 to $2,500. Super Cruise is complimentary for three years and after that. consumers are offered a subscription at $25 a month or $250 a. year.
GM's push into the innovation has yet to bring Tesla-like. benefits to its stock assessment.
The Elon Musk-run electric lorry maker's stock is trading. around 120 times expected incomes, reflecting an understanding of. it as a high-growth tech company, according to LSEG data. By. comparison, GM is valued at around 5 times its earnings. Investors are also concerned about the impact of the Trump. administration's proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico on GM,. which sent shares down 8.9% after its outcomes on Tuesday and a. even more 0.5% on Wednesday.
However driver support technology remains a promising development. area, GM CEO Mary Barra said on Tuesday, with the automaker. anticipating to double the about 360,000 cars in the Super. Cruise fleet in 2025. In 2024, about 20% of approximately 18,000 users signed up for a Super. Cruise subscription after the complimentary membership ended,. Barra said. Another 33,000 automobiles will end a three-year trial. duration in 2025 and GM is targeting to more than double. subscription profits, she added.
There are hardware costs related to Super Cruise,. consisting of video cameras, radar and the motorist attention system.
Nevertheless, software tends to be extremely profitable, Edward. Jones analyst Jeff Windau said. In addition, if it is a. feature the clients worth, you might see a high renewal rate.
(source: Reuters)