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UN warns that the Iran crisis is hampering humanitarian aid as costs for supply chains soar.
The cost of sending aid to Sudan, which has the largest number of refugees in the world, has more than doubled because of the Iran war. Shipping disruptions have increased costs and delayed the delivery of the relief. The agency stated that the insecurity surrounding key Gulf shipping routes including the Strait of Hormuz as well as congestion in ports, higher fuel prices, and increased insurance premiums all hindered the delivery of humanitarian aid, especially in Africa. UNHCR spokesperson Carlotta Wolf told reporters in Geneva that ships delivering aid from Dubai are now being replaced with vessels from Europe, which travel around Cape of Good Hope. This could add up to 25 days to the delivery time, she said. She said that "people in desperate need are receiving items that are not ready when they are needed." Wolf stated that transport costs for moving relief items from Dubai into Sudan and neighbouring Chad have more than doubled from $927,000 up to $1.87million. According to the U.N., the humanitarian crisis caused by war in Sudan is the largest of all times. AN INCREASED RELIANCE ON OVERLAND ROUTES UNHCR's Dubai hub is home to the largest global stockpile for relief items. The stockpile is one of seven around the globe, including those in Copenhagen, Nairobi Douala Accra Panama City Termez. Wolf says that in addition to the disruption of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been caused by the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, the congestion in?major port cities such as Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Mersin, Turkey, and the sharply increased war-risk insurance rates - between 0.5% and 1.5 % of the cargo value for Gulf?transits – are adding additional pressure. She added that the increased reliance on overland transport routes also contributes to truck shortages and higher transportation costs. Fuel prices in Nairobi, Kenya have increased by 15%. This has caused delays and reduced the availability of trucks to ship goods to Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan. UNHCR is facing severe funding restrictions due to global donor cuts. Its $8.5 billion appeal for 135 million refugees or displaced people only has 23% of its $8.5 billion budget funded. Wolf stated that "every dollar spent on transportation means that we are able to support fewer people or provide them with less assistance." UNHCR warned that fuel shortages and rising prices were causing food costs to rise, resulting in greater hardship for those who are most in need. Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, Editing by Aidan Lewis
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TC Energy approves a $1.5 billion expansion of Columbia Gas after profits exceed expectations
Canada's TC energy?approved a $1.5billion Columbia Gas expansion project? on Friday, after its first quarter profit barely surpassed?analysts? expectations. This was due to strong 'performance' in its 'North American 'operations. The Appalachia Project, which is expected to begin operations in 2030, will be backed by a contract for 20 years with a financially sound utility. It can move up to 0.8 billion cu ft of natural gases per day, to support the new gas-fired plants. Major pipeline 'operators' like TC Energy are doubling their efforts to meet the soaring demand for natural gas as liquefied gas export facilities grow and energy-hungry AI, cryptocurrency miners and?data centers?increase electricity consumption. The company's core adjusted profit from the U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines, its largest segment rose by about 10%, to C$1.50billion, while the earnings of its Canadian Natural Gas pipelines increased by about 3%, to C$919million, in the quarter ending March 31. The core profit of its Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines business rose 85.4%, to C$432 millions. Canadian natural gas deliveries increased by 3% to 29.7 Bcfpd in the third quarter. U.S. flows increased 5% to 32.6% bcfpd while deliveries to LNG facilities jumped 12 percent to 3.9 billion bcfpd. In March, the pipeline operator announced that it had signed agreements to advance its second phase with LNG Canada. LSEG data shows that TC Energy's adjusted earnings per share were 99 Canadian?cents (0.7294) for the three-month period ended March 31. This compares to an average analyst estimate of 98 Canadian?cents. ($1 = 1.3572 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Sumit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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After Israeli interceptions, Gaza flotilla activists are taken to Crete
The flotilla organizers reported that more than 100 pro Palestinian activists on board aid ships bound for Gaza, were taken to the Greek island Crete after?Israeli troops seized their vessel in international waters near Greece. The 'activists' were part of the?second Global Sumud flotilla launched in recent months in an effort to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza by delivering humanitarian assistance. The ships left the Spanish port Barcelona on 12 April. Organisers and video footage show that on Friday, an Israeli navy ship transferred 168 crew members from the flotilla to Greek boats. These then brought them to shore, where they were met by?buses, ambulance cars and other vehicles,' organizers stated. The organizers stated that?two activists remain with Israeli authorities. Source who requested anonymity said that while Israel had intercepted 22 boats, 47 other vessels were still sailing south of Crete. They planned to anchor at a later date before continuing on to Gaza. The source stated that each ship is carrying a ton or more of food, medical equipment and other items. Israel seized the?22 ships late Wednesday night in international waters near Greece's Peloponnese Peninsula, hundreds of miles away from Gaza. Israel's Foreign Ministry called the flotilla's organisers "professional provocationists", while Germany's and Italy's Foreign Ministries issued a statement saying that they were closely following developments with "deep concerns." In a Thursday statement, the U.S. The State Department has threatened to "impose consequences" on those who support this flotilla which they have portrayed as pro-Hamas. Pro-Palestinian activist say Israel and the U.S. mistakenly confuse their advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for Hamas terrorists. In October last year, Israel's military stopped a previous flotilla assemble?by a similar organisation and arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg along with more than 450 other participants. This was after other attempts to reach Gaza by sea. Palestinians and international aid agencies say that supplies are still not enough in Gaza, despite the ceasefire agreement reached in October which included increased aid. Gaza's two million plus residents are mostly displaced. Many live in bombed out homes, makeshift tents, and on the open ground, along roadsides or atop the remains of destroyed buildings. Israel, which controls the Gaza Strip and all its access points, denies that it is denying supplies to its residents. Reporting by TV, Renee Maltezou, and Angeliki Koutantou; writing by Ivana Skularac and Editing by William Maclean
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Oscar statuette for 'Mr. The flight carrying 'Nobody Against Putin" is missing
The Oscar trophy that belongs to Pavel Talankin - the?Russian filmmaker who won this year's best documentary for "Mr. The Oscar statuette for 'Nobody Against Putin,' which was won by the?Russian director Pavel Talankin, who won best documentary this year for 'Mr. Talankin had been scheduled to fly on Lufthansa from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Frankfurt. David Borenstein, the co-director of his film, said that Transportation Security Administration (TSA), agents informed him that the statuette was a security risk. Borenstein posted on Instagram that a TSA agent had stopped him at the airport and told him the Oscar could be a weapon. "Pavel did not have a bag in which to check in the Oscar, so the TSA placed it in a box, and sent it to the bottom the plane," said he, posting a series of pictures including one of the box. It never arrived in Frankfurt. Lufthansa responded to Borenstein's Instagram posting by saying that it takes the matter very seriously. It said: "We have escalated the situation and will do all we can to locate the Oscar as quickly as possible." Lufthansa didn't immediately reply to a request for a further comment Friday, which was a German public holiday. Talankin, who spoke to Deadline.com on arrival in?Germany Thursday morning, said that it was "completely baffling" how they considered an?Oscar a?weapon. Talankin told Deadline.com that he has flown on previous flights with the Oscar "in the cabin" and never had a problem. Talankin's and Borenstein's documentary utilised two years' worth of footage Talankin captured at a school in the?Chelyabinsk Region, Russia to demonstrate how students were exposed to anti-war messages. Talankin, a 35-year-old Russian who fled Russia 2024, defended the movie as a record to be preserved for posterity, showing how "an entire generations became angry and violent". (Reporting and editing by Kate Mayberry; Reporting by Matthias Williams)
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India's Adani Group streamlines internal structure to speed up decisions
The Indian billionaire Gautam adani's group announced on Friday that it would be undergoing an internal restructuring to speed up decision making. Adani Group's move comes at a time when investment activity is picking up in India, Asia's third largest economy, driven by heavy infrastructure expenditure and a revival of private capital expenditure. According to the plan, the company plans to introduce a?three-layer structure of organisation with fewer decision makers. The group stated that "the strategy is anchored on three pillars and supported by strong liquidity, and access to capital. This enables accelerated capex deployment and faster project implementation." The conglomerate has undergone a second restructuring since 2015. It spun off its ports business and power business into separate listed companies, Adani Power and Adani Ports. Adani also said that the group would streamline its contractor base by focusing on larger, more experienced partners to improve coordination and speed of execution, as well as provide them with easier access to finance. Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the group, reported its first quarterly loss since 17 quarters on Thursday. The firm was unable to cope with the higher depreciation due to the newly opened airport near Mumbai, and the copper plant in Gujarat in western India, as well as a rise in expenses.
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Officials say that a Russian attack on port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa Region has caused damage to the infrastructure,
Oleh Kiper, the regional governor of Odesa said that a Russian drone attack occurred overnight and damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine's southern Odesa Region. Two people were injured by this attack. After strikes on a sixteen-storey building in Odesa an?apartment and a?roof caught alight, the roof was also destroyed. Emergency services reported that the fire engulfed a high-rise's?12th level. The photos show a burning high-rise and firefighters at the scene. Ukraine's seaports Authority? said that ports on the Danube River and in Greater Odesa?were attacked. The strikers caused damage to the berthing and storage facilities, as well as local fires that were quickly brought under control. It added that the ports "continue to operate". Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Editing by Jacqueline Wong
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Indian Oil increases prices for industrial LPG and jet fuel for foreign Airlines
Indian Oil Corporation, India's largest state-run refiner, has raised the prices of liquefied petrol gas for industries and jet fuels for foreign airlines as of Friday. The refiner said that the price of a 19 kilogram?commercial LPG for industrial clients has been?increased by 993 rupees or 47.8% to 3,071.5 Rupees. The refiner said that the price of aviation turbine fuel for international airlines has been raised from $1,435.31 to $1,511.86. The prices of household LPG (primarily used for cooking fuel) were not revised. The 'company' also said that the jet fuel prices for domestic airlines were not revised. The price increases come in the wake of a sharp rise?in the global oil prices.?These have risen above $100 per barrel since?the Strait of?Hormuz was closed?amid a continuing Iran war. (Reporting and editing by Sumana nandy in Bengaluru)
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Australia's Coles flags fuel-driven cost pressures even as quarterly sales rise
Coles warned on Friday about the cost pressures coming from its suppliers and operations, especially in fuel, shipping and packaging. The Australian retailer also reported an increase in revenue for its third quarter. The 'country's 2nd largest grocer stated in a press release that customer behaviour had also changed. More shoppers were cooking at home to save money, and less people were eating out. Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions related to the 'Iran war, continued to drive up fuel prices, as well as other input costs. Coles reported a 3.1% increase in group sales revenue for the 12-week period ending March 29, up from A$10.38billion a year ago. This is in line with Visible Alpha's consensus estimate of A$10.68billion. The revenue from supermarket sales grew by 4%, to A$9.78billion ($7.04billion) in the period. This was due to targeted weekly promotions as well as an expanded range of?low cost products. The segment's e-commerce sales grew by 24.8%, to A$1.33billion during the quarter. The Grocer said that Supermarkets sales revenue growth in the first part of the 'fourth?quarter is largely similar to the previous quarter. Coles reported that the Middle East fuelled geopolitical unrest and impacted consumer sentiment. Coles stated that "as a consequence, we are currently expecting flow-on?impacts on Liquor earnings," reflecting the?reduced fractionalisation of fixed costs across the second half.
SpaceX spends over $15 billion on Starship in rush to airline-like rocketry
SpaceX has spent $15 billion on its next-generation Starship launch vehicle, according to its IPO registration. This is a huge sum compared to its Falcon rocket which was its mainstay. Elon Musk’s space company has been working for a decade to develop a fully reusable rocket.
SpaceX's future as it races?towards public markets with a $1.75 billion valuation is largely dependent on Starship. This is a 'towering' two-stage rocket that Musk wants to use to launch more Starlink satellites and to carry humans to the moon and Mars. He also hopes to deploy thousands of artificial-intelligence computing satellites in place of power-hungry Earth-based data centers.
The previously unknown figure of $15 billion dwarfs the $400 million SpaceX invested in developing Falcon 9, which is the most commonly flown rocket in the world. Falcon 9 is the key to SpaceX's dominance in commercial launch services, as it enables rapid Starlink deployments.
SpaceX stated in its confidential IPO filing that it has continued to make significant investments in order to increase our lead. This includes investing more than $15 billion into Starship, the next-generation rocket. According to the filing, the company plans to launch its latest generation Starlink satellites (known as V3) in the second half 2026. This is most likely to happen on Starship. Its payload bay can hold up to 60 upgraded satellites in one flight.
This is a significant increase from the usual two dozen Starlinks launched by Falcon. It shows how closely Starlink's economics are tied to Starship.
Starship consumes now the majority of the company's research and development expenditures.
The filing shows that SpaceX spent $3 billion on research and development for its space segment in 2025, with the entire amount going to the Starship Program. This is a dramatic increase from the $1.8 million that was spent in this segment in the previous year. This surge in spending highlights the fundamental differences between Starship and Falcon, as well as any rockets that have come before.
STARSHIP SUFFERS EXPLOSIVE FAILURES
SpaceX has performed 11 Starship tests since 2023. These flights have produced both spectacular failures as well as eye-catching advancements. The rocket's Super Heavy booster was caught by massive mechanical arms on its return, which was designed to accelerate reusability.
SpaceX admitted in its filing, that despite these gains, it will still take several years before Starship can achieve Musk's goal "of thousands of launches per year." This launch rate would be needed to "deploy 100 Gigawatts" of solar-powered AI satellites each year, which is roughly one quarter of the US energy consumption in a single year.
Chris Quilty, President of Quilty Space a space industry research company, said that they were getting close. "But we don't yet know and won't for some time, is whether they can do it again."
The biggest challenge for Starship will be to build the ground infrastructure required to support Musk's flight cadence. This includes fuel supplies, water system and, for the core of the ship, a heat shield capable of withstanding repeated atmospheric reentry.
According to an analysis by the Federal Aviation Administration, a single Starship launch uses 244 tanker truck loads of natural gas. Around one million gallons are used to dampen the rocket's acoustic vibrating during launch. Quilty stated that there isn't enough water to launch Starship at this scale.
In-orbit fueling is another formidable obstacle. It's a risky, unproven procedure in which Starships dock to tanker versions of vehicles in order to transfer fuel. This maneuver is essential for deep-space missions, and it would require multiple Starship launches.
Hans Koenigsmann is a former SpaceX Vice-President of Flight Reliability, and one of SpaceX's first employees. If that happens, I think it will be a success from then on.
It is not just the propellant that poses a problem. The liquid oxygen must be maintained at very low temperatures, and sealed tightly to prevent leakage into space.
SpaceX stated in its filing that "in-orbit refueling" is complex and they haven't yet tried it.
It added, "We may be unable to develop, commercialize or scale up these or other strategies within the timeframes that we anticipate or even at all."
CITY OF THE STARS
SpaceX, over the last decade, has built an extensive Starbase development site dedicated to Starship in South Texas. The facility is part of a manufacturing effort designed to produce rockets faster than traditional space vehicles.
Koenigsmann explained that "when you build your production before having the product in hand, you run the obvious risk that you will change your mind... and every change to the rocket also has an impact on the factory."
The vehicle has undergone hundreds of changes due to testing failures. Koenigsmann called Starship "a totally different animal" than Falcon 9.
SpaceX has been preparing to launch its first Starship test since October. This is the longest gap between flights in the history of this program. This mission will be the first to fly the Starship V3 prototyp.
In a video SpaceX published on X Friday, Charlie Cox, director of Starship Engineering said, "Version '3 is essentially a clean-sheet ship design."
V3 Starship is a rocket with dozens and dozens of upgrades. It's designed for orbital flights, long-duration space tests, and crewed moon landings. This is the most difficult mission type for which NASA paid SpaceX $3 billion as part of its Artemis Moon Program.
Kent Chojnacki said that HLS will be based on Version 3. He is the Deputy Manager for NASA's Human Landing System Program. This first flight is going to be crucial. (Reporting and editing by Joey Roulette, Nick Zieminski and Joe Brock)
(source: Reuters)