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Poste agreement between China and France is defended by the French government
France's Commerce Minister defended on Friday an agreement between the Chinese ecommerce website Temu and the state-owned Postal Service, reached just weeks before Paris Prosecutor opened an investigation into online marketplaces. France threatened to ban Shein’s online marketplace Wednesday after discovering child-like sex toys and banned weapons on its platform. Ministers are due to report on their preliminary findings on Friday regarding whether the company is in compliance with local laws. Serge Papin, speaking on BFM TV said that France must take action to stop a "digital Wild West" where customs are frequently finding illegal goods in small packages at its borders. Papin, when asked to explain a state-owned La Poste agreement with Temu (an online marketplace owned PDD Holdings, a Chinese ecommerce company), said that the company was required to "do their job". La Poste will deliver parcels from Temu to customers in the last mile. In recent weeks, lawmakers have criticized the deal for supporting a company which is damaging French industry and aggravating environmental problems. Temu and La Poste did not immediately respond to a comment request. In a Wednesday statement, La Poste stated that the agreement was a “classic” logistics services contract which extended the collaboration already in place ever since Temu's arrival in France in 2023. La Poste must treat all customers the same, and apply the same conditions of sale. "As such, the company cannot deny access to its service," it stated. Reporting by Dominique Vidalon & Dominique Patton. Mark Potter edited the story.
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Sources say that a LNG tanker avoided pirates as attacks on Somalia escalated
Sources in maritime security said that a liquefied gas tanker was able to outrun pirates who approached the vessel on a speedboat, off the coasts of Somalia, on Friday. This added to fears of a resurgence in piracy following years of calm. Recent armed attacks in the region, including the first in which suspected Somali pirates were involved in over a year, have reignited fears about the safety of the shipping lanes that transport vital energy and goods into global markets. An official from maritime security firm Diaplous confirmed that the incident on Friday occurred near the location of the attack the day before, which targeted the Malta flagged products tanker Hellas Aphrodite. According to British maritime risk management company Vanguard, and maritime security experts, the Marshall Islands flagged LNG tanker Al Thumama reported a small craft approaching with three people aboard. Sources said that the master of the tanker reported to them that it had outrun the speedboat. The tanker was on its way from Ras Laffan in Qatar, via Cape of Good Hope to Swinoujscie in Poland. NYK LNG Shipmanagement of Japan, the vessel's operator could not be reached immediately for comment. Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Jonathan Saul; editing by Joe Bavier
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Musk predicts that Tesla's Full Self-Driving Software will win China's full approval in early 2026
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, said that he expected the Full Self-Driving Software, an automaker's driver assistance system to be fully approved in China by early next year. Musk said at the annual general meeting of his company on Thursday that "we have partial approval in China and we hope to have a complete approval in China by February or March." The China's Industry Ministry did not respond immediately to a comment request. China is Tesla's largest market, but its share of the market has fallen to 8% from a high of 15.4% during the first quarter 2023. Local brands are winning over customers by offering similar features of driving assistance, many times at no additional cost. Since February, the Tesla system (also known as FSD) has been approved partially in China. Tesla owners were able to use an older and less expensive autopilot system before. Some Chinese Tesla owners paid 64,000 yuan (about $9,500) for FSD in the hope that the full rollout wouldn't take too long. However, the failure of the FSD to be approved has been a major source for friction between Tesla owners and the automaker. FSD is only partially approved in China, which means it falls short of the capabilities that FSD has in the United States. In China, it is illegal to change gears. This means that the vehicle cannot complete a journey from one parking spot to another on its own. It has also been difficult for the system to identify local traffic signs in China.
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German Spot to Rise on Monday Due to Falling Wind Output
German power prices will rise on Monday due to a drop in the output of wind and solar energy. LSEG data showed that the German and French baseload power contracts for Monday were not traded by 813 GMT on Friday. According to LSEG analyst Riccardo Paraviero, the German residual load – that portion of electricity consumption that must be met by controllable sources like coal or gas – is expected rise on Monday due to "cratering" wind power supplies. Data compiled by LSEG shows that German wind power production is expected to drop by 2.6 gigawatts on Monday, while French wind generation is projected by 550 megawatts up to 6.4 GW. The German solar energy supply is expected to drop by 2.4 GW - 3.2 GW. On Monday, power consumption is expected to decrease by 540 MW in Germany to 58.3 GW while in France it is predicted to decline by 1.3 GW at 49 GW. The French nuclear capacity has increased by two percentage points, to 76%. The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets increased by 0.2%, to 80.32 Euros per metric ton. According to a report from market intelligence firm Veyt, there was a 17.5% increase in the number of European renewable energy certificates cancelled in early 2025. This indicates a growing demand for green electricity, despite low prices.
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Belgium's Liege Airport temporarily closed again due to drone sighting
The Belgian airport of Liege has resumed flight after a temporary stop due to a sighting of a drone, the country’s air traffic service announced on Friday. This is the second incident in this week. Skeyes, the Belgian air traffic control service, said that it had received a report about a drone flying over the airport at 06:30 GMT. The airport was closed for 30 minutes. Kurt Verwilligen said, "We must take every report very seriously". Flights had resumed, he said. He added that flights had resumed. Drones flying over military bases and airports have been a problem in Belgium for the past few days. They have also caused major disruptions in Europe. In Sweden, airports were temporarily closed on Thursday. Some officials blamed the incidents upon "hybrid war" by Russia. Moscow denies any involvement in the incidents. On Thursday, the Belgian government convened an emergency meeting with key ministers of government and security officials to discuss what the defence ministry called a coordinated assault. (Reporting and editing by Alessandro Parodi, Benoit van Overstraeten)
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Wizz Air defers Airbus deliveries, cuts long-haul jet orders
Wizz Air announced on Friday that it would delay the delivery of 88 Airbus aircraft to 2033 from 2030 and reduce its commitment to long haul jets, as the budget carrier seeks to maximize profitability. Wizz also converted 36 A321XLR jets with a long range to A321neo jets, reducing the total A321XLR order to 11 planes from 47 previously, and keeping its 273-plane orderbook unchanged. Wizz Air, a Hungary-based airline, has struggled to compete with other European carriers in recent years due to engine problems with its Airbus aircraft. This led it to miss its first-quarter profits targets in July. The airline announced on Friday that it would have a fleet of only fuel-efficient, neogeneration aircraft by the year 2029. (Reporting from Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru and Yadarisa Shabbong; editing by Rashmi aich)
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IAG, the owner of British Airways, reports a third-quarter profit that is in line with expectations
IAG, the owner of British Airways, reported on Friday a slight rise in operating profit in the third quarter. This was in line with expectations, but it highlighted a continuing weakness in their U.S. economy cabin point-of sale offering. The airline is the latest to announce a decline in transatlantic travel since the election of Donald Trump. His policies, which are seen by many as anti-foreigner, anti-trade and anti-trade abroad, have impacted the market. The group, which owns Iberia and Vueling, also said that its passenger load factors - a measure of performance used to evaluate the performance of airlines - had fallen in all regions. Most pronounced being A 2.4-point decline on lucrative North Atlantic routes. The company's consensus estimate for its three-month profit ended on September 30 was 2.1 billion euro, which is 2% higher than the previous year. Reporting by Yamini Kalya and Shashwat AWASTHI in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Phillips and Josephine Mason
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India's highest court declares that the Air India crash report is not a slander against the pilot
India's highest court announced on Friday that the preliminary report of an Air India crash in which 260 people died in June did not implicate anything against the captain. However, it will listen to a request from the father of the pilot on November 10, for an independent investigation. After criticising the government's investigation, 91-year old Pushkar Raj Sabharwal called for an independent investigation to be conducted by a panel led by a retired Supreme Court Judge. He claimed that two officials of India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, who visited him, had suggested that his son, pilot Sumeet Saharwal, had cut the fuel supply to the plane's engines after takeoff. The investigation was described as "very thorough" and "very clean" by the government. India's air accident investigation body published a preliminary report in early this year that said the fuel engine switches on the plane had switched from run to shutoff almost simultaneously just after takeoff. (Reporting and writing by Arpan Chaturvedi, Delhi; editing by Mrigank Dahniwala and Michael Perry).
What is the issue in US discussions with Ukraine and Russia
Here are some issues that Russia and the U.S. are addressing in their talks to pave the way for the end of the war in Ukraine.
ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE On March 18, President Vladimir Putin accepted a proposal from U.S. president Donald Trump that Russia and Ukraine cease attacks on the other's infrastructure energy for 30 days. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, said that Ukraine would support this proposal.
The proposed 30-day blanket truce was not reached, as the U.S. and Ukraine both wanted. Since then, both sides have reported that they continue to strike their energy facilities.
NUCLEAR PLANTS According to a U.S. press release, Trump suggested during a phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on March 19, that the U.S. might be able to help Ukraine run its nuclear power plants, as well as owning and operating some of Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Zelenskiy denies that Trump discussed ownership, but he did say the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility in Ukraine, Europe’s largest plant, which is occupied by Russia, was one of the topics. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of putting the plant at risk by attacking it. Zelenskiy stated that Kyiv was ready to discuss U.S. participation in modernizing plant if the plant were returned to Ukraine.
BLACK SEA SHIPPING On March 24, U.S. officials and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss a Trump initiative for a maritime ceasefire along the Black Sea.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was launched in July 2022 by the United Nations and Turkey, allowed for the safe exportation of almost 33 million metric tonnes of Ukrainian grain.
The World Bank's Global Commodities Outlook from April 2024 stated that both Russia and Ukraine shipped grain without major issues. Zelenskiy said that he supports the idea of a maritime ceasefire. Kyiv, however, has not commented on Trump's Black Sea Initiative. It could use Mykolaiv in addition to the three other ports located in Odesa to export grain, iron ore, and other commodities.
Since 2022, Ukraine has caused significant damage to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, forcing Moscow out of its base on occupied Crimea.
PRISONER CHANGES Russia, Ukraine and both sides announced on March 19 that they had exchanged 175 prisoner of war. Russia also handed over 22 Ukrainian prisoners as a gesture of goodwill. Zelenskiy stated that the 22 Ukrainians are "severely injured warriors" and were persecuted by Russia for fabricating crimes.
NATO MEMBERSHIP
Putin wants Ukraine to drop its official ambitions to join NATO.
In its constitution, Ukraine states that joining NATO is a priority and that this would be the most effective way to guarantee security as part of any peace agreement. John Coale said last month that the United States has not ruled out a potential NATO membership or a negotiated return of Ukraine to its pre 2014 borders. U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth said this prospect was unrealistic.
Trump said that he did not believe Russia "would allow" Ukraine to join NATO.
UKRAINE POST-WAR SECURITY
Ukraine, whose NATO membership is not imminently in the cards, wants to strengthen its military as well as secure continued support from Europe and America. This will be part of any future peace agreement. After a peace agreement is signed, Britain and France plan to build a force of foreign ships, planes and troops in or around Ukraine as a deterrent.
Some Russian officials said that they would not accept such a force, and Moscow said a condition for a peace agreement is the reduction of Ukraine's military.
WESTERN SANCTIONES, ELECTIONS Putin said that he wanted the Western sanctions against Russia to be eased. He also wants a presidential elections in Ukraine.
Ukrainian law prohibits elections to be held during martial laws and Ukrainian officials claim that it's not the place of Moscow to dictate a date for an election.
Under Biden, the United States led a broad campaign of sanctions against Russia. This included measures to limit Russia's oil and gas revenue such as a $60 cap per barrel for Russian oil exports. According to sources, the Trump administration is examining ways in which it can ease sanctions in exchange for Moscow ending the war. Trump has also hinted at the possibility of large-scale tariffs and banking restrictions on Russia until peace was achieved.
RUSSIAN HOLDED TERRITORY
Russia wants control of all four partially-occupied eastern Ukrainian areas it claims as its own. It also wants the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed and seized in 2014. Unnamed sources at a private Putin event told Russia's Kommersant that Putin wants the U.S. formally to recognise Luhansk and Donetsk as part of Russia, along with Crimea.
Ukraine has said that it will not recognise Russian sovereignty on Ukrainian territory, but it is aware it will need to be returned diplomatically in due course.
UKRAINIAN MINERALS Kyiv has been in talks with Washington about a deal that would give the United States a financial reward for the development of Ukrainian resources, namely rare earths which are used to make electronics. The deal fell apart after the disastrous meeting between Trump and Zelenskiy in the White House at the end last month. On March 19, the White House announced that it was moving beyond just a deal framework to focus on a long term peace agreement. Trump announced the next day that a rare earths deal would be signed in a very short time.
(source: Reuters)