Latest News
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Coast Guard: Helicopter crash that kills two shuts down Mississippi River
The U.S. Coast Guard said that a helicopter crash into a barge near Alton, Illinois on Thursday killed two people on board and closed the river for traffic. Jonathan Lindberg, a spokesperson for the company, said that no one was aboard the barge when it caught fire following the accident. He said that firefighters extinguished it. Lindberg stated that the river, which is a major waterway used for shipping crops and other goods was closed from mile marker 200 to mile marker 211, while officials investigated the incident. They also checked the water to make sure there were no debris. He said there was no estimated time for the river to reopen. The closure of Alton could cause barges to be delayed in their delivery of grain from the U.S. Gulf. (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese, Bill Berkrot and Tom Polansek)
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Ontario invites proposals to study feasibility of cross-Canada energy corridor
On Thursday, the Ontario government issued a call for proposals to conduct a feasibility study in order to determine the best method to create a new energy and economic corridor within the state. The proposed corridor would include new Alberta-to Ontario pipelines that would transport Western Canadian gas and oil to refineries located in southern Ontario, as well as to tidewater ports like a new deep sea port off the coast of James Bay. The study will also evaluate the feasibility of port development on James Bay, Hudson Bay, and the Great Lakes as well as a possible refinery along the route of the pipeline. The energy corridor is a result of a recent Memorandum of Understanding between Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. They agreed to work together to protect Canadian workers, expand energy and trade infrastructure and advance nuclear development in order to meet the growing demand. Kinga Surma is Ontario's Minister of Infrastructure. She said, "In light of the unprecedented tariffs imposed by the United States, and the increasing geopolitical instabilities, Canadians need to work across government to build the energy- and trade-infrastructure we need to protect jobs and unlock new markets at home." (Reporting and editing by Leslie Adler in Bengaluru, with Sarah Qureshi reporting from Bengaluru)
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How hot or not is the stock market? Recent high-profile US IPOs: How they have performed
The surge in the equity markets, and impressive debuts by notable newcomers, have renewed interest in initial public offerings. In the days after their debuts, the IPO price of stablecoin giant Circle and design software maker Figma peaked at 333% & 864% respectively. This shows how investors are eager to back companies that they believe will be future winners. This is how the S&P 500 benchmark has performed against an ETF that tracks major newly-public stocks over the last year. Here's a look at some of the largest IPOs from recent years: FIREFLY AEROSCAPE: Northrop Grumman's space technology firm Upsized Its IPO was priced above the range and raised $868.3 millions. Its stock Open the door to your own world Nearly 56% higher than the Nasdaq IPO price. FIGMA: Figma, a design software company, raised $1.22 billion through its IPO. The first day of the month has ended On the NYSE, a 250% gain in July was a staggering achievement. The price of its shares is now about 6% above where it opened and 174% over the IPO. CHIME: Financial technology company Priced at £ In June, the company raised $864 million through its IPO. Stocks are available for purchase. Open the door to your own world The price of the IPO is nearly 22% higher than it was when it first launched. CIRCLE INTERNET Stablecoins raised $1.05bn in a larger IPO in early June. The company debuted with a valuation near $18bn on a fully diluted base. The stock price closed 168% higher than the IPO. The stock price is 134% higher than its opening price. ETORO: eToro, the Robinhood rival, secured a valuation $5.64 billion following a 34% surge in its Nasdaq debut. In a larger IPO, the stock and cryptocurrency trading platform raised 620 million dollars. The stock price has fallen 19% since its debut. COREWEAVE: Although the AI cloud company's Nasdaq launch was relatively muted, its stock has nearly tripled despite having opened nearly 3% under its initial offer price. Nvidia's company raised $1.5 billion during its initial public offering, valuing it at $23 billion when fully diluted. VENTURE GLOBAL LNG: In January, the liquefied gas exporter reached a valuation of $1.75 billion. This is less than half what it had originally hoped for. In a tepid NYSE debut, the company's shares were opened at a price nearly 4% lower than their IPO. Since then, they have fallen by around 40%. SAILPOINT: In their Nasdaq debut the shares of identity security company Thoma Bravo, which is backed by Thoma Bravo, traded flat. This valued it at $12.80 billion. Since then, the stock has lost almost 12%. Austin, Texas based company raised $1.38 Billion in an increased IPO. ARM HOLDINGS In September 2023 the chip designer raised a total of $4.87 billion, which valued it at $54.5 Billion. It sought to be valued at up to $52 billion. Shares of the company rose by 10% at open. Since then, the stock has more that doubled. INSTACART: In its IPO, the San Francisco-based Maplebear company was priced at the upper end of the range. In September 2023, it raised $660m at a valuation of nearly $9.9billion. It raised its price range proposed and targeted an evaluation of up to 10 billion dollars. Stocks of the grocery delivery app soared 40% on opening and have since gained 14%. VIKING HOLDINGS In April of last year, the cruise operator raised $1.54billion in its IPO. This valued it at $10.35billion. The cruise operator had requested a valuation as high as $10.85 billion for the offering. Viking's shares were opened at 9% over their initial offer price, and they have since more than doubled. STANDARDAERO: In October of last year, the aircraft maintenance service provider raised $1.44 billion by pricing its offering over range. The initial target was a valuation up to $7.69billion. Shares of the Carlyle-backed firm began trading at 29% over the initial offer price. Since then, they have lost around 9%. LINEAGE: Cold storage real estate trust raised $4.45billion in its listing on July 20, 2024 at a valuation exceeding $18billion. It had set a target of a valuation up to $19.16 billion. Stocks of the company rose 5% at open on Nasdaq. It has however fallen 46% from its opening price. REDDIT: Social media giant Facebook raised $748 million at its IPO last March, valuing it at $6.4 Billion -- the upper end of the target range that it advertised. Since then, its stock has increased by more than four times. BIRKENSTOCK: The German sandal manufacturer, which is 250 years old, raised $1.48 Billion and was valued at $ 9.3 Billion in its IPO of October 2023. This was slightly less than its $10 billion target. The shares of this company debuted at a price 11% lower than their IPO, but they have risen by 20% since. ** Please note: Stock performance is based on the opening trade. ** Sources are: filings, LSEG reports,
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At least four people killed when a train and bus collided in central Kenya
On Thursday, a train and bus collided at a railway crossing near central Kenya. At least four people were killed and others injured. The Kenya Pipeline Company said that the bus involved in the accident was carrying staff who were finishing their morning shift near Naivasha. The company released a statement saying that "all injured staff were evacuated to Naivasha hospitals for medical treatment." The company said that it would arrange airlifts to those who are critically injured. Red Cross workers at the scene reported that emergency teams have recovered four bodies so far from the wreckage. Kenya Pipeline Company has not stated how many people have been killed or injured. The Standard newspaper quoted a police officer as saying that at least six people were killed in the accident and scores more injured. (Reporting and editing by Alexander Winning, Hugh Lawson and Hereward Holland)
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US startup Lyten buys troubled European battery manufacturer Northvolt
Lyten, a U.S.-based battery startup, has agreed to purchase the majority of the bankrupt Swedish company Northvolt. The announcement was made on Thursday. This could be a chance for Europe's once leading battery manufacturer to regain its former prominence. Lyten, an Silicon Valley startup that develops lithium-sulphur batteries as a cleaner option to lithium-ion cells, is backed both by Jeep owner Stellantis, and U.S. Delivery Services provider FedEx. The deal brings back hope for European battery independence. Northvolt, the continent's possible rival to major Chinese electric car battery makers, filed for bankruptcy in march, becoming one of Sweden's biggest corporate failures. A frantic search for a buyer ensued. Dan Cook, CEO of Lyten, said that the company's plans were to "pick up where Northvolt left off" and declined to reveal the price. He only stated that the asset was purchased at a "substantial discounted value". Northvolt received criticism for over-promising and failing to deliver quality battery cells that were deemed acceptable by clients. This was despite the fact that its largest customer, Scania, helped Northvolt. Lyten aims to restart its flagship Skelleftea factory in northern Sweden in 2026 and resume lithium-ion cell deliveries. In July, it acquired Northvolt’s energy storage business, Europe’s largest, in Poland. It is now targeting automotive, defense and energy storage markets. Cook confirmed that several former Northvolt management members would join Lyten. However, the founder and former CEO Peter Carlsson will not be joining. He said, "We're focused on becoming the leader in locally sourced and locally manufactured batteries both for the North American market and the European market right now." Lyten announced in July that they had raised over $200 million additional equity to support their acquisitions and expansion plan. Cook said Lyten's value would be proven to Northvolt’s former customers if it focused first on delivering high yields to one customer. Northvolt had an order book that once totaled more than $50 billion, including automakers like BMW, Volkswagen and Audi. Cook, Leyton co-founder, said, "We think they'll return, perhaps sooner than people believe." Northvolt's intellectual property and projects in Sweden, Germany, and Canada are included in the deal. The acquisition of its Canadian unit was also in progress. Northvolt, which had been expanding across the Atlantic before its collapse, refocused its efforts on Sweden, as its financial crisis intensified, and sold assets at nominal prices.
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Airbnb drops as fears about a slowdown in travel demand are renewed by a slower growth outlook
Airbnb shares fell more than 7% Thursday, after the company announced slower growth for the second half of this year. This disappointed investors who had expected a rebound in demand following strong forecasts by major travel companies. Vacation home rentals' gloomy future was a setback for the industry. It had seen a rise in consumer confidence in July and expected budget-conscious Americans would return to vacations, despite inflation and tariffs. United Airlines and Hilton Worldwide forecast a strong growth in revenue for the fourth quarter last month. Booking Holdings, an online travel agency, also reported positive quarterly results last week. The initial tariff shock in April led to a large drop in bookings, said Danni Hewson. She is the head of financial analyses at AJ Bell. Investors are now focusing on the results of Expedia Group, which will be released after the bell. This will help them gauge the health and performance of the US travel industry. Airbnb's weak growth forecast was due to the comparisons made with the previous year, which saw strong bookings from Asia and Latin America. The company anticipates that night bookings will moderate in the fourth quarter. The implied take rate or the ratio between revenue and gross bookings is expected to be flat in the third-quarter. Booking Holdings has seen an increase of 11.4% in the same time period, while Airbnb and Expedia have each fallen by 0.6%. Airbnb has a much higher price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41 compared to Booking, which is trading at 22.69. Expedia is at 11.57. (Reporting and editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar, Shinjini Giguli, and Kanchanachakravarty from Bengaluru)
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India calls for a global code of conduct on pilot poaching
India has asked countries to adopt a code of conduct for hiring airline staff from each other. It is concerned that the rapid growth of its aviation industry in India may be stifled due to the poaching of Indian cabin crew and pilots without sufficient notice. India, which is one of the fastest-growing aviation market in the world, struggles with a pilot shortage, which undermines Prime Minister Narendra modi's ambition to create a global aviation hub that would create jobs. Air India's fatal crash has led to a tighter look at the aviation sector. India stated in a working paper it submitted to the U.N. agency for aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organization, on August 1, that foreign airlines were repeatedly hiring Indian airline staff. This "adversely impacts India's capacity to develop its aviation sector in a systematic manner." India reported in the newspaper that "Airlines (from other countries) tend to hire experienced pilots and engineers from Indian carriers. This prevents India's civil aircraft sector from achieving a planned and ordered growth." The paper did not name any specific foreign airline. This practice creates an endless cycle in which Indian carriers must constantly recruit and train replacement staff by diverting resources away from expansion activities and improvements to operational efficiency. The paper was published on the ICAO's website in advance of its triennial meeting. This was not reported before. The Indian Civil Aviation Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. India's Government said in April that the country will need 30,000 pilots within the next 15 years. This is up from the current 6,700-7,000. Airlines have collectively ordered more than 1,700 planes. IndiGo and Air India are the leaders in India's domestic airline sector, while major international carriers from British Airways to Lufthansa to Emirates operate regular flights. Air India and Akasa Air exchanged barbs in 2023 over the poaching domestically of pilots. The working document calls for the creation a code on conduct regarding the movement of aviation professionals among ICAO member countries. The code of conduct is not specified. The paper stated that "these challenges affect Indian carriers' abilities to compete on international markets... and achieve their ambitious target of 300 millions domestic passengers by 2030." ICAO was formed in 1944 after the United States invited over 50 allies to create a common system of air navigation. (Allison Lampert, in Montreal, and Aditya Kahra, in New Delhi. Mark Potter (Editing)
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Helicopters save people trapped by floods along a key India pilgrimage route
Indian rescuers used a helicopter on Thursday to lift people out of floodwaters in the Himalayan State of Uttarakhand. This comes two days after an unexpected inundation and landslide that killed four people. More are still missing. Rescue teams reached Dharali after the rain stopped. Tuesday's wall had submerged homes and cars, on the way to Gangotri, a Hindu pilgrimage town, in sludge. In a Facebook post, Pushkar Singh, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, stated that helicopters had brought stranded people to safety. Dhami stated that the destruction had been "massive", and the number of people missing was still being calculated. He said, in reference to the rescue efforts: "If we have good weather tomorrow then we'll bring everyone by today." The authorities said that about 400 people trapped in Gangotri are being rescued via air. Nine army personnel and seven civilians were among those missing. Families of missing persons gathered in Matli to search for their loved ones. Mandeep Panwar wanted to get to Dharali where his brother, who ran a hotel in the town and has been missing since Tuesday, is. If you look at the videos, it appears that our hotel was the first to be affected by the flood. Panwar said, "I haven't heard from my missing brother in a long time. Officials said that communication links between rescuers and residents were still disrupted because the mobile phone and electricity towers destroyed by floods had not yet been replaced. Visuals revealed that earlier, rescuers of the army used both their hands and machinery to move boulders off roads which had become muddy rivers. Northern Command reported on X that more than 225 soldiers were involved in the rescue. "We saw Dharali fall before our eyes," Anamika Mehra said, a pilgrim heading to Gangotri at the time of the floods. On the way to the temple, the hamlet of 200 people in Uttarkashi district is more than 1,150 meters (3,775 ft) above the sea level. Uttarakhand has a high risk of flooding and landslides. Some experts attribute this to climate change.
What disturbances have been reported after the global tech failure?
An international tech outage that appeared to be related to concerns at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft on Friday affected operations in sectors consisting of airports, airline companies, media and banks.
Below is a list of disruptions that have been reported:
AIRLINES, AIRPORTS
Airports and airlines around the world have actually cautioned of delays and cancellations or changed to manual check-in, with some halting flights.
- Berlin airport temporarily halted all flights, a. spokesperson told . Lufthansa's Eurowings stated. it was halting domestic German flights in addition to flights to and. from Britain until 3 p.m. (1300 GMT).
- Spanish airport operator Aena reported a. computer systems incident while Lisbon airport, Portugal's. greatest, likewise experienced disturbance. Amsterdam's Schiphol. Airport rebooted services after its operations were impacted. Dubai airport was running generally once again after the interruption. affected check-ins for some airline companies, its operator stated.
- Top Dutch airline KLM said it could not deal with flights on. Friday and that it had actually suspended the majority of its operations. Air. France, KLM's parent company, stated its operations were. interrupted.
- Turkish Airline companies is experiencing problems with ticketing,. check-in, and reservation, it stated in a post on X. Budapest Airport. said numerous airline check-in systems were out of operation.
- Major U.S. providers consisting of American Airlines,. Delta Airlines and United Airlines halted. flights on Friday early morning citing communication problems. American. Airlines later on said it had actually re-established operations. Frontier. and Spirit too cancelled regulations to ground aircrafts.
- An SAS spokesperson said the Scandinavian airline was. expecting hold-ups. Australia's national airline Qantas. and Sydney airport stated airplanes were postponed but still flying.
- Swiss air traffic control service business Skyguide temporarily. minimized Swiss air traffic capability by 30%.
- Indian airlines, including SpiceJet, Indigo,. Akasa Air, Vistara, Air India and Air India Express were also. facing issues on Friday.
- Panama's Copa Airlines stated its os were. experiencing troubles.
FINANCIALS
- Australia's biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank, stated. earlier concerns impacting PayID instant transfers had been. dealt with. Provider consisting of Netbank, the CommBank app, CommBiz,. merchant payments and ATMs are available.
- Numerous significant oil and gas trading desks in London and. Singapore were struggling to perform trades, 6 industry. sources told .
- Macquarie Capital was unable to provide liquidity for. unexpired warrants on HKEX.
- South Africa's Capitec stated card payments, ATM and app. services were fully restored following substantial nationwide. disruptions.
- LSEG Group's Workspace news and information platform. suffered a failure that impacted user access worldwide, triggering. disturbance throughout monetary markets. It later on said information and. services were back up and running once again.
- Some brokerages in India dealt with technical difficulties,. traders at the brokerages told .
- German insurer Allianz said it was experiencing. a major blackout that was impacting staff members' capability to go to. to their computer systems.
- Some German banks were dealing with interruptions, a spokesperson. for the Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft monetary industry. association, stated on Friday, without offering additional details.
- Barclays said its digital investing platform. Smart Investor was affected.
- Brazilian loan provider Bradesco said its digital platforms were. unavailable on Friday.
MEDIA
- Britain's Sky News resumed broadcasting after an. hours-long interruption, however operating at very little capacity and without. many of its usual services.
- Australia's state broadcaster ABC stated it was experiencing. a major network outage, without giving a factor.
- Regular programs at Sky News Australia was interfered with.
EMERGENCY SERVICES, HEALTHCARE
- England's National Health Service (NHS) stated reservations of. medical professionals' appointments and patient records were disrupted, but. emergency services had actually not been affected.
- A number of hospitals in the Netherlands had to scale down. their operations, Dutch press company ANP reported.
- Victorian state police in Australia stated some internal. systems had been struck but emergency services were operating. usually.
- Copenhagen's fire department said on X it was experiencing. problems receiving immediately transferred emergency alarm, and. advised people to call 112 in case of a fire.
- 2 healthcare facilities in the northern German cities of Luebeck and. Kiel cancelled elective operations arranged for Friday.
OTHER
- Important facilities in Germany has actually been affected, an. interior ministry representative stated.
- New Zealand's parliamentary computer system systems were. affected, according to Rafael Gonzalez-Montero, head of the. parliamentary service.
- Australia's Telstra Group was facing interruptions. to some of its systems, a representative for the telecom company informed. .
- The Baltic Center container terminal in the Polish city of. Gdansk stated it was struck by the worldwide failure and was working to. resolve the issue.
- The Paris Olympics organising committee said the failure. was slowing its operations, however the effect was limited and. ticket sales were unaffected.
- The United Arab Emirates foreign ministry stated its. electronic systems were operating generally again.
- Maruti Suzuki, India's biggest carmaker, stated it. quickly halted production and despatch operations. It has. resumed operations and does not expect any material effect from. the incident.
- FedEx Corp said it faced considerable disruptions. throughout its networks due to the outage.
- Italy's greatest energy Enel stated there were. breakdowns and downturns in its online customer services.
- Dominion Energy said customer service call centers. had been affected by the outage.
(source: Reuters)