Latest News
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US airline industry lobbying group chief retiring at end of year
The longtime head of the trade group Airline companies for America who assisted U.S. airline companies win $ 54 billion in federal COVID relief funds will retire at the end of the year. Nick Calio, a former assistant to President George W. Bush, has headed the prominent airline company lobbying group considering that 2011 that includes American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, FedEx and Southwest Airlines . He has actually likewise promoted more funding for air traffic controllers and coped the Biden administration over regulative efforts. Congress approved $54 billion in 3 rounds covering much of U.S. airline company payroll expenses for 18 months during the pandemic. Calio also safeguarded airlines' actions to survive as passenger traffic dropped. In 2015, Calio urged the Biden administration to take swift action to attend to a long-standing air traffic controller lack and obsolete centers and technology. Business as usual isn't sufficing, Calio stated in a speech in Washington in 2015. It is an immediate problem. It's easy to overlook perhaps on a day-to-day basis, however we need to come up with a strategy to address it. President Joe Biden and Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg have actually consistently sparred with airline companies, while Airlines for America and some providers last year encouraged a U.S. appeals court to obstruct USDOT's brand-new guideline on in advance disclosure of airline company fees pending a full evaluation. The Federal Air travel Administration is still about 3,000 controllers behind staffing targets and has about 10,600 licensed controllers. In June, the FAA once again extended cuts to minimum flight requirements at overloaded New york city City-area airports through October 2025, pointing out a shortage of air traffic controllers. Airlines have effectively combated against many propositions in Congress over the last few years, including one to need sensible. baggage charges, a mandate for airline-caused delay settlement or. another that might seriously damage the lucrative airline credit. card service.
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UN Shipping chief: Unregulated tanker fleet poses greater risks
The head of United Nations' shipping agency, said Tuesday, that the safety risks posed to seafarers and the environment by unregulated oil tanks are increasing. The shadow fleet is a term used to describe hundreds of ships that are being used to transport oil by Russia, in violation with international sanctions imposed against it due to the Ukraine War, and by oil exporters like Iran and Venezuela, who have been hit by U.S. sanction. Since the United States announced its new sanctions package, Jan. 10, at least 65 oil tanks have anchored in multiple locations this week, including near the coasts China and Russia. Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization(IMO), said at a press conference that the risk of environmental impact and safety of seafarers is increasing as the shadow fleet increases. We can see this in the different incidents and accidents that have occurred. Dominguez said that he could not comment on the sanctions but his main concern was about old tankers which "put people onboard and the environment at risk". "The more ships look to... avoid the IMO requirements, we will experience situations like those we experienced in the last half of 2024." In recent months, there have been several incidents of collisions with shadow fleet vessels and their breakdown. Dominguez stated that an IMO meeting will be held in March to follow up on a 2023 resolution aimed at enhancing the scrutiny of ship-to -ship oil transfer in open waters - a risk often associated with shadow fleet tanks which conduct such transfers without regard for safety. He also said that he met with smaller countries which provide flags for shadow fleet tanks. To ensure that commercial ships comply with international safety and environmental standards, they must be registered or flagged with a specific country. Sources in the shipping industry say that many smaller flag registries do not enforce compliance regulations and sanctions. Dominguez stated that "substandard shipping... has been on the agenda of IMO for many, many years." (Reporting and Editing by Ros Russel)
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Colonial shuts pipeline due to prospective fuel leakage
Colonial Pipeline, the biggest improved products pipeline operator in the United States, said on Tuesday it was responding to a report of a potential fuel release in Paulding County, Georgia which one of its mainlines was briefly shut down. Teams were on the scene coordinating reaction efforts, the business stated. The pipeline that was shut was Line 1, which transfers about 1.5 million barrels of fuel a day and runs from Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina. It is one of Colonial's 2 mainlines that connects Gulf Coast refineries with markets throughout the southern and eastern United States through more than 5,500 miles (8,850 km) of its pipeline system. Colonial Pipeline did not offer information on the estimated period of the blackouts. The U.S. Department of Transport Pipeline and Hazardous Products Security Administration (PHMSA) did not instantly react to a request for remark. Paulding County Constable's Office stated there was no notice to 911 relating to a gas leak.
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Iraq, UK agree on trade bundle worth approximately $15 billion, defence deal
Iraq and Britain have actually concurred on a trade package worth up to 12.3 billion pounds ($ 14.98. billion) and a bilateral defence deal, the Iraqi and British. prime ministers stated in a joint statement on Tuesday. The offer, imagining more than 10 times the overall of. bilateral sell 2024, was revealed after a meeting in between. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and British. equivalent Keir Starmer at the latter's Downing Street workplaces. It includes a 1.2-billion-pound job in which. British-made power transmission systems will be utilized for a grid. interconnection task between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, too. as a 500-million-pound plan to update the Al-Qayyarah air base. in northern Iraq. A water facilities project by a UK-led consortium. that will assist provide tidy water in dry southern and western. Iraq is likewise part of the offer, the statement said. The project. would be worth approximately 5.3 billion pounds in UK exports. Sudani and Starmer also signed a defence offer that. establishes the basis for a new period in security cooperation. Sudani said earlier that the UK-Iraqi security deal would develop bilateral. military ties after in 2015's statement that the U.S.-led. coalition established to combat Islamic State would end its work in. Iraq in 2026. The Iraqi premier started a main visit to the United. Kingdom on Monday in the middle of historical geopolitical shifts in the. Middle East. Iraq is attempting to avoid becoming a conflict zone as soon as. once again amid a period of regional turmoil that has actually seen Iran's. allies Hamas degraded in Gaza and Hezbollah damaged in Lebanon. throughout wars with Israel, and Bashar al-Assad fell in Syria.
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Jordan purchases estimated 60,000 T wheat in tender, traders say
Jordan's state grains purchaser acquired about 60,000 metric lots of difficult milling wheat to be sourced from optional origins in a worldwide tender on Tuesday, traders stated. It was thought to have been purchased from trading house CHS at an estimated $267.60 a heap cost and freight (c&& f) for delivery in the 2nd half of March, they said. Reports show assessments from traders and further price quotes of prices and volumes are possible later. Traders reported these estimated deals from some other trading houses participating in Tuesday's tender, all per heap c&& f: Cargill $275.50, Viterra $286, Al Dahra $276, Aston $280,. Buildcom $273.27, Olam $275.50, Ameropa $269.94 and Cereal Crops. $ 300. Traders stated they received indications that Jordan will. concern a brand-new tender in the coming days to purchase 120,000 lots of. wheat. Offers are expected to be submitted on Jan. 21, with. shipment in the full month of April and complete month of May. A different tender from Jordan seeking 120,000 tons of animal. feed barley closes on Wednesday.
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Private equity financier Adebayo Ogunlesi joins OpenAI's board
ChatGPT maker OpenAI said on Tuesday private equity veteran Adebayo Ogunlesi, who is presently the CEO of Worldwide Infrastructure Partners (GIP), has joined its board. Ogunlesi, 71, will be encouraging OpenAI on securing access to the infrastructure needed for advancing its synthetic intelligence advancement, OpenAI said in a statement. Established in 2006, GIP is a PE company focusing on infrastructure that handles more than $100 billion in possessions and has a portfolio including Britain's Gatwick airport, the Port of Melbourne and significant overseas wind projects. BlackRock acquired GIP last year for $12.5 billion. AI facilities has actually been front-and-center in the AI race, as technology companies' capability to advance their AI is directly based on their ability to shore up massive calculate infrastructure, through specialized information centers that connect thousands of chips together in clusters. In 2025 alone, huge tech firms consisting of Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Apple are projected to spend over $200. billion on capex-- practically double of what they paid out in. 2021, the year before OpenAI's generative AI chatbot ChatGPT. debuted. In recent months, OpenAI has been pushing the U.S. federal government to embrace helpful policy that will allow the. U.S. to remain ahead of China in the race for the nascent. technology. There's an estimated $175 billion being in global funds. awaiting investment in AI jobs, and if the U.S. does not. draw in those funds, they will flow to China-backed. jobs-- enhancing the Chinese Communist Celebration's international. impact, the company composed on Monday in a set of policy. proposals.
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Brazil says Meta hate speech policy modifications do not fit with local law
Brazil's federal government stated on Tuesday it is seriously concerned about Meta Platforms' recently revealed modifications to its hate speech policy, adding that it thinks they do not adhere to the nation's. legislation. Facebook owner Meta last week reduced curbs on conversations. around controversial subjects such as immigration and gender. identity, while also ditching its fact-checking program in the. United States. The Brazilian government bought the social media company,. which likewise owns Instagram and Threads, to describe its strategies,. which President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had formerly identified. very serious. Meta in a letter to the South American country reiterated. that changes to the fact-checking program for now would just. use to the U.S., and stated that modifications to its community. standards were limited to the hate speech policy. The relocation, the company included the document shared by. Brazil's federal government, was focused on securing higher liberty of. expression. The workplace of Brazil's lawyer general (AGU) in a separate. declaration stated that some aspects of the Meta document trigger the. federal government severe concern, highlighting the changes to the. hate speech policy, which use to Brazil. AGU and other ministries understand that the present terms. of usage, along with the changes now informed by Meta, do not fit. with Brazil's legislation and are not sufficient to safeguard. basic rights, it added. Brazil will hold a public hearing later today to discuss. the topic with professionals.
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Czech Repulic's need for Russian oil ended by pipeline upgrade
Upgrades to increase the capacity for oil deliveries to the Czech Republic by means of the TAL pipeline are total, ending the country's requirement to import Russian crude, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Tuesday. The Czech Republic has actually worked to wean itself off Russian oil and gas considering that Russia's intrusion of Ukraine in 2022. Currently the country had no direct contracts with Russian gas suppliers. Now the TAL pipeline has the capability to fulfill all of its oil demand, it need no longer depend on the Druzhba pipeline from the east, which previously delivered half of its materials. This is a turning point for the Czech Republic because Russia can no longer blackmail us with (energy products), Fiala stated. The upgrades to the Trans Alpine (TAL) pipeline, running from Italy to Germany before feeding into an adapter, double the capacity readily available for the Czech Republic to 8 million metric lots a year, enough for its yearly needs. Testing and accreditation should be finished, however Fiala stated the country might already count on TAL should there be any disturbance of Russian flows through the Druzhba pipeline that has provided the Czech Republic for 6 years. State pipeline business MERO has stated it expects to start increasing oil shipments in the 2nd quarter. The Czech Republic started diversifying products in 1995 by building the IKL pipeline linking to TAL in southern Germany. But one of the 2 Czech refineries, both owned by Poland's. Orlen, continued to process Russian oil. Financing Minister Zbynek Stanjura stated Orlen's Czech system. Unipetrol had actually shown absolutely no oil buy from Russia in the. 2nd half of the year. Unipetrol said in a different statement it would shift to brand-new. crude blends once the TAL upgrades had actually been tested and were. completely operational, which is anticipated by the end of the first. half. The Czech Republic's dependence on Russian fuel meant it was. exempt from European Union sanctions on Russian pipeline oil. Even after a complete switch from Russian supplies, MERO. operations director Zdenek Dundr informed Reuters in November that. the Druzhba pipeline would remain as a back-up.
ITA air passages resumes flights to Libya's Tripoli after 10-year gap
Italy's ITA Airways resumed direct flights to Libya's Tripoli on Sunday, the very first airline from a major west European nation to do so after a 10year hiatus due to civil war in the north African nation, ITA and Tripoli's transport minister stated.
ITA said it would run two direct flights a week from Rome's Fiumicino airport to Tripoli's Mitiga airport.
We are happy to inaugurate today our first direct industrial flight in between Tripoli and Rome Fiumicino, strengthening commercial and cultural ties in between Libya and Italy in support of bilateral relations in between the two nations, Andrea Benassi, ITA air passages basic manager, stated in a declaration.
Many international airlines have actually suspended flights in and out of Libya considering that the civil war in 2014 that generated two competitor administrations in east and west following the NATO-backed uprising that fell Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Some airline companies resumed flights to Libya after security was restored when major battling stopped briefly with a ceasefire in 2020. But efforts to end the political crisis have failed, with factions periodically staging armed clashes and completing for control over financial resources.
The European Union still bans Libyan civil air travel from its airspace
The minister of transport in the government of national unity, Mohamed al-Shahoubi, said the resumption of ITA flights in between Tripoli and Rome validated the safety and security of our airspace and the eligibility of Libyan airports.
Shahoubi stated at a ceremony marking the arrival of the ITA flight at Mitiga that Tripoli is prepared to give ITA additional transport rights to connect Libyan airports with other locations in European Union nations.
Libya is eagerly anticipating the return of Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways and Saudi Airlines in the first half of 2025, Shahoubi added.
He added that the airlines of Tunisia, Egypt, Malta, Turkey, and Jordan had already resumed direct flights with Libya.
Ivan Bassato, primary aviation officer of Rome's airports, said the Libya path was a tactical bridge in between the 2 countries.
Flights would reinforce the positioning of our hub to support the connectivity of Africa, a continent that in 2024 reached a record level exceeding the limit of 2 million guests to and from Rome, up 38% compared to the previous year.
(source: Reuters)