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Taiwan and its offshore Islands near the Chinese Coast
Taiwan closely monitors whether China will include Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands in a five-year plan being discussed this week in Beijing. Taiwan's offshore Islands: Facts and figures When the defeated Republic of China fled to Taiwan after losing a Civil War to Mao Zedong’s communists in 1949, it retained control of a number of islands and islets on China’s southern and eastern coasts. The majority were captured by Chinese forces later or were evacuated by Taiwan because they were difficult to defend. Taiwan is only geographically a part of the Kinmen Islands and Matsu Islands, which are located just off the coasts of China's Fujian Province. - During Cold War, Chinese forces bombarded Kinmen, Matsu and other islands, but Taiwan retained control over the islands. The shelling continued until 1979. However, martial law was not lifted until 1992. Kinmen and Matsu are popular tourist destinations, yet they retain a strong military presence from Taiwan. As part of the normalisation plan, ferry services were launched from Kinmen and Matsu to China in 2001. At its nearest point, the Chinese coastline is just a few kilometres away from Kinmen. The cities of Xiamen (miles), and Quanzhou are clearly visible from the shore. Taiwan has expressed concern over a renewed Chinese military and quasi-military pressure campaign against Kinmen, Matsu and Matsu. This includes regular Chinese Coast Guard patrols in Kinmen waters, and occasionally drone flights near. Civil aviation is a major source of disagreement. China opened two new routes last year near Kinmen Island and Matsu, claiming they would help reduce air traffic congestion. Taiwan said that it had not been consulted, and the routes could pose a risk to the civilian flights servicing the airports in Kinmen and Matsu. Taiwan's officials said that the routes would also reduce their response time, and could threaten the national security of the island. Xiamen’s new international airport is due to open in the next year and it’s only a few kilometres away from Kinmen. Taiwan fears that this could be a security and aviation risk. Kinmen and Matsu have already developed economies that are closely linked to those of the Chinese cities Xiamen Quanzhou Fuzhou with whom its residents share strong linguistic, cultural and business ties. - China also constructed a bridge connecting Xiamen and Kinmen, without consulting Taiwan whose government had not approved the project. Construction has not begun on the Kinmen end. (Written by Ben Blanchard, edited by Sherry Jacque-Phillips).
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Waymo will test its autonomous vehicles manually at Newark Airport
Alphabet Waymo announced on Wednesday that it would begin testing its autonomous vehicles in Newark Liberty International Airport. The firm is looking to bring their robotaxis into one of the main airports servicing the New York City region. Robotaxi has been growing steadily in the United States over the past few years despite expensive technology and tough regulations. It is now gaining momentum through partnerships with ride hailing platforms and fleet operators, at a moment when Tesla is rolling its long-promised roboticaxi service out in the country. Waymo said it would test the technology with human drivers in Newark Airport in collaboration with Port Authority of New York & New Jersey in a blog post on X. Due to accidents, recalls, and federal investigations, it has been difficult for the U.S. to commercialize autonomous vehicles. Waymo announced last week that it will launch its driverless ride-hailing services in London by 2026. It is also looking to expand to other major cities.
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Southwest Airlines unexpectedly posts Q3 profit due to improved travel demand
Southwest Airlines announced an unexpected profit for the third quarter on Wednesday. The company attributed this to a rise in demand for travel and tighter cost control. Travel bookings are expected to continue strong until December, according to the Texas-based carrier. The company is expecting to achieve record revenues in the fourth quarter with "meaningful" margin expansion. Southwest shares increased by more than 3% after-hours. Southwest Airlines, the largest domestic airline in the United States, is struggling to find its feet after the COVID-19 epidemic and is undergoing major strategic changes. The airline began charging for checked baggage, introduced a basic-economy fares, and in January will implement a new policy of assigned seats, replacing the previous open seating model. The company estimated that revenue per available seat-mile, or revenue per passenger, would rise between 1% and 3% in the fourth quarter compared to last year. The company's non-fuel costs are expected increase by 1.5% to 2.5% in the same time period. According to LSEG data, it reported a profit adjusted of 11 cents per share, compared to analysts' expectations on average of a loss 3 cents. Operating revenue was $6.95 billion compared to analysts' expectations of $6.29 billion. The airline's non-fuel costs increased by 3.4% compared to the previous year, while its forecasted increase was up to 5.5%. The airline said that cost discipline was a key factor, and reiterated its plan to cut $370 million from expenses this year. (Reporting and editing by Richard Chang; Rajesh Kumar Singh)
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How many US attacks on boats near Venezuela has there been?
At least 32 people have been killed in the U.S.'s seven attacks on ships near Venezuela, which it claims were transporting drugs. On Tuesday evening, a separate strike occurred in the Pacific and not the Caribbean. The U.S. described some victims as Venezuelans while Colombian president Gustavo Petro said that others were from Colombia. The family of a man who was believed to have been killed in a striking action has demanded proof that he had been a drug dealer. Venezuela's government said that the strikes were illegal, amounted to murder, and was an aggression against Venezuela. The Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has accused Donald Trump, who has bolstered his security and deployed tens-of-thousands of troops throughout the country, of wanting regime change. This is an accusation that the U.S. President has played down. Here's a list: Trump claimed that the U.S. military had killed 11 people during a strike against a Venezuelan vessel allegedly transporting illegal drugs. This was the first operation known since the deployment of warships in the southern Caribbean by his administration. The Venezuelan government denied that any of the eleven were members of Trump's Tren de Aragua criminal gang. Trump claimed that on 15 September, the U.S. Military had carried out an attack against a suspected Venezuelan drug cartel ship heading for the U.S. He added that three men died in the strike and it took place in international waters. Trump did not provide any evidence to support his claim that the boat was transporting drugs. SEPTEMBER 19, Trump claimed that the U.S. had attacked a drug-carrying vessel, killing three men. OCTOBER 3, 2017 - U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that four people were killed in a strike on a vessel allegedly transporting illegal drugs off the coast Venezuela. Trump announced that six suspected drug traffickers were killed by a U.S. attack on a boat near the Venezuelan coast. Two people were killed by the U.S. military in a strike on October 16th. In the first incident of this kind, two survivors were returned quickly to their countries. They were a Colombian, and an Ecuadorean. Ecuador said that it had no reason to hold its citizen, and has released him. Hegseth stated that a strike had killed three people. The Colombian president Gustavo Petro, involved in a spat that escalated with Trump this week, disputed a statement by the U.S. Defense Secretary that the boat was owned by the National Liberation Army rebels (ELN), saying it belonged instead to a "humble" family. Hegseth has also disputed the ELN's claim.
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Kinder Morgan's third-quarter profits rise on higher natural gas demand
Kinder Morgan, a U.S.-based pipeline operator, posted an increase in its third quarter profit on Wednesday. This was largely due to higher volumes of gas being transported through the pipelines. Kinder Morgan, for example, is betting on the growing demand for natural gas from LNG export installations as well as an increase in electricity generation due to AI operations and cryptocurrency mining. Kim Dang, CEO of the company, said that "total demand for gas will grow by 20 percent through 2030. This growth is primarily due to LNG exports. We are exploring opportunities to supply more than 10 billion cubic feet per day to the natural gas energy generation sector." As new terminals are brought online after President Donald Trump lifted the pause on permits in January, there is a surge in activity within the U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas sector. This is due to expectations that exports will increase. The company, which accounts for roughly 40% of all natural gas produced in the country, reported that the backlog of projects stood at $9.3 Billion. During the third quarter, approximately $500 MILLION of projects were put into service, and an equal amount of new projects was added. The company reported that it transported approximately 47,461 billion British Thermal Units of natural gas each day during the third quarter. This compares to 44,827 Btu per daily last year. During the third quarter of 2018, its total deliveries, including refined products like jet fuel and diesel, dropped to 2,11 thousand barrels per day from 2,15 MBbl/d. Houston-based company, Texas said that its net profit for the three months ending September 30 was $628 million, compared to $625 million one year ago. (Reporting from Sumit Saha, Bengaluru. Editing by Alan Barona.)
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Trans Mountain pipeline and Canada oil shippers are in discussions to resolve the shipping cost dispute
Oil shippers and the operator of Canada’s Trans Mountain Pipeline are currently in negotiations to resolve a dispute over shipping costs that has hampered the use of Canada’s only east-west pipe and slowed down government plans to sell it. Trans Mountain Corp. and a group including Cenovus Energy and Canadian Natural Resources and ConocoPhillips Canada filed documents with the Canada Energy Regulator Tuesday stating that the parties were in "active commercial discussion." The talks could settle how much the companies pay to ship oil on the expanded 890,000-barrel-per-day pipeline, which offers direct access to China and other Asian markets at a time Canada is trying to diversify oil exports away from the United States. Trans Mountain confirmed via email that discussions are ongoing and requested the regulatory proceedings to be stopped in order to reach an agreement. The Canadian Energy Regulator confirmed that it is reviewing this request. Shippers did not respond to an immediate request for comments. The dispute over tolls, which has lasted for more than two years, has made the Canadian government's plans of selling the Trans Mountain Pipeline uncertain. Ottawa, which purchased the pipeline in 2018 for C$4.5billion ($3.21billion) to save the expansion project from years of regulatory delays, cost increases and cost increases, started informal talks with Indigenous groups in 2023 to explore their interest to a possible equity stake. Analysts believe it will be difficult for a private or Indigenous group to purchase the pipeline until the dispute over tolling is resolved and Trans Mountain's revenue potential in the long term is known. Uncertainty about the final toll The C$34-billion expansion completed in 2024 tripled pipeline capacity but the price was almost quintuple of a 2017 estimate. Trans Mountain Corp will cover approximately 70% of the cost overruns, but the remaining $9 billion is to be covered by tolls in accordance with a formula that was agreed upon by shippers and approved more than 10 years ago by the Canada Energy Regulator. Trans Mountain estimated that contracted shippers would pay almost twice as much in 2017. Spot shippers are charged even more. Shippers are pushing back on the higher tolls. They claim they're not responsible for construction cost overruns. Canada Energy Regulator was scheduled to hold an hearing on tolls in the next month. Trans Mountain has had less traffic than expected since the start of the expansion in May 2024. This is partly due to the higher tolls. Analysts say that if the toll structure is lower than what Trans Mountain wants, it could affect the price of the pipeline and make it more difficult to recover its construction costs. Mark Maki, CEO of Trans Mountain, said in June that he believed the Canadian government could recover its investment in pipelines but should delay the sale until the uncertainties surrounding tolling and usage are resolved.
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Sources confirm that the merger of Europe satellites is still intact, despite the announcement being withdrawn.
People familiar with the discussions said that European aerospace giants held investors back for an extra day on Wednesday, as lawyers and advisors sifted through the fine print, but the merger plans were still intact. This week, it was reported that Airbus Thales and Leonardo have reached an agreement to pool their satellite-making activities in order to challenge Elon Musk's Starlink. The initial plans for an announcement on Wednesday were slipped, but no new obstacles appeared. A deal seemed to have been delayed by no more that 24 or 48 hours unless there was a more substantial problem. The announcement is ready, but that doesn't necessarily mean you haven't worked out the last details. One person said, "It is technically, industrially and financially complex." Thales, Airbus, and Leonardo have all declined to comment. The talks are the latest attempt at bringing together Europe's fragmented satellite industry. SpaceX, led by Musk, has dwarfed Europe's leading players: Airbus as well as Leonardo in Italy and Thales in France. Sources say that they plan to combine satellite assets with a new holding firm, each receiving about a third after a series balancing payments. However, the new structure could take two years to implement, pending regulatory approvals. The EU has imposed antitrust restrictions on previous attempts to merge. SHIFT TO LOW EARTH ORBIT According to insiders, the trio has realised that they can't prosper on their own in a market undergoing a dramatic transformation. According to global data for 2010-25 from the specialist advisory firm Quilty Space, the merger will make Maxar, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin the third largest manufacturers of commercial geostationary space satellites. The space market has declined due to the proliferation of low-Earth orbit satellites, like Starlink. Caleb Henry is Quilty's director of research. "Europe had a commanding advantage in many geostationary satellites manufacturing and it was arguably never lost," he said. It's just this market has shrunk significantly in front of these new titans: the low Earth-orbit bandwidth constellations. The companies will outline the general structure and goals of the merger plan code-named Projet Bromo without dwelling on the details of corporate governance, which would be decided later, after a time of separate operations. In past European aerospace mergers including Airbus, the balance of power, and who appointed the chairperson, CEO, and CFO, caused friction. Sources said that the parties were committed to working together on satellites. This was partly due to losses and a declining market share. (Reporting and editing by Alexander Smith, Aidan Lewis; Reporting by Tim Hepher)
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Hilton is the latest company to highlight the impact of the US Government shutdown on business.
Hilton Worldwide's chief financial officer warned Wednesday that the U.S. Government shutdown is affecting travel demand. This echoes concerns expressed by other corporate leaders, as they prepare for wider fallout if this impasse does not end soon. The shutdown has now entered its fourth week, amid a deadlock over funding in Washington, and it has caused concern across the corporate world regarding disruptions of consumer spending, travel for business, and financial developments, such as stock listings. Kevin Jacobs, CFO of Hilton Hotels Corporation said that the closure "is having a slight impact on the numbers." Hilton has lowered its forecast for room revenue growth in 2025, citing the fact that the closing is now reflected. Jacobs' warning is in line with similar comments made by other industry leaders and corporate leaders who claim that prolonged uncertainty can dampen bookings, forcing companies and government employees to delay their trips. Marc Casper said that Thermo Fisher's CEO, Marc Casper, expects the U.S. federal government to delay some of its expenditures due to the shutdown. Unilever, a consumer goods giant, has postponed the spin-off of its Magnum icecream unit because the U.S. SEC is unable to approve registration for the shares to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby warned last week that a prolonged government shutdown could have a negative impact on bookings and flight operations. Shaun Kelly, analyst at BofA Securities, said that revenue per available room in hotels around Washington is "underperforming". This is due to a combination of difficult comparisons with the election cycle of last year and the effect of the shutdown. He said that the D.C. area hotels performed worse than the rest of the United States during the two most recent shutdowns, by approximately 8 percentage points. The industry has warned that staffing shortages in federal agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Aviation Administration could result in longer airport waiting times and flight delays. This could discourage travel. U.S. Travel Association estimates that the disruptions could cost the travel industry about $1 billion per week.
New Zealand issues rare warnings of a spring storm with a red alert
New Zealand's Weather Agency issued rare red-wind warnings, and officials declared an emergency in the Canterbury area as a powerful storm brought heavy rain and destructive gales to the South Island and the lower North Island Thursday.
Several government services, such as libraries, were closed, including flights in and out Wellington, New Zealand's capital. Some train services had also been suspended. New Zealand Transport Agency has also closed several roads, and there are significant power outages.
Images of a truck that overturned, silos that were toppled, and fences blown down appeared in the media.
MetService stated that severe north-westerlies would produce damaging gusts of up to 150 km/h (93mph) in coastal areas of the lower South Island, and up to 140 km/h in certain parts of Wellington and Wairarapa. Heavy rain was also predicted for some parts of New Zealand.
The red alert is only given in extreme situations. People are asked to shelter in place and, in worst-affected areas, government buildings like libraries and parks were closed.
The National Emergency Management Agency announced that a state-of-emergency had been declared for the Canterbury Region late on Wednesday. This allowed authorities to mobilize resources and give directions as conditions worsened.
Fire crews are continuing to fight wildfires on the east side of the North Island in Hawke's Bay. These have been largely contained, according a Hawke's Bay Fire and Emergency post. TVNZ reported a large vegetation blaze has also broken out in Hanmer Springs on the East Coast of the South Island. Fire crews struggle to reach the area because the road is blocked with fallen trees.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said that it was sending crews to respond to several incidents. It asked the public to be on their guard for fallen trees, powerlines and debris flying about and to stay away from the road. (Reporting and editing by Stephen Coates; Lucy Craymer)
(source: Reuters)