Latest News
-
Maguire: The cement boom in Africa signals the next big shift in global energy usage.
Africa consumes less than 5% of the global energy supply. It is therefore vastly outweighed by other regions when it comes to assessing current trends in energy and pollution. The aggressive plans to build cement plants in the region may change this. Global Energy Monitor data shows that Africa dominates the global pipeline of cement production capacity being built. This construction share is compared to a 8% share of the currently operating cement capacity. This indicates a 'rapid growth in planned production on the continent. But cement investments are about a lot more than just construction materials. These bets are on urbanization, regional economic growth and industrialization. Concrete is used to build roads, houses, factories, ports and other infrastructure before countries use more steel, chemicals or manufactured goods. The cement pipeline is a good indicator of Africa's energy needs. These are expected to increase dramatically if the construction boom linked to the plans for cement capacity materializes. The trend of energy consumption and emissions in the rest of world is expected to be curbed by electrification, and the slowing of heavy industrial production. Leaning In GEM data indicates that Africa has a cement production capacity of 441 million metric tons per year in operation and 43.3 millions tons per annum under construction. African nations also announced plans to add 23 million tons to the current annual cement production capacity. This would increase the total capacity of the region by 15%, compared to its current level, bringing it to just under 507 million tonnes. The overall increase in capacity for cement in Africa is far greater than planned additions to cement capacity in other regions. This indicates that Africa’s development plan looks set to be?more raw materials-intensive' than other parts of the globe. Africa's heavy-duty cement plans indicate a similar steep rise in raw materials and energy requirements, since cement production is notoriously high energy-intensive and requires large quantities of coal, petroleum, coke, and natural gas to ensure ample output. These cement projects will increase the demand for electricity, as well as infrastructure to import, store, and distribute coal, gas, and other fuels. They also need to ship out concrete produced. The plans to expand Africa's cement manufacturing footprint are a response to the growing demand for industrial energy in Africa, which will initially be supplied by fossil fuels. FRONTRUNNERS EGYPT & NIGERIA Egypt, among African countries, has the largest cement production footprint of 88 million tonnes per year. Nigeria is second to India for the amount of cement currently being produced. Libya, Mali and Angola are also among the top 20 countries in the world for cement construction. This shows that growth is expected across the entire continent. Even if Africa adopts cleaner energy technology more rapidly than other industrializing regions, the scale of planned construction of cement suggests that it will still need large quantities of materials to urbanize. The fact that 16 African nations are building new cement kilns suggests that Africa is on the right track to follow some of the same blueprints as countries in Asia. CLEANER CONCRETE? The African cement plan is different from those of other regions because African developers can use the most modern and efficient components to build their?cement plants. Modern kilns have a higher efficiency than those that were installed ten or more years ago. They should therefore be able to produce more cement using fewer inputs. Locally produced renewable electricity -- such as rooftop solar installations -- may also be used to run milling and processing equipment, reducing energy costs for producers. Electric cement kilns, which are becoming more widespread, offer the potential to further reduce energy intensity in countries that want to limit their industrial carbon footprint. Cost considerations will likely remain paramount on many African markets. This may delay the adoption of expensive emissions-reduction techniques such as carbon sequestration. This means that cement production in Africa will be energy- and material-intensive, even though they use the latest kilns available and the most advanced components. Cement projects in Nigeria, Libya Mali, Mozambique, and other countries are not just industrial investments. These projects are early indicators of future growth in?energy demand. Africa's urbanization and industrialization could make it one of the world's largest sources of demand for electricity, fuels for transport and industrial energy. This would force policymakers to find a balance between rising living standards and rising emissions. These are the opinions of the columnist, an author for. You like this column? Check out Open Interest, your new essential source for global financial commentary. Follow ROI on LinkedIn, X and X. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast daily on Apple, Spotify or the app. Subscribe to the Morning Bid podcast and hear journalists discussing the latest news in finance and markets 7 days a weeks.
-
Wall Street Journal, September 24,
These are the most popular?stories from the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal has not'verified' these stories and?doesnt vouch for the accuracy of their content. Barry Diller announced on Wednesday that he has withdrawn his bid for MGM Resorts following a?months-long discussion with the company. Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia, said that an 'OpenAI' agent had infiltrated this summer a website for government services in Australia. He made his remarks at a United Nations meeting in New York. Grail Inc. has received a positive vote from the Food and Drug Administration regarding its premarket approval of its Galleri?multi-cancer-early detection test. Starboard Value, an activist investor, has taken a large stake in the construction company Knife River. The plan is to pressure Knife River to either 'improve their margins' or explore a possible sale. Brightline, Florida's high speed railroad is planning to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in New Jersey in order to restructure $5.5 billion of debt.
-
Qantas workers start 24-hour strike in four Australian airports: union
The 'Australian's' Transport Worker's Union announced that Qantas airport employees began a 24-hour walkout on Thursday at Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide airports. They demanded higher wages, more secure jobs, and improved safety standards. The union stated that the industrial action included workers from Qantas Ground Services, Australian air Express freight operations, and regional carrier QantasLink. The employees wanted pay increases that were in line with "industry standards", more full-time jobs, and integration of groups under a single Qantas organization. They argued the use of multiple "subsidiaries" by the company had fragmented its workforce and weakened safety standards. The TWU announced that in Sydney, 400 safety screeners will join the workers for a total of two sets of 'two-hour stops. Michael Kaine, TWU's National Secretary, said that "Strike action should always be a last option." The union criticised the 'Qantas labour structure, and claimed that after years of cost-cutting, it was time for a 'fundamental reset. Qantas has outsourced more than 1,800 jobs in Australia to ground workers who handled the airline's broader network in the COVID-19 pandemic. This action was later deemed illegal. A court ordered the airline to pay A$90 million ($64.03 millions) in fines last year. Qantas didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.
-
Hope fading for new Boeing deal during US-China summit, sources say
Two people who were briefed about the matter on Wednesday said that hopes for a new China-US commitment to purchase 'Boeing aircrafts are fading ahead of the Thursday summit between the US and Chinese Presidents. Negotiations remain in flux. The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the talks were private, said that the planemaker is instead trying to finalize an agreement for China to purchase 200 planes in May, and not earlier hopes to secure new commitments for several hundred more jets. Boeing is now competing for Chinese jetliner order after the provisional agreement struck at Donald Trump's final summit in Beijing with Xi Jinping. Airbus, the European competitor to Boeing's US-based planemaker, has continued to grow its market share on one of the largest aviation markets in the world. According to Airbus and Boeing's market forecasts, China will order more new jets than any other region by 2045. Both Trump-Xi Summits in this year were expected catalyze a second round of Boeing purchases. Before the spring summit, Boeing officials, Chinese and US officials discussed a deal that could include 500 jets. After the May summit, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the smaller-than-expected 200-jet deal was an "initial tranche" of orders and that reopening the China market was the real win. Analysts and investors had anticipated that another "large order" would be placed at the Thursday summit. But Ortberg played down this prospect last week. Richard Aboulafia is the managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consulting firm. Scott Kennedy, China specialist at Center for Strategic and International Studies said that brokering new jetliner agreements was not the top priority of this summit. He said that US and Chinese officials were more interested in extending the trade truce, discussing AI safeguards and weapons sales to Taiwan, as well as trade deals for soybeans and rare earth minerals. Kennedy stated that "These meetings are holding a lot of business relationships hostage." "New aircraft orders are a good thing, but I do not think they're a requirement for this summit." Boeing refused to comment on Ortberg's remarks from last week. The Chinese commerce ministry in Washington and the embassy of China there did not respond to comment requests. The US Trade Representative's Office has not responded to a comment request. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Wednesday that the US and China had agreed to extend a two-month trade truce, which was set to expire on 10 November. This will give them more time to negotiate a?potentially bigger trade agreement. Loss of Influence Shukor Yusof of Singapore's aviation consultancy Endau Analytics said that Airbus had made more progress in China in recent years than Boeing, in part due to the fact that?it has an assembly line in Tianjin, and China-European relations are "more benign" than China-US ones. He said that "Boeing's influence has diminished in our region due to its internal problems, and partly because of politics." Still, there is hope for progress between Boeing and China. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Fox News that "there are approximately 140 (jetliner) orders that are in good condition," with 10 more orders being?finalized. A person briefed in the matter said that final details of a part of the deal signed in May could be announced at the summit, if contracts are finalized despite the challenges. China was concerned about whether it would be able to access spare parts after Trump's earlier threats. China's Commerce Ministry said in May that the US had guaranteed supply of aircraft engine parts and other components under the Boeing agreement.
-
Hope fading for new Boeing deal during US-China summit, sources say
Two people who were briefed about the issue on Wednesday said that hopes for a new China agreement to purchase Boeing planes have sunk ahead of a summit on Thursday between the US president and the?Chinese leader. Negotiations are still in flux. People who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the planemaker is instead trying to finalize an agreement for China to purchase 200 planes in May, as opposed to earlier hopes for securing commitments for hundreds of more jets. Boeing is now competing for Chinese jetliner order after the provisional agreement struck at Donald Trump's final summit in Beijing with Xi Jinping, China's counterpart. Airbus, the European competitor to Boeing's US-based planemaker, has continued to grow its market share on?one of world's largest aviation markets. According to Airbus' and Boeing's market forecasts, China will order more new jets than any other region by 2045. Both 'Trump-Xi Summits' this year were expected catalyze a second round of Boeing purchases. Before the spring summit, Boeing officials, Chinese officials and US representatives were discussing a possible deal for 500?jets. After the May summit, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the smaller-than-expected 200-jet deal was an "initial tranche" of orders and that reopening the China market was the real win. Analysts and investors had anticipated that another large order would follow at Thursday's Summit, but Ortberg played down this prospect last week. Richard Aboulafia is the managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, a consulting firm in aerospace. Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said that brokering new jetliner agreements was not top priority during this summit. He said that US and Chinese officials were more interested in extending the trade truce, discussing AI safeguards and weapons sales to Taiwan, as well as trade deals for soybeans and rare earth minerals. Kennedy stated that "These meetings are holding a lot of business relationships hostage." "New aircraft orders are a good thing, but I do not think they're a requirement for this summit." Boeing refused to comment on Ortberg's remarks from last week. The Chinese commerce ministry in Washington and the embassy of China there did not reply to requests for comments. The US Trade Representative's Office has not responded to a comment request. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Wednesday that the US and China had agreed to extend a two-month trade truce, which was set to expire at the end of November. This will give them more time to negotiate a potential 'bigger' trade deal. Loss of Influence Airbus made more progress in China in recent years than Boeing, in part due to the fact that it has a final assembly in Tianjin, and because China-European relations were "more benign" compared to those between China and US, according Shukor Yusof of Singapore aviation consultancy Endau Analytics. He said that "Boeing's influence has been reduced in our region, partially due to politics but mainly because of internal problems." There is still hope for progress between Boeing and China, especially on the 200-jet contract announced in May. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Fox News that "there are approximately 140 (jetliner) orders that are in good condition," with 10 more orders being?finalized. According to a person briefed about the issue, "final details" for a part of the deal signed in May could be revealed during the summit if the contracts are finalized despite the challenges. China was concerned about whether it would be able to access spare parts after Trump's earlier threats. China's Commerce Ministry said in May that the US had guaranteed supply of aircraft engine parts and other components under the Boeing agreement.
-
OpenAI data breach is the latest in a long list of cyber-attacks on Australia
Australia announced on Thursday that an OpenAI agent had breached the government's health data portal in June and gained unauthorised access. This could be the first instance known of an AI agent hacking into a government website. This breach is just one of a?dozen? that have affected some of Australia's largest companies in the past few years. The frequency and size of the attacks have been cited by experts as evidence that Australia's cybersecurity industry is understaffed. The following is a list with the biggest data breaches of recent years: SEPTEMBER: OPTUS Optus Australia, the second largest mobile operator in Australia, is owned by Singapore Telecommunications. The breach affected 9.5 millions customers, or about 40% of Australia's population. Data exposed included home addresses, driver's licences, and passport numbers. OCTOBER: WOOLWORTHS Woolworths, Australia's largest grocer, said that its majority-owned MyDeal online retailer identified a "compromised credential" used to access their systems. This exposed email addresses, phone numbers, and delivery addresses for about 2.2 millions customers. NOVEMBER: MEDIBANK Medibank, Australia's biggest health insurer, which covers around one-sixth Australians, has revealed that the personal data and health claims of approximately 9.7 million current and former clients were compromised. LATITUDE: FINANCIAL SERVICE MARCH 2023 Latitude, a digital lending and payments firm in Australia, said that a hacker stole millions of records from customers including 7,9 million Australian and New Zealand driver's license numbers. MAY 2024: MEDISECURE MediSecure, a provider of electronic prescription services, disclosed a cyberattack. It later said that the attack exposed?personal information and health records of about 12,9 million people. This was one of the biggest cyberattacks ever recorded in Australian history. The size of the breach forced the company to go into administration. JULY 2025: QANTAS Qantas Australia's largest airline said that in July 2025, a breach on a third party platform exposed the personal data of 5.7 millions customers. AUGUST - 2026: ORIGIN ENERGY Origin Energy, the largest electricity and natural gas provider in the country, announced that a data breach occurred late July, exposing credit card information and bank account numbers of around 900,000.
-
Bangladesh buys 11 additional Boeing jets to strengthen trade relations with the US
Bangladesh will buy 11 more aircraft from Boeing. Officials announced this on Wednesday. The order, which was originally planned for Biman?Bangladesh Airlines, has now been increased to 25 planes. Dhaka is seeking closer trade relations with the US due to concerns about tariffs on exports. The agreement is scheduled to be signed in New York, on Wednesday. It is part of Bangladesh's efforts to increase imports from United States and ease the pressure from a $6 billion trade deficit. Brent Christensen confirmed the Boeing order in a post on Facebook, calling it a "win-win situation" for US-Bangladesh relationships. Boeing announced that Biman had ordered 11 Dreamliner 787 and 737 MAX aircraft. Boeing announced in a statement that the order included five 787-10 jets and six 737-8 aircraft. Biman renews its fleet to "improve connectivity" and "expand capacity". The order comes after a $3.7billion deal in April that included?14 Boeing aircraft including 10 Dreamliners and 4 737 MAX 8 jets with delivery scheduled between 2031 and 2030. Airbus, the European rival, is still in contention. A government-appointed technical panel will be reviewing a proposal for 10 aircraft.
-
US FAA: Error messages in the telecommunications system prompted Sunday's shift to backup
The head of US Federal Aviation Administration, said that a series?of error messages in a Telecommunications circuit? prompted the agency to switch on a 'backup -fiber line? before an outage caused thousands of flights to be snarled along the East Coast. The FAA reported that its contractor L3Harris informed them they wanted to switch on the backup Sunday in order to begin troubleshooting the circuit at an air traffic control facility in Philadelphia before a New Jersey Transit worker?on Monday, accidentally cut the backup fibre line near New Brunswick. L3Harris didn't immediately reply to a comment request. Congress approved $12.5 billion for air traffic control reform last year. However, the project has taken on a new urgency after the major telecom failure that paralyzed East Coast traffic for hours. About 9,500 US flights have been delayed or cancelled on Monday after the FAA had to halt flights at airports including New York, Philadelphia Boston and Washington for several hours. The incoming flights were halted at the major airports the day 130 world leaders, including dozens of ministers, arrived in New York to attend the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. At an event held in Washington, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said to reporters that the "old system" must be discarded. When it fails, "we just don't have the redundancy we would get with a modern architecture." Bedford stated that he believes the total cost of the upgrade to be $27 billion. Congress must approve an additional $10.5 billion to cover the cost of the project, including money from other funds. Bedford stated that the FAA requires a modern telecommunications system to be installed on an existing network, such as Verizon or AT&T. Bedford stated that the replacement of copper wires by fiber will be complete in September 2027, but it won't be enough to prevent future power outages. The first phase of this project was not able to afford a new telecommunications system, "which could have been a mistake," Bedford said.
Poland suspects Starlink fire as a sabotage
Krzysztof GAWKOWSKI, deputy prime minister, said that a fire broke out on Wednesday night at a Starlink satellite communication station located in central Poland. The system provides connectivity to the region, including Ukraine.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine's neighbour in 2022, Poland has been on high alert for acts sabotage. Russia has repeatedly denied such an action.
He said that the fire had engulfed both the power station and generator. It was clear that the act of sabotage had been deliberately planned to disable the station, effectively cutting off internet access... for various institutions including the Ukrainian Military.
"While everything may be operational today, as Prime Minister Tusk recently noted, this is an element hybrid warfare."
He said that although it was not confirmed that Russia was the cause of?the fire "many signs" suggest that this is in line with Russia's "new doctrine of attack".
(source: Reuters)