Latest News
-
Dar Global and Trump Organization Launch $10 Billion Saudi Developments
Ziad El Chaar, CEO of Saudi real estate developer Dar Global, announced on Sunday that two Trump-branded luxury projects will be launched in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and Jeddah (Jordan). Chaar said that the projects include the Trump National Golf Course in Riyadh and the Trump International Hotel at Diriyah. This is a massive project located on the western edge of the Saudi capital. Chaar said that a mixed-use development called Trump Plaza is planned for Jeddah. Chaar stated that the projects were in line with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, which aims to diversify its economy and move away from oil. The aim is to attract direct foreign investment. Saudi Arabia will also allow foreigners to own property in certain areas for the first-time starting this month. According to Eric Trump, son of U.S. president Donald Trump and executive vice-president of the Trump Organization, the latest in a long line of partnerships between the Trump Organization and Dar Global (the international arm of Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan) is expected to be completed within the next four or five years. (Reporting and editing by Tomasz Janovski and David Goodman in Riyadh)
-
Maersk is exploring more ethanol for green fuel in order to reduce its reliance on China.
The Financial Times published an interview with Maersk's CEO, Vincent Clerc, on Sunday. This could reduce the company's dependence on China, and help the industry to decarbonise. Clerc stated that the U.S. and Brazil are the leading producers of ethanol in the world. Clerc?told FT that if all the benefits are concentrated in China then some countries may object. But if they're more evenly distributed then many more will be supportive ?.?.?. It will allow more countries to see the benefits of the green transition. The shipping industry is more difficult than others to reduce emissions. This requires expensive retrofits for existing vessels or new ships that are able run on efuels. Hapag-Lloyd?and North Sea Container Line (NCL), two shipping companies, won a tender late last year to use low-emission fuels made from hydrogen on container ships starting in 2027. The contract will run for three years. (Reporting from Gnaneshwar rajan in Bengaluru, editing by Kate Mayberry.)
-
Ukrainian drone attack injures four, damages buildings in Russia's Voronezh, governor says
The governor of Voronezh Region said that an overnight Ukrainian drone strike inflicted injuries on at least four people and caused damage to a number of buildings. The governor Alexander Gusev said on Telegram that an emergency service facility, six houses, and seven apartment buildings were damaged by the attack. The?reports could not be independently verified. Ukraine claims that it has been attacking targets in Russia since the Kremlin launched its war nearly four years ago. This is in response to the repeated drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. Russia launched a missile at a Ukrainian site near NATO member Poland on Friday, an attack Kyiv's European partners characterized as a ploy to dissuade them from continuing their support for Ukraine. (Reporting and editing by Alistair Bell in Melbourne)
-
Mississippi man accused in killing six people, including a 7-year old child and a pastor
Officials from law enforcement said that a man was arrested and charged for first-degree homicide in the deaths of six people on Friday night, including a young child, in Clay County, Mississippi. Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott announced on Saturday that Daricka Moore, 24, is suspected of killing several members of her family and a pastor in the area before she was taken into custody. Officials said that the charge against Moore is likely to be upgraded to capital murder and a death penalty could be imposed if he is found to have mental competency. This is horrible. "This is as bad as it gets," said Scott Colom. He's the district attorney of Mississippi's Sixteenth Circuit Court. His jurisdiction includes Clay County. Scott claims that Moore shot his father, brother and uncle in the head, killing them, on Friday night. He then stole a truck, drove to another location, where he attempted to sexually abuse a 7-year old girl who was related to him before shooting her dead in the head. The?law enforcers responded to the 911 call and were directed to a third location where they found two other males who had been fatally shot. One of those men was a pastor from the area. Moore was arrested at a nearby area 'just before midnight', Scott reported. Scott stated that the motives of the murders were unknown. Scott said at a press conference that the incident had "really?shaken" his community. "I personally don't know why someone would kill a seven-year-old." Scott stated that autopsies will be conducted by the Mississippi Crime Lab. Moore will appear in court Monday. Clay County is located in northeastern Mississippi. It has a population close to 20,000. (Reporting and editing by Sergio Non in Houston, Mark Potter and Rod Nickel.
-
Local media and law enforcement say that a suspect has been arrested after six people were killed in Mississippi
Local news outlets and police have not provided any additional information, but say that at least six people died after being shot in Clay County, Mississippi. The suspect is in custody. According to WTVA (an NBC News affiliate), the deaths took place at?three separate shooting locations. Eddie Scott, the Clay County Sheriff, announced on social media that the suspect was "in custody" and no longer posed a threat to 'our?community. WTVA reported that six people were killed. Scott and the Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to an?ask for comment. Scott posted on Facebook: "I ask you to lift up our victims and their families in your prayers." Clay County is located in the?northeast part of Mississippi. It has a population close to 20,000. Reporting by Ernest Scheyder. (Editing by Sergio Non, Mark Potter and Mark Potter.
-
Four tankers, which had left Venezuela in "dark mode", are now back in its waters
Four tankers, the majority of which were loaded, left Venezuela early in January in "dark mode" - that is, with their transponders turned off despite a "strict" U.S. blockade. According to the state company PDVSA, and the monitoring service TankerTrackers.com, the blockade is now in place. Last month, a flotilla consisting of at least three empty ships and a dozen vessels with cargo left Venezuelan waters. This was in apparent defiance to an embargo that President Donald Trump imposed on Venezuela since mid-December. The U.S. seized the?supertanker M Sophia with a Panamanian flag this week as it returned to the country. Another Aframax Tanker Olina, flying a Sao 'Tome and Principe flag, was also?intercepted, but was released to Venezuela Friday by state company PDVSA. Tankertrackers.com spotted three more vessels in Venezuelan waters on Friday night through satellite images. These were the Panama-flagged Merope and Cook Islands-flagged Min Hang, as well as Panama-flagged Thalia III. U.S. authorities had announced on Friday that Olina, formerly known as Minerva m, would be released. They said that the next step in the negotiations between Caracas, Washington and the U.S. for a $2 billion oil deal would be to begin organized crude exports. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that arrangements had been made for a supply of oil in a meeting with executives from top oil companies on Friday. Sources said that Vitol, Trafigura and other global trading houses received the first U.S. licensing to carry Venezuelan exports and to negotiate with Venezuela. Naphtha is also expected to be supplied to the OPEC nation, according to sources. Marianna Pararaga, Julia Symmes Cobb and Marianna Parraga contributed to this report.
-
Kyiv scrambles after Russian attack to repair the damaged power grid
Kyiv’s heating and water systems were restored after they had been briefly turned off on Saturday due to a particularly cold day. Engineers scrambled for stabilisation of a power grid that was pushed to its limits by a series of Russian airstrikes, including the one from two nights ago. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been bombarding Ukraine's power system with intense force. This has caused blackouts that last for several hours each day in many major cities. The heat and water infrastructure has also been severely affected over the past few weeks. This is a growing concern as temperatures have already dropped below minus 10 degrees Celsius. Around noon local time (1100 GMT) on Sunday, the city administration announced that Ukrenergo, the state grid operator, had ordered that the city's power system be shut down. The water and heating systems, as well as the?electrified transport would stop working. Ukrenergo reported that engineers had resolved the immediate problem, caused by previous Russian attacks, and power was returning to parts of Kyiv within an hour. The Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stated that the heating system in Ukrainian cities, which pumps hot water into homes through pipes and is centralised, will also be re-started. She said she expects heat to be restored to all homes on Saturday. She said, however, that power was still a problem in the capital, because the grid had been badly damaged and more people were using electric heaters due to the cold. After the latest Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv, about 6,000 apartment blocks were left with no heating as bitter cold settled in. Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said that half of these blocks had their heat restored by Saturday. However, it was then shut off again because there was a problem with the power grid. (Reporting and editing by Max Hunder, Emelia Sithole Matarise and Mark Potter)
-
Ethiopia starts construction of the 'African's largest airport' worth $12.5 billion
Ethiopian Airlines officially began a $12.5billion construction project on Saturday for what officials claim will be Africa's largest airport when completed in 2030. The airport is located about 45 km (28miles) south of Addis Ababa. Abiy Ali, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, said on X that "Bishoftu Airport International will be the biggest aviation infrastructure?project? in Africa's?history". The airport has space for 270 planes, and can accommodate 110 million passengers per year. Abiy stated that the airport will reach its capacity in two to three years. Abraham Tesfaye, Director of Infrastructure Development & Planning at the airline, told reporters that it would finance 30% of the project and lenders would finance what's left. He said that the earthworks are expected to be finished in one year. The main contractors will begin work in August 2026. The initial estimate for the project was $10 billion. The African Development Bank is another creditor. Last August, it announced that it would lend $500 millions and lead efforts to raise $8.7 Billion. Abraham stated that "lenders from Middle East Europe China and USA showed strong interest in financing the project." Ethiopian Airlines is Africa’s largest airline. Ethiopian Airlines has added six new routes by 2024/25 and revenues are increasing. (Written by Tim Cocks. Mark Potter edited the text.
Norway's FSA claims that a firm issued fake insurance to Russian oil tankers.
According to Norwegian authorities, the insurance documents issued by a small Norwegian firm to cover up the forgeries were bogus. The documents were used to circumvent international sanctions and hide the age of the oil tankers.
Romarine AS, a Norwegian-registered company, claimed to be an insurer. Their website listed dozens of tanks believed to be a part of Russia’s shadow fleet. This included vessels that were under Western sanctions.
The FSA stated that the company is not registered by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (FSA) as an insurer.
Western nations have sanctioned hundreds of ships that they suspect Russia uses to circumvent price caps on crude oil exports and other cargos.
These vessels are not covered or regulated by the conventional Western insurance companies, which poses the risk of unreliable tankers and environmental damages in the event that a shipwreck occurs.
The fact that Romarine made an effort in order to prove the tankers' insurance coverage by Western insurers, should they sink or be polluted, is what makes this case stand out.
Jo Gjedrem is an official with the FSA. She said, "It is an unusual case."
The FSA warned Romarine about its failure to comply with the warning in January. It then issued an order to stop operations on 4 March.
Romarine, in response to an email question from, said that it was aware of FSA's order of March 4, and had responded "with some delays through our lawyers".
Romarine stated that they operated within the applicable regulations but had decided to cease taking on new business until "positive feedback" from the authorities.
Romaine has not responded to the FSA, according to the FSA.
According to the Norwegian commercial database, Proff, Andrey Mochalin is the sole owner of Romarine AS. He is a Russian national and a former employee at Norwegian insurer Hydor AS.
Johan Gjernes is the former chairman of Romarine and chief business officer at Hydor AS. He told us via email that Romarine had been sold to Mochalin, who now owns it. Gjernes left Romarine in 2023 and Mochalin took over as chairman one year later. This is according to the official Norwegian company registry.
According to Norid AS (Norway's government-run registry for domain names), Romarine's site is located in Russia. Two commercial IP-locating websites pointed to an address in St Petersburg.
Mochalin has not returned any of the requests sent via email, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, or telephone.
SHIPS SUBJECT TO SANCTIONS
Romarine's site, as of early march, listed at least 30 oil tanksers that were subject to U.S. sanctions, EU sanctions or UK sanctions. These included the Captain Kostichev oil tanker and Ionia oil tanker, which appeared on certificates of insurance submitted to Russian port authorities.
Since then, some names have been removed.
The certificate of insurance issued by the Gabon flagged tanker Ionia on February 2, and dated January 9, listed Romarine, as its insurer.
A second document, dated 24 March and presented by Captain Kostichev of Panama to the port authorities at De Kastri (Russia's Far East), listed Romarine as their insurer.
The vessel, although the certificate stated that it was valid through April 24, has been removed from Romarine's site while the Ionia still remains.
LSEG data indicates that the Captain Kostichev's operator is Stream Ship Management based in United Arab Emirates.
Narus Maritime Corporation, based in Seychelles, owns and operates the Ionia.
I was unable to contact either company for a comment.
Romarine responded that they had accidentally listed vessels subject to Western Sanctions on their website due to a glitch in the technical system.
The company replied in an email to a question received on 12 March. "We implemented our new automatic system a few weeks ago, and we are working to figure out what went wrong."
Gjedrem stated that the FSA was concerned about Romarine when it received an email inquiry from overseas last September asking about a letterhead document certifying Romarine as a ship's insurance.
Gjedrem: "We instantly saw that it was fake." The letterhead could have been copied and pasted onto the fake document. It quoted non-existent Norwegian laws. The person who signed the document never worked for Finanstilsynet, and the stamp on it was fake."
On March 25, the FSA posted an alert on its website about using Romarine's services.
Oslo Police has also opened an investigation into Romarine’s business activities following a complaint by the FSA.
Police said they were investigating 4 people, two Norwegians, one Bulgarian and one Russian. They are suspected of falsifying documents and performing insurance mediated activities without a license.
The police said that a search was conducted on the home of one of the suspected in late March.
The Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported the police investigation first.
Romaine did not respond to a question about the police investigation.
The Russian Ministry of Transport and the Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport have not responded to requests for comments about the Norwegian investigation of Romarine, or the Norwegian order to stop operations. Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov in Oslo, Nerijus Adomiaitis and reporters in Moscow. Additional reporting by Nidhi verma in New Delhi. Editing by Nina Chestney & Jason Neely.
(source: Reuters)