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A fired NTSB vice-chair sues Trump for removal from office
On Wednesday, the fired vice-chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump. He claimed that his removal was illegal and would threaten the safety mission of the independent agency. Alvin Brown was the first African American to be elected as mayor of Jacksonville in Florida. He was appointed vice chair by Joe Biden in December after he had joined the five member board in March 2024. Brown's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court of Washington, also names the NTSB as well as its Chair Jennifer Homendy. He is seeking a court ruling to allow him to fulfill his duties as board member and to "ensure that the NTSB may resume the work mandated by Congress as Congress intended." The lawsuit stated that his removal would have "significant and detrimental consequences" for the Board's work and the investigation and reporting on major transportation accidents and fatalities. The NTSB refused to comment. The White House didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. The NTSB investigates civil aviation accidents, as well as accidents involving other modes of transport - highways, ships, pipelines, etc. The NTSB investigates all civil aviation accidents as well as significant accidents in other modes of transportation - highway, marine, pipeline?? Brown's lawsuit said Trump could remove a member of a board "only for inefficiency or neglect in duty." Victoria Nugent, a lawyer for Brown said, "at a moment when transportation safety is a top priority, we should strengthen, not weaken, the systems that are meant to protect Americans." Trump has dismissed two Democratic members of his Federal Trade Commission, as well as members of other agencies, including the Merit Systems Protection Board, the National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Election Commission. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Trump to continue firing two Democratic members from federal labor boards while their legal challenges were pending. This dispute tests Trump's power over independent government agencies. Brown's removal as NTSB chairman came amid increased concern over aviation safety after the mid-air collision between a U.S. Army chopper and an American Airlines regional plane on January 29, which killed 67 people. Sean Duffy, Transportation Secretary, wants Congress to provide tens billions of dollars for a major overhaul of air traffic control in the United States. (Reporting and editing by David Shepardson)
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CANADA-CRUDE-Discount on Western Canada Select heavy crude widens; some oil sands production restarts after wildfire disruptions
On Wednesday, the discount between the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Western Canada Select (WCS), widened as some oil sands output that was temporarily halted due to the threat from nearby wildfires this week was restarted. WCS for Hardisty, Alberta delivery in July settled at $9.10 per barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI according to brokerage CalRock. It had settled at $9 per barrel below the U.S. standard on Tuesday. As wildfires raged in Canada's oil producing province of Alberta, several oil sands companies evacuated workers to be on the safe side. As a result, about 344,000 barrels of production per day, or 7% of Canada’s average daily crude oil production, were disrupted. Canadian Natural Resources (CNR), Canada's biggest crude producer, has restarted its Jackfish 1 facility and said that it expects to be back at full production by Friday, with approximately 36,500 barrels per day. Martin King, an analyst at RBN Energy, believes that the 238,000 bpd production currently shut down by Cenovus Energy’s Christina Lake oil-sands facility will likely also resume in the near future as the threat to oil sands equipment in the area appears to be lessening. Cenovus has not responded to the request for comment made on Wednesday. King said that the fact that the discount on Canadian Heavy Crude has increased suggests the market is looking beyond the wildfire shutdowns. King said that when the production disruptions were short-lived, barrels could be pulled from storage by the market, which would limit any impact on WCS prices. King stated that there had never been a real threat to the supply of goods in the short term. * Oil prices fell just under 1% globally on Wednesday, after U.S. government data revealed a surprising large increase in gasoline and diesel stocks. OPEC+ is planning to increase production, and trade tensions are clouding the outlook for energy demand.
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AJet, a Turkish airline, will begin flights to Damascus
Turkish Airlines subsidiary AJet announced that it would begin flights to Damascus International Airport in mid-June from Istanbul and Ankara. AJet announced in a press release that flights will begin on 16 June from the Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul. The flights will begin with four weekly flights, before becoming daily in July. The airline also announced that flights to Damascus will begin on June 17 at three times per week from Ankara, Turkey's capital. Turkish Airlines resumed its flights to Damascus after a 13 year suspension in January. According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, starting on June 10, Syria's flag airline Syrian Air will begin direct flights between Damascus and Istanbul. Turkey, an ally of Damascus' new government, has promised to help rebuild the country. The Turkish Transport Minister said that Ankara had already assisted in the maintenance and improvement of Syria's airfields. Reporting by Ceyda Kaglayan, Additional reporting by Menna al-Din from Cairo; Writing and editing by Ezgi Erkoyun.
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Airbus' procurement chief moves to India, but no successor has been named
According to a memo that was seen by the Observer, Airbus' top procurement executive, Juergen Westermeier has been named to lead its operations in India and South Asia as of September 1. The memo stated that his successor "is subject to further notice". Airbus has declined to comment about internal promotions. The European planemaker is struggling to keep up with production and delivery schedules of passenger jets, while also trying to stabilize a global supply network that has been hit by labour shortages as well as a lack of experience following the COVID-19 epidemic. Airbus reported that its deliveries were down 4% in May, and 5% for the entire year. The company faces a difficult task to meet its goal of increasing delivery by 7%, to 820 aircraft, for the whole of 2025. Rob Morris, head of Cirium Ascend's consultancy, announced on LinkedIn that the Airbus A320neo was behind Boeing's 737 MAX production in May, for the first since August 2019. Airbus has declined to comment on the monthly production. It blamed the production shortfalls, especially in engines and certain aerostructures, on a weak supply chain. Westermeier is the second person to be moved from a critical engineering or industrial role in the last few weeks, after Sabine Klauke, the head of the group's technology division was shifted to focus on digital manufacturing and design systems. According to a 2021 letter, Westermeier pressed suppliers to improve their quality and to stock more. He led an initiative last year to unify standards. Some suppliers say a different focus is required to encourage the supply chain to support higher output. According to a person familiar with the company, Westermeier was not moved by the recent supply-chain situation which had already begun to stabilize. Guillaume Faury, the CEO of the company, praised Westermeier's performance in a memo that was seen by the reporter. Westermeier succeeds Remi Maillard, who was appointed head of technology by Airbus last month. Airbus is studying the building blocks of a future replacement for its most popular A320neo aircraft. (Reporting from Tim Hepher. Jane Merriman, Ni Williams and Ni Merriman edited the article.
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US FAA is not considering lifting the Boeing 737 MAX Production Cap
Acting Federal Aviation Administration head said he was not considering lifting a cap on Boeing 737 MAX production of 38 planes a month imposed in January 2024 after a mid-air accident involving a brand new Alaska Airlines Boeing aircraft missing four bolts. After a hearing in the U.S. House, Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau said to reporters: "Not right now." He said he wasn't discussing a change in the FAA's policy to inspect all Boeing 737 MAXs or 787 Dreamliners prior to issuing individual airworthiness certificates. Boeing has not yet commented. FAA extended for three years last week, in a first-reported decision by, a program allowing Boeing to carry out certain tasks on behalf of the agency like inspections. The FAA said that Boeing had improved. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg stated last week that the company is "pretty sure" it can increase its production of best-selling 737 MAX aircraft to 42 per month. He said that after the FAA has approved Boeing's increase in output to 42 aircraft per month, "we have subsequent rate increases" in our plan. These will be typically in increments five aircraft each month and spaced at least six-months apart. Boeing requested five years for the Organization Designation Authorization, but the agency decided to extend it to three instead of the five Boeing asked for in order to make sure the planemaker made "required improvement." Congress adopted sweeping reforms on December 2020 regarding how the FAA certifies aircraft after two deadly 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 and caused the plane to be grounded for 20 months. According to the Office of Inspector General, FAA officials sought in 2023 to allow Boeing’s ODA resume issuing final certificates of airworthiness for 737s and 787s. The Alaska mid-air crisis occurred before senior FAA officials could approve this request. (Reporting and editing by Franklin Paul, Marguerita Choy, and David Shepardson)
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Cobalt Holdings cancels London IPO plans
Cobalt Holdings, a metals investor, announced on Wednesday it would not be proceeding with its planned IPO on the London Stock Exchange. This ended hopes of what could have been a major listing in the UK's capital since early-2024. The company refused to give any reasons as to why it had decided not list its shares, despite the fact that they were priced at $2.56 each. One person who was familiar with the process stated that it was stopped because there wasn't enough investor demand. The person spoke under condition of anonymity as they were not authorized by the government to speak publicly. London's biggest market debut since Air Astana was about $230 Million Listing In February 2024, London's struggle to attract new listings prompted reforms last summer to make it more competitive after Brexit with New York. In recent years, several London-listed companies have moved their primary listing from London to New York. They also chose Europe for IPOs where they think they can get better valuations. Unilever selected Amsterdam for the listing of its ice-cream business Ben & Jerry's, while fast fashion retailer Shein chose Hong Kong as its IPO. Glencore and Anchorage Structured Commodities Advisor affiliates had agreed to purchase about 20,5% of the shares offered by Cobalt in its IPO, when it was announced at first in May. Cobalt had planned to use the proceeds of its IPO to purchase 6,000 metric tonnes of cobalt metal for batteries, valued at around $200 million.
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Enterprise Products reports that the US is set to refuse export of three ethane shipments to China
Enterprise Products Partners announced on Wednesday that it had received notification from the U.S. Commerce Department of its intention to reject their requests to export to China three cargoes totaling 2.2 million barrels. After Donald Trump, the U.S. president, imposed tariffs on China in early April, a trade war has been ongoing between the U.S. Enterprise, a pipeline and terminal operator, said last week its ethane-and-butane exports may be affected by the Department of Commerce's requirement that Enterprise apply for a licence to export to China. The company handles a lot of ethane, butane, and propane through its terminals. According to a filing by Enterprise, the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce informed Enterprise two weeks ago in a letter that exports of butane and ethane pose an unacceptable threat of being used for military purposes in China. Enterprise stated that it has up until 20 days to reply to the BIS notice regarding the denied export cargoes. This includes any comments or rebuttals. The BIS will not be able to change the decision unless the company receives a new notification by the BIS within 45 days of the initial notification. The BIS didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. The U.S. ordered last week that a wide range of companies stop shipping goods to China, including butane and ethane, without a licence and revoked the licenses granted to certain suppliers. The liquids ethane and butane that are separated from natural gas can be used for making plastics, chemicals, and heating. The Chinese use ethane to feed their petrochemical plants because it's cheaper than naphtha. Meanwhile, U.S. producers of oil and gas need China to purchase their natural gas liquids since the domestic supply is greater than demand. (Reporting and editing by Nia William in Houston, Arathy McCartney and Georgina McCartney)
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India instructs Turkish Airlines to comply after safety lapses
The Indian civil aviation ministry announced on Wednesday that it had ordered Turkish Airlines to comply with all aviation regulations after lapses were found in the carrier's passenger flights and cargo flights. From May 29 to June 2 the Directorate General of Civil Aviation inspected Turkish Airlines passenger and cargo flights in four Indian cities. The aviation ministry released a statement. DGCA approval is required for explosives to be transported across India. The ministry stated that the goods had not been declared. Turkish Airlines didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. IndiGo, the Indian airline, announced last week that it would end its lease agreement with Turkish Airlines on August 31. After Turkey supported Pakistan in the recent conflict, the agreement was criticized in India. The aviation ministry stated that "further follow-up checks will be carried out as needed to ensure continuous safety supervision." The DGCA carried out inspections in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru.
Hong Kong leader: sudden removal of China’s top official from the city "normal"
Hong Kong's leader stated on Tuesday that China had recently removed its top representative from the city. He was known for his strict policies regarding national security.
China surprised the world by announcing late Friday night that Zheng Yanxiong - the director of the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong, Beijing's main representation office in the city, with a powerful influence over local affairs – had been "removed".
Zhou Ji was appointed to replace him. He is a senior officer at the Hong Kong Macau Affairs Office of the State Council.
Zheng played a major role in the crackdown against Hong Kong's democratic movements in recent years. He was also stripped of his position as China's National Security Advisor on a Hong Kong committee that oversees national security.
Beijing and the Chinese state media have not explained this change.
A person familiar with the matter said that senior Chinese leaders were "surprised" by CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong conglomerate's proposal to sell its global port network in a consortium led initially by U.S. company Blackrock. They had not been informed before and Zheng is partly to blame for this.
As the conversation was confidential, the person who spoke with the liaison office declined to identify themselves.
No immediate response was given by the Liaison Office to questions faxed from.
Zheng has been in the position since January 2023. Although the position does not have a fixed term, Zheng's tenure is shorter than that of his predecessors Luo Huining or Zhang Xiaoming.
"I believe that the change in the director of the liaison office is very normal, just like all other changes of officials," Lee told reporters at a weekly press briefing. He did not elaborate on the reasons behind the reshuffle.
"Director Zheng spent about 5 years in Hong Kong." "Hong Kong was in a period of transition from chaos to order," Lee stated, referring the pro-democracy demonstrations that took place across Hong Kong for months. He added that he was looking forward to working together with Zhou.
In Chinese state-run media, CK Hutchison’s ports deal was criticized as "betraying China's interest" and as a result of U.S. pressure.
In March, the conglomerate controlled by tycoon Li Ka -shing agreed to sell to the consortium the majority of the $22.8 billion global port business it owned, which included assets located along the strategically important Panama Canal. Terminal Investment Limited is leading the consortium, and is owned by Italian billionaire Gianluigi Apponte's MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company.
Negotiations are still ongoing.
Lee responded that Hong Kong must continue to pursue both national security and economic development.
"Hong Kong is at a point where both development and safety are important, because any new development must take place in a safe environment."
China has promulgated an extremely powerful national security act in 2020. It has arrested scores of opposition activists and democrats, closed liberal media outlets, and punished free speech by sedition. (Reporting and editing by Edwina G. Gibbs; Additional reporting by Jessie Pang, Clare Jim.
(source: Reuters)