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Nordic postal operators stop shipments to US after Trump ends parcel tariff reduction
Posten Bring, PostNord and the Norwegian-Swedish-Danish postal group Posten Bring are halting parcel shipments into the United States in anticipation of the closing of an American customs tax loophole which allows duty-free entry to low-value packages. The U.S. administration of Donald Trump announced last month that it would suspend global "de minimis", which allows minimal paperwork for international shipments below $800, effective August 29, 2018. PostNord, owned by the Swedish-Danish governments, said that it temporarily stopped shipments due to the short period of time to adapt to new requirements. Financial markets around the world have been shaken by Trump's policies. According to the White House, under the executive order that suspends the "de minimis exemption", low-value packages shipped to the U.S. are subject to "all applicable duty". Posten Bring, the state-owned postal company in Norway, said that "the details surrounding this issue have not been clarified yet by U.S. Customs authorities and no system solution has been developed for postal companies to use." The European postal industry is working to achieve clarity. (Reporting and editing by Terje Sosvik, Alex Richardson and Anna Ringstrom)
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Karachi, Pakistan is hit by torrential rainfall and flooding
Officials in Pakistan announced a holiday for Wednesday, as Karachi, the country's financial capital, braced itself for more rain. The annual monsoon had caused flooding and killed at least seven people, according to officials. In recent days, the monsoon rains have caused havoc in Pakistan. The death toll of flash floods which struck the mountains northwest on Friday has risen to 377. Abdul Wahid Halepoto is the provincial government's spokesperson. He said that since Tuesday when the rains started in Karachi (a southern port city), at least seven people had died. In some areas of Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city with more than 20,000,000 residents, rainfall levels were unprecedented in recent years. The authorities ordered the closure of educational institutions and offices. Anjum Nadir, the spokesperson of the provincial meteorological office, said: "We expect more intense rains." He said that the rain on Tuesday varied between 80 mm (3.15") and 178mm (7.01") in different areas of the city. Nazir reported that the area surrounding the airport had received 163.5mm of rainfall, the most since 1979. In the northeast, 178mm was recorded. This is the highest amount of rainfall since the station was established there five years ago. Officials said that the rain disrupted flights, power, and mobile phone service. Local television footage showed houses and cars submerged in water, as well as vehicles floating down streets. Murtaza Wahab, Mayor of the city, told Geo News that volunteers, police officers, and civic government agencies are helping with relief efforts. He said, "We are putting all of our resources to work." Wahab claimed that the rains had overloaded the city's infrastructure. Mumbai, India's capital of finance, has also experienced heavy monsoon rainfall, with parts of the city receiving as much as 875 mm in the five days before August 20. On Wednesday, many schools were closed in the city for a second day. Train services were also disrupted. Residents were asked to stay indoors as the forecast called for more rain. Reporting by Ariba Shahzad and Asif Shahid in Islamabad, and Shilpa jamkhandikar and Asif in Mumbai. Writing and editing by Asif; Kate Mayberry.
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Gulf bourses drop ahead of Fed speech
Investors waited to hear what Jerome Powell, the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair, would say at a major conference later this week about the direction of interest rates. Powell's Friday speech at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium is the focus of traders, who are looking for any pushback on market expectations that a rate reduction will be coming next month. The dollar is the most common currency in Gulf markets. The benchmark index in Qatar fell 0.6% due to declines across the board. Qatar National Bank, which is the largest lender in the region, decreased by 1%, while Qatar Navigation dropped 1.6%. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index fell by 0.2% with the majority of constituents falling. Saudi Basic Industries fell 2.9%, while oil giant Saudi Aramco dropped 1.1%. Dubai's benchmark index fell by 0.2%, with the majority of sectors showing a red color. Emirates Central Cooling Systems dropped by 1.2% and Emirates NBD fell by 1.3%. The largest lender, ENBD, issued a Dim Sum bond of 1 billion renminbi (139 million dollars) over a three-year period on Tuesday. It yielded 2.4%. Multiply Group's 2.7% increase and Aldar Properties' 0.8% gain boosted the Abu Dhabi benchmark index by 0.1%. Alpha Dhabi, a conglomerate, and ADNOC Logistics fell by 1% and 0.9%.
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Trafigura and its consortium aim to complete the US loan agreement by 2025
Lobito Atlantic Railway's (LAR) CEO said that the company aims to complete by the end this year a loan agreement worth $533 million with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. This deal is crucial for upgrading its Angolan concession. The U.S. Development lender pledged a $533 million loan by 2024 for the upgrade of 1,300 km (800 miles) in railways, and to provide a fast route to haul minerals which are crucial to the global switch to cleaner energy. Angola granted LAR, a consortium of Trafigura Mota-Engil Vecturis SA a 30-year contract in 2022 to operate the rail line and provide a fast route for exports of copper and cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo via the Lobito Port on the Atlantic Coast. Nicholas Fournier, the company's newly-appointed CEO, said that funding from the United States was nearing completion despite concerns raised by Donald Trump's reversal on climate and energy policies of Biden's time. "There won't be any change." Fournier said in an interview that although many people have tried to portray this as geopolitical, it is really a business transaction. There are lawyers from both sides who are arguing over the last comma. It's moving in the right direction. He added, "We hope to complete this before the end the year." Fournier stated that LAR expects the volume of the Lobito to double after ongoing upgrades funded by consortium partners who have committed $555 millions in investment. "We would like to double our production in 2026, doing 40,000 tonnes a month one way, and 40,000 tonnes the other. He said that he hoped to continue to produce 1.5 million tons of coal a year in the next decade. LAR's cargo train transports mainly copper and coal to the Lobito Port for export markets. The trains also transport sulphur to DRC mines, as well as agricultural products and industrial goods from the port.
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Karpowership, a Turkish ship, will supply Iraq with 590 MW maximum of electricity
The Turkish company Karpowership announced on Wednesday that it had signed a contract to supply Iraq with 590 megawatts to stabilize its national grid. Iraq, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the world's largest oil producer, has struggled since 2003 to provide power to its citizens following the U.S. invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein. Karpowership stated in a press release that the initial contract signed with Iraq's Ministry of Electricity and General Company for Electric Energy Production is for 71-days. It added that two floating power plants docked at Khor Al Zubair port and Umm Qasr in Basra are expected to become operational within a month. Iraq's central and southern regions experienced power outages this month due to a sudden shut down at a power station that caused a fault in its electricity grid. Ziad Ali Fadhil, Iraq's electricity minister, said in a statement earlier this month that the country produces around 28 MW of power. Iraq has signed agreements with General Electric for the construction of power plants of a combined capacity of 24 000 MW, and Siemens for an additional 14,000 MW. According to the official news agency, it will soon sign a contract with Shanghai Electric for a production capacity of up to 10,000MW. An official from the Iraqi electricity ministry told Iraq's national news agency that Iraq needed between 32,000 and 35,000 MW in order to bridge the gap between supply and demand. Can Sezer, Rashmi aich and Joe Bavier edited the report.
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Slovakia confirms that it will receive oil through the Druzhba Pipeline again
The Druzhba Pipeline is now supplying oil to Slovakia, according to the Slovak Economy Ministry late on Tuesday. This was after a drone strike by Ukraine on a pumping station for oil in Russia's Tambov Region cut off supply. Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russia's infrastructure for energy, which is a major source of revenue for the Kremlin, as oil and gas sales account for about a quarter (or more) of Russia's state budget. Contrary to most European Union nations, Slovakia and Hungary neighbours have maintained their dependency on Russian energy. They get the majority of their crude oil through the Druzhba Pipeline. Denisa Sakova, Economy Minister of Slovakia, said in a press release that "the flow of oil into Slovakia is standard at the moment." In the next few days, we'll have more information on whether or not there will be adjustments made to the current supply schedule. The impact of the Druzhba Pipeline's rapid return to flow will be minimal, however, I think. It was not clear immediately if the flow of migrants to Hungary had resumed. In March, oil flow via the Soviet-built Druzhba pipe was briefly halted following an attack by Ukrainian forces on a metering post. (Reporting and editing by Himani Sarkar, Tom Hogue, Alan Charlish)
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Ukrainian attack cuts off power in Russia's Zaporizhzhia
The Moscow-installed Governor said that a drone attack by Ukraine late Tuesday night knocked out the power in areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Region under Russian control. Russian forces control more than half of the Zaporizhzhia Region in Ukraine's south-east. Kyiv still controls the main administrative centre of the region, and its attacks have regularly knocked out power in Russian-held regions. In 2022, Russia annexed Zaporizhzhia, as well as Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk, in the east of Ukraine, around seven months after it invaded its smaller neighbor. Yevgeny Baltsky, the newly appointed governor of Zaporizhzhia by Moscow, wrote in the Telegram app: "The cause for the power outages in Zaporizhzhia is yet another enemy drone attack on high voltage equipment." Balitsky stated that repair crews are restoring power to affected areas and switching them over to reserve lines. The work was complicated "by the threat of repeated strikes and the darkness". In June, Ukrainian shelling and drone strikes knocked out electricity for over 24 hours at least 700 000 residents in the region. This attack was the largest on Russian-held territories since the beginning of the war. Director of Communications Yevgenia Yashina told Russia's RIA News Agency that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, Europe's biggest with six reactors and owned by Russia, continued to operate as usual, unaffected, by the power outages. The plant does not produce electricity, but it needs power to run cooling systems and monitor safety systems. Ukraine and Russia accuse each of other regularly of staging attacks against the plant that was seized by Russian troops in the first few weeks of the invasion of February 2022. Vyacheslav PROKUDIN, the governor of the Kherson region that is under Ukrainian control said in a Telegram message that Russian shelling had killed a resident from a small village north of the regional's capital. Serhiy lysak, the governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region, in the north, said that Russian shelling had killed a Nikopol resident, which is a common target of Moscow’s attacks on the Dnipro River's north bank. (Reporting and editing by Ron Popeski)
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Delta United sued for selling 'windowless seats'
Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and other airlines were sued by passengers on Tuesday who claimed that they had paid more money for "window" seating only to be placed in seats facing a blank wall. United filed a proposed class action in San Francisco Federal Court and Delta filed a proposal in Brooklyn New York Federal Court, seeking millions in damages for over 1 million passengers. According to the complaints, some Boeing 737s, Boeing 757s and Airbus A321s have seats without windows because of placements of electrical conduits, air conditioning ducts or other components. Delta and United passengers claim that they do not flag these seats when booking, unlike competitors such as Alaska Airlines or American Airlines. This is true even though they charge tens of dollars, and sometimes hundreds, for them. According to the lawsuits, people purchase window seats in order to alleviate their fear of flying, motion sickness, or keep a young child busy, or for extra light. They also buy them so they can watch the world pass by. United's complaint stated that "had plaintiffs and class members known the seats they purchased (were not) windowless, then they would never have chosen them, much less paid extra." Delta's complaint also contained similar language. Delta has its headquarters in Atlanta and United in Chicago. Both did not immediately respond to requests for comments. The carriers can generate additional revenue by offering services such as seat upgrades, luggage fees, airport lounges, and cabin upgrades. This allows them to keep base fares low while generating more money. Aviva Copaken from Los Angeles and Marc Brenman from San Francisco are leading the United lawsuit. Copaken claimed that United reimbursed her for windowless seats she had on two flights but not the third. SeatGuru, a website that allows passengers to search for the pluses and negatives of seats including those without windows, is a great tool. Carter Greenbaum, an attorney whose firm filed both lawsuits, stated that the fact that Delta and United could have gotten information from websites of third parties does not excuse their conduct. He said that a company cannot misrepresent its products and then use third-party reviews to claim that a customer would have known it was lying. Meyer v Delta Air Lines Inc., U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York No. The cases are Meyer v Delta Air Lines Inc, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, No. 25-06995. Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, New York Editing Marguerita Choy
Wall Street Journal August 20,
These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch their accuracy.
Ancora, an activist investor, is pressing CSX to merge with a competitor or replace Joe Hinrichs as CEO. The investor has threatened a proxy battle if CSX does not act in the face of industry consolidation.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has backed away from his plans to create the America Party. He will instead focus on his business and continue to maintain close ties with Vice-President JD Vance while considering future political involvement.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged between 6 months and 2 years, as well as older children at high risk. This is a sharp break with the CDC, under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Health Secretary, who no longer recommends vaccinations for healthy children
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu defies the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. She defends the city’s sanctuary policies, and warns against federal overreach. (Compiled by Bengaluru Newsroom)
(source: Reuters)