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Heathrow Airport expansion plan of $64 billion chosen by UK
The government announced on Tuesday that Britain chose Heathrow Airport’s expansion and upgrade plan worth 49 billion pounds ($64 billion) as the basis for a new runway. This was over a more affordable rival proposal. The decision comes after Finance Minister Rachel Reeves made a pledge In January, Build a third runway in Heathrow The airport will be redeveloped to spur economic growth and put an end to decades of uncertainty about its future. The headline figure includes 15 billion pounds in planned upgrades and 33 billion pounds for the construction of the runway, rerouting London's motorway orbital and adding a terminal. This year, the government has given its backing to airport projects. It has approved the use of a runway in the second largest airport in the UK, Gatwick. September Supporting a new terminal in Luton April is a month of celebrations. Heathrow’s plan was compared to an alternative by Arora Group which owns hotels and land near the airport. Arora estimated that its proposal was under 25 billion pounds. However, this figure did not include some costs. The Government sets a target of 2035 Planning consent is required by 2029. Flights on Heathrow's brand new runway will begin in 2035. The government chose Heathrow’s full-length plan for a runway as the "most achievable option" to meet these deadlines. The government has said that a "rapid and robust" review of Heathrow's expansion plans will help to shape them in line with Britain’s climate obligations. It also aims at avoiding potential legal challenges regarding air quality and emission levels, which it has faced in the past. Heathrow Airport, which is owned by Ardian France, Qatar Investment Authority and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, among others, welcomed the decision by the government but asked for clarification from the aviation regulator and government by mid-December in order to avoid any delays. Arora expressed its satisfaction that there was no single promoter and will revisit its plans. Airline companies are worried about cost Heathrow's high fees have been a concern for airlines like British Airways, IAG, and Virgin Atlantic. Heathrow Airport, located west of London is Europe's busiest and most crowded airport. It operates at maximum capacity. Heathrow's two runways are comparable to the four runways at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, Frankfurt Airport and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. In a statement, the government said that the review will include details like the length of runways, the layout and the associated infrastructure implications.
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Three dead after plane carrying food aid crashes south Sudan
An official with the international charity Samaritan's purse said that a plane carrying food aid to South Sudan's Unity State crashed on Tuesday and killed all three crew members. Bikram Rai said that the aircraft operated by Nari air was delivering 2 tonnes of supplies to flood-displaced people in Juba, according to Bikram. Rai confirmed that the three crew members had died. Around 8 am (0600 GMT), the aircraft crashed about 20 km (12 mi) from Leer Airstrip, in the oil-rich Unity State county of Leer near the Sudan border. Nari Air didn't respond to my phone call for comment. The aircraft's make and model were not immediately known. Nari Air's website states that it is based in South Sudan, and provides a variety of services such as chartered services both for passengers and cargo. (Writing and editing by Elias Biryabarema)
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Sources say that Russia is considering how to support Russian Railways, which has a debt of $51 billion.
Two people familiar with the situation said that the Russian government is looking at different options to support Russian Railways. The company, which is the largest employer in the country, has accumulated a debt of 4 trillion roubles ($50.8 billion). The state-owned Russian Railways employs 700,000 workers and has seen its revenues fall amid the sharp slowdown of Russia's wartime economy. Meanwhile, debt costs are on the rise, driven by interest rates that have reached their highest levels in 20 years. Two people, who requested anonymity because the subject was sensitive, said that Moscow had been discussing ways to help the railways pay off its debt, which is mainly owed to banks of state. Sources said that these include increasing the price of cargo, increasing subsidies, reducing taxes, or even using money from the National Wealth Fund. The sources said that raising the prices of railway cargo would hurt Russian exporters who are already suffering due to high interest rates and economic slowdown. One source said that Russian officials met in late November to discuss the current situation and will meet again in December. Requests for comments were not responded to by Russian Railways, Russian Government and Transport Ministry. There are some ideas that haven't been discussed yet at the level of government, such as capping interest rates for Russian Railways to 9% and converting debts into stakes. This would give state banks a piece of the company. Proposed DEBT-TO EQUITY CONVERSION According to a source, one of the proposals was to convert 400 milliards roubles in debt of Russian Railways into shares. According to the source, this measure would save 64 billion Rubbles in interest over three years. Sources portrayed the measures as a "save" Russian Railways. Russian Railways operates the third longest railway network in the world after the United States of America and China. One source said that it was not clear what the final government decision would be due to the differences in opinion between the representatives of the Finance, Economy, Transport and Trade Ministries. According to international standards, Russian Railways has reported revenues for 2024 of 3.3 trillion Russian roubles. Its expenditures are 2.8 trillion Russian roubles. The debt crisis raises alarm bells The company's financial statement for 2025 shows a net debt of 3,3 trillion roubles at June 30. This includes 1.8 trillion of short-term loans. The debt spiked by 0.7 trillion rubles in only half a calendar year. Russian Railways has been a leading indicator of the health of the Russian economy for many years. It transports oil, passengers and cargoes from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea and Baltic Sea. The state's war economy is a major challenge. Its struggles are a reflection of the challenges faced by too-big to fail companies that are indebted with state-owned banks. This leaves the state on a hook, at he same time as Russia spends record amounts on military spending and the war in Ukraine enters its fourth year. The war economy of PUTIN cools sharply In the first two years of Vladimir Putin's presidency, from 2000 to 2008. Russia's GDP grew from $200 billion to $1.7 trillion. Now, Russia's nominal GDP of $2.2 trillion, is about the same as it was in 2013, just before Russia annexed Crimea, and the economy will slow down sharply this coming year. The International Monetary Fund, however, has downgraded their 2025 forecast from 0.9% to 0.6%. The West claims it wants to cripple Russia’s economy in order to force the Kremlin into changing its course on Ukraine. However, Putin has stated that Russia will not bow to foreign pressure. Russian officials also claim the economy is secondary compared to the goals of the war. Putin claims that the economy performed better than anyone could have expected, despite the thousands of Western sanctions. He also says that it has a debt-free status in comparison to Western countries. He acknowledged that there were some issues with investments and the pain caused by high interest rates. Sberbank's senior executive, who is the country's biggest lender, said that Russia's economy has been "continuing cooling". Growth will be around 1% in next year, and business activity will remain weak for at least four or five quarters. $1 = 78.7500 Rubels (Additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and in Moscow; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Tomaszjanowski and Ros Russell).
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Tengiz, a Kazakhstani oil company, increased its monthly production by 8.5% between November 1 and 23, according to a source.
Tengiz is Kazakhstan's biggest oilfield. It increased its oil production from November 1 to 23, by 8.5% month-on-month, reaching 787,300 barges per day. However, this was still below the planned level by the Energy Ministry, according to a source with knowledge of the statistics. Yerlan Akkenzhenov, Kazakhstan's energy minister, said on Tuesday that Tengiz is currently undergoing maintenance without giving any details. Tengizchevroil is the U.S. oil giant Chevron that operates this field. They did not respond to our request for comment. The field was also maintained last month. The overall oil production in Kazakhstan fell by 10% last month to 1,69 million bpd. This is still higher than the limits set by the OPEC+ Group, which includes the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers including Russia. Kazakhstan's OPEC+ production quota in October was 1.556 million bpd. Tengiz's production increase this year is one of the major reasons Kazakhstan exceeded its quota. Chevron began production in January at the $48 billion expansion to Tengiz Oilfield, which will increase its output by around 1%. Tengiz has one of the most complex and deepest fields in the world due to its high sulphur levels and extreme weather conditions. (Reporting and Editing by Alison Williams).
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Maersk will return to Red Sea route once conditions permit, CEO says
Vincent Clerc, CEO of Maersk Shipping Company, said that the company will resume its navigation through the Suez Canal and Red Sea as soon as the conditions permit. Maersk began diverting ships away from the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and towards the southern tip of Africa after a Yemeni Houthi militant attack on one of their ships. The Houthi militants attacked the ship in solidarity with Palestinians living in Gaza. Clerc said that the company was encouraged by the progress of the Gaza peace process, which will allow for the freedom of navigation of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. This was revealed in a press conference held in Egypt with the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rahbie. Clerc stated that Maersk would take action to resume the East West Corridor via the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and eventually normalise the transit. Clerc said that Maersk would resume navigation via the Red Sea as soon as the conditions permit, and with safety of the crew as the top priority. The Suez Canal Authority signed a strategic agreement with Maersk during a press conference.
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Sources: Russia is weighing up how to support Russian Railways, which has a debt of $51 billion.
Two people familiar with the situation said that the Russian government is looking at different options to support Russian Railways. The company, the largest employer in the country, has accumulated a debt of 4 trillion roubles ($50.8 billion). The state-owned Russian Railways employs 700,000 workers and has seen its revenues fall amid the sharp slowdown of Russia's wartime economy. Meanwhile, debt costs are on the rise, driven by interest rates that have reached their highest levels in 20 years. Two people, who requested anonymity because the subject was sensitive, said that Moscow had been discussing ways to help the railways pay off its debt, which is mainly owed to banks of state. Sources said that these include increasing the price of cargo, increasing subsidies, reducing taxes, or even using money from the National Wealth Fund. One source said that Russian officials met in late November to discuss the current situation and will meet again in December. Requests for comments were not responded to by Russian Railways, Russian Government or the Transport Ministry. There are some ideas that haven't been discussed yet at the level of government, such as capping interest rates for Russian Railways to 9% and converting debts into stakes. This would give state banks a piece of the company. According to one source, a proposal would be to convert 400 billion Russian roubles in debt of Russian Railways into shares. Sources portrayed the measures as a "save" Russian Railways. Russian Railways operates the third longest railway network in the world after the United States of America and China. According to international standards, Russian Railways has reported revenues for 2024 of 3.3 trillion Russian roubles. Its expenditures are 2.8 trillion Russian roubles. The company's financial statement for 2025 first half reported a net debt of 3.3 billion roubles at June 30. This included 1.8 trillion of short-term loans. The debt grew by 0.7 trillion rubles in only half a calendar year. Russian Railways has been a leading indicator of the health of the Russian economy for many years. It transports oil, passengers and cargoes from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea and Baltic Sea. The state-dominated war-economy is a major challenge. Its struggles are a reflection of the challenges faced by too-big to fail companies that have debts with state-owned institutions. This leaves the state responsible for the debts at a time when Russia spends record amounts on its military, as the conflict in Ukraine enters its fourth year. RUSSIA SLOWS In the first two years of Vladimir Putin's presidency, from 2000 to 2008. Russia's GDP grew from $200 billion to $1.7 trillion. Currently, Russia's nominal GDP of $2.2 trillion, is about the same as it was in 2013, just before Russia annexed Crimea, and the economy will slow down sharply this coming year. The International Monetary Fund, however, has reduced its forecast for 2025 to 0.6% from 0.9%. The West claims it wants to cripple Russia’s economy in order to force the Kremlin into changing its course on Ukraine. However, Putin has stated that Russia will not bow to foreign pressure. Russian officials also claim the economy is secondary compared to the goals of the war. Putin claims that the economy performed better than anyone could have expected, despite the thousands of Western sanctions. He also says that it has remained debt-free unlike many Western countries. Despite this, he has acknowledged that there are some issues with investments and the pain caused by high interest rates. Sberbank's senior executive, who is the country's biggest lender, said that Russia's economy has been "continued cooling". Growth will be around 1% in next year, and business activity will remain weak for at least four or five quarters. $1 = 78.7500 Rubels (Additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and in Moscow; editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Tomaszjanowski).
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NATO scrambles jets following the deepest drone penetration yet into Romania
On Tuesday, Romanian and German NATO jet fighters scrambled near Romania's Ukraine border to respond to an incursion by a drone that penetrated further than ever before into Romanian airspace in what Bucharest referred to as a Russian provocation. Ionut Mosteanu, the Defence Minister, said that NATO pilots were close to shooting down the drone, which repeatedly violated the airspace of the member state, but held back out of concern for causing damage on ground. Later, drone fragments with no explosive charges were found on Romanian soil. Mosteanu stated that "we are dealing with a Russian provocation, a drone that the Romanian Army and German Eurofighters tried to shoot down." "My assumption would be that the pilots... analyzed the collateral damage potential and chose to not engage." Overnight, Russian drones struck Ukrainian ports near the border of Romania across the Danube River. The breach that Romania reported on Tuesday was the 13th violation of its airspace since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. It was not only the largest breach, but also the first one to occur during daylight rather than night. A DRONE TRACED more than 100 km INLAND The Romanian Defence Ministry said that it scrambled initially two Eurofighters, from a German air-policing operation in Romania. These aircraft tracked a drone before it returned to Ukraine in the county of Tulcea in Romania's south-east. Later, the army scrambled 2 Romanian F-16 fighters after radar revealed a second breach of airspace in the neighboring county Galati. Mosteanu reported that two more Eurofighters were sent after. The ministry stated that the planes were able to track the drone as it moved towards the county Vrancea. This county is located more than 100 kilometers inland and does not share any border with Ukraine. Residents in all three counties received a warning to seek cover. The warning was lifted later. Romania and Ukraine share a border of 650 km (400 miles). General Christopher Donahue of the U.S. Army Europe & Africa said that a new capability to shoot down drones would be deployed in Romania. "We have tested it and are in the final stages before it's used." This capability has been taught to Romanian soldiers as well as other soldiers in the alliance. I'm sure you will see it very soon on the Danube Delta. Romania has a law that allows it to shoot drones down in peacetime when lives or property is at risk. However, it hasn't fully used it. In recent months, tensions along Europe's east flank have risen after Russian drones allegedly breached NATO airspace. The latest breach occurs as U.S. officials and Ukrainian officials are holding intense talks to narrow their differences over a plan for ending the war. They have already agreed to modify an American proposal, which Kyiv and European allies viewed as a Kremlin list. (Reporting and editing by Andrew Heavens, Peter Graff and Luiza Hovet)
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CPC claims it temporarily stopped oil loadings out of Russia's Novorossiysk after a drone attack
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium said that it has temporarily halted oil loadings on its Russian Black Sea Terminal near Novorossiysk because of an overnight Ukrainian drone strike which damaged the office. It didn't provide any further details and referred to its previous statements regarding its operations, which are usually resumed once the air raid warnings have been cancelled. CPC's business operations were largely unaffected, according to a source in the industry. CPC is Kazakhstan's main export route to the global market, with the majority of volumes going to Europe and Asia. Russia contributes smaller volumes to CPC. CPC is owned by Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other major U.S. oil companies. CPC Blend oil Exports Sources claim that the November revision was to reduce production to 1.45 million barrels a day (bpd), down from 1.55 million. Officials in Russia's southern Krasnodar Region said on Telegram earlier that five residential high-rise buildings and two private residences had been damaged in the Ukrainian attack. The emergency services are bringing the fires under control. They say that falling drone debris has caused two fires. Four people have been reported as injured. In Krasnodar - the administrative hub of the region - it was also reported that drone fragments had damaged windows and destroyed buildings. A person was reported injured in a village located south of Novorossiysk. (Reporting from the bureau in Moscow, with additional reporting by Ron Bousso and Andrew Osborn in London)
What are the challenges ahead of UK's expansion plan for Heathrow Airport?
The government of Britain approved Heathrow Airport’s plan for a new runway Tuesday as it pushes forward with the controversial project.
The construction of one of the busiest airports in the world, which is estimated to cost 43 billion pounds ($43.4billion), will not begin until the project has been approved by the local authorities and environmental concerns have been addressed.
The government wants to secure planning approval for the new runway by 2029, and have planes take off by 2035.
Why a third runway for heathrows now?
Rachel Reeves, the finance minister of Britain, wants to bring life back into Britain's economic system. She says that infrastructure projects can help spur growth by attracting investment and, in Heathrow’s case boosting tourism and trade.
Reeves, the Labour budget minister, is expected to announce tax increases in Wednesday's Budget.
Heathrow Airport is operating at 99% of its capacity, and it could overtake Frankfurt Airport as Europe's busiest in the coming years. Heathrow Airport has two runways, compared to four at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Frankfurt Airport and six at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.
What is the history of the Heathrow Expansion Plan?
Heathrow’s third runway was approved in 2009, but it was scrapped after the change in government in 2010. This sparked thoughts about building a hub airport east London before a 2015 commission recommended a third runway at Heathrow.
Heathrow’s third runway was given the go-ahead by Britain’s top court in 2020. However, this was during the COVID-19 epidemic, which halted air traffic.
Heathrow focused on the recovery of travel. By 2024, Heathrow's passenger numbers had risen to 84,000,000, surpassing the pre-pandemic peak and placing the third runway on the agenda.
What are the environmental objections to the expansion?
Heathrow Airport is located 24 km (15 miles) west of London. Residents have complained for years about the noise pollution, air pollution and high carbon emissions caused by flight paths that mainly go over London.
In the past, environmental groups and groups of local opposition have challenged attempts to expand Heathrow. These groups could request a judicial review.
The use of sustainable aviation gas will reduce carbon emissions in the future, and also help to boost the argument for expansion. This is important because the government must meet the legally-binding net zero targets set by Britain.
Experts say that electric planes and at least 10% jet fuel should be used on flights departing from Britain by 2030. However, the current use is low.
Heathrow is in the best position to benefit from the government's plan to simplify planning rules and make building easier. This legislation is currently going through Parliament.
Last month, Transport Minister Heidi Alexander launched a review on the Airports National Policy Statement. This will help to shape plans that are in line with climate commitments and should be finished by the end 2026.
How will it be paid for?
Heathrow Airport, which is privately owned, has announced that the expansion would be privately funded. The airport estimated the cost of the new runway at 21 billion pounds. This includes 1.5 billion pounds to reroute nearby M25, and 12 billion pounds in infrastructure for the terminals. The airport is spending already 15 billion pounds upgrading the terminals.
Airports owned by Ardian France, Qatar Investment Authority, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and other investment groups want a long-term financing framework to ensure future returns on their investment in a new runway. Airlines have stated that they don't want to be burdened with large increases in fees for expansion.
Alexander stated in October that the expansion at Heathrow should be done to minimize costs for customers and passengers.
Heathrow Airport announced on Tuesday that it needs clarity on the next phase of the project by mid-December.
What other challenges are there?
Heathrow's proposal would see London's orbital autobahn passing through a tunnel. This is a complex project, on a heavily congested route that has been criticized by the British Airways boss.
The number of construction workers is also falling in Britain as the government pushes for other large projects. Reporting by Sarah Young and Editing by Timothy Heritage.
(source: Reuters)