Latest News
-
Air France-KLM CEO expresses confidence in Boeing 787
Air France-KLM's head expressed his confidence in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner while expressing condolences to Air India, and all those who were affected by the fatal crash of an Air India passenger jet bound for London in Ahmedabad last Thursday. Ben Smith, CEO, the Franco-Dutch airline, said at the Paris Air Forum on Friday that "we still have faith in the plane; we have 34 Boeing 787s in our fleet." The tragic accident, he added, is currently being investigated. Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, also offered condolences at the event to the families of those who died in the crash. It was the worst aviation accident of the decade. India's air accident investigation agency is looking into the cause of a crash that killed over 240 people. Safety experts cautioned that it was too early to speculate about the causes. An order from India's aviation regulator showed that the agency had ordered Air India on Friday to conduct safety inspections of its Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft fleet.
-
Trump declares that it is not too late to reach a deal with Iran after Israel strikes Iran for the second night
Israel renewed its attacks on Iran on Friday evening, hours after it launched its largest ever attack on its long-standing enemy. The massive underground nuclear facility of Iran was destroyed and its top military leaders were all killed. Israel claimed that the strikes were just the beginning of "Operation Rising Lion". Iran responded by saying "the gates to hell will open". Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that it wasn't too late for Tehran if they reached a nuclear deal to stop their bombing campaign. Iranian media reported explosions as evening fell Friday. These were near Fordow, which is located close to the holy city Qom. This was a second nuclear site that had been spared during the initial wave of attacks. Israel's military claimed it had struck Iranian drone and missile launch sites. Isfahan was rocked by explosions and air defences activated in Tehran. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, said that the Israeli campaign aimed to defeat an existential Iranian threat. He compared the Israeli campaign with the failure of the Holocaust during World War Two. Israel's operation will continue "for as many days as necessary to eliminate this threat," he stated in a television address. "Generations will look back and remember that our generation stood firm, acted quickly, and secured our future." Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, said that Israel "unleashed" its "bloody and wicked" hand and would "suffer a bitter fate". In a telephone interview, Trump stated that it was unclear if Iran's nuke programme had survived. He said that the scheduled nuclear talks between Tehran, Iran and the United States on Sunday were still on his agenda, though he wasn't sure whether they would happen. Trump stated that he tried to prevent Iran from being humiliated and killed. Trump had posted earlier on Truth Social that "Iran has to make a deal before there's nothing left." Tzachi Haengbi, Israel's National Security Advisor, said that military action alone would not destroy Iran’s nuclear program, but it could "create conditions for a longer-term deal led by the United States", to eliminate it. DECAPITATION Two sources in the region said that at least 20 Iranian military leaders were killed. This was a shocking decapitation, similar to Israeli attacks last year which quickly wiped out Lebanon's once feared Hezbollah Militia leadership. Iran said that six of its leading nuclear scientists were also killed. The chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salaami, and the chief of the Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri were among the generals who died on Friday. In a letter read on state TV, Major General Mohammad Pakpour vowed revenge in response to Salami's promotion to Guards commander. "The gates to hell will be opened for the regime that kills children." Iranians have described an atmosphere filled with fear and anger. Some people were rushing to exchange money, while others sought a safe way out. "People in my street ran out of their houses in panic. We were all terrified," Marziyeh said, 39, after a large blast woke her up in Natanz, which is home to an underground nuclear facility. Some Iranians hoped that the attack would bring about a change in Iran's hardline, clerical leadership. Others vowed to support the authorities. "I will die and fight for our right to have a nuclear program." Israel and America, its ally, cannot take away our right to a nuclear programme with these attacks," Ali said. Ali is a member in the Basij militia of Qom that supports the government. Iranian media showed images and described the destruction of apartment blocks. Nearly 80 civilians died in an attack that killed nuclear scientists asleep in their beds, while more than 300 were injured. The ability of Iran to respond with weapons fired by regional proxies was weakened over the last year with the fall of its ally Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, the decimation Hezbollah and Hamas and Gaza. On Friday evening in Jerusalem, air raid sirens were heard. Israel reported that it had detected a missile launch from Yemen. The Houthi militia is one of the few remaining Iranian-aligned groups capable of shooting at Israel. 'COWARDLY' Israel claimed that Iran launched 100 drones at Israeli territory on Friday. Iran denies this, and there are no reports of drones hitting Israeli targets. On Friday, the United Nations Security Council would meet at Tehran's invitation. Iran wrote to the Council informing them that it would take decisive and proportionate action against Israel's "unlawful", "cowardly", and "unjustified" actions. Fears of retaliatory attacks in a major oil producing region pushed the price of crude up, even though there was no evidence of damage to oil storage or production. OPEC stated that the escalation in price did not warrant any immediate changes to supply. A source in Israeli security said Mossad commandos were operating deep within the Islamic Republic prior to the attack. The Israeli spy agency as well as the military also conducted a series covert operations against Iran’s strategic missile range. Israel has also set up an attack drone base near Tehran. The military claimed to have destroyed "dozens of surface-to air missile launchers and radars" in Iran's air defences. Israeli officials have said that it could be some time until the extent of the damage is known to the underground nuclear facility at Natanz, where Iran refined uranium up to levels Western countries say are more suitable for bombs than civilian uses. Iran has insisted for years that its nuclear program is only for civil purposes. The U.N. Nuclear Watchdog concluded last week that Iran was in breach of its obligations under global non-proliferation. Tehran was in negotiations with the Trump Administration on a new deal to curtail its nuclear program to replace a previous one Trump had abandoned in 2018. Tehran rejected the previous U.S. proposal.
-
Sources say that Airbus is close to a deal with LOT to sell A220 jets.
Sources in the industry said that Airbus, a European planemaker, is close to a deal with Polish airline LOT to sell A220 jets after a fierce battle against Brazilian planemaker Embraer. A deal for several dozen regional Airbus jets, they said, under condition of anonymity, could be completed as soon as the opening of the Paris Airshow on Monday. Airbus' spokesperson stated that they would not comment on rumours. LOT and Embraer declined to comment as well. Poland is looking to purchase up to 80 regional jets. About half of these would be options to buy. This will allow the country to expand its Central Communication Port and grow its Warsaw Chopin Airport hub by early 2030s. Michal Fijol, LOT's Chief executive officer, told Polish media that the purchase of these planes will help fuel this expansion. According to European aviation sources and defence, the competition has drawn a lot of political attention, as Warsaw considers its economic and politic alliances, amid concerns over support from the U.S. The pro-European government of Poland won a confidence vote on Wednesday. Prime Minister Donald Tusk is hoping that this will give the cabinet a new boost after being shaken by its defeat in the presidential elections. In May, France signed a deal with Poland to enhance cooperation in defence, nuclear energy, and other areas. This is a sign that alliances are growing between European nations. Airbus also aims to provide A400M transporters as well as A330 MRTT tanks in overlapping civil-defence discussions. Embraer expressed an interest in supplying their KC-390 airlifter, and offered to open a production line there. Arjan Meijer said that Embraer's E2 was the best option for LOT, from the airline's perspective, in a recent interview with a Polish newspaper. Poland is one the few hubs with enough space in Europe to expand its airport infrastructure. However, government-sponsored plans have been dragging on for years. The national carrier LOT is struggling to compete for market share with budget airlines Ryanair and WizzAir. (Reporting and editing by Richard Lough, Alison Williams and Alison Williams; Reporting and Editing by Tim Hepher & Joanna Plucinska)
-
Imports from China to the busiest US port fell 9% in May due to tariffs of 145%
Imports into the busiest U.S. port at Los Angeles fell 9% on an annual basis in May. This gives insight on how many shipments have been canceled or put to hold since President Donald Trump slapped 145% tariffs on goods from China. Los Angeles is America's No. 1 port for seaborne imports. Los Angeles is the No. 1 port of entry for these imports. Toys, furniture, and auto parts are important to domestic businesses from Walmart to Ford. In May, the data began to reflect the new 145% tariffs. The port of Los Angeles handled 355,950 20 foot shipping containers of imported goods. Gene Seroka is the executive director of Port of Los Angeles. He said that May was our lowest volume month in more than two years. Last month, the world's largest economies agreed to a 90 day pause in tit-fortat tariffs. The U.S. also lowered its duty on a number of China-made goods from 145% to 30%. This week, the U.S. & China agreed to keep that lower rate. It could defuse their high-stakes dispute. Port executives and shipping experts expect China volumes to rebound. However, they do so at a moderate level. This is because 30% duty represents a significant increase in cost for importers. Seroka stated that he expects the overall cargo flow for 2025 to be modest.
-
After Israel's attack on Iran, airlines suspend flights
International airlines have stopped flights to certain Middle East destinations following Israel's attacks against Iran. Here are some airlines that have canceled flights from and to the region. AEGEAN AIRLINES Aegean Airlines, a Greek airline, has cancelled all flights from and to Tel Aviv until the early morning of July 12 as well as flights from and to Beirut through Erbil's morning arrival on June 28. AIRBALTIC AirBaltic, a Latvian airline, said that all flights from and to Tel Aviv were cancelled until June 23. AEROFLOT After Israel's attack on Iran, Aeroflot announced that it has cancelled flights between Moscow & Tehran and changed other routes throughout the Middle East. AIR FRANCE-KLM Air France has suspended flights to and out of Tel Aviv, until further notice. Dutch news agency ANP reports that KLM has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv for at least the month of July. AIR INDIA Air India reported that multiple flights are either being diverted to another destination or returning back to their original origin. A source at AJet confirmed that Turkish Airlines subsidiary AJet had cancelled all flights to Iran, Iraq, and Jordan until the morning of Monday. AJet will only operate flights into Lebanon during daylight hours, according to the source. The source said that AJet plans to fly to other parts of the Middle East, including Iraq, without using the affected airspace. Due to the closure of Israeli Airspace, Israeli Airlines has cancelled all flights until June 14, DELTA AIR LINES Delta announced on its website that it has suspended flights from New York to Tel Aviv until August 31, due to the conflict in the area. EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES El Al Israel Airlines has suspended its flights to Israel and back for the moment. Sundor flights have also been suspended by the airline. ETIHAD AERWAYS Etihad Airways has cancelled two flights from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv, and delayed four other flights. EMIRATES Emirates has cancelled all flights from and to Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iran until June 15 FLYDUBAI Flydubai has suspended its flights to Amman and Beirut as well as Damascus in Syria, Iran, and Israel. ISRAIR Due to the closure of Israeli skies, Israeli Airlines has cancelled all flights to and from Israel until June 15, ITA AIRWAYS The Italian airline announced that it will extend the suspension of Tel Aviv flight until July 31. LUFTHANSA GROUP Lufthansa announced that it has suspended all flights from and to Tel Aviv, Tehran and Amman until July 31, and between Erbil, Beirut and Amman until June 20. Lufthansa said it will also avoid Iranian, Iraqi, and Israeli airspace at this time. PEGASUS Turkish Airlines announced that it has cancelled all flights to Iran and Iraq until June 19, and flights to Jordan and Jordan until the 16th of June. The airline said that it will only operate flights into Lebanon during daylight hours. QATAR AIRWAYS Qatar Airways has temporarily suspended flights to and from Iraq, Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan. The flights to Damascus Airport in Syria will be cancelled up until June 14. RYANAIR Ryanair has announced that it will cancel flights from and to Tel Aviv up until August 31. Romania's flag airline said that it has suspended all commercial flights from and to Tel Aviv, Beirut, and Amman, until Monday, 16 June. TURKISH AIRLINES Turkish Airlines, along with other Turkish operators, have cancelled flights until June 16 to Iran, Iraq Syria and Jordan, according to the Turkish transport minister. WIZZ AIR Wizz Air announced on Friday that it would suspend all flights to Tel Aviv for 72 hours and, where possible, reroute them to other airports. (Reporting and editing by Matt Scuffham and Alison Williams, compiled by Agnieszka Oleska, Elviira Loma, and Tiago Brancao)
-
The 'data infrastructure market' is driving the hot M&A tech race in AI.
Dealmaking in most industries has been slowed down by geopolitical uncertainties and tariffs. The only exception is the less glamorous world of data infrastructure. In the race to remain competitive with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, legacy tech companies such as Meta, Salesforce, or ServiceNow have made the companies that process data for advanced AI models their top targets. Brian Marshall, Global Co-Head of Software Investment Banking at Citi, said that AI without data would be like life without air. It doesn't exist. Marshall explained that AI is driving the current zeitgeist of data. Tech deals are among the few bright spots of a gloomy M&A industry. They account for $421 billion out of $1.67 trillion announced globally in the first five month of this year. This is about 25% of all M&A. The data show that this is up from around 20% last year to 17% by 2023. The data shows that of all the tech deals, AI software makers represented almost three-quarters of the total value. Speed Matters Goldman Sachs' Managing Director Matthew Lucas focuses on M&A in all aspects of computing. He said that enterprise data as it relates to AI is "the most dynamic area right now in software M&A." Lucas explained that there is a strong perception that getting to the destination first and speed are important factors. This lends itself well to M&A. Software companies that assist businesses in managing their data through cloud-based platforms are becoming increasingly valuable as the number of potential targets shrinks. Investment bankers believe that legacy tech companies could target enterprise data infrastructure and analytics firms like Confluent. They say that the companies may be able to help businesses better integrate, analyze and store data. The executives of Boomi, Dataiku Fivetran and Qlik said that they were not surprised at the attention. "Siloed, messy data has undermined enterprise efforts to realize the transformative power of analytics for a long time. In light of the urgent need to deploy AI that is effective, Florian Douetteau said, "Fixing it has become a matter of life and death." Confluent and Sigma Computing didn't respond to requests for comment. LEGACY TECH BOUGHT IN In the past few weeks, several multi-billion dollar deals have been made or closed for companies that provide data infrastructure. Meta announced a deal on Friday for $14.8 billion to acquire a 49% stake of the data-labeling firm Scale AI. Salesforce announced last month that it would be buying data integration company Informatica, for $8 billion. Artificial intelligence is causing a technological revolution that will last a generation. This has forced several of the biggest social media platforms, and software companies to purchase companies that support AI-backed systems. Gartner, a technology data provider, forecasts that generative AI will total $644 billion worldwide in 2025. This is an increase of 76.4 percent from 2024. Executives announced that ServiceNow, an IT management company, had purchased Data.world in early May. This will help ServiceNow better understand the context of data. Salesforce's acquisition of Informatica announced late last month will enable Salesforce to better assimilate and analyze scattered data across internal and external systems, before feeding Einstein AI into its own AI system. The very next day, IBM completed its acquisition of DataStax. IBM announced the February deal that would allow it to process and manage unstructured data prior to feeding it into its AI platform. BAD ADVICE These deals show how important it is for legacy software companies to control all aspects of the data management process. M&A can be the fastest and most efficient way to do this. They are instead acquiring data specialists who can help them organize, clean and connect data across their entire business, rather than building complex systems from scratch. As was the case last week when Databricks announced its plans to purchase serverless database manager Neon, valued at $1 billion and a leader in AI, data processing, and AI, which was recently appraised at $62 billion. Dealmakers cautioned that companies cannot just throw any data into an AI system, and expect to get good results. Air Canada was forced to refund airfare after its AI chatbot gave a bad recommendation last year. Tech dealmakers claim that these types of mistakes can occur if unfiltered data of the wrong type is fed into an AI engine. (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York Editing by Nick Zieminski) (Reporting and editing by Nick Zieminski in New York)
-
US warns Iran, Iraq, Israel, and Jordan of possible missile attacks
After Israel's military strike against Iran, the U.S. State Department released security alerts for several Middle Eastern nations on Friday. In some cases they advised against travel or warned of possible missile attacks. The advisory warned Americans not to travel there and said that those who were already in Iran should leave. The advisory stated that "U.S. Citizens who are unable leave Iran should shelter in their place." Alerts were sent out warning of missiles, drones and rockets in the airspace over Iraqi or Jordanian territory. In the event of an attack, seek shelter and cover from above. The department warned against exposing yourself to debris that may fall. Israel announced on Friday that it had launched a long-term operation against Iran to stop it from developing an atomic bomb. It warned the operation would last for a number of years. Iran has promised to respond harshly to the attack. Israel claimed that about 100 drones were launched in retaliation towards Israeli territory, but an Iranian source denied it. The Israeli attacks on Thursday forced airlines to cancel or divert tens of thousands of flights, causing the most recent disruption to travel to the Middle East. The State Department announced late on Thursday that it had ordered all U.S. employees and their families in Israel to shelter-in-place until further notice. (Reporting and editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Howard Goller and Chizu Jones)
-
Google sues LATAM Airlines in US over Brazilian YouTube video dispute
Google filed a lawsuit against Chilean LATAM Airlines on Thursday in U.S. Federal Court, seeking to have a ruling that Brazilian courts can't force the tech giant take down an American YouTube video that accused a LATAM worker of sexually abusing children. Alphabet, which owns YouTube and Alphabet, claimed in the lawsuit LATAM had tried to "make an ending run" around the protections of free speech in the U.S. Constitution, by suing Brazil to force worldwide removal of the video. The company said that it had not received any official communications about the case. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda stated in a press release that the company "has long supported the legal concept that courts within a particular country have jurisdiction to decide what content is available there, but not on content that should be made available in other countries." In February, the right-wing social media firms Trump Media and Rumble sued a Brazilian court for ordering them to remove accounts in the United States of a prominent supporter of ex-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. In the case, a federal judge ruled that the companies did not have to comply with an order issued by a Brazilian judge in the United States. According to Google's suit filed in San Jose in California, U.S. Citizen and Florida resident Raymond Moreira uploaded two YouTube videos of his 6-year old son in 2018. The videos detailed allegations of sexual abuse the child claimed he experienced while traveling unaccompanied as a minor. In 2020, Moreira filed a lawsuit against LATAM for the alleged abuse in Florida. The settlement was confidential. LATAM sued Google Brazil in 2018, seeking to remove the video on YouTube. Next week, a Brazilian appeals court will decide whether it has the power to order Google worldwide to remove the video. Google has asked a California court to declare on Thursday that LATAM can't force Google to remove videos in the United States. In a separate case, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a ruling that Google must remove certain search results from its worldwide database in 2018. In 2017, a California judge stopped the enforcement of that order in the United States. (Reporting and editing by David Bario, Will Dunham, Jamie Freed and Jamie Freed; Additional reporting from Fabian Cambero at Santiago; Reporting by Blake Brittain)
Uganda's growth will be higher next year, but there is no oil-fueled boom yet
Uganda forecasts its economic growth will accelerate to about 7% in the coming year, indicating that officials do not plan on large-scale production of energy in the next twelve months.
This year, growth was projected at 6.3%.
The latest government estimate was that crude production would begin in the middle of the year. However, this date has been pushed back repeatedly due to disagreements between the government of President Yoweri Museeveni and international energy companies and the slow progress of building critical infrastructure.
Companies including France's TotalEnergies, China's CNOOC and China's TotalEnergies are developing Uganda's oilfields near the border with Democratic Republic of Congo. They are estimated to have 6 billion barrels of reserve.
In his annual Budget Speech on Thursday, Finance minister Matia Kasaija stated that the goal was to reduce the deficit from 7.6% of the gross domestic product to 6.5% next fiscal year.
In his speech, the minister made it clear that energy and mining are key drivers of growth. He cited an oil pipeline, a refinery, and quantification of reserves like iron ore and gold as priorities.
He predicted that the annual growth rate would be double-digits as soon as oil production began.
When crude oil begins to flow, the International Monetary Fund believes that Uganda's economy could grow by double digits.
The World Bank announced last week that they would resume funding for Uganda. This comes nearly two years after the World Bank suspended all new funding due to an anti-LGBT legislation that includes penalties such as death and life in prison. ($1 = 3,589.0000 Ugandan Shillings) (Reporting and writing by Elias Biryabarema, Editing by Alexander Winning & Susan Fenton).
(source: Reuters)