A woman makes her way in strong winds brought by Typhoon Hinnamnor in Naha, Okinawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo on September 4, 2022. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
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SEOUL, Sept 5 (Reuters) – Typhoon Hinnamnor neared South Korea on Monday, forcing flight cancellations, suspensions of some business operations and closures of schools, as the country raised its typhoon-alert level to its highest.
Heavy rain and strong wind pounded the southern part of the country, with the typhoon travelling northward at a speed of 24 km per hour (15 mph). Hinnamnor is expected to make landfall southwest of the port city of Busan early on Tuesday, after reaching waters off Jeju Island later on Monday.
President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Monday he will be on emergency standby, a day after ordering authorities to put all efforts into minimising damage from the typhoon that has been classified as “very strong”.
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“Very strong winds and heavy rains are expected across the country through to Tuesday due to the typhoon, with very high waves expected in the coastal region along with storm and tsunami,” the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.
According to KMA’s forecast, Hinnamnor is headed northeast toward Sapporo, Japan.
South Korea classifies typhoons in four categories – normal, strong, very strong, super strong – and Hinnamnor is expected to reach the country as a “very strong” typhoon, according to the KMA. Typhoons under that classification have wind speeds of up to 53 metres per second.
Warnings have been issued across the southern cities, including Gwangju, Busan, Daegu and Ulsan, following that in the southern island of Jeju, while the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Sunday upgraded its typhoon alert level to the highest in its four-tier system, the first time in five years.
Busan city and its neighbouring areas have received rain throughout the weekend, with more rain forecast across the wider country for Monday and Tuesday.
No casualties have been reported so far, though more than 100 people have been evacuated and at least 11 facilities have been damaged by floods.
Steelmaker POSCO (005490.KS) told Reuters it is considering suspending some of its production processes in the city of Pohang on Tuesday, while SK Innovation (096770.KS), owner of South Korea’s top refiner SK Energy, said it asked carrier ships not to operate until the typhoon passes.
Responding to local media reports over the planned halts of their operations, South Korean shipbuilders Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (009540.KS), Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) (042660.KS) and Samsung Heavy Industries, DSME said a decision on suspending its operations will be made later on Monday.
Korean Air Lines (003490.KS) and Asiana Airlines (020560.KS) have cancelled most of their Monday flights to Jeju Island, according to their websites, while budget airlines such as Air Seoul and Jin Air have cancelled some of their flights.
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Reporting by Joori Roh; Additional reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman
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Tesla cars are seen parked at the construction site of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 20, 2022. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/
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JAKARTA, Aug 8 (Reuters) – U.S. carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O) has signed contracts worth about $5 billion to buy materials for their batteries from nickel processing companies in Indonesia, a senior cabinet minister told CNBC Indonesia.
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has been trying to get Tesla to set up a production facility in the country, which has major nickel reserves. President Joko Widodo met with Tesla founder Elon Musk earlier this year to drum up investment. read more
“We are still in constant negotiation with Tesla … but they have started buying two excellent products from Indonesia,” Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said in an interview broadcast on Monday.
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He said Tesla signed a five-year contract with nickel processing companies operating out of Morowali in Sulawesi island. The nickel materials will be used in Tesla’s lithium batteries.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.
Indonesia is keen to develop electric vehicles and batteries industries at home and had stopped exports of nickel ore to ensure supply for investors. The move had successfully attracted investments from Chinese steel giants and South Korean companies like LG and Hyundai.
However, most nickel investment so far have gone to production of crude metal such as nickel pig iron and ferronickel.
The government plans to impose export tax on these metals to boost revenue while encouraging more domestic production of higher-value products, a senior official told Reuters last week.
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Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor
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UK sanctions seven more oligarchs it links to Kremlin
Group includes Chelsea owner Abramovich
Chelsea sale put on hold, UK might sell club
Trading suspended in Evraz shares
LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) – Britain imposed sanctions on Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich and Igor Sechin, the chief executive of Russian oil giant Rosneft, hitting them with asset freezes and travel bans because of their links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The two billionaires plus Oleg Deripaska and four other Russian oligarchs are the most high-profile businessmen to be added to the British sanctions list since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The move follows criticism that Britain has been acting too slowly.
The action puts on ice Abramovich’s plans to sell the Premier League club, effectively placing the current European champions under government control. The team can carry on playing but the government said it was open to selling the club so long as Abramovich himself did not benefit. read more
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“There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
“We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies.”
There had been loud calls from British lawmakers for action to be taken against Abramovich and other Russian oligarchs, with criticism that Johnson’s government was not moving fast enough compared to the European Union and the United States.
Sechin, who Britain described as Putin’s right-hand man, was already on the U.S. and EU sanctions lists and last week French authorities seized his yacht. read more
Since the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow describes as a “special military operation”, Britain has imposed sanctions on about 20 Russian-linked figures. The EU announced new sanctions on Wednesday against 14 more oligarchs, meaning its restrictions apply to 862 people and 53 entities. read more
15 BILLION POUNDS
The others added to the British list were Deripaska, who has stakes in En+ Group, Dmitri Lebedev, chairman of Bank Rossiya, Alexei Miller, the chief executive of energy company Gazprom, and Nikolai Tokarev, the president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft.
In total Britain said the seven figures, who with the exception of Abramovich had previously been sanctioned by the United States or the EU, had a collective net worth of 15 billion pounds. ($19.74 billion).
Thursday’s action means Abramovich is banned from carrying out transactions with any British individuals and businesses, and cannot enter or stay in Britain. His spokeswoman declined comment.
The 55-year-old, who has Israeli and Portuguese citizenship, became one of Russia’s most powerful businessmen by earning fabulous fortunes after the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union. Forbes has put his net worth at $13.3 billion.
He bought Chelsea in 2003 for a reported 140 million pounds and his investment contributed hugely to the most successful era in the team’s history as they won five Premier League titles, five FA Cups and the Champions League twice.
They beat Brazilian side Palmeiras in February to become FIFA Club World Cup champions for the first time, having defeated fellow English side Manchester City to become European champions last season.
Last week, Abramovich announced he would sell Chelsea and donate money from the sale to help victims of the war in Ukraine. Johnson’s spokesman said the government was open to selling the club but it would require another licence. read more
A shop selling the merchandise of Chelsea Football Club is seen closed after Britain imposed sanctions on its Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, in London, Britain, March 10, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
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“If the club is sold, Abramovich will not benefit,” sports minister Nadine Dorries told reporters. read more
The government has issued a special licence to allow Chelsea to play fixtures and pay staff, but will limit the sale of tickets and merchandise. read more
Anita Clifford, a lawyer who specialises in asset freezing and sanctions matters, said the measures temporarily deprived Abramovich of his assets but Chelsea could be sold with his and the government’s agreement. The money could potentially go to help Ukrainian war victims.
“The proceeds…would be frozen too and would not simply flow to the designated person unless there was a licence or agreement in place to either cover this, or cover the proceeds going to a nominated beneficiary which both parties considered appropriate,” she told Reuters.
The entry on the British sanctions list described Abramovich, who Britain said was worth 9 billion pounds, as “a prominent Russian businessman and pro-Kremlin oligarch who had enjoyed “a close relationship for decades” with Putin.
This association had brought Abramovich financial or material benefit from either Putin directly or the Russian government, it said.
It said he was “involved in destabilising Ukraine” and undermining its sovereignty and independence via the London-listed Russian steelmaker Evraz (EVRE.L) in which he is the biggest shareholder.
Britain’s financial watchdog suspended trading of shares in Evraz, which plummeted 16% after the sanctions were announced.
Evraz has been involved in providing financial services, or funds, goods or technology that could damage Ukraine’s independence including providing steel that might be used to make Russian tanks, the British treasury said.
Abramovich could apply to the foreign office for an internal review of the asset freeze, or apply to the High Court in London for a review of the decision, a process that could take 18 months or longer, Clifford said.
‘LONDONGRAD’
London has long been a top destination for Russian money, with wealthy Russians using it as a luxury playground and educating their children at fee-paying schools. It has earned the nickname Londongrad.
Johnson’s critics, who point out his Conservative Party has close ties to Russian donors who have donated about 1.9 million pounds since he came to power, say the government has been slow to impose sanctions and asset freezes on the oligarchs and those close to Putin’s administration.
Opposition lawmakers said the news of the sanctions was welcome but they had taken far too long.
“This is the right decision. But it should not have taken the government weeks,” said David Lammy, foreign affairs spokesman for the Labour Party.
“Too few oligarchs linked to Putin’s rogue regime have so far faced sanctions from the UK government. We are lagging far behind allies in the EU and the US.”
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Reporting by Kate Holton, Alistair Smout, and Paul Sandle; writing by Michael Holden; editing by William James, Frank Jack Daniel and Angus MacSwan
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European Union’s flags flutter at half mast in memory of late European Parliament President David Sassoli, in front of European Commission building, in Brussels, Belgium January 11, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman
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New sweeping measures hit iron, steel, timber, wood
Import of potash to be fully banned tightening past sanctions
EU will stop exporting advanced technology to Belarus
BRUSSELS, March 2 (Reuters) – The European Union has approved new sanctions against Belarus for its supporting role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, effectively banning about 70% of all imports from that country, the EU said on Wednesday.
The fresh sanctions, which spare for now Belarusian banks, come after Minsk allowed Russian troops to move into Ukraine from its territory, as well as changed its constitution to allow permanent deployment of Russian forces and nuclear weapons on its soil.
The measures include fresh economic sanctions and new listings of 22 high-ranking members of the Belarusian military involved in the aggression against Ukraine.
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The economic sanctions hit both Belarus’ exports to the EU, and EU exports of machinery to Belarus.
TRADE CURBS
The import ban significantly expands previous sanctions, and will now cover nearly 70% of Belarus export to the EU, which accounted for 5.9 billion euros last year, an EU official said. read more
Among the sectors hit are wood, timber, steel and iron, which were not covered by previous sanctions, and cumulatively represent nearly 40% of all Belarusian exports to the EU. Other sectors affected by the EU import ban are cement, rubber and fuels.
The new sanctions also close loopholes and end carve-outs on existing sanctions on Belarus export of potash, a fertilizer made of potassium and a key trading product. So far sanctions had banned only 20% of that export, whereas the new measures will completely ban its trade, EU officials said.
The measures will include contracts signed before their adoption, and not just new contracts as in previous rounds of sanctions. Companies will have three months to close open contracts.
Risks that banned products may be exported via Russia or other third countries would be addressed by customs authorities, EU officials said.
Under the new sanctions, the EU will also stop exporting to Belarus a long list of machinery that could be used for military purposes, in addition to products already banned. Among the new sanctioned products are advanced technologies, including computers, electronics, telecoms, sensors and lasers.
Unlike Russian lenders, Belarusian banks have not been excluded yet from the SWIFT international payments system, but one EU official said that that “will come”.
The fresh measures come on top of those already imposed by the EU after President Alexander Lukashenko crushed protests following elections in August 2020.
Lukashenko himself is already subject to EU sanctions.
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Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; additional reporting by John Chalmers; editing by Tomasz Janowski, Hugh Lawson, Bernadette Baum and Sandra Maler
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PITTSBURGH, Jan 28 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden stopped to look at a Pittsburgh bridge that collapsed just hours before he arrived for a scheduled visit to the city on Friday, dramatically underscoring the urgency of his drive to rebuild the United States’ creaky infrastructure.
Visibly moved, Biden gazed across a ravine over the buckled sections of the half-century-old Fern Hollow Bridge, flanked by Pennsylvania and local officials and emergency workers as he surveyed the damage.
(Don’t Miss: Collapsed bridge is one of 44,000 in poor condition in U.S.)
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“The idea that we have been so far behind on infrastructure, for so many years — it’s just mind-boggling,” the president told them.
One emergency worker described the scene after the collapse as loud as a jet engine. Biden praised the work of rescuers, noting a natural gas leak that was not stopped until some 30 minutes after first responders arrived at the scene.
Rescuers rappelled at least 150 feet (46 meters) into Fern Hollow, and used ropes to pull people to safety after the snow-covered span over the ravine collapsed around 6 a.m. (1100 GMT), Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones said.
“They helped the firefighters that were here initially on scene, also did like a daisy chain, with hands just grabbing people and pulling them up,” Jones said.
Ten people suffered minor injuries, including four who were taken to the hospital, city officials said. Jones added that crews would search under the bridge for any victims.
The incident was a high-profile example of the need to rebuild the nation’s aging bridges, highways and other infrastructure with money from $1 trillion spending bill that was a signature achievement of Biden’s first year in office.
Images of the collapse showed the four-lane span buckled into three large sections, with several vehicles piled in the rubble of the collapsed roadway at the bottom of the ravine. The tail end of a long, red city bus appeared trapped by the rubble.
The massive gas leak caused by the collapse forced the evacuation of several families from their homes before being brought under control, Jones said.
Damaged vehicles are seen at the site of a collapsed bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., January 28, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Drone Base
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The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to the site.
Pennsylvania has 3,198 bridges rated as being in poor condition, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The collapse came just two weeks after Pennsylvania got $327 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation for bridge repair as part of the Biden administration’s new infrastructure law. Pennsylvania’s share of the bridge-repair money is the third-largest state allocation, behind only California and New York.
Biden said he was astonished to learn Pittsburgh had more bridges than any city in the world. “And we’re going to fix them all,” he said before leaving the site.
ECONOMIC GROWTH JUMPS
Biden, whose approval ratings have fallen in recent months amid a surge in the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation, got a boost on Thursday when the Commerce Department reported the U.S. economy grew the fastest in nearly four decades in 2021.
Economists say Biden-backed fiscal stimulus, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that pumped money into states for COVID relief and into households in the form of stimulus payments, played a big role.
In Pittsburgh, the president toured Mill 19, a former steel mill building now serving as a research and development hub, and said he was taking stock of what he had accomplished so far.
“Making it in America is what built this city, the steel city,” he said. Pittsburgh understands the consequences of what happens “when we ignore the backbone and fail to invest in ourselves.”
The Democratic president was returning to the site of his first major campaign event in 2019 and his first stop after he was inaugurated. The state is a crucial battleground for Democrats to retain control of the Senate in the 2022 midterms.
He touted the creation of 6.4 million jobs and 367,000 manufacturing jobs since he took office a year ago, and the passage of the infrastructure bill — a rare bipartisan victory in a deeply divided Congress.
“It takes a federal government that doesn’t just give lip service” to buying American, he said. “Now we’re beginning to see the results.”
In recent days, General Motors Co (GM.N) has said it would invest $7 billion in Michigan to expand electric vehicle production and Intel Corp has said it would invest $100 billion to build a chip-making complex in Ohio.
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Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Katharine Jackson, Steve Holland, Doina Chiacu, Andy Sullivan, Heather Timmons; Editing by Howard Goller, Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman
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SINGAPORE, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Another day, another heat record.
Australian authorities warned people to stay indoors on Friday as a severe heatwave along the northwestern coast pushed temperatures to a blistering 50.7 degrees Celsius (123 degrees Fahrenheit), hitting a high last seen 62 years ago.
Climate scientists and activists have raised alarm bells that global warming due to human-driven greenhouse gas emissions, especially from fossil fuels, is close to spiralling out of control.
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The planet’s hottest years on record have all been within the last decade, with 2021 being the sixth-hottest, data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed this week.
An iron ore mining region in the northwest, Australia’s Pilbara, where temperatures hit the record high on Thursday, is known for its hot and dry conditions, with temperatures usually hovering in the upper thirties this time of year.
A camel train carries tourists on a sunset safari along Cable Beach located near the northwestern Australian town of Broome May 17, 2013. REUTERS/Julius Hunter
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Australia is one of the world’s biggest carbon emitters per capita, but the government has refused to back down from its reliance on coal and other fossil fuel industries, saying to do so would cost jobs.
Scientists have found that rising temperatures can hit public health and outdoor labour productivity, resulting in billions of dollars in economic losses.
Australia lost an average of A$10.3 billion ($7.48 billion) and 218 productive hours every year in the last two decades because of heat, according to a global study published this week by researchers at Duke University. These losses will only deepen in the coming decades as the world heads toward global warming of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial times, they warned.
“These results imply that we don’t have to wait for 1.5°C of global warming to experience impacts of climate change on labour and the economy … Additional future warming magnifies these impacts,” said lead author Luke Parsons.
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Editing by Karishma Singh
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Google logo and Australian flag are displayed in this illustration taken, February 18, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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SYDNEY, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s philanthropic organisation will help 18 small news publishers in the country collectively negotiate with Google and Facebook (FB.O) to secure licensing deals for the supply of news content.
Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation on Monday said it would submit an application with the country’s competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), allowing the publishers to bargain without breaching competition laws.
Forrest, Australia’s richest man, is the chairman and the largest shareholder of iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group (FMG.AX). He has a net worth of around A$27.2 billion ($19.7 billion), according to the Australian Financial Review.
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Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google have been required since March to negotiate with Australian outlets for content that drives traffic and advertising to their websites. If they don’t, the government may take over the negotiation.
Both companies have since struck licensing deals with most of Australia’s main media companies but they have not entered into agreements with many small firms. The federal government is scheduled to begin a review of the law’s effectiveness in March.
Frontier Technology, an initiative of Minderoo, said it would assist the publishers.
“Small Australian publishers who produce public interest journalism for their communities should be given the same opportunity as large publishers to negotiate for use of their content for the public benefit,” Emma McDonald, Frontier Technology’s Director of Policy, said in a statement.
A Google spokesperson responded about the initiative by re-sending an earlier statement which said “talks are continuing with publishers of all sizes.” Facebook said it “has long supported smaller independent publishers.”
The 18 small publishers include online publications that attract multicultural audiences and focus on issues at a local or regional level, McDonald said.
The move comes after ACCC late last month allowed a body representing 261 radio stations to negotiate a content deal. read more
News organizations, which have been losing advertising revenue to online aggregators, have complained for years about the big technology companies using content in search results or other features without payment.
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Reporting by Renju Jose; editing by Diane Craft and Sam Holmes
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