This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine
MOSCOW, Jan 4 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin sent a frigate to the Atlantic Ocean armed with new generation hypersonic cruise missiles on Wednesday, a signal to the West that Russia will not back down over the war in Ukraine.
Russia, China and the United States are in a race to develop hypersonic weapons which are seen as a way to gain an edge over any adversary because of their speeds – above five times the speed of sound – and manoeuvrability.
In a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Igor Krokhmal, commander of the frigate named “Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov”, Putin said the ship was armed with Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic weapons.
“This time the ship is equipped with the latest hypersonic missile system – ‘Zircon’,” said Putin. “I am sure that such powerful weapons will reliably protect Russia from potential external threats.”
The weapons, Putin said, had “no analogues in any country in the world”.
More than 10 months since Putin sent troops into Ukraine, there is no end in sight to the war which has descended into a grinding winter artillery battle that has killed and wounded tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides.
Russia has also used hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles in Ukraine.
Along with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle which entered combat duty in 2019, the Zircon forms the centrepiece of Russia’s hypersonic arsenal.
Russia sees the weapons as a way to pierce increasingly sophisticated U.S. missile defences which Putin has warned could one day shoot down Russian nuclear missiles.
ATLANTIC VOYAGE
Shoigu said the Gorshkov would sail to the Atlantic and Indian oceans and to the Mediterranean Sea.
“This ship, armed with ‘Zircons’, is capable of delivering pinpoint and powerful strikes against the enemy at sea and on land,” Shoigu said.
Shoigu said the hypersonic missiles could overcome any missile defence system. The missiles fly at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of over 1,000 km, Shoigu said.
The main tasks of the voyage were to counter threats to Russia and to maintain “regional peace and stability jointly with friendly countries”, Shoigu said.
A U.S. Congressional Research Service report on hypersonic weapons says that Russian and Chinese hypersonic missiles are designed to be used with nuclear warheads.
The target of a hypersonic weapon is much more difficult to calculate than for intercontinental ballistic missiles because of their manoeuvrability.
Beyond Russia, the United States and China, a range of other countries are developing hypersonic weapons including Australia, France, Germany, South Korea, North Korea and Japan, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, +79856400243; editing by Philippa Fletcher
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LONDON, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Ship insurers said they are cancelling war risk cover across Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, following an exit from the region by reinsurers in the face of steep losses.
Reinsurers, who insure the insurers, typically renew their 12-month contracts with insurance clients on Jan. 1, giving them the first opportunity to scale back exposure since the war in Ukraine started, after being hit this year by losses related to the conflict and from Hurricane Ian in Florida.
P&I (protection and indemnity) clubs American, North, UK and West are no longer able to offer war risk cover for some liabilities in the region from Jan. 1, they said in recent notices on their websites. The clubs are among the biggest P&I insurers who cover around 90% of the world’s ocean-going ships.
UK P&I Club said on Dec. 23 that the issue had arisen because of a lack of availability of reinsurance for reinsurers, also known as retrocession.
“The Club’s reinsurers are no longer able to secure reinsurance for war risk exposure to Russian, Ukrainian or Belarus territorial risks,” it said.
American P&I said on Dec. 23 that it had received a “notice of cancellation” for the region from its war risk reinsurers and was cancelling its own insurance as a result.
Ships typically have P&I insurance, which covers third-party liability claims including environmental damage and injury. Separate hull and machinery policies cover vessels against physical damage.
The withdrawal of cover for Ukraine and Russia applies to some but not all types of policy offered by the P&I clubs, three P&I insurance sources said.
“This is being driven by reinsurance,” said Stephen Rebair, deputy global director, underwriting at North, adding that reinsurers were limiting their exposure to the region and “those exclusions have to be passed down the line”.
The exclusions will make it harder for charterers to find insurance, increase prices and may mean some ships sail uninsured, industry sources say.
Providers of reinsurance and retrocession include global players Hannover Re (HNRGn.DE), Munich Re (MUVGn.DE) and Swiss Re (SRENH.S), as well as syndicates in the Lloyd’s of London (SOLYD.UL) market. The firms all declined to comment.
Reuters reported earlier this month that a proposed contract clause being circulated by reinsurers excluded war-related claims for both planes and ships in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
The Japanese government has urged insurers to take on additional risks to continue providing marine war insurance for liquefied natural gas (LNG) shippers in Russian waters, a senior official at the industry ministry said this week.
Reporting by Carolyn Cohn and Jonathan Saul in London
Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Matthew Lewis
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Dec 21 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s three main stock indexes closed higher on Wednesday for their biggest daily gains so far in December with help from upbeat Nike (NKE.N) and FedEx (FDX.N) quarterly earnings, as well as improving consumer confidence and easing inflation expectations from investors.
Nike Inc shares soared 12% after beating profit expectations for its second quarter on strong holiday demand from North American shoppers, while FedEx finished up 3.4% and shares in cruise operator Carnival Corp (CCL.N) jumped 4.7% after posting a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.
FedEx Corp (FDX.N), which sparked a market selloff in September after pulling financial forecasts, provided financial guidance and announced plans for $1 billion cost cuts.
Also, U.S. consumer confidence rose to an eight-month high in December as inflation retreated and the labor market remained strong while 12-month inflation expectations fell to 6.7%, the lowest since September 2021.
“We’re seeing a broad rally. It’s been helped by upbeat corporate commentary and an improvement in consumer confidence,” said Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis referring to Nike and FedEx.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 526.74 points, or 1.6%, to 33,376.48, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 56.82 points, or 1.49%, to 3,878.44 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 162.26 points, or 1.54%, to 10,709.37.
Energy firms (.SPNY) were the biggest gainers among the S&P’s 11 major industry sector, adding 1.89%, as oil futures rose.
The smallest gainer among the sectors was consumer staples (.SPLRCS), which finished up 0.8%.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 7, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Still, Wednesday’s data also showed that U.S. existing home sales slumped 7.7% to a 2-1/2-year low in November as the housing market was hurt by higher mortgage rates. But the data may be fuelling investor hope that the Fed could ease up on its tightening policy.
“At the macro level you have economic weakness but at the micro level you have companies that are resilient and delivering positive expectations from an earnings perspective,” said Brian Price, head of investment management for Commonwealth Financial Network in Waltham, Mass. “That combination is going to be positive.”
Fears of a recession following the U.S. central bank’s prolonged interest rate hikes have weighed heavily on equities and these fears have put the S&P on track for its biggest annual decline since 2008 and a decline for December.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty and we’re likely to see a lot of volatility early in the year as we could be in a mild recessionary environment,” said Edward Jones’ Kourkafas but he believes the market has already priced in a weaker economy.
“We still have some headwinds ahead but maybe we don’t have to price in a recession twice. So far what we’ve seen this year has already priced in a mild recession.”
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (AMC.N) finished up 4.3% after the cinema-chain operator said it suspended talks to acquire certain assets of bankrupt Cineworld Group (CINE.L).
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 3.43-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.10-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 5 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 69 new highs and 268 new lows.
On U.S. exchanges 9.81 billion shares changed hands, compared with the 11.16 billion average for the last 20 sessions.
Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Shubham Batra, Amruta Khandekar, Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Maju Samuel and Aurora Ellis
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Turkey says out of question to take insurance risk
Yellen says oil from Kazakhstan should not be targeted
Ankara says most of waiting ships are EU vessels
ISTANBUL, Dec 9 (Reuters) – The number of oil tankers waiting in the Black Sea to pass through Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait on the way to the Mediterranean rose to 20 on Friday, Tribeca shipping agency said, as Turkey held talks to resolve an insurance dispute behind the build-up.
Dismissing pressure from abroad over the lengthening queue, Turkey’s maritime authority said on Thursday it would continue to block oil tankers that lacked the appropriate insurance letters, and it needed time for checks.
The ship backlog is creating growing unease in oil and tanker markets and comes as the G7 and European Union introduce a price cap on Russian oil. Millions of barrels of oil per day move south from Russian ports through Turkey’s Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits into the Mediterranean.
The maritime authority said that in the event of an accident involving a vessel in breach of sanctions it was possible the damage would not be covered by an international oil-spill fund.
“(It) is out of the question for us to take the risk that the insurance company will not meet its indemnification responsibility,” it said, adding that Turkey was continuing talks with other countries and insurance companies.
It said the vast majority of vessels waiting near the straits were EU vessels, with a large part of the oil destined for EU ports – a factor frustrating Ankara’s Western allies.
The G7 group of nations, the EU and Australia have agreed to bar providers of shipping services, such as insurers, from helping to export Russian oil unless it is sold at an enforced low price, or cap, aimed at depriving Moscow of wartime revenue.
However, Turkey has had a separate measure in force since the start of the month requiring vessels to provide proof of insurance covering the duration of their transit through the Bosphorus strait, or when calling at Turkish ports.
KAZAKH OIL
Eight tankers were also waiting for passage through the Dardanelles strait into the Mediterranean, down from nine a day earlier, Tribeca said, making a total of 28 tankers waiting for southbound passage.
Most of the tankers waiting at the Bosphorus are carrying Kazakh oil and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday the U.S. administration saw no reason that such shipments should be subjected to new procedures.
Washington had no reason to believe Russia was involved in Turkey’s decision to block ship transits, she added.
Turkey has had to balance its good relations with both Russia and Ukraine since Moscow invaded its neighbour in February. It played a key role in a United Nations-backed deal reached in July to free up grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
Turkey’s maritime authority said that it was unacceptable to pressure Turkey over what it said were “routine” insurance checks and that it could remove tankers without proper documentation from its waters or require them to furnish new P&I ship insurance letters covering their journeys.
Reporting by Daren Butler, Can Sezer, and Jonathan Saul in London
Editing by Himani Sarkar, Clarence Fernandez, Jonathan Spicer and Frances Kerry
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Tesla ships first Semi to PepsiCo five years after unveiling it
No details on orders or capacity for electric truck
Semi uses existing Tesla motors, to feature new Supercharger
Dec 1 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk delivered the company’s first heavy-duty Semi on Thursday to PepsiCo (PEP.O) without offering updated forecasts for the truck’s pricing, production plans or how much cargo it could haul.
Musk, who appeared onstage at an event at Tesla’s Nevada plant, said the battery-powered, long-haul truck would reduce highway emissions, outperform existing diesel models on power and safety and spin-off a fast-charging technology Tesla would use in its upcoming Cybertruck pickup.
“If you’re a trucker and you want the most badass rig on the road, this is it,” Musk said, noting that it was five years since Tesla had announced it was developing the all-electric truck. Still, industry experts remain skeptical that battery electric trucks can take the strain of hauling hefty loads for hundreds of miles economically.
At Musk’s first Tesla reveal since taking over Twitter – an acquisition some investors worry has become a distraction – the company did not announce pricing for the Semi, provide details on variants of the truck it had initially projected or supply a forecast for deliveries to PepsiCo or other customers. Tesla said it would begin using the Semi to ship parts to its plant in Fremont, California.
In 2017, Tesla had said the 300-mile range version of the Semi would cost $150,000, and the 500-mile version $180,000, but Tesla’s passenger electric vehicle prices have increased sharply since then.
Robyn Denholm, chair of Tesla, recently said the automaker might produce 100 Semis this year. Musk has said Tesla would aim to produce 50,000 of the trucks in 2024.
PepsiCo, which completed its first cargo run with the Tesla truck to deliver snacks for those attending the Nevada launch event, had ordered 100 trucks in 2017.
Brewer Anheuser-Busch (ABI.BR), United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) and Walmart Inc (WMT.N) were among other companies that had reserved the Semi. Tesla did not provide details on orders or deliveries to customers, nor an estimate on what the total cost of ownership for future buyers would be compared to diesel alternatives.
‘NOT IMPRESSIVE’
Musk said the Semi has been doing test runs between Tesla’s Sparks, Nevada factory and its plant in Fremont, California. Tesla said it had completed a 500-mile drive on a single charge, with the Semi and cargo weighing in at 81,000 pounds in total.
Tesla did not disclose the weight of an unloaded Semi, one key specification analysts had hoped to learn and an important consideration for the efficiency of electric trucks.
Musk has spoken in the past about the prospect of fully autonomous trucks. Tesla did not provide details on how Tesla’s driver assistance systems would function in the Semi it unveiled on Thursday or future versions.
[1/5] Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk waves near Tesla Semi electric trucks during a live-streamed unveiling in Nevada, U.S. December 1, 2022, in this still image taken from video. Tesla/Handout via REUTERS
The Semi delivery presentation ended without Musk taking questions, as he often does at Tesla events.
“Not very impressive – moving a cargo of chips (average weight per pack 52 grams) cannot in any way be said to be definitive proof of concept,” said Oliver Dixon, senior analyst at consultancy Guidehouse.
Tesla had initially set a production target for 2019 for the Semi, which was first unveiled in 2017. In the years since, rivals have begun to sell battery-powered trucks of their own.
Daimler’s (MBGn.DE) Freightliner, Volvo (VOLVb.ST), startup Nikola (NKLA.O) and Renault (RENA.PA) are among Tesla’s competitors in developing alternatives to combustion-engine trucks.
Walmart (WMT.N), for instance, has said it has been testing Freightliner’s eCascadia and Nikola’s Tre BEV trucks in California.
‘LIKE A CHEETAH’
The Semi is capable of charging at 1 megawatt and has liquid-cooling technology in the charging cable in an updated version of Tesla’s Supercharger that will be made available to the Cybertruck, Musk said. The Cybertruck is scheduled to go into production in 2023.
Trucks in Semi’s category represent just 1% of U.S. vehicle sales but 20% of overall vehicle emissions, Tesla said.
Tesla said other, future vehicles would use powertrain technology developed for the Semi without providing details. The Semi uses three electric motors developed for Tesla’s performance version of its Model S, with only one of them engaged at highway speed and two in reserve for when the truck needs to accelerate, a feature that makes the truck more energy-efficient, Musk said.
“This thing has crazy power relative to a diesel truck,” Musk said. “Basically it’s like an elephant moving like a cheetah.”
In a slide displayed as part of Musk’s presentation, Tesla showed an image of a future “robotaxi” in development with a mock-up of the future car covered under a tarp.
The presentation took place after Tesla shares closed at $194.70. The stock has fallen about 45% so far this year, losing about $500 billion in market capitalisation, down to about $615 billion.
Among factors cited by investors have been Musk’s sales of Tesla shares to finance his takeover of Twitter, signs that a slowing global economy has started to cut into demand for Tesla’s premium-priced cars, and a warning by the company that it might not meet its target to grow deliveries by 50% this year.
Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell
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WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES, Nov 29 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives was set to vote Wednesday to block a rail strike that could potentially happen as early as Dec. 9, after President Joe Biden warned of dire economic consequences and massive job losses.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers will vote Wednesday to impose a tentative contract deal struck in September on a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers.
Pelosi said the House would vote separately on Wednesday on a proposal to give seven days of paid sick leave to railroad employees.
“I don’t like going against the ability of unions to strike but weighing the equities, we must avoid a strike,” she said Tuesday after a meeting with Biden.
Biden had warned Monday of a catastrophic economic impact if railroad service ground to a halt, saying up to 765,000 Americans could lose their jobs in the first two weeks of a strike.
“Congress, I think, has to act to prevent it. It’s not an easy call, but I think we have to do it. The economy is at risk,” Biden said.
Despite the close ties between unions and the Democratic Party, several labor leaders criticized Biden asking Congress to impose a contract that workers in four out of 12 unions rejected over its lack of paid sick leave.
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, one of four unions that voted against the contract, objected to Biden’s call to Congress to intervene, saying “the railroad is not a place to work while you’re sick. It’s dangerous…. it is unreasonable and unjust to insist a person perform critical work when they are unwell.”
There are no paid sick days under the tentative deal after unions asked for 15 and railroads settled on one personal day.
[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden meets with congressional leaders including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 29, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
The union push for paid sick time won support on Capitol Hill, where Senator Bernie Sanders threatened to delay the railroad bill unless he got a vote on the sick time issue.
“Guaranteeing 7 paid sick days to rail workers would cost the rail industry a grand total of $321 million a year – less than 2% of its profits,” Sanders said. “Please don’t tell me the rail industry can’t afford it. Rail companies spent $25.5 billion on stock buybacks and dividends this year.”
Regulators and shippers have accused railroads of cutting staff to improve profitability. The railroads oppose giving their workers paid sick time because they would have to hire more staff. The carriers involved include Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N), Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s (BRKa.N) BNSF, CSX Corp (CSX.O), Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC.N) and Kansas City Southern.
The measure needs a simple majority to pass the House. The bill would require a supermajority of 60 out of 100 votes to pass the Senate.
“I can’t in good conscience vote for a bill that doesn’t give rail workers the paid leave they deserve,” Representative Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat, said on Twitter.
Biden on Monday praised the proposed contract for including a 24% wage increase over five years and five annual $1,000 lump-sum payments.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy also criticized the effort but said “I think it will pass, but it’s unfortunate that this is how we’re running our economy today.”
A rail traffic stoppage could freeze almost 30% of U.S. cargo shipments by weight, stoke already surging inflation and cost the American economy as much as $2 billion per day.
Brian Dodge, president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), said the idea of a rail shutdown “is just absolutely catastrophic” after companies spent the last year and a half trying to untangle gridlock in the supply chain. “We’d be setting ourselves back down that same path and it would take just as long to untangle the next time,” he said.
The U.S. Congress has passed laws to delay or prohibit railway and airline strikes multiple times in recent decades.
Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu; Writing by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Heather Timmons, Lisa Shumaker and Simon Cameron-Moore
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OAKLAND, Calif., Nov 11 (Reuters) – Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) told employees on Friday that it would stop developing smart displays and smartwatches and that nearly half of the 11,000 jobs it eliminated this week in an unprecedented cost-cutting move were technology roles.
Speaking during an employee townhall meeting heard by Reuters, Meta executives also said they were reorganizing parts of the company, combining a voice and video calling unit with other messaging teams and setting up a new division, Family Foundations, focused on tough engineering problems.
The executives said that the first mass layoff in the social media company’s 18-year history affected staffers at every level and on every team, including individuals with high performance ratings.
Overall, 54% of those laid off were in business positions and the rest were in technology roles, Meta human resources chief Lori Goler said. Meta’s recruiting team was cut nearly in half, she said.
The executives said further rounds of job cuts were not expected. But other expenses would have to be cut, they said, noting reviews underway about contractors, real estate, computing infrastructure and various products.
SMART DEVICES CUT
Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who runs the metaverse-oriented Reality Labs division, told staffers Meta would end its work on Portal smart display devices and on its smartwatches.
Meta had decided earlier this year to stop marketing Portal devices, known for their video calling capabilities, to consumers and focus instead on business sales, Bosworth said.
As the economy declined, executives decided more recently to make “bigger changes,” he said.
“It was just going to take so long, and take so much investment to get into the enterprise segment, it felt like the wrong way to invest your time and money,” said Bosworth.
Portal had not been a major revenue generator and drew privacy concerns from potential users. Meta had yet to unveil any smartwatches.
Bosworth said the smartwatch unit would focus instead on augmented reality glasses. More than half of the total investment in Reality Labs was going to augmented reality, he added.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg on Friday reiterated his apology from Wednesday about having to cut 13% of the workforce, telling employees he had failed to forecast Meta’s first dropoff in revenue.
Meta aggressively hired during the pandemic amid a surge in social media usage by stuck-at-home consumers. But business suffered this year as advertisers and consumers pulled the plug on spending in the face of soaring costs and rapidly rising interest rates.
The company also faced increased competition from TikTok and lost access to valuable user data that powered its ad targeting systems after Apple made privacy-oriented changes to its operating system.
“Revenue trends are just a lot lower than what I predicted. Again, I got this wrong. It was a big mistake in planning for the company. I take responsibility for it,” Zuckerberg said.
Going forward, he added, he was not planning to “massively” grow headcount of the Reality Labs unit.
Meta shares closed up 1% at $113.02.
Reporting by Paresh Dave in Oakland, California, Katie Paul in Palo Alto, California, Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis
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Paresh Dave
Thomson Reuters
San Francisco Bay Area-based tech reporter covering Google and the rest of Alphabet Inc. Joined Reuters in 2017 after four years at the Los Angeles Times focused on the local tech industry.
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO, Nov 1 (Reuters) – Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday avoided conceding defeat in his first public remarks since losing Sunday’s election, saying protests since then were the fruit of “indignation and a sense of injustice” over the vote.
His chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, speaking after Bolsonaro’s brief public address, said Bolsonaro had authorized him to begin the transition process with representatives of leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
It took Bolsonaro more than 44 hours to make his first public remarks since the election was decided by electoral authorities, making him the first Brazilian president to lose a re-election bid. He has still not spoken with Lula.
Amid his silence, supporters blocked highways to protest his defeat, with some calling for a military coup to stop former President Lula from returning to power. Bolsonaro’s delay in recognizing Lula’s election raised fear that he would contest the narrow result of the election.
In a national address on Tuesday that lasted just a few minutes, Bolsonaro thanked Brazilians who voted for him and reiterated that he would follow the country’s constitution, which stipulates a transition of power on Jan. 1.
He referred to the demonstrations as a “popular movement” and said they should avoid destroying property or “impeding the right to come and go.”
[1/13] Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro gives a press statement at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Adriano Machado
That may not be enough to defuse the protests across Brazil by small groups of his supporters, which have begun to cause economic disruptions draw calls from farm and retail groups for Bolsonaro to begin a transition.
Close political allies, including his chief of staff and Vice President Hamilton Mourao, have begun to make contact with the Lula camp to discuss a transition. Others, including the speaker of the lower house of Congress, called on the Bolsonaro government to respect the election result.
The powerful agricultural lobby CNA, representing farmers who were important campaign donors for Bolsonaro, said it was ready for conversations with the incoming government, which will take office on Jan. 1.
Before Sunday’s vote, Bolsonaro repeatedly made baseless claims the electoral system was open to fraud and accused electoral authorities of favoring his leftist adversary.
Lula’s victory represents a stunning comeback for the 77-year-old former metalworker, spent 19 months in jail for corruption convictions before they were annulled last year.
Lula has vowed to overturn many of Bolsonaro’s policies, including pro-gun measures and weak protection of the Amazon rainforest.
Reporting by Ricardo Brito, Marcela Ayres and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Brian Ellsworth, Nayara Figuereido and Gabriel Araujo in Sao Paulo; Editing by Brad Haynes, Paul Simao and Alistair Bell
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Green light for Cosco investment divides lawmakers
No management or strategic decisions for Cosco
China’s foreign minister: hope for ‘pragmatic cooperation’
Opposition against deal within coalition parties
BERLIN, Oct 26 (Reuters) – The German cabinet allowed China’s Cosco to buy a stake in a terminal in the country’s largest port on Wednesday in a decision pushed through by Chancellor Olaf Scholz that triggered unprecedented protest within the governing coalition.
With the support of Scholz’s Social Democrat-led ministries, the cabinet approved a 24.9% stake investment by Cosco in one of logistics firm HHLA’s (HHFGn.DE) three terminals in the Hamburg port.
The approved investment is less than the initially planned 35% stake that the Chinese shipping giant and HHLA had aimed for and does not give Cosco any say in management or strategic decisions.
But the painful experience of being too dependent on Russian gas has changed many politicians’ attitude towards strategic foreign investment. The foreign ministry was so upset over the approval that it drew up a note on the cabinet meeting documenting its rejection, Reuters was told by two government sources.
The investment “disproportionately expands China’s strategic influence on German and European transport infrastructure as well as Germany’s dependence on China”, the document, seen by Reuters, says. It points to “considerable risks that arise when elements of the European transport infrastructure are influenced and controlled by China – while China itself does not allow Germany to participate in Chinese ports”.
In the event of a crisis, the acquisition would open up the possibility for China to politically instrumentalise part of Germany’s as well as Europe’s critical infrastructure, it says. The economy ministry and the four ministries led by the liberal Free Democrats joined in drawing up the note, according to the sources.
Scholz, a former mayor of Hamburg, has once again asserted his will against his coalition partners, the Greens and the Free Democrats. After pushing through a nuclear power extension single-handedly last week, the Cosco move fuels discord at home and among European allies who are against the Chinese investment and already see Scholz as increasingly isolated.
Scholz is scheduled to travel to China next week.
HHLA WELCOMES DEAL
HHLA, which is majority-owned by the city of Hamburg and one of the main users of the port, welcomed the deal.
“We appreciate that a solution has been found in objective and constructive talks with the federal government,” said Angela Titzrath, chairwoman of HHLA’s executive board.
It was working on finding an agreement with Cosco on the new conditions in a timely manner, she said.
With the original 35% deal, the German logistics firm had wanted to tie its long-standing shipping customer to Hamburg port in the face of fierce international competition.
Cosco did not immediately reply to a request for comment. A German government source told Reuters that the Chinese company had agreed to the deal.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, asked about the deal, said on Wednesday that China hoped “relevant parties would see pragmatic cooperation between China and Germany rationally (and) stop gratuitous speculation”, without giving further details.
Supporters of the HHLA deal say it will allow Hamburg to keep pace with rival ports that are also vying for Chinese trade and some of which are partly owned by Cosco.
Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Jan Schwartz, Eduardo Baptista, Paul Carrel; writing by Rachel More, Kirsti Knolle; editing by Maria Sheahan, Louise Heavens and Nick Macfie
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Expected to review Kyiv’s request for air defence systems
May also warn Belarus against closer involvement
Russia says it will respond to greater Western aid
KYIV, Oct 11 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will ask the leaders of the G7 group of nations to urgently supply Ukraine with air defence weapons, after Russia rained down cruise missiles in its latest escalation of its unravelling invasion.
Ukrainians woke up to the wailing of new air raid sirens on Tuesday, with parts of the country left without power. Officials said 19 were killed on Monday in cruise missile strikes across the country, the biggest air raids since the start of the war.
President Vladimir Putin, under domestic pressure to ramp up the conflict as his forces have lost ground since the start of September, said he ordered the strikes as revenge for an explosion that damaged Russia’s bridge to annexed Crimea.
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Kyiv and its allies condemned Russia’s strikes, which mainly hit civil infrastructure such as power stations. Missiles also landed in parks, tourist sites and busy rush hour streets.
U.S. President Joe Biden and other Group of Seven leaders will convene virtually later on Tuesday to discuss what more they can do to support Ukraine and to listen to Zelenskiy, who has called air defence systems his “number 1 priority”. Biden has already promised more air defences.
The broad avenues of the capital Kyiv were largely deserted after air raid sirens resounded as the morning rush hour was beginning – the same time that Russian missiles struck the day before. Residents took cover again deep in the underground Metro, where trains were still running.
Viktoriya Moshkivski, 35, her husband and their two sons were among hundreds of people waiting for the all-clear in the Zolotye Vorota station, one of the deepest, near the downtown park where a missile ripped a crater next to a playground on Monday.
“We live on the other side of the street, and they got scared by the siren. So, we brought them down here,” Moshkiviski said as her sons, Timur, 5, and Rinat, 3, sat by her side on a sleeping bag, the younger playing with a King Kong action figure.
Putin “thinks that if he scares the population, he can ask for concessions, but he is not scaring us,” she said. “He is pissing us off.”
MORE STRIKES
Ukrainian officials reported more strikes on Tuesday, including one on the southeastern town of Zaporizhzhia which killed at least one person, although there did not appear to be a repeat of Monday’s nationwide attacks.
Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s sixth largest city, has remained under Ukrainian control throughout the war, despite Russia occupying most of the surrounding province, among four partially occupied regions that Moscow claims to have annexed this month.
Apartment blocks there have been struck overnight at least three times in the past week, killing civilians while they slept. Moscow has denied intentionally targetting them.
In an overnight video address from the scene of one of the attacks in Kyiv, Zelenskiy promised that Ukraine would keep fighting.
People shelter inside a subway station during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine October 11, 2022. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi
“We will do everything to strengthen our armed forces. We will make the battlefield more painful for the enemy.”
As many as 301 settlements in the regions of Kyiv, Lviv, Sumy, Ternopil and Khmelnytsky remained without electricity on Tuesday morning.
Faced with blackouts, Ukraine has halted electricity exports to neighbouring Moldova and the European Union, at a time when the continent already faces surging power prices that have stoked inflation and hampered industrial activity.
BELARUS FEARS
G7 leaders are also expected to issue a warning Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally, against deeper involvement in the war, after Minsk said on Monday it was deploying soldiers with Russian forces near Ukraine in response to what it called a threat from Kyiv and its Western allies.
Belarus has allowed its territory to be used as a staging ground for Russian forces during the war, but has so far stopped short of sending troops to fight.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told France Inter radio on Tuesday that G7 heads of state would probably warn Belarus to stay out of the conflict.
“Russia has crossed another line with a tactic that doesn’t involve fighting on the battlefield but carrying out indiscriminate bombings and since yesterday deliberately hitting civilian targets on all Ukrainian territory,” said Colonna.
“That is a violation of the rules of war and international law.”
Moscow has accused the West of escalating the conflict by supporting Ukraine.
“We warn and hope that they realise the danger of uncontrolled escalation in Washington and other Western capitals,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by RIA news agency on Tuesday.
Since Ukrainian forces broke through Russia’s front lines in September, Putin has not only announced the annexation of Ukrainian territory but also called up hundreds of thousands of reservists and repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons.
Russia suffered a diplomatic setback on Monday, as the U.N. General Assembly voted to reject its call for the 193-member body to allow a secret ballot this week in a debate over whether to condemn Moscow’s annexations of Ukrainian regions. read more
The president of the United Arab Emirates, a member of the group of oil producers known as OPEC+ that rebuffed the United States last week by announcing steep production cuts, will travel to Russia on Tuesday to meet Putin and push for “military de-escalation”, UAE state news agency WAM reported.
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Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Stephen Coates, Andrew Osborn, Peter Graff; Editing by Philippa Fletcher
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