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  • Biden ‘guarantees’ US will back NATO, Trump shadow lingers

    Biden ‘guarantees’ US will back NATO, Trump shadow lingers

    HELSINKI, July 13 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Thursday gave his assurance that the United States would stay committed to NATO despite “extreme elements” of the Republican Party, in remarks during a visit to Finland to welcome it as the alliance’s latest member.

    “I absolutely guarantee it,” Biden told a press conference when pressed by a Finnish reporter about the U.S. commitment to NATO given political instability in the United States. Biden’s predecessor, Republican former President Donald Trump, threatened to take the United States out of the alliance.

    “No one can guarantee the future, but this is the best bet anyone could make,” Biden said. Biden, a Democrat, is running for re-election in 2024 and Trump is the front-runner for Republicans.

    Concern lingers in Europe about the reliability of U.S. pledges and global alliances, years after Trump’s norm-busting presidency ended. Trump clashed with NATO leaders over funding the alliance and threatened to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Germany.

    Biden said there was overwhelming support for NATO from the American people, from Congress and from both Democrats and Republicans, “notwithstanding the fact there’s some extreme elements of one party,” referring to Republicans.

    “I’m saying as sure as anything could possibly be said about American foreign policy, we will stay connected to NATO,” Biden continued, showing a flash of irritation.

    Biden’s visit comes almost exactly five years after Trump struck a conciliatory tone with Russian President Vladimir Putin at talks in Helsinki.

    Biden was in the city to participate in a summit with the leaders of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway. He came directly from this week’s NATO summit held in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had only made the alliance stronger.

    Biden said NATO had officially elevated its relationship with Ukraine and created a pathway for its membership “as it continues to make progress on the necessary democratic and security reforms required of every NATO member.”

    Ukraine could not join the alliance in the middle of a war, he said.

    “It’s not about whether they should or shouldn’t join, it’s about when they can join. And they will join NATO,” he said of Ukraine.

    U.S. President Joe Biden speaks as he holds a press conference with Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto in Helsinki, Finland, July 13, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

    Biden said Putin had “already lost the war,” as there was no possibility of Russia winning.

    “NEW ERA”

    Finland’s decision to join NATO broke with seven decades of military non-alignment and roughly doubled the length of the border NATO shares with Russia.

    The country repelled an attempted Soviet invasion during World War Two but lost territory. It maintained accommodating relations with Russia until President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion in February 2022.

    Ahead of his bilateral meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Biden hailed Finland as an “incredible asset” to the NATO military alliance.

    Niinisto said Finland’s NATO membership heralded “a new era in our security”, and applauded Biden for creating unity at the Vilnius summit, which focused on supporting Ukraine.

    “You will be one of those who wrote it to history,” he said to Biden about Finland joining the alliance.

    Niinisto also said Finland was open to hosting a NATO base on its territory.

    “We are discussing the defence cooperation agreement and it has a lot of elements. They are still open. But we are open to negotiations and I know that our counterparties are also very open.”

    Biden and the Nordic leaders said in a statement following the talks that they would continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary.

    Biden also welcomed Sweden’s prospective entry to NATO. Sweden had applied to join NATO alongside Finland, but its bid was held up by Turkey, which says Sweden is doing too little against people Ankara sees as terrorists. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan dropped objections to its application this week.

    Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson thanked Biden for his support in the country’s push to join NATO.

    Reporting by Steve Holland and Essi Lehto; Writing by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Editing by Heather Timmons, Rosalba O’Brien and Alistair Bell

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • UPS strike could be costliest in US in a century, study says

    UPS strike could be costliest in US in a century, study says

    July 13 (Reuters) – A threatened U.S. strike at United Parcel Service (UPS.N) could be “one of the costliest in at least a century,” topping $7 billion for a 10-day work stoppage, a think tank specializing in the economic impact of labor actions said on Thursday.

    That estimate from Michigan-based Anderson Economic Group (AEG) includes UPS customer losses of $4 billion and lost direct wages of more than $1 billion. A 15-day UPS strike in 1997 disrupted the supply of goods, cost the world’s biggest parcel delivery firm $850 million and sent some customers to rivals like FedEx (FDX.N).

    Roughly 340,000 union-represented UPS workers handle about a quarter of U.S. parcel deliveries and serve virtually every city and town in the nation. A strike could delay millions of daily deliveries, including Amazon.com (AMZN.O) orders, electronic components and lifesaving prescription drugs, shipping experts warned. They added this also could reignite supply-chain snarls that stoke inflation.

    A strike by roughly 340,000 U.S. workers at the world’s biggest package delivery firm threatens to delay millions of shipments, snarl supply chains and send shipping costs higher.

    Talks are deadlocked between UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union.

    The Teamsters have vowed to strike if a deal is not ratified before the current contract expires at midnight on July 31.

    “Consumers are going to feel this within days,” AEG CEO Patrick Anderson said of a potential strike, adding his analysis does not include the human cost of disruption to shipments of critical and perishable medicines to treat cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

    A sticking point in negotiations is pay increases for part-time workers who account for roughly half the UPS workforce. Tenured part-timers are particularly frustrated because they make just slightly more than new hires whose wages have jumped in a tight labor market.

    Anderson said a UPS employee walkout would be a bigger risk to the U.S. economy than a work stoppage by UAW workers at the “Detroit Three” automakers, who started contract talks on Thursday.

    He noted that the automaker talks cover fewer workers and have a limited geographic impact. In fiscal 2019, GM’s (GM.N) fourth-quarter profit took a $3.6 billion hit from a 40-day UAW strike that shut down its profitable U.S. operations.

    UPS is urging Teamster negotiators to return to the bargaining table, but union officials say UPS needs to sweeten its offer for workers who risked their lives during the pandemic to help the company generate outsized profits.

    UPS faces two unappealing choices, Stifel analyst Bruce Chan said in a recent note: Risk a strike and resulting customer losses or acquiesce to Teamster demands that could worsen the company’s labor cost disadvantage versus nonunion rivals in an inflationary environment.

    “Both situations would create pain for UPS, so it could just be a question of when and how the company wants to take its medicine,” Chan said.

    Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, additional reporting by Priyamvada C in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    Lisa Baertlein covers the movement of goods around the world, with emphasis on ocean transport and last-mile delivery. In her free time, you’ll find her sailing, painting or exploring state and national parks.

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  • US ‘under no circumstances’ will pay climate reparations, Kerry says

    US ‘under no circumstances’ will pay climate reparations, Kerry says

    WASHINGTON, July 13 (Reuters) – The United States will not pay reparations to developing countries hit by climate-fueled disasters, John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate change, told a congressional hearing on Thursday.

    Kerry, a former U.S. secretary of state, was asked during a hearing before a House of Representatives foreign affairs oversight subcommittee whether the U.S. would contribute to a fund that would pay countries that have been damaged by floods, storms and other climate-driven disasters.

    “No, under no circumstances,’ Kerry said in response to a query from U.S. Representative Brian Mast, the Republican chair of the subcommittee.

    Kerry was testifying at a hearing on the State Department’s climate agenda just days before he was scheduled to travel to Beijing for renewed bilateral talks with China on climate change.

    The United States has backed the creation of a funding mechanism to address the “loss and damage” incurred by vulnerable countries as result of major or recurring disasters that was secured at the COP27 conference in Egypt last November, but the deal did not spell out who would pay into the fund or how money would be disbursed.

    However, the U.S. and other developed nations had pushed for the inclusion of a footnote to exclude the idea of liability for historic emitters or compensation for countries harmed by disasters.

    Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Paul Simao

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • ‘Slippery’ actor Kevin Spacey tried to groom me, man tells UK court

    ‘Slippery’ actor Kevin Spacey tried to groom me, man tells UK court

    [1/2]Actor Kevin Spacey walks outside the Southwark Crown Court on the day of his trial over charges related to allegations of sex offences, in London, Britain, June 30, 2023. REUTERS/Toby Melville

    • Actor Kevin Spacey charged with 12 sex offences
    • Oscar-winner denies all accusations
    • Alleged victim says he felt ashamed

    LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) – An alleged sex assault victim of Kevin Spacey said the “slippery” Hollywood actor had tried to “groom” him, and the repeated groping assaults had left him feeling physically sick, a London court heard on Monday.

    Spacey, 63, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of a dozen allegations of historic sex offences committed against four men, then aged in their 20s and 30s, which are said to have taken place between 2001 and 2013.

    He has denied all the charges and his lawyer Patrick Gibbs said last week at the start of the trial the jury were going to hear some “damned lies”.

    On Monday, the court was shown a recorded police interview with the first of the alleged victims. The man said the actor had assaulted him on up to 12 occasions over a period of about four years in the early 2000s, grabbing his “private areas” when they were alone, such as in a car or an elevator.

    After two to three weeks of being with Spacey, the actor made him feel uncomfortable, rubbing the man’s legs and neck while he was driving, before later starting to grope him or force the man’s hand onto his genitalia, he said.

    “He was almost, from the get go, grooming me,” the man said in the interview.

    The alleged victim, who cannot be identified, said the “touchy feely” actor had on one occasion aggressively grabbed his crotch so hard when he was driving him to a party hosted by singer Elton John in about 2004 that he almost crashed the car.

    Describing himself a “man’s man”, the accuser recounted that he had threatened to knock the actor out if he did it again, to which Spacey had replied “that’s such a turn on to me”.

    He described the Oscar-winner as a “slippery snaky, difficult person”, a “mixed-up individual” who was very confused about his sexuality. The man said Spacey’s behaviour was an open secret at the London Old Vic theatre where he worked for more than a decade.

    “It was well-known that he was obviously up to no good so to speak,” the man said.

    ‘SICK’

    Giving evidence in person in court from the behind a screen, the man said he felt shocked, embarrassment and ashamed about what had happened to him, saying the alleged assaults made him feel physically sick.

    He rejected suggestions from Spacey’s lawyer Gibbs that he had been flirtatious himself with the actor, had appeared to enjoy the interaction and that he had questioned his own sexuality.

    Gibbs quizzed him about why he had kept a “warm and jolly” letter Spacey had sent him ahead of a charity event the man was involved in, and a “cosy” photo he posted on social media showing him with the actor.

    “It’s just a normal photo, two men standing next to each other,” the witness replied.

    Gibbs also put it to him the allegation regarding the incident prior to the Elton John party was completely untrue, pointing out that Spacey had only attended one such gathering which was in 2001. The man replied he might have got the dates wrong as it had been so long ago.

    Asked why he had only come forward to the police last year, he said it was the “right time”, and then when questioned whether it had occurred to him he might be able to sue Spacey, he agreed it had.

    Asked how much he thought he might receive, he replied: “Whatever it would be, it wouldn’t be enough for somebody who had been assaulted and abused.”

    The trial is due to last about four weeks.

    Reporting by Michael Holden, Editing by William Maclean

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Israeli troops and drones hit Jenin in major West Bank operation

    Israeli troops and drones hit Jenin in major West Bank operation

    • Hundreds of Israeli troops in one of biggest operations in years
    • Drone strikes target building in Jenin refugee camp
    • Gunfire and explosions heard for hours as drones circle

    JENIN, West Bank, July 3 (Reuters) – Israeli forces hit the city of Jenin with drone strikes on Monday in one of the biggest West Bank operations in 20 years, killing at least eight Palestinians and involving hundreds of troops in sporadic gun battles that continued into the evening.

    Gunfire and explosions were heard throughout the day as clashes continued between Israeli troops and fighters from the Jenin Brigades, a unit made up of militant groups based in the city’s crowded refugee camp.

    “What is going on in the refugee camp is real war,” said Palestinian ambulance driver Khaled Alahmad. “There were strikes from the sky targeting the camp, every time we drive in, around five to seven ambulances and we come back full of injured.”

    At times during the morning, at least six drones could be seen circling over the city and the adjoining camp, a densely packed area housing around 14,000 refugees in less than half a square kilometre.

    The camp has been at the heart of an escalation of violence across the West Bank that has triggered mounting alarm from Washington to the Arab world, without so far opening the way to a resumption of political negotiations that have been stalled for almost a decade.

    For more than a year, army raids in cities such as Jenin have become routine, while there have been a series of deadly attacks by Palestinians against Israelis and rampages by Jewish settler mobs against Palestinian villages.

    The Palestinian health ministry confirmed at least eight people had been killed and more than 50 wounded in Jenin, while another man was killed in Ramallah overnight, shot in the head at a checkpoint.

    The Israeli military said its forces struck a building that served as a command centre for fighters from the Jenin Brigades with what it called “precise” drone strikes using small payloads. It described the operation as an extensive counter-terrorism effort aimed at destroying infrastructure and disrupting militants from using the refugee camp as a base.

    As the operation proceeded, Israeli armoured bulldozers ploughed up roads in the camp to dig up concealed improvised explosive devices, cutting water and electricity supplies, the Jenin municipality said as residents described soldiers breaking through the walls to pass from house to house.

    “Nothing is safe in the camp. They dug up the roads with bulldozers. Why? What did the camp do?” said Hussein Zeidan, 67, as he recovered from his wounds in hospital.

    In Washington, the State Department said it was closely tracking the situation in Jenin. A State Department spokesperson said it was imperative that all possible precautions be taken to prevent the loss of civilian lives.

    An Israeli military spokesman said the operation would last as long as needed and suggested forces could remain for an extended period. “It could take hours, but it could also take days. We are focused on our goals,” he said.

    Until June 21, when it carried out a strike near Jenin, the Israeli military had not used drone strikes in the West Bank since 2006. But the growing scale of the violence and the pressure on ground forces meant such tactics may continue, a military spokesman said.

    [1/12]Palestinians run for cover during clashes with Israeli forces amid an Israeli military operation in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank July 3, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

    “We’re really stretched,” a spokesman told journalists. “It’s because of the scale. And again, from our perception, this will minimize friction,” he said, adding that the strikes were based on “precise intelligence”.

    ‘HORNETS NEST’

    Monday’s operation, involving a force described as “brigade-size” – suggesting around 1,000-2,000 troops – was intended to help “break the safe haven mindset of the camp, which has become a hornets nest,” the spokesman said.

    Its apparent scale underlined the importance of the Jenin camp in violence that has further exposed the impotence of the Palestinian Authority to impose its writ over towns in the West Bank, where it holds nominal governance powers.

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was suspending contacts with Israel and called for “international protection for our people”. UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said he was talking with all parties to de-escalate and ensure humanitarian access.

    Hundreds of fighters from militant groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah are based in the camp, which was set up 70 years ago to house refugees in the aftermath of the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of Israel. The fighters have an array of weapons and a growing arsenal of explosive devices.

    The Israeli military, which regularly accuses militant groups of basing fighters in civilian areas, said troops seized an improvised rocket launcher and hit a weapons production and explosives storage facility with hundreds of devices ready to be used as well as radios and other equipment.

    It said it had also found weapons in a mosque where fighters had barricaded themselves inside in an underground section.

    It was unclear whether the incursion would trigger a wider response from Palestinian factions, drawing in militant groups in the Gaza Strip, the coastal enclave controlled by militant Islamist group Hamas.

    Saleh Al-Arouri, accused by Israel of leading the Hamas military wing in the West Bank, told Aqsa TV that fighters in Jenin should try to capture Israeli soldiers.

    “Our fighters will rise from everywhere, and you will never know where the new fighter will come from,” he said.

    Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his forces were “closely monitoring the conduct of our enemies,” with the defence establishment “ready for all scenarios.”

    Following the last major raid in Jenin in June, Palestinian gunmen killed four Israelis near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. That led to a rampage by mobs of settlers in Palestinian villages and towns.

    Israel captured the West Bank, which the Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state, in the 1967 Middle East war. Following decades of conflict, peace talks that had been brokered by the United States have been frozen since 2014.

    Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, James Mackenzie, Dan Williams, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Rami Ayyoub in Washington and Arshad Mohammed in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Frank Jack Daniel, William Maclean

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Titanic sub firm’s late CEO was committed to safety, says co-founder

    Titanic sub firm’s late CEO was committed to safety, says co-founder

    MADRID, June 23 (Reuters) – The co-founder of OceanGate Expeditions, which owned the submersible that imploded during a dive to the Titanic wreck, defended on Friday the chief executive’s commitment to safety and risk management after he died with four others on the craft.

    Guillermo Söhnlein, who co-founded OceanGate with Stockton Rush in 2009, left the company in 2013, retaining a minority stake. Rush was piloting the Titan submersible on the trip that began on Sunday. Debris from the vessel was found on Thursday.

    “Stockton was one of the most astute risk managers I’d ever met. He was very risk-averse. He was very keenly aware of the risks of operating in the deep ocean environment, and he was very committed to safety,” Söhnlein told Reuters.

    Questions about Titan’s safety were raised in 2018 during a symposium of submersible industry experts and in a lawsuit by OceanGate’s former head of marine operations, which was settled later that year. This incident has prompted further debate.

    “I believe that every innovation that he took … was geared toward two goals: One, expanding humanity’s ability to explore the deep ocean. And secondly, to do it as safely as possible,” he said in video interview from his home in Barcelona.

    The Titan submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions to explore the wreckage of the sunken SS Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland, dives in an undated photograph. OceanGate Expeditions/Handout via REUTERS/ File Photo

    Söhnlein said he completely trusted Rush, even though they did not always see “eye-to-eye on things”.

    OceanGate has not addressed queries by industry experts about its decision to forgo certification from industry third parties such as the American Bureau of Shipping or the European company DNV.

    “There’s this tendency in the community to equate classification with safety. While that could be the case, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be safe without classification,” he said, adding that people should wait for an official report analyzing the incident rather than speculate.

    “There’s going to be a time for (making assessments), and I don’t think right now is the right time to do that,” he said.

    Despite the tragedy, he said continuing with deep-sea exploration was vital for humanity and that it was the best way to honor those who died in the submersible.

    “Let’s figure out what went wrong, learn some lessons and let’s get down there again,” he said.

    Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Aislinn Laing and Edmund Blair

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    David Latona

    Thomson Reuters

    Madrid-raised German-American breaking news in Spain and Portugal. Previously covered markets in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with a special focus on chemical companies and regular contributions to Reuters’ German-language service. Worked at Spanish news agency EFE (Madrid/Bangkok) and the European Pressphoto Agency (Frankfurt).

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  • Fresh protests rock Senegal as death toll climbs

    Fresh protests rock Senegal as death toll climbs

    [1/9] A riot police officer talks to a man during clashes with supporters of Senegal opposition leader Ousmane Sonko after Sonko was sentenced to prison, in Dakar, Senegal, June 3, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

    DAKAR, June 3 (Reuters) – New clashes broke out on Saturday between Senegalese opposition supporters and police in parts of the capital Dakar, the third day of protests in the West African nation sparked by the prosecution of an opposition leader.

    Police said the death toll since Thursday had risen to 15, making the protests among the deadliest in recent decades. Two members of the security forces were among those killed, according to the presidency.

    After a daytime lull, protesters took to the streets again on Saturday evening, setting up barricades and burning rubbish in Dakar’s HLM district. Police there and in the Ngor residential neighbourhood fired tear gas in an effort to disperse angry crowds.

    Gas stations and a supermarket were looted overnight on Friday and several districts were strewn with rubble and burned tyres. A water plant has also been targeted, said Interior Minister Felix Abdoulaye Diome.

    “There has been a clear intention to disrupt the normal working of our economic activity. The choice of targets is not accidental,” Diome told journalists late on Saturday, describing the situation as under control.

    He said over 500 people had been detained since the long-running protests first kicked off in 2021.

    The catalyst for the latest unrest was the sentencing on Thursday of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko in the two-year-old rape case. His supporters say the prosecution was politically motivated and he denies any wrongdoing.

    On Thursday, he was acquitted of rape but found guilty in absentia of corrupting a minor and sentenced to two years in prison. That sentence could prevent him from running in the February presidential election, and protesters have heeded his call to challenge authorities.

    Minister Diome declined to comment on whether the police planned to detain Sonko imminently to start his prison sentence – a move that would likely further enflame tensions.

    The government has enlisted the army to back up riot police stationed around the city. The Dakar district of Ouakam appeared calm on Saturday evening but more than a dozen soldiers guarded a ravaged gas station there.

    Abdou Ndiaye, the owner of a nearby corner shop, said he had closed early the two previous days and opened late on Saturday, fearful of the unrest.

    “We are so scared because you don’t know when the crowds will come, and when they come they take … your goods, they are thieves,” he said in a storeroom stacked with sacks of food and household items.

    Senegal, long considered one of the region’s most stable democracies, has seen sometimes violent opposition demonstrations sparked by Sonko’s court case as well as concerns that President Macky Sall will try to bypass a two-term limit and run again in February.

    Sall has neither confirmed nor denied this.

    Additional reporting by Edward McAllister, Bate Felix, Cooper Inveen; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Mark Potter, Christina Fincher, Cynthia Osterman and Daniel Wallis

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Deadly Indian rail crash shifts focus from new trains to safety

    Deadly Indian rail crash shifts focus from new trains to safety

    • India’s train network seeing rapid expansion, modernisation
    • Experts say focus on safety has not kept pace with expansion
    • Government says data shows no major accident for years

    NEW DELHI, June 3 (Reuters) – India’s vast rail network is undergoing a $30 billion transformation with gleaming new trains and modern stations but Friday’s deadly train accident shows more attention should be paid to safety, industry analysts said.

    At least 288 people were killed in the country’s worst rail accident in over two decades after a passenger train went off the tracks and hit another in the eastern state of Odisha.

    State monopoly Indian Railways runs the fourth largest train network in the world. It transports 13 million people every day and moved nearly 1.5 billion tonnes of freight in 2022.

    Long considered the lifeline of the world’s most populous country, the 170-year-old system has seen rapid expansion and modernisation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to boost infrastructure and connectivity in the fast-growing economy.

    This year, the government made a record 2.4-trillion-rupee ($30 billion) capital outlay for the railways, a 50% increase over the previous fiscal year, to upgrade tracks, ease congestion and add new trains.

    A new, semi-high-speed train built in India and called the “Vande Bharat Express”, or “Salute to India Express”, is showcased as evidence of this modernisation, with Modi himself flagging off the first journeys of many of the trains around the country.

    But Friday’s crash has come as a jolt to this makeover, experts said.

    “The safety record has been improving over the years but there is more work to do,” said Prakash Kumar Sen, head of the department of mechanical engineering at Kirodimal Institute of Technology in central India and lead author of a 2020 study on “Causes of Rail Derailment in India and Corrective Measures”.

    “Human error or poor track maintenance are generally to blame in such crashes,” Sen said.

    The railways have been introducing more and more trains to cope with soaring demand but the workforce to maintain them has not kept pace, he said.

    Workers are not trained adequately or their workload is too high, and they don’t get enough rest, Sen said.

    The east coast route on which Friday’s crash occurred, is one of the country’s oldest and busiest, as it also carries much of India’s coal and oil freight, he said.

    “These tracks are very old … the load on them is very high, if maintenance is not good, failures will happen,” Sen said.

    ‘GOOD SAFETY RECORD’

    Indian Railways maintains that safety has always been a key focus, and points to its low accident rate over the years.

    “This question (on safety) is arising because there has been one incident now. But if you see the data, you will see that there have been no major accidents for years,” a railways ministry spokesperson said.

    The number of accidents per million train kilometres, a gauge of safety, had fallen to 0.03 in fiscal 2021-22 from 0.10 in 2013-14, the spokesperson said.

    A 1-trillion-rupee, five-year safety fund created in 2017-18 has been extended for another five years from 2022-23, with a further 450 billion rupees of funding, after the first plan led to an “overall improvement in safety indicators”, he added.

    “Some malfunction has happened and that the inquiry will reveal,” he said, referring to Friday’s crash. “We will find out why it happened and how it happened.”

    Srinand Jha, an independent transport expert and author at the International Railway Journal, said the railways have been working on safety mechanisms such as anti-collision devices and emergency warning systems but have been slow to install them across the network.

    “They will always tell you that accidents are at a very manageable level because they talk about them in terms of percentages,” Jha said, adding that in recent years the focus has been more on new trains and modern stations and not as much on tracks, signalling systems and asset management.

    “This accident brings out the need to focus more on these aspects,” he said.

    Reporting by YP Rajesh
    Editing by Mark Potter

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Ron DeSantis joins White House race, tripped up by chaotic Twitter launch

    Ron DeSantis joins White House race, tripped up by chaotic Twitter launch

    WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a chaotic start to his 2024 presidential election race on Wednesday when glitches marred an online forum hosted by Twitter owner Elon Musk that was meant to showcase DeSantis’ fitness for the job.

    The Twitter broadcast of the hour-long interview , which had been intended as the formal launch for the DeSantis campaign, lost sound for extended stretches and thousands of users were either unable to join or were dropped.

    It was an inauspicious start for a campaign predicated on the governor’s executive competence.

    “We must end the culture of losing that has infected the Republican Party in recent years,” DeSantis said in the event with Musk once the problems were largely resolved. The hashtag #DeSaster was trending on Twitter.

    DeSantis’ entrance in the Republican contest sets up a showdown with his one-time ally, former President Donald Trump, who lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.

    The Florida governor framed himself as a get-it-done executive who stood up to the federal government over COVID policies and who has put an indelibly conservative stamp on his home state.

    He defended his efforts in Florida to prohibit the teaching of concepts such as gender identity and systemic racism as protecting young children and pushing back against progressive ideology.

    With a rising national profile and what are expected to be deep financial resources, DeSantis, 44, immediately became Trump’s biggest rival for the Republican nomination.

    “Government is not about entertainment, not about building a brand,” DeSantis said, taking a veiled swipe at Trump. Notably he never mentioned Trump by name during the event.

    Trump, 76, didn’t hesitate to mock DeSantis on his social media platform, Truth Social, over the stumbling start to his campaign.

    “My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!)” Trump posted, “Yours does not.”

    Musk conceded there had been “technical issues because of the sheer scale” of the event, but added that “it’s just really great for the people to hear directly from presidential candidates.”

    [1/6] Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks as he announces he is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in this screen grab from a social media video posted May 24, 2023. Twitter @RonDeSantis/Handout via REUTERS

    At one point, the Twitter event drew more than 600,000 listeners. By its conclusion, there were fewer than 300,000.

    DeSantis’ campaign spokesman Bryan Griffin said on Twitter that enthusiasm for DeSantis had “literally busted up the internet.”

    The campaign raised $1 million in an hour, Griffin said.

    TRUMP AHEAD IN POLLS

    Polls show Trump with more than a 2-to-1 edge over the Florida governor, who has long been considered a Republican rising star and the herald of a new generation of leaders in the party. Trump, who announced in November, also has a head start in organizing his campaign in key early voting states.

    DeSantis’ central argument for his candidacy likely will be that he is the only Republican who can defeat Biden.

    “Our president, while he lacks vigor, flounders in the face of our nation’s challenges and he takes cues from the woke mob,” DeSantis said.

    Mainstream Republicans will be watching DeSantis carefully to see if he can recover from his missteps on foreign policy, such as his initial reluctance to express support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

    In the weeks leading up to his presidential bid, DeSantis toured the country, visiting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire that will hold early nominating contests. He has boasted of his record as Florida’s governor, including his battles with the federal government over pandemic policies.

    DeSantis and his advisers were determined to wait to enter the race until the Florida Legislature could hand him a series of policy victories – and lawmakers have done just that.

    He signed measures that severely restricted abortions in the state, made it easier for residents to carry concealed weapons, expanded a voucher program to allow students to attend private schools and eliminated funding for diversity programs at public universities, among other things.

    DeSantis remains in a pitched battle with Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) over the company’s criticism of laws prohibiting the teaching of gender identity concepts in public schools. The company has filed a federal lawsuit accusing DeSantis of weaponizing state government to punish its operations.

    Other declared Republican candidates include Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina.

    Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Doina Chiacu

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  • Canada housing market upturn could delay shift to BoC rate cuts

    Canada housing market upturn could delay shift to BoC rate cuts

    TORONTO, May 14 (Reuters) – Signs of recovery in Canada’s housing market after a year-long slump, just as higher borrowing costs are expected to slow much of the rest of the economy, could raise inflation and delay a shift by the central bank to interest rate cuts, analysts said.

    The housing market’s upturn comes after the Bank of Canada paused its interest rate hiking campaign last month, leaving the benchmark rate at a 15-year high of 4.50% since January.

    In addition, analysts say higher borrowing costs have so far caused less financial stress for homebuyers than they had expected, so the market has not had to accommodate a flood of supply from forced sellers.

    The BoC is counting on slower economic growth to return inflation to its 2% target. A rebound in the housing market could boost activity and contribute directly to price pressures.

    “The Bank of Canada at the end of the day is probably not going to be too thrilled if the housing market really starts to ramp up,” said Robert Kavcic, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. “From a shelter cost perspective, you are going to start to see more upward push on inflation in the second half of this year.”

    The cost of shelter has the highest weighting in Canada’s consumer price index, accounting for 30%. And, home prices tend to be highly visible, so an increase could have a pronounced impact on inflation expectations, analysts say.

    The average price for a home in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada’s most populous metropolitan region, rose in April on a month-over-month basis for a third straight month, while sales also moved higher. Other major markets have also showed gains.

    Despite higher borrowing costs, mortgage delinquency rates have remained low for now in Canada after mortgage borrowers were put through a stress test showing they could manage if interest rates were 2 percentage points higher than the rate on their loan.

    In addition, variable-rate borrowers have been sheltered from higher interest rates after lenders temporarily extended the period over which their debt is amortized, keeping their payments the same.

    “One of the reasons the market has been able to stabilize so quickly is because there’s just no forced selling,” Kavcic said.

    Things could change – Royal Bank of Canada recently warned of the risk that mortgage delinquencies rise by more than a third over the coming year.

    The other worry is that stress in the U.S. regional banking sector could spill over to Canada. Clues on that front could come from the BoC’s Financial System Review – an annual checkup of financial system tensions – which is due for release on Thursday.

    But there are also tailwinds to support a recovery, including supply shortfalls, record immigration and labor market strength, analysts said.

    Wage growth could cool over the coming months, helping to lower inflation, but the Bank of Canada “is unlikely to be in a rush to cut interest rates if house prices are roaring higher again,” Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics, said in a note.

    Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Steve Scherer and Jonathan Oatis

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  • Cyclone Mocha floods Myanmar port city, sparing major refugee camps

    Cyclone Mocha floods Myanmar port city, sparing major refugee camps

    DHAKA, May 14 (Reuters) – Storm surges whipped up by a powerful cyclone moving inland from the Bay of Bengal inundated the Myanmar port city of Sittwe on Saturday, but largely spared a densely-populated cluster of refugee camps in low-lying neighbouring Bangladesh.

    Some 400,000 people were evacuated in Myanmar and Bangladesh ahead of Cyclone Mocha making landfall, as authorities and aid agencies scrambled to avert heavy casualties from one of the strongest storms to hit the region in recent years.

    Vulnerable settlements in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, where more than one million Rohingya refugees live, were left relatively unscathed by the storm that is now gradually weakening.

    “Luckily, we could escape the worst of the cyclone,” said Mohammad Shamsud Douza, a Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees. “We are getting some reports of huts damaged but there are no casualties.”

    Myanmar appears to have borne the direct impact of Cyclone Mocha, as winds of up to 210 kph (130 mph) ripped away tin roofs and brought down a communications tower.

    Parts of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, were flooded and the ground floors of several buildings were under water, a video posted on social media by a witness in the city showed.

    An ethnic militia that controls swathes of Rakhine said a large number of structures in Sittwe and Kyauktaw had been damaged, and schools and monasteries where people had been sheltering were left without roofs.

    “The whole northern Rakhine has suffered severe damage,” Arakan Army spokesperson Khine Thu Kha said. “People are in trouble.”

    Communication networks in Rakhine had been disrupted after the cyclone made landfall, the U.N. and local media said.

    Across Rakhine state and the north west of the country about 6 million people were already in need of humanitarian assistance, while 1.2 million have been displaced, according to the U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA).

    [1/4] People move from their homes to take shelter in the nearest cyclone shelter at Shah Porir Dwip during the landfall of cyclone Mocha in Teknaf, Bangladesh. REUTERS/Jibon Ahmed

    “For a cyclone to hit an area where there is already such deep humanitarian need is a nightmare scenario, impacting hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people whose coping capacity has been severely eroded by successive crises,” U.N. resident coordinator Ramanathan Balakrishnan said.

    Myanmar has been plunged into chaos since a junta seized power two years ago. After a crackdown on protests, a resistance movement is fighting the military on various fronts.

    A junta spokesperson did not immediately answer a telephone call from Reuters to seek comment.

    FOOD AND SUPPLIES

    In Bangladesh, where authorities moved around 300,000 people to safer areas before the storm hit, Rohingya refugees inside densely-populated camps in the Cox’s Bazar in the south east of the country hunkered down inside their ramshackle homes.

    “Our shelter, made of bamboo and tarpaulin, offers little protection,” said refugee Mohammed Aziz, 21. “We’re praying to Allah to save us.”

    Many of the Rohingya refugees, half-a-million children among them, live in sprawling camps prone to flooding and landslides after having fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.

    Hundreds of thousands of the Muslim Rohingya minority remain in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where many are confined to camps separated from the rest of the population.

    “The state government has moved many Rohingya from Sittwe camps to higher grounds area,” Zaw Min Tun, a Rohingya resident in Sittwe said, adding that the evacuation took place without any warning.

    “They also didn’t provide any food to them, so people are starving.”

    Ahead of the storm, the World Food Programme said it was preparing food and relief supplies that could help more than 400,000 people in Rakhine and surrounding areas for a month.

    Reporting by Ruma Paul in DHAKA and Reuters staff; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

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  • U.S. Congress gears up for immigration overhaul as Title 42 ends

    U.S. Congress gears up for immigration overhaul as Title 42 ends

    WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) – A fresh push for a bipartisan immigration overhaul, coupled with enhanced border security, is emerging in the U.S. Congress, as thousands of migrants amass across the border in Mexico ahead of the end of COVID-era border restrictions next week.

    The latest among those efforts is a last-minute legislative push that would grant U.S. border authorities similar expulsion powers allowed under the expiring COVID restrictions – known as Title 42 – for a period of two years, according to a congressional office involved in the talks.

    Title 42 began under Republican former President Donald Trump in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and allows U.S. authorities to expel migrants to Mexico without the chance to seek asylum. The order is set to lift on May 11 when the COVID health emergency officially ends.

    But many Republicans and some Democrats, particularly in border areas, fear the end of the order will lead to a rise in migration that authorities are poorly equipped to face. A top border official recently told lawmakers that migrant crossings could jump to 10,000 per day after May 11, nearly double the daily average in March.

    Senators Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, and Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, are leading the effort to temporarily extend border expulsions. The pair view it as a short-term fix while they work on broader immigration reform, Sinema spokesperson Hannah Hurley said.

    “This is squarely about the immediate crisis with the end of Title 42,” Hurley said.

    Separately, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives plans to pass a package of border security measures next week to place tougher constraints on asylum-seekers, resume construction of a wall along the southwest border with Mexico, and expand federal law enforcement.

    Many are seeking more sweeping change – but their hopes have been dashed in the past.

    It has been 37 years since Congress passed significant immigration reform, but a persistently high volume of migrants and an acute labor shortage have galvanized lawmakers. Republicans also cite the flow of illegal drugs into the United States through ports of entry as reason to harden border security.

    While some Democrats characterize the House border legislation as inhumane, several Democratic and Republican senators said they eagerly await such a bill.

    Tillis, who is pushing both the short-term legislative fix for Title 42’s end and a wider package of reforms, said a House-passed bill would be “something we can build on.”

    “It gives us some room to gain the support we need in the Senate” for broader legislation, he said, adding it could take two to three months to construct a compromise. But senators had no illusions this would be an easy task.

    Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said the House bill would provide clues on Republicans’ intent. He added that in conversations with fellow senators, “One of the first things they say is ‘well if the House starts the conversation I think we can get somewhere.’ We’ll see.”

    Since a 1986 immigration reform package, which resulted in some 3 million immigrants winning legal status, Congress repeatedly has failed to update the nation’s policies.

    Around 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States could have a stake in the outcome of this latest effort, along with U.S. businesses hungry for workers.

    To succeed in the Democrat-controlled Senate, it would need 60 senators from across both parties to back it, as well as win the support of the Republican-controlled House.

    “A high-wire act,” is how Republican Senator John Cornyn from border state Texas portrayed it, adding it was “the only path forward.”

    STARS ALIGNING

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business association, has launched a campaign urging Congress to act. It was endorsed by 400 groups, ranging from the American Farm Bureau Federation to the U.S. Travel Association.

    Republican-controlled states see their farming, ranching, food processing and manufacturing businesses begging for workers, a void that immigrants could fill if not for Washington’s clunky visa system.

    Finally, passage of an immigration bill coupled with beefed-up border security could boost President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign and give Republican candidates something to cheer, too.

    The House bill would deal with some of the five “buckets” in the Tillis-Sinema effort, according to a Senate source familiar with their work.

    Overall, they include a modernization of the plodding asylum system, improvements to how visas are granted, and measures to more effectively authorize immigrants, be they laborers and healthcare workers or doctors and engineers, to fill American jobs.

    There is also the fate of 580,000 “Dreamers” enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, who were brought illegally into the United States as children.

    Republicans have blocked their path to citizenship for two decades, arguing that would encourage more to take the dangerous journey to the border.

    Senators acknowledge some of their goals might have to be abandoned to achieve a “sweet spot.” But which ones?

    Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who won passage last year of the first major gun control bill in about three decades, did so in part by recognizing that a too ambitious bill is a recipe for failure.

    Murphy was asked how the difficulty of winning immigration legislation stacks up to other recent battles, such as gun control, gay marriage and infrastructure investments.

    “It’s an 11 on a scale of 10.”

    Reporting by Richard Cowan; additional reporting by Ted Hesson; Editing by Mary Milliken and Diane Craft

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  • WHO experts to weigh whether world ready to end COVID emergency

    WHO experts to weigh whether world ready to end COVID emergency

    LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) – A panel of global health experts will meet on Thursday to decide if COVID-19 is still an emergency under the World Health Organization’s rules, a status that helps maintain international focus on the pandemic.

    The WHO first gave COVID its highest level of alert on Jan. 30, 2020, and the panel has continued to apply the label ever since, at meetings held every three months.

    However, a number of countries, such as the United States, have recently begun lifting their domestic states of emergency. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said he hopes to end the international emergency this year.

    A final decision by Tedros based on the panel’s advice is expected in the coming days. There is no consensus yet on which way the panel may rule, advisors to the WHO and external experts told Reuters.

    “It is possible that the emergency may end, but it is critical to communicate that COVID remains a complex public health challenge,” said Professor Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist who is on the WHO panel. She declined to speculate further ahead of the discussions, which are confidential.

    One source close to negotiations said lifting the “public health emergency of international concern,” or PHEIC, label could impact global funding or collaboration efforts. Another said that the unpredictability of the virus made it hard to call at this stage. Others said it was time to move to living with COVID as an ongoing health threat, like HIV or tuberculosis.

    “All emergencies must come to an end,” said Lawrence Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University in the United States who follows the WHO.

    “I expect WHO to end the public health emergency of international concern. If WHO does not end it… [this time], then certainly the next time the emergency committee meets.”

    Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), said he was concerned that a change in status would lead to complacency, with weaker surveillance and falling vaccination levels.

    “(The PHEIC) does not bring any kind any harm for countries but at the same time it keeps their attention,” he told journalists.

    Reporting by Jennifer Rigby in London and Emma Farge in Geneva; Editing by Alexandra Hudson

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    Jennifer Rigby

    Thomson Reuters

    Jen reports on health issues affecting people around the world, from malaria to malnutrition. Part of the Health & Pharma team, recent notable pieces include an investigation into healthcare for young transgender people in the UK as well as stories on the rise in measles after COVID hit routine vaccination, as well as efforts to prevent the next pandemic. She previously worked at the Telegraph newspaper and Channel 4 News in the UK, as well as freelance in Myanmar and the Czech Republic.

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  • Texas authorities arrest wife, friend of fugitive wanted in shooting

    Texas authorities arrest wife, friend of fugitive wanted in shooting

    May 3 (Reuters) – Texas authorities have arrested the wife and a friend of a man accused of killing five of his neighbors, saying the two helped the suspect evade capture for four days, a local prosecutor said on Wednesday.

    Francisco Oropesa was apprehended on Tuesday after a manhunt conducted by local, state and federal officials. He was found in a closet under some laundry in a home in Montgomery County.

    The bloodshed erupted on Friday in nearby San Jacinto County after neighbors asked the suspect to stop firing his semiautomatic rifle in his yard because it was keeping their baby awake. Instead, the 38-year-old man reloaded, entered the home of the neighbors and killed five, including an 8-year-old boy, officials said.

    The suspect’s wife, identified as Divimara Nava, 52, was arrested Wednesday morning and was being held in Montgomery County, San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon said at a news conference.

    “We believe that Nava was providing him with material aid and encouragement, food and clothes, and had arranged transport to this house,” Dillon said.

    Nava was facing a felony charge of hindering apprehension and prosecution of a known felon, according to jail records.

    [1/2] Francisco Oropesa, 38, suspected of shooting five Texas neighbors to death and leading multiple agencies on a four-day manhunt, is seen in an undated photograph released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). FBI/Handout via REUTERS


    A friend of the suspect was also arrested on a marijuana charge and will be charged with helping the suspect flee the neighborhood in Cleveland, Texas, where the crime took place, Dillon said.

    A $5 million bond will be set for the suspected gunman when he appears later Wednesday before a judge in a local jail where he is being held on five counts of murder, San Jacinto County Chief Deputy Tim Kean said at an earlier news conference on Wednesday.

    The suspect was arrested in the town of Cut and Shoot, Texas, roughly 17 miles (27 km) west of Cleveland. Both are about 50 miles (80 km) north of Houston.

    Officials acted on a tip from an unidentified person who was eligible for an $80,000 reward offered for information leading to the arrest, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said on Tuesday.

    Most of the victims were shot in the head. All were from Honduras and among the 10 people living at the address, but they were not all family members, Capers said.

    The suspect is a Mexican national who was deported from the United States four times since 2009, U.S. immigration officials said.

    Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Mark Porter

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  • Exclusive: Venezuela’s oil tankers at risk of sinking, fires, spills, report finds

    Exclusive: Venezuela’s oil tankers at risk of sinking, fires, spills, report finds

    PUNTO FIJO, May 4 (Reuters) – More than half of the 22 oil tankers in Venezuela’s fleet are so run down that they should be immediately repaired or taken out of service, according to an internal report from state-run oil company PDVSA that was shared exclusively with Reuters.

    The report by PDVSA’s maritime branch, entitled “Critical deficiencies and risks of PDV Marina’s tanker fleet,” said years of deferred maintenance had left the entire fleet with “low levels of reliability,” at risk of spills, sinking, fires, collisions or flooding.

    “The ships currently lack seaworthiness classification and certifications by flag nations,” the report said.

    PDVSA and PDV Marina did not respond to requests for comment.

    The report, dated March 2023, was among eight documents shared with Reuters describing the state of PDVSA’s tanker fleet from the oil company’s corporate office, trading division and maritime branch, as well as Venezuela’s maritime authority. The existence of the documents has not been previously reported.

    Dated from Jan. 2022 to March this year, the documents detail the condition of the company’s tankers; the costs of chartering third-party vessels and the status of shipbuilding contracts with companies in Argentina and Iran.

    The deterioration of the fleet has forced PDVSA to charter tankers to move its oil, which provides the bulk of Venezuela’s hard currency, the analysis by PDVSA’s trade division said.

    PDVSA and the oil ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

    The reports were prepared amid a wide-ranging anti-corruption probe ordered by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro last October after the discovery of billions of dollars in missing payments for petroleum exports. More than 60 people have been arrested and PDVSA’s chief executive and the nation’s oil minister have been replaced.

    The report from PDV Marina recommended withdrawing five tankers from active use; sending seven to shipyards for major repairs and installing transponders, fire extinguishers and communication equipment in others. No actions have been taken as the audit on the company’s operations continues.

    Five of PDVSA’s tankers are at least 30 years old, past their recommended lifespan, according to the PDV Marina report. The last major maintenance work on the fleet was five years ago, the report said.

    “The tanker fleet is showing a decline in the quality of its operations due to advanced physical deterioration, which implies higher maintenance and repair costs. Planning for sending the tankers to dry docks has been very affected by lack of payment to shipyards and providers,” the PDV Marina report said.

    Reuters has previously reported on an increase in tanker collisions, spill risks and fires in Venezuela.

    PDVSA leased 41 vessels last year, the documents said, paying about double the market rate, between $14,000 and $36,500 per day, to tanker owners willing to work with Venezuela despite U.S. sanctions imposed in 2019.

    DELAYED SHIPS

    At least four tankers ordered from foreign shipyards have been held up because of payment delays, cost increases and sanctions, according to the documents reviewed by Reuters.

    The audits ordered by PDVSA’s new CEO Pedro Tellechea as part of Maduro’s anti-corruption probe could bring further delays, a PDVSA executive said.

    “All contracts are frozen,” the executive said on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation. PDVSA’s legal and supply and trade departments are asking PDV Marina for documentation on the contracts, he added.

    Venezuela has paid shipyards in Iran and Argentina at least $300 million for six new vessels ordered as far back as 2005.

    It has taken delivery of only two of them, according to the documents.

    PDVSA has paid almost 80% of the $160 million due for two tankers from Rio Santiago shipyard in Argentina, the documents showed.

    Rio Santiago said it was not authorized to give information about that particular contract.

    In addition, PDVSA paid almost 157 million euros (about $173 million), or 63% of a 248 million euros contract (about $272 million) to U.S.-sanctioned Iran Marine Industrial Company (Sadra) for four tankers, according to the documents.

    Two of the four vessels were delivered after payment delays, difficulties with parts supplies and problems with insurance and certifications, according to the documents.

    The payment delays generated extra costs for demurrage, the documents said.

    Sadra did not reply to a request for comment.

    Reporting by Mircely Guanipa; Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston, Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Editing by Gary McWilliams and Suzanne Goldenberg

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  • It’s not 2020 anymore. Biden’s re-election campaign faces new challenges

    It’s not 2020 anymore. Biden’s re-election campaign faces new challenges

    WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) – It won’t be a campaign from the basement this time.

    As U.S. President Joe Biden gears up for a bruising re-election battle, the realities of the 2024 race and differences with 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic create new challenges for him.

    Biden, a Democrat, says he is running again and is considering a formal announcement via video as soon as Tuesday.

    In 2020, Biden kept a low profile as the spread of COVID-19 caused havoc to most aspects of American life, including the election campaign that pitted him against then-President Donald Trump, a Republican.

    Trump still spoke at big rallies, but Biden did much of his campaigning virtually from the basement of his home in Wilmington, Delaware, largely avoiding crowds to prevent the spread of disease and reduce his own risk of catching the virus.

    That will change this time around. Gone will be the aversion to public events, large and small, likely replaced by traditional campaign stops at diners, factories and union halls with handshakes, selfies, and crowds of people.

    The Democratic convention in Chicago will be in-person rather than online. And Biden, who at 80 is already the oldest president in U.S. history, will have his day job to do while he makes the case for four more years in office.

    Biden beat Trump in 2020 by winning the Electoral College 306 to 232, winning the close swing states of Pennsylvania and Georgia, and he bested Trump by more than 7 million votes nationally, capturing 51.3 percent of the popular vote to the Republican’s 46.8 percent.

    AGE FACTOR

    Republicans will watch closely for signs of a diminished schedule to suggest that age has made Biden less fit for the campaign trail, and for the White House.

    “It’s quite shocking that Biden thinks he would be able to fill a second term, let alone the rest of this term,” said Republican strategist Scott Reed.

    Trump, the early front-runner for the Republican nomination, is himself 76 years old.

    Biden’s reply to concerns about his age and running for re-election has been to say “watch me,” and the White House points to his record of legislative accomplishments as a sign of his effectiveness.

    “An extensive travel schedule is not the measure of a candidate’s ability to do the job,” said Democratic strategist Karen Finney. “There’s no scenario where the Republicans don’t try to make his age an issue. We know that. And so the focus has to be on … what is the most effective way to reach the American people. Some of that, yes, is going to be in-person events and travel, but there may be other innovations.”

    CAMPAIGN REINVENTED

    Biden campaign aides reinvented his 2020 campaign as COVID-19 spread across the country.

    Some of the innovations were regarded as a success, including star-studded virtual fundraisers done without the need for expensive travel.

    But other changes were more controversial, including a months-long prohibition on the use of door-knocking by campaign volunteers and the regular appearances by Biden in his home’s basement, which became a meme panned by right-wing voters.

    Having to get out more than in 2020 could help Biden, said Meg Bostrom, co-founder of Topos Partnership, a strategic communications firm.

    “Just look at the State of the Union (address.) That was the best I’ve ever seen. When Republicans started heckling him, he just lit up,” she said. Biden sparred ably with Republicans during his speech to Congress in February.

    But other issues may trip up the incumbent president on the campaign trail, including his handling of the economy.

    “The allure for voting for Biden in 2020 was sort of the quaint notion of getting back to normal,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell, referring to the chaos of Trump’s time in office.

    “The problem for Biden is that he’s been in power … and things are anything but normal, especially when it comes to the economy and inflation.”

    Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics

    RECESSION CONCERNS

    Biden took office in January 2021 just as COVID vaccines were rolling out, and economic conditions gradually normalized during his early tenure after the shock of nationwide shutdowns. The United States now boasts 3.2 million jobs over the pre-pandemic peak.

    But Americans are concerned about a potential recession, and Biden may suffer from being on the wrong side of an economic cycle heading into 2024, with unemployment likely to rise as growth slows, interest rates remaining high and inflation potentially hovering above pre-pandemic levels.

    Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics

    Trump, who has announced his re-election bid already and could be Biden’s opponent again, is expected to follow the strategy that he employed in 2016 and 2020 with multiple large rallies to energize his base.

    But he will first have to win what could be a grueling Republican nomination contest – something that Biden, as an incumbent without major opposition inside his party, will not face.

    “We don’t need fire and brimstone. We don’t need rah rah rallies,” said Democratic strategist Joe Lestingi. “We need the strength and conviction of our values and a steadiness not to move on them.”

    Biden, he said, would provide that steadiness.

    “I think he’ll get out more,” Lestingi said, praising Biden’s skill at traditional “retail” politics. “If you get an opportunity to be with him in a small intimate setting, he can make a real big difference.”

    Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics

    Reporting by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Steve Holland, Howard Schneider and Andrea Shalal; editing by Grant McCool

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    Jeff Mason

    Thomson Reuters

    Jeff Mason is a White House Correspondent for Reuters. He has covered the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden and the presidential campaigns of Biden, Trump, Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

    He served as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association in 2016-2017, leading the press corps in advocating for press freedom in the early days of the Trump administration. His and the WHCA’s work was recognized with Deutsche Welle’s “Freedom of Speech Award.”

    Jeff has asked pointed questions of domestic and foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. He is a winner of the WHCA’s “Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure” award and co-winner of the Association for Business Journalists’ “Breaking News” award.

    Jeff began his career in Frankfurt, Germany as a business reporter before being posted to Brussels, Belgium, where he covered the European Union.

    Jeff appears regularly on television and radio and teaches political journalism at Georgetown University. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and a former Fulbright scholar.

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  • Sudan factions agree to 72-hour ceasefire as foreigners are evacuated

    Sudan factions agree to 72-hour ceasefire as foreigners are evacuated

    • At least 427 people killed since fighting began on April 15
    • Foreign nations fly military planes to extract citizens
    • U.N.’s Guterres urges Security Council to intervene

    KHARTOUM, April 24 (Reuters) – Sudan’s warring factions agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire starting on Tuesday, while Western, Arab and Asian nations raced to extract their citizens from the country.

    The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) said the U.S. and Saudi Arabia mediated the truce. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced the agreement first and said it followed two days of intense negotiations. The two sides have not abided by several previous temporary truce deals.

    Fighting erupted between the SAF and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group on April 15 and has killed at least 427 people, knocked out hospitals and other services, and turned residential areas into war zones.

    “During this period, the United States urges the SAF and RSF to immediately and fully uphold the ceasefire,” Blinken said in a statement.

    He said the U.S. would coordinate with regional, international and Sudanese civilian interests to create a committee that would oversee work on a permanent ceasefire and humanitarian arrangements.

    The RSF confirmed in Khartoum that it had agreed to the ceasefire, starting at midnight, to facilitate humanitarian efforts. “We affirm our commitment to a complete ceasefire during the truce period”, the RSF said.

    The SAF said on its Facebook page that it also agreed to the truce deal. A coalition of Sudanese civil society groups that had been part of negotiations on a transition to democracy welcomed the news.

    Ahead of the evening truce announcement, air strikes and ground fighting shook Omdurman, one of three adjacent cities in the capital region, and there were also clashes in capital Khartoum, a Reuters reporter said.

    Dark smoke enveloped the sky near the international airport in central Khartoum, adjacent to army headquarters, and booms of artillery fire rattled the surroundings.

    U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the violence in a country that flanks the Red Sea, Horn of Africa and Sahel regions “risks a catastrophic conflagration … that could engulf the whole region and beyond”.

    The Security Council planned a meeting on Sudan on Tuesday.

    THOUSANDS FLEE

    Tens of thousands of people including Sudanese and citizens from neighbouring countries have fled in the past few days, to Egypt, Chad and South Sudan, despite instability and difficult living conditions there.

    [1/3] Spanish military plane and military vehicles are seen departing on tarmac as Spanish diplomatic personnel and citizens are evacuated, in Khartoum, Sudan, April 23. Spanish Defence Ministry via REUTERS

    Foreign governments have been working to bring their nationals to safety. One 65-vehicle convoy took dozens of children, along with hundreds of diplomats and aid workers, on an 800-km (500-mile), 35-hour journey in searing heat from Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

    For those remaining in Africa’s third-largest country, where a third of its 46 million people needed aid even before the violence, the situation was increasingly bleak.

    There were acute shortages of food, clean water, medicines and fuel and limited communications and electricity, with prices skyrocketing, said deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq.

    He cited reports of looting of humanitarian supplies and said “intense fighting” in Khartoum as well as in Northern, Blue Nile, North Kordofan and Darfur states was hindering relief operations.

    Facing attacks, aid organisations were among those withdrawing staff, and the World Food Programme suspended its food distribution mission, one of the largest in the world.

    “The quick evacuation of Westerners means that the country is on the brink of collapse. But we expect a greater role from them in supporting stability by pressuring the two sides to stop the war,” said Suleiman Awad, a 43-year-old academic in Omdurman.

    Several nations, including Canada, France, Poland, Switzerland and the United States, have halted embassy operations until further notice.

    Fighting calmed enough over the weekend for the United States and Britain to get embassy staff out, triggering a rush of evacuations of hundreds of foreign nationals by countries ranging from Gulf Arab states to Russia, Japan and South Korea.

    Japan said all its citizens who wished to leave Sudan had been evacuated. Paris said it had arranged evacuations of 491 people, including 196 French citizens and others from 36 other nationalities. A French warship was heading for Port Sudan to pick up more evacuees.

    Four German air force planes evacuated more than 400 people of various nationalities from Sudan as of Monday, while the Saudi foreign ministry said on Monday it evacuated 356 people, including 101 Saudis and people of 26 other nationalities.

    Several countries sent military planes from Djibouti. Families with children crowded into Spanish and French military transport aircraft, while a group of nuns were among the evacuees on an Italian plane, photographs showed.

    The U.N. secretary general urged the 15 members of the Security Council to use their clout to return Sudan to the path of democratic transition.

    Islamist autocrat Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in a popular uprising in 2019, and the army and RSF jointly mounted a 2021 military coup. But two years later, they fell out during negotiations to integrate and form a civilian government.

    Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Martin Schlicht in Berlin and Simon Johnson in Stockholm; Writing by Michael Georgy and Toby Chopra

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • North Korea says it tested new solid-fuel ICBM, warns of ‘extreme’ horror

    North Korea says it tested new solid-fuel ICBM, warns of ‘extreme’ horror

    • Leader Kim Jong Un and family watch missile test
    • Test key to deploying missiles faster in war
    • South Korea, U.S. and Japan stage military drills

    SEOUL, April 14 (Reuters) – North Korea announced on Friday it had tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a development set to “radically promote” its forces, which experts said would facilitate missile launches with little warning.

    Leader Kim Jong Un guided Thursday’s test, and warned it would make enemies “experience a clearer security crisis, and constantly strike extreme uneasiness and horror into them by taking fatal and offensive counter-actions until they abandon their senseless thinking and reckless acts”, North Korean state media said.

    Analysts said it was the North’s first use of solid propellants in an intermediate-range or intercontinental ballistic missile, a key task to deploying missiles faster during a war.

    South Korea’s defence ministry said North Korea was still developing the weapon, and that it needed more time and effort to master the technology, indicating that Pyongyang might carry out more tests.

    North Korean state media outlet KCNA released photos of Kim watching the launch, accompanied by his wife, sister and daughter, and the missile covered in camouflage nets on a mobile launcher. A state media video showed the Hwasong-18 missile blasting off from a launch tube, creating a cloud of smoke.

    The development of the Hwasong-18 will “extensively reform the strategic deterrence components of the DPRK, radically promote the effectiveness of its nuclear counterattack posture and bring about a change in the practicality of its offensive military strategy,” KCNA said, using the initials of the country’s official name.

    South Korea and the U.S. air forces staged drills hours after the report, involving American B-52H bombers that joined F-35A, F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, Seoul’s defence ministry said.

    “By deploying U.S. strategic assets with increased frequency and intensity, the two countries will continue demonstrating our strong alliance’s will that we will never tolerate any nuclear attack from North Korea,” the ministry said in a statement.

    North Korea has criticised recent U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises as escalating tensions, and has stepped up weapons tests in the past months.

    Japan also conducted separate air drills with two U.S. B-52 bomber jets on Friday, accompanied by four U.S. F-35 fighters and four Japanese F-15 fighters, Tokyo’s defence ministry said. It marked a second consecutive day of a Japan-U.S. joint air mission over the Sea of Japan.

    Japan asked the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency meeting on North Korea’s ballistic missile launches, top government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno told a Friday press conference.

    [1/6] A view of a test launch of a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Hwasong-18 at an undisclosed location in this still image of a photo used in a video released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) April 14, 2023. KCNA via REUTERS TV/via REUTERS

    Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics

    MORE TESTS?

    Most of North Korea’s largest ballistic missiles use liquid fuel, which requires them to be loaded with propellant at their launch site – a time-consuming and dangerous process.

    “For any country that operates large-scale, missile based nuclear forces, solid-propellant missiles are an incredibly desirable capability because they don’t need to be fuelled immediately prior to use,” said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “These capabilities are much more responsive in a time of crisis.”

    North Korea will most likely keep some liquid-fuel systems, complicating the calculations of the U.S. and its allies during a conflict, Panda said.

    Vann Van Diepen, a former U.S. government weapons expert who now works with the 38 North project, said solid-fuel missiles are easier and safer to operate, and require less logistical support – making them harder to detect and more survivable than liquids.

    North Korea first displayed what could be a new solid-fuel ICBM during a military parade in February after testing a high-thrust solid-fuel engine in December.

    Analysts said the U.S. could determine between a solid- or liquid-fuelled launch with early warning satellites that can detect differences in the infrared data produced by various missile types.

    The latest launch came days after Kim called for strengthening war deterrence in a “more practical and offensive” manner to counter what North Korea called moves of aggression by the United States.

    The missile, fired from near Pyongyang, flew about 1,000 km (620 miles) before landing in waters east of North Korea, officials said. North Korea said the test posed no threats to its neighbouring countries.

    A South Korean military official said the missile’s maximum altitude was lower than 6,000 km, the apogee of some of last year’s record-breaking tests.

    “North Korea could have opted to focus on collecting data necessary to check its features at different stages than going full speed at the first launch,” said Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies. “As it was a test that did not demonstrate its normal flight pattern, North Korea will likely conduct some more tests.”

    Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Leslie Adler

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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  • Over 18,000 cows die in Texas dairy farm blaze

    Over 18,000 cows die in Texas dairy farm blaze

    April 13 (Reuters) – More than 18,000 cows died after an explosion and fire at a family dairy farm in west Texas, marking the deadliest such barn blaze on record in the United States.

    Firefighters rescued one employee from the South Fork Dairy near Dimmitt on Monday as flames raced through a building and into holding pens, according to images and statements from the Castro County Sheriff’s Office.

    The cause of the fire was under investigation and it was not immediately possible to contact members of the family who own the farm in one of Texas’ biggest milk production counties.

    The blaze prompted calls from the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), among the oldest U.S. animal protection groups, for federal laws to prevent barn fires which kill hundreds of thousands of farm animals each year.

    There are no federal regulations protecting animals from the fires and only a few states, Texas not among them, have adopted fire protection codes for such buildings, according to an AWI statement.

    The blaze was the most devastating U.S. barn fire involving cattle since the AWI began tracking such incidents in 2013. Around 6.5 million farm animals have died in such fires in the last decade, most of them poultry.

    Reporting By Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Daniel Wallis

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  • Airman suspected of leaking secret US documents hit with federal charges

    Airman suspected of leaking secret US documents hit with federal charges

    BOSTON, April 14 (Reuters) – A 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard accused of leaking top secret military intelligence records online was charged on Friday with unlawfully copying and transmitting classified material.

    Jack Douglas Teixeira of North Dighton, Massachusetts, who was arrested by heavily armed FBI agents at his home on Thursday, made his initial appearance in a crowded federal court wearing a brown khaki jumpsuit.

    At the hearing, Boston’s top federal national security prosecutor, Nadine Pellegrini, requested that Teixeira be detained pending trial, and a detention hearing was set for Wednesday.

    During the brief proceeding, Teixeira said little, answering “yes” when asked whether he understood his right to remain silent.

    The judge said Teixeira’s financial affidavit showed he qualified to be represented by a federal public defender, and he appointed one.

    After the hearing, three of Teixeira’s family members left the courthouse, with a group of reporters trailing them for several blocks. They entered a car without making any comments.

    The leaked documents were believed to be the most serious U.S. security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010. The Pentagon has called the leak a “deliberate, criminal act.”

    This leak did not come to light until it was reported by the New York Times last week even though the documents were posted on a social media website weeks earlier.

    U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he ordered investigators to determine why the alleged leaker had access to the sensitive information, which included records showing purported details of Ukrainian military vulnerabilities and embarrassed Washington by revealing its spying on allies.

    Fallout from the case has roiled Washington. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has requested a briefing for all 100 senators next week while Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed to investigate.

    “The Biden administration has failed to secure classified information,” McCarthy said on Twitter. “Through our committees, Congress will get answers as to why they were asleep at the switch.”

    FBI agents arrest Jack Teixeira, an employee of the U.S. Air Force National Guard, in connection with an investigation into the leaks online of classified U.S. documents, outside a residence in this still image taken from video in North Dighton, Massachusetts, U.S., April 13, 2023. WCVB-TV via ABC via REUTERS

    Biden said he was taking steps to tighten security. “While we are still determining the validity of those documents, I have directed our military and intelligence community to take steps to further secure and limit distribution of sensitive information,” he said in a statement.

    MORE CHARGES EXPECTED

    A criminal complaint made public on Friday charges Teixeira with one count of violating the Espionage Act related to the unlawful copying and transmitting of sensitive defense material, and a second charge related to the unlawful removal of defense material to an unauthorized location.

    A conviction on the Espionage Act charge carries up to 10 years in prison.

    The charges are connected to just one leaked document so far, a classified record that described the status of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and included details about troop movements on a particular date.

    Experts expect more charges as investigators examine each leaked document. Teixeira could also face more counts depending on the number of times he separately uploaded and transmitted each document.

    “They are going to pick the ones (documents), I would imagine, that foreign governments have already seen,” said Stephanie Siegmann, the former national security chief for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston and now a partner with the Hinckley Allen law firm.

    In a sworn statement, an FBI agent said Teixeira had held a top secret security clearance since 2021 and also had sensitive compartmented access to other highly classified programs.

    Since May 2022, the FBI said, Teixeira has been serving as an E-3/airman first class in the Air National Guard and has been stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts.

    Siegmann said one lingering question is why a 21-year-old National Guardsman held such a top-level security clearance.

    “That’s an issue that Department of Defense needs to now deal with,” she said. “Why would he be entitled to these documents about the Russia-Ukrainian conflict?”

    Reuters has reviewed more than 50 of the documents, labeled “Secret” and “Top Secret,” but has not independently verified their authenticity. The number of documents leaked is likely to be over 100.

    Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Tim McLaughlin in Boston
    Editing by Don Durfee and Alistair Bell

    Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

    Sarah N. Lynch

    Thomson Reuters

    Sarah N. Lynch is the lead reporter for Reuters covering the U.S. Justice Department out of Washington, D.C. During her time on the beat, she has covered everything from the Mueller report and the use of federal agents to quell protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, to the rampant spread of COVID-19 in prisons and the department’s prosecutions following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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