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SK Development shareholders approve merger plan with SK E&S, Yonhap reports
Shareholders of South Korea's. SK Development, parent of the country's largest oil. refiner and battery maker SK On, authorized on Tuesday a merger. with energy affiliate SK E&S, the Yonhap news firm reported,. pointing out the business. The merger plan, revealed last month, would create a 100. trillion won ($ 75.35 billion) possession company, in an effort to. shore up the finances of loss-making battery unit SK On by. combining it with a lucrative business that has a more powerful. balance sheet, experts stated. Shares of SK Innovation were trading up 2.6% after the. report, outshining the benchmark KOSPI, which was. down 0.5%. Unlisted SK E&S operates businesses consisting of profitable. city gas utilities and melted natural gas (LNG) power. generation systems. It reported a 1.3 trillion won ($ 939.37. million) operating profit in 2023 and 11.2 trillion won in. sales. Battery maker SK On has actually never ever earned a profit because it was. split off from SK Development in late 2021. Recently, it has been. dealing with a drop in electrical car battery shipments. amid a global slowdown in EV sales. Moms and dad SK Development reported a combined 1.9. trillion won operating profit in 2023, generating 77.3 trillion. won in sales.
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Australian shares increase as BHP Group, Woodside Energy shine on positive earnings
Australian shares advanced on Tuesday, led by mining and energy stocks after sector majors BHP Group and Woodside Energy posted strong earnings, while investors stayed concentrated on a key regional inflation data for monetary policy direction. The S&P/ ASX 200 index rose 0.2% to 8,097.8, since 0034 GMT. The benchmark index is now around 50 points shy of its all-time high of 8,148.7 hit on Aug. 1. BHP Group rose as much as 2.7% to strike its greatest level because early August, after the miner published a. better-than-expected yearly profit. Mining stocks jumped 1.3%, supported by iron ore. prices trading at a near two-week high. Energy stocks climbed up 2.4% to hit their highest. level given that Aug. 5, following a better-than-expected outcomes. from top energy business Woodside Energy. Shares of Woodside were up as much as 4.1% to strike their. greatest level considering that Aug. 2. Brent unrefined futures fell 0.25% to $81.23 a barrel. while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude lost 0.34%. to $77.16 per barrel. Coles rose as much as 3.2% to strike a two-year high,. after Australia's second-largest grocer reported a yearly. profit above analysts' quotes, sustained by strong sales at its. supermarkets and improved inventory management. Meanwhile, local financiers are waiting for an important inflation. information, due on Wednesday, which will set the tone for the central. bank's policy direction ahead, with interest rates staying at. a 12-year high in the nation. U.S. inflation data due on Friday is likewise on investors'. radar for additional clues on the Federal Reserve's rate-cut. trajectory. Overnight, the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average increased. 0.16% to 41,240.52 points. The S&P 500 lost 0.32% while. Nasdaq was down 0.85%. In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/ NZX 50 index. pulled away 0.1% to 12,574.41.
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UN chief issues 'SOS' for Pacific Islands worst hit by warming ocean
United Nations SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres stated on Tuesday ocean temperatures are rising in the Pacific Islands at three times the rate worldwide, and its population was uniquely exposed to the impact of rising water level. Talking to press reporters in Tonga where the Pacific Islands Forum is being held, Guterres highlighted the findings of a. report that revealed the South West Pacific was worst struck by sea. level increases, in some places by more than double the global. average in the previous 30 years. I remain in Tonga to provide a global SOS-- Conserve Our Seas-- on. increasing water level, he stated. Increasing seas are amplifying the frequency and severity of. storm rises and seaside flooding. These floods swamp coastal. neighborhoods. Ruin fisheries. Damage crops. Infect fresh. water. All this puts Pacific Island countries in grave risk, he. said. Water broadens as it warms, contributing to water level increase,. he said. Climate modification and security are controling conversations at. the week-long yearly leaders conference, where the 18 members of. the Pacific Islands Online forum span atoll countries threatened by sea. level rise such as host Tonga, and among the world's biggest. exporters of coal, Australia. Asked by a reporter about Australia's export of fossil. fuels, Guterres said fossil fuels should be phased out globally,. although the situation in various countries is various and. there would be different ways to do this. The report launched on Tuesday by the World Meteorological. Company showed ocean temperature levels in the South West Pacific. are increasing at as much as 3 times the rate worldwide. Pacific islands are distinctively exposed. This is an area with. an average elevation just one to two metres above water level,. Guterres stated. Half the infrastructure is within 500 metres of the sea,. he included. Without cuts to global emissions, the Pacific Islands can. anticipate additional water level increase of 15 cm (5.9 inches) by 2050. and 30 days a year of seaside flooding, he said. He required international leaders to enormously enhance environment. adjustment investments in vulnerable countries. A loss and damage fund to help bad countries manage. costly environment catastrophes was approved at last year's U.N. climate summit, after years of lobbying by groups consisting of the. Pacific Islands, but the challenge remains to bring in. significant contributions to the fund from wealthier countries. Developed nations must provide on their finance. dedications-- consisting of the commitment to double adaptation. financing to at least $40 billion a year by 2025, Guterres stated.
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Three arson presumes arrested for setting fires in Brazil farmland
3 men have actually been jailed on suspicion of setting fires that have damaged thousands of hectares of sugarcane plantations in northern Sao Paulo state, its Governor Tarcisio de Freitas said on Monday. The fires spread quickly into the weekend through parched fields at the peak of Brazil's dry season in a region that has not had rain for months. Clouds of smoke cloaked nearby cities where outside activities were limited, and highways and airport operations interfered with due to low visibility. We had an explosive combination of 3 factors: high temperature, very strong winds and extremely low relative humidity in the last few days. So, anything might trigger an ignition, Freitas stated at a press conference. He said 3 guys were detained in the region and presumed of starting the fires. Regional media stated they were captured with containers of gasoline. In Ribeirao Preto, a city in the most afflicted region in the west of Sao Paulo state, school classes were canceled on Monday. The guv said there were no brand-new fires burning in the sugarcane fields however lots of towns were still on high alert for more blazes. Freitas estimated the damage to farm crops from the fires at more than 1 billion reais ($ 182 million). São Paulo is the largest sugar-producing state in Brazil, the world's leading producer and exporter of the sweetener. Brazil's biggest sugar group Raizen SA stated it resumed operations at its Santa Elisa mill on Sunday. The plant needed to be evacuated on Thursday due to the proximity of fires.
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BHP yearly earnings increases 2%, says open to higher debt for acquisitions
BHP Group reported a. betterthanexpected yearly underlying profit on Tuesday due to. growth at its iron ore and copper companies and stated it was. comfortable with raising its financial obligation target for any potential. acquisitions. We are comfortable to move above our net financial obligation target. temporarily to execute worth accretive chances in the. portfolio, said the business, which left a $49. billion deal for Anglo American earlier this year. Net financial obligation of the world's biggest noted miner stood at $9.1. billion in fiscal 2024, roughly at the midpoint of its target. variety of $5 billion and $15 billion. Its net operating cash flow. was $20.7 billion. The miner projection capital and exploration expenditure of. around $10 billion in fiscal 2025 and an average $11 billion a. year in the medium term from FY26. BHP's fiscal 2024 revenue was underpinned by a record iron. ore output for a 2nd straight year and resilient average. recognized costs, which balance out weak coal costs and the sale of. 2 of its coal mines. Underlying attributable earnings for the year ended June 30. was available in at $13.66 billion, beating a Visible Alpha consensus of. $ 13.26 billion and ahead of the $13.42 billion earnings a year. earlier. BHP stated a dividend of $0.74 per share, below the prior. year's $0.80 each.
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UN warns Libya faces economic collapse in the middle of reserve bank crisis
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) provided a statement late on Monday revealing deep concern over the degrading scenario in Libya arising from unilateral choices. Disputes over control of Libya's Reserve bank have raised alarms about the possible abuse of the country's financial resources. UNSMIL is convening an emergency conference for all celebrations associated with the Central Bank of Libya crisis in order to reach a. consensus based upon political agreements, appropriate laws, and. the principle of the central bank's self-reliance, the statement. stated. The UN objective has actually required the suspension of unilateral. choices, the lifting of force majeure on oil fields, the. stopping of escalations and usage of force, and the defense of. Central Bank staff members. Libya's economy is heavily dependent on oil income, and there. have been relocate to impose force majeure on oil fields,. successfully cutting off the nation's primary income source. Previously on Monday, Libya's eastern-based administration. purchased the closure of oilfields in eastern Libya, which account. for nearly all the country's production, halting both production. and exports after tensions flared over the Central Bank's. leadership. There has actually been no verification of these actions from the. globally recognized federal government in Tripoli or from the. National Oil Corp
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Israeli settlers kill Palestinian in West Bank, military strike kills 5 others
Israeli settlers shot dead one Palestinian and injured three others in the occupied West Bank's Bethlehem, while five others were killed in an Israeli strike on the Nur Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said. The Israeli armed force said its airplane struck a militant operations centre in the camp, which soldiers were individually obstructing routes and conducting searches in the West Bank following reports of an abduction. It was looking into reports on the inhabitant raid, it included. Palestinians regularly implicate Israeli security forces of standing by and enabling groups of violent settlers to attack their houses and towns and the incidents have brought in increasing concern internationally. The U.S. and a variety of European countries have imposed sanctions on violent inhabitants and called consistently on Israel to do more to curb the attacks. In parallel to intensifying inhabitant attacks, clashes with the Israeli armed force in the West Bank have risen greatly because the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza last year as Israeli forces have actually stepped up operations versus armed militant groups, including Iranian-backed Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Countless Palestinians have been arrested in military raids, and at least 637 have been killed, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures. A number of them are armed fighters but others are stone-throwing youths or uninvolved civilians. At least 30 Israelis - civilians and soldiers - have actually been eliminated by Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank in the exact same period, main Israeli figures showed.
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Water level rising quicker in Pacific than somewhere else, states WMO report
Sea level rises in the Pacific Ocean are outstripping the global average, a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report revealed on Tuesday, imperiling lowlying island states. Internationally, sea level advances are speeding up as greater temperatures driven by the continued burning of nonrenewable fuel sources melt once-mighty ice sheets, while warmer oceans trigger water particles to expand. But even compared to the international average rate increase of 3.4 millimetres a year over the previous three decades, the WMO report showed that the typical yearly increase was substantially. greater in two measurement areas of the Pacific, north and east. of Australia. Human activities have actually compromised the capability of the ocean to. sustain and safeguard us and-- through sea level rise-- are. transforming a lifelong friend into a growing danger, stated WMO. Secretary-General Celeste Saulo in a declaration to accompany. the release of the regional State of the Climate report 2023 at. a forum in Tonga. Currently, such increases have actually brought a surge in the frequency of. coastal flooding because 1980, with dozens of instances occurring. in islands like the Cook Islands and French Polynesia which. formerly reported just a handful of such cases annually. Such events are sometimes triggered by tropical cyclones which. researchers think could likewise be intensifying due to environment. modification, as sea surface area temperatures climb. Over 34 hazards like storms and floods were reported in the. Pacific region in 2023, leading to more than 200 deaths, the. WMO report said, adding that only a 3rd of little island. developing states had early warning systems. A WMO spokesperson stated that the impact of rising water. levels on Pacific islands was disproportionately high given that. their typical elevation is just a meter or more (3.3 to 6.5 feet). above sea level. To raise awareness of the risks, Tuvalu's foreign minister. provided a speech to the U.N. climate conference in 2021 while. standing knee-deep in seawater, making global headings. But the WMO report said additional increases throughout the planet. would continue for centuries to millennia due to continuing. deep ocean heat uptake and mass loss from ice sheets.
United States as lots of as 15 years behind China on nuclear power, report states
The U.S. is as lots of as 15 years behind China on developing hightech nuclear power as Beijing's statebacked innovation technique and substantial funding provide it the edge, a report said on Monday.
China has 27 atomic power plants under building with typical building and construction timelines of about 7 years, far faster than other nations, stated the study by Infotech &&. Development Structure, a Washington-based nonpartisan research. institute.
China's quick deployment of ever-more modern nuclear power. plants over time produces considerable scale economies and. learning-by-doing results, and this recommends that Chinese. business will gain a benefit at incremental development in. this sector moving forward, the report said.
The U.S. has the world's biggest fleet of nuclear power. plants and President Joe Biden's administration considers the. essentially emissions-free electrical energy source to be crucial in. curbing environment modification.
However after two large plants in Georgia came online in 2023. and 2024 billions of dollars over budget plan and delayed by years,. no U.S. atomic power plants are being built. A high-tech plant that. had been planned to be built at a U.S. laboratory was canceled last. year.
China's state-owned banks can provide loans as low as 1.4%,. far lower than offered in Western economies. Its nuclear power. industry has actually gained from sustained state support and. localization strategies that has actually allowed China to control. sectors like eco-friendly power and EVs.
The world's first so-called fourth-generation. high-temperature gas cooled reactor at Shidao Bay came online. last December. The China Nuclear Energy Association declares that. the job included the advancement of more than 2,200 sets of. world-first equipment with a total localization rate of. locally produced materials of 93.4%.
Backers of high-tech reactors say they are more secure and more. effective than current plants. Critics say some new reactors. present expansion and product dangers.
It has actually not all been smooth cruising for China. The China. Atomic Energy Association has actually alerted that there was a severe. excess in nuclear part production, and excessive. competition was driving down prices and causing losses.
Stephen Ezell, the report's author, stated if the U.S. is. major about nuclear it ought to develop a robust national. technique including more financial investment in research study and advancement,. identifying and accelerating promising technologies, and. supporting advancement of a competent labor force.
While America is behind, it can certainly catch up. highly, stated Ezell.
The U.S. Department of Energy did not comment on the report.
(source: Reuters)