Latest News
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Church leader: Nigerian abductors killed a priest after one month of captivity
The head of the Church of Nigeria confirmed that an Anglican priest who was kidnapped last month in the northwest of Nigeria has died in captivity. This comes as Nigeria is reeling from a wave of abductions and murders which has drawn the condemnation of Washington. Archbishop Henry Ndakuba stated that Venerable Edwin Achi was killed after spending a month as a captive. He had been taken with his wife, daughter and son from their Kaduna home on October 28. In a late-Friday statement, Ndakuba stated: "With deep sorrow, we announce that our beloved priest... was brutally killed after suffering a month long abduction." The church reported that gunmen demanded at first a ransom payment of 600 million Naira (416,00) to release Achi, but later reduced it to 200,000,000 Naira. His wife and his daughter are still in captivity. Police in Kaduna have not responded to any requests for comments. The killing occurs amid a wave kidnappings across northern Nigeria. Armed gangs kidnapped 25 schoolgirls from Kebbi State on November 17, and days later more than 300 students and staff from a Catholic School in Niger State, prompting the closure of schools in several states. Bola Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, ordered the recruitment and cancellation of foreign trips in order to deal with what he termed a "national crisis." These attacks have also caused international concern. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, called Nigeria's situation "a disgrace". He warned that Washington would halt its aid and even take military action against Nigerian authorities if they failed to stop violence against Christians. Ndakuba called on the government and security services to "identify the treacherous sponsors and financiers, and enablers" of the wave of terror and demanded the immediate release Achi's daughter and wife.
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Russian drones and missiles injure 11, kill 1 in Kyiv
Russian drones, missiles, and explosions caused fires in Kyiv's districts early Saturday morning, according to officials. One person was killed and 11 others injured. This was the second attack in four days on the Ukrainian capital. On Tuesday, seven people were killed when Russian forces fired a barrage with drones and missiles. Tymur Tkachenko said that six locations in Kyiv, a city of three million people, were struck by explosions on Saturday. Apartment buildings and other dwellings were also affected. The military administration reported that the remains of a resident were recovered from the rubble in an apartment building which had been set on fire. The same building was also the site of a child's rescue. Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of the city of Kiev, said that a strike also caused a fire to start in the lower levels of an apartment building west of the centre. A second fire was also quickly put out in the central district. After 5 am (0300 GMT), a new alert was sent out in the capital for drones approaching. Online pictures showed an apartment building on fire, and emergency crews working in the streets and alongside damaged buildings. (Reporting and editing by Ron Popeski, Diane Craft, Tom Hogue and Chris Reese)
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Rosneft, Russia's oil company reports 70% drop in nine-month net profit
Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil producer, reported a 70% drop in net income from January to September, falling by $3.57 billion or 277 billion Russian roubles. The company attributed the decline to high interest rates and cheaper oil, as well as a stronger rouble. Shell and TotalEnergies have seen their quarterly profits fall due to lower oil prices. Rosneft stated that the increased "anti-terror" security was putting additional pressure on its results. The company didn't elaborate on specific security measures. Ukraine has increased drone attacks against Russia's energy infrastructure. Rosneft reported that its revenues dropped 17.8% to 6.29 trillion rubles in the first nine-month period of the year. The high key interest rate of the Bank of Russia continues to negatively impact the profit. Rosneft also said that non-monetary factors and special events had a negative impact on the indicator's dynamic during the reporting period. EBITDA (earnings before taxes, depreciation, and amortization) decreased by 29.3% for the period to 1.6 trillion Russian roubles.
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Petrobras cost-cutting could affect new wells in the Equatorial Margin Region
Petrobras' CEO stated on Friday that the company could reconsider some of its 15 planned wells in the "Equatorial Margin" because Brent oil prices will likely remain low for the next few years. Petrobras has cut its investment plans for the period 2026-2030 by $500 million up to $2.5 billion. Magda Chambriard, Petrobras' Chief Executive Officer, said at a recent press conference that "we had a large number of wells in the Equatorial margin; some were prioritised, while others were, say, deprioritized based on the Brent crude oil price." She did not specify how many wells would be examined. Petrobras is drilling in an environmentally sensitive region off the coast Amapa, known as Foz do Amazonas. Fernando Melgarejo, the Chief Financial Officer of Petrobras, told journalists that the company's cuts would also affect the extraordinary dividends paid to shareholders. He said the likelihood of distributing extra cash is low in the future. Chambriard stated that despite the cuts, Petrobras will maintain its oil production around 2.6 or 2.7 millions barrels per day up until 2034, after ramping it back up in 2027. Petrobras' new business plan expects it to reach a peak oil production level in five years. Reporting by Fabio Téixeira and Marta Nogueira from Rio de Janeiro, writing by Andre Romani and editing by Kyrry Madry and Paul Simao
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Silver sets new record for silver; gold heads to fourth consecutive monthly gain
Gold spot rose 1% on Friday to a new two-week-high, amid expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in the coming months. Silver also hit a record high. Gold spot was up by 1.3% at $4,210.94 an ounce as of 03:11 pm EST (20:11 GMT) after hitting its highest price in November 13 earlier this morning. Bullion is expected to rise 5.2% for the month and 3.6% for the week, marking a fourth consecutive increase. Silver reached a new record high at $56.78 an ounce. This is up 6.1% in the session, and 16.6% over the course of the month. After an outage that lasted for several hours at CME, trading in foreign exchange, commodities and futures, including Treasuries, stocks, and Treasuries, resumed around 8 a.m. U.S. Gold Futures for February Delivery settled 1.3% higher, at $4.254.9 an ounce. INVESTORS FOCUS ON FED Bart Melek is global head of commodity strategies at TD Securities. He said that some investors are returning to gold because they believe the Federal Reserve will cut rates. Gold is more likely to perform well when interest rates are low. The recent dovish comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller, and New York Fed president John Williams, coupled with the softer economic data after the recent U.S. Government shutdown, has strengthened expectations that central bank rates will be cut next month. The traders now see 87% of a chance that the rate will be cut in December. This is up from 50% just last week. Jim Wyckoff is a senior analyst at Kitco Metals. He said that "the technical charts have become more bullish over the last week or two, which has encouraged chart-based investors to bet on the long side of silver." This week, gold demand in major Asian markets was muted as high prices slowed retail purchases despite the beginning of India's festive season. The removal of the tax exemption for gold purchases in China has slowed consumer demand. Palladium gained 0.8%, to $1450.16, and is set to gain 5.6% for the week. Platinum rose 4%, to $1672.50. (Reporting from Bengaluru by Pablo Sinha; Additional reporting by Sarah Qureshi, Editing by Rod Nickel and Paul Simao; Vijay Kishore).
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Silver sets new record for silver; gold heads to fourth consecutive monthly gain
Gold spot rose 1% on Friday to a new two-week-high, amid expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in the coming months. Silver also hit a record high. Gold spot was up 1.6% at $4,222 an ounce as of 01:44 pm EST (18.44 GMT), the highest price since 11 November. It was also set to gain 3.9% per week. Bullion is on course to record a 5.5% increase this month and is set for its fourth monthly gain. Silver reached a new record high at $56.52 an ounce. This is a 5.5% increase for the session, and a 16% gain for the entire month. After an outage that lasted for several hours at CME, trading in foreign exchange, commodities and futures, including Treasuries, stocks, and Treasuries, resumed around 8 a.m. U.S. Gold Futures for February Delivery settled 1.3% higher, at $4.254.9 an ounce. INVESTORS ARE FOCUSED UPON THE FED Bart Melek is the global head of commodity strategies at TD Securities. He said that some investors are returning to gold because they believe rates will be cut by the Federal Reserve. Gold is more likely to perform well when interest rates are low. The recent dovish comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller, and New York Fed president John Williams, coupled with the softer economic data after the recent U.S. Government shutdown, has strengthened expectations that central bank rates will be cut next month. The traders now see 87% of a chance that the rate will be cut in December. This is up from 50% just last week. Jim Wyckoff is a senior analyst at Kitco Metals. He said that "the technical charts have become more bullish over the last week or two, which has invited chart-based investors to be on the long side of silver." This week, gold demand in major Asian markets was muted as high prices curbed the retail buying of the precious metal despite India's wedding season. The removal of the tax exemption for gold purchases in China has slowed consumer demand. Palladium rose 0.5%, to $1.445.20, and is set to gain 5.2% for the week. Platinum was up 3.2% at $1,659.83. (Reporting from Pablo Sinha, Bengaluru Editing done by Rod Nickel and Paul Simao)
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Adani, an Indian company, wants to invest up to $5 billion in Google's data centers to take part in the AI boom
Adani Group, owned by Alphabet, plans to invest $5 billion into Google's India AI Data Centre Project, an executive revealed on Friday. The company is looking to capitalize on the booming demand in data capacity across the world's largest nation. Google announced in October that it would invest $15 Billion over five years in the state of Andhra Pradesh to build an artificial intelligence data center. This is its largest investment in India. AI demands enormous computing power. This is driving demand for data centres with thousands of chips linked together in clusters. Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder Singh stated that the Google project may mean an investment up to $5 billion in Adani Connex, a joint venture of Adani Enterprises with private data centre operator EdgeConneX. Singh told reporters Friday that "It is not only Google. There are many parties who would like to collaborate with us, particularly when the capacity of our data centres goes up to gigawatts and beyond." Google has committed to investing about $85 billion in expanding data centres capacity this year. Tech companies are investing heavily in infrastructure as they try to meet the demand for AI-based services. The Indian billionaires Mukesh and Gautam Ambani also announced investments to build data centres. The campus of the data centre in Visakhapatnam, a port city, will initially have a power capacity of one gigawatt. $1 = 89.3660 Indian Rupees (Reporting and editing by Kevin Liffey; Harshita Pandya, Dhwani Pandya)
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Silver sets new record for silver; gold heads to fourth consecutive monthly gain
Silver also hit a new record high. Spot gold rose by 1% on Friday to a 2-week high, amid expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in the coming months. By 12:10 pm EST (1710 GMT), spot gold had risen 1.3% to $4210.49 an ounce, its highest price in two weeks. It was also set for a weekly gain of 3.4%. Bullion is on course to record a 5% increase this month and is set for a fourth consecutive monthly rise. Silver reached a new record high of 56.41 dollars per ounce. This is a 5.3% gain for the session, and a 15.2% increase for the month. After an outage that lasted for several hours at CME, trading in the currency platform, as well as futures covering foreign exchange, commodities and Treasuries, resumed around 8:15 a.m. U.S. Gold futures for delivery in February rose by 1%, to $4245.70 an ounce. INVESTORS FOCUSED UPON FED Bart Melek is global head of commodity strategies at TD Securities. He said that some investors are returning to gold because they believe the Federal Reserve will cut rates. Gold does well in environments with low interest rates. Recent dovish comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller, New York Fed president John Williams and softer economic data after the recent U.S. Government shutdown have increased expectations that the central banks will reduce rates next month. The traders now see 87% of a chance that the rate will be cut in December. This is up from 50% just last week. Jim Wyckoff is a senior analyst with Kitco Metals. He said that "the technical charts of silver have become more bullish over the last week or two, which invites chart-based traders to be on the long side in the silver market." The demand for gold was muted across the major Asian markets during this week as high prices discouraged retail purchases despite India's wedding season. The removal of the tax exemption for gold purchases in China has slowed consumer demand. Platinum rose 3.2%, to $1659.02 and was up 10% on the week. Palladium rose 1.3%, to $1456.68, for a gain of 6%. (Reporting from Pablo Sinha, Bengaluru Editing done by Rod Nickel and Paul Simao.)
Plastic contamination talks make modest progress however sidestep production curbs
Negotiations on a future worldwide treaty to tackle soaring plastic pollution ran overtime into Tuesday morning amid tense arguments over whether the world ought to look for to limit the amount of plastic being made.
As the week-long talks in the Canadian capital of Ottawa ended before dawn, nations accepted continue their operate in advertisement hoc meetings before the final top starting Nov. 25 in Busan, South Korea.
That work will consist of searching for types of funding to help establishing countries carry out the treaty. Nations also agreed to develop a process to recognize plastic chemicals that are hazardous and plastic items that are wasteful, such as single-use plastic containers.
But they failed to develop a formal procedure to examine how much virgin plastic is produced or to figure out just how much might be thought about unsustainable.
The hoped-for treaty to be agreed in Busan might be the most significant offer connecting to climate-warming emissions and environmental management considering that the 2015 Paris Agreement.
This is a small action on a very long course, stated Sivendra Michael, lead negotiator for the Pacific island nation of Fiji. We actually have 7 months staying to provide on this pledge (to control plastic contamination).
More than 50 nations supported a proposal by Rwanda and Peru for evaluating what a sustainable level for plastic production might appear like.
Plastic production is on track to triple by 2050, but today's levels already are unsustainable and far surpass our recycling and waste management capabilities, stated Rwanda's chief negotiator Juliet Kabera.
As some celebrations objected to limiting plastic production, a. group of 28 countries released a pledge to translucent the treaty. effort with production caps consisted of.
The science is clear: we should first deal with the. unsustainable levels of plastic production if we want to end. plastic pollution globally, said Christophe Bechu, France's. minister for eco-friendly shift.
Efforts to target production dealt with strong opposition from. some petrochemical-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia. and China, as well as from market groups who were lobbying in. Ottawa.
They argued that, with the last summit just seven months. away, nations must be concentrating on less controversial subjects. such as plastic waste management and item style.
China's lead mediator in Ottawa, Yang Xiaoling, said. nations should cut their ambitions to reach consensus on a. treaty later on this year.
A LOT OF COMPROMISES
Ecological groups observing the talks cautioned that too. many political compromises would water down the effectiveness of an. ultimate treaty.
The subjects concurred (for more conversation) don't cover the. full variety of concerns on the table, said Christina Dixon, ocean. advocate for the Environmental Investigation Agency.
But some invited a close concentrate on specific concerns, consisting of. hazardous chemicals.
Plastics and toxic plastic chemicals encounter our. borders with few or no controls or securities for our health,. stated Griffins Ochieng, executive director of the Centre for. Environment Justice and Development in Kenya.
As the Ottawa talks occurred, the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. declared a state of emergency situation in the exact same province due to a. release of cancer-causing benzene from an industrial center.
Aamjiwnaang Council member Janelle Nahmabin called the. incident an unfortunate example of what these negotiations. are actually speaking about..
(source: Reuters)