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A minimum of 18 dead in retaliatory sectarian attacks in Pakistan
At least 18 people were killed and 30 injured in more sectarian violence in northwestern Pakistan, officials said on Saturday, as tensions stayed high following attacks on transportation convoys that killed lots of civilians this week. The most recent killings in a tribal district started on Friday night, when armed guys assaulted a town in the district, said the chief secretary of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry. They set on fire fuel stations and harmed properties as part of vengeance, he informed Reuters by phone. He said he and top police authorities would be going to the location and engage tribal seniors on both sides to bring back order. The toll considering that Thursday is 58 dead. AFP reported on Saturday that 32 individuals were killed in the most current violence, mentioning an unnamed official. On Thursday unidentified shooters opened fire on guest cars, eliminating over 40 in the Kurrram district, where armed Shia and Sunni Muslims have engaged in tribal and sectarian rivalry for decades over a land conflict near the Afghanistan border. Most of the dead were Shiites, officials said, sparking retaliatory attacks by armed groups, with markets and schools remaining shut in a curfew-like situation. A cops official asking for anonymity informed Reuters that the death toll from the fresh violence might have been greater had homeowners of the town that was attacked not currently evacuated their homes in anticipation of more violence. He stated the homeowners of Bagan town, a primarily Sunni location, had already left their homes and shifted to safe locations in Lower Kurram.
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How huge fossil-fuel-producing countries export emissions abroad
Black dust coats streets and gathers on rooftops in the area adjoining a vast cement factory in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Activists and regional citizens accuse the plant run by the Alexandria Portland Cement Business (APCC), a subsidiary of Greece's Titan Cement, of fouling the air by burning coal. Every night, we see particles falling from their chimneys. Under street lights, you can plainly see the dust drizzling down, stated Mostafa Mahmoud, a supermarket owner in the Wadi al-Qamar area. Reuters could not individually confirm the assertion. Titan Cement says the plant's emissions are within legal limits, and it prepares to minimize its use of coal in coming years. Like many cement makers in Egypt and across North Africa, the factory uses imported coal to fire its kilns. Lately, a growing number of the region's coal is coming from the United States, according to U.S. export data. Fossil fuel exports have been a hot subject at the United Countries climate conference in Baku this year, with activists and delegates from some climate-vulnerable countries arguing countries must be held liable for the contamination they send out overseas - typically to poor establishing nations - in the type of oil, gas and coal. Some are looking for to get the question of how to do this onto the program at future environment tops. A landmark arrangement reached in Paris in 2015 to combat environment modification needs countries to set targets and report on development reducing nationwide levels of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. But it does not impose such requirements for emissions generated from fossil fuels they drill, mine and ship somewhere else. That has actually permitted nations like the United States, Norway, Australia and others to state they are making development toward international climate goals while likewise producing and exporting fossil fuels at breakneck rate, said Bill Hare, co-founder of Environment Action Tracker, an independent clinical project that tracks government environment action. Most of these fossil-fuel-exporting countries can get to look good with their domestic environment action, he stated on the sidelines of the COP29 conference in Baku today. Their. exported emissions are someone else's problem. U.S. nonrenewable fuel source exports-- including coal, oil, gas and. refined fuels-- caused over 2 billion lots of carbon dioxide. equivalent emissions in other countries in 2022, according to a. computation carried out by Climate Action Tracker and confirmed. using data from the International Energy Company. That. is equivalent to about a 3rd of U.S. domestic emissions, the. information showed. A years-long drilling boom has made the U.S. the world's top. oil and gas producer, while robust demand has actually lifted its coal. exports for 4 years running, according to data from the U.S. Energy Details Administration (EIA). Asked how Washington squares its climate ambitions with its. nonrenewable fuel source production and exports, President Joe Biden's. environment advisor, Ali Zaidi, said strong energy output was needed. to keep customer prices low during a transition to cleaner. fuels. I do not believe there is social license for a decarbonisation. playbook that puts upward price pressure for retail customers in. the market, Zaidi informed Reuters. Inbound president Donald Trump, a climate modification sceptic,. has said he wishes to even more enhance the country's fossil fuel. production. For other manufacturers, greenhouse gas emissions from fossil. fuel exports in some cases exceed domestic emissions, Environment. Action Tracker said. That held true for Norway, Australia and Canada in 2022, the. newest year for which data is available for all countries. evaluated. Reuters got special access to the computations. Norway's Ministry of Climate and Environment said it is. approximately other nations to manage their own carbon footprints. Each nation is responsible for lowering its own. emissions, the ministry stated in a statement to Reuters. Authorities at the environment and climate ministries of. Canada and Australia did not comment. Addressing the top in Azerbaijan, host President Ilham. Aliyev implicated some Western politicians of double requirements for. lecturing his federal government about its oil and gas usage, saying,. They better look at themselves. CEMENT AND BRICKMAKERS A lot of U.S. gas exports now go to European countries looking for. to minimize reliance on Russia, while China has actually become one of. the leading purchasers of U.S. crude and coal, according to the EIA. figures. America's greatest development market for coal, however, is. North Africa. U.S. coal mines exported around 52.5 million short lots. globally in the very first half of 2024, up almost 7% from the exact same. period a year earlier, the information revealed. Much of the boost was driven by cement and brickmakers in. Egypt and Morocco, which together took in more than 5 million. short loads over the period, the EIA stated in a current report. These clients value the high heat content of U.S. thermal. coal, which makes their production operations more. efficient, the report stated. On the other hand, U.S. domestic coal usage has actually been sliding as cheap. gas and aids for renewables like solar and wind. drive coal-fired power plant closures, extending a more than. 15-year decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. Egypt's cement market has depended on imported coal for. nearly a years, because consistent natural gas scarcities forced. many factories to search for alternatives, stated Ahmed Shireen. Korayem, vice chairman and board member at the Arab Union for. Cement and Building Products, a regional industry body. The U.S. is Egypt's largest provider, accounting for 3.1. million of the 6.6 million metric lots of coal imported this. year, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group. Russia supplied most of the rest, 2.1 million metric lots. Its environment ministry referred questions to the foreign. ministry, which did not immediately comment. Activists argue that the Egyptian federal government's choice to. lift a longstanding ban on coal imports in 2015 to support an. market central to its financial development strategies is harmful to. the environment and health of communities like Wadi al-Qamar. Using information from the Alexandria plant's emissions-monitoring. system, researchers from Egypt's Al-Azhar University, Cairo. University and environment ministry simulated the dispersion of. polluting dust and poisonous gases in between 2014 and 2020. The study , published in the Journal of Environmental Health Science. and Engineering in 2022, concluded that the shift from using. gas to coal as the dominant fuel cause increased. emissions and concentrations of overall suspended particulates. ( TSP), nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. The concentrations. were mainly within legal limits, nevertheless. Egypt's greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. increased by more than a fifth in the years ended in 2022, hitting. 263 million metric lots of carbon dioxide, according to information. from the International Carbon Budget, a task led by Britain's Exeter. University. The majority of these emissions originated from gas and oil, which stay. Egypt's main energy sources. Coal accounted for 3.4% of the 2022. overall, 9 million metric heaps. The federal government devoted in 2021 to phase out making use of. coal and has actually asked companies that utilize it to introduce more. eco-friendly sources into their energy mix. But Heba Maatouk, a. representative for Egypt's environment ministry, stated there was. insufficient supply of alternatives, such as refuse-derived fuel. ( RDF) made from combustible garbage. If business can not get the RDF, they will not stop running. and will use coal to avoid losses, Maatouk told Reuters. LEGAL BATTLES Decarbonising the cement industry is a difficulty,. especially in poorer developing nations like Egypt, due to the fact that it. requires huge amounts of energy, and technologies to keep. emissions from the environment are pricey. In his COP29 address recently, Egyptian Prime Minister. Mostafa Madbouly said his nation's strategies to enhance eco-friendly. energy to 42% of its power mix by 2030 depend on foreign. assistance. Homeowners in the Wadi al-Qamar neighborhood have been. participated in a prolonged legal fight with the Alexandria cement. factory, APCC, submitting several claims, stated Hoda Nasrallah, a. legal representative for the Egyptian Effort for Personal Rights (EIPR). In 2016, community members backed by EIPR asked an. administrative court in Alexandria to overturn amendments to the. country's ecological policies that allow heavy markets. to use coal on health and ecological premises, according to. the rights group. APCC officials did not react to an ask for remark made. through a legal representative. Titan Cement verified that the factory sources coal from. the U.S. however did not elaborate. In a statement issued by its group business interactions. director, Lydia Yannakopoulou, the company said the plant had. not violated any laws, had actually made 40 million euros in investments. in pollution controls because 2010, and prepared to reduce its use. of coal in coming years as it increases use of alternatives. She stated a court-appointed committee of experts from. Alexandria University concluded there were no environmental. violations arising from the company's emissions or functional. procedures, and the emissions were within legal limitations. Nasrallah stated legal representatives representing the community. believe the committee was headed by a company employee and have. taken their case to Egypt's greatest administrative court in. Cairo. Neither side supplied a copy of the committee's report, and. Reuters could not separately confirm their assertions. A ruling in the case is expected in December. Meanwhile, frustration is building amongst nearby. locals like Hisham al-Akary, who says his family has lived in. Wadi al-Qamar for generations and can not afford to move. This factory shouldn't be here, he told Reuters. We. need to remain, and they must leave..
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Adani CFO says US charges connected to only one service contract
A U.S. bribery indictment of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is connected to one agreement of Adani Green Energy that makes up some 10% of its business, and no other firms in the conglomerate are accused of wrongdoing, the group's CFO said on Saturday. On Wednesday, Gautam Adani, among the world's wealthiest men, and seven others were indicted for scams by U.S. prosecutors over their declared functions in a $265 million plan to bribe Indian authorities to secure powersupply offers. Adani has actually rejected all allegations calling them baseless. Group CFO Jugeshinder Singh sought to defend the accusations on Saturday saying none of Adani's 11 public companies are. based on indictment or are accused of any wrongdoing in the. stated legal filing. The claims in the U.S. indictment associates with one. agreement of Adani Green, which is roughly 10% of general. company of Adani Green, Singh said on X. The U.S. prosecutor charges are the greatest problem for. India's $143 billion Adani Group, which was in 2015 hit by. Hindenburg Research study's claims of improper use of overseas. tax sanctuaries, claims the company denied. The U.S. indictment has currently had a significant influence on. business. The group entity's shares have plunged, some international banks are. considering momentarily halting fresh credit to Adani and Kenya. has actually cancelled 2 deals with Adani worth over $2.5 billion. Adani, which has a number of other global projects, is likewise charged. with deceptive U.S. investors about Adani Green's compliance. with antibribery principles and laws. Singh said on Saturday, they became conscious of the specificity. of the U.S. charges only two days ago. We understood that something is afoot, he stated, adding the. company disclosed as much to investors in its $750 million 2024. bond offering, about $175 million of which was raised from. financial institutions in the United States. The U.S indictment, nevertheless, says the bond offering consisted of. incorrect and misleading assurance about, among other things, the. Indian Energy Company's (Adani Green's) 'corporate governance'. and promoted 'preserving transparency and compliance in every. element'.. The charges also put the spotlight on Sagar Adani, a director at. Adani Green and millennial scion of the business who kept track. of hundreds of countless dollars of supposed allurements to Indian. officials on his mobile phone. Singh stated the group would make a more comprehensive remark as soon as. it has legal approval as the matter is before the courts.
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Iberdrola Invests in Offshore Wind Coatings Start-Up
Iberdrola, through its start-up program Perseo, has invested in the start-up Revestimientos Técnicos Sostenibles (RTS) to promote its innovative solutions related to manufacturing insulation and anti-corrosion coatings, which have a direct use on offshore wind structures.The investment comes after the utility has spent more than three years collaborating with RTS in the development of solutions based on cork, hollow ceramic microspheres and aerogel, a technological breakthrough to protect wind structures and the transformation rooms of offshore substations.Iberdrola aims to include this material in the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms, as it improves quality and brings with it significant savings, the company said.RTS is an Andalusian company founded in 2015, and is currently in the process of developing and approving products applicable to Iberdrola's offshore wind and Smart Clima businesses.The firm based in Utrera, Seville joins the Perseo portfolio, Iberdrola's start-up program, which has invested over $210 million (€200 million) in companies since its creation in 2008 that develop innovative technologies and business models, focusing on those that improve the sustainability of the energy industry through greater electrification and decarbonization of the economy.The program focuses on technological collaboration with start-ups and emerging companies around the world, as well as on launching new innovative businesses in the power industry.
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Russia's claim of emissions in annexed Ukraine regions draws demonstrations at COP29
Russia has included the areas it occupies in Ukraine in its recent greenhouse gas inventory report to the United Nations, drawing protests from Ukrainian authorities and activists at the COP29 environment top this week. The move by Moscow comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin eyes potential peace offer settlements with inbound U.S. President Donald Trump that could choose the fate of large swathes of territory. We see that Russia is utilizing global platforms to legalise their actions, to legalise their profession of our area, Ukraine's Deputy Environment Minister Olga Yukhymchuk told Reuters. She said Ukraine is in touch with officials from the United Nations Structure Convention on Environment Change (UNFCCC), the U.N.'s main environment body, to ask it to fix the disagreement. Officials representing the Russian foreign ministry and the UNFCCC did not respond to requests for comment sent on Thursday. At concern is Russia's National Inventory Report of greenhouse gas emissions for 2022, which Moscow sent to the UNFCCC on Nov. 8. In the submission, evaluated , Russia said it could just offer information for 85 out of 89 of its territories due. to the lack of standard data on land use for the areas. of the Donetsk Individuals's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic,. Zaporizhzhia and Kherson areas, annexed in September 2022. Russia had already consisted of emissions from Ukraine's Crimea. area, annexed in 2014, in its last couple of reporting submissions. to the UNFCCC. It likewise included Crimea's land development strategies. in a report to the U.N. Global Biodiverity Structure in 2020. Ukrainian Environment Minister Svitlana Grynchuk raised the. problem in a speech to delegates at the COP29 top earlier this. week, saying Russia's reporting on Ukraine territories. weakens the stability of global climate efforts. Yukhymchuk informed Reuters this issue is based on the risk of. double-counting of emissions over territories that together. exceed the size of Portugal and Azerbaijan. It will bring us to a point that we do not achieve any of. our goals if we do not have correct reporting under the Paris. Agreement, she stated. Nikki Reisch, director of the Center for International. Environmental Law's Climate & & Energy Program, stated the disagreement. shown how geopolitical turmoil was diverting the world's. attention from the work of battling worldwide warming. I think that suggests the times, stated Reisch on the. sidelines of the COP29 summit. We're living amidst widespread conflicts, which is. certainly contaminating these talks. Christina Voigt, a law professor at the University of Oslo,. stated Russia's reporting on Ukraine emissions broke Ukraine's. sovereignty and might be illegal. Declaring emissions is perhaps not illegal - but declaring. emissions as if they were from their own territory, while they. are in fact produced on another country's territory, is a. unilateral declaration in violation of the global legal. status of that area, Voigt stated. She stated Russia's claim of the annexed lands' emissions. could become much more troublesome if Moscow eventually claims. emissions decreases on these lands and provides them as offset. credits to carbon markets. This would certainly be an unlawful appropriation of a great. coming from the other state, she stated.
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Moody's upgrades Saudi Arabia's ranking on economic diversification efforts
Global credit ratings agency Moody's. upgraded Saudi Arabia's score to Aa3 from A1 on Friday,. mentioning the nation's efforts to diversify beyond its oil. economy. The world's leading oil exporter is investing billions of. dollars to attain its Vision 2030 plan, which focuses on. lowering its dependence on oil and costs more on infrastructure. to enhance markets like tourism, sports and production. Saudi Arabia is also working to bring in more outdoors. financial investment to ensure its ambitious strategies remain on track. Last month, the nation's financial investment minister sought to. assure financiers at a conference in Riyadh that Saudi remains. lucrative for investment in spite of a year marked by regional. conflict. With lower oil rates and production, the federal government's. earnings have reduced. As a result, the kingdom is rethinking. its spending, which means some Vision 2030 jobs will be. delayed or scaled back, while others would get more concern. Continued development will, over time, even more minimize Saudi. Arabia's direct exposure to oil market developments and long-term. carbon shift, Moody's said in a statement. The rating company likewise revised the nation's outlook to. steady from positive, pointing out uncertainty concerning worldwide. financial conditions and oil market advancements. In September, S&P revised Saudi Arabia's outlook to positive. from stable on the back of strong non-oil development outlook and. financial durability.
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Soaring Magic shoot to knock off Pistons
The rising Orlando Magic seek their eighth win in the last nine games on Saturday when they host the visiting Detroit Pistons. Orlando is returning home from a three-game Western swing in which it went 2-1, rebounding from a 104-93 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday with a 119-118 defeat of the Lakers on Thursday. The Magic weathered a combined 70 points from Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, thanks to Franz Wagner's 37 points and 11 assists. Orlando likewise got 23 points from Jalen Suggs and 19 off the bench thanks to Moritz Wagner. Franz Wagner notched 15 of his team-high in the 4th quarter, the last 3 of which began a step-back jumper from beyond the arc with 3.3 seconds remaining. The game-winner put an emphatic cap on his 4th 30-plus-point performance in the last six trips. He is balancing a career-best 23.2 points per game through the preliminary stretch of this season and shooting 35 percent on a career-high 6.1 3-point attempts per game. The outside shooting consistency is a considerable enhancement from 2023-24 when Franz Wagner shot just 28.1 percent from beyond the arc. A great deal of this things is mental for us players, Franz Wagner said. So for me to overcome that hump a bit over the summertime and bring that over into the season suggests a lot. After the two video games in Los Angeles and a 109-99 win in Phoenix on Monday, Orlando returns home where it is unbeaten this season. The Magic held opponents to 94 points or fewer in all five video games of a homestand from Nov. 8-15, buoying the NBA's least expensive scoring yield of 103.2 points per video game. Detroit comes in on a run scoring 120 points or more in 4 of its last 6 games, though three of those went to overtime. The most current of the Pistons' trio of extra-frame contests came on Thursday in a 123-121 loss at the Charlotte Hornets. Cade Cunningham scored 27 points and dished 10 helps for his ninth double-double of the season and 5th in a row. Over the ongoing stretch, Cunningham also produced a 21-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in a. 124-104 win over Washington on Sunday. Cunningham is averaging 23.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game heading into. Saturday's match, and his 8.9 helps per video game are fourth-most in the NBA. Against Charlotte, however, the Pistons could not endure a barrage of 38. points from Brandon Miller and 35 from LaMelo Ball-- or a 20-point deficit in. the 3rd quarter. We can't have those type of starts, particularly on the road, offering groups. self-confidence, Tobias Harris stated of Detroit digging a deep hole early. Games. like this are very important, though. There's numerous teachable moments of how. every possession matters and counts boiling down into the fourth quarter and. overtime. In regards to group growth, the Pistons have actually made substantial strides from a season back. when they sustained the longest single-season losing streak in NBA history at 28. video games. With 7 wins through the initial stretch of 2024-25, this season's. Pistons are midway to matching the team's win total of a season back. Harris, an offseason acquisition, has added to the turn-around with 14.2. points and 7.5 rebounds per video game. -- Field Level Media
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Saudi Aramco unit in talks to invest $1 billion in US software application maker Mavenir, sources say
Saudi Aramco's. digital arm is in talks to take a considerable minority stake in. Mavenir, in an offer that is most likely to value the U.S. telecommunications software application maker at about $3 billion, people. familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. Aramco Digital remains in talks to invest about $1 billion in. Mavenir and a deal is likely to be signed before completion of the. year, the sources stated, warning that a transaction is not. guaranteed. Mavenir is working with financial investment bank Evercore on. its talks with Aramco Digital, the sources stated, asking for. anonymity as the discussions are confidential. The offer by Aramco Digital, the wholly-owned technology. subsidiary of the oil giant, would be its very first significant. deal in the telecommunications industry as part of Saudi. Arabia's Vision 2030 strategy, which concentrates on technological. developments and financial diversification. Aramco and Evercore did not right away respond to demands. for comment. Mavenir decreased to comment. The telecom equipment market, which has actually long been. controlled by suppliers such as Sweden's Ericsson,. Finland's Nokia and China's Huawei, is among the few. vital areas where U.S. companies do not have a considerable. existence. Richardson, Texas-based Mavenir is a leader in an innovation. called Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) that promises to. drastically cut expenses for telecom operators developing a mobile. network. It uses cloud-based software and enables usage of gear. from many suppliers instead of relying on a handful of. companies. The company has up until now raised a minimum of $800 million in. numerous funding rounds. As the Trump administration took actions to prevent Huawei's. U.S. service, it also pushed for more adoption of Open RAN. innovations, which might put more American business in the. mix. The push to promote Open RAN continued under the Biden. administration, but it was not commonly adopted as the emerging. innovation could not always match all the features that. conventional telecom suppliers might provide. Last year, AT&T signed a $14 billion Open RAN deal. with Ericsson for 70% of its wireless network traffic by late. 2026, giving a renewed increase to the sector. Sources said the. inbound Trump administration may also prioritize advancement of. the innovation. US-SAUDI TIES While an offer between Aramco and Mavenir is likely to go. through a U.S. nationwide security review, the Biden. administration signed a deal with the Saudis in 2022 to. cooperate on the technology to build 5G and 6G networks in Saudi. Arabia. As part of the deal with Mavenir, Aramco Digital remains in talks. to independently invest $200 million in a joint endeavor with the. company for innovation development in the region. Aramco Digital in January announced its intent to build. Saudi Arabia's very first Open RAN development center in partnership. with Intel, which has been dealing with telecom firms. such as Vodafone and Dependence Jio to establish the. innovation. Aramco Digital last week got a license to. supply wireless services in Saudi Arabia. A money infusion from the Saudis would enable Mavenir to. upgrade its 5G innovation and better get ready for the 6G network. rollout in the latter half of the years, at a time when the. entire telecom industry is going through a recession.
UK's King Charles sets up solar panels at Windsor Castle
Britain's King Charles, who has spent a lifetime marketing on environmental issues, has installed solar panels at Windsor Castle and plans to transform the royal household's Bentley cars to work on biofuel, palace authorities said.
Charles installed solar panels on part of the Windsor Castle estate referred to as the Lord Chamberlain's Upper Shop, changing the existing lead roofing, and the strategy will be to include more panels in the future, authorities said.
The royal household has Bentley limo vehicles and these will be converted to work on biofuel in the next year as an interim action before the home's fleet of cars eventually becomes electrical, the authorities said.
The king has actually long been outspoken on conservation and in 2020 described worldwide warming and environment change as the greatest hazard that humanity has actually faced.
Palace officials offered the details as they discussed details of the annual report into the king's taxpayer-funded spending and earnings, called the Sovereign Grant, published on Wednesday.
This revealed that main expenditure for 2023-24 had actually been 89.1 million pounds ($ 115 million), above the 86.3 million pounds assigned, requiring the royal household to dip into reserves to fund the deficit, though by less than last year.
Overall expenditure fell by 17% compared to the financial year 2022-2023, helped by a 10.8 million pound fall in the cost of residential or commercial property maintenance.
Additional income to supplement the Sovereign Grant more than doubled to 19.8 million pounds helped by a rebound in ticket sales to visit royal palaces, which nearly returned to the levels before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The royal family likewise plan to take shipment of two new helicopters this financial year, the accounts reveal. The report warranted the cost of the brand-new helicopters, saying the existing ones are 15 years old, and it will assist members of the royal family total several engagements on a single day.
Overall, travel costs totaled up to 4.2 million pounds, with the most significant abroad expenditure the king and queen's state check out to Kenya which cost 167,000 pounds.
(source: Reuters)