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.)
West African nations call for companies to be able to balance out carbon
A group of 10 West African countries has actually weighed into a dispute over whether companies around the globe should be allowed to utilize carbon offsets to cut emissions, arguing they are important to bring in funding for environment and preservation efforts.
While some scientists and technical consultants have criticised offsets as undermining efforts to rein in climate modification by allowing the continued emissions of greenhouse gases, others see them as a necessary tool to enhance essential finance.
In a letter to the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi),. the world's top business climate target verifier, the 10. nations called on its trustees to ensure offsetting is. consisted of within net-zero guidance to business.
The letter, signed by Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast,. Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal and Togo,. stated recent reports questioning the credibility of balancing out. emissions were the work of misguided activists.
There is growing debate over the ethics and effectiveness of. offsets, also called carbon credits, to excuse some business. emissions. Offsets are generated by buying projects that. lower or avoid carbon emissions and can be traded.
The letter's primary author informed that the lack of. certainty in the SBTi's assistance was harmful business. confidence and slowing funding.
The SBTi is, appropriately or wrongly, the gatekeeper that can. unlock financing from corporations around the world that wish to. contribute to environment action ... at the very same time as (and not. rather of) taking action to decarbonise their evaluation, said. Ousmane Fall Sarr, coordinator of the West African Alliance on. Carbon Markets and Environment Financing.
The SBTi's existing guidance just enables really minimal use of. renewable energy certificates which a business can use to lower. so-called Scope 2 emissions, those related directly to the. energy it utilizes.
However SBTi's board of trustees stated on April 9 that, topic. to particular guidelines and guidance, it would enable them for Scope 3. emissions, those related to their supply chains,. circulation and item use. This was invited by both. companies and developing nations that are relying on carbon. balanced out projects to generate money.
Unpredictability remained, however, because the board had not. followed SBTi's typical treatment for policy setting. SBTi has. said it is reviewing the scientific research study and disputing the. problem before making a last call.
In a statement to , it said it invited feedback from. all stakeholders, and would open a public consultation as soon as its. research study was total.
' NO ALTERNATIVE'
The SBTi, formed by a union of non-profit organisations,. is seen as a key player in international efforts to scale up the market. for voluntary carbon credits by attending to quality issues and. ensuring they provide the advantages they claim.
The United States added momentum on April 28 by unveiling. its own standards for voluntary carbon credits.
In their May 24 letter, the West African nations advised. the SBTi board of its promise in April, which is still on its. site. To us, carbon markets is climate financing, the letter. stated. There is no alternative. We are at a turning point.
With climate financing still far below needed levels, the. letter said balanced out incomes were vital to supporting bad. neighborhoods, motivating preservation, making the shift to. clean energy and adapting to the conditions of a warmer world.
The OECD has stated poor nations' real climate investment. needs could total $1 trillion per year by 2025.
Ousmane stated the absence of clarity on offsets would likewise hold. up nation efforts to compute and upgrade their nationwide. environment plans ahead of the COP29 United Nations environment top. in November in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Countries must upgrade these nationally identified. contributions before next year's COP30 summit in Brazil, however. are being encouraged to submit them this year.
(source: Reuters)