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Angola reports 22 deaths in protests against fuel price hikes
Angola’s government announced on Wednesday that violent protests against an increase in fuel prices had resulted in 22 deaths, up from four the day before. Minibus taxi associations began a three-day walkout on Monday to protest the government's decision to raise diesel prices by one-third as part of its efforts to reduce costly subsidies and stabilize public finances. The looting, vandalism, and clashes between police began in Luanda's capital, then spread into other provinces. On Wednesday, the President Joao Lurenco's Cabinet met and received an updated on security and police response. In a statement, the presidency said that 22 people had died and 197 others were injured. It also reported 1,214 arrests. The statement stated that 65 shops, 25 vehicles, and a few supermarkets and warehouses had been looted. Angola gradually removed fuel subsidies from 2023 when an increase in petrol prices sparked deadly protests. The International Monetary Fund, among others, was also involved. According to the finance minister of this oil-producing nation in Southern Africa, subsidies amounted up to 4% GDP last year. Investors closely monitor the move to phase out subsidy. Pieter Niesten is the portfolio manager of emerging market debt for Neuberger Berman. He said that fuel subsidies are estimated to be 1.8% GDP this year and contribute to fiscal pressures. He said that investors and international financial institutions view subsidy reforms as proof of Angola’s commitment to structural changes. Reporting by Miguel Gomes, Luanda; Colleen Goko, Johannesburg; Writing and editing by Alexander Winning
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Scientists say that EU climate goals are at risk because ailing forests absorb less carbon dioxide
Scientists warned that the damage to European forests caused by increased logging, fires, droughts and pests reduces their capacity to absorb carbon dioxide. This puts European Union emission targets at risk. The European Union is committed to achieving net zero emissions in 2050. This target also includes the expectation of forests to absorb hundreds of millions tonnes of CO2 and store them in soil and trees, compensating for pollution from industries. This assumption is no longer valid. According to a study led by scientists at the EU's Joint Research Centre, its independent science-research service, the amount of CO2 Europe’s forests removed annually from the atmosphere was almost a third less in 2020-2022 than it was in 2010-2014. Nature published a paper that stated that forests in the latter period absorbed approximately 332 million net tons of CO2 equivalent each year. Recent data from EU-countries suggest that the decline is even more pronounced. The paper stated that "this trend, coupled with the declining climate resilient of European forests indicates that the EU’s climate targets which depend on an increasing carbon sink could be at risk." The land and forest sector in Europe offsets around 6 percent of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions. This is 2% less than the EU's estimate of what it will take to achieve climate goals. The gap is expected to grow by 2030. Agustin Rubio, professor of soil science and ecology at the Polytechnic University of Madrid said that it would be "wishful" thinking to rely solely on forests to achieve climate targets. He said that while forests can be helpful, they should not be given a specific number to balance carbon budgets. These findings will be a headache for EU government officials who are currently negotiating a legally binding 2040 climate goal. This target is intended to offset the pollution from industries that cannot be eliminated by using forests. Some have already warned that this will not be possible. Last week, Sweden's Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari asked a question at a press conference. "What can we do about factors we as countries or governments cannot control, like forest fires and drought?" The carbon stored in forests is being depleted by over-harvesting and climate-change-driven wildfires, droughts and pest outbreaks. The paper stated that some of these risks could be managed, for example by reducing intensive logging or planting more tree species. This may increase CO2 storage, and help forests to withstand extreme climates and pests.
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U.S. Steel names three American directors to its board of directors following the Nippon Steel deal
U.S. Steel announced on Wednesday that it has appointed three American board members to its company. This comes more than a week after Nippon Steel completed its $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel. The company is now a Nippon Steel subsidiary and its board has seven members, of which four are U.S. Citizens, including three independent U.S. Directors. John Donovan is a former CEO of Lockheed Martin and Robert Stevens was formerly a member of U.S. National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Timothy Keating was named as a member of the board. He is a retired admiral of the U.S. Navy who served previously as director of the Pentagon's joint staff as well as commander of United States Pacific Command. Nippon signed the agreement last month to gain approval for the acquisition of U.S. Steel, after high-level opposition. It also Pledged A board with a majority of Americans and a CEO from the United States would help to calm down any concerns. The agreement granted U.S. president Donald Trump an economic golden share as well as the right to nominate a board member. It was not immediately apparent if any of the members of Trump's board were appointed directly by him. The deal gives the U.S. Government a unique level of control over the companies, allowing it to veto a range of corporate decisions from shutting down plants to reducing production capacity and moving jobs abroad. Reporting by Utkarsh shetti and Aishwarya jain in Bengaluru, editing by Pooja desai
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Gold drops as US data is strong and fuels expectations for rate cuts to be delayed
Gold prices fell on Wednesday, as strong U.S. data confirmed expectations that the Federal Reserve would hold interest rates at their upcoming meeting. This also increased the likelihood that any rate cuts for the rest of the year could be delayed. As of 9:34 am ET, spot gold was down by 0.6%, at $3,306,57 per ounce. ET (1334 GMT). U.S. Gold futures dropped 0.6% to $3.303.40. The recent economic releases are quite encouraging. The surprise was the GDP. The same goes for the addition to the labor market. Both indicate that the Fed may continue to delay cutting rates", said Nitesh Sharma, commodities strategist at WisdomTree. ADP's National Employment Report showed that private payrolls in the United States increased more than expected during July, despite signs of a slowing job market. Separately, the Commerce Department reported that second-quarter GDP increased by 3%, exceeding expectations of 2.4%. It is expected that the U.S. Central Bank will leave rates unchanged in the afternoon, despite President Donald Trump's repeated requests for rate cuts. The traders now see a 60% probability of the Fed reducing rates in September, compared to 66% prior to the data. Market participants will parse Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments, due at 2:30 ET (1830 GMT), for any nuance about the timing and trajectory policy shifts. Shah said that the higher the gold price, the louder an administration's displeasure with current policies will be. Gold is more likely to perform well when interest rates are low and there is uncertainty. After two days of constructive discussions in Stockholm, the U.S.A. and China have agreed to extend their 90 day tariff truce. Spot silver dropped 1.5%, to $37.61 an ounce. Platinum fell 1.1%, to $1380.25, and palladium fell 0.5%, to $1251.88. (Reporting and editing by Vijay Kishore in Bengaluru, Sherin Elizabeth Varighese from Bengaluru)
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India launches NASA-ISRO Satellite to Track Climate Threats from Space
India launched a radar imaging satellite worth $1.5 billion on Wednesday, the first of its kind. It was built in collaboration between NASA and India to improve global monitoring of natural disasters and climate change. NISAR, the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, is the result of the first collaboration between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation. The rocket took off at 1210 GMT from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre atop a medium lift rocket. This marks a landmark in space cooperation, and enhances India's image in low-cost missions with high impact. NISAR, according to the space agencies, is the first radar imaging satellite in the world to use two different radar frequencies, the L-band from NASA and the S band developed by ISRO, to track minute movements on the Earth's surface. These changes can be as small as centimetres. Satellite, about the size and weight as a full-loaded pickup truck was placed in a Sun-synchronous near-polar orbit 747 km above Earth. The satellite will map the Earth every 12 days, using a 240km wide radar swath. This data is available to disaster response agencies and scientists to monitor anything from glacier retreats in the Himalayas up to possible landslide areas in South America. After the launch, ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan stated that "the potential applications of the satellite are enormous and the scientific community around the world is eagerly anticipating the satellite data to use for their research and purposes." It will not be used by just one or two nations. This great achievement will benefit the entire world," he said. He added that the mission brought the two space agencies closer together than ever before. Casey Swails (NASA's associate deputy administrator) called the mission "a pathfinder". She said, "This Earth Science mission is unique and shows the world just what our two countries can do." NISAR will operate for at minimum five years. Data collected by NISAR will be freely accessible to all users around the world. This is a step that aims to increase transparency and accessibility for environmental research and hazards response. The launch coincides with India's wider push to establish itself a space power following its Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing and its Gaganyaan programme for human spaceflight. India said that it plans to build its space station and send astronauts on the moon by 2035 in partnership with other nations as part of an overall vision to expand scientific and commercial activities in space. (Reporting and editing by Nivedita Battacharjee, YP Rajesh, and Ros Russell).
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A huge earthquake rocks Russia's Far East and triggers tsunami warnings in the Pacific
The powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Coast on Wednesday caused tsunami warnings to be issued as far as French Polynesia, Chile and the Pacific Islands. It was then followed by the eruption of the volcano with the highest activity on the peninsula. A shallow earthquake in remote Russian territory damaged buildings and injured a few people. Meanwhile, parts of Hawaii and Japan's east coast, which was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami of 9.0 magnitude in 2011, were ordered to evacuate. By evening, Japan and Hawaii had lowered most of their warnings. French Polynesia authorities warned residents in the Marquesas Islands that they should move to higher ground to avoid waves up to 8 feet and 2.5 metres high. Scientists in Russia said that the earthquake in Kamchatka is the strongest to have hit the region since 1951. It felt as if the walls were about to collapse at any moment. The shaking lasted continuously for at least three minutes," said Yaroslav, 25, in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, said that there were no casualties from the earthquake in Russia. He credited the solid construction of buildings and the smooth operation of alert systems. The Russian news agency RIA reported that in Severo Kurilsk, a town located on the northern Kuril Islands south of Kamchatka the tsunami waves were up to five metres high. Alexander Ovsyannikov is the mayor of the town. He urged residents to inspect their homes for damage and to not use gas stoves until an inspection had been conducted. Regional officials and the Russian emergency ministry reported that tsunami waves had partially flooded a port and a plant for processing fish in the town and washed away vessels from their moorings. Drone footage verified by the local authorities showed that the entire town's shoreline had been submerged. Taller buildings, and even some storage facilities were surrounded by water. A geological monitoring service reported that the Klyuchevskoy Volcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula started erupting a little later. On the western slope, a descent of hot burning lava can be observed. "Powerful glow over the volcano and explosions," said the Russian Academy of Sciences United Geophysical Service in a Telegram statement. The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and centred 119 km (74 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000. WAVES IN HAWAII AND JAPAN Officials said that Hawaii recorded waves up to 1.7 meters while Japan recorded the largest wave at 1.3 metres. The transportation department reported that flights from Honolulu Airport resumed this evening. As far as California, waves of up to half a metre in height were seen. Smaller ones reached British Columbia province in Canada. Waves began to hit French Polynesia's islands early Wednesday morning. Wave heights in other areas were expected to be below 30 cm and not require evacuation or sheltering. Sebastien Lecornu, French Minister of Defence, said on X that "our armed forces are on alert in French Polynesia as a preventative measure to be ready to help our fellow citizens and the state services with potential search and rescue or medical evacuations." The Marquesas is a volcanic island with high rises, but French Polynesia has many low-lying islands. WARNINGS Across the Pacific In coastal towns along the Pacific coast of Japan, tsunami alarms were sounded and evacuation orders issued for thousands of people. TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima plant, said that workers evacuated the facility after a meltdown caused by the tsunami in 2011. Yoshimasa Haiashi, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, said that no damage or injuries had been reported and that there were no irregularities in any nuclear plant. "RING OF FIRE" Scientists say that the quake took place on a fault known as a megathrust, where the heavier North American Plate slides beneath the denser Pacific Plate. They said that the Pacific Plate is moving, and the Kamchatka Peninsula, off the coast of Russia's Far East, was particularly vulnerable to these tremors. And bigger aftershocks were not ruled out. The Russian Ministry for Emergency Services reported on Telegram that while a kindergarten suffered damage, most buildings survived the earthquake. Video footage from the region's health ministry showed a team of medics in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky performing surgery as the quake shook their operating theatre. Kamchatka, and the Far East of Russia are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire. This is a geologically-active region that's prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. "However due to certain features of the epicentre the shaking intensity was lower than one would expect for such a magnitude", said Danila Cherbrov, Director of the Kamchatka Branch, Geophysical Service on Telegram. The intensity of the aftershocks will remain high. "However, stronger tremors will not be expected in the near term."
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India-US trade negotiations go off the rails over a dispute over farm markets
Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States will impose a 25 percent tariff on Indian products starting August 1. He cited New Delhi's high taxes and non-monetary trade barriers. Here are some of the issues that have appeared to have stalled the trade negotiations between the U.S. and India, the fifth-largest economy in the world: CONTENTIOUS ISSUES India has refused to comply with U.S. requests for the opening of its dairy and agricultural markets, claiming that such a move would harm millions of farmers. New Delhi has excluded agriculture from its free trade agreements to protect the livelihoods of domestic farmers. Indian officials have cited the risks of subsidised U.S. agricultural products as a reason to not reduce tariffs on corn, soybeans, wheat, and ethanol. Automakers, pharmaceutical firms, and small businesses in India have all lobbied to only open the market gradually, for fear of disruptions from U.S. imported products. High Tariffs A White House fact sheet states that India has an average MFN tariff (Most Favored Nation) of 39% for imported farm products, compared with 5% in the U.S. and some as high as 50 %. Trump's administration repeatedly cited these tariffs to be a major obstacle in establishing deeper trade relations with India. U.S. DEMANDS Washington wants better access to India’s markets in agriculture, ethanol and dairy products, alcohol beverages, automobiles, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Washington also wants India's non-tariff trade barriers to be reduced, as well as the rules for digital trade, data flows, and patents. Lack of Reciprocity India is waiting for clear proposals from Washington despite offering limited tariff reductions and increasing imports of U.S. defence and energy goods. Trump's unpredictable trading moves are cited by officials as a cause for concern. Indian exporters are still concerned about the rising U.S. tariffs on imports. Tensions over Pakistan New Delhi has expressed concern over Trump's repeated claims that he helped broker the ceasefire between India & Pakistan in early this year. Indian officials see the remarks as a strategic shift toward Pakistan that complicates bilateral relations. Overconfidence in a Deal Indian officials initially believed that a deal would be reached, as they expected the U.S. government to favor deeper trade with India's largest commercial partner. Modi and Trump aimed to sign the first phase of a pact in autumn 2025. They hoped that bilateral trade would reach $500 billion by 2030. This was up from $191 million in 2024. India is still hopeful that its exports such as pharmaceuticals, electronics and engineering goods, garments and other items, will remain competitive despite the tariff setback. In 2024, Indian exports of goods to the U.S. will reach $87 billion. Gems and jewellery (8.5 billion dollars), pharma (8 billion dollars) and petrochemicals (4 billion dollars) are the top three. Services exports were valued at $33 billion, mostly IT and professional services. With $68 billion cumulatively in FDI from 2002, the United States is India’s third largest investor. US Exports to India U.S. manufacturing exported to India will be worth nearly $42 billion by 2024. However, there are high tariffs on these products. These range from 7% for wood products and machinery, to 15% to 20% for footwear and transport equipment and up to 68% on foods.
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Tata Steel India beats its quarterly profit forecasts on lower costs
Tata Steel, India's second largest steelmaker in terms of market capitalization, reported an increase in profit that was higher than expected on Wednesday. Lower raw material costs helped boost margins. LSEG data shows that its consolidated net income more than doubled in the last quarter to 20,78 billion rupees (US$236,8 million), exceeding analysts' expectations of 18,13 billion rupees. Steel producers' profitability was expected to increase with lower iron ore and coal prices, which are essential raw materials. The total expenditures of the company fell by about 4%, to 503.47 billion rupies, due mainly to a decrease of 12.7% in materials purchased, which accounted for more than 30%. Although domestic steel prices are still lower than they were a year earlier, there has been a significant improvement quarter-on-quarter since the government implemented a temporary 12% safety duty in April in order to combat a surge of low-cost imports from China. Analysts expected that the measure would boost local prices and help protect margins. Tata Steel’s net profit margin increased to 3.77%, from 1.68% one year earlier. According to data compiled and analyzed by LSEG, Tata Group reported a drop of about 3% in its total revenue. Analysts had expected a revenue of 515.18 bn rupees. Tata Steel's production and delivery volumes have decreased by 8.4% and 3.7% respectively, year-on-year due to maintenance-related shutdowns at its Jamshedpur blast-furnace and Neelachal Ispat Ngam. The company expects that production and deliveries will normalise over the next few quarters. In the same month, JSW Steel, a larger competitor in India, also beat profit expectations for the first quarter on lower raw material costs. However they raised concerns about cheaper steel imports. ($1 = 87.7620 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
China is hit by extreme weather conditions including heat, landslides, and floods
On Wednesday, torrential rains were sweeping across large areas of China as Tropical Storm Danas dunked coastal tech hubs. Monsoonal rains in the interior unleashed flash floods and deadly landslides over an 1,400 km (870 mile) arc.
A subtropical system of high pressure has been saturating the north-east coast and the central provinces in the $19 trillion US economy since last week. This is straining power grids, and parching crops.
Extreme weather is a growing threat to the world's second largest economy, and meteorologists attribute it to climate change. The impact of extreme weather threatens to wipe out billions in commercial activity and deaths each year as old flood defences are overwhelmed. Infrastructure gaps, such as the lack of air conditioning, are also exposed.
Chinese weather authorities warned residents to stay inside as Storm Danas, which had been downgraded from a Typhoon following the death of two people in Taiwan, began dumping water that it had collected over the South China Sea (or Taiwan Strait) on the coast provinces Zhejiang or Fujian.
China's State Broadcasting said that Danas could bring up to 300 millimetres of rain (30 centimetres in some areas), closing schools and putting officials on high alert along the rivers feeding important ports in Fuzhou and Xiamen.
On Flood Alert
The Danas residual vortex, and the large amount of water that it carries, could still cause havoc in south China, where rapid urbanisation sealed vast tracts of land under impermeable cement.
This risk was realized 1,500 km away, in Yibin in the southwest Sichuan Province, where more than 6,000 people had to be evacuated after 14 hours rain. CCTV, the state broadcaster, showed firefighters rescuing residents from rising water in lower floors of apartment blocks.
CCTV reported that heavy rains in Zhaotong (about a 3-hour drive away from Yibin) forced the evacuation of more than 7,000 residents. Five people went missing. In one county, 227.8mm of rain fell in 24 hours. This is the highest amount recorded since 1958.
Over 300 people were forced to relocate after a flash flooding near the foothills the Himalayas, in China's Tibet. The flood was caused by the Gyirong river bursting its bank.
Authorities in Shijiazhuang, in Hebei Province, activated emergency flood protocol after districts in the city received more than 100 mm of rain overnight.
HEATWAVES
On Wednesday, the subtropical system, which straddles the monsoonal cloud bands in China's interior with the Danas rain bands, continued to hover over central China, the eastern seaboard from Shanghai to Beijing, and brought near-record temperatures to the megacities of Shanghai Wuhan and Changsha.
After reports of heatstroke deaths in the last week, people were advised to stay hydrated and avoid going out during the hottest part of the day.
China does not keep an official record of deaths due to heat, but domestic media sometimes report on fatalities by citing local authorities.
The country experienced a 79 day heatwave in 2022 from mid-June until late August - the worst since 1961. In 2023, a study published in The Lancet reported that over 50,000 deaths were caused by heat that year. (Reporting and editing by Saad sayeed and Bernadettebaum; Reporting and Editing by Joe Cash & Ethan Wang)
(source: Reuters)