2025-07-13 01:44
SYDNEY, July 13 (Reuters) - Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived in Shanghai on Saturday for a six-day visit to three Chinese cities where regional security tensions and economic ties are likely to dominate talks. Albanese's second visit to China, where he will meet President Xi Jinping, comes after Canberra stepped up screening of Chinese investment in critical minerals and as U.S. President Donald Trump rattles the global economy with sweeping import tariffs. Sign up here. Here is a timeline of relations between Australia and China over recent years: Nov 17, 2014 - Australia sealed a landmark free trade agreement with top trade partner China, concluding a decade of negotiations. It comes into effect in late 2015. Dec 5, 2017 - Australia, concerned about Chinese influence, announces a ban on foreign political donations to prevent external interference in its politics. Aug 23, 2018 - Australia bans Huawei Technologies from supplying equipment for its planned 5G broadband network, citing national security regulations. Apr 2020 - Australia seeks support for an international inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. China's then ambassador to Australia says that in response to the call, the Chinese public would boycott Australian wine, beef and tourism. Jun 9, 2020 - China urges students going overseas to think carefully before choosing Australia, citing racist incidents, threatening a $27.5 billion market for educating foreign students. Aug 2020 - Australian citizen Cheng Lei, a business anchor for Chinese state television in Beijing, is detained. Nov 27, 2020 - China announces temporary anti-dumping tariffs on Australian wine. Shipments of Australian live lobsters, timber and barley are also blocked or restricted around this time. China's embassy lists 14 grievances with Australia, including the blocking of 10 Chinese investments on national security grounds. May 22, 2022 - Australia's Labor Party, led by Albanese, wins the general election ending almost a decade of conservative rule. Nov 15, 2022 - Albanese meets Xi on the sidelines of the G20 in Indonesia. It is the first leaders' meeting since 2016. Jan 3, 2023 - China allows three government-backed utilities and its top steelmaker to resume coal imports from Australia. Aug 5, 2023 - China ends 80.5% tariffs on Australian barley. Oct 11, 2023 - China releases Australian journalist Cheng Lei after three years in a Beijing prison on national security charges. Oct 22, 2023 - China agrees to review dumping tariffs of 218% on Australian wine. Australia pauses WTO complaint. Nov 6-7, 2023 - Visiting Beijing, Albanese tells Xi and Premier Li Qiang that a strong relationship between the two countries was "beneficial into the future". Xi says stable bilateral ties served each other's interests and both countries should expand their cooperation. Jan 18, 2024 - Australia rejects comments by China's ambassador seeking to deflect blame from China's navy for the injury of Australian military divers in an incident near Japan in November. Feb 5, 2024 - A Beijing court hands Australian writer Yang Hengjun a suspended death sentence , opens new tab, five years after he was first detained in China and three years after a closed-door trial on espionage charges. Mar 29, 2024 - China lifts tariffs on Australian wine, triggering a surge in imports. Dec 3, 2024 - China lifts final restrictions on Australian beef. Dec 12, 2024 - Australia strikes rugby league funding deal with Papua New Guinea that is contingent on its Pacific Islands neighbour rejecting security or policing ties with China. Dec 26, 2024 - China resumes imports of Australian lobster. Feb 21, 2025 - Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong raises concerns with Chinese counterpart over inadequate notice given by the Chinese navy of a live-fire exercise in international waters between Australia and New Zealand that forced airlines to divert flights. May 3, 2025 - Albanese's Labor government is re-elected for a second term in national elections. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/australia-china-trade-flows-security-tensions-shape-ties-2025-07-13/
2025-07-12 17:05
CAPE TOWN, July 12 (Reuters) - Azule Energy, a partnership between BP (BP.L) , opens new tab and Eni (ENI.MI) , opens new tab in Angola, discovered gas in its first gas-specific exploration well off the country's shores, the national oil and gas agency ANGP said late on Friday. Found in block 1/14, the Gajajeira-01 well drilled in the lower Congo Basin encountered gas and condensate-bearing rock, with preliminary estimates suggesting gas volumes could exceed 1 trillion cubic feet and up to 100 million barrels of associated condensate. Sign up here. "This is a landmark moment for gas exploration in Angola," Adriano Mongini, CEO of Azule Energy said in a joint statement. "The Gajajeira-01 well is the first dedicated gas exploration well in the country and its success reinforces our confidence in the potential of the Lower Congo Basin." The block is operated by Azule Energy (35%) in association with Equinor (30%), Sonangol E&P (25%), and privately owned Angolan company Acrep S.A. (10%). https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/angola-discovers-offshore-gas-first-gas-specific-exploration-well-2025-07-12/
2025-07-12 16:34
O'Donnell criticized administration's handling of Texas floods The pair have a feud going back almost 20 years Under U.S. law, a president cannot revoke citizenship of an American born in the United States WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he might revoke talk show host Rosie O'Donnell's U.S. citizenship after she criticized his administration's handling of weather forecasting agencies in the wake of the deadly Texas floods, the latest salvo in a years-long feud the two have waged over social media. "Because of the fact that Rosie O'Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, invoking a deportation rationale the administration has used in attempts to remove foreign-born protesters from the country. Sign up here. "She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!," he added. Under U.S. law, a president cannot revoke the citizenship of an American born in the United States. O'Donnell was born in New York state. O'Donnell, a longtime target of Trump's insults and jabs, moved to Ireland earlier this year with her 12-year-old son after the start of the president's second term. She said in a March TikTok video that she would return to the U.S. "when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America." O'Donnell responded to Trump's threat in two posts on her Instagram account, saying that the U.S. president opposes her because she "stands in direct opposition with all he represents." Trump's disdain for O'Donnell dates back to 2006 when O'Donnell, a comedian and host on The View at the time, mocked Trump , opens new tab over his handling of a controversy concerning a winner of the Miss USA pageant, which Trump had owned. Trump's latest jab at O'Donnell seemed to be in response to a TikTok video she posted this month mourning the 119 deaths in the July 4 floods in Texas and blaming Trump's widespread cuts to environmental and science agencies involved in forecasting major natural disasters. "What a horror story in Texas," O'Donnell said in the video. "And you know, when the president guts all the early warning systems and the weathering forecast abilities of the government, these are the results that we're gonna start to see on a daily basis." The Trump administration, as well as local and state officials, have faced mounting questions over whether more could have been done to protect and warn residents ahead of the Texas flooding, which struck with astonishing speed in the pre-dawn hours of the U.S. Independence Day holiday on July 4 and killed at least 120, including dozens of children. Trump on Friday visited Texas and defended the government's response to the disaster, saying his agencies "did an incredible job under the circumstances." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-threatens-revoke-rosie-odonnells-us-citizenship-2025-07-12/
2025-07-12 14:26
July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday a 30% tariff rate for goods imported from the European Union and Mexico, starting on August 1. The EU had initially hoped to reach a comprehensive trade agreement with the U.S. for 27-country bloc, but until Trump's social media post on Saturday it was unclear if it might get a letter announcing more tariffs or when an agreement might be finalized. Sign up here. Earlier this week, Trump issued new tariff announcements for a number of countries, including Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil, as well as a 50% tariff on copper. COMMENTS: MICHAEL BROWN, SENIOR MARKET STRATEGIST, PEPPERSTONE, LONDON: "There are still three weeks until August, 1 which is a lifetime in this sort of situation. Again, I think it's all part of this 'escalate to de-escalate' strategy in terms of trying to bring people to the table and get some more concessions out of them. In terms of the EU one specifically, I guess you could argue that the threat (from Trump) the other day was 50%." "The risk is whether the EU, because all of the reporting has been around the U.S.-EU deal is close, take this poorly and actually go: 'OK, fine, well, we're just going to throw in place some countermeasures' and then things start to escalate once more, which I think really then starts to change the calculus away from, this is just a negotiating gambit and back towards Liberation Day." "Depending on what happens in the next 24 hours or so, I imagine that the knee-jerk move is euro-negative, eurozone asset-negative. And then, as calmer heads prevail, it comes back to the fact that, is it just a negotiating gambit? "Certainly, I think that the initial reaction will be a case of, actually, this is pretty devastating if it does come into effect and we need to price, not necessarily the full probability of it coming into effect, but at least there needs to be a chance, discounted that an export-led economy to its main market has got a 30% tariff on it, and it's just not going to be able to cope with that." KARL SCHAMOTTA, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, CORPAY, TORONTO: "Traders spent much of the last week hedging against a broadening in the president’s tariff schedule, but at 30%, today’s action has likely topped expectations. “Although rising tariffs remain a bigger threat to the US itself, it is fair to expect the euro and Mexican peso to come under renewed selling pressure at tomorrow’s Asia open. “At some point soon, it will become clear that Trump’s protectionist agenda has not been appropriately discounted in currencies, in asset prices, or in measures of volatility. A moment of capitulation is coming, in financial markets, or in the White House itself." MATHIEU SAVARY, CHIEF STRATEGIST -EUROPE, BCA RESEARCH, MONTREAL: “Trump’s strategy is to make outrageous demands, then bring them down, then make another push to win some last-minute concessions, and then a trade deal materializes. It’s a framework that we remember from Trump in his first presidency and that is what is happening now." “Whatever is said now doesn’t matter; what matters is where we will settle.” Savary said he expects that Europe eventually “will have to resign itself to accept a 10% tariff, but that is something that the EU can actually handle." MARK MALEK, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, SIEBERT FINANCIAL, NEW YORK: “If you look at the 22 or 23 letters that went out, 30% now is the average proposed across the board number here, which is significantly higher than the 10% that the market had been accepting as a baseline figure." If this new, higher tariff level sticks, “it has significant implications for the trade relationship with the EU and the US economy, since we import everything from luxury cars to industrial chemicals.” "Markets have been moving higher on the assumption that these trade talks would be resolved. But that comfort is going to turn into a headwind for the market unless we get some real results one way or another. The market has been giving Trump a pass so far recently on tariff talks, but earnings season could upset that balance” if companies release weaker-than-expected results or include warnings about the impact of tariffs on their future revenues and profits. “A trading day like yesterday (Friday) really wasn’t a huge decline given that we’re still sitting right below all time highs, and right ahead of earnings season. But if markets stop giving Trump the benefit of the doubt, who knows?” SAM STOVALL, MARKET STRATEGIST, CFRA, PENNSYLVANIA: “I think investors will still just take a wait and see attitude and that in the end markets will respond to certainty. That will come if get an unexpectedly hot reading on inflation, as tariffs filter their way down into the hard data. "Unless and until we get a change in the data, I think the path of less resistance is higher” for U.S. stocks.” https://www.reuters.com/business/view-investors-react-trumps-30-tariffs-eu-mexico-2025-07-12/
2025-07-12 12:43
July 12 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has told U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian officials that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, Axios reported on Saturday, citing sources. Iran's semi-official news agency Tasnim denied the report, quoting an "informed source" as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/putin-urges-iran-take-zero-enrichment-nuclear-deal-with-us-axios-reports-2025-07-12/
2025-07-12 10:12
NEW DELHI, July 12 (Reuters) - India has reversed a decade-old mandate to install $30 billion worth of clean-air equipment, easing sulphur emission rules for most coal-fired power plants, a government order said. Reuters in December reported the government was reviewing 2015 norms that required nearly 540 coal-based power units to install flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) systems that remove sulphur from the plants' exhaust gases in phases starting in 2027. Sign up here. The federal environment ministry late on Friday issued a gazette notification that exempted 79% of the coal-fired power plants, outside a 10-km (6 mile) radius of populated and polluted cities, from the 2015 mandate. The mandate to install FGD for another 11% of the plants near populated cities would be taken on a "case-to-case basis," the notification said. The balance of 10% of the coal-fired power plants closer to New Delhi and other cities with a million-plus population will be required to install the desulphurisation equipment by December 2027, according to the new mandate. The notification comes after state-run NTPC (NTPC.NS) , opens new tab, India's top electricity producer, spent about $4 billion on installing the equipment at about 11% of the power plants, and about 50% of the units either placed orders for the desulphurisation systems or are installing them. The Friday notification did not mention the impact on the competitiveness or recovery of costs by these power plants. It said the decision was taken after the Central Pollution Control Board carried out a detailed analysis of the increase in "carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere due to operation of control measures being deployed." https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/india-eases-sulphur-emission-rules-coal-power-plants-reversing-decade-old-2025-07-12/
