2025-11-18 20:51

KYIV, Nov 18 (Reuters) - One of Ukraine's main opposition parties physically blocked lawmakers from holding a vote in parliament on Tuesday to dismiss two ministers over a corruption investigation, demanding the removal of the entire cabinet instead. The stand-off in parliament was the latest manifestation of mounting public anger since Ukraine's biggest wartime corruption scandal erupted last week. Sign up here. Ukraine's anti-graft bureau says it has been investigating a $100 million pay-to-play scheme for procurement contracts at the state nuclear power company, run by the energy ministry. Five suspects have been detained and two are at large, including one of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's former business associates who fled the country last week. Parliament was due to vote on Tuesday on the dismissal of Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk and her predecessor German Galushchenko, who now serves as minister of justice. ALLEGATIONS CAUSE FURY AS WAR'S FOURTH WINTER APPROACHES But the vote was not held as the opposition European Solidarity party blocked access to the speaker's podium, with lawmakers holding cardboard signs that bore slogans such as "What is the price of darkness?" Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk halted the session. One opposition MP said a new vote would likely be on Wednesday. Both cabinet ministers deny any wrongdoing in the scandal. Hrynchuk has offered to resign and Galushchenko has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. Zelenskiy supports removing both of them. European Solidarity, which is led by ex-president Petro Poroshenko, has said it would seek to remove the whole cabinet, a measure which now has little support in parliament. Members of Zelenskiy's Servant of the People bloc accused the opposition group of grandstanding and preventing parliament from taking action. "While some thieves run away and hide, others – populist politicians – put on a show," said Danylo Hetmantsev, a senior Servant of the People lawmaker. Ukraine's anti-corruption court on Tuesday ordered former prime minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, one of the suspects, held in custody subject to bail of 51.6 million hryvnias, equivalent to $1.23 million. Interfax Ukraine news agency said Chernyshov's lawyers asked during a two-day hearing for the order to be thrown out, saying that evidence against him was insufficient and the bail stipulations inappropriate as all his assets had been frozen. The allegations by the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), have caused widespread fury as the fourth winter of war approaches with most Ukrainians living under daily power cuts caused by Russian bombardment of the grid. The alleged head of the graft scheme, businessman Timur Mindich, is a co-owner of the TV studio where Zelenskiy made his career as a sitcom star before winning office in 2019. Zelenskiy has imposed financial sanctions on Mindich and the studio said Mindich now plays no decision-making role in its activities. Ukraine, which has received tens of billions of dollars of support from its allies since Russia invaded in 2022, is under international pressure to tackle its long-running corruption problems as it seeks to join the European Union. Zelenskiy tried to curb some powers of anti-corruption body NABU earlier this year, but backed down after an outcry from the public and European allies. He said his changes were intended to make the government more efficient. Opponents said he was trying to shield associates from investigations, which he denied. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-corruption-case-causes-stand-off-parliament-anger-mounts-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 20:48

Nvidia's quarterly report on Wednesday seen as pivotal for AI trade September jobs release on Thursday first key post-shutdown data S&P 500 breaks below 50-day moving average, VIX hits one-month high NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The biggest U.S. stocks pullback in months is fraying investors' nerves ahead of tests to two underpinnings of the market's record-breaking rally: the artificial intelligence trade and expectations for interest rate cuts. After a sharp and steady six-month climb, stocks have been sliding in November. The S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab was last down on Tuesday over 3% from its late October all-time high, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab had dropped about 6% from its peak from that time. Sign up here. The S&P 500 on Monday closed below its 50-day moving average, a key intermediate trend indicator, for the first time since April 30. The Cboe Volatility Index (.VIX) , opens new tab, Wall Street's fear gauge, rose on Tuesday to its highest level in a month. Several investors said the declines could be healthy for the bull market, to shake out speculative froth, with the benchmark S&P 500 still up over 30% since its low for the year in April. However, elevated valuations are keeping investors alert for signs of an "AI bubble," with high-flying technology stocks bearing the brunt of the latest weakness. "Markets are needy of getting both reassurance the Fed is going to cut rates and also reassurance that the AI trade is not going to go south," said Tony Roth, chief investment officer at Wilmington Trust. Investors have zeroed in for weeks on the quarterly report from Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) , opens new tab, the world's largest company by market value, as a potentially pivotal moment for the AI trade. The semiconductor company, whose chips are central to the massive AI infrastructure buildout rippling through corporations, reports fiscal third-quarter results after the market closes on Wednesday. "I can't think of a real reason to go in and buy aggressively until that's out of the way," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia. With the U.S. government shutdown ending last week, investors are expecting a deluge of delayed official data to be released, starting with September's employment report on Thursday, and its importance for monetary policy. The Federal Reserve had been expected to cut interest rates for the third straight meeting on December 10 in response to a labor market that showed signs of weakening ahead of the shutdown. But Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials have pushed back against expectations that a quarter-point cut was a done deal, and Fed funds futures as of Tuesday were indicating a roughly 50-50 chance of such a move next month. "The nonfarm payrolls report will hold a whole lot of weight with policymakers, whether or not they need to move forward with additional easing," said Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager, equities, at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management. "So it definitely is a market moving event." Lacking fresh government data during the 43-day shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, investors had little of the evidence they rely on to gauge the economy's health. "I think a lot of people are worried that the data is going to be indicating a more protracted slowdown," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. While a weak jobs number could shore up expectations of a December rate cut, "depending on how weak the numbers are, I guess you have to be careful what you wish for," Pavlik said. Along with the pullback in stocks, gold and bitcoin , which also had put up strong performances since April, have fallen in recent weeks. Such "froth" coming out of several assets "is a sign of how sentiment had just gotten very complacent, not just around AI, but around anything that was going up," said Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at retirement and wealth services provider Empower. "I don't think it's a bubble because there's still enough fundamental health in the market," Norton said, describing it more as a "course correction." The selloff is "very limited," said Johanna Kyrklund, group chief investment officer at Schroders. "It's just that we've got used to such a low level of volatility that is abnormal." For example, the S&P 500's latest pullback has yet to remotely approach 10%, the level widely defined as a market correction. Schroders remained optimistic about U.S. equities, Kyrklund said, describing the economic environment as benign during a briefing with reporters. "Valuations are expensive, but they can probably stay expensive for a bit longer." Jim Carroll, a senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager at Ballast Rock Private Wealth who analyzes volatility and other trading signals, wrote in a commentary that cracks have formed in what is a longer-term uptrend. "It's a really good time to gut check your exposure and get comfortable with the potential for a pullback more meaningful than one day or a week," Carroll said. https://www.reuters.com/business/market-slide-frays-investors-nerves-with-ai-trade-rate-cut-doubts-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 20:27

Nov 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. producer price index for September will be released on November 25 while the import and export price indexes for the same month will be issued on December 3, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. The release of some data was delayed during the federal government shutdown. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-bureau-labor-statistics-says-sept-producer-price-index-due-out-nov-25-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 20:24

Jamaica seeking funds to rebuild after Hurricane Melissa Minister at COP30 calls islanders 'victims of the actions of others' Country needs grants and investments more than loans BELEM, Brazil, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Jamaica spent years building a pot of money to handle climate-fuelled disasters. It turned out to be enough to cover just 5% of the cost wrought by one storm. Hurricane Melissa has left the island nation with bills totalling $10 billion – only $500 million of which it can cover with climate-preparation reserves stockpiled to deal with disasters, Jamaican cabinet minister Matthew Samuda told Reuters. Sign up here. Jamaica is asking wealthy countries at the COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil, to urgently offer grants, investment and concessional finance. What it does not want are commercial-rate loans that saddle the country with more debt as it faces a future expected to deliver increasingly severe climate impacts such as heatwaves, droughts, rising seas and catastrophic storms. "We don't come as mendicants. We come as victims of the actions of others," Samuda said in an interview at the summit, referring to the fact Jamaica has done little to cause the planet-warming emissions that are driving climate change. He said Jamaica had spent three decades improving its financial health and inching closer to an investment grade credit rating. "To have quite a bit of that success wiped out in a single 24-hour period by a storm that was stronger, lasted longer, came at a time of year that is unusual and brought more rain than usual because of the actions of others, is a difficult pill to swallow." Negotiations at the COP30 summit aim to make progress in shoring up funding for developing countries to prepare for and adapt to the coming climate extremes. The U.N. estimates they will need at least $310 billion a year by 2035. "COP30 cannot end without an ambitious outcome (on adaptation)," said Ana Mulio Alvarez, policy advisor at climate think tank E3G. CATEGORY 5 STORM WREAKS HAVOC Melissa walloped Jamaica on October 28 as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, delivering an initial 17-foot storm surge along with severe winds and some 30 inches of rain that caused landslides and flooding. Scientists determined climate change had made the storm 30% stronger than it would have been without global warming - and six times more likely to hit when it did. Samuda described the impact as "seismic," with 192,000 buildings damaged and the country's key tourism and agriculture sectors hobbled. He said the storm should be given a new Category 6 designation. The economic damage was far greater than that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, when the island lost some 10% of its GDP. The pandemic "didn't wash away bridges, destroy roads, disrupt the water supply in the way that this particular incident has," Samuda said. Before Melissa hit, Jamaica had been building protection against such events, including through a catastrophe bond issued by the World Bank that disbursed $150 million and a parametric insurance scheme that helped to net another $90 million. These self-help measures garnered about $500 million before Melissa caused $10 billion in estimated damages, just under 30% of the country's economic output. "That leaves a $9.5 billion gap," Samuda said. (This story has been corrected to clarify that $9.5 billion refers to the finance gap, not the amount of financial help Jamaica is seeking, in the headline) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/jamaica-seeks-95-billion-financial-help-rebuild-after-melissa-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 20:22

IAEA's 35-nation board is holding a quarterly meeting Recent report said verifying uranium stock 'long overdue' Agency has still not accessed sites bombed by Israel, US Draft calls on Iran to allow snap IAEA inspections Iran has warned of retaliation if resolution passes VIENNA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Europe's top three powers and the U.S. have submitted a draft resolution to this week's meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors demanding answers and access from Iran over its bombed nuclear sites and enriched uranium stock. Diplomats said the draft resolution submitted by France, Britain, Germany and the United States on Tuesday and seen by Reuters is highly likely to be passed as early as Wednesday. It follows a damning International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran sent to member states last week. Sign up here. That report said Tehran has still not let inspectors into the nuclear sites Israel and the United States bombed in June and that accounting for the uranium stock is "long overdue". Iran has still not informed the IAEA of the status either of those sites or that stock, which includes material enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons-grade. "Iran must ... provide the (International Atomic Energy) Agency without delay with precise information on nuclear material accountancy and safeguarded nuclear facilities in Iran, and grant the Agency all access it requires to verify this information," read the draft text. IRAN WARNS OF RETALIATION The draft resolution stops well short of finding Iran in breach of its obligations, as a resolution in June did just before Israel attacked, but Iran has warned that it will retaliate against any resolution targeting it. "Should this draft resolution be adopted, it will unavoidably and adversely affect the positive course of cooperation between Iran and the IAEA," Iran's mission to the IAEA said on X on Friday, calling the push for a resolution a "major mistake". Iran and the IAEA announced an agreement in September that was supposed to pave the way towards a full resumption of inspections and accounting of Iran's enriched uranium, but Tehran has since said it is void. Western diplomats had billed the draft resolution as mainly technical, giving fresh instructions to the IAEA to report on Iran's nuclear activities after a 10-year mandate from 2015, the year of a nuclear deal between Iran and major powers, expired. Yet it included not only language admonishing Iran for its poor cooperation and calling for a diplomatic solution - an apparent reference to possible talks with the U.S. - but also a demand that Iran implement the so-called Additional Protocol expanding IAEA powers. BROADER, MORE INTRUSIVE OVERSIGHT Implementing the Additional Protocol, which Iran signed in 2003 but never ratified, was a cornerstone of the 2015 deal, which lifted sanctions against Iran in exchange for tight restrictions on its nuclear activities. The Additional Protocol grants the IAEA broader and more intrusive oversight of a country's nuclear activities, such as the power to carry out snap inspections at undeclared locations. The 2015 deal unravelled after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of it in 2018. Iran retaliated by abandoning the restrictions, including the Additional Protocol. "(The IAEA board) calls upon Iran to act strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Additional Protocol that it signed on 18 December 2003, and to fully implement this measure without delay," the draft said. It also requested the IAEA to provide additional details in its reports, such as where Iran's uranium stockpile is stored and its inventory of uranium-enriching centrifuges. The IAEA lost oversight of Iran's centrifuge stock when Iran stopped implementing the Additional Protocol in 2021. The IAEA currently only has the authority to monitor the centrifuges at Iran's declared enrichment facilities, which were destroyed or badly damaged in the Israeli and U.S. military attacks. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-e3-draft-resolution-iaea-board-demands-swift-cooperation-iran-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 20:10

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Rising power demand driven by data centers is shrinking U.S. electricity supplies and increasing the risk of energy shortages if extreme winter weather strikes this year, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation said on Tuesday. The swift proliferation of data centers in the U.S., along with the electrification of buildings and transportation, is driving up electricity use across the country faster than new power supplies are added to the grid. That dwindling supply can raise the possibility of power shortfalls in extremely cold weather, when energy-intensive heating systems increase overall demand. Sign up here. After multiple years of flat or near-flat growth, peak demand has grown by about 20 gigawatts, or 2.5%, from last year, NERC officials said in their annual winter assessment of the reliability of the U.S. and Canada's power grids. New electricity net supplies added since last year were less than 10 gigawatts. "As a result, record-setting demand is anticipated for some areas and may strain the grid in areas with double-digit growth rates," NERC said. Areas including PJM, the U.S. Southeast, and parts of the U.S. West have the largest increase in peak demand forecasts, NERC said. The areas that NERC assesses, which include the U.S. and Canada, had adequate power supplies under normal expected winter weather for the three months ending in February, the regulator said. Prolonged and widespread severe frigid weather, however, raises the likelihood of supply shortages in areas including New England, the West, Texas and the Southeast, NERC said. Growth in power sources like wind and solar, which only produce energy when the wind blows and the sun shines, has added complexity to the grid and intensified reliability concerns in some areas, said NERC. Frigid temperatures can also freeze off natural gas power production and fuel sources, increasing risks. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-data-center-demand-raising-power-risks-this-winter-regulator-says-2025-11-18/