2026-01-10 11:46

KYIV, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Kyiv residents huddled against bitter winter cold inside their unheated apartments on Saturday as engineers struggled to restore power, water and heat knocked out in the latest salvo of Russian strikes. Russia has regularly conducted intense bombardments of Ukraine's energy system since it invaded its neighbour in 2022. The war's fourth winter could be the coldest and darkest yet, with the accumulated damage to the grid bringing utilities to the brink, and temperatures already below minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 F) and set to plunge further this week. Sign up here. On Saturday, Kyiv's heat, power and water, hit hard by a strike two nights earlier, were shut down again as engineers tried to repair the ruined power grid. Galina Turchin, a 71-year-old pensioner living on Kyiv's badly affected eastern bank, had a window covered by plastic sheeting after it was blown out when drone debris hit another part of her building during the last overnight attack. She said she had not cooked food for two days, eating whatever had been left in their kitchen before the power, water and heat went out, and would now try to cook on a gas camping stove. "We hope they will give us heat. If not power, then at least heat," she said, standing wrapped in layers of jumpers in her kitchen. The city administration said around noon local time (1000 GMT) on Saturday that the state grid operator Ukrenergo had ordered the city's power system to be shut down, and that the water and heating systems, as well as electrified public transport, would also stop working as a result. Less than an hour later, Ukrenergo said engineers had managed to remedy the immediate issue, which had been caused by damage from previous Russian strikes, and that power was coming back online in parts of Kyiv. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the heating system, which in Ukrainian cities is centralised and pumps hot water to homes in pipes, was also coming back on, and that she expected heat supply to be fully restored on Saturday. However, she said that the power situation in the capital was still difficult, as the grid was badly damaged and people were using more electric heaters because of the cold. On Friday, with about half of Kyiv's apartment blocks left without heating after the latest Russian missile and drone attack, Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents who had a warm place to go to temporarily leave the city. Turchin, the pensioner in her cold apartment, said she had a village cottage in another region but it was unheated and would take three days to warm up with logs. "The neighbour wrote. She said it was already minus 17 (Celsius) there last night." https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/kyivs-power-water-heat-systems-turned-off-repairs-amid-intense-cold-2026-01-10/

2026-01-10 11:21

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Iraq's electricity ministry said on Saturday there were no signs that Iranian gas supplies would resume to the country soon. Iranian gas supplies were halted due to a drop in temperature and Tehran's need for gas, the Iraqi ministry's spokesperson said in remarks to the press, citing a Telegram message from Iran. Sign up here. Iraq reported the halt in Iranian gas supply in December, owing to the shutdown of some generating units and load shedding at others. The electricity ministry said 4,000 to 4,500 megawatts of power had been lost from the electrical system as a result. Tehran supplies between a third and 40% of Iraq's gas and power needs. Iraq's power demand during winter peak hours reaches about 48,000 MW, while domestic generation stands at roughly 27,000 MW, forcing the country to rely on imports to bridge the gap, electricity officials have said previously. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iraq-says-no-sign-gas-supplies-iran-resume-soon-2026-01-10/

2026-01-10 07:43

MOSCOW, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A drone strike by Ukraine caused a fire at an oil depot in the Oktyabrskiy district in the southern part of Russia's Volgograd region, regional authorities said on Saturday. Governor Andrei Bocharov was quoted as saying in a post on his administration's Telegram channel that there had been no casualties reported so far, but that people living nearby may have to be evacuated. Sign up here. Ukraine's military said on Saturday it had struck the Zhutovskaya oil depot overnight. Ukraine has been targeting Russia's energy infrastructure in recent months, aiming to cut off Moscow's ability to finance its military campaign against Kyiv. Russia's Defence Ministry on Saturday said its air defences had downed 67 Ukrainian drones as of 0600 GMT. https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-drone-strike-causes-fire-oil-depot-russias-volgograd-region-authorities-2026-01-10/

2026-01-10 06:34

Total exports in 2025 jump 19.4 y/y to 21.55 million tons Non-basmati rice exports jump 25% to 15.15 million tons Basmati exports rise 8% to a record 6.4 million tons RAIPUR, India, Jan 10 (Reuters) - India's rice exports jumped 19.4% last year to the second-highest on record after New Delhi lifted all export curbs, making shipments more competitive, government and industry officials told Reuters on Saturday. An improved flow of rice from the world's largest exporter of the grain curbed shipments from rivals Thailand and Vietnam and drove prices in Asia to their lowest in nearly a decade, easing costs for poor consumers in Africa and other regions. Sign up here. "Indian shipments rebounded quickly after the government lifted export restrictions" in March, said a government official, who asked not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media. As supplies improved with record production, India removed the last of the export curbs imposed in 2022 and 2023. Exports rose to 21.55 million metric tons from 18.05 million in 2024, near the 2022 record of 22.3 million tons, the official said. Non-basmati rice shipments jumped 25% to 15.15 million tons, while basmati exports increased 8% to a record 6.4 million tons, he said. Non-basmati rice shipments rose sharply to Bangladesh, Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Djibouti, while Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Britain increased purchases of premium basmati rice during the year, said another government official. India usually exports more rice than the combined shipments of the world's next three largest exporters: Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan. "Indian rice is very competitive compared with supplies from other exporting countries, with lower prices helping India regain lost market share," Nitin Gupta, senior vice president at Olam Agri India, said on the sidelines of the India International Rice Summit. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-2025-rice-exports-surge-near-record-curbs-lifted-2026-01-10/

2026-01-10 00:44

SAVAGE, Minnesota, Jan 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Australia and several other countries would join a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven advanced economies that he is hosting in Washington on Monday to discuss critical minerals. Bessent said he had been pressing for a separate meeting on the issue since last summer's summit of G7 leaders, and finance ministers had already held a virtual meeting in December. Sign up here. India was also invited to attend the meeting, Bessent told Reuters in an interview after touring the Minneapolis-area engineering lab of RV and boat maker Winnebago Industries. He said he was unsure if it had accepted the invitation. It was not immediately clear which other countries had been invited. The G7 includes the United States, Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Canada, as well as the European Union, most of whom are heavily dependent on rare earths supplies from China. The group last June agreed on an action plan to secure their supply chains and boost their economies. Australia signed an agreement with the U.S. in October aimed at countering China's dominance in critical minerals. It included an $8.5 billion project pipeline and leverages Australia's proposed strategic reserve, which will supply metals like rare earths and lithium that are vulnerable to disruption. Canberra has said it has subsequently received interest from Europe, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. China dominates the critical minerals supply chain, refining between 47% and 87% of copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earths, according to the International Energy Agency. These minerals are used in defense technologies, semiconductors, renewable energy components, batteries and refining processes. Western countries have sought to reduce their dependence on China's critical minerals in recent years, given moves by China to impose strict export controls on rare earths. Monday's meeting comes days after reports that China had begun restricting exports to Japanese companies of rare earths and powerful magnets containing them, as well as banning exports of dual-use items to the Japanese military. Bessent said China was still living up to its commitments to purchase U.S. soybeans and ship critical minerals to U.S. firms. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/bessent-says-australia-india-invited-g7-meeting-critical-minerals-2026-01-10/

2026-01-10 00:19

Treasury's Bessent: MBS buybacks aim to match Fed's $15 bln monthly roll-off Trump orders $200 bln bond purchases to address housing affordability Bessent: Buybacks may boost Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac earnings SAVAGE, Minnesota, Jan 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday said the goal of the Trump administration's launch of mortgage-backed securities purchases is to roughly match the rate at which those bonds are rolling off the Federal Reserve's balance sheet. "What is happening is the Fed has about $15 billion of roll-off every month," Bessent told Reuters in an interview, referring to the central bank's ongoing reduction of MBS from its $6.3 trillion overall bond portfolio. "So I think the idea is to roughly match the Fed, which has been pushing the other way." Sign up here. President Donald Trump, in his latest bid to contain an affordability problem in the U.S. housing market, on Thursday ordered the Federal Housing Finance Agency - which oversees mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - to purchase $200 billion of bonds issued by the two companies. FHFA Director William Pulte on Friday said they had started with a $3 billion initial round of purchases. The Fed holds just over $2 trillion of MBS, a legacy of the central bank's past efforts to provide stimulus to the economy during crises like the global financial crisis and more recently the pandemic. But that stash has been shrinking for more than two years at a rate of between $15 billion and $17 billion a month, a dynamic that some have said is preventing mortgage rates from falling further than they have over the last year or so. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has fallen to around 6.2% from nearly 8% in 2024, but remains well above levels in the 3% range seen during the pandemic. Borrowing costs and elevated housing prices together have exacerbated the affordability problem that is weighing on Trump's approval ratings. Bessent said the purchases - being funded by the two firms' own balance sheets - were unlikely to directly bring mortgage rates down, but could do so indirectly by reducing the yield spread on Fannie and Freddie securities over U.S. Treasuries. The two firms support the housing market by purchasing loans originated by banks and other direct home lenders, repackaging those loans into bonds and selling those to investors. The purchases reopen space on lenders' balance sheets to make new loans. Trump and his team have also been talking about reprivatizing Fannie and Freddie, which came into government ownership in 2008 during the financial crisis. Bessent said the purchases would not harm their financial standing, asserting the two have ample cash and the actions could increase their earnings. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/bessent-goal-mbs-buys-is-match-fed-run-off-2026-01-10/