2025-03-01 10:49

March 1 (Reuters) - Four people have died in the Indian avalanche incident, ANI news agency reported on Saturday, citing a defence public relations officer. An avalanche struck the Indian Himalayan mountain state of Uttarakhand, authorities said on Friday, following recent heavy snowfall in the region. It struck a labour site of the federal Border Roads Organisation (BRO), where eight containers and one shed, with 57 workers inside, were buried under the snow, according to an Indian army statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/four-dead-indian-avalanche-incident-ani-says-citing-defence-pro-2025-03-01/

2025-03-01 10:30

PARIS, March 1 (Reuters) - At least four people died after cyclone Garance struck the French overseas territory of La Reunion on Friday, bringing wind speeds of up to 155 kph (96 mph), local authorities said on Saturday. "Garance has been downgraded to a strong tropical storm and the red alert has been lifted," the local prefecture said in a new update on X, advising the population to stay cautious and limit travel. The prefecture said 953 people were being sheltered in centres, 160,000 households were without electricity, and 310,0000 without water. The cyclone on Friday made landfall in the north of the Indian Ocean island, which lies off Madagascar, blowing away roofs and cutting power and access to drinking water for many residents. It exited the southwest of the island several hours later, Meteo France weather agency said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/four-dead-after-cyclone-garance-hits-french-island-la-reunion-2025-03-01/

2025-03-01 10:21

Influential senator says Zelenskiy should resign or change Ukraine backers hoped minerals pact would win over Republicans Some of Trump's party still hope ties with Kyiv can be restored WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - An angry White House clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Donald Trump divided the U.S. president's fellow Republicans and dimmed prospects that Congress will approve any further aid for Kyiv in its war with Russia. On Saturday, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said there were "whispers from the White House that they may try to end all U.S. support for Ukraine... I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world." Other Republicans who had long supported Ukraine lashed out at Zelenskiy after Friday's exchange, in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian leader before the world's media, accusing him of disrespect. Senator Lindsey Graham called for Zelenskiy to change his tune or resign, just hours after attending a friendly meeting between Zelenskiy and a dozen senators. "What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful, and I don't know if we can ever do business with Zelenskiy again," Graham, a close Trump ally, told reporters as he left the White House after the clash, which drove relations with Kyiv's most important wartime ally to a new low. "He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change," the South Carolina senator said. Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, who was ambassador to Japan during Trump's first term, posted on X: "The United States of America will no longer be taken for granted." But even as most Republicans rallied behind Trump and Vance, some joined Democrats in defending Ukraine. New York Representative Mike Lawler, in a post on X, called the Oval Office meeting "a missed opportunity for both the United States and Ukraine — an agreement that would undoubtedly result in stronger economic and security cooperation." Representative Don Bacon, a moderate Republican from Nebraska, threw his support behind Kyiv. "A bad day for America's foreign policy. Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom," he said in a statement. Neither of the Republican lawmakers criticized Trump or Vance. MINERALS DEAL Zelenskiy was in Washington to sign an agreement to jointly develop Ukraine's rich natural resources with the United States. The Ukrainian leader had seen the meeting with Trump and Vance as an opportunity to persuade the U.S. not to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war with Moscow's smaller neighbor. Instead, Zelenskiy was told to leave and the agreement was left unsigned. Kyiv's backers had hoped the deal would help win more support from Trump's Republicans - who hold slim majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives - for future aid. Congress has approved $175 billion in assistance since Putin launched his full-scale invasion three years ago, but the last measure passed in April, when Democrats controlled the Senate and Democrat Joe Biden was in the White House. Even then, congressional Republicans slow-walked the bill under pressure from candidate Trump, who has been skeptical of further military aid to Ukraine, leading to delays in delivering weapons that put Ukrainian troops on the back foot in the battlefield. If Trump, the party leader, had skin in the game and was promoting a "very big" minerals deal he had negotiated, analysts said, it would likely have rallied Republican support for Ukraine aid. Some Republicans who have advocated for assisting Ukraine said they hoped relations could be rebuilt. Representative Michael McCaul, chairman emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he still hoped for a real and lasting peace that ensures Ukraine would be free from further Russian aggression. "I also urge President Zelensky to sign the mineral deal immediately," the Texas lawmaker posted on X. "It will create an economic partnership between the United States and Ukraine. It is in both of our interests to get this deal done." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-zelenskiy-clash-divides-us-republicans-dims-aid-prospects-2025-03-01/

2025-03-01 10:01

MOSCOW, March 1 (Reuters) - Kirill Tremasov, advisor to the governor of Russia's central bank, said on Saturday that the bank will have a full understanding of lending trends by the April meeting on the key rate, but for now it is too early to talk about it. Russia's credit slowdown in early 2025 has been offset by a "strong fiscal impulse", Tremasov said. "Lending, both consumer and corporate, came to a halt during the winter months, but money supply dynamics have not yet responded to this," Tremasov said. "Why? Because new money also comes into the economy through an additional channel, which is the budget deficit." Tremasov said that until April, data on the lending situation will continue to be "muddled by seasonality and other factors". Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russias-central-bank-understand-lending-trends-april-governors-advisor-says-2025-03-01/

2025-03-01 09:58

DUBAI, March 1 (Reuters) - Iraq's Ministry of Oil said on Saturday it had invited global foreign companies operating under the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) umbrella, along with firms contracted by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), to a meeting in Baghdad on March 4. The talks are set to address issues related to existing contracts and seek agreements that align with international best practices for oilfield development while safeguarding national interests, the ministry said in a statement. The Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Natural Resources is also expected to attend the discussions, which come amid ongoing efforts to streamline oil operations between Baghdad and Erbil. Eight international oil firms operating in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region said they would not resume oil exports through Turkey's Ceyhan on Friday despite an announcement from Baghdad that the restart was imminent. The government said on Friday it would announce a resumption in the coming hours, with an initial amount of 185,000 barrels per day (bpd) exported through state oil marketer SOMO and that quantity gradually increasing. The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), which represents 60% of production from the region, said later no formal contact had been made for clarity on commercial agreements and guarantees of payment for past and future exports. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iraq-invites-global-oil-firms-talks-kurdistan-contracts-2025-03-01/

2025-03-01 05:02

ZURICH, March 1 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank will not refrain from using interest rates and currency interventions to steer monetary policy despite the risk of being branded a "currency manipulator" by the United States, its chairman said on Saturday. Switzerland was labelled a currency manipulator by the U.S. Treasury in 2020 under the previous Donald Trump administration, which said the Swiss had intervened heavily in foreign exchange markets to reduce the value of the Swiss franc. After arguing the franc was not being weakened to gain a trade advantage, Switzerland later had the label removed and was taken off the Treasury's watch list altogether in 2023. "The mandate of the SNB is to ensure stable prices for Switzerland," Chairman Martin Schlegel told the newspaper Tages-Anzeiger when asked if the SNB had to be particularly careful with currency interventions at present. "We have different levers to achieve this goal - interest rates and the exchange rate. We are sticking with this concept." The bank's recent emphasis on interest rates rather than activity in the currency market was not a concession to U.S. President Donald Trump, Schlegel said. "This is our monetary policy concept, and we have always handled it this way. The SNB policy rate is our primary monetary policy instrument," said Schlegel, who took charge at the SNB last October. "Foreign exchange market interventions are supplementary measures that we use when necessary." Countries designated as currency manipulators can face penalties such as being excluded from U.S. government procurement contracts. The SNB would also consider reintroducing negative interest rates, to prevent the Swiss franc becoming too strong and prevent inflation falling too low, Schlegel added. The central banker has raised the prospects of sub-zero rates several times in recent weeks, although in the interview he acknowledged such a policy was not popular. Negative rates, used by the SNB from for nearly eight years until September 2022, had achieved their goal of making the franc less attractive, Schlegel said. "On the other hand, it's is clear that negative interest rates are not attractive for savers," he said. "If we don't have to, we won't introduce negative rates again." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/swiss-central-bank-chief-sticks-with-forex-tool-unperturbed-by-trump-2025-03-01/