2024-12-15 10:23

Hundreds, maybe thousands, may have died, says local official Cyclone Chido swept through island overnight Macron says Mayotte has faced 'horrific' ordeal Worst storm to hit archipelago in nearly a century PARIS/MORONI, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Several hundred people and possibly even thousands may have been killed when the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century hit the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, a senior local French official said on Sunday. "I think there will certainly be several hundreds, maybe we will reach a thousand, even several thousands," prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said on local media channel Mayotte La 1ere. Asked about the death toll from Cyclone Chido, the French interior ministry said "it will be difficult to account for all victims" and a figure could not be determined at this stage. Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte overnight, Meteo-France said, with winds of more than 200 kph (124 mph), damaging housing, government buildings and a hospital. It was the strongest storm in more than 90 years to hit the islands, the forecaster said. "Honestly, what we are experiencing is a tragedy, you feel like you are in the aftermath of a nuclear war… I saw an entire neighborhood disappear," Mohamed Ishmael, a resident of Mayotte's capital Mamoudzou, told Reuters by phone. Aerial footage shared by the French gendarmerie showed the wreckage of hundreds of makeshift houses strewn across the hills of one of Mayotte's islands, which have been a focal point for illegal immigration from nearby Comoros. Local media images showed a mother pushing a newborn baby's crib along the flooded corridor of Mayotte's hospital. Capsized police boats lay onshore while coconut trees had crashed through the roofs of many buildings. "My thoughts are with our compatriots in Mayotte, who have gone through the most horrific few hours, and who have, for some, lost everything, lost their lives," French President Emmanuel Macron said. In the last few decades thousands of people have attempted to make the crossing from Comoros, off the coast of East Africa, to Mayotte, which has a higher standard of living and access to the French welfare system. Over 100,000 undocumented migrants live in Mayotte, according to the French interior ministry. It was difficult to ascertain the precise death toll after the cyclone, which also raised concerns about access to food, water and sanitation, authorities said. "For the toll, it's going to be complicated, because Mayotte is a Muslim land where the dead are buried within 24 hours," a French interior ministry official said earlier. Located nearly 8,000 km (5,000 miles) from Paris, Mayotte is significantly poorer than the rest of France and has grappled with gang violence and social unrest for decades. More than three-quarters of the people in Mayotte live below the French poverty line. Tensions were stoked earlier this year by a water shortage. An air bridge was being put in place from Reunion island, another French overseas territory on the other side of Madagascar, the government said. The disaster is the first challenge faced by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, days after he was named by Macron following the collapse of the previous government. The cyclone went on to hit northern Mozambique on Sunday, but the full extent of the impact was not clear. Internet monitor NetBlocks said on X that heavy rain and winds had damaged power and telecommunications infrastructure. In Comoros, two people were slightly injured, 24 displaced, and 21 homes were destroyed, authorities said. France colonised Mayotte in 1843 and annexed the whole archipelago, including Comoros, in 1904. In a 1974 referendum, 95% backed separation but 63% on Mayotte voted to stay French. Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli declared independence in 1975. Mayotte is still ruled from Paris. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/cyclone-slams-into-frances-mayotte-archipelago-killing-least-11-2024-12-15/

2024-12-15 10:17

Trump transition team recommends repealing requirement that companies report automated vehicle crash data Elon Musk's Tesla opposes the requirement, arguing it has unfairly targeted his company Unclear if Donald Trump administration will adopt the recommendation to quash reporting requirement Dec 13 (Reuters) - The Trump transition team wants the incoming administration to drop a car-crash reporting requirement opposed by Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab , according to a document seen by Reuters, a move that could cripple the government’s ability to investigate and regulate the safety of vehicles with automated-driving systems. Musk, the world's richest person, spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars helping Trump get elected president in November. Removing the crash-disclosure provision would particularly benefit Tesla, which has reported most of the crashes – more than 1,500 – to federal safety regulators under the program. Tesla has been targeted in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigations, including three stemming from the data. The recommendation to kill the crash-reporting rule came from a transition team tasked with producing a 100-day strategy for automotive policy. The group called the measure a mandate for "excessive" data collection, the document seen by Reuters shows. The Trump transition team, Musk and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Reuters could not determine what role, if any, Musk may have played in crafting the transition-team recommendations or the likelihood that the administration would enact them. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing most major automakers except Tesla, has also criticized the requirement as burdensome. A Reuters analysis of the NHTSA crash data shows Tesla accounted for 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported to NHTSA through Oct. 15. Among the Tesla crashes NHTSA investigated under the provision were a 2023 fatal accident in Virginia where a driver using the car's "Autopilot" feature slammed into a tractor-trailer and a California wreck the same year where an Autopiloted Tesla hit a firetruck, killing the driver and injuring four firefighters. NHTSA said in a statement that such data is crucial to evaluating the safety of emerging automated-driving technologies. Two former NHTSA employees said the crash-reporting requirements were pivotal to agency investigations into Tesla’s driver-assistance features that led to 2023 recalls. Without the data, they said, NHTSA cannot easily detect crash patterns that highlight safety problems. NHTSA said it has received and analyzed data on more than 2,700 crashes since the agency established the rule in 2021. The data has influenced 10 investigations into six companies, NHTSA said, as well as nine safety recalls involving four different companies. In one example, NHTSA fined Cruise, the self-driving startup owned by General Motors (GM.N) , opens new tab, $1.5 million in September for failing to report a 2023 incident in which a vehicle hit and dragged a pedestrian who had been struck by another car. GM said this week it would end robotaxi development at Cruise and fold it into its group working on driver-assistance technology. CRASH REPORTING NHTSA's so-called standing general order requires automakers to report crashes if advanced driver-assistance or autonomous-driving technologies were engaged within 30 seconds of impact, among other factors. In addition to ditching the reporting rule, the recommendations call for the administration to "liberalize" autonomous-vehicle regulation and to enact "basic regulations to enable development" of the industry. In an October Tesla earnings call, Musk called for “a federal approval process for autonomous vehicles,” rather than a patchwork of state laws he called “incredibly painful” to navigate. He said he would use his position as a government-efficiency czar, a post Trump had promised him, to push for such regulatory changes. After the election, Trump named Musk to co-lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency to advise from “outside government” on slashing federal staff, spending and regulations. MORE DATA, MORE CRASHES Tesla is among the most prominent automakers developing advanced driver-assistance features, which can assist with lane changes, driving speed and steering. Tesla’s Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” systems, which are not fully autonomous, have come under intense scrutiny in lawsuits and a DOJ criminal probe examining whether Tesla exaggerated its vehicles' self-driving capabilities, misleading investors and harming consumers. Tesla despises the crash-notification requirement, believing that NHTSA presents the data in ways that mislead consumers about the automaker's safety, two sources familiar with Tesla executives’ thinking told Reuters. In recent years, Tesla executives discussed with Musk the need to push for scrapping the crash-reporting requirement, according to one of the sources. But because Biden officials expressed enthusiasm for the program, Tesla executives ultimately concluded that they would need a change in administration to get rid of the requirements, according to the source. Tesla finds the rules unfair because it believes it reports better data than other automakers, which makes it look like Tesla is responsible for an outsized number of crashes involving advanced driver-assistance systems, one of the sources said. NHTSA cautions that the data should not be used to compare one automaker's safety to another because different companies collect information on crashes in different ways. Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor who focuses on autonomous driving, said Tesla collects real-time crash data that other companies don’t and likely reports a "far greater proportion of their incidents” than other automakers. Tesla also likely has a greater frequency of crashes involving driver-assistance technologies because it has more vehicles on the road equipped with them and drivers engage the systems more often, Smith said. That means the vehicles may more often get into “situations that they aren’t capable of handling,” he said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/trump-transition-recommends-scrapping-car-crash-reporting-requirement-opposed-by-2024-12-13/

2024-12-15 06:45

TRIPOLI, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Fires that broke out in a number of reservoirs in Libya's Zawiya refinery have been brought under control, Khaled Abulgasem Gulam, spokesperson for the country's National Oil Corporation (NOC), said in a statement on Sunday. Zawiya, 40 km (25 miles) west of the capital Tripoli, is home to Libya's biggest functioning refinery, with a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day. The refinery is connected to the country's 300,000 bpd Sharara oilfield. Teams at the refinery are transferring the remaining contents to other reservoirs, Gulam said. Earlier on Sunday, NOC declared force majeure after reservoirs at the Zawiya refinery were severely damaged due to ongoing clashes between armed groups in its vicinity. There was no immediate indications of who was involved in the violence or the reason for it. NOC posted pictures on Facebook showing firefighting teams extinguishing the fires. Libya's oil sector, a major source of income for the country, has been a target for local and broader political protests as well as security unrest since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/libyas-noc-declares-force-majeure-after-zawiya-refinery-severely-damaged-2024-12-15/

2024-12-15 06:39

SEOUL, Dec 15 (Reuters) - South Korea's finance ministry vowed on Sunday to continue to swiftly deploy market stabilising measures as needed to support the economy after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached over his brief imposition of martial law. The ministry said it will actively communicate with the parliament to keep the economy stable, adding that it plans to announce its biannual policy plan before the end of this year. The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, called for a National Stability Council for Governance comprising the government and parliament to discuss finance, economy and public livelihoods. The Bank of Korea said in a statement that it would use all available policy instruments in conjunction with the government to respond to and avert any escalation of volatility in financial and foreign exchange markets. The bank said it is necessary to respond more actively to the economic impact than in past presidential impeachment periods due to heightened challenges in external conditions, such as increased uncertainty in the trading environment and intensified global competition in key industries. South Korea's financial regulator said in a statement that financial markets are expected to stabilise as recent political events are considered temporary shocks, but it will expand market-stabilising funds if needed. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/bank-korea-vows-keep-markets-stable-yoon-impeachment-2024-12-15/

2024-12-15 02:41

Dec 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury has informed Japan's Nippon Steel (5401.T) , opens new tab that the panel reviewing its proposed $14.9 billion purchase of U.S. Steel (X.N) , opens new tab has not yet come to an agreement on how to address security concerns, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Treasury, which leads the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), wrote to both companies on Saturday saying the nine agencies on the panel were struggling to reach a consensus ahead of the deadline to submit a recommendation to President Joe Biden, the report added, citing several sources familiar with the talks. CFIUS, a powerful committee charged with reviewing foreign investments in U.S. firms for national security risks, has until Dec. 22 to make a decision on whether to approve, block or extend the timeline for the deal's review, Reuters has reported. U.S. Steel and CFIUS did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comments on the Financial Times report, while Nippon Steel declined to comment. The U.S. Treasury also declined to comment. The acquisition has faced opposition within the U.S. since it was announced last year, with both Biden and his incoming successor Donald Trump publicly indicating their intentions to block the purchase. CFIUS told the two companies in September that the deal would create national security risks because it could hurt the supply of steel needed for critical transportation, construction and agriculture projects, according to a letter seen by Reuters. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/us-foreign-investment-panel-split-nippon-us-steel-deal-ft-reports-2024-12-15/

2024-12-14 22:41

KYIV, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday he had instructed his government to set up supply mechanisms to deliver together with international organisations and partners food to Syria in the aftermath of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. Ukraine has been one of the world's top grain and oilseeds exporters, and has been exporting wheat and corn to Middle Eastern countries, but not to Syria. Syria imported food from Russia during the Assad era, but Russian wheat supplies have been suspended amid the uncertainty and payment delays, Russian and Syrian sources said on Friday. "We are ready to assist Syria in preventing a food crisis, particularly through the humanitarian program 'Grain from Ukraine'," Zelenskiy wrote on X. "I have instructed the government to establish food supply mechanisms in cooperation with international organizations and partners who can help." Ukraine's exports were buffeted by Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, which severely reduced shipments via the Black Sea. Ukraine has since broken a de facto sea blockade and revived exports from its southern ports of Odesa. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-set-up-mechanism-supply-food-syria-zelenskiy-says-2024-12-14/