2024-12-01 05:03

Biden's trip delivers on a promise to visit the continent U.S. backed railway project to be a focus of the trip Railway project to open a path for mineral exports to Western nations Dec 1 (Reuters) - Joe Biden sets off for Angola on Sunday on a trip that will deliver on a promise to visit Africa during his presidency and focus on a major, U.S.-backed railway project that aims to divert critical minerals away from China. The project, partly funded with a U.S. loan, links the resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia to the Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean, offering a fast and efficient route for exports to the West. At stake are vast supplies of minerals like copper and cobalt, which are found in Congo and are a key component of batteries and other electronics. China is the top player in Congo, which has become an increasing concern to Washington. China signed an agreement with Tanzania and Zambia in September to revive a rival railway line to Africa's eastern coast. While Biden's trip is taking place in the waning days of his presidency, Donald Trump will likely back the railway and remain a close partner to Angola when he returns to the White House in January, according to two officials who served under the previous Trump administration. Tibor Nagy, a retired career ambassador and top envoy to Africa under the last Trump administration, said Trump will likely have two overarching concerns regarding Africa. The first is competition with China and Russia, the second is access to critical minerals. “This checks both boxes,” he said in an interview, referring to the Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR). The project is backed by global commodities trader Trafigura, Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil and railway operator Vecturis. The U.S. Development Finance Corporation has provided a $550 million loan to refurbish the 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) rail network from Lobito to Congo. Biden was set to land briefly in West Africa’s Cape Verde on Monday morning, and meet the president there before flying on to Angola. He will visit the nation’s slavery museum in the capital Luanda during the two-day trip and stop at the Lobito port on Wednesday. His trip delivers on one of a sweeping set of pledges to Africa. Others remain unrealized, such as backing two permanent seats for Africa at the U.N. Security Council. Beyond the railway project, Washington has also done little to advance access to vast reserves of African minerals that it says are critical for national security, and has racked up other diplomatic setbacks. This summer, it lost America's major spy base in Niger and has not been able to find an ally that will host those assets. This leaves the U.S. without military foothold in the vast Sahel region that has become a hotspot of Islamist militancy. Angola has long nurtured close ties with China and Russia but has recently moved closer to the West. Angolan officials say they are keen to work with any partner that can advance their agenda to promote economic growth and hope the project spurs investment in a range of sectors. “China has only gained prominence because Western countries have probably not been paying much attention to Africa,” Angola's transport minister, Ricardo Viegas d’Abreu, said in an interview. GROWING TIES WITH ANGOLA Biden's visit reflects a turnabout in U.S. ties with Angola after a complicated and bloody history. The U.S. and the Soviet Union backed rival sides in nation’s 27-year civil war. Washington established relations with Angola in 1993, almost two decades after it gained independence. “It's probably poetic justice that the United States should finance the rehabilitation of this route to which it had contributed destruction so many decades ago,” said Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika, a former Zambian government minister who also ran part of the railway that is to form the Lobito corridor. Biden administration officials have said the Lobito rail project is not a one-off, but a test run to prove the private-public partnership works, and that it will lead to other major infrastructure projects in Africa. They also hope it will deepen U.S. ties with Angola, including in security cooperation. Critics have questioned whether the project, which has no date for completion, will deliver the promised goals. A particular source of scrutiny is a second phase, which would connect the railway to Africa's east coast through to Tanzania, potentially offering a rival route to China. Judd Devermont, until recently Biden’s top Africa adviser, said Congo wants to diversify its mining partners and rejected the idea that connecting the project to an eastern port in Tanzania undermines the effort to loosen Beijing’s grip on Congo's minerals. “The Congolese have been very clear that they don’t want to see their entire mining sector dominated by China,” he said in an interview. “It benefits everyone if there’s an easy way to move across the continent, whether that’s critical minerals or just moving stuff from India to Brazil to New York.” Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/bidens-long-awaited-africa-trip-tout-win-against-china-2024-12-01/

2024-12-01 02:06

SEOUL, Dec 1 (Reuters) - South Korea's export growth slowed for a fourth-straight month in November, to the weakest level in 14 months, as shipments to the United States and China fell amid tariff uncertainty, trade data showed on Sunday. Exports out of Asia's fourth-largest economy rose 1.4% in November from a year earlier, after a gain of 4.6% in October, to $56.35 billion. It was the 14th-straight month exports rose in annual terms but the slowest rate for the sequence, also missing a median forecast of a 2.8% increase tipped in a Reuters poll of economists. Last month, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pledged to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, which is expected to affect South Korean firms as well, and "an additional 10% tariff, above any additional tariffs" on China, South Korea's biggest trading partner. Shipments to the United States fell 5.1%, their first decline since July 2023, while those to China were down 0.6%, after eight consecutive months of gains. Exports to the European Union were up 0.9%. Sales of semiconductors rose 30.8%, the weakest growth in 11 months, while car sales fell 13.6%, their biggest drop since June 2020, due to strikes at major auto parts makers and shipping delays amid bad weather. "The government will team up with the private sector and utilise all available resources to export even a dollar more by the end of the year," said Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun. Imports fell 2.4% to $50.74 billion, compared with gains of 1.7% in the previous month and 0.4% expected by economists. It was the first decline in five months. The country posted a trade surplus of $5.61 billion in November, wider than a $3.15-billion surplus in October. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/south-korea-export-growth-slows-14-month-low-us-demand-weakens-2024-12-01/

2024-11-30 22:59

Talks fail to reach consensus on treaty scope Oil-producing nations oppose production caps Plastic production on track to triple by 2050 Decisions postponed to a future meeting BUSAN, South Korea, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Countries negotiating a global treaty to curb plastic pollution failed to reach agreement on Monday, with more than 100 nations wanting to cap production while a handful of oil producers were prepared only to target plastic waste. The fifth U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting intended to yield a legally binding global treaty in Busan, South Korea, was meant to be the final one. However, countries remained far apart on the basic scope of a treaty and could agree only to postpone key decisions and resume talks, dubbed INC 5.2, to a later date. "It is clear that there is still persisting divergence," said Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme. The most divisive issues included capping plastic production, managing plastic products and chemicals of concern, and financing to help developing countries implement the treaty. An option proposed by Panama, backed by more than 100 countries, would have created a path for a global plastic production reduction target, while another proposal did not include production caps. The fault lines were apparent in a revised document released on Sunday by the meeting's chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso, which may form the basis of a treaty, but remained riddled with options on the most sensitive issues. "A treaty that ... only relies on voluntary measures would not be acceptable," said Juliet Kabera, director general of Rwanda's Environment Management Authority. "It is time we take it seriously and negotiate a treaty that is fit for purpose and not built to fail." A small number of petrochemical-producing nations, such as Saudi Arabia, have strongly opposed efforts to reduce plastic production and have tried to use procedural tactics to delay negotiations. "There was never any consensus," said Saudi Arabian delegate Abdulrahman Al Gwaiz. "There are a couple of articles that somehow seem to make it (into the document) despite our continued insistence that they are not within the scope." China, the United States, India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia were the top five primary polymer-producing nations in 2023, according to data provider Eunomia. ENTRENCHED DIVISIONS Had such divisions been overcome, the treaty would have been one of the most significant deals relating to environmental protection since the 2015 Paris Agreement. The postponement comes just days after the turbulent conclusion of the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. At Baku, countries set a new global target for mobilizing $300 billion annually in climate finance, a deal deemed woefully insufficient by small island states and many developing countries. The climate talks were also slowed by procedural manoeuvres by Saudi Arabia – who objected to the inclusion of language that reaffirmed a previous commitment to transition away from fossil fuels. Some negotiators said a few countries held the proceedings hostage, avoiding compromises needed by using the U.N.'s consensus process. Senegal's National Delegate Cheikh Ndiaye Sylla called it "a big mistake" to exclude voting during the entire negotiations, an agreement made last year during the second round of talks in Paris. "This outcome underscores the complexity of addressing plastic pollution on a global scale and the need for further deliberations to achieve an effective, inclusive and workable treaty," said Chris Jahn, council secretary of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), representing plastic makers. "There is little assurance that the next INC will succeed where INC-5 did not," environmental group GAIA said. Plastic production is on track to triple by 2050, and microplastics have been found in the air, fresh produce and even human breast milk. Chemicals found to be of concern in plastics include more than 3,200 according to a 2023 U.N. Environment Programme report, which said women and children were particularly susceptible to their toxicity. Despite the postponement, several negotiators expressed urgency to get back into talks. "Every day of delay is a day against humanity. Postponing negotiations does not postpone the crisis," said Panama's delegation head Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez on Sunday. "When we reconvene, the stakes will be higher." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/over-100-countries-back-plastic-treaty-caps-talks-reach-fierce-finish-2024-11-30/

2024-11-30 17:23

PRISTINA, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Kosovo's interior minister Xelal Svecla said on Saturday that eight people had been arrested and a "huge arsenal of weapons" confiscated as part of its investigation into an explosion that threatened power and water supplies. "Somehow we managed to fix the damage, arrest the suspects and confiscate a huge arsenal of weapons," Svecla said during a live-streamed press conference. Earlier, Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that police had made arrests after an explosion hit a canal that transports water to its two main power plants, an incident Pristina labelled a "terrorist act" by neighbouring Serbia. Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic denied what he said were "baseless accusations" about Belgrade's alleged involvement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kosovo-says-8-people-arrested-over-water-canal-explosion-2024-11-30/

2024-11-30 16:36

Nov 30 (Reuters) - Next week's women's giant slalom World Cup races in Canada have been called off due to a lack of snow, the organisers announced on Saturday. The Tremblant resort near Montreal, which was due to host the two races on Dec. 7 and 8, had not had the necessary temperatures in recent days to support adequate snow coverage, they said. "The safety of the athletes, staff and volunteers are our primary concern," Race Director Peter Gerdol said. "Despite the hard work of the Tremblant team and the volunteers, the courses’ snow condition is not suitable for World Cup racing." The International Ski Federation (FIS) said in a separate announcement that they were working on rescheduling the events for later in the season. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sports/tremblant-womens-giant-slaloms-called-off-due-lack-snow-2024-11-30/

2024-11-30 16:13

ATHENS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - A man died in flash floods which hit the Greek island of Limnos in the northern Aegean on Saturday as rains pound the country. A Fire Brigade official said the body of a 57-year old livestock farmer recovered near his car. "He was trying to get his car out of the mud and was swept away by a torrent in Kontias region," the official told Reuters. The fire brigade has received tens of calls to pump water out of flooded buildings on the island, said a second fire brigade official. Greece's civil protection service has warned citizens of heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, and gale-force winds in Central and Northern Greece during the weekend. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/one-dead-flash-floods-greek-island-limnos-2024-11-30/