2024-11-23 17:18

WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Brooke Rollins, president of the America First Policy Institute, to be agriculture secretary. "As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country," Trump said in a statement. If confirmed by the Senate, Rollins would lead a 100,000-person agency with offices in every county in the country, whose remit includes farm and nutrition programs, forestry, home and farm lending, food safety, rural development, agricultural research, trade and more. It had a budget of $437.2 billion in 2024. The nominee's agenda would carry implications for American diets and wallets, both urban and rural. Department of Agriculture officials and staff negotiate trade deals, guide dietary recommendations, inspect meat, fight wildfires and support rural broadband, among other activities. "Brooke’s commitment to support the American Farmer, defense of American Food Self-Sufficiency, and the restoration of Agriculture-dependent American Small Towns is second to none," Trump said in the statement. The America First Policy Institute is a right-leaning think tank whose personnel have worked closely with Trump's campaign to help shape policy for his incoming administration. She chaired the Domestic Policy Council during Trump's first term. As agriculture secretary, Rollins would advise the administration on how and whether to implement clean fuel tax credits for biofuels at a time when the sector is hoping to grow through the production of sustainable aviation fuel. The nominee would also guide next year's renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal, in the shadow of disputes over Mexico's attempt to bar imports of genetically modified corn and Canada's dairy import quotas. Trump has said he again plans to institute sweeping tariffs that are likely to affect the farm sector. He was considering offering the role to former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler, a staunch ally whom he chose to co-chair his inaugural committee, CNN reported on Friday. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-expected-pick-brooke-rollins-be-agriculture-secretary-wsj-reports-2024-11-23/

2024-11-23 16:34

WARSAW, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Farmers blocked Poland's Medyka border crossing with Ukraine on Saturday, news agency PAP reported, in protest over the trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur , which they say will reduce their competitiveness. The farmers are also protesting because their demand for Poland to maintain the agricultural tax at the 2023 level in 2024 has not been met. Poland's Minister of Agriculture said he supported the farmers' demands regarding the Mercosur agreement and the government will address this at its next meeting. Mercosur is a trade bloc of South American countries. "The farmers' protest in Medyka has the same goal, for which I have been fighting on various fronts for a long time," Czeslaw Siekierski wrote on X. "Let me remind you that we said NO to the agreement with the Mercosur countries in the Ministry of Agriculture." During Saturday's blockade, which is expected to last 24 hours, about 30 people walked along the pedestrian crossing with trucks from Ukraine blocked from entering and only one truck an hour allowed to leave Poland, PAP reported. "For now, there are no difficulties," Anita Pukalska of the Przemyśl municipal police headquarters, was quoted as saying of the farmers' blockade, which does not apply to passenger vehicles, buses, humanitarian and military transport. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/polish-farmers-block-border-crossing-with-ukraine-mercosur-trade-protest-report-2024-11-23/

2024-11-23 16:25

Nov 23 (Reuters) - Adani Energy Solutions (ADAI.NS) , opens new tab said on Saturday that Kenya's cancellation of a $736 million transmission line project did not require it to make any regulatory disclosure under Indian stock exchange rules as it was within its ordinary course of business. It said it was responding to a request for clarification from the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange after Reuters reported that Kenya's president had ordered the cancellation of the 30-year public-private partnership deal. "Further, the Company hereby submits that there is no material impact of the Media Report on the operations of the Company," Adani Energy Solutions said in a statement. President William Ruto also said on Thursday he had ordered the cancellation of a procurement process that had been expected to award control of Kenya's main airport to India's Adani Group. U.S. authorities on Wednesday indicted Adani Group founder Gautam Adani and seven others, alleging they paid $265 million in bribes to Indian officials. The group denied the allegations. Under the Kenyan international airport plan, worth nearly $2 billion, the Adani Group was to add a second runway and upgrade the passenger terminal in exchange for a 30-year lease. Adani Energy Solutions said in its statement on Saturday that it was not involved in the deal to manage and upgrade Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta airport. "The Company nor any of its subsidiaries have entered into any contract in connection with any airport in Kenya," it said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/adani-energy-solutions-says-no-material-impact-kenya-energy-deal-cancellation-2024-11-23/

2024-11-23 15:50

KYIV, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Russian drone and missile attacks have damaged 321 Ukrainian port infrastructure facilities since July last year, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday. Twenty merchant ships belonging to other countries were also damaged by Russian strikes, he added. "Overall, Ukrainian food exports provide food for 400 million people in 100 countries around the world," Zelenskiy said. "Food prices in Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, and other countries in Africa directly depend on whether farmers and agricultural companies in Ukraine can operate normally." Moscow has repeatedly denied that it attacks civilian targets. Ukraine is a major global wheat and corn grower and before the Russian invasion it exported about 6 million tons of grain per month via the Black Sea. When Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, it blockaded Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Shipments were resumed in July 2022 under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal mediated by the United Nations and Turkey. But a year later Russia exited the agreement. Since then, Ukraine has exported grain and other food products using its own corridor, which passes through the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. Ukraine's grain exports in the 2024/25 July-June season totaled almost 16 million metric tons by the middle of November, up from about 11 million tons in the same period a year ago, data from traders and the government showed. Ukraine's grain exports in the 2023/24 marketing season rose to about 51 million tons from 49.2 million tons the previous year. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-strikes-have-damaged-321-ukrainian-port-infrastructure-facilities-2024-11-23/

2024-11-23 11:27

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Hundreds of environmental campaigners marched on Saturday in the South Korean city of Busan to demand stronger global commitments to fight plastic waste at U.N. talks in the city next week. About a thousand people, including members of indigenous groups, young people and informal waste collectors, took part in the rally, the organiser said, with some carrying banners saying "Cut plastic production" and "Drastic plastic reduction now!". The activists marched around the Busan Exhibition and Convention Centre, where the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) will take place from Monday to discuss a legally binding global agreement on plastic pollution. Debate is expected to focus on whether the deal should seek to slash production, while major producers such as Saudi Arabia and China have said in previous rounds that it should prioritise less contentious strategies, such as waste management. "We are here with Greenpeace and our allies in the Break Free from Plastic movement to represent the millions of people around the world that are demanding that world leaders address plastic pollution by reducing the amount of plastic that we produce in the first place," said Graham Forbes, global plastic campaign lead at Greenpeace. People from different countries and of all ages took part in Saturday's rally and some wore elaborate, decorated hats made from discarded plastic items. "It looks like the Earth, and a living creature, because I wanted to say our living creatures are being affected by plastic pollution," said Lee Kyoung-ah, 52, who was wearing a hat made of abandoned plastic buoy. Lee Min-sung, 26, said he also hoped to see changes in everyday consumer habits. "I hope the culture of using 'reusables' becomes a cool, trendy movement, as that will reduce (waste) little by little," said Lee, who brought his lunch from home in a glass container. "I will pick up trash more often, whenever I have time, and throw away less to save the Earth," said fourth-grader Kim Seo-yul, who flew from her home in Jeju Island to join the march. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/green-activists-s-korea-demand-tough-action-plastic-waste-un-talks-2024-11-23/

2024-11-23 11:01

Nov 23 (Reuters) - Italian energy group Eni (ENI.MI) , opens new tab said on Saturday it had launched the hull of the Nguya Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility in Wison Heavy Industry's shipyard in Nantong, China, to be deployed offshore of the Republic of Congo. The FLNG will have a liquefaction capacity of 2.4 million tons per annum (MTPA) and will complement the existing Tango FLNG, which has a capacity of 0.6 MTPA and has been operational since December 2023, ENI said in a statement. The combination of the two will bring the total liquefaction capacity of the Congo LNG project to 3 MTPA by the end of 2025, it said. Eni in 2022 signed a contract with China's Wison Heavy Industry to set up an FLNG unit off the Republic of Congo to increase LNG production and exports from the African country. It is the second FLNG to be deployed in the Republic of Congo. In February this year, Eni said that the Republic of Congo exported its first cargo of LNG to Italy, making the country an energy exporter. "We have been the first to believe in the value of Congo's gas, primarily for domestic power generation, and then for export," Guido Brusco, Eni's chief operating officer for Global Natural Resources, said in the statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italys-eni-readies-second-floating-lng-facility-congo-2024-11-23/