2025-10-18 05:10

BEIJING, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Chen Ning Yang, one of the world's most renowned physicists and a Nobel Prize winner, died at 103 of illness in Beijing on October 18, state news outlet Xinhua said on Saturday. Born in Hefei in Anhui province in eastern China in 1922, Yang shared a Nobel Prize for physics with Tsung-Dao Lee in 1957. He was also a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at the prestigious Tsinghua University. Sign up here. Yang, whose name is also rendered as Yang Zhenning, studied for his doctorate at the University of Chicago in the 1940s, and was the first Chinese scientist to visit China when diplomatic relations between the United States and China began to open up in the 1970s. Since 1999, Yang had been teaching at Tsinghua University, where he also spent eight years of his childhood when his father was a professor at Tsinghua. Tsinghua greyed out the colours on its website on Saturday in remembrance of Yang. "My life has been a circle, where I started out from a point, travelled a long way, and finally returned to where I came from," Yang was cited as saying by Tsinghua. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/nobel-laureate-chen-ning-yang-dies-103-xinhua-says-2025-10-18/

2025-10-18 04:55

Funding targets more than $7 billion in New York projects States criticize effort and say they have gotten no official notice White House has repeatedly targeted projects in Democratic-run states, cities WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The Trump administration will freeze a further $11 billion worth of infrastructure projects in Democratic states due to the ongoing government shutdown, White House budget director Russell Vought said on Friday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will pause work on "low priority" projects in cities such as New York, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore, Vought said on social media, adding that the projects could eventually be canceled. Sign up here. The money includes $600 million for two aging, federally owned bridges spanning the Cape Cod canal in Massachusetts that are slated for replacement and carry millions of travelers yearly. CALIFORNIA SAYS TRUMP 'WEAPONIZING HIS FEDERAL SHUTDOWN' Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and the state's U.S. senators said that despite Vought's post, "we have not received any information from the federal government regarding this action... This project is moving forward with funding appropriated by a bipartisan Congress and lawfully awarded by the federal government." The White House Office of Management and Budget said President Donald Trump "wants to reorient how the federal government prioritizes Army Corps projects." His administration has already frozen at least $28 billion for transportation and energy projects in cities and states controlled by Democratic politicians, as the Republican president pressures his opponents in Congress to end the shutdown, which began October 1. Trump has also vowed to cut "Democrat Agencies" and sought to eliminate 4,100 federal jobs as he looks to inflict pain on his political opposition. The Army Corps projects include a waterfront park in San Francisco, restoring aquatic habitat in Restoration, California, and water and wastewater systems in New York City, OMB said. New York projects account for $7 billion of the total. Other affected projects are in Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Delaware, OMB said. All of these states voted against Trump in the 2024 presidential election. OMB said many of the projects sit in "sanctuary jurisdictions" that have resisted the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. The Army Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom said, "Halting lifesaving levee and infrastructure projects that protect red and blue communities alike puts Americans at risk.... Trump is weaponizing his federal shutdown to attack communities and Americans he perceives as his political enemies." New York Governor Kathy Hochul responded to Vought on X: "Good luck with that. We'll be in touch." https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-administration-freezes-another-11-billion-infrastructure-spending-shutdown-2025-10-17/

2025-10-18 02:38

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Thailand has delayed renewing a Southeast Asian multilateral power trade deal due to local political changes, Malaysia’s energy minister said on Friday. The Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore (LTMS) Project to supply hydropower from Laos via Thailand and neighbouring Malaysia is now expected to be renewed in November, Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister Fadillah Yusof told Reuters. Sign up here. Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was removed by the Constitutional Court in August, with Anutin Charnvirakul appointed the following month. Malaysia is currently the chair of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Fadillah spoke to Reuters on the sidelines of the bloc's meeting of energy ministers on Friday. "It's not put on hold, but because of the political changes in the (Thai) government...that's why there's a bit of a delay on Thailand's side," Fadillah said. "November will be the signing and so the second phase of LTMS will be working after November, hopefully after they have signed that," he said, adding that Malaysia is already committed to it. The Thai energy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of business hours. The LTMS project is a precursor to the broader ASEAN Power Grid (APG) initiative, which aims to interconnect all its ten member states and is widely seen as one of the main ways to cut Southeast Asia's growing reliance on fossil fuels for power generation. “APG is the backbone of ASEAN. If we want to be one of the economic powerhouses in the world, we need energy,” he said. Significant progress is also being made on the Borneo Power Grid, Fadillah added. "By the end of this year, Sabah will be connected with Sarawak," he said, adding that West Kalimantan is already purchasing power from Sarawak, while Brunei’s connection is currently underway. The Philippines will also eventually join. Malaysia is also reducing its reliance on coal and increasing renewable energy capacity, Fadillah said. The country's power demand is forecast to rise 10% and 8%, respectively, in 2026 and 2027, driven by data centres and high demand industries, he added. Separately, Laos' deputy energy minister told Reuters that the country is considering halting electricity supply to cryptocurrency miners, as it seeks to redirect domestic power to industries that contribute more to economic growth. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/malaysia-says-multilateral-power-deal-delayed-by-thai-politics-renewal-expected-2025-10-18/

2025-10-17 23:38

Oct 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed avenues for expanding U.S. participation in Liberia's critical minerals sector in a meeting this week with Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti, the State Department said on Friday. Rubio and Nyanti met in Washington on Thursday to discuss deepening U.S.-Liberia bilateral relations and expanding U.S. commercial engagement in Liberia, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement. Sign up here. "The meeting explored avenues for expanding U.S. participation in Liberia’s critical minerals sector with the aim of creating jobs and economic growth in both the United States and Liberia," Pigott said. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/rubio-liberian-minister-discuss-boosting-us-participation-liberias-critical-2025-10-17/

2025-10-17 23:09

Oct 17 (Reuters) - Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a UK-based pricing and data research firm for energy transition minerals, has cut at least a fifth of its workforce in recent weeks, said three people familiar with the company. The 11-year-old firm had been rapidly expanding over the last couple of years alongside growing market interest in lithium, copper and other minerals needed for electric vehicles and other clean-energy uses. Sign up here. The layoffs include at least 40 people at Benchmark, the three sources said, out of a total workforce of 200 people. Two of the sources said affected departments included sustainability, sales and marketing. CEO Andrew Miller in an email to Reuters said the firm had undergone a "recent restructuring." He declined to comment further on Reuters questions regarding the reductions. "This process is part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen the quality and delivery of Benchmark's offering, focused around further investment in our technology and AI capabilities," he said. One source cited weak pricing for minerals, especially battery metal lithium, as a drag on Benchmark's business, whose clients include miners, battery makers and politicians. Lithium prices have plunged since their peak in 2022 due to slower-than-expected adoption of electric cars. In a research note Benchmark published on its website last week, the company said it expected a sharp decline in U.S. EV sales in the last quarter of the year. It added that other challenges such as high manufacturing costs and rising tariffs are prompting some carmakers to scale back EV production plans into next year. Privately held Benchmark last year bought EV market research firm Rho Motion, creating a combined company of 250 employees. In addition to lithium, Benchmark tracks prices and other market data for copper, cobalt, nickel, graphite, rare earths, manganese, fluorspar and phosphate. https://www.reuters.com/business/ev-supply-chain-data-firm-benchmark-mineral-trims-workforce-sources-say-2025-10-17/

2025-10-17 22:34

French minister supports World Bank devoting 45% of lending to climate goals Caroit disagrees with Bessent on climate approach, says she can work with him Climate issues to feature in France's G7 presidency in 2026, minister says WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - France will keep pressing the World Bank to maintain its climate finance agenda despite the Trump administration's pressure on the global lender to abandon it, the new French development minister Eleonore Caroit said on Friday. Efforts to address climate change also will feature heavily in France's presidency of the Group of Seven industrial democracies in 2026, Caroit told reporters on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Washington. Sign up here. She was appointed on Sunday to the cabinet of newly reappointed French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu as junior minister for Francophonie, international partnerships and French people abroad, and rushed straight to Washington. Caroit said she discussed with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent the U.S. call for the World Bank to abandon the goal it set under the Biden administration to boost climate-related financing to 45% of its total lending from 35% previously. "So we obviously continue to support the 45% objective," Caroit said, adding that France wanted to keep targets that agree with the Paris climate accords that Trump abandoned for a second time in January. "And for us, climate is at the utmost importance because we're aligned with the bank's objective of development and job creation, but it has to be jobs on a livable planet. Otherwise, why even think of jobs," she said. POSSIBLE AREAS OF AGREEMENT In 2023, World Bank President Ajay Banga persuaded the bank's shareholders to adopt a new vision statement with similar language: "A world free of poverty on a livable planet" to incorporate its new climate financing push and expanded balance sheet. Bessent, who has derided the statement as "vapid, buzzword-centric marketing," on Friday called on the World Bank to return to financing of coal projects, along with gas, oil and nuclear energy. In a statement to the IMF steering committee, Bessent said the 45% climate "co-benefits" target "skews projects away from country priorities and distorts projects away from the goal of increasing access" to reliable energy. "I think what is important is to have frank conversations and see where the disagreements are," Caroit said. She added that she was encouraged by Bessent's engagement on energy sources and that he was open to renewable energy where it made economic sense. Caroit said the U.S. and France, which has more than 50 nuclear reactors generating more than 70% of the country's electricity, agree on nuclear power's status as a sustainable energy source. The new minister also said France and the U.S. can agree on climate adaptation and resilience development projects that prevent floods or wildfires, which can impact economic growth, and that may ultimately lead to energy transitions. These projects fall under the World Bank climate finance goals. "This is what we call climate and they can call it however they want," Caroit said. She said the U.S. and France disagree on climate and many other principles, but both countries will work towards getting more from development in an era of tight fiscal budgets, especially for France. "We all acknowledge that there's a need to rethink the whole architectural and financial structure if we want to preserve the most essential development and to have more impact," Caroit added. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/france-will-not-give-up-world-bank-climate-goals-minister-says-2025-10-17/