2025-10-15 23:20

Mexico struggles to aid flood victims Sheinbaum faces questions over disaster response Floods hit hard; 66 dead, thousands of homes damaged MEXICO CITY, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Five days after historic floods that killed at least 66 people and affected 100,000 homes, Mexico is still scrambling to get help to the worst-hit communities and locate 75 missing people amid criticism of the government’s handling of the crisis. After a year of meteoric approval ratings, the disaster is a test for Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has encountered rare hostile crowds and heckling on visits to affected areas. Sign up here. The disaster began when torrential rains in the central and eastern parts of the country set off landslides, caused rivers to overflow and bridges to collapse. Whole streets were washed away. Antonio Ocaranza, a political analyst based in Mexico City, said that while he has been impressed by Sheinbaum's willingness to be on the ground during the recovery, it belies a bigger problem. "There is a problem of competence in the initial reaction to the tragedy," he said, adding that officials were slow in providing necessary machinery to some areas. SCRAPPING OF DISASTER FUND The disaster has also fueled questions about the government’s reliance on the military to handle a growing list of responsibilities, from managing airports to constructing major infrastructure projects and distributing disaster relief. Sheinbaum’s predecessor and political mentor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, spearheaded the elimination of the country’s Natural Disaster Fund (Fonden), saying it was beset by corruption. Sheinbaum defended that decision, saying on Tuesday that “defending Fonden is like defending corruption.” But the dismantling of Fonden has raised questions of where her government will find the money needed for the response. She said the federal government has 19 billion pesos ($1.03 billion) available for emergencies, of which around 3 billion pesos have been used. “There are sufficient resources to address the emergency.” On Wednesday, in the state of San Luis Potosi, Sheinbaum said government aid would be given in two stages: cleanup, which she said would happen next week, followed by “support” depending on the damage suffered by each home. After that, the government would help with roads and drainage. In 2023, following the devastating Hurricane Otis in the resort town of Acapulco, the government gave cash transfers of between $400 and $3,250 per affected household depending on the level of damage. Deputy Gibran Ramirez of the opposition center-left Citizens’ Movement party criticized the government’s response to the latest disaster as unprepared and “lamentable.” “There’s no capacity to respond. It’s always the same response - improvisation,” he said. “And just like in Guerrero after Hurricane Otis, the government will make direct cash transfers to calm the social anger.” FLOODS CAME WITHOUT WARNING The floods largely caught the government flat-footed. “There were no scientific or meteorological conditions that could have indicated to us that the rainfall would be of this magnitude,” Sheinbaum told reporters on Monday, adding that the government had been focused on two separate storms off the Pacific coast. The torrential rains off the Gulf Coast came toward the end of the rainy season, battering land and bursting rivers that had already been soaked by months of rain. The worst-affected states are Veracruz, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosi. On Sunday, Sheinbaum confronted an angry crowd of people searching for their relatives in the southeastern state of Veracruz, where at least 29 people have died. Some yelled that they had been in the zone for three days looking while others pushed photos of missing people at her. Struggling to make herself heard, Sheinbaum said: “Everyone will be attended to. We are not going to hide anything.” ($1 = 18.4613 Mexican pesos) https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/dozens-still-missing-days-after-mexicos-mass-flood-2025-10-15/

2025-10-15 23:07

Santos narrows FY production forecast to 89-91 mmboe Q3 sales revenue falls 11% to $1.1 billion Shares end 0.8% higher at A$6.38 Oct 16 (Reuters) - Australia's Santos (STO.AX) , opens new tab narrowed its annual output forecast for a second time this year on Thursday after a technical issue delayed the ramp-up of its key Barossa oil and gas project and inclement weather hampered recovery at its Cooper Basin project. The country's no. 2 independent oil and gas producer now expects to produce 89 to 91 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) in fiscal 2025, compared with 90 to 95 mmboe previously forecast. The mid-point of the forecast fell short of the Visible Alpha consensus of 91.4 mmboe. Sign up here. The Barossa project is co-owned by Santos along with South Korean energy company SK E&S and Japan's JERA, and is expected to cost $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion to develop, according to a 2024 company guidance. It remains on track to ship its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo in the December quarter. "Software issues affecting the safety systems onboard the BW Opal FPSO resulted in an unplanned shutdown of around two weeks during September, impacting the ramp-up of the Barossa project," Managing Director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said in a statement. Santos had narrowed its full-year production forecast in the previous quarter to reflect flood-related operational disruptions at Cooper Basin. Recovery effects at Cooper Basin have run into the fourth quarter, the firm said, adding that 155 wells were still offline due to flood water levels receding more slowly than expected. Gallagher had said the impact would not be material in the "big picture" after flooding submerged more than 200 wells in Cooper Basin in May, with the production recovery expected to pick up in the second half of the year. Santos, which had received an $18.7 billion bid from a consortium led by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in June, reported an 11% fall in sales revenue to $1.13 billion for its third quarter ended September 30, missing the Visible Alpha estimate of $1.18 billion. The Adelaide-based company also narrowed its annual sales volume forecast to 93 to 95 mmboe from 92 to 99 mmboe previously expected. The mid-point of the range also fell short of the Visible Alpha consensus of 96 mmboe. Shares of Santos ended 0.8% higher at A$6.38, in line with the benchmark S&P/ ASX 200 index's (.AXJO) , opens new tab gain, after rising as much as 1.7% earlier in the session. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/australias-santos-narrows-full-year-production-forecast-posts-sequential-fall-q3-2025-10-15/

2025-10-15 23:01

LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - British finance minister Rachel Reeves should raise taxes by a lot in next month's budget to exit the "Groundhog Day scenario" of continuously having to find measures to patch up the public finances, a think tank said on Thursday. The Institute for Fiscal Studies urged Reeves to stop giving herself only minimal headroom for meeting her fiscal targets which can lead to rushed policy changes. Sign up here. "There is a strong case to do something big enough that you don't keep getting back into fiscal Groundhog Day," IFS director Helen Miller said. "It's sucking the life out of other things that we should be talking about such as how to get growth up." Reeves - despite raising taxes by about 40 billion pounds ($53.45 billion) in her first budget last year - is probably 22 billion pounds off course to meet her rule that day-to-day spending is in balance with tax revenues by the end of the decade, the IFS estimated. She must also choose how much headroom she gives herself for meeting that target. Reeves is considering enlarging the relatively small 9.9 billion-pound buffer that she has previously set, according to a Treasury official. Reeves' options on November 26 are complicated by her promise to voters in the 2024 election that she would not raise the main rates of taxation on them. On spending, an attempt to cut the welfare bill by 6 billion pounds a year ran into opposition within Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party and was dropped in July. The IFS said earlier this week that Reeves should reform the taxation system to raise more money, for example by making wealth-related and property taxes more effective. Jack Meaning, chief UK economist at Barclays whose forecasts were used by the IFS, predicted Reeves would announce measures that would not stoke inflation, but tax increases that push up prices - such as on alcohol and tobacco - could force the Bank of England to keep interest rates higher and slow the economy. ($1 = 0.7484 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-reeves-should-go-big-tax-increases-november-think-tank-says-2025-10-15/

2025-10-15 22:19

Oct 15 (Reuters) - American Battery Technology (ABAT.O) , opens new tab said on Wednesday the U.S. Department of Energy has terminated its grant for the setting up of a facility for the manufacturing of battery cathode grade lithium hydroxide. Under the grant, DOE's Manufacturing Energy Supply Chain office would contribute $57.7 million, while the company would put in an equal amount towards the facility. Sign up here. Reimbursable DOE funds of about $52 million remained as of October 9, the company said. The termination followed a May notice that all MESC grants would undergo audits under a DOE memorandum. The company said it has appealed the termination and plans to pursue dispute resolution remedies. Despite the setback, the company said it has raised over $52 million from public markets this year and will continue the project without changes to its timeline or scope. In April, the company received a letter of interest from U.S. Export-Import bank for $900 million in financing to support construction of its Nevada-based lithium mine and refinery. https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-energy-department-ends-grant-american-batterys-lithium-hydroxide-project-2025-10-15/

2025-10-15 21:52

Trump orders Pentagon chief to pay troops during shutdown 1.3 million active-duty military risked missing paychecks Democrats and Republicans blame each other for standoff WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order on Wednesday directing the Pentagon to ensure active-duty military personnel are paid despite the federal government shutdown, the White House said, addressing one of the most sensitive issues in the bitter standoff over federal spending. Trump directed Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth "to use for the purpose of pay and allowances any funds appropriated by the Congress that remain available for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2026 to accomplish the scheduled disbursement of military pay and allowances for active duty military personnel," according to text of the executive order shared by the White House on social media. Sign up here. As the standoff between Trump's Republicans and congressional Democrats stretched into a third week, 1.3 million active-duty military risked missing their mid-month paychecks. Service members remain on duty despite the shutdown that began on October 1. Their work is deemed essential for national security. TROOPS WERE PAID IN PAST SHUTDOWNS Members of Congress pride themselves on supporting service members, who put their lives on the line for national security. In past shutdowns, they passed bills to ensure the troops would be paid. Trump had promised the service members would get their pay, and his administration said on Saturday it would use unspent Department of Defense research and development funds to cover the checks. However, it was not clear where funds would come from to cover the military's next paychecks at the end of October. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson accused Democrats of holding the troops "hostage" by refusing to agree to a Republican spending plan to reopen the government. "The most pro-shutdown Democrats actually represent the most active duty service members back home, whom they have taken hostage in this insidious political game," Johnson told a press conference on Wednesday, referring to lawmakers from states that are home to large numbers of troops. Democrats blamed the Republicans for refusing to even discuss any compromise. Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House, but would need Democratic votes in the Senate to advance the measure. Democrats say any funding package to reopen the government must also extend healthcare subsidies for about 24 million Americans that are due to expire at the end of the year. When government offices closed in 2013, members of the military were paid because Congress passed a separate "Pay Our Military Act." This year, Republican Representative Jen Kiggans introduced a similar bill, the "Pay Our Troops Act," but it did not pass before Johnson sent the House home last month. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-signs-order-pay-troops-during-us-government-shutdown-2025-10-15/

2025-10-15 21:46

Oct 15 (Reuters) - Core Scientific's (CORZ.O) , opens new tab board urged its shareholders on Wednesday to vote for the crypto miner's proposed sale to CoreWeave (CRWV.O) , opens new tab as the company expects a number of benefits from the deal. CoreWeave announced its intention to buy Core Scientific in an all-stock deal valued at about $9 billion in July, valuing it at $20.40 per share. However, the proposed deal faces opposition from Two Seas Capital, the crypto miner's biggest shareholder. Sign up here. Two Seas Capital, which owns roughly 6.3% of Core Scientific, said in August it would vote against the sale as it "materially undervalues" the crypto miner and unnecessarily exposes its shareholders to substantial economic risk. Core Scientific's board has "unanimously determined" that the deal represents the best alternative for all its stockholders, it said in an investor presentation on Wednesday. The combined company will benefit from several potential cost savings and synergies, while de-risking Core Scientific's growth and providing upsides to the latter's shareholders, according to the presentation. CoreWeave provides access to data centers and Nvidia-powered AI chips to companies seeking to train large language models. Bitcoin miners' energy-intensive sites and power contracts, built during the crypto boom, have emerged as prime targets for AI companies expanding their computing infrastructure. https://www.reuters.com/business/core-scientifics-board-urges-shareholders-vote-coreweave-deal-2025-10-15/