2024-04-09 22:51
April 9 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal court issued a decree to restrict the production and sale of Philips' (PHG.AS) New Tab, opens new tab new sleep apnea machines at several facilities in the country, the Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania has entered into what is known as a consent decree against the company's subsidiary Philips Respironics to curb the sale and production until certain requirements are met. In January, the Dutch health technology company had said that it will not sell new devices to treat sleep apnea in the United States in the coming years as it works to comply with a settlement with the FDA. The agreement followed the recall of millions of breathing devices and ventilators used to treat sleep apnea in 2021 because of concerns that foam used to reduce noise from the devices could degrade and become toxic, carrying potential cancer risks. The decree also requires implementation of a recall remediation plan, agreed to by the FDA and Philips, to help ensure relief is provided to patients impacted by the recall. The plan outlines remediation options such as a new or reworked device for the patients with the option for partial refund of certain devices. As part of this plan, Philips is also required to make several attempts to contact a patient or a medical equipment provider regarding actions they must take to help ensure patients receive remediation in a timely manner. Almost the whole of the company's actionable registered sleep therapy devices have been remediated globally, Philips told Reuters, adding that it will retain experts to review aspects of the remediation. The company said it will continue to provide new sleep and respiratory care devices outside the United States as the consent decree allows for exports. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-federal-court-orders-restrict-production-philips-sleep-apnea-devices-2024-04-09/
2024-04-09 22:04
RIO DE JANEIRO, April 9 (Reuters) - Brazil's energy minister Alexandre Silveira said on Tuesday that he respects Petrobras' (PETR4.SA) New Tab, opens new tab Chief Executive Jean Paul Prates, and that any decision regarding the CEO is to be made by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The remarks come after days of speculation over Prates' future, with some saying the embattled CEO would not survive "to the end of the week." Prates has been under fire from parts of the government, among them Silveira, that want to see him bring down fuel prices and ramp up job-creating investments. Uncertainty about the future of Petrobras brought volatility to the company's shares prices in recent sessions. The minister also told reporters that the extra dividends withheld from Petrobras shareholders in March will be issued when the state-run oil firm's board decides the time is right. The dividend issue was also a point of friction between Silveira and Prates, with the energy minister having argued for withholding the funds and Prates arguing for the release of 50% of it to shareholders. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/decision-petrobras-ceo-job-is-up-brazils-president-says-energy-minister-2024-04-09/
2024-04-09 21:48
BRASILIA, April 9 (Reuters) - Canadian firm Brazil Potash Corp will begin to build Latin America's largest fertilizer mine in the Amazon rainforest this year after its project received an installation license issued by the Amazonas state environmental protection agency, its chief executive told Reuters on Tuesday. CEO Matt Simpson said the mine was not on officially recognized Indigenous land and the local Mura tribe had been consulted and were in favor of the potash mine. "We will proceed with construction of the mine sometime later this year," Simpson said. The 13 billion reais ($2.6 billion) project will take four years to build and create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, he said. The Amazonas federal prosecutors office said on Tuesday that the license issued by the state's environmental protection agency IPAAM was "irregular" because the permit should come from the federal agency IBAMA and only once the Mura people had been properly consulted. "The license violates constitutional rights, international standards and also the rights of Indigenous peoples," it said in a statement. The project, which could reduce Brazilian agriculture's 90% dependence on imported potash, has been held up for years due to opposition from the Indigenous Mura people who say they have not been consulted about the use of their ancestral lands. In September, a federal judge in Manaus reiterated her 2016 decision to suspend the project until the Mura were consulted. She also ruled that a license must be federal. But a higher appeals court later overturned an injunction suspending Potash Corp's state license and ruled that IPAAM could issue the permit because there is no officially recognized Indigenous territory in the area planned for the mine. Governor Wilson Lima, who backs the mine for the investment and development it will bring his state, announced on Monday the granting of the installation license for the mine to be built in Autazes, 75 miles (120 km) southeast of state capital Manaus. Mura leaders say the mine overlaps their ancestral lands and seek their recognition as protected reservation land. But the demarcation process that could take years is pending by Indigenous affairs agency Funai, and divisions have emerged within the Mura community. Five Mura communities and the Indigenous Association of Amazonas sent prosecutors letters seen by Reuters rejecting the governor's announcement. Gabriel Mura, leader of the Lago do Soares community which will be the most affected by the mine, told Reuters that no real consultation had taken place, and that Mura people had been deceived into signing papers saying they had been consulted. "They lie when they say that the people want the project, but this is something only some leaders do, because the people want their lands to be recognized," he said. CEO Simpson told Reuters his company believes a federal prosecutor in Manaus was "abusing his power" and colluding with the lower court judge to hinder a mine project that was of strategic importance for Brazil, a top world food exporter. The mine will extract and deliver potash to Brazilian farm states by river barges at less than even the transportation costs of producers in Russia, Belarus and Canada, who have to ship across the world. "At Autazes, we are in the backyard of Brazilian farmers," Simpson said. Brazil Potash is owned by CD Capital with a 34% stake, Sentient with 23% of shares, and Stan Bharti's Forbes & Manhattan Group, a Toronto-based merchant bank that began the project, which now holds 14%, along with other shareholders. ($1 = 5.0042 reais) Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/potash-mine-amazon-gets-state-license-questioned-by-federal-authorities-2024-04-09/
2024-04-09 21:48
April 10 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. Interest rate decisions in New Zealand and Thailand New Tab, opens new tab are the main events for Asian markets on Wednesday along with Chinese bank lending figures, as investors brace for a rocky open following Wall Street's lackluster performance the previous day. U.S. stocks closed in the green on Tuesday but only barely, despite the biggest one-day fall in Treasury yields in over a month, and a notable slide in oil prices. Taken together, a case can be made that investor sentiment is fraying. With many benchmark stock indices and key commodity prices hovering at historic and even record highs, fatigue may be setting in. Once again, however, Japan New Tab, opens new tab seems to be bucking the trend with the Nikkei 225 looking to test 40,000 points again and make a push to fresh all-time highs. The yen's slide back towards 152 per dollar could facilitate that push, but will also probably spark another wave of verbal intervention New Tab, opens new tab from Japanese authorities. Actual FX market intervention is a real possibility if 152.00 breaks. On the data front, wholesale inflation figures from Japan could be the catalyst for dollar/yen testing 152.00, but the main indicator will be Chinese bank lending. Investors will be hoping for signs of recovery in March from February, when loan growth from a year earlier slowed to a record low 10.1%. Chinese banks are estimated to have issued 3.56 trillion yuan ($492.11 billion) in net new yuan loans last month, more than double the 1.45 trillion yuan in February, according to a Reuters poll. On the policy front the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and Bank of Thailand are both widely expected to keep key rates unchanged, meaning signals about the future policy path in the coming months will be more important for local asset markets. All 29 economists in a Reuters poll expect the RBNZ to leave its official cash rate on hold at 5.50% for a sixth consecutive meeting. Fifteen of the 29 expect the first cut to come by the end of the third quarter and the other 14 forecast the cash rate to remain unchanged until the fourth quarter or later. Consensus around the BOT staying on hold, meanwhile, is much flakier, with inflation running below target and the economy unexpectedly contracting at the end of last year. Sixteen out of 26 economists polled by Reuters reckon the BOT will keep its benchmark one-day repurchase rate at 2.50% for a third straight meeting, and the other 10 forecast a quarter-point cut to 2.25%. That is a drastic change from a February poll when a strong majority of economists expected rates to stay unchanged this quarter and median forecasts showing the first rate cut in Q1 2025. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Wednesday: - New Zealand interest rate decision - Thailand interest rate decision - China bank lending (March) Get a look at the day ahead in Asian and global markets with the Morning Bid Asia newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-graphic-pix-2024-04-09/
2024-04-09 21:42
April 9 (Reuters) - Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador province approved renewable energy firm World Energy's hydrogen plant on Tuesday, after more than 80 low-carbon hydrogen production projects have been announced in the country until March. The project, named Nujio'qonik, is a commercial-scale plant for producing green hydrogen and ammonia through clean sources of energy, unlike traditional methods which use fossil fuels. Bernard Davis, the minister of environment and climate change for the province, said the project has satisfied the requirements of the environmental assessment act. The project is expected to produce about 250,000 tons of hydrogen per year with the help of more than three gigawatt of renewable electricity through wind projects on the west coast of the province. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/canadian-province-newfoundland-labrador-approves-world-energys-hydrogen-project-2024-04-09/
2024-04-09 21:40
MILAN, April 9 (Reuters) - At least three people have been killed and four are missing after a fire and explosion underground at a hydroelectric power plant in northern Italy on Tuesday, the local mayor said. Italian utility group Enel (ENEI.MI) New Tab, opens new tab confirmed that a fire had broken out on one of its transformers at its hydro power plant in Bargi, close to Bologna, in the early afternoon. The fire brigade said earlier that an explosion had occurred around 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) at a dam on Lake Suviana, one of three artificial lakes that feed the power station. Marco Masinara, the mayor of the nearby town of Camugnano, said three dead bodies had been found and four people were missing, while three were "badly hurt" and taken to hospital. He added that the initial indication was that the incident was probably caused by a defect in a turbine. Enel has not commented on the cause. The company said the dam basin had not been damaged and that the plant was offline at the time of the incident so there was no impact on electricity supply. Video supplied by firefighters showed thick smoke rising up from the plant. The deaths are likely to fuel concerns expressed by trade unions about workplace safety in Italy. Two of the country's largest unions were already due to hold a four-hour nationwide strike on Thursday to protest over the issue. In a high profile accident in February, five workers were killed and three seriously injured while building a supermarket in the city of Florence. Enel said it had evacuated workers from the Bargi site and was coordinating with rescue workers from the fire department. Masinara said flames erupted below ground level, adding that "the plant is all below the level of the lake, at about 30 metres' depth". He told Italy's Ansa news agency that initial information suggested that work was being done on a turbine at the time of the accident. "I have been told that the fire brigade are trying to get access but are having difficulties," Masinara added. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/five-missing-after-blast-italian-hydroelectric-plant-2024-04-09/
