2023-11-08 20:30

Nov 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the latest senior federal official to visit Ukraine, announced in Kyiv on Wednesday a new American infrastructure adviser for the country. Robert Mariner, who has performed engineering work for the U.S. Air Force and Navy, will serve as transportation advisor to Ukraine after serving as an advisor to the transportation counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan. Buttigieg met with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other senior government officials. "Transportation is critically important to Ukraine's ability to import goods and to export Ukrainian products," Buttigieg told reporters in Kyiv, adding there was also "a lot of interest here in the future of the aviation sector, which we discussed." USDOT assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs Annie Petsonk accompanied Buttigieg on the trip. Buttigieg, who met with Ukrainian officials to discuss the country's economic recovery and the impact of the war on its supply chains, particularly port and rail infrastructure, said Ukraine had asked that a U.S. infrastructure advisor be named. The adviser "will be in Kyiv to provide technical assistance on project delivery as part of the country's rebuilding efforts," Buttigieg said on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. The U.S. Department of Transportation has coordinated similar advisory roles at U.S. embassies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has heavily damaged Ukraine's infrastructure. Ukraine's energy ministry said on Wednesday that Russia had attacked the energy infrastructure 60 times in recent weeks. Russia has also heavily targeted port infrastructure. Ukraine said last month that the U.S. would provide nearly $700 million to help modernize checkpoints, ports and railways, part of an effort to improve logistics and increase export capacity. Penny Pritzker, the new U.S Special Representative for Ukraine's economic recovery, visited the country for the first time in October. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-transportation-chief-visits-ukraine-names-new-infrastructure-advisor-2023-11-08/

2023-11-08 20:13

ABUJA, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu will attend the Saudi-Africa summit in Riyadh this week to attract foreign direct investment to Africa's largest economy and mobilize capital to build needed infrastructure, his office said on Wednesday. Tinubu has embarked on the country's boldest reforms in decades, which have been welcomed by investors. He will leave for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday ahead of the Nov. 10 summit, spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale said in a statement. "Discussions at the first Saudi-Africa summit will revolve around supporting joint action, enhancing political coordination, ... facilitating economic transformation through research and the local development of new energy solutions, all while bolstering cross-sectoral investment cooperation," Ngelale said. Nigeria is seeking more investments rather than relying on debt to revive the economy of Africa's most populous nation fraught with double-digit inflation, foreign currency shortages, a weakening naira currency, widespread insecurity and crude oil theft. Tinubu will be accompanied to Riyadh by a delegation of cabinet ministers including for economy and finance, budget and economic planning, foreign affairs, and education, as well as the national security adviser, Ngelale said. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerian-president-tinubu-attend-saudi-africa-summit-riyadh-2023-11-08/

2023-11-08 20:12

BLANTYRE, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Malawi's central bank said in a notice to authorised dealer banks seen by Reuters that it was devaluing the local kwacha currency's exchange rate to the dollar by about 30% from Thursday. The notice said the kwacha's exchange rate would be adjusted to 1,700 kwacha to the dollar from a selling rate of about 1,180 kwacha to the dollar. A central bank spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. It is the second time the southern African country has significantly devalued its currency, after doing so first in May 2022 to prop up dwindling foreign currency reserves pressured by rising commodity prices and declining revenue from tobacco exports. The notice to banks said the exchange rate adjustment was needed because there were still supply-demand imbalances in the currency market and arbitrage opportunities had resurfaced. Spot checks on some players indicated that the market was able to clear import bills at the new exchange rate, the central bank said. "The Reserve Bank of Malawi will closely monitor developments in the market to avoid disorderly behaviour among market players that may cause excessive volatility," it said. A senior local banker said the move was widely expected. "It works in short term and only addresses demand side for now, but what is required is to sort out supply side," he said. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/malawi-central-bank-devalue-kwacha-by-about-30-notice-2023-11-08/

2023-11-08 20:11

AYOLAS, Paraguay, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Heavy rains caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon has sent hundreds to shelters in the town of Ayolas in southern Paraguay, with residents bracing for more flooding on the way. At least five neighborhoods in the town, about 186 miles (300 km) from capital Asuncion, were left under water after storms last week caused the Parana River to burst its banks. Some 35,000 people throughout the country were affected by the rains, according to national emergency ministry estimates, while local authorities in Ayolas, near the border with Argentina, said about 3,700 were displaced. "They warned us that the water was rising a lot, so the whole family came out to the street," said 61-year-old Ayolas resident Pascacio Mercado. "By dawn, the water had reached my house and my neighbors' and began to pour in." On Wednesday, some children were seen taking alternative methods to get to school, navigating small boats through the city's still-flooded streets. "I left my house before the floods came, so I came here to set up camp," said 51-year-old shoemaker Mariano Medina, sitting under a tarp. Weather experts predict more storm clouds to roll in over the weekend due to the El Nino effect, caused by a warming of the Pacific Ocean and spurring extreme weather events across the Americas. "El Nino is already in effect," said Eduardo Mingo, head of Paraguay's meteorology institute. "We were waiting for it to show its face, and now we're seeing that it's hitting the south-southeast with these intense rains." The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday that El Nino will last until at least April 2024, raising temperatures in a year that is on track to be the warmest on record. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-nino-rains-wipe-out-paraguay-neighborhoods-with-more-come-2023-11-08/

2023-11-08 20:10

BRASILIA, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Brazilian officials said on Wednesday new legislation enacted by the European Union to ban the import of goods linked to deforestation was complicating negotiations of a trade deal with South America's Mercosur bloc. EU lawmakers approved the regulations in April requiring producers of soy, beef, coffee, wood and other commodities to provide proof their supply chain is free of deforestation. "We must not allow this legislation to disrupt a trade agreement between Mercosur and the 27 countries of the European Union," Brazil's Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said at a conference organized by soy processors' group Abiove. Even though the onus on complying with the new rules will be on the EU importers, Brazilian Foreign Trade Secretary Tatiana Prazeres said the commercial impact for exporters in increased costs and bureaucracy cannot be ignored in the trade talks. "You cannot offer in one hand what you are taking away with the other," she said at the conference. Prazeres added, however, that the EU-Mercosur negotiations are an opportunity to influence the implementation of the deforestation rules and to find ways to compensate with trade concessions that maintain a balance in market access. "They really don't like the deforestation directive but we are trying to reassure them that the implementation will take into account some of their concerns," a European diplomat said. Abiove says the soy sector complies with a moratorium on farming in deforested areas and Brazil already regulates deforestation under its forest code that allows some areas to be cleared. Farms in the Amazon have to conserve 80% of their forests. Both Prazeres and the Foreign Ministry's Economic and Finance Secretary Mauricio Lyrio said they expect to be able to announce the long-awaited conclusion to the trade negotiations with the EU at a Mercosur summit on Dec. 7. They reiterated the Brazilian government's position that the EU deforestation law is protectionist, arbitrary and incompatible with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Lyrio said they asked for more time to implement the deforestation regulations at a meeting in Brussels last week. Companies have until Jan. 1, 2025 to comply with the new law. Environment Minister Marina Silva said only 2% of farmers produce from illegally deforested land, and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government has cut the deforestation rate in the Amazon by 49.5% since taking office this year. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-says-eu-deforestation-rules-hamper-mercosur-trade-deal-negotiation-2023-11-08/

2023-11-08 19:57

HOUSTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - A fire at a rural chemical distribution plant northeast of Houston was extinguished by 4 p.m. CDT (2200 GMT), a county emergency services department said on Wednesday. For much of the day, county officials told residents within one mile of Sound Resource Solutions located 61 miles (99 km) northeast of Houston to shelter in homes and businesses as crews sprayed foam to extinguish burning chemicals contained in trucks and buildings at the plant in a rural area near Shepherd, Texas. Towns near the large black smoke plume rising from the fire also issued shelter-in-place orders for part of the day. Emmitt Eldridge, San Jacinto County emergency management coordinator, said the fire began after a worker operating a forklift noticed chemicals leaking from a container at the plant. "He then went to lift it up (using the forklift) and the worker then saw there was a fire," Eldridge said. Eldridge said did not know if the fire was already burning before the container was lifted. The forklift operator was injured in the fire and taken to a Houston hospital for treatment of burns, which were described as minor. "He's going to be home with his family this evening," said Geoff Harfield, owner of Sound Resource Solutions. Officials said about 19 people were working at the facility when the fire began shortly after 8 a.m. All had been accounted for. Sound Resource Solutions blends, packages and distributes oilfield and other industrial chemicals including sulfuric acid, acetone and petrochemicals like xylene and toluene, according to the company's website. U.S. Highway 59 was closed between Shepherd and Livingston, Texas because of the fire. Rural Texas communities have been frequent sites of chemical plant explosions and fires. In 2013, 15 people were killed and 160 injured in a fertilizer storage facility explosion in the town of West, Texas. Four towns in east Texas were evacuated when a TPC Group butadiene plant exploded in Port Neches, Texas in 2018. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/one-injured-rural-texas-chemical-plant-blaze-local-media-2023-11-08/