2024-08-04 11:37

KYIV, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit three African countries this week in an effort to drum up support for Kyiv's position in its war with Russia, his ministry said on Sunday. Kuleba, on his fourth diplomatic tour to Africa in the last two years, will visit Malawi, Zambia and Mauritius on Aug. 4-8, the ministry said in a statement. "All meetings will focus on the development of bilateral relations based on mutual respect and interests. Among the key topics will be the participation of African states in global efforts to restore a just peace for Ukraine and the world," it said. A number of African countries took part in a conference on Ukraine hosted by Switzerland in June but they have mostly been reluctant to join Western efforts to isolate Russia, an important supplier of energy and commodities. The ministry said Kuleba would also discuss during his tour the supply of Ukrainian grain to the region and the participation of African companies in the reconstruction of Ukraine. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-foreign-minister-heads-africa-win-support-war-against-russia-2024-08-04/

2024-08-04 10:52

CAIRO, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Egypt's net foreign assets (NFAs) stayed positive for a second straight month in June having been deeply negative for more than two years, central bank data showed. NFAs slid to 626.6 billion Egyptian pounds in June from 676.4 billion pounds as of end-May. This works out to $13.05 billion at end-June and $14.31 billion at end-May, according to Reuters calculations based on the official central bank currency rate at the time. Egypt has been using its NFAs, which include foreign assets at both the central bank and commercial banks, to help prop up its currency since at least September 2021. NFAs turned negative in February 2022. But in February this year the government boosted its finances by selling the development rights to Ras El Hekma on the Mediterranean coast for $35 billion and in March by signing an $8 billion financial support package with the International Monetary Fund. It also sharply devalued its currency, triggering a flood of portfolio investments and remittances from workers abroad. Foreign assets fell at commercial banks in June but rose at the central bank, while foreign liabilities rose at both commercial banks and the central bank. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/egypts-net-foreign-assets-positive-second-month-june-2024-08-04/

2024-08-04 08:14

MELBOURNE, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The International Seabed Authority (ISA) has elected Leticia Carvalho of Brazil as its next secretary general, as pressure mounts for a pause on efforts to mine the sea floor for minerals for use in the energy transition. Carvalho replaces two-term incumbent Michael Lodge, the ISA said in a statement on Friday. Her four-year term as head of the United Nations-mandated body that regulates sea-floor mining will start in 2025. The appointment of Carvalho, who formerly worked for Brazil's oil regulator, could trigger a change in approach at the ISA. Carvalho told The Guardian , opens new tab last month that rules governing deep-sea mining will take time and that no mining application should be approved before they are complete. Canada's The Metals Company (TMC) (TMC.O) , opens new tab has said it is seeking a licence by year-end to extract minerals from the ocean floor. MEETINGS The ISA last week finished a series of meetings in Kingston, Jamaica, where the 36 member council was drafting a mining code that would regulate the exploration and extraction of "polymetallic nodules" and other deposits on the ocean floor. Negotiators have been racing to ensure that formal rules are in place before mining activity begins. Those rules are not likely to be completed until next year. As many as 32 states have called for a pause on deep-sea mining, said the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, a group of non-governmental organisations that oppose deep-sea mining. "Many (states) are calling for a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-sea mining until we have the science needed to inform a robust evidence-based regulatory framework that protects ocean ecosystems from harm," said Julian Jackson, seabed mining project director at The Pew Charitable Trusts. The rush to complete the mining code was triggered by the Pacific island state of Nauru saying it would submit a mining licence application on behalf of TMC, which triggered the so-called "two-year rule" in 2021. That rule allows mining applications to be submitted within two years, whether the mining code has been finalised or not. Environmental groups have called for all seabed activity to be banned, arguing that industrial operations on the ocean floor could cause irreversible biodiversity loss. TMC has said extracting nodules from the ocean floor is far less damaging than terrestrial mining and will boost supply of elements such as nickel and cobalt that are widely considered vital for the global energy transition. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/sea-bed-regulator-elects-secretary-general-calls-grow-pause-deep-sea-mining-2024-08-04/

2024-08-04 06:26

Aug 4 (Reuters) - Debby muscled up into a full-fledged hurricane late Sunday and took aim at making landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida's Gulf Coast by midday on Monday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, warning of life-threatening storm surges. By 11 p.m. ET (0300 GMT) on Sunday, it had sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h) and was expected continue to strengthen overnight. The hurricane center forecast life-threatening conditions, including storm surges up to 10 feet (3 meters) in some areas. As it slowly moved north through the week, the storm may bring "potentially historic rainfall" of between 10 and 20 inches (25 and 50 cm) and catastrophic flooding to Georgia and South Carolina, it said. Local areas could receive 30 inches of rain by Friday morning. "This is going to be the story of this storm," said Jamie Rhome, the deputy director of the hurricane center. "It's slow motion is going to dump historic amounts of rainfall - potentially over 20 inches. You're talking about catastrophic flooding." The storm bears some of the hallmarks of Hurricane Harvey, which slammed into Corpus Christi, Texas, in August 2017. While downgraded into a tropical storm as it moved inland, it lingered over the state, dumping about 50 inches of rain on Houston. Harvey is rated as one of the wettest storms in U.S. history, causing more than 100 deaths and $125 billion in damage, primarily from flooding in the Houston metropolitan area. Rhome said Debby was fueled by exceptionally warm Gulf waters. Climate scientists believe man-made global warming from burning fossil fuels has raised the temperature of the oceans, making storms bigger and more devastating. Preparing for Debby, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called up 3,000 National Guard troops and placed most of the state's cities and counties under emergency orders, while mandatory evacuations were ordered in parts of the Gulf Coast counties of Citrus, Dixie, Franklin, Levy and Wakulla. DeSantis said there were more than 17,000 linemen and other electric workers ready to restore power. The governors of Georgia and South Carolina also declared states of emergency ahead of the storm. HEAVY RAIN Debby became a tropical storm late on Saturday. As of 11 p.m. ET, the hurricane was about 100 miles west of Tampa and moving toward the Gulf Coast at 12 mph (19 km/h), with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h), the NHC said. The eye of Debby would move across the eastern Gulf of Mexico and reach the Florida Big Bend coast by midday on Monday, the hurricane center added. Debby was then expected to move slowly across northern Florida and southern Georgia on Monday and Tuesday, it said. The storm is expected to lose some strength after landfall but bring heavy rain as it crosses central Florida out to the Atlantic coast, before crawling up to Savannah, Georgia, and then onward to Charleston, South Carolina, this week, lingering while dumping catastrophic amounts of precipitation. Storm surges forecast for Bonita Beach northward to Tampa Bay could send sea waves further inland than normal, damaging structures and endangering anyone in their path. The last hurricane to make a direct hit on the Big Bend region was Hurricane Idalia, which briefly gained Category 4 strength before making landfall as a Category 3 in August 2023, with winds of more than 125 mph. The National Centers for Environmental Information estimates there were $3.5 billion in damages. Forecasters expect a large number of Atlantic hurricanes in the 2024 season, which began on June 1, with four to seven seen as major. That exceeds the record-breaking 2005 season that spawned the devastating Katrina and Rita hurricanes. Only one hurricane, Beryl, has yet formed in the Atlantic this year. The earliest Category 5 storm on record, it struck the Caribbean and Mexico's Yucatan peninsula before rolling up the Gulf Coast of Texas as a Category 1 storm, with sustained winds up to 95 mph. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/life-threatening-tropical-storm-debby-takes-aim-floridas-gulf-coast-2024-08-04/

2024-08-03 22:51

Firefighters face 100 F-degree heat and strong winds, complicating containment efforts Arson suspect charged, held without bail for starting Park Fire Over 4,000 evacuated, some returning home as containment reaches 27% Aug 3 (Reuters) - More than 6,000 firefighters in California's Central Valley continued to battle the largest blaze in the U.S. on Saturday, which burned its way into the history books as the state's fourth-largest conflagration on record. There was barely a taste of rain on Saturday from thunderstorms that brought wind and rainfall of zero to one-tenth of an inch, forecasters said. The heat of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) along with winds up to 25 mph or more in some spots, offered little relief to the firefighters trying to contain the Park Fire, scorching the wilderness terrain some 100 miles (161 km) north of Sacramento, the state capital. "We had some thunderstorms that just brought us down-drafts, that's a problem," said Christopher Young, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. "Lightning is a factor we worry about." Blazes from the Park Fire, started by an alleged arsonist who pushed a flaming car down a 60-foot gully near Chico, California, on July 24, has since burned more than 400,000 acres (162,200 hectares) or more than 600 square miles, an area larger than the city of Los Angeles. The 42-year-old man arrested had not entered a plea as of Saturday, but was charged with arson and held without bail, officials said. More than 560 homes and other structures were destroyed since the blaze started 11 days ago, feeding off of downed timber and tinder-dry grass and brush. The fire was 27% contained on Saturday, officials said. More than 4,000 people were evacuated in the Park Fire including retiree Jim Young, 65, of Red Bluff, California, where he lived in a trailer home with his dog, a black Labrador Retriever named Sparky. He and the dog spent the last eight days camped out with some other families in a gravel lot at a wilderness trailhead about 6 miles from his home, worrying every day if it was safe. "We just found out we can go home," Young told Reuters on Saturday evening. "Our property is safe. So many lost everything. But me and Sparky can go home now." The rough, wilderness terrain means it takes two to three hours to reach the fire lines, officials said. Some firefighters are being flown to the front lines by helicopters, with some expected to stay there for days with supplies also flown in. The national wildfire season has had an intense start, raising the risk of stretching firefighting resources too thin. The National Interagency Fire Center has already requested help from firefighters in Australia and New Zealand, who will arrive starting Aug. 7 and deploy to Oregon and Washington. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/california-wildfire-now-fourth-largest-state-history-hot-weather-offers-no-2024-08-03/

2024-08-03 22:25

TORONTO, Aug 3 (Reuters) - British Columbia is on alert for flooding along the banks of the Chilcotin River after a landslide created a large natural dam and triggered evacuation orders in the remote region in Canada's Pacific coast province, authorities said on Saturday. B.C.'s Minister of Emergency Management Bowinn Ma in an update said that in the worst case scenario, flows in the Chilcotin river were expected to be well above peak spring levels, while it would likely be lower than normal freshet season along Fraser river. "Ultimately, this is an encouraging development for communities downstream, but we nevertheless continue to coordinate closely with communities along the rivers to ensure that we're prepared to protect people from potential flooding," Ma said. The region has been under watch since Wednesday after a landslide blocked the river in British Columbia's Cariboo region, creating worries about potential flooding as the water could surge through. Late Friday, the B.C. government issued an emergency alert to evacuate anywhere on the Chilcotin River or along its banks from the Hanceville Bridge to the Fraser River. The landslide is a kilometre in length, 800 metres in width, 30 metres in height and the water level behind the landslide was rising 22 centimetres per hour, the BC government said. The landslide could also impact wild salmon and other fish species that typically begin their migration starting in summer and early fall. "While we know that there will be impacts on fish from this event, our early assessment is that the majority of the Chinook run is already past the landslide area," B.C. minister Nathan Cullen said. He added that they would have four to seven days to plan for returning sockeye salmon as they work their way up the Fraser river. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/british-columbia-flood-alert-along-river-blocked-by-landslide-2024-08-03/