2024-07-28 16:36

BEIRUT, July 28 (Reuters) - Lebanon's Middle East Airlines (MEA) said on Sunday it had delayed the departures of some incoming flights set to land in Beirut overnight to arrive on Monday morning instead. Israel vowed swift retaliation against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah after 12 children and teenagers were killed by a rocket in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday. Hezbollah denied responsibility. Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been trading fire for nearly 10 months in parallel with the Gaza War, which has spread to several fronts across the region. Previous exchanges of fire have disrupted flights across the region. MEA said in a statement that six flights incoming to Beirut overnight from London, Copenhagen and four other cities in the Middle East would be delayed so that they would instead take off on Monday morning. MEA chairman Mohamad El-Hout told local broadcaster Al-Jadeed that the flight changes at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport were due to "insurance risks". "We're not afraid that the airport will be hit, nor do we have any information in that regard. If we were scared, we wouldn't have left any flights (operating)," he said. Beirut airport was hit early in the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006. Passengers were still landing at the airport late on Sunday afternoon, according to a Reuters photographer. People were frantically checking indicator boards to see if more flights would be cancelled or delayed. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/lebanons-mea-delays-some-beirut-flight-arrivals-monday-morning-2024-07-28/

2024-07-28 14:56

TRIPOLI, July 28 (Reuters) - Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Sunday denied holding negotiations to supply crude oil to a refinery in Nigeria. A senior executive with Nigeria's Dangote refinery told Reuters last week that it was in talks with Libya to secure crude for the 650,000 barrels per day plant. "The National Oil Corporation denies that it is negotiating or engaging in any talks regarding the supply of crude oil to an oil refinery in Nigeria," NOC said in a statement on social media platform X. NOC added that it is committed to its contracts with its international partners and "adheres to the legal mechanism for selling Libyan crude oil and does not work with the spot sale mechanism". Libya's national crude oil output is 1.28 million barrels per day, according to NOC. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/libyas-noc-denies-it-is-talks-supply-crude-oil-nigeria-2024-07-28/

2024-07-28 12:45

CAIRO, July 28 (Reuters) - Yemenia Airways will resume commercial flights from Sanaa to Egypt and India, the Houthi-run Saba news agency said on Sunday, as part of a deal between opposing sides in Yemen's civil war. The service to Egypt will resume on Tuesday after a Sunday flight was cancelled. Flights to India were resuming on Sunday. Return flights to Cairo will operate once daily, while flights to India will run twice weekly. The resumption is part of an agreement between Yemen's warring parties, announced by the U.S. envoy for Yemen last week. Flights between Sanaa and Cairo had been halted since late 2016. A civil war erupted in Yemen in 2014 when Houthi militants seized Sanaa. The Houthis established control over much of the north and other large population centres, while the internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, based itself in the port city of Aden. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/yemenia-airways-resume-flights-cairo-india-yemens-sanaa-2024-07-28/

2024-07-28 10:42

KARACHI, July 28 (Reuters) - Pakistan has initiated talks on reprofiling its power sector debt to China, alongside talks on structural reforms suggested by the International Monetary Fund, Pakistan's finance minister told a press conference on Sunday. He said that Pakistan will address the reprofiling of Chinese credit to the power sector on a project-by-project basis and that Islamabad is looking to appoint a local advisor in China for the purpose. The finance minister stressed that it is reprofiling and not restructuring of debt because there is no question of cutting the amount it owes. Reprofiling is generally understood to involve an agreed lengthening of the time needed to repay. The countries, which share a border, have been longtime allies, and rollovers or disbursements on loans from China have helped Pakistan meet its external financing needs in the past. Pakistan is in talks with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and China in order to meet gross financing needs under the IMF programme for which Islamabad needs a board level approval. The IMF this month agreed on a $7 billion bailout for the heavily indebted South Asian economy, while raising concerns over high rates of power theft and distribution losses that result in debt accumulating across the production chain. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistan-initiated-talks-reprofiling-chinese-power-sector-debt-pakistan-2024-07-28/

2024-07-28 10:19

NEW DELHI, July 28 (Reuters) - UltraTech Cement (ULTC.NS) , opens new tab, India's number one cement maker, said its board on Sunday approved a $472 million deal to gain control of India Cements (ICMN.NS) , opens new tab, which will bolster its position in the country's southern states. The deal comes as the country's top cement makers vie to dominate a market that is expected to roughly double to $49 billion by 2029 from 2022 levels with an expected infrastructure spending boom under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. UltraTech, part of India's Aditya Birla group, will buy a 32.72% stake in India Cements from its promoters and their associates, adding to the 23% stake it bought in June. After the June stake sale, the promoters of India Cements offered to sell their holding to the Birla group company, UltraTech said in a statement. UltraTech will pay 39.54 billion rupees ($472.38 million) at 390 rupees per share for the 32.72% stake in India Cements, the statement said. The acquisition will trigger a so-called open offer requirement that allows UltraTech to buy more shares from public shareholders at the same price, which was a 4.3% premium to India Cement's last close. Markets had anticipated that UltraTech would take control of India Cements, a move that will help the Birla group meet its production target of 183.5 million metric tons by the fiscal year to March 2027, said Ashutosh Murarka, a research analyst at Mumbai-based Choice Broking. "We expect the deal momentum in India's south to continue," he said. ($1 = 83.70 rupees) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/ultratech-board-approves-deal-snare-control-india-cement-2024-07-28/

2024-07-28 07:49

PARIS, July 28 (Reuters) - The Olympics' triathlon swimming training session scheduled for Sunday has been cancelled after recent heavy rain in Paris affected pollution levels in the Seine, organisers said in a statement. A lot is riding on Olympic triathletes being cleared to swim in Paris' central waterway when the competition kicks off on Tuesday, with France investing 1.4 billion euros ($1.52 billion)in new wastewater infrastructure to cut sewage levels and make the river swimmable for residents as a key legacy of the Games. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the Seine on July 17 to try to convince doubters that the water will be clean enough for athletes to compete in the river, as they did during the 1900 Olympics. "We have had some rainfall but everything that has been put in place has worked, it prevents overflows from occurring so I think we will reach a satisfying quality of the water very soon, but it will depend on the weather forecast as well," Pierre Rabadan, the city's deputy mayor for sports, told a press conference on Sunday. Tests carried out in the Seine on Saturday "revealed water quality levels that in the view of the international federation, World Triathlon, did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held," organisers Paris 2024 said in a statement. "This is due to rain that has fallen on Paris on July 26-27." Organisers said that, given the forecast for sunshine and higher temperatures over the next 48 hours, they were "confident" water quality would improve again before the triathlon events begin on Tuesday with the men's race. World Triathlon meets with Paris city authorities at 4 a.m. each morning ahead of triathlon training or competition events to analyse the latest water test results and decide whether the Seine is clean enough for athletes to swim. The running and cycling course familiarisation sessions were going ahead as planned on Sunday. In May, the city unveiled a new 46,000 cubic metre storage basin meant to contain rainwater and waste water to reduce pollution levels in the river. ($1 = 0.9211 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sports/olympics/triathlon-swimming-training-session-cancelled-after-rain-lifts-pollution-levels-2024-07-28/