2024-05-19 05:57

DUBAI, May 19 (Reuters) - Saudi King Salman will undergo a treatment programme at Al Salam Palace in Jeddah for a lung inflammation, the state news agency said on Sunday, hours after he underwent medical tests. Citing the royal court, the state news agency said the 88-year-old king would be treated with antibiotics until the inflammation subsides. Earlier on Sunday, King Salman underwent medical tests at the royal clinics at Al Salam Palace due to "high temperature and joint pain", the state news agency said. The king was last admitted to hospital in April for a routine checkup, state TV reported then. King Salman, the custodian of Islam's holiest sites, became ruler of the world's top oil exporter in 2015 after spending more than 2-1/2 years as the crown prince and deputy premier. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-king-undergo-tests-due-high-fever-state-news-agency-says-2024-05-19/

2024-05-19 04:06

BEIJING, May 19 (Reuters) - China's commerce ministry on Sunday launched an anti-dumping probe into POM copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, imported from the European Union, United States, Japan and Taiwan. The plastics can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc and have various applications including in auto parts, electronics, and medical equipment, the ministry said in a statement. The investigation should be completed in a year but could be extended for six months, it said. The European Commission, which oversee EU trade policy, said it would carefully study the contents of the investigation before deciding on any next steps. "We expect China to ensure that this investigation is fully in line with all relevant WTO (World Trade Organization) rules and obligations," a spokesperson said. China's plastics probe comes amid a broader trade row with the United States and Europe. The United States on Tuesday unveiled steep tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), computer chips, medical products and other imports. On Friday, the European Union launched a trade investigation into Chinese tinplate steel, the latest in a string of EU trade and subsidy probes into Chinese exports. Most notably, the European Commission launched a probe last September to decide whether to impose punitive tariffs on cheaper Chinese EVs that it suspects of benefiting from state subsidies. Beijing argues the recent focus by the United States and Europe on the risks to other economies from China's excess capacity is misguided. Chinese officials say the criticism understates innovation by Chinese companies in key industries and overstates the importance of state support in driving their growth. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/china-launches-anti-dumping-probe-into-eu-us-japan-taiwan-chemicals-2024-05-19/

2024-05-19 02:41

JAKARTA, May 19 (Reuters) - A volcano on the remote Indonesian island of Halmahera has spectacularly erupted, spewing a grey ash cloud into the sky, and people from seven nearby villages have been evacuated, authorities said on Sunday. Mt. Ibu erupted on Saturday evening, sending ash 4 km (2.5 miles) high, as streaks of purple lightning flashed around its crater, according to information and images shared by Indonesia's volcanology agency. A joint team comprised of police, military and search and rescue officials was dispatched to the area to evacuate residents from surrounding villages, Abdul Muhari, from the disaster mitigation agency, said in a statement. Photos shared by the disaster agency showed authorities assisting the elderly, while other residents were moved in pick-up trucks and accommodated in emergency tents for the night. The agency did not provide any information about how many people had been moved, but authorities have recommended that a seven-km (4.35-mile) radius be cleared. Indonesia's volcanology agency raised the alert level of the volcano to the highest level on Thursday, after Ibu erupted multiple times earlier this month. Ibu's activities follow a series of eruptions of different volcanoes in Indonesia, which sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and has 127 active volcanoes. Flash floods and cold lava flow from Mount Marapi, one of the most active in West Sumatra province, covered several nearby districts following torrential rain on May 11, killing more than 60 people. In recent weeks, North Sulawesi's Ruang volcano has also erupted, spewing incandescent lava. The eruption prompted authorities to evacuate more than 12,000 people on a nearby island. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/eruption-indonesias-mt-ibu-forces-seven-villages-evacuate-2024-05-19/

2024-05-18 17:39

TORONTO, May 18 (Reuters) - Residents of the Canadian oil town threatened by an out-of-control wildfire can return home, authorities said Saturday, even as they warned the community will have to contend with the blaze for the foreseeable future. Thousands of residents of Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta, had been ordered to leave their homes earlier this month. But favourable weather made a return home possible. "With the current and forecast weather conditions, specifically the amount of rain that has fallen on the fire, combined with continued fire suppression and community protection efforts, I am pleased to announce it is now safe for us to end the current evacuation and allow people to return to their homes," said Sandy Bowman, mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo that includes Fort McMurray. "We thank all of you for your patience, resolve and strength." Fort McMurray is the hub for most of Canada's oil output. An early start to wildfire season a year after a historically fiery 2023 left some recollecting a devastating 2016 fire dubbed "The Beast" that forced the evacuation of 90,000 residents, burned down 2,400 buildings and idled more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of production. But while conditions are now favourable and the community is not presently under threat, authorities warned they were not yet out of the woods. The fire "is not yet under control," said Alberta Wildfire information office Josee St-Onge. Fire behaviour will likely increase when sunshine and warm weather return, she added. "While it is safe for evacuees to return, residents will have to live with an active wildfire near their community for weeks if not months. Bringing a wildfire of this size under control will take time and hard work." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/residents-canadian-oil-town-menaced-by-wildfire-can-return-home-2024-05-18/

2024-05-18 14:30

May 18 (Reuters) - Thousands of people in the Houston area faced sweltering heat without power on Saturday following severe storms that claimed at least seven lives, according to local media and the National Weather Service. The NWS predicted temperatures around 90 degrees (32.2 C) and warned residents in a post on the X social media platform of the threat of heat stroke, saying "Don't overdo yourself" as they continued cleaning up from Thursday night's storms. Storms packing winds of up to 100 mph (161 kph) tore through the region, damaging homes and buildings, felling power lines and leaving more than 800,000 people without electricity, according to local media. A tornado touched down near the suburb of Cypress, shattering trees and windows and strewing debris, local media said. As of Saturday morning, more than 500,000 people in the region still were without power, according to PowerOutage.us, a website New Tab, opens new tab that aggregates electricity outage data from utilities across the United States. President Joe Biden on Friday issued New Tab, opens new tab a major disaster declaration for seven Texas counties, making residents and businesses eligible for federal assistance. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/houston-area-grapples-with-heat-power-cuts-after-major-storms-2024-05-18/

2024-05-18 13:00

BUCHAREST, May 18 (Reuters) - Romanian rescue teams were searching on Saturday for three missing crew members of a cargo ship that sank off the Black Sea coast, the naval authority said. Officials said they were notified very early on Saturday that the Tanzania-flagged Mohammad Z had sunk 26 nautical miles away from Romania's Danube village of Sfantu Gheorghe. The naval authority's Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), border police and two commercial vessels in the ship's vicinity were involved in the search and rescue efforts. Mohammad Z had eleven crew members on board, nine Syrian citizens and two Egyptians. "Eight of them were rescued by the commercial vessel Michel, which was nearest to the accident place, under the coordination of MRCC," the naval authority said in a statement. "At present efforts are continuing to find the other missing three crew members, all of Syrian nationality." The authority said it was unclear why the ship had sunk. The Black Sea is crucial for shipments of grain, oil and oil products and is shared by Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Turkey, as well as Ukraine and Russia. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, mines have begun drifting into the Black Sea, with Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish military diving teams defusing those that have drifted into their waters. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/romania-searching-three-missing-crew-after-ship-sinks-black-sea-2024-05-18/