2024-05-12 05:04

PARIS, May 12 (Reuters) - German aviation firm Lilium and Swiss-based nickel refinery company KL1 will set up new sites in France representing a combined investment of 700 million euros ($753.83 million), French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday. Lilium will invest 400 million euros in a new factory that will create up to 850 new jobs. KL1's new site in Blanquefort, near Bordeaux, will amount to an investment of 300 million euros, creating 200 new jobs, Le Maire said. The precise site of the new Lilium plant, which will be a factory to help produce electric jet aircraft, is yet to be finalised although it will be in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region. The deals come as President Emmanuel Macron prepared to kick off the country's annual "Choose France" business summit, aimed at attracting foreign investments into the country. "Choose France brings in capital, Choose France brings in new technologies, Choose France helps us plug holes in gaps on certain value chains," said Le Maire. ($1 = 0.9286 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/german-aviation-company-lilium-swiss-firm-open-new-sites-france-2024-05-12/

2024-05-12 03:26

May 12 (Reuters) - An overnight drone attack launched from Ukraine sparked a brief fire at an oil refinery in the Volgograd region in southern Russia, the region's governor said on Sunday. "The fire was extinguished. There were no casualties,” Andrey Bocharov, the governor, said on the local administration's Telegram messaging channel. The Russian Telegram channel Baza, which is close to the security services, posted photos of flames rising into dark skies over what looked like an industrial building with a tall chimney. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from oil producer Lukoil (LKOH.MM) New Tab, opens new tab, which owns the refinery, or from Kyiv. Drone attacks on energy facilities inside Russia's territory have become more frequent in the past few months. Kyiv officials say that they conduct the attacks to undermine Russia's war effort and respond to Moscow's strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-launched-drone-sparks-fire-russias-volgograd-refinery-regional-governor-2024-05-12/

2024-05-12 02:06

WILDWOOD, New Jersey, May 11 (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attacked the Manhattan judge and prosecutor in his New York criminal trial, while hinting at a range of possible economic policies at a sizable rally in New Jersey on Saturday. Speaking before tens of thousands of supporters on a chilly beach on the Atlantic coastline, the former president disparaged District Attorney Alvin Bragg's appearance and dismissed the various state and federal charges he faces as a form of political persecution. "Fat Alvin, corrupt guy," said Trump, who is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election that he won. Trump also took aim at the trial judge, Justice Juan Merchan, accusing both men of working at the behest of President Joe Biden, his Democratic rival in this year's presidential rematch - an allegation for which there is no evidence. "They're doing the bidding for crooked Joe Biden. This is all being done by crooked Joe Biden." The New York case is one of four state and federal criminal trials Trump faces and may be the only one to be held before the Nov. 5 election. He has pleaded not guilty in all of them, portraying them as politically motivated. Trump was in the beachside town of Wildwood, New Jersey, a conservative part of an otherwise Democratic state. Though the former president told supporters he plans to win New Jersey, that is unlikely given that Biden beat the then-president in the state by 16 percentage points in 2020. But Wildwood is less than 90 minutes from Pennsylvania, one of the nation's most competitive states, and it is a popular weekend spot for residents of metropolitan Philadelphia. Trump referred frequently to Pennsylvania during the rally. He alluded to policies including a tax cut and fresh tariffs should he return to office. Recounting a conversation with an unnamed automotive executive who had built factories in Mexico, Trump said he had pledged a 200% tariff on some imported cars. It was not clear what countries would be affected by the tariff or if his recounting of the conversation amounted to a formal policy proposal. The Biden White House is itself poised to dramatically raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in the coming days. "I said, 'I will put a 200% tax on every car that comes in,'" Trump told the crowd. Trump also said he would halt offshore wind projects in New Jersey and pledged to implement a new tax cut, without offering details. Trump has come out in favor of extending a major tax cut that he signed to law in 2017, and Reuters reported in April that Trump was mulling an additional tax cut geared toward the middle class. "Instead of a Biden tax hike, I'll give you a Trump middle-class, upper-class, lower-class, business-class big tax cut," he said. Warming up the crowd was North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, a one-time rival in the Republican primary race. The governor has since become a top contender to be Trump's vice-presidential candidate, according to multiple people who have talked to the former president. Trump appeared to allude to Burgum taking a major administration role in his speech. "Get ready for something, OK?" Trump said, while discussing Burgum. "Just get ready." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-again-attacks-new-york-prosecutor-floats-economic-plans-new-jersey-rally-2024-05-12/

2024-05-11 19:52

MEXICO CITY, May 11 (Reuters) - The biggest geomagnetic storm in two decades, sparked by solar flares, caused dazzling lights displays in parts of Latin America overnight on Friday, including a rare appearance in Mexico. In Mexicali, a desert city on Mexico's northern border thousands of miles from the Arctic regions where the northern lights are common, gradients of pink and purple illuminated the night sky. The civil protection agency in Mexicali's state of Baja California said more auroras could be visible on Saturday evening. In Chile, where the lights are known as aurora australis, or southern lights, local media and social media users shared photos of the sky in the city of Punta Arenas painted with reds and magentas. Local media in Argentina reported similar hues illuminating the sky in the Patagonian city of Ushuaia. Geomagnetic storms are caused when explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun's corona are directed at Earth, where they can trigger such aurora displays, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The geomagnetic storm is likely to continue through the weekend, the agency said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/auroras-dazzle-latin-america-solar-storm-causes-rare-displays-2024-05-11/

2024-05-11 19:28

Baghdad, May 11 (Reuters) - Iraq's oil minister said on Saturday Iraq had made enough voluntary oil production reductions and would not agree to any additional cuts taken by OPEC+ at its next meeting early next month. Sources with the knowledge of the matter have told Reuters that OPEC+, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other non-OPEC producers, could extend some voluntary output cuts should demand fail to pick up. Asked by a reporter whether Iraq would agree to extend the OPEC+ voluntary cuts at the meeting scheduled for June 1, Hayan Abdul Ghani said: "Iraq has reduced (output) enough and will not agree to any new cut." It was not immediately clear if Abdul Ghani meant he opposed an extension of the voluntary cuts - a statement that would fly in the face of widespread expectations that cuts would be rolled over - or was simply against any additional cuts. He was speaking on the sidelines of an oil and gas licensing conference in Baghdad. Iraq has repeatedly said it is committed to voluntary cuts initially announced by OPEC+ in 2023 but pumped over its output quota by a cumulative 602,000 barrels per day in the first three months of 2024, OPEC+ said in a statement on Friday. The group said that Baghdad had agreed to compensate with additional production cuts over the rest of the year. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iraq-wont-agree-future-opec-oil-production-cuts-oil-minister-says-2024-05-11/

2024-05-11 16:53

MOSCOW, May 12 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed changing his defence minister and moving him to replace the powerful secretary of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, in a significant change to the Kremlin's pecking order. Following is the list of changes: * Prime Minister - Mikhail Mishustin * Secretary of the Security Council - Sergei Shoigu (formerly Nikolai Patrushev) * The Kremlin said Nikolai Patrushev will have a different job but did not say which. "Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev has been relieved of his post as Secretary of the Security Council in connection with the transfer to another job - he continues to work, and within the next few days we will inform you where Nikolai Platonovich will continue his activities," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. * Defence Minister - Andrei Belousov (formerly Sergei Shoigu) "The Ministry of Defense should be absolutely open to innovation, to the introduction of all advanced ideas," Peskov said. "Therefore, the president chose Belousov's candidacy." * Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov - to remain in his job, the Kremlin said. * FSB Director - Alexander Bortnikov * SVR Director - Sergei Naryshkin * Chief of Russia's national guard - Viktor Zolotov * Federal Guards Service (FCO) - Dmitry Kochnev * Foreign Minister - Sergei Lavrov * Interior Minister - Vladimir Kolokoltsev * First Deputy PM - Denis Manturov * Deputy PM overseeing energy and the economy - Alexander Novak * Deputy PM overseeing agriculture and ecology - Dmitry Patrushev * Deputy PM overseeing transport - Vitaly Savelyev * Agriculture Minister - Oksana Lut (was Dmitry Patrushev) * Finance Minister - Anton Siluanov * Economy Minister - Maxim Reshetnikov * Energy Minister - Sergei Tsivilev (was Nikolai Shulginov) * Trade and Industry Minister - Anton Alikhanov (was Denis Manturov) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/who-is-who-is-out-russian-government-2024-05-11/