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"I am convinced that both Ukraine and Russia are waiting for someone else to say, 'Let's sit down and talk,'" Lula told journalists last week. Lula has suggested a peace solution could be the return of newly invaded territory, though not Crimea - an option that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected outright. For his initiative to advance, Lula needs China to send a message to Russia, said a European diplomat in Brasilia. Some 20 agreements to be signed include creation of a sixth satellite in a joint program started in 1988, which will be used for monitoring the Amazon, Brazil's foreign ministry said. China overtook the United States as Brazil's top trading partner in 2009 and is a major market for Brazilian soybeans, iron ore and oil.

☆ Ukraine's Zelenskiy heads to Poland to deepen ties with key Western ally
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Kacper PempelKYIV, April 5 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected shortly in neighbouring Poland, a close ally that has played a big role in galvanising Western military and political support for Kyiv against Russia's full-scale invasion. Poland has taken in more than a million Ukrainian refugees over the past 13 months of war. The NATO member has also played an important role in persuading other Western powers to supply battle tanks and other weaponry to Ukraine. Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Tuesday that Kyiv was grateful to Poland for clearing the way for deliveries of MiG fighter jets. "During talks with President Zelenskiy, we will certainly discuss Ukrainian grain and various agricultural products, because we want any trade with Ukraine not to destabilise our market," Morawiecki said.

LAUNCESTON, Australia, March 27 (Reuters) - The Australian natural gas sector believes it has the solution to warnings of a shortfall in domestic supplies in coming years. But a recent report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AMEO) warned the domestic market may have insufficient supplies from this year out to 2025. The second is that if the LNG producers are forced by legislation to satisfy the domestic market first, they risk undermining Australia's reputation in Asia as one of the most reliable suppliers of energy. There is also a time factor, with it likely to take far longer to explore, develop and build the infrastructure than is available to avoid shortfalls in the domestic market. The first is to risk Australia's reputation as an energy supplier and future investment by forcing the LNG producers to supply the domestic market and curtail exports.

☆ Germany reports another African swine fever case in farm pigs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HAMBURG, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Another case of African swine fever (ASF) has been confirmed in farm pigs in east Germany, authorities said on Tuesday. It was reported on a small farm with 11 animals in the eastern state of Brandenburg, the state's health ministry said. Wild boar coming into Germany from Poland were believed to have spread the disease to Germany, especially in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony. The German government has been seeking to contain and eradicate ASF in the east partly by reducing the wild boar population. But the country’s large numbers of wild boar, which move over great distances, has made containment difficult.

☆ S.O.S for the U.S. Electric Grid
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The warnings keep coming that the force-fed energy transition to renewable fuels is destabilizing the U.S. electric grid, but is anyone in government paying attention? Another S.O.S. came Friday in an ominous report from PJM Interconnection, one of the nation’s largest grid operators. The PJM report forecasts power supply and demand through 2030 across the 13 eastern states in its territory covering 65 million people. Its top-line conclusion: Fossil-fuel power plants are retiring much faster than renewable sources are getting developed, which could lead to energy “imbalances.” That’s a delicate way of saying that you can expect shortages and blackouts.

Coking coal prices, along with those for iron ore, have rallied on the back of this optimism, with both steel raw materials recording strong gains this year. The answer is that for coking coal there appears to be both rising demand and some supply disruptions at work. Japan, the second-biggest buyer of seaborne coking coal, imported 5.01 million tonnes in January, up from December's 3.98 million and roughly level with last January's 5.08 million. Outside of Asia, Europe's imports of coking coal rose to 3.81 million tonnes in January from December's 3.55 million, according to Kpler. The overall picture from coking coal imports is that there has been a move higher in recent months, which does provide some fundamental backing to the rally in prices.

☆ Mexico’s state oil company illegally flared more than $342 million worth of hydrocarbons
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

A view shows part of the state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) refinery in Salamanca. Mexican state oil company Pemex illegally burnt off hydrocarbon resources worth more than $342 million in the three years up to August 2022 at two of its most important new fields, internal documents from the country's oil regulator showed. Burning off gas and condensate - a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons similar to a very light crude oil - has also resulted in extensive environmental damage. There, the documents show Pemex burnt off some 62.9 billion cubic feet of gas and 310,000 barrels of condensate. Missing InfrastructurePemex produced 201.2 billion cubic feet of gas and 24.3 million barrels of condensate from Ixachi.

☆ Exclusive: Mexico's Pemex destroyed resources worth $342 million from two top fields
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Stefanie Eschenbacher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The three documents, produced by the regulator and dated August 2022, detail how Pemex (PEMX.UL) destroyed resources worth $275 million from the Ixachi field in three years and $67 million from the Quesqui field in two years. There, the documents show Pemex burnt off some 62.9 billion cubic feet of gas and 310,000 barrels of condensate. MISSING INFRASTRUCTUREPemex produced 201.2 billion cubic feet of gas and 24.3 million barrels of condensate from Ixachi. The documents also show that 77.6% of the investment into the field Pemex had pledged in its development plan - totaling $2.9 billion - were not made. The fields were meant to receive more resources so Pemex can start exploration and production earlier and faster and make up for declining production from ageing fields elsewhere.

☆ Why Egypt is asking its people to eat chicken feet
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

Abu Dhabi CNN —Egypt’s economic situation is so dire that the government is asking people to eat chicken feet. In Egypt, chicken feet are seen as the cheapest of meat items, considered by most as animal waste rather than food. After the recommendation to switch to chicken feet, the price of one kilogram of the product reportedly doubled to 20 Egyptian pounds ($0.67). But those firms don’t operate like private companies, enjoying special privileges without disclosing their financial data to the public. Experts have questioned why international creditors had not leveraged their loans to drive Egypt’s military out of the economy.

☆ Aiming to cut emissions, New York to collect over $1 billion with big polluter permits
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 10 (Reuters) - New York will implement a program that sets an annual cap on pollution throughout its economy to lower emissions while aiming to bring in more than $1 billion a year, Governor Kathy Hochul said as part of her 2023 State of the State address on Tuesday. "Big emitters will have to purchase permits to sell polluting fuels. New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a campaign rally with other New York Democrats, in Yonkers, New York, U.S., November 6, 2022. New York is among the 12 northeastern states participating in a cap-and-invest style program, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, since 2005, which has helped halve power plant emissions and raised nearly $6 billion, it said. Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Delhi fog delays flights, cold wave closes schools
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

"Due to dense fog, flight operations at Delhi Airport may get affected," it said on Twitter. It also said power lines could trip in areas with dense fog. Many private schools were to reopen on Monday. The lowest for Sunday was 3.8 degrees Celsius, which the IMD said was 3 degrees below normal for this time of year. A cold wave is declared in the plains of India when the minimum temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius or falls 4.5 degrees below normal to 10 degrees Celsius or below.

☆ New York prepares for possible flooding from snowmelt while the West girds for heavy rain and snow
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Julianne Mcshane | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Kathryn-Prociv.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Kathy Hochul on Wednesday directed state agencies to prepare to respond to flooding caused by the snowmelt. And the Buffalo Airport — where nearly 52 inches of snow fell during the storm, according to the weather service — reopened Wednesday. Moderate to heavy snow could also fall across northern Nevada by Friday night, the agency said. On New Year’s Eve, heavy rain will fall in the Southeast up to the Ohio Valley during the day and the mid-Atlantic into the Northeast during the evening, while the West will face a flood risk and continued heavy mountain snow. On New Year's Day, lingering rain showers are expected in New England, above-average temperatures are set for the South and rain and snow are expected in the Southwest.

☆ Michael Farr: These are 2023's top stock picks for what could be a rocky year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Michael K. Farr | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +17 min

Regarding the cloud, AMZN's Web Services business is the market leader in cloud infrastructure services. Moreover, the scale of AMZN's web services business provides many cost advantages as very few companies can compete with AMZN's investment spend and first-mover advantage. Over the long term, we would expect MDLZ to generate double-digit total returns, consisting of high-single digit EPS growth and the 2.3% dividend. There is a long runway remaining for cloud growth as companies slowly deal with legacy investments that still drive value but are not cloud-based. Management remains committed to its goal of high single-digit EPS growth in 2023, followed by sustained double-digit growth in 2024 and beyond.

☆ Oil rises after Russia says it could cut output due to price cap
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Oil prices rose by $2 per barrel on Friday after Moscow said it could cut crude output in response to the G7 price cap on Russian exports, putting the market on track for a second week of gains. Russia may cut oil output by 5%-7% in early 2023 as it responds to price caps, the RIA news agency cited Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Friday. "Crude prices are higher as energy traders focus on Moscow's response to the price cap put on Russian oil and not so much the thousands of flight cancellations that will disrupt holiday travel," OANDA analyst Edward Moya said. On Thursday, benchmark oil prices fell as flights were scrapped. "As U.S. crude oil inventories fall and winter storms hit the U.S., cold temperatures are expected to extend southward to Texas, Florida, and the Eastern states.

☆ Oil rallies on tight U.S. stocks as winter blast hits
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Sonali Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MELBOURNE, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose for a fourth straight day on Thursday with U.S. crude, heating oil and jet fuel stocks seen tight just as a chilly blast hits the United States and travel is set to soar for the holiday season. At the same time there was a decline in distillate stocks, which include heating oil and jet fuel, which defied expectations for a build. Jet fuel consumption is also expected to pick up with a post-COVID boom in travel for the end-of-year holiday season. "On our numbers...the crude market is finely balanced," said National Australia Bank's head of commodity research Baden Moore. A softer U.S. dollar has also buoyed oil prices, as crude becomes cheaper for buyers holding other currencies.

Of this amount, hydrogen projects accounted for A$266 billion of potential investment, the largest single contributor to the total. The total of proposed hydrogen and new energy projects is pegged at about A$308 billion in 2022, up about A$100 billion from the end of 2021. Australia's traditional powerhouse commodity exports of iron ore, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal are still attracting significant investment interest. In contrast, oil and gas projects at the committed stage total A$46 billion, while five ventures worth A$2.4 billion were completed in the period under review. Coal projects worth A$7.6 billion were at the committed stage and three ventures worth A$2.5 billion were finished in the year to Oct. 31.

☆ Germany ups reliance on Huawei for 5G despite security fears -survey
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Sarah Marsh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Many European countries have banned Chinese companies from all or part of their 5G networks on security grounds, amid intense diplomatic pressure from the United States. Germany, home to operators like Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE) and O2 (O2Dn.DE), passed an IT security law two years ago setting high hurdles for makers of telecommunications equipment for the "critical components" of 5G networks. The German network agency referred Reuters to regulation that shows differentiated treatment for core and RAN components. The information security office did not reply to a request for comment on whether the high share of Chinese components could pose a security threat. A strategy paper by Germany's Greens-run economy ministry has recommended increased scrutiny of components from authoritarian states in critical infrastructure.

☆ Cities across the Southeast and Texas will be the hottest places for homebuyers in 2023, the National Association of Realtors predicts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Atlanta, Raleigh, and Dallas are expected to be the top-3 real-estate markets in 2023, NAR researchers predicts. These markets have renters who can afford to buy homes and experienced strong job growth over the last year. In addition to Atlanta, NAR researchers notes in the report that Raleigh and Dallas have also become two of the country's fastest-growing employment hubs. This is one reason why Yun predicts that existing home sales will dip to 4.78 million next year from 5.13 million in 2022. Meanwhile, Yun predicts that mortgage rates will settle around 5.7% in 2023, which is still almost double the rate that homebuyers were able to get before the pandemic began.

The centre-left federal government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has played its cards, announcing on Dec. 9 plans to legislate a year-long price cap for wholesale natural gas and thermal coal in the country's populous eastern states. Australia vies with Qatar and the United States for the title of the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and is the second-biggest shipper of thermal coal after Indonesia. Australia still generates about 50% of its electricity from thermal coal, although this share is shrinking rapidly as the country installs renewables such as solar, wind and battery storage. The ruling Labor Party's plans call for a price cap of A$12 ($8.15) per gigajoule (GJ) for gas and A$125 a tonne for thermal coal, with the government saying it will support any coal miner whose costs exceed the price cap. The gas industry probably would have been better served by asking some more relevant questions, such as whether a price cap is the best method of delivering relief to consumers.

☆ California Long Ruled U.S. Shipping. Importers Are Drifting East.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Paul Berger | Photographs David Walter Banks For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +13 min

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is moving more merchandise through New York and New Jersey to avoid West Coast bottlenecks. It trailed its East Coast rival again in that measure during September and October, according to the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and ports data. ”There are so many customers that got so screwed because they were entirely reliant on L.A. and Long Beach.”The logistical challenges of spreading imports along the East Coast and the Gulf Coast are massive. The shift in trade to the East Coast marks a return to where container ships originated. Then the U.S. began importing more goods from Europe, making an Atlantic Ocean crossing to various East Coast ports more critical.

"Oh FFS (for fuck's sake)," former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves said on Twitter, encapsulating the general feeling among many of France's eastern allies. The annoyance among eastern allies has undermined Macron's own policy agenda to beef up European "strategic autonomy" separate from the U.S.-led NATO umbrella, with eastern allies now trusting the United States more for their defence. An eastern European diplomat said Macron had "misread" Russia once and the fear was he would do so again. The backbone of Macron's foreign policy since 2017 has been to launch initiatives and go against the grain. However, an increasing number of critics and allies see his thrust on Russia as his major foreign policy mistake.

☆ Nigeria military ran secret mass abortion program in war on Boko Haram
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Reuters Graphic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

The existence of the army-run abortion programme hasn’t been previously reported. The conflict zone The abortion programme has taken place in the northeastern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, where the Nigerian military has been fighting Islamist insurgents. A spokesperson for Jonathan told Reuters that the former president had “no knowledge of any allegation of such heinous acts” by the Nigerian Army. Some of the most powerful military leaders in Nigeria oversaw counterinsurgency operations in the northeast as the abortion programme grew. Waging war on Boko Haram The abortion programme began during the presidency of Jonathan.

☆ Ivy Zelman, who famously predicted the 2008 housing crash, says that home prices could drop 20% from their current values if the economy doesn't improve
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Fed's fight against inflation has led to high mortgage interest rates, cooling housing demands. As demand falls, Ivy Zelman, a real-estate anaylist, said national home prices could fall by 20%. As long as mortgage rates remain elevated, Zelman said housing demand will continue to shrink — ultimately resulting in even steeper price cuts from sellers. This latest slide in rates is just 0.59% below the two-decade high that the rate hit just three weeks earlier. But as Zelman herself suggested, if the Fed continues with further rate hikes and mortgage rates remain elevated in 2023, this will become the likely culprit to a protracted housing slump.

☆ Home prices are falling at the fastest rate in 15 years. 7 real estate analysts and economists break down how bad they think it's going to get.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

As demand fades in the housing market, price cuts have become widespread. However, despite more sellers cutting asking prices, home prices have still increased by 10.6% year-over-year. On an annual basis, Fannie Mae says house price growth will turn negative beginning in the second-quarter of 2023. According to Freddie Mac's Sam Khater, house price growth will average 6.7% in 2022 and then decline by 0.2% in 2023. With inventory levels at all-time lows, he believes supply and demand dynamics will give way to significant price declines nationwide.

☆ Malaysia's new prime minister Anwar Ibrahim vows to unify the country and fight corruption
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Su-Lin Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

watch nowNew prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has pledged to make "Malaysia for all Malaysians," fight corruption and reiterated that he won't be taking a salary as Malaysians battle rising costs of living. International relationsCongratulations poured in from leaders from all over the world including Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim takes his first press conference after being appointed prime minister. Perikatan Nasional won 73 seats and was runner-up to Anwar's Pakatan Harapan which won 82 seats. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim swron in by Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah on Thursday Mohd Rasfan | Afp | Getty Images

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