2025-09-01 07:41
Rescuers comb rubble of homes in remote mountainous area Helicopters ferry the injured to hospital Midnight quake hit at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) KABUL, Sept 1 (Reuters) - More than 600 people were killed and over 1,500 injured in one of Afghanistan's worst earthquakes, authorities said on Monday, as helicopters ferried the wounded to hospital after they were plucked from rubble being combed for survivors. The disaster will further stretch the resources of the South Asian nation already grappling with humanitarian crises, from a sharp drop in aid to a huge pushback of its citizens from neighbouring countries. Sign up here. The quake of magnitude 6 killed at least 622 people in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, the Taliban-run Afghan interior ministry said, with more than 1,500 injured and numerous houses destroyed. "All our ... teams have been mobilised to accelerate assistance, so that comprehensive and full support can be provided," ministry spokesperson Abdul Maten Qanee told Reuters, citing efforts in areas from security to food and health. In Kabul, the capital, health authorities said rescuers were racing to reach remote hamlets dotting an area with a long history of earthquakes and floods. The earthquake was Afghanistan's deadliest since June 2022, when tremors of magnitude 6.1 killed at least 1,000 people. Images from Reuters Television showed helicopters ferrying out the affected, while residents helped soldiers and medics carry the wounded to ambulances. The quake razed three villages in Kunar, with substantial damage in many others, authorities said. At least 610 people were killed in Kunar with 12 dead in Nangarhar, they added. Rescuers were scrambling to find survivors in the area bordering Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, where homes of mud and stone were levelled by the midnight quake that hit at a depth of 10 km (6 miles). Military rescue teams fanned out across the two provinces, the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that 40 flights had carried out 420 wounded and dead. "So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work," a foreign office spokesperson said. Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. A series of earthquakes in its west killed more than 1,000 people last year, underscoring the vulnerability of one of the world's poorest countries to natural disasters. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-earthquake-magnitude-6-kills-622-injures-over-1500-2025-09-01/
2025-09-01 07:38
NEW DELHI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - India's top court on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the government's move to roll out 20% ethanol-blended fuel across the country. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/indias-top-court-dismisses-petition-challenging-move-ethanol-blended-fuel-2025-09-01/
2025-09-01 07:18
MUMBAI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee fell to a record low on Monday, reflecting the cumulative impact of elevated hedging by importers and increased short positions by market participants in response to higher U.S. tariffs. The rupee dropped to 88.33 against the U.S. dollar on Monday, breaching Friday’s all time low of 88.3075. Analysts said the move was an extension of the pressure seen late last week. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-rupee-slides-all-time-low-surge-hedging-speculative-bets-2025-09-01/
2025-09-01 07:17
PARIS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Steps by U.S. President Donald Trump to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell or Fed governor Lisa Cook would represent a "very serious danger for the U.S. economy and the world economy", said European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Monday. Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed's chair, Jerome Powell, for not cutting the short-term interest rate and threatened to fire him. Trump is also attempting to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Sign up here. "If U.S. monetary policy were no longer independent and instead dependent on the dictates of this or that person, then I believe that the effect on the balance of the American economy could, as a result of the effects this would have around the world, be very worrying, because it is the largest economy in the world," Lagarde told Radio Classique. Lagarde also told Radio Classique that a ruling on Friday by a U.S. appeals court that most of Donald Trump's tariffs were illegal were adding a "further layer of uncertainty" to the global economic outlook. https://www.reuters.com/business/ecbs-lagarde-warns-risk-world-economy-via-trump-interference-fed-2025-09-01/
2025-09-01 07:01
Putin scolds West over NATO enlargement Putin says a fair security balance needed Putin: 'root causes' of the war must be eliminated Putin says Trump summit understandings opened a way to peace TIANJIN, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, after talking with China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi, said on Monday the issue of NATO's eastward enlargement would have to be addressed for there to be sustainable peace in Ukraine. Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. Russia currently controls a little under one fifth of Ukraine. Sign up here. Ukraine and Western European powers describe the invasion as a brutal imperial-style land grab. Putin casts the war as a battle with a declining West, which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by enlarging NATO eastwards. On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Tianjin, Modi held Putin's hand as they walked towards Chinese President Xi. All three smiled as they spoke, surrounded by translators. Speaking at the summit, Putin said the West had tried to bring Ukraine into the West's orbit and then sought to entice the former Soviet republic into the U.S.-led NATO military alliance. "In order for a Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-term, the root causes of the crisis, which I have just mentioned and which I have repeatedly mentioned before, must be eliminated," Putin said. "A fair balance in the security sphere" must be also restored, Putin said, shorthand for a series of Russian demands about NATO and European security. At the 2008 Bucharest summit, NATO leaders agreed that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members. Ukraine in 2019 amended its constitution committing to the path of full membership of NATO and the European Union. Reuters reported in May that Putin's conditions for ending the war include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards and lift a chunk of sanctions on Russia. Putin said that "understandings" he reached with U.S. President Donald Trump at a summit in Alaska in August opened a way to peace in Ukraine, which he would discuss with leaders attending the regional summit in China. "We highly appreciate the efforts and proposals from China and India aimed at facilitating the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis," Putin told the forum. "The understandings reached at the recent Russia–U.S. meeting in Alaska, I hope, also contribute toward this goal." He said he had detailed to Xi on Sunday the achievements of his talks with Trump and the work "already underway" to resolve the conflict and would provide more detail in two-way meetings with the Chinese leader and others. China and India are by far the biggest purchasers of crude from Russia, the world's second largest exporter. Trump has imposed additional tariffs on India over the purchases but there is no sign yet that either India or China are going to stop purchasing Russian oil, a key export of Russia's war economy. (This story has been refiled to fix the byline) https://www.reuters.com/world/china/after-talks-with-xi-modi-putin-says-nato-enlargement-has-be-addressed-ukraine-2025-09-01/
2025-09-01 06:54
Fed's Daly says it'll soon be time to recalibrate policy Silver rises more than 2% to trade above $40 per ounce Platinum up more than 1% Sept 1 (Reuters) - Gold hit a more than four-month high on Monday, as increased bets for a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut this month lifted bullion's allure, while silver rose above $40 per ounce for the first time in more than a decade. Spot gold rose 1.2% to $3,486.86 per ounce by 0641 GMT, hitting its highest point since April 23. U.S. gold futures for December delivery gained 1.1% to $3,554.60. Sign up here. "Dovish comments from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly helped traders looked past a higher core PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) read on Friday, and kept the door open for a 25-basis-point rate cut this month," City Index senior analyst Matt Simpson said. A U.S. appeals court has also deemed most of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs illegal, weighing further on the dollar and sending gold to a four-month high, Simpson said. Data showed that the U.S. PCE price index rose 0.2% month-on-month, and 2.6% year-on-year, both in line with expectations. In a social media post on Friday, Daly reiterated her support for a rate cut, given the risks to the labour market. Non-yielding gold typically performs well in a low-interest-rate environment. On the trade front, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday the Trump administration is continuing its talks with trading partners despite a U.S. appeals court ruling that most of Trump's tariffs are illegal. Spot silver jumped 2.2% to $40.56 per ounce, the highest level since September 2011. "The U.S. bank holiday is contributing to thinner liquidity, which is also exacerbating some of the moves in gold and silver," said KCM Trade's chief market analyst, Tim Waterer. "Silver is making a move higher in response to expectations of lower U.S. rates, while a tight supply market is helping to maintain an upward bias." Platinum gained 1.5% to $1,384.68 and palladium climbed 0.8% to $1,118.06. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/gold-climbs-us-rate-cut-bets-silver-hits-14-year-high-2025-09-01/
