2025-08-08 20:57

ATHENS, Aug 8 (Reuters) - At least one person died and homes and farmlands were destroyed as wildfires stoked by gale-force winds broke out across Greece on Friday, from the southern outskirts of the capital Athens to regions near Ancient Olympia. A major blaze broke out in the small town of Keratea southwest of Athens. Firefighters discovered the body of an elderly man in a burned-out structure there, Greek Fire Brigade Spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said during a briefing. Sign up here. In the region of Ancient Olympia in the southwest of the country, huge flames devoured olive groves and forestland. Another fire broke out on the touristy island of Kefalonia. Much of the region around Athens has seen barely a drop of rain in months. Wind gusts of up to 80 kilometres per hour fanned the flames, setting olive tree orchards alight. Homes were engulfed as locals wearing flimsy face masks assisted firefighters. Witnesses said the wind gusts were so strong that dousing some areas was near impossible. "The wind would push it back," a Keratea resident told Reuters. High winds are expected through the weekend and beyond. At Ancient Olympia, an extensive region in the western Peloponnese that includes the site of the first Olympic Games, firefighters were battling a blaze fanned by interchanging winds. "If the wind doesn't die down we will have huge problems," Ancient Olympia vice-mayor Georgios Linardos told state broadcaster ERT. Gale-force winds caused extensive delays in the sailing of ferry boats from ports around Athens. On the island of Milos, two Vietnamese holidaymakers drowned at sea amid the high gusts, a coast guard official said. Greece and other Mediterranean countries are in an area dubbed "a wildfire hotspot" by scientists, with blazes common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate, prompting calls for a new approach. Parched southern France is currently facing its worst wildfire in decades, where fires are contained but not over. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/greece-fights-wildfires-amid-gale-force-winds-2025-08-08/

2025-08-08 20:56

Deal will boost economic ties Agreement includes US rights to South Caucasus transit corridor Deal marks first resolution of frozen conflicts near Russia since Cold War Lifts restrictions on defense cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement on Friday during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that would boost bilateral economic ties after decades of conflict. The deal between the South Caucasus rivals - assuming it holds - would be a significant accomplishment for the Trump administration that is sure to rattle Moscow, which sees the region as within its sphere of influence. Sign up here. "It's a long time - 35 years - they fought and now they're friends, and they're going to be friends for a long time," Trump said at a signing ceremony at the White House, where he was flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting almost all of the territory's 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Trump said the two countries had committed to stop fighting, open up diplomatic relations and respect each other's territorial integrity. The agreement includes exclusive U.S. development rights to a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus that the White House said would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources. Trump said the United States signed separate deals with each country to expand cooperation on energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence. He said restrictions had also been lifted on defense cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States. Both leaders praised Trump for helping to end the conflict and said they would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. "So who if not President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize?" Aliyev said. Trump has tried to present himself as a global peacemaker in the first months of his second term. The White House credits him with brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and sealing peace deals between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Pakistan and India. However, he has not managed to end Russia's war in Ukraine or Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza. U.S. officials said the agreement was hammered out during repeated visits to the region and would provide a basis for working toward a full normalization between the countries. Senior administration officials told reporters the agreement marked the first end to several frozen conflicts on Russia's periphery since the end of the Cold War and said it would send a powerful signal to the entire region. The peace deal could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders and longstanding ethnic conflicts. Armenia plans to award the U.S. exclusive special development rights for an extended period on the transit corridor, administration officials told Reuters this week. The so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity has already drawn interest from nine companies, including three U.S. firms, one official said on condition of anonymity. Daphne Panayotatos, with the Washington-based rights group Freedom Now, said it has urged the Trump administration to use the meeting with Aliyev to demand the release of some 375 political prisoners held in the country. Azerbaijan, an oil-producing country that hosted the United Nations climate summit last November, has rejected Western criticism of its human rights record, describing it as unacceptable interference. https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-announces-peace-deal-between-azerbaijan-armenia-white-house-2025-08-08/

2025-08-08 20:55

Markets eye dovish tilt at Fed as Miran nominated Gold futures gain on uncertainty over US tariff Oil prices fall on report of US-Russia truce deal NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Global equities rose on Friday as investors clung to the view that U.S. interest rates may fall further this year, with European shares posting their biggest weekly gain in 12 weeks on strength from banking stocks. U.S. gold futures hit a record high on uncertainty over whether country-specific U.S. import tariffs would apply to the most commonly traded sizes of gold bars. Sign up here. Investors watched for signs of a potential Russia-Ukraine ceasefire after a report that the United States and Russia are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine. President Donald Trump on Thursday the U.S. central bank, nominating Council of Economic Advisers' Chair Stephen Miran for a short-term board seat after Adriana Kugler's abrupt exit. Miran holds similar views to Trump, who has berated Powell for being "too late" in cutting rates, even though growth is holding up and inflation is ticking higher. "It locks in a vote for rate cuts at all the meetings between now and the end of January," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank in Sydney. "Markets are already travelling with a very strong expectation that there will be a rate cut," he added. "Though there's a question mark over whether he'll succeed in ratification in time for the September meeting." that Fed Governor Christopher Waller was emerging as a leading contender for the role of Fed chair. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) , opens new tab rose 0.52%. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab rose 0.47% to 44,175.61, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab added 0.78% to 6,389.45 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab climbed 0.98% to 21,450.02. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) , opens new tab rose 0.2% to finish the week up more than 2% as largely upbeat corporate results and firming bets of more Fed rate cuts lifted prices from last week's five-week lows. Shares also saw a lift from optimism that hefty U.S. tariffs that kicked in on Thursday would be subject to negotiation. Zurich's SMI index (.SSMI) , opens new tab gained as traders continued to shrug off Switzerland's 39% U.S. tariff coming into effect. "The effective shock (from tariffs) is there. So the question now is: How is it going to impact the economy and the data, and when? Because up to now, let's be fair, it's been less severe than most have anticipated," Lombard Odier economist Samy Chaar said. Overall tariffs may be lower than many had feared back in April, but they are at their highest in at least a century. Relief over lower-than-expected duties may be short-lived as a result. For instance, the European Union now has a 15% tariff rather than the 50% that Trump had threatened, Chaar said. "That's the vulnerability in the market... It is focusing on the good news, which is not getting the 50%, but getting the 15%. And then the problem is that 15% is actually a big shock and, at some point, it's going to show in the data," he said. U.S. Treasury yields rose on Friday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note poised for its first weekly gain in three weeks after a series of weak auctions. The released a ruling on its website on Friday, which the gold industry interpreted as meaning that country-specific U.S. import tariffs could apply to the most-traded sizes of gold bars in the U.S. December U.S. gold futures settled 1.1% higher at $3,491.30 per ounce after hitting a record $3,534.10 when the Financial Times first reported the news. Spot gold eased 0.08% to $3,394.24 an ounce. Brent oil futures settled up 0.24% at $66.59 per barrel and U.S. crude settled unchanged at $63.88 per barrel. Expectations of a potential truce between Russia and Ukraine had weighed on oil prices earlier in the U.S. trading session. Both benchmarks were also under pressure from a tariff-hit economic outlook and finished with weekly losses. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 3.9 basis points to 4.283%. The Japanese yen weakened 0.44% against the greenback. The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.31%, with the euro down 0.23%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) , opens new tab closed down 0.63%, while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) , opens new tab rose 1.85%. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/global-markets-wrapup-6-2025-08-08/

2025-08-08 20:34

Aug 8 (Reuters) - Argentines are once again chowing down on beef, as an economic turnaround has allowed them to fork over more for steaks, a report from the Rosario exchange said on Friday. The domestic beef market has logged an uptick as wages soar past inflation, the exchange said. Average salaries for registered workers jumped 62.5% in the year to May 2025. Sign up here. Consumer inflation was contained at 39%, although beef prices rose at a steeper 59% over the past 12 months. While still a strain, the inflation rate is a significant drop from the triple-digit annual price increases of the recent past. Austerity policies of libertarian President Javier Milei's have helped cool inflation. The bump in purchasing power went directly to the dinner table, according to the exchange. Consumers in the South American country went from eating an average of 47.6 kg (104.9 lb) of beef in the first six months of last year to 50.2 kg (110.7 lb) in the same period of 2025. "As inflation begins to ease and allows the consumer's pocket to loosen up, albeit slowly ... beef consumption tends to recover the place of preference it has historically occupied within the local consumer's shopping basket," said the study. The increased domestic beef consumption so far this year absorbed a supply glut, as exports fell 19% by volume, hurt by a volatile exchange rate, the report said. "The question going forward is how long (local) consumers will be willing to accept the increased supply without a price adjustment," the exchange said. The country is famed for its beef-eating culture, with steakhouses and asado barbecues a frequent dining option. Argentines had tightened their belts last year due to the high inflation, a recession and rising poverty and unemployment, turning from beef to cheaper meats. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/argentines-grill-up-more-beef-first-half-2025-wages-soar-2025-08-08/

2025-08-08 20:18

Aug 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's team is reviewing new contenders to lead the Federal Reserve once Chair Jerome Powell's term ends in May, including a longtime economic consultant and a past regional Fed president, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The 10 or so people on the newly expanded list include former St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Marc Sumerlin, a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush, WSJ said, citing officials. Trump last week said he had narrowed the list to four. Sign up here. National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett and former Fed governor Kevin Warsh remain under consideration, along with current Fed governor Christopher Waller, WSJ said. Reuters has previously reported that these three are candidates, but could not immediately verify the rest of the report. Trump has been criticizing Powell all year for not cutting rates, building on disappointment with the Fed chief that emerged during his first term as president shortly after he elevated Powell to the Fed chair role. It was not clear what a broader list of candidates would mean for the timing of an appointment. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is helping lead the search. The president moved quickly to name an ally to the Fed Board this week after Fed Governor Adriana Kugler, a Biden appointee who did not support rate cuts, unexpectedly resigned as of the end of this week. Council of Economic Advisers Stephen Miran will serve out the remaining months of Kugler's term, which ends on January 31. Trump has indicated a search continues for someone who could fill the Fed Board role for a 14-year term beginning February 1. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/trumps-team-expands-search-fed-chair-about-10-names-wsj-reports-2025-08-08/

2025-08-08 20:15

Aug 8 (Reuters) - Danish energy firm Orsted (ORSTED.CO) , opens new tab is considering raising as much as 5 billion euros ($5.83 billion) from a rights offering to shore up its finances, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The fundraising plan could be announced in the coming weeks if Orsted decides to proceed, the report said. Sign up here. Orsted's market value has plunged from its 2021 peak, driven by rising costs and supply chain disruptions. U.S. President Donald Trump's opposition to offshore wind has further eroded investor confidence. The company has onshore wind, offshore wind, solar and storage operations across Texas, the U.S. Midwest and East Coast markets. Orsted declined to comment on the Bloomberg report. There is no certainty a deal will proceed, and the size and timing of any potential offering could shift depending on market conditions, the report added. Rasmus Errboe, who became Orsted's CEO in January, has the challenge of restoring investor confidence and streamlining the company to adapt to the changes the offshore wind industry is facing. In May, the Danish company scrapped its plan to build a major offshore wind farm in Britain, citing a deteriorating global business environment for renewables. During its first-quarter earnings, the company kept its 2025 outlook, excluding new partnerships and cancellation fees, unchanged. It is scheduled to report its half-year 2025 results on August 13. ($1 = 0.8576 euros) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/energy-firm-orsted-weighs-up-5-billion-euros-rights-issue-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-08-08/