2025-07-28 12:44
TURNBERRY, Scotland, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he was reducing the 50-day deadline he gave Russia over its war in Ukraine, underscoring his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for prolonging fighting between the two countries. "I'm disappointed in President Putin," Trump said, speaking alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of their meeting in Scotland. "I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number because I think I already know the answer what's going to happen." Sign up here. He did not give a new deadline. Trump set the 50-day deadline earlier this month. The U.S. president has repeatedly voiced exasperation with Putin for continuing attacks on Ukraine despite U.S. efforts to end the war. Before returning to the White House in January, Trump, who views himself as a peacemaker, had promised to end the three-and-a-half-year-old conflict within 24 hours. Trump has threatened new sanctions on Russia and buyers of its exports unless an agreement is reached by early September. But the president, who has also expressed annoyance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has not always followed up on his tough talk about Putin with action, citing what he deems a good relationship that the two men have had previously. "We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever," Trump said. "And I say that's not the way to do it." https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-says-he-is-reducing-50-day-deadline-russia-war-ukraine-2025-07-28/
2025-07-28 12:39
ATHENS, July 28 (Reuters) - Firefighters battled to put out wildfires on Monday in three separate provinces in Turkey, in Greece and near a tourist resort in Albania, stoked by strong winds after days of searing heat across the Mediterranean region. Smoke billowed over the mountainous Black Sea province of Karabuk, some 200 kilometres north of the capital Ankara, as a wildfire which raged for a sixth day forced the evacuation of more than a dozen villages and burnt swathes of forests. Sign up here. In the northwestern province of Bursa, three firefighters were killed on Sunday when their vehicle crashed, Turkey's Forestry Ministry said on Monday. Crews fought to tame two separate blazes there on Monday, following the evacuation of more than 3,600 people from settlements in the southern provinces of Mersin and Antalya. Turkey has seen dozens of wildfires in recent weeks amid extreme heat, while 10 firefighters were killed last week battling a fire in the central Eskisehir province. Hot and dry summers have been common in the Mediterranean region, but more intense heatwaves have contributed to destructive wildfires in recent years amid fast-rising temperatures across the globe. In Greece, dozens of firefighters battled a blaze that broke out at the foot of Mount Hymettus in Athens near a university campus in the densely populated suburbs. At least 18 helicopters and aircraft were operating in the area. In Albania, firefighters assisted by the army battled to control a wildfire before it reached the seaside city of Saranda and other tourist resorts in the south of the country on the Ionian coast. Some 13 people have been arrested over arson-related offenses in the past three days, local police said. Bulgaria deployed firefighting planes to help ground forces tame a large wildfire in a wooded southwestern area, while in Greece, several villages were evacuated and five people were injured in separate wildfires over the weekend under scorching heat and strong winds. As Greece saw off its third summer heatwave on Monday, rainy weather in Serbia helped firefighters there bring more than 100 wildfires under control. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/firefighters-battle-blazes-turkey-greece-albania-after-days-scorching-heat-2025-07-28/
2025-07-28 12:29
BUCHAREST, July 28 (Reuters) - Severe overnight floods in eastern Romania killed one person and damaged thousands of homes, with hundreds of people evacuated and three helicopters searching for stranded villagers, officials said on Monday. Some 25 villages across nine counties were affected by heavy rain and high winds, which tore off roofs and uprooted trees, blocking traffic on some national roads, the emergency response agency said. Sign up here. The worst hit were Neamt and Suceava counties in eastern Romania, where two rivers burst their banks, killing a 66-year-old man and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. All access roads to the village of Brosteni in Suceava county were blocked. The Environment Ministry's water management agency said some rivers saw record high water levels. Repair works on collapsed bridges were underway, it said. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/floods-romania-kill-one-hundreds-evacuated-2025-07-28/
2025-07-28 12:03
NEW DELHI, July 28 (Reuters) - Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy Monday said it has started legal proceedings against Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab following the abrupt and unilateral suspension of critical services by the U.S.-headquartered software giant. "Microsoft is currently restricting Nayara Energy’s access to its own data, proprietary tools, and products—despite these being acquired under fully paid-up licenses," the refiner said in a statement. Sign up here. Nayara, a major buyer of Russian oil, was recently sanctioned by the European Union as the refinery is majority-owned by Russian entities, including oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM) , opens new tab. Microsoft last Tuesday halted services for Nayara Energy, sources familiar with the matter said, adding that the company's employees' Outlook email accounts and Teams have not been working. Microsoft declined to comment on the issue. Nayara Energy has filed a petition before Delhi High Court seeking an interim injunction and resumption of services to safeguard its rights and ensure continued access to essential digital infrastructure, the company said. It said Microsoft had not consulted the company before withdrawing the services. "This action has been taken unilaterally, without prior notice, consultation or recourse, and under the guise of compliance," it said. Since the imposition of EU sanctions against Nayara, at least two tankers skipped loading refined products from Vadinar and one crude tanker carrying Russian Urals was diverted. Its chief executive resigned and the company had to appoint Sergey Denisov as CEO. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/eu-sanctioned-indian-refiner-nayara-takes-microsoft-court-over-outage-2025-07-28/
2025-07-28 11:48
Treasury to maintain auction sizes amid fiscal deficit concerns Focus on T-bills due to robust demand Potential delay in lifting long-dated auction sizes until 2027 Treasury may tweak debt buyback program NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury is widely expected to maintain current auction sizes for notes and bonds when it announces financing plans this week, and will likely keep them steady for some time, forgoing issuing longer-dated debt to cover the government's fiscal shortfall. Investors will be looking for guidance as to how long the Treasury can hold off not raising the size of the debt auctions used to fund the ballooning U.S. budget deficit. The fiscal deficit is set to increase to a record $2.8 trillion over a decade with the passage of President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," estimates from the Congressional Budget Office showed. Sign up here. The Treasury will release its quarterly borrowing requirements on Monday at 3:00 p.m. ET (2000 GMT) and its refunding plan on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT). It will also announce auction sizes for new issues of three-year and 10-year notes, as well as 30-year bonds, securities that make scheduled coupon payments to lenders who buy them. Analysts said the Treasury can afford to delay increasing the auction sizes for longer-maturity debt given its focus on the issuance of more Treasury bills where demand has been robust. Treasury recently ramped up issuance of short-dated bills to replenish its cash balance which has shrunk to about $300 billion. It raised the issuance of the bills with maturities under eight weeks, specifically after Trump's spending bill was signed into law. The tax and spending legislation extended the debt ceiling as well by $5 trillion to more than $40 trillion. Bank estimates of additional T-bill supply by the end of the year ranged from $620 billion to more than $800 billion. Analysts said money market funds are well placed to take on the flood of short-term debt issuance in the market. Money market funds, with more than $7 trillion in assets, have been the biggest buyers of T-bills and will continue to be so, with historical third-quarter inflows averaging around $90 billion between 2015 and 2025, excluding 2020 and 2023, according to J.P. Morgan in a research note. The U.S. bank believes money market funds are likely to absorb about 60%-80% of the upcoming T-bill supply in the next few months. "We think the Treasury has the option of not increasing coupons through 2027...and quite possibly through 2028," said Guneet Dhingra, head of U.S. rates strategy at BNP Paribas, in New York, referring to securities that make coupon payments such as Treasury notes and bonds. "Incremental needs by the Treasury will be financed via T-bills...coupons will stay stable and will still raise money for the Treasury. But using T-bills is a sustainable and prudent strategy because demand is significant." The move away from the long end has also been partly driven by market considerations, with the Federal Reserve keeping the fed funds rate at a target range of 4.25%–4.50% since December 2024 due to inflation concerns. That has prompted investors to move away from the long end of the curve, keeping their yields higher. By issuing more short-term debt, like T-bills, the Treasury can borrow at lower rates, reducing immediate interest expenses. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier said increasing long-term bond sales at current high rates was not cost-effective. FARTHER OUT; BUYBACKS Wells Fargo, in a research note, said it doesn't expect the Treasury to begin increasing the size of long-dated auctions until February 2027. TD Securities also thinks auction sizes will remain steady until at least late-2026, noting that the bulk of those increases will likely occur on the front end and the belly or the intermediate part of the curve. Tom Simons, chief U.S. economist at Jefferies in New York, also pointed out that given the still uncertain U.S. fiscal outlook, it would be sensible for the Treasury to stay put for now. In the near term, he believes the U.S. economy may end up with more growth and revenue than the CBO's fiscal deficit forecast, which Simons said does not include tariff income. "When you're fairly uncertain about the magnitude of near-term deficits and there are two-sided risks, it makes sense to keep the coupon auction sizes the same," the Jefferies' chief economist said. Investors are also expecting changes to the Treasury's debt buybacks launched in 2024, meant to enhance bond market liquidity. Buybacks provided a regular outlet for investors to sell back to the Treasury older and less liquid off-the-run securities across the yield curve. Lou Crandall, chief economist at money market research firm Wrightson ICAP, thinks the Treasury will bump up buybacks in the 20-year and 30-year maturities, which have been "massively oversubscribed". He added that total offers for those debts have exceeded the operational maximum amount by nearly 7-to-1 in 20-year bonds and more than 5-to-1 in the 30-year sector. In contrast, the Treasury has retired just $2.7 billion in par value terms in the seven- to 10-year sector, Crandall said. "The more aggressive level of dealer participation in bond-sector buybacks probably does warrant an increase in redemption operations at the long end," he noted. "The taxpayer cost-savings of retiring less liquid off-the-runs in the bond sector are real, as are the market-functioning benefits." https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/no-treasury-auction-size-increases-seen-us-refunding-2025-07-28/
2025-07-28 11:45
Talks come as hunger crisis in Palestinian enclave worsens Trump says he believes US-EU trade deal will please British PM Starmer still seeking lower tariffs on steel and aluminium EDINBURGH/TURNBERRY, Scotland, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will host British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his golf resort in western Scotland on Monday for talks ranging from their recent bilateral trade deal to the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, the two governments said. Trump, riding high after announcing a huge trade agreement with the European Union late on Sunday, said he expected Starmer would also be pleased. Sign up here. "The prime minister of the UK, while he's not involved in this, will be very happy because you know, there's a certain unity that's been brought there, too," Trump said. "He's going to be very happy to see what we did." UK WANTS TO DISCUSS STEEL TARIFFS Starmer had hoped to negotiate a drop in U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs as part of the talks, but Trump on Sunday ruled out any changes in the 50% steel and aluminium duties for the EU, and has said the trade deal with Britain is "concluded" British business and trade minister Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC the talks with Trump offered Britain a good chance to advance its arguments, but he did not expect announcements on the issue on Monday. Trump and Starmer were expected to meet at noon (0700 ET) at Trump's luxury golf resort in Turnberry, on Scotland's west coast, before travelling on together later to a second sprawling estate owned by Trump in the east, near Aberdeen. Hundreds of police officers were guarding the perimeter of the Turnberry course and the beach that flanks it, with a helicopter hovering overhead, although there was no sign of protesters outside the course. Starmer was arriving from Switzerland, where England on Sunday won the women's European soccer championship final. Casting a shadow over their visit has been the deepening crisis in the war-torn Gaza enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world. BRITISH CABINET RECALLED Starmer has recalled his ministers from their summer recess for a cabinet meeting, a government source said on Sunday, most likely to discuss the situation in Gaza as pressure grows at home and abroad to recognise a Palestinian state. On Friday, he said Britain would recognise a Palestinian state only as part of a negotiated peace deal, disappointing many in his Labour Party who want him to follow France in taking swifter action. Trump on Friday dismissed French President Emmanuel Macron's plan to recognize a Palestinian state, an intention that also drew strong condemnation from Israel, after similar moves from Spain, Norway and Ireland last year. Trump said that while the U.S. would increase its aid to Gaza, it wanted others to join the effort. Ukraine was also on the agenda for talks with Starmer. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave, with aid groups warning of mass hunger. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials. It has reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population of over 2 million. https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-starmer-meet-scotland-with-trade-gaza-agenda-2025-07-28/
