2025-01-09 10:48
Wildfires are worst in Los Angeles history Homes of movie stars destroyed as flames hit Hollywood Palisades fire consumes over 15,000 acres on west side of LA More than 100,000 people forced to evacuate LOS ANGELES, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The Hollywood Hills blazed uncontrollably on Thursday morning as the worst wildfires in the history of Los Angeles raged across the city and deep into the storied heartland of the American film industry. A crescent of flame squeezed Los Angeles in a huge pincer visible from space. More than 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate as dry, hurricane-force winds spread flames across parched ground that has seen no rain for months. At least five people have died since the fires erupted on Tuesday. The homes of movie stars and celebrities were among those consumed by flames, which tore through some of the world's most lavish real estate and above showbiz landmarks instantly recognizable around the world. "This firestorm is the big one," Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told a press conference after rushing back to the city, cutting short an official trip to Ghana. At least six separate wildfires were burning in Los Angeles County. Three of them were listed as "0% controlled", including a pair of huge conflagrations on the city's eastern and western flanks and the smaller Sunset Fire raging in Hollywood Hills just above Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame. The L.A. Fire Department issued an evacuation order for people in an area within Hollywood Boulevard to the south, Mulholland Drive to the north, the 101 Freeway to the east and Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west - all iconic addresses for film, TV and music. The Hollywood Sign is across the freeway. On the west side of Los Angeles, the Palisades fire consumed 15,832 acres (6,406 hectares) and hundreds of structures in the hills between Santa Monica and Malibu, racing down Topanga Canyon until reaching the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday. "We are heartbroken of course, but with the love of children and friends we will get through this," said film star Billy Crystal and his wife Janice, announcing the Pacific Palisades home where they had lived since 1979 had been destroyed. Media personality Paris Hilton said she was "heartbroken beyond words" after watching her beachfront house in Malibu "burn to the ground on live TV". Actor James Woods recounted fleeing in the face of the flames: "One day you're swimming in the pool, and the next day it's all gone," he said in a TV interview. He wept as he described a niece who "came out with her little Yeti piggy bank for us to rebuild our house". Some residents ventured back to areas the fire had already swept through, where brick chimneys were left looming over charred waste and burnt-out vehicles. The remnants of a tattered and scorched American flag flapped from a pole. "I had just come from my family home where my mother lives that was burned to a crisp.... And then I came up to my home and - same thing. It's completely dust," said Oliver Allnatt, 36, wearing ski goggles and a filtered facemask as he took pictures of the ruins. "Basically just a chimney stack and a pile of ash. I mean, it's something out of a movie." Thousands of Los Angelenos fleeing the flames sought refuge in temporary shelters. Foad Farid found refuge in the gym of the Westwood Recreation Center with nothing but his car and his phone. Neighbors dropped off blankets, clothing, water, pizza and pet food. Jeff Harris arrived towing his Feisty Fish Poke food truck and began serving meals. "I'm just here to help," he said. Kevin Williams, at an evacuation center in Pasadena, said he knew it was time to run when gas canisters at his neighbors' homes began exploding under the heat. "The wind whipped up, the flames were up about 30 or 40 feet high, and you hear 'pop, pop, pop'. It sounded like a war zone." SMOLDERING RUINS Aerial video by KTLA television showed block after block of smoldering homes in Pacific Palisades, the smoky grid occasionally punctuated by the orange blaze of another home still on fire. To the east, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Eaton Fire claimed another 10,600 acres (4,289 hectares), another 1,000 structures, and killed at least five people, officials said. "We're facing a historic natural disaster. And I think that can't be stated strong enough," Kevin McGowan, director of emergency management for Los Angeles County, told a press conference. Even though forecasters said winds would subside briefly on Wednesday night, so-called red flag conditions were expected to remain until Friday. The scale and spread of the blazes stretched exhausted firefighting crews beyond their capacity. Firefighters from six other U.S. states were being rushed to California, while an additional 250 engine companies with 1,000 personnel were being moved from Northern California to Southern California, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone told a press conference. Water shortages caused some hydrants to run dry in upscale Pacific Palisades, officials said. "We pushed the system to the extreme. We're fighting a wildfire with urban water systems," Janisse Quinones, chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told reporters. The fires struck at an especially vulnerable time for Southern California, which has not seen significant rainfall for months. Then came the powerful Santa Ana winds, bringing dry desert air from the east toward the coastal mountains, fanning wildfires while blowing over the hilltops and down through the canyons. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/hollywood-hills-burn-la-engulfed-by-the-big-one-2025-01-09/
2025-01-09 10:39
DUESSELDORF, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Several companies have expressed an interest in a possible partnership with Thyssenkrupp's TKMS marine division, a company spokesperson said on Thursday after a newspaper reported German engine maker Deutz wanted to take it over. Handelsblatt business daily cited industry sources as saying Deutz was among the companies that had submitted a non-binding offer for TKMS at the end of last year, adding the move would help Deutz to set up a new business area. "We can confirm that several companies have expressed interest in a possible partnership with Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS)," a Thyssenkrupp spokesperson said, adding they were subject to confidentiality. "Irrespective of this, we are, as we have stressed, vigorously pursuing a spin-off of TKMS," added the spokesperson. Deutz declined to comment. Carlyle (CG.O) , opens new tab and German state-lender KfW had been poised to take a majority stake in TKMS, which makes submarines and frigates, but the U.S. investor dropped out in October, leaving Thyssenkrupp to pursue alternatives. Handelsblatt had in December reported that Thyssenkrupp had received several bids from Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) , opens new tab, Luerssen and the German government. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/thyssenkrupp-says-several-firms-interested-marine-division-2025-01-09/
2025-01-09 10:32
Jan 9 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered (2888.HK) , opens new tab has formed a new entity in Luxembourg to offer crypto and digital asset custody services in the European Union, as the global lender looks to cash in on the growing demand for digital security. StanChart is among several major financial institutions that have been entering the crypto sector as more institutional investors adopt the growing asset class. The lender recently launched digital asset custody services in the United Arab Emirates. Standard Chartered has appointed Laurent Marochini, a former innovation head at Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) , opens new tab, as the chief of the Luxembourg entity. Zodia Custody, a crypto custodian owned by Standard Chartered, in March 2023 said it had registered its Irish unit with Luxembourg's financial regulator. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/stanchart-forms-new-entity-digital-assets-custody-services-eu-2025-01-09/
2025-01-09 10:26
JAKARTA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Kilang Pertamina Internasional, refinery unit of Indonesia's state owned energy firm Pertamina, aims to produce its first certified sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the first quarter of this year, the company said on Thursday. The firm received certification for SAF in December including the International Sustainability Carbon Certification(ISCC) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) and ISCC Europe Union (EU) certification. It will produce SAF using the treated distillate hydro treating unit at its Cilacap refinery. "KPI is ready to move forward by producing the first ISCC-certified Pertamina SAF in Indonesia and in the region with used cooking oil as the raw material which is scheduled in the first quarter of 2025," KPI spokesperson Hermansyah Y. Nasroen said in a statement. KPI had said its Green Refinery Cilacap has capacity to process 6,000 barrels of used cooking oil per day to produce hydrotreated vegetable oil and SAF with total output estimated about 300,000 kilolitres per year. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/pertamina-unit-produce-iscc-certified-saf-q1-2025-01-09/
2025-01-09 10:20
UK government bond yields highest in 16 years Higher yields add to worries over UK government finances Finance ministry says it has 'iron grip' on public purse LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The pound fell to its lowest since late 2023 on Thursday, under pressure from a selloff in global bonds that has driven the UK government's borrowing costs to their highest in over 16 years, which has reignited concern about Britain's finances. Sterling was last down 0.6% at $1.2295, having touched its lowest since November 2023 earlier in the day, while the cost of hedging against bigger price swings over the coming month jumped to its highest since the March 2023 banking crisis . Global bond yields have soared this week on the back of concern about rising inflation, reduced chances of a drop in interest rates, uncertainty over how U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will conduct foreign or economic policy and the prospect of trillions of dollars in extra debt. The UK market has been hit particularly hard. Benchmark 10-year gilt yields have spiked by a quarter point this week alone to their highest since 2008, as confidence in Britain's fiscal outlook deteriorates. Finance minister Rachel Reeves is facing her first major test, as turmoil in the bond market could force her to cut future spending. Ordinarily, higher gilt yields would support the pound, but right now, that relationship has broken down, reflecting investors' worry about the country's finances. "This is the bond market starting to discipline the UK government. And at the moment they want to fight the market, and that never ends well," Lloyd Harris, head of fixed income at Premier Miton Investors, said. In a statement late on Wednesday, the UK finance ministry said it would maintain "an iron grip" on the public finances. Sterling has been one of the best-performing currencies against the dollar in the last couple of years, largely because of the Bank of England's policy of keeping UK interest rates higher for longer than other major central banks, which creates an incentive for foreign investors to earn interest from UK assets. Trump's proposed policies on trade tariffs and immigration carry the risk of fuelling U.S. price pressures, thereby limiting the Federal Reserve's ability to cut rates, which has sent the dollar soaring against virtually every other currency. The derivatives market shows traders believe the Fed will deliver one rate cut this year, but are not fully pricing in the chance of a second. The UK market, meanwhile, shows almost identical expectations for the BoE. Britain is struggling with slower growth, persistent inflation and a deteriorating labour market, lagging behind the United States, which shows resilience in virtually every area. "We had this story of the UK being better than Europe, the currency is doing better, interest rates are higher, everything’s fine (for sterling)," Societe Generale chief FX strategist Kit Juckes said. “The danger now is people start to get a general sense of why not use sterling for the short side of our long dollar trade," he said. Britain's economy is flat-lining, while the labour market is deteriorating rapidly, as employers grapple with tax rises in the Reeves' October budget, which contained the biggest overall tax increases since 1993. The yield on 30-year gilts has hit its highest since 1998, echoing the rise in global long-dated yields. The last time UK debt was in the eye of the storm was September 2022, when then-Prime Minister Liz Truss unveiled budget plans that contained billions in unfunded tax cuts that sent gilts into freefall, battered the pound and forced the BoE to step in to stabilise the market. This week's move is nowhere near that of late 2022, when 10-year gilts rose a full percentage point in a week and the pound hit record lows against the dollar. Indeed, PIMCO, one of the world's largest bond investors, told Reuters late on Wednesday it was still positive about UK debt and said much of the rise in gilt yields was a function of the increase in U.S. Treasury yields, rather than a reflection of deeper problems at home. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/pound-biggest-three-day-slide-two-years-gilt-pain-intensifies-2025-01-09/
2025-01-09 10:19
WARSAW/GDANSK, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Poland's oil refiner and petrol retailer Orlen (PKN.WA) , opens new tab plans to invest between 350 billion and 380 billion zlotys ($84.3 billion and $91.5 billion) by 2035, it said on Thursday as it unveiled its new strategy. That compares with 320 billion zlotys of investments over an eight-year period envisaged in the 2022 strategy. Between 270 billion and 290 billion zlotys of the planned cumulative capital expenditures are to be flexible, allowing Orlen to actively manage its investment budget, it said. Up to 85 billion zlotys will be allocated for potential equity investments, including mergers, acquisitions and partnerships, it added. As of 1200 GMT, Orlen's shares were down 1.2% after falling as much as 3.2% shortly after the strategy announcement. "At first glance, the strategy is a little bit of disappointing for us as the key strategic directions remains unchanged compared to the strategy set up by the previous management," Erste analyst Tamas Pletser said. The new strategy follows the management's audit of more than 50 projects undertaken by prior executives and the group's decision to scale back and rename its Olefins petrochemical project. Pletser added Orlen's capital expenditure target is still very high and top-headed, as it is concentrated on the period between 2025 and 2030. The company aims to meet all of Poland's domestic natural gas demand over the next decade by increasing production from 9.1 to 12 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year and boosting liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracting from 4.8 to 15 bcm annually. It plans to add 4.3 gigawatts (GW) of gas-fired power generation capacity, 1.4 GW of energy storage, and develop four offshore wind farms and at least two small modular reactors totalling 600 megawatts (MW). Orlen will increase its guaranteed dividend payout in 2025 from 4.30 to 4.50 zlotys per share, maintaining an annual increase of 0.15 zlotys thereafter, with flexibility to recommend higher payouts of up to 25% of annual operating cash flows reduced by financing costs. It targets 2025 earnings before depreciation and amortization, excluding inventory effects - known as EBITDA LIFO - of 53 billion to 58 billion zlotys, with cumulative earnings for the key metric ranging from 500 billion to 550 billion zlotys over the 10-year period. ($1 = 4.1530 zlotys) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/polands-orlen-plans-invest-380-billion-zlotys-by-2035-2025-01-09/
