2025-10-18 11:43
LPG tanker MV Falcon is on fire after explosion off Yemen's port of Aden EU naval mission says the tanker is fully laden, meaning there is a risk of explosions Merchant vessels have rescued 24 crew members, two reported missing Oct 18 (Reuters) - The LPG-laden tanker MV Falcon was on fire and adrift on Saturday off the coast of Yemen, after it reported an explosion that forced members of its crew to abandon the vessel, the European Union's naval force Aspides said in a statement. The cause of the explosion was unclear but most likely an accident, according to initial indications, Aspides said. It added that at least 15% of the Cameroon-flagged vessel was on fire. Sign up here. Due to the risk of further explosions, since the tanker was fully loaded with liquefied petroleum gas, Aspides advised vessels in the area to keep a safe distance from the carrier. "The fire onboard is increasing," Aspides said in a statement. "MV Falcon represents a navigational hazard. Everyone in the area must exercise caution." An operation was in progress to rescue its 26 crew members. So far, 24 seafarers have been recovered by two merchant vessels sailing nearby. One of the ships, the MV Veda, was taking those rescued to Djibouti, escorted by a Greek frigate. Two crew members are reported missing, Aspides said. The MV Falcon was travelling from Oman's Sohar Port to Djibouti, British security firm Ambrey said earlier. The explosion occurred as it was sailing 113 nautical miles southeast of the port of Aden in Yemen. Maritime security sources said that neither missiles nor unmanned aerial vehicles had been detected in the area. Ambrey said the tanker was not believed to match the target profile of Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants. A Houthi defence ministry official said the group had no connection to the incident, according to the Houthi-run Saba news agency. Houthi militants have launched numerous attacks on vessels in the Red Sea since 2023, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel's war on Gaza. The attacks have disrupted trade flows through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest shipping routes. https://www.reuters.com/world/cameroon-flagged-tanker-issued-distress-call-off-yemens-ahwar-security-firm-says-2025-10-18/
2025-10-18 11:38
Oct 18 (Reuters) - The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Saturday it received a report of an incident 116 nautical miles (214 km) east of the Yemeni port of Aden, in which a vessel was hit by an unknown projectile, causing a fire. Authorities were investigating, UKMTO added. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/ukmto-says-vessel-hit-by-unknown-projectile-east-yemens-aden-2025-10-18/
2025-10-18 11:14
Oct 18 (Reuters) - Repair work has started on damaged off-site power lines to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant following a four-week outage, officials said on Saturday. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the work began after local ceasefire zones were established to allow for the repairs to proceed. Sign up here. The plant currently produces no electricity, but needs power to ensure fuel in the reactors remains cool and no meltdown occurs. "Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security. Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable a complex repair plan to proceed," Grossi said in a post on social media platform X. Both the Ukrainian energy ministry and the Russian-appointed management of the plant confirmed the maintenance works. The Zaporizhzhia plant - Europe's largest, with six reactors - was seized by Russian troops in the first weeks of Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Both Kyiv and Moscow regularly accuse each other of attacks that endanger nuclear safety. Located near the city of Enerhodar along the Dnipro river, the power plant is close to the front line. During more than three and a half years of the war, the plant was frequently disconnected from the power grid, but the latest outage was one of the longest. Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said that connecting the plant to the Ukrainian grid and ensuring its stable operation by Ukrainian experts were fundamental to preventing a nuclear incident. The Russian-appointed management of the plant said Russia's Defence Ministry would play a key role in ensuring the safety of the repair work. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/repairs-begin-zaporizhzhia-power-plant-lines-after-ceasefire-zones-established-2025-10-18/
2025-10-18 05:20
Oct 18 (Reuters) - Danish wind turbine maker Vestas has shelved plans to open its biggest factory in Poland, the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Saturday, citing weaker-than-expected demand in Europe. Vestas announced plans for a second offshore wind turbine plant in Poland last year. The factory, which was expected to create more than 1,000 jobs, would produce blades and start operations in 2026. Sign up here. However, plans for the development have now been paused, "due to lower than projected demand for offshore wind in Europe," the company said, adding that it "continues to invest in a local manufacturing footprint where the offshore wind market volume and certainty allow." The suspension of plans was first reported by the Financial Times. In August, Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a bill meant to ease rules for building onshore wind farms. A week later Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters that the country would "radically increase onshore wind capacity," adding that the government was working on a resolution to allow more efficient wind turbines to be installed at existing wind farms. Renewable energy production has been increasing in Poland at the expense of coal-fired power, though the latter still dominates the mix. In 2024, nearly 30% of Polish electricity was generated from renewable sources. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/vestas-shelves-polish-turbine-plant-amid-weak-european-demand-ft-reports-2025-10-18/
2025-10-18 05:10
BEIJING, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Chen Ning Yang, one of the world's most renowned physicists and a Nobel Prize winner, died at 103 of illness in Beijing on October 18, state news outlet Xinhua said on Saturday. Born in Hefei in Anhui province in eastern China in 1922, Yang shared a Nobel Prize for physics with Tsung-Dao Lee in 1957. He was also a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at the prestigious Tsinghua University. Sign up here. Yang, whose name is also rendered as Yang Zhenning, studied for his doctorate at the University of Chicago in the 1940s, and was the first Chinese scientist to visit China when diplomatic relations between the United States and China began to open up in the 1970s. Since 1999, Yang had been teaching at Tsinghua University, where he also spent eight years of his childhood when his father was a professor at Tsinghua. Tsinghua greyed out the colours on its website on Saturday in remembrance of Yang. "My life has been a circle, where I started out from a point, travelled a long way, and finally returned to where I came from," Yang was cited as saying by Tsinghua. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/nobel-laureate-chen-ning-yang-dies-103-xinhua-says-2025-10-18/
2025-10-18 04:55
Funding targets more than $7 billion in New York projects States criticize effort and say they have gotten no official notice White House has repeatedly targeted projects in Democratic-run states, cities WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The Trump administration will freeze a further $11 billion worth of infrastructure projects in Democratic states due to the ongoing government shutdown, White House budget director Russell Vought said on Friday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will pause work on "low priority" projects in cities such as New York, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore, Vought said on social media, adding that the projects could eventually be canceled. Sign up here. The money includes $600 million for two aging, federally owned bridges spanning the Cape Cod canal in Massachusetts that are slated for replacement and carry millions of travelers yearly. CALIFORNIA SAYS TRUMP 'WEAPONIZING HIS FEDERAL SHUTDOWN' Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and the state's U.S. senators said that despite Vought's post, "we have not received any information from the federal government regarding this action... This project is moving forward with funding appropriated by a bipartisan Congress and lawfully awarded by the federal government." The White House Office of Management and Budget said President Donald Trump "wants to reorient how the federal government prioritizes Army Corps projects." His administration has already frozen at least $28 billion for transportation and energy projects in cities and states controlled by Democratic politicians, as the Republican president pressures his opponents in Congress to end the shutdown, which began October 1. Trump has also vowed to cut "Democrat Agencies" and sought to eliminate 4,100 federal jobs as he looks to inflict pain on his political opposition. The Army Corps projects include a waterfront park in San Francisco, restoring aquatic habitat in Restoration, California, and water and wastewater systems in New York City, OMB said. New York projects account for $7 billion of the total. Other affected projects are in Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Delaware, OMB said. All of these states voted against Trump in the 2024 presidential election. OMB said many of the projects sit in "sanctuary jurisdictions" that have resisted the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. The Army Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom said, "Halting lifesaving levee and infrastructure projects that protect red and blue communities alike puts Americans at risk.... Trump is weaponizing his federal shutdown to attack communities and Americans he perceives as his political enemies." New York Governor Kathy Hochul responded to Vought on X: "Good luck with that. We'll be in touch." https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-administration-freezes-another-11-billion-infrastructure-spending-shutdown-2025-10-17/
