2025-09-29 18:57

Dutch-flagged Minervagracht damaged by explosive device in Gulf of Aden, operator said Two crew injured, vessel operator said Cargo ship is adrift and on fire, Aspides said LONDON/ATHENS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The Dutch-flagged general cargo ship Minervagracht is on fire and drifting in the Gulf of Aden after an attack with an explosive device required the helicopter rescue of its 19 crew, the EU maritime mission Aspides and the vessel's operator said on Monday. It was not immediately clear whether the attack that injured two sailors was carried out by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, who since 2023 have launched numerous assaults on vessels in the Red Sea that they deem to be linked with Israel in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians over Israel's war on Gaza. Sign up here. The vessel's Amsterdam-based operator Spliethoff said Minervagracht was in international waters in the Gulf of Aden when it was struck by an unidentified explosive device that inflicted substantial damage and started a fire on the ship. The ship was about 128 nautical miles southeast of the port of Aden, Yemen, when the explosion happened. Rescuers evacuated the vessel's 19 crew, who are Russian, Ukrainian, Filipino, and Sri Lankan. One was wounded and in stable condition and another was seriously injured and being transported to Djibouti, the EU maritime mission Aspides said. "The MV Minervagracht is on fire and adrift," said Aspides, which added that the vessel had not previously asked for its protection. If confirmed, this would be the first attack by the Houthis on a commercial ship since September 1, when they targeted the Israeli-owned tanker Scarlet Ray near Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Yanbu. In July, the Houthis attacked and sank the Magic Seas bulk carrier and Eternity C cargo ship in the Red Sea. The last significant Houthi attack in the Gulf of Aden was on the Singapore-flagged Lobivia container ship in July 2024. The vessel was previously targeted on September 23 on its way to Djibouti, according to British security firm Ambrey. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netherlands-flagged-cargo-ship-attacked-near-yemens-aden-maritime-firms-say-2025-09-29/

2025-09-29 18:49

Livestock restrictions threaten a $192 billion sector, Mexico's meat industry says US blames Mexico for screwworm spread near border, keeps cattle ban in place Ivermectin rule delays cattle movement, sector source says, adding pressure to supply chains Parasite has not yet crossed US border, officials say MEXICO CITY, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Mexico's meat industry is pushing back against new government regulations on livestock movement as tensions with the United States heat up over an outbreak of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite. Restricting movement of livestock from the south to the north of the country "threatens the viability of a sector that generated $192 billion in 2024," Mexican meat chamber AMEG said in a statement released on Friday. Sign up here. "Recent measures... jeopardize the supply chain of the meat production sector," AMEG said without specifying which measures. It said the only proven method to eradicate the screwworm, which infests and can kill livestock if untreated, was the release of sterile flies to reduce the mating population in the wild. A document dated September 19 from Mexico's agriculture ministry and sanitation agency Senasica, seen by Reuters and confirmed by a Senasica spokesperson, said the anti-parasite drug ivermectin must be given 72 hours in advance of the movement of cattle under the supervision of staff from the International Regional Organization for Animal and Plant Health. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins blamed a confirmed case of screwworm last week in Mexico's Nuevo Leon state, less than 70 miles (113 km) from the U.S. border, on Mexico's failure to curb cattle movements and tend to fly traps that monitor the wild population. The Mexican document detailing the new requirement for ivermectin use was sent to sector professionals by the government via email, according to a Mexican industry official who asked not to be identified. The ivermectin requirement would substantially delay livestock movement, the official said. Mexico has battled to contain the outbreak that has moved northwards from Central America. The pest, which officials have said has not yet crossed the U.S. border, poses a multibillion-dollar risk to the country's beef industry. The U.S. government has kept its border mostly closed to Mexican cattle imports since May. U.S. cattle producers, including industry group R-CALF USA, have publicly called on the U.S. government to persuade Mexico to halt the northward movement of livestock and the illegal trafficking of cattle originating from other Latin American countries. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week the country was working on new measures that would soon be announced, but said restricting livestock movement from the south to the north was not simple. Senasica told Reuters on September 25 that its fly trap system is checked every three or four days, a frequency that was jointly determined with U.S. counterparts, and that it has implemented a double inspection system at the livestock's point of origin. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/mexico-meat-sector-decries-new-livestock-movement-rules-ivermectin-requirement-2025-09-29/

2025-09-29 18:00

WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - St. Louis Federal Reserve President Alberto Musalem said he was open to further interest rate cuts but the Fed must be cautious and keep rates high enough to continue to lean against inflation that remains roughly a percentage point above the central bank's 2% target. "Monetary policy is now somewhere between modestly restrictive and neutral," Musalem, a voter on interest rate policy this year, said at Washington University in St. Louis. "I am open minded to future potential reductions in interest rates. I do believe we need to move cautiously because the room between now and the point where policy becomes overly accommodative is limited." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/feds-musalem-open-further-cuts-must-be-cautious-2025-09-29/

2025-09-29 14:59

ROME, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Italy and Bahrain said on Monday they had signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at enhancing investments and trade worth over one billion euros ($1.2 billion), according to a joint statement between the two nations. The memorandum was announced after a meeting in Rome between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Crown Prince of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the statement said. Sign up here. The memorandum "will enhance economic relations and increase trade and investments ... with the partnership committing to investments in excess of one billion euros," as the parties agreed to boost ties in sectors including energy and defence. The two countries also called for the end to the war in Gaza and the release of all Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, while also condemning "any unilateral or violent action in the West Bank." "Both parties called for full and safe humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza," the statement added, confirming support for a two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians. ($1 = 0.8524 euros) https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/italy-bahrain-sign-memorandum-worth-over-1-billion-euros-2025-09-29/

2025-09-29 14:53

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank continues to see signs of resilience in the country's economy despite indications of an overall slowdown, its governor said on Monday, adding that the authority would maintain a data-driven approach to monetary policy. Gabriel Galipolo's remarks came as the bank earlier this month held interest rates at a near two-decade high of 15% for a second straight meeting, signaling it would keep them unchanged for a long time in a bid to tame persistent inflation. Sign up here. Speaking at an event hosted by Itau BBA, Galipolo emphasized that the central bank is monitoring whether interest rates are at a sufficiently restrictive level to bring inflation back to its 3% target. He noted that Brazil's job market has demonstrated "great resilience, while a current account deficit points to heated demand. "There is still a lot of effort to be made by the central bank," Galipolo said, adding that keeping interest rates high for an extended period will be more difficult than having raised them. "We're going to have to grit our teeth for a while. That will be the bigger challenge," he said. He mentioned that both the bank's own projections and the expectations of various economic agents suggest that inflation will remain above the goal over the relevant horizon, which currently extends to the first quarter of 2027. Galipolo also pointed out that current inflation is above target, adding that all these variables "require us to remain vigilant, calm, and persistent." Even so, the governor said that the bank's data-dependent approach has proven effective so far. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-central-bank-still-sees-signs-economic-resilience-says-governor-2025-09-29/

2025-09-29 14:25

CAIRO, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The Central Bank of Egypt is expected to lower its overnight interest rates by 100 basis points on Thursday as inflation continues to abate, a Reuters poll showed. The median forecast of 16 economists surveyed in the poll, published on Monday, is for the CBE's Monetary Policy Committee to cut the deposit rate to 21% and the lending rate to 22% when it meets on Thursday. The rate for deposits is currently 22% and for lending 23%. Sign up here. "We expect that continued disinflation paves the way for the CBE to deliver another aggressive interest rate cut, and would still leave real interest rates in a firmly positive territory," said John Swanston of Capital Economics. Annual urban consumer inflation in Egypt slowed to 12.0% in August from 13.9% in July, continuing a downward trend from a peak of 38.0% in September 2023, according to the state statistics agency CAPMAS. That left real interest rates at over 10%, one of the world's highest. The central bank has gradually lowered interest rates this year, with a 225 basis point cut in April, a 100 point cut in May and a 200 point cut in August. Before that, it had left rates fixed since March 2024, when it lifted them by 600 points as part of an $8 billion financial support package with the International Monetary Fund. M2 money supply growth, at 22.3% in July, has also been inching down over the last few months. "Given recent geopolitical developments and a creep up in oil prices, we are thinking they will remain relatively cautious with a 100 bps cut," said Farouk Soussa of Goldman Sachs. Egypt's fuel pricing committee is scheduled to raise prices of fuel, which is heavily subsidised, in early October as the country works to reach cost recovery and reduce its current account deficit. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/egypt-seen-cutting-interest-rates-by-100-basis-points-thursday-2025-09-29/