2024-09-07 06:49

Yagi is Asia's most powerful storm this year Winds reach up to 160 kph as Yagi approached Vietnam Death toll stands at 22 people HANOI/HAIPHONG, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Asia's most powerful storm this year made landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday, the meteorological agency said, killing at least four people after tearing through China's island of Hainan and the Philippines. Super Typhoon Yagi hit island districts of north Vietnam around 1 p.m. (0600 GMT), generating winds of up to 160 kph (99 mph) near its centre, having lost power from its peak of 234 kph (145 mph) in Hainan a day earlier. The government said that as of 5 p.m. four people had died and 78 had been injured by the typhoon. At least another dozen were missing at sea, according to state media. Yagi had already claimed the lives of at least two people in Hainan and 16 people in the Philippines, the first country it hit, having formed east of the archipelago earlier in the week. Vietnam's coastal city of Haiphong, an industrial hub with a population of 2 million people that hosts factories from foreign multinationals and local carmaker VinFast , was among the hardest-hit by winds with speeds of up to 90 kph. As the typhoon approached, the city experienced widespread power outages on Saturday, authorities said, as did at least three other northern provinces. In Haiphong, the strong winds smashed windows and waves were as much as three meters high when they hit the coast, according to a Reuters witness. Metal roofing sheets were blown away, pictures and footage on local media showed. The government said thousands of trees had fallen and many houses were damaged across northern Vietnam. Earlier in Hainan, which has a population of more than 10 million, the storm felled trees, flooded roads and cut power to more than 800,000 homes. AIRPORTS CLOSED Vietnam evacuated more than 50,000 people from coastal towns and deployed 450,000 military personnel, the government said. It also suspended operations for several hours at four airports on Saturday, including Hanoi's Noi Bai, the busiest in the north, which cancelled more than 300 flights. High schools were also closed in 12 northern provinces, including in the capital Hanoi, which has a population of 8.5 million. Authorities in the capital suspended public transport on buses and its two elevated metro lines on Saturday afternoon, state media reported. The meteorological agency has warned of risks of heavy flooding in the city centre. Hanoi resident Nguyen Manh Quan, 40, said: "The wind is strong enough to blow a person over," while Dang Van Phuong, also 40, said: "I've never seen a storm like this, you can't drive in these winds." Typhoons are becoming stronger, fuelled by warmer oceans, amid climate change, scientists say. Last week, Typhoon Shanshan slammed into southwestern Japan, the strongest storm to hit the country in decades. Yagi is named after the Japanese word for goat and the constellation of Capricornus. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/super-typhoon-yagi-sets-sight-vietnam-after-tearing-through-chinas-hainan-2024-09-07/

2024-09-07 06:20

Power costs straining economy Power minister says current costs 'unsustainable' No specific demands made yet, minister says KARACHI, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Pakistan is renegotiating contracts with independent power producers to rein in "unsustainable" electricity tariffs, the head of the power ministry said, as households and businesses buckle under soaring energy costs. Rising power tariffs have stirred social unrest and shuttered industries in the $350 billion economy, which has contracted twice in recent years as inflation hit record highs. "The existing price structure of power in this country is not sustainable," Awais Leghari, a federal minister heading Pakistan's Power Division, told Reuters in an interview on Friday. He said discussions were under way between power producers and the government because "there is a clear understanding on both sides that the status quo can't be maintained." Leghari stressed that all stakeholders would have to "give in to a certain point" - though without compromising completely on business sustainability - and this would have to be done "as soon as possible". Faced with chronic shortages a decade ago, Pakistan approved dozens of private projects by independent power producers (IPPs), financed mostly by foreign lenders. The incentivised deals included high guaranteed returns and commitments to even pay for unused power. However, a sustained economic crisis has slashed power consumption, leaving the country with excess capacity that it needs to pay for. Short of funds, the government has built those fixed costs and capacity payments into consumer bills, sparking protests by domestic users and industrial associations. Four sources in the power sector told Reuters changes to contracts demanded included slashing guaranteed returns, capping dollar rates and moving away from paying for unused power. The sources requested anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media. On Saturday, local media outlet Business Recorder said in a report citing sources that 24 conditions have been proposed for the transition of capacity based model to take-and-pay model. However, Leghari told Reuters that no new draft agreements or specific demands had been officially sent to power companies and said the government would not force them to sign new watered down contracts. "We would sit and talk to them in a civil and professional manner," he said, adding that the government has always maintained contractual obligations to investors, both foreign and local. He said contract revisions would be by "mutual consent" Energy sector viability was the focus of a critical staff level pact in May with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $7 billion bailout. The IMF's staff report stressed the need to revisit power deals. Pakistan has already initiated talks on reprofiling power sector debt owed to China as well as negotiations on structural reforms, but progress has been slow. Pakistan has also committed to stop power sector subsidies. Leghari said current rates were not affordable for domestic or commercial consumers and this was hurting growth because power prices were no longer regionally competitive, putting critical exports at a disadvantage. He said the aim was to bring tariffs down to 9 U.S. cents per unit for commercial users from about 28 cents currently. ($1 = 278.45 Pakistani rupees) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/pakistan-renegotiating-power-deals-cut-costs-minister-says-2024-09-07/

2024-09-07 03:08

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A dozen Republican U.S. lawmakers urged the Biden administration on Friday to address the use of Chinese-manufactured agriculture drones, saying their use on American farms poses national security risks. The House members, including Representatives Elise Stefanik, Ashley Hinson and John Moolenaar, who chairs a select committee on China, asked the Agriculture Department and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, in letters seen by Reuters, to detail the administration's efforts to address risks posed by aerosol-dispensing drones. The lawmakers asked for a briefing by Sept. 30, citing the large number of drones produced by Chinese drone manufacturer DJI as a security concern. DJI responded that it has no ties to the Chinese military, saying in an emailed statement "the unfounded accusations against our agricultural drone technology are putting U.S. farmers at risk by potentially depriving them of the tremendous benefits that DJI spray drones offer." The company said its agricultural drone technology "supports sustainable agriculture, allowing American farmers and business owners to integrate additional precision farming practices into their operations." The Chinese Embassy in Washington said China "firmly supports Chinese companies in carrying out international trade and cooperation in drones for civilian use, and opposes certain countries' frequent illegal sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals on the grounds of so-called national security." The U.S. agencies declined to comment. The congressional letter noted that the Commerce Department has imposed export restrictions on aerosol dispensing drones that have potential to be used as weapons delivery platforms. "The risk of these DJI agricultural spray drones being manipulated to carry out an attack in the United States cannot be ignored," the letter said. "Relying on our greatest strategic adversary for technology critical to the success of our agricultural production endangers the resiliency of our food supply." Stefanik called on the Agriculture Department and the cybersecurity agency to "take immediate action to mitigate the risks of Chinese-manufactured drones to our agriculture industry." She has proposed legislation seeking to bar new DJI drones from operating in the United States. DJI agriculture drones use advanced sensors that can collect and interpret crop data that is "impossible for the human eye to see", the lawmakers wrote, arguing that China could use the sensors "to gain access into granular level detail on the stability and condition of the U.S. agriculture sector." In 2020, the U.S imposed export restrictions on DJI. Lawmakers have said DJI accounts for more than 50% of all U.S. drone purchases. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/lawmakers-want-us-address-risks-posed-by-chinese-agriculture-drones-2024-09-06/

2024-09-07 02:57

Sept 7 (Reuters) - China's central bank held back on buying gold for its reserves for a fourth straight month in August, official data showed on Saturday. China's gold holdings stood at 72.8 million fine troy ounces at the end of last month. The value of the gold reserves, however, rose to $182.98 billion compared with $176.64 billion at the end of July. Gold prices have been rising this year amid bets that U.S. rate cuts are imminent and due to safe-haven demand driven by geopolitical and economic uncertainty, with central banks making robust purchases. Gold prices have surged 21% so far this year and are hovering slightly below a record high of $2,531.60 hit on Aug. 20. Prior to the pause in its purchases, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) had bought gold for 18 consecutive months. The central bank was the world's largest single buyer of gold in 2023 and its decision to put its buying on hold has helped mute Chinese investor demand in recent months. The PBOC is expected to resume purchases at some point despite high prices due to political, rather than economical, motivations, such as its desire to be less dependent on the U.S. dollar as a reserve asset, said Carsten Menke, an analyst at Julius Baer. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chinas-gold-reserves-unchanged-fourth-straight-month-august-2024-09-07/

2024-09-07 02:44

Sept 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve and other regulators are set to unveil sweeping changes to a raft of proposed banks capital rules as soon as Sept. 19, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The revisions could run up to 450 pages and would include key changes to rules that center on operational risk provisions including a reduction in the capital that banks must allocate against business lines like wealth-management services and certain credit-card operations, the report added. The new revised proposal would also reduce the market-risk requirement for the country's biggest lenders, which would not face as stringent requirements around mortgages or tax-equity exposures, the report said. Next Tuesday, Fed vice chair Michael Barr will preview the regulators’ revised proposal and explain the next steps at the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy, Brookings said in a blog post. Regulators began rolling out the Basel III rules after the 2007-2009 global financial crisis forced taxpayers to bail out several undercapitalized banks. In July 2023, the Fed, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation published for comment proposed changes to bank capital rules. The rules are expected to overhaul how larger banks gauge risk and how much capital they should hold. Banks, which fiercely opposed the original "Basel III Endgame" proposal that would hike capital requirements for larger banks, have been calling for a re-proposal. Regulators have been working for months on revising the plan in a way that could significantly curtail the capital impact for larger firms. The Fed declined to comment on the report. FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency didn't immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-propose-basel-rule-revisions-this-month-bloomberg-reports-2024-09-07/

2024-09-07 02:27

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Sept 7 (Reuters) - China's foreign exchange reserves rose to the highest level in more than 8-1/2 years in August, official data showed on Saturday, thanks largely to a broadly weaker U.S. dollar. The country's foreign exchange reserves - the world's largest - grew by $31.8 billion to $3.288 trillion last month, booking the second straight monthly expansion and hitting the highest since December 2015. But it slightly missed a $3.289 trillion forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts. The yuan gained 1.9% against the dollar in August, while the dollar last month weakened 2.2% against a basket of other major currencies . Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/china-fx-reserves-rise-highest-level-since-2015-august-2024-09-07/