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December
Red Sea attacks force rerouting of vessels, disrupting supply chains
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: The Galaxy Leader cargo ship is escorted by Houthi boats in the Red Sea in this photo released November 20, 2023. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo -
DUBAI: Mounting attacks by the Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militant group on ships in the Red Sea are disrupting maritime trade as leading global freight firms reroute around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Suez Canal.
Multiple "projectiles" were fired from Houthi-controlled territory on Monday (Dec 18) at a vessel in the southern Red Sea, US officials said. The Houthi movement has launched a series of missile and drone attacks on ships in the area, which it says are a response to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack. Several major freight companies - including MSC and Maersk - have begun to sail around Africa, adding costs and delays which are expected to be compounded over the coming weeks, according to industry analysts. About 15 per cent of world shipping traffic transits via the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
Combined, the companies that have diverted vessels "control around half of the global container shipping market", ABN Amro analyst Albert Jan Swart told Reuters.
"Avoiding the Red Sea will lead to higher costs due to longer travel time."
British energy giant BP on Monday said it had joined other companies in suspending transits through the Red Sea.
"In light of the deteriorating security situation for shipping in the Red Sea, BP has decided to temporarily pause all transits," a statement said.
"We will keep this precautionary pause under ongoing review, subject to circumstances as they evolve in the region," it added.
BP said "safety and security" of staff was "priority".
The war between Israel and Hamas, which began on Oct 7, has sent shockwaves through the region and drawn in the United States and its allies on one side and Iran-backed paramilitary groups in the Middle East on the other, threatening to cause a broader conflict.
The shipping attacks have prompted the United States and its allies to discuss a task force that would protect Red Sea routes, a move that US and Israeli arch-foe Tehran has warned would be a mistake.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday arrived for talks in the region. Rico Luman, an analyst at ING, said the diversions were adding at least a week of sailing time for container liners. Typically, shipping goods from Shanghai to Rotterdam takes around 27 days via the Suez Canal.
"This will at least lead to delays in late December, with knock-on effects in January and probably February as the next round will also be delayed," Luman said.
While freight rates will likely increase on these longer voyages too, carriers at the moment are seeking ways to utilize excess capacity, said Zvi Schreiber, CEO of global freight platform Freightos.
"It is unlikely that rates will spike to levels experienced during the pandemic," said Schreiber, referring to the economic effects of COVID-19 from 2020.
Shipping stocks rose across European exchanges in morning trading on Monday after a jump on Friday on bets the shift away from the Suez Canal could boost rates. Maersk rose 3.5 per cent in early trade in Copenhagen, before paring some of those gains.
The Suez Canal is an important source of foreign currency for Egypt. About 90 per cent of world trade is transported by sea.
The International Chamber of Shipping said on Friday that the Houthi assault on shipping lanes, which began last month, was an "extremely serious threat to international trade" and urged naval forces in the area to do all they can to stop the attacks//CNA-VOI
December
People watch as the night sky is illuminated caused by the eruption of a volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula of south-west Iceland seen from the capital city of Reykjavik on Dec 18, 2023. (Photo: AP/Brynjar Gunnarsson) -
REYKJAVIK: A volcanic eruption began on Monday (Dec 18) night in Iceland, south of the capital Reykjavik, following an earthquake swarm, Iceland's Meteorological Office said. For weeks, the Nordic country has been on high alert for a potential eruption at any moment after a period of intense seismic activity on the southwest peninsula, which last month prompted evacuation orders.
"At 22.17 this evening, a volcanic eruption began north of Grindavik on the Reykjanes peninsula," the IMO said, adding that it could be seen from nearby webcams.
The live-streamed footage of the eruption showed large jets of glowing orange lava spewing into the night sky, surrounded by billowing red smoke.
"A Coast Guard helicopter will take off shortly to confirm the exact location and size of the eruption," the IMO said.
In November, thousands of small earthquakes rattled the region south of Reykjavik. The roughly 4,000 residents of Grindavik, a fishing port around 40km from the capital, were evacuated on Nov 11 after officials determined a tunnel of magma was shifting beneath them, considered a precursor to an eruption.
Residents told AFP the seismic activity had damaged roads and buildings. Since then, they have only been allowed to visit their homes during certain daylight hours. Authorities have organised occasional trips into the village, escorting those with homes in the most perilous parts to rescue everything from cherished pets to photo albums, furniture and clothing.
Volcanic eruptions are not uncommon in Iceland, which is home to 33 active volcano systems, the highest number in Europe. But the Reykjanes peninsula had not experienced an eruption for eight centuries until 2021.
Since then, three eruptions have struck - all in remote, uninhabited areas - and volcanologists say this could be the start of a new era of activity in the region. Previous eruptions near the Fagradalsfjall volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula took place in 2021, 2022 and earlier this year.
In 2010, the eruption of Iceland's long-dormant Eyjafjallajokull volcano - an ice-capped volcano more than 1,660 metres tall - shot huge amounts of ash into the atmosphere. That massive, explosive eruption was not fatal, but forced the cancellation of around 100,000 flights and left more than 10 million travellers stranded.
Situated in the North Atlantic, Iceland straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack in the ocean floor separating the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates//CNA-VOI
December
Friends actor Matthew Perry died from 'acute effects of ketamine'
Written by nuke
A makeshift memorial for actor Matthew Perry, the wise-cracking co-star of the 1990s hit television sitcom Friends, who was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Oct 28, is pictured on Bedford Street in Manhattan in New York City, US, Oct 30, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Mike Segar/File Photo) -
Voinews, Jakarta - Friends star Matthew Perry died from the "acute effects" of the powerful sedative ketamine that, combined with other factors, caused the actor to lose consciousness and drown in his hot tub, according to an autopsy released on Friday (Oct 15).
The report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner came nearly seven weeks after Perry, 54, who publicly acknowledged decades of drug and alcohol abuse, was found by his live-in assistant floating face down and lifeless in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home.
Toxicology tests found ketamine, a short-acting anaesthetic with hallucinogenic properties, in Perry's body at high levels well within the range typically associated with general anaesthesia used in monitored surgical care, the report said.
"Matthew Perry's cause of death is determined to be from the acute effects of ketamine," the autopsy concluded.
Coronary artery disease, the effects of the opioid-addiction medicine buprenorphine, also detected in his system, and drowning were listed as contributing factors in his death, which was ruled an accident.
The concentrations of ketamine in Perry's body would have overstimulated his heart rate while depressing his breathing, likely leading him to lapse into unconsciousness before his face slipped below the water in the hot tub, the report said.
"The exact method of intake in Mr Perry's case is unknown," the report said, adding that trace amounts of the drug showed up in his stomach. No recent needle marks were found on his body, it said.
Referred to as a "dissociative anaesthetic hallucinogen" because it produces a feeling of detachment from pain, anxiety and the environment, ketamine can be injected, mixed with liquids, snorted as a powder or smoked, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Autopsy findings suggested Perry may have been self-medicating with ketamine between medically supervised treatments with the drug.
According to witness interviews cited in the report, Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety. But his last known treatment was a week and a half before his death, so the ketamine found in his system by medical examiners would have been introduced since that last infusion, the report said.
Perry's Oct 28 death came one year after the publication of his memoir, Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing, which chronicled his decades-long bouts with addiction to prescription painkillers and alcohol, a struggle he said came close to ending his life more than once.
Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the 1990s hit television sitcom Friends, had been sober for 19 months with no known substance abuse relapses before his death, according to interviews cited in the autopsy.
Investigators found no alcohol, illicit drugs or drug paraphernalia at the scene of his death. Multiple nicotine vaping products and an inhaler were found in Perry's living room. Injectables of the anti-diabetes medication tirzepatide and nicotine lollipops were in the refrigerator.
The actor had stopped smoking two weeks earlier, had been prescribed Tamoxifen – a hormone regulator usually taken for breast cancer prevention – for weight loss, and was receiving testosterone shots, the report said.
Non-toxic levels of some prescription medications were detected in Perry's body, but no traces of alcohol, cocaine, heroin or other illegal narcotics were found, the report said.
As was widely reported since, Perry had played pickleball hours before his death, and a witness who knew the actor told investigators he seemed to be in "good spirits" when she last spoke with him days earlier, the report said//CNA-VOI
December
Singapore PM Lee, Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida welcome new green and digital shipping corridor
Written by nuke
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong meets his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Dec 16, 2023. (Photo: Ministry of Communications and Information) -
SINGAPORE: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Saturday (Dec 16) during his trip to Tokyo.
Mr Lee is in Tokyo from Dec 15 to Dec 18 for the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit.
The prime ministers welcomed the signing of a memorandum of cooperation to establish a green and digital shipping corridor between ports in Singapore and Japan.
The agreement will facilitate the adoption of digital solutions and the provision of zero and near-zero emission fuels through demonstration projects, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in a statement on Saturday.
Both prime ministers also reaffirmed the longstanding and excellent relations between Singapore and Japan, and discussed how the countries could further expand and deepen cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as the future economy, digitalisation, security, as well as sustainability and energy.
The leaders exchanged views on regional and international developments, and emphasised the importance of upholding a rules-based international order and the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter.
"Both leaders welcomed the upgrade of ASEAN-Japan relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership earlier this year, and noted that this would be an opportunity to further ties between both sides as well as jointly address the challenges facing the region," said MFA.
The prime ministers also "looked forward to celebrating 60 years of Singapore-Japan diplomatic relations in 2026".
The memorandum of cooperation to establish a green and digital shipping corridor was signed by Singapore's Acting Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat and Japan's Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Saito Tetsuo.
This memorandum marks the first green and digital shipping corridor established between Singapore and Japan to develop standards and best practices supporting the decarbonisation, digitalisation and growth of the maritime industry, said Singapore's Ministry of Transport (MOT)//CNA-VOI
December
Tokyo Gas unit to buy US natgas producer Rockcliff Energy for $2.7 billion
Written by nuke
A natural gas pipeline, and the logos of Tokyo Gas and Rockcliff Energy are seen in this illustration taken January 4, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo -
TOKYO : A unit of Tokyo Gas has decided to buy Texas-based natural gas producer Rockcliff Energy from private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners for $2.7 billion to expand its overseas business, it said on Saturday.
The deal comes as part of the Japanese company's efforts to expand its North American shale gas operations to meet growing demand for natural gas as an energy transition fuel.
Tokyo Gas, Japan's biggest city gas supplier, and other utilities are stepping up overseas expansion to counter falling demand in their domestic market. Japan has an ageing population and a declining birthrate, while energy market reform has spurred competition among old-guard utilities.
Under the deal, TG Natural Resources (TGNR) - 79 per cent owned by Tokyo Gas - will buy all shares in Rockcliff Energy from Quantum Energy Partners. The deal is expected to close on Dec. 29, Tokyo Gas said.
With the acquisition, TGNR's natural gas production will quadruple to 1.3 billion cubic feet per day from about 330 million cubic feet per day, making it one of the largest shale gas producers in Texas and Louisiana, according to Tokyo Gas.
"We expect our gas production will be more efficient after the acquisition as Rockcliff Energy's output area is located adjacent to TGNR's blocks," Takashi Nakao, senior general manager of global business development at Tokyo Gas, told reporters.
The production is also close to new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals and other facilities expected to increase demand for natural gas in the future, Nakao said.
Asked if the supply will be exported to Japan as LNG, Nakao said the current plan is to sell all the gas in the U.S. domestic market, though he did not rule out possibly sending it as LNG to Japan in the future.
Talks about the acquisition were reported by Reuters early this year//CNA-VOI
December
SpaceX targets Dec 28 for launch of US military's secretive X-37B spaceplane
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, U.S. September 19, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake -
SpaceX said it was targeting Thursday, Dec. 28 for the launch of the U.S. military's X-37B robot spaceplane on its seventh mission to orbit.
"Now targeting no earlier than Thursday, December 28 for Falcon Heavy to launch USSF-52 to orbit from Florida," SpaceX said in a post on X on Friday, after it stood down on the launch earlier this week to perform additional system checkouts.
The original plan to send the spacecraft to orbit late on Sunday was scrubbed due to poor weather conditions at Cape Canaveral, Florida//CNA-VOI
December
Cold wave freezes most of China, shutting highways, roads
Written by nuke
A delivery worker rides a scooter as he uses his foot to balance on a slippery street amid snowfall in Beijing, China on Dec 14, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS/Tingshu Wang) -
BEIJING: A cold wave extended its grip over China on Friday (Dec 15) with temperatures plummeting to below freezing across most of the country, causing authorities to limit traffic flows on highways in several provinces after vehicles collided on icy patches.
Temperatures will drop to below minus 40 degrees Celsius in parts of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang and in the region of Xinjiang in the northwest, along with Inner Mongolia and the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai, according to forecasts from China's National Meteorological Centre.
The cold wave that began at the start of this week is moving through the country from north to south and is expected to drag temperatures lower into the weekend even as the Meteorological Centre says rain and snow will decrease.
The city of Yichun in Heilongjiang could see a January 1980 record of minus 47.9 degrees Celsius be broken early next week as severe weather conditions set in.
In Henan province, snowfall and icy roads along with heavy fog caused multiple accidents on several expressways leading to traffic controls.
Traffic authorities in Ningxia region said some of its highways have become unsafe and implemented temporary traffic measures as snow fell. Neighbouring Gansu also saw some highways closed and trains suspended, according to state media.
On Beijing's outskirts, authorities looking into an accident on a commuter rail line said a train carriage failed to brake while moving downhill, colliding with another car that had stopped because track conditions had deteriorated due to the snow.
Ferries and some buses were temporarily suspended early on Friday in Shanghai as the financial hub issued its first cold wave warning of the year as cold air from the north is forecast to reduce temperatures to as low as minus 6 degrees Celsius this weekend.
In the southwest, sections of many national and provincial highways in Tibetan cities such as Shigatse and Nyingchi were blocked due to snow, ice and low visibility as the skies have dumped snow since Monday.
The local government has mobilised 2,400 personnel, more than 3,300 metric tons of snow-melting agent, and more than 23,000 cubic meters of anti-skid materials for prevention measures. Photos from state media show tractors scooping up snow and people shovelling on roads against a backdrop of white mountains.
Beijing and the provinces of Jiangxi and Shanxi have also taken measures to secure vegetable and fruit harvests from freeze damage and diseases, state media said.
China lifted its warning for blizzards before dawn on Friday but said heavy snowfall is forecast in parts of Liaoning and Jilin provinces in the northeast as well as in Shandong.
In the city of Shenyang in Liaoning, authorities deployed 22,000 workers and more than 3,400 machines for snow removal operations, clearing as much as 12,800 cubic metres of snow by early Friday. Its observatory has forecast snowfall and strong winds until Saturday.
The national forecaster said the scope and intensity of freezing rain will decrease on Friday but will still appear in some higher terrains in Guizhou and Hunan.
Next week, cold air will continue to flow across the country from north to south, keeping temperatures low in central and eastern regions. Forecasters said most of the country will see lower-than-usual temperatures over the next ten days//CNA-VOI
December
Despite COP28 deal on fossil fuels, 1.5 degrees Celsius goal likely out of reach
Written by nuke
Firefighters tackle fire in a field as forest fires ravage the Bolivian Amazon, in San Buenaventura, Bolivia on Nov 22, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Morales) -
DUBAI: A deal for the world to transition away from fossil fuels was hailed as a historic achievement on Wednesday (Dec 13) at the UN climate summit in Dubai, but there's a good chance it won't achieve its ultimate goal - holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
For months, COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber had described that 1.5 degrees Celsius limit - first stated in the 2015 Paris Agreement - as his "North Star" or guiding principle for the summit.
Scientists say that a global temperature rise beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial average will trigger catastrophic and irreversible impacts, from melting ice sheets to the collapse of ocean currents.
But year after year, that target slips further away - with the world's planet-warming emissions still rising, and temperatures hitting new heights.
This year will be the hottest ever on record, with the global average for 2023 a sweltering 1.46 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.
In terms of global warming, which is measured in terms of decades, the world has experienced nearly 1.2 degrees Celsius of warming.
The deal made in Dubai, called the UAE Consensus, would see the world commit to transitioning away from "fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner ... so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science."
But scientists said that, while the pact was unprecedented, it still wasn't enough for that outcome to be realized.
"It's a landmark result because it's the first time we've said we're going to reduce fossil fuel use," said James Dyke, an earth systems scientist at the University of Exeter in Britain.
"But you can forget about 1.5C."
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the main scientific body which informs the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, has said that limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius with no or limited overshoot would require rapidly cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Specifically, the world needs to cut its emissions from 2019 levels by as much as 43 per cent in the next six years, 60 per cent by 2035 and reach net zero by 2050 in order to prevent compounding impacts, such as thawing permafrost which releases long-trapped greenhouse gases, triggering even more warming.
The IPCC declined to comment on the outcome of COP28.
The world posted record high greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, rising 1.2 per cent above 2021, according to the 2023 UN Emissions Gap Report.
The UAE Consensus does not commit the world to phasing out oil and gas, nor to near-term timelines for transitioning away from fossil fuels//CNA-VOI
December
EU gives green light to Ukraine membership talks in shock win for Kyiv
Written by nuke
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel pose for a picture during a European Union (EU) summi in Kyiv, Ukraine on Feb 3, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout) -
BRUSSELS: European Union leaders unexpectedly agreed on Thursday (Dec 14) to open membership talks with Ukraine, something Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for weeks had vowed to block.
EU diplomats and officials said Orban agreed to leave the room, knowing the other leaders would go ahead and vote on Ukraine.
Orban confirmed that he had abstained from the vote at the EU summit on what he called a "bad decision".
Such an unusual way to approve a decision - especially such a major one - is unheard of in Brussels, even for a place where diplomats have long been very creative about how to strike deals.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the decision.
"This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens," he said.
Ukraine badly needs support from its Western allies in its nearly two-year fight against Russia's invasion. Its counter-offensive has failed to make major gains and the Biden administration has so far been unable to get a US$60 billion aid package for Ukraine through the US Congress.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said it was "a strategic decision and a day that will remain engraved in the history of our Union".
Orban had very different words to describe the decision.
"Hungary's stance is clear, Ukraine is not prepared for us to start talks on EU membership," he said, calling the decision to start talks "irrational" and "inappropriate."
"But 26 member states were adamant that this decision must be made so Hungary decided that if 26 decide so, they should go on their own path and Hungary does not wish to participate in this bad decision," he said//CNA-VOI
December
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to star as MMA legend Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine
Written by nuke
Dwayne Johnson at the 95th Academy Awards on Mar 12, 2023. (Photos: Reuters/Eric Gaillard) -
Voinews, Jakarta - Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson will play the MMA fighter Mark Kerr in the movie titled The Smashing Machine.
The 51-year-old actor has been cast as the two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion in the new movie that is being directed by Benny Safdie – one half of the sibling duo that helmed the acclaimed picture Uncut Gems.
Safdie has written and directed the flick (which is his first solo project behind the camera) and has been working with The Rock on the film since 2019.
Kerr's rise through the fighting world and an addiction to painkillers that led to an overdose were detailed in the 2002 HBO documentary The Smashing Machine – a nickname he earned as a result of his fighting style.
The movie will also see Johnson return to his roots as he famously started his career as a professional wrestler and was a key figure in the success of WWE at the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s.
A24 are financing the film and will produce alongside The Rock and Dany Garcia's Seven Bucks Productions company.
The company's Noah Sacco said: "Dwayne and Benny are singular talents, and their shared vision for Mark's inspiring story is electrifying. We are deeply honoured to have their trust as collaborators in bringing this incredibly special project to life."
Meanwhile, The Rock recently suggested that he was open to the idea of running for the US Presidency after a poll showed that he has plenty of support from the public.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Black Adam actor said: "It’s crazy, and it’s wild. This run for President talk has kind of been in the ether for the past couple of years. And it just never stops being surreal.
"It was incredible. It came from DC. We sat down. The poll was something like almost 50 per cent of Americans would support me running for President. It was just crazy."//CNA-VOI