Author Archives: Reuters News Agency

Indonesia bolsters recovery efforts after volcano kills 34

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo promised on Tuesday to bolster evacuation efforts and repair damaged homes after visiting the site of a volcanic eruption on Java that has killed at least 34 people.

The 3,676-metre Mt. Semeru volcano erupted on Saturday sending a cloud of ash into the sky and dangerous pyroclastic flows into villages below.

Thousands of people have been displaced and 22 remain missing, according to the disaster mitigation agency.

After visiting evacuation centers and surveying the area by helicopter – getting an aerial view of villages submerged in molten ash – the president said recovery efforts would be bolstered now and in the months ahead.

“I came to the site to ensure that we have the forces to locate the victims,” said the president, speaking from Sumberwuluh, one of the worst-hit areas.

“We hope that after everything has subsided, that everything can start – fixing infrastructure or even relocating those from the places we predict are too dangerous to return to.”

At least 2,000 homes would need to be relocated to safer areas, he said.

Search and rescue efforts continued on Tuesday but have been hampered by wind and rain, and limited equipment in some areas.

Mt. Semeru erupted three times on Tuesday. Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said on Monday there was potential for further flows of hot gas, ash and rocks.

Mt. Semeru is one of more than 100 active volcanoes in Indonesia, in an area of high seismic activity atop multiple tectonic plates known as the “Pacific Ring of Fire.”

(Reporting by Stanley Widianto and Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Janet Lawrence)

Man killed family, then self, over faked vaccine pass -German prosecutor

BERLIN (Reuters) – A man who killed his wife and three young children before taking his own life had faked a vaccination certificate and feared his children would be taken away from him when the forgery was discovered, a German prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Police found two adults, both 40, and three children aged four, eight and 10 dead from gunshot wounds in a family home in Koenigs Wusterhausen south of Berlin on Saturday.

In a farewell note found by police, the man said he forged a vaccination certificate for his wife. Her employer had found out, prompting the couple to fear they would be arrested and lose their children, prosecutor Gernot Bantleon told Reuters.

Police were called to the house after being alerted by witnesses who had seen lifeless bodies in the house, police and prosecutors said on Saturday.

The grisly case comes as Germany has been tightening up restrictions to try to stem a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic. From last month, employees have been required to show they are vaccinated, recovered or test negative for COVID-19.

German authorities agreed last week to bar the unvaccinated from access to all but the most essential businesses such as grocery stores, pharmacies and bakeries, and they also plan to make vaccination mandatory for some jobs.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Toyota to build new $1.3 billion battery plant in North Carolina

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Toyota Motor Corp announced on Monday it is building a new $1.29 billion battery plant in North Carolina as it moves to expand its hybrid and electric vehicle efforts.

The new plant, at a site in Liberty that will begin production in 2025, will initially be capable of supplying lithium-ion batteries for 800,000 vehicles annually, and will “pave the way” for Toyota’s U.S. production of electric vehicles, said Chris Reynolds, chief administrative officer for Toyota Motor North America.

The investment will be made by a new company called Toyota Battery Manufacturing and is expected to create 1,750 new U.S. jobs.

In October, Toyota said it would establish a new company and build a new U.S. automotive battery plant with Toyota Tsusho, the automaker’s metals trading arm and a unit of the Toyota Group. Toyota will hold a 90% stake in the battery company.

North Carolina said the new plant will initially produce batteries for Toyota’s hybrid vehicles, and intends to produce batteries for EVs long term.

The state will reimburse Toyota for up to $79.1 million over 20 years and if Toyota expands the project to $3 billion it could receive up to an estimated $315 million.

The state approved additional support to help with final site preparations, including $135 million for road and other site improvements. If Toyota expands the project another $185 million in site development funds would become available.

Toyota said the North Carolina plant plans to eventually expand to at least six production lines for up to 1.2 million batteries annually.

The investment is part of Toyota’s October announcement it would invest $3.4 billion (380 billion yen) on U.S. automotive battery development and production through 2030.

The funds are part of the $13.5 billion Toyota announced in September it planned to spend globally by 2030 to develop batteries.

Automakers around the world are investing billions of dollars to ramp up battery and electric vehicle production as they face increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

Toyota has mounted a lobbying campaign to try to convince U.S. lawmakers not to include an additional $4,500 tax incentive for union-made electric vehicles.

In August, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order setting a target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles.

Biden’s 50% goal and the automakers’ 2030 goals includes battery electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles that also have a gasoline-engine.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Alistair Bell)

U.S. Justice Department sues Texas over ‘discriminatory’ redistricting

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Texas on Monday alleging the state violated the Voting Rights Act by creating redistricting plans that discriminate against minority voters, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

The redistricting plans dilute the Black and Latino vote and violate Section 2 of the voting act, Garland said at a news conference.

“These redistricting plans will diminish the opportunity for Black and Latino voters” to elect their preferred candidates, and they were written with discriminatory intent, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said.

It was the second time this year that the Justice Department has sued Texas over voting rights.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

Ukraine shows off U.S. military hardware, vows to fight off Russia

By Natalia Zinets and Matthias Williams

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday said his armed forces were capable of fighting off any Russian attack, as the country marked its national army day with a display of U.S. armored vehicles and patrol boats.

U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged his “unwavering support” to Ukraine in its standoff with Moscow and will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to try to defuse the crisis. Zelenskiy is set to speak to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday.

Ukraine has accused Russia of massing tens of thousands of troops near its border in preparation for a possible large-scale military offensive, raising the prospect of open war between the two neighbors.

“The servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to fulfil their most important mission – to defend the freedom and sovereignty of the state from the Russian aggressor,” Zelenskiy said in a statement.

“The Ukrainian army … is confident in its strength and able to thwart any conquest plans of the enemy,” he said.

Russia has dismissed talk of a new assault on Ukraine as false and inflammatory but told the West not to cross its “red lines” and to halt the eastward expansion of the NATO alliance.

NATO MEMBERSHIP

Decked out in khaki armor and helmet, Zelenskiy flew east to shake hands with soldiers at the frontline in the Donetsk region, where Ukraine’s army has fought Russian-backed forces in a conflict that Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people since 2014.

He then flew to Kharkiv, a city near Ukraine’s northeastern border with Russia and a traditional center for weapons manufacturing, to mark a delivery of tanks, armored personal carriers and armored vehicles made in the city’s factories.

Standing in front of rows of soldiers, tanks and planes on the city’s main square on Monday evening, Zelenskiy trumpeted the ways in which Ukraine’s military had equipped itself with the help of NATO allies.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that now aspires to join the European Union and NATO, has received Javelin anti-tank missiles from the United States, sophisticated drones from Turkey and signed a deal with Britain to build ships and new naval bases on Ukraine’s southern coast.

Several cities across Ukraine are marking the 30th anniversary of the creation of an independent military after winning independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

“Today, together with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, I am here in Kharkiv on Freedom Square,” Zelenskiy said in an address.

“This is significant, because freedom for us is the greatest value,” he said, adding: “it is a symbol of our state, all of Ukraine, which was defended from Russia’s aggression in 2014 by our soldiers and continues to be defended by them today.”

Kyiv, Lviv and the southern port city of Odessa displayed U.S.-made Humvees. In Odessa, there was also a ceremony to hand over two recently delivered U.S. Coast Guard patrol boats intended to bolster Ukraine’s navy.

Ukraine has urged NATO to accelerate its entry into the military alliance and said Moscow had no right to veto such a move. NATO’s leadership has been supportive but said Ukraine must carry out defense reforms and tackle corruption first.

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Paul Simao)

India, Russia strike trade, arms deals during Putin visit

By Alasdair Pal and Neha Arora

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Russia and India signed a flurry of trade and arms deals during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, including one that will see India produce more than 600,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Putin travelled to India with Russia’s defense and foreign ministers in a visit that saw the two countries reinforce their ties with a military and technical cooperation pact until 2031 and a pledge to boost annual trade to $30 billion by 2025.

The Russian president is visiting India amid increasingly strained relations between Russia and the United States, also a key Indian ally, which has expressed reservations about the growing military cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi.

A joint statement published after the talks said Russia and India had “reiterated their intention to strengthen defense cooperation, including in the joint development of production of military equipment.”

In addition to the deal for India to produce AK-203 assault rifles, Russia said it was interested in continuing to provide S-400 air defense missile systems.

India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said the two countries had signed 28 investment pacts, including deals on steel, shipbuilding, coal and energy. He added that a 2018 contract for the S-400 missile systems was currently being implemented.

“Supplies have begun this month, and will continue to happen,” he said, referring to the S-400.

The deal with Moscow puts India at risk of sanctions from the United States under a 2017 U.S. law aimed at deterring countries from buying Russian military hardware.

Russian oil company Rosneft said it signed a contract with Indian Oil to supply up to 2 million tonnes of oil to India by the end of 2022.

The countries also signed a memorandum of understanding for Russia to send an uninterrupted supply of coal to India to support its steel production, among other deals.

Putin and Modi also discussed the situation in Afghanistan, voicing their commitment to ensure that the country will never become a safe haven for international terrorism.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in New Delhi and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Moscow; Editing by Alex Richardson and Paul Simao)

‘Ashamed’: Pakistan grapples with fallout from mob killing

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A shocking and deadly mob attack on a Sri Lankan factory manager accused of blasphemy in eastern Pakistan last week prompted days of soul searching as the man’s remains were flown to his home country.

The violence, which was condemned by rights watchdogs including Amnesty International, also drew intense responses from politicians, celebrities and journalists on social media.

“Ashamed!! Sick to my stomach!!,” actress Mahira Khan wrote on Twitter shortly after the lynching.

The mob of factory employees in Pakistan’s Punjab province tortured and burned a Sri Lankan manager on Friday in an attack that Prime Minister Imran Khan said brought shame on the country.

The killing raised alarm over the potential for accusations of blasphemy to fuel crowd violence in Pakistan, coming just weeks after at least seven policemen were killed in clashes with the radical TLP movement, which has built its identity on fighting what it sees as blasphemy.

Mob killings over accusations of blasphemy are frequent in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where the crime can carry the death sentence.

Other politicians and the country’s powerful military also released statements condemning the attack.

“Mob violence cannot be acceptable under any circumstance as (the) state has laws to deal with all offences,” said Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari on Twitter.

The victim’s body was returned to Sri Lankan officials over the weekend and then flown to his home country, a government source in Punjab province told Reuters.

Punjab’s police said arrests were continuing.

“In the last 12 hours, police have arrested seven more key figures, including one involved in planning an attack on a Sri Lankan manager,” they said in a statement.

Some politicians and activists argued that broader societal and political change was needed, beyond legal consequences for those involved.

“Arrests should of course be made, but there has to be a clear appraisal of why mobs feel the impunity,” said Senator Sherry Rehman, a member of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

In an editorial entitled “Horror in Sialkot,” leading newspaper Dawn on Sunday criticized Pakistan for “appeasing religious extremists.”

“Once again, we are reminded how far this nation has descended into the abyss,” the editorial said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Global oil CEOs stress need for fossil fuels despite push for cleaner energy

By Liz Hampton and Sabrina Valle

HOUSTON (Reuters) -A global energy conference devoted to future technologies and low-carbon strategies kicked off in Houston on Monday with top executives from energy companies affirming the need for more oil for decades to come.

The World Petroleum Conference’s four days of discussion started with chief executives from Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and Halliburton Co, three of the largest U.S. companies by market value, all promoting the need to deliver oil and gas globally even as the world transitions to cleaner fuels.

The conference was sapped of some of its star power at the outset due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions that forced OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo and energy ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cancel plans to travel to Houston.

“We in fact are going into a period of scarcity. And I think that for the first time, in a long time, we will see a buyer looking for a barrel of oil, as opposed to a barrel of oil looking for a buyer,” said Jeff Miller, CEO of energy services firm Halliburton.

World fossil fuel demand has rebounded sharply in 2021, with natural gas already at pre-pandemic levels and oil nearing levels reached in 2019. That comes even as large global majors, especially those based in Europe, are limiting exploration and production in an attempt to shift to renewable power development and as governments promote efforts to cut carbon emissions to deal with rising worldwide temperatures.

“The world is facing an even more chaotic energy transition,” said Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser. “They assume that the right transition strategy is in place. It’s not. Energy security, economic development and affordability are clearly not receiving enough attention. Until they are, and we clear the gaps in the transition strategy, the chaos will only intensify.”

Exxon disclosed on Monday plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions from operated assets in the U.S. Permian basin by 2030, as part of a plan to reduce upstream greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 40% to 50% by 2030, compared with 2016 levels.

“The fact remains, under most credible scenarios, including net zero pathways, oil and natural gas will continue to play a significant role in meeting society’s need,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said at the conference.

U.S. officials took the opportunity to talk about President Joe Biden’s clean energy agenda while insisting on the need to address high fuel prices for consumers.

“We are deploying clean energy like never before,” said David Turk, deputy U.S. Secretary of Energy.

But Turk also said Washington will not “stand in the way” of companies willing to increase domestic oil production as the industry tries to fully recover.

“We need to make sure everyone has affordable, reliable and resilient energy,” he said.

Anders Opedal, CEO of Norway’s Equinor, said energy companies have a responsibility to bring down emissions and provide energy.

“We will need oil and gas for many years to come but with reduced emissions,” he said.

BP is investing $1 billion worldwide to reduce emissions at refineries, David Lawler, head of BP America and CEO of BPX unit said at the conference.

More top executive are also expected to address the conference on Monday, though rooms for keynote speakers were only half occupied.

Eight energy ministers from top oil-producing nations, including Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Qatar, were off the week’s program. Ministers from Argentina, Equatorial Guinea, Greece, Turkey and Romania, as well as CEOs of BP, Sonatrach and Qatar Energy also bowed out.

Their absence resulted from “travel restrictions and concerns” about the Omicron COVID-19 variant, organizers said. Replacements were being selected, a spokesperson said, which included BP’s U.S. chief in lieu of its CEO.

The impact of the virus comes as the industry struggles with shortages of natural gas and power in Asia and Europe from output losses spurred by the pandemic. Energy prices that hit multi-year highs this autumn have retreated with travel restrictions.

Oil rose 3% a barrel to about $72 on Monday on hopes the Omicron variant would be less damaging to oil demand and after Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of OPEC, on Friday raised its official selling prices to Asia and the United States.

(Additional Reporting by Gary McWilliams, Erwin Seba and Marianna Parraga; editing by Jason Neely and Marguerita Choy)

Indonesia volcano erupts again as death toll rises to 22

By Willy Kurniawan and Tommy Adriansyah

SUMBERWULUH, Indonesia (Reuters) – An Indonesian volcano was active again on Monday, spewing out hot clouds of ash, two days after a powerful eruption killed at least 22 people and left dozens missing.

Mt. Semeru, the tallest mountain on the island of Java, erupted dramatically on Saturday, shooting a towering column of ash into the sky that blanketed surrounding villages.

Aerial footage showed roofs jutting out of an ashen landscape, while on the ground, military officers, police and residents dug through mud with their hands to pull out victims.

The death toll had risen to 22 by Monday, while 27 were missing, Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said.

The volcano erupted again on Monday, Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation confirmed via its Twitter account, warning of continued seismic activity.

“Semeru is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia. Before and after the December 4 eruption, it will continue to be active,” Liswanto, the head of the Semeru Volcano Observatory, told Reuters.

Some residents returned to their homes to check on belongings and livestock, but Liswanto urged people to keep a safe distance.

“People need to be more vigilant because the potential threat is still there,” he added.

In the Sumberwuluh area, rescue teams battled poor weather to retrieve victims from the rubble.

“The main obstacle is the weather… Hopefully the weather going forward will be good enough to make it easier for us to search,” Wuryanto, operations director of the national search and rescue agency (Basarnas), told reporters.

People have posted photos of missing loved ones on Facebook, with pleas for any information about their whereabouts.

Complicating logistics and rescue efforts, lava flows from Saturday’s eruption destroyed a bridge connecting two areas in the district of Lumajang with the city of Malang.

Public kitchens and health facilities have been set up for more than 1,700 people who have been displaced.

Semeru is one of more than 100 active volcanoes in Indonesia, a country that straddles the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic activity that rests atop multiple tectonic plates.

(Additional reporting by Prasto Wardoyo and Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Writing by Kate Lamb and Fathin Ungku; Editing by Karishma Singh, Gerry Doyle and Nick Macfie)

New York City mandates vaccines for all private businesses as Omicron spreads

By Peter Szekely and Brendan O’Brien

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City declared on Monday that all private-sector employers must implement COVID-19 vaccine mandates for their workers, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant has spread to at least one-third of U.S. states.

The biggest U.S. city set a Dec. 27 deadline for all 184,000 businesses within its limits to make their employees show proof that they have been vaccinated.

In addition, children 5 to 11 years old must get at least one vaccine dose by Dec. 14 to enter restaurants and to participate in extracurricular school activities, such as sports, band, orchestra and dance, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

“Vaccination is the way out of this pandemic, and these are bold, first-in-the-nation measures to encourage New Yorkers to keep themselves and their communities safe,” de Blasio, who leaves office next month, said in a statement.

De Blasio’s successor, Eric Adams, “will evaluate this mandate and other COVID strategies when he is in office and make determinations based on science, efficacy and the advice of health professionals,” said his spokesperson Evan Thies.

The requirements come at a time when new coronavirus infections are accelerating nationwide, especially in northern states, as colder weather has encouraged more mingling and socializing indoors.

Over the last week, the country has averaged more than 120,000 new infections a day, up 64% from the prior week, according to a Reuters tally.

Deaths, which lag infections, have averaged 1,300 a day over the last seven days, up from an average of 800 a day a week ago, according to Reuters data.

The Delta variant still accounts for 99.9% of new COVID cases in the United States, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told ABC News on Sunday.

Omicron, first detected last month in southern Africa, has spread around the globe and shows signs of being more contagious than the Delta variant.

A total of several dozen Omicron cases have been found in 17 out of 50 U.S. states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin, according to a Reuters tally.

Louisiana has also reported a probable Omicron case in a crew member on a cruise ship that disembarked in New Orleans over the weekend. At least 17 COVID-19 cases were detected on the ship and more testing is underway, state health officials said.

Several Wall Street banks headquartered in New York, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, already require vaccines for anyone coming into their offices. JPMorgan Chase & Co, the largest U.S. bank, has so far allowed unvaccinated employees to come to work in offices if they submit to twice-weekly COVID-19 tests.

Alphabet Inc’s Google and Meta’s Facebook, which also have operations in New York City, also already require all U.S. employees to be vaccinated to enter buildings.

A nationwide vaccine mandate issued earlier this year by President Joe Biden for companies with 100 workers or more has been tied up in litigation. In November, a U.S. appeals court upheld its decision to put on hold the order.

De Blasio, noting that the city has already issued mandates covering several other sets of municipal workers, expressed confidence that his latest order would withstand legal scrutiny.

“We are confident because it’s universal,” he said on MSNBC.

(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Dilts in New York and Barbara Goldberg in Maplewood, New Jersey; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Lisa Shumaker)