Author Archives: Reuters News Agency

Muted Christmas joy in La Palma evacuees’ caravan as volcano falls silent

By Marco Trujillo

LA PALMA, Spain (Reuters) – Dacil Batista felt little Christmas cheer while trimming a plastic fir tree by the caravan where she, her family and pets have been living since the volcanic eruption on the Spanish island of La Palma forced them from their home.

“No matter how low you feel, at this time of the year you must be strong for the children because they are excited about Christmas,” said the 22-year-old mother of two.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano fell silent last week, raising hopes that the eruption that began on Sept. 19, which has forced the evacuation of thousands of residents, destroyed about 3,000 buildings and devastated crops, may be finally over.

Batista says the children have been missing their house and garden with swings, a slide and a playhouse.

“But we will go back home and they will have it all again,” she told Reuters after being shown a video of their property largely intact, but covered with tonnes of dark ash.

“A lot of people are much worse off than we are. We still have the house,” said Batista’s partner Adam Gonzalez, 27, who has mostly adjusted to caravan life after spending many sleepless nights there during the eruption.

He recalled how frequent tremors would rattle the vehicle, spooking the family and their many pets – a dog, a dozen birds, two turtles and a ball python.

“It’s been three months and now it’s difficult not to see it or hear it (the volcano), to know it happened but as if nothing ever happened,” he added.

Some residents have been allowed to return to their homes, but the parking lot where the family has their caravan is still full of mobile homes. The town hall of Los Llanos de Aridane has put a big Christmas tree above the car park to cheer up those who remain.

People have been quick to help each other out. A German neighbor gave the family another caravan, where Batista’s mother-in-law and her son are staying now, after learning that all six of them had been sharing one vehicle.

Barring any resumption of volcanic activity, the authorities could declare the end of the eruption this week.

(Writing by Andrei Khalip, editing by Nathan Allen and Jane Merriman)

‘Keep the defender guessing’: Russia’s military options on Ukraine

By Tom Balmforth

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s deployment of tens of thousands of troops to the north, east and south of Ukraine is fueling fears in Kyiv and Western capitals that Moscow is planning a new attack. Russia denies any such plans.

Western military analysts have suggested that Russia cannot keep such troops deployed where they are indefinitely due to financial and logistical issues and would need to pull them back by the summer of next year.

Estimates of the numbers of new Russian troops moved closer to Ukraine vary from 60,000-90,000, with a U.S. intelligence document suggesting that number could be ramped up to 175,000.

U.S. officials have warned Russia might launch a new attack against Ukraine as early as the second half of next month when the ground will be harder, making it easier for tanks and other armor to move swiftly.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russian and U.S. officials would in January begin discussing Moscow’s proposals for security guarantees it wants from the West in order to defuse the current crisis and that he hoped for a positive outcome.

But what might a Russian attack actually look like and what could it seek to achieve?

“The current deployments are versatile. They keep Russia’s options open and therefore keep the defender guessing,” said Keir Giles, an Associate Fellow at Chatham House.

Here are some possible scenarios.

DONBASS ESCALATION

Heavily armed Russian-backed separatists have controlled a swath of eastern Ukraine since 2014 and continue to exchange fire with Ukrainian government forces on a regular basis despite a 2015 ceasefire that ended major hostilities.

The conflict in Donbass has killed 15,000 people, Kyiv says. Ukraine has long accused Russia of having regular troops in the region, something Moscow denies.

Russia in turn has accused Kyiv of harboring plans to retake the region by force, something Ukraine denies.

In such a febrile atmosphere the risk of a misunderstanding or unplanned escalation is greater, and Russia could use such an incident as a casus belli.

One source familiar with the Russian Defense Ministry’s thinking said this was the most likely scenario if Moscow decided to attack, but said he was unaware of any such decision. Kyiv could also be provoked into attacking by the separatists who could then ask Russia to officially send in troops to help, the same source said.

Russian forces could expand the fighting in Donbass to draw Ukraine into a bloody, conventional conflict, said Neil Melvin, director of International Security Studies at RUSI. Moscow could try to seize new Ukrainian coastal areas on the Sea of Azov, creating a land bridge from the Russian city of Rostov through Donbass to Crimea, he said. “That would put the Ukrainian government under a lot of pressure,” he said.

ASSAULT FROM CRIMEA

Russia has brought in new forces to Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and said this week paratroopers would be holding new drills there.

Moscow could launch a new attack on Ukraine from Crimea and seize territory up to the Dnieper River that could serve as a natural barrier against a potential Ukrainian counter-offensive, said Konrad Muzyka, director of the Poland-based Rochan consultancy.

The operation could begin with massive artillery, missile and air strikes on Ukrainian units in the south. Spetsnaz units might seize bridges and railway junctions, allowing troops and tanks to advance, he said. There are only two roads from Crimea that could be blocked or destroyed, a potential weakness, he said.

Forces would secure control of a Soviet-era canal that provided Crimea with fresh water supplies until Russia annexed the territory and Ukraine stopped the flow.

MULTI-FRONT ATTACK

A U.S. intelligence document made public this month said Russia could stage an invasion as soon as January with up to 100 battalion tactical groups (BTGs) or some 175,000 troops. It said about 50 BTGs were already in place to the north and east of Ukraine and in Crimea to the south, creating the possibility of an attack from three sides.

Seizing southern Ukraine could make military sense for Moscow by cutting Kyiv off from the coast and NATO’s presence in the Black Sea, Melvin said. Politically, it could play well with Russian nationalists who see the area as the historic “Novorossiya” lands or “New Russia”.

A multi-front assault might also involve a move into northeastern Ukraine, with Moscow encircling but perhaps not entering major cities where it could get bogged down in urban fighting. Equally, Russian troops could move into Belarus, opening up a northern front for Ukraine that would put Russian forces closer to Kyiv, Giles said.

“This of course would be the most costly economically, politically and in terms of human lives and that’s probably why it’s least likely,” Melvin said of an all-out invasion.

Analysts said even if it overwhelmed Ukraine’s army, which is half the size of its own, Russia could face guerrilla-type resistance that would make it hard to hold on to captured territory.

MISSILE STRIKES OR CYBER-ATTACK

Giles said some scenarios could involve long-range missile attacks or cyber-attacks targeting critical infrastructure. Missile attacks would take advantage of Ukraine’s weaker anti-missile defenses.

“The different scenarios for how exactly Russia might seek to persuade the West to meet its (security) demands by punishing Kyiv don’t even necessarily include a land incursion,” he said.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; editing by Nick Macfie)

Four injured in fire at Exxon’s Baytown, Texas plant

By Arpan Varghese

(Reuters) -Four people were injured when a fire erupted on Thursday morning at an Exxon Mobil Corp complex in Baytown, Texas, one of the largest refining and petrochemical facilities in the United States.

There were no fatalities and those injured were in a stable condition, while other personnel were accounted for, Exxon said.

Emergency response teams were working to extinguish the blaze more than five hours after it erupted at about 1 a.m. on Thursday, the company said.

The fire occurred in a hydrotreater unit at the oil refinery that had been shut on Wednesday due to a bypass line leak, people familiar with plant operations told Reuters. The injured were contractors who had been repairing the leak.

Three of the injured were flown to hospital by Lifeflight rescue helicopter and a fourth person was taken by ambulance, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on Twitter.

He said initial reports had indicated there had been some type of explosion at the plant. Social media users said on Twitter that a blast shook buildings in the area.

An Exxon official told a news conference the blaze had affected a unit that produces gasoline.

The Baytown plant houses a chemical plant, an olefins plant and the country’s fourth biggest oil refinery, with capacity to process 560,500 barrels per day of crude.

The facility spans about 3,400 acres along the Houston Ship Channel, about 25 miles (40 km) east of Houston and employs about 7,000 people.

The olefins facility, which began operations in 1979, is one of the largest ethylene plants in the world, according to the company’s website.

Production was reduced across the Baytown refining and petrochemical complex in August 2019 because of a fire in a propylene recovery unit at the olefins plant.

As many as 37 workers were injured in another fire at the olefins facility in July 2019.

(Reporting by Arpan Varghese, Bharat Govind Gautam, Akriti Sharma and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru, Erwin Seba in Houston; Additional reporting by Paarth Gururajan and Seher Dareen; graphic by Vijdan Mohammad Kawoosa; Editing by Edmund Blair and Kirsten Donovan)

Biden aide says nuclear talks with Iran could be exhausted in ‘weeks’

By Dan Williams

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The United States and its partners are discussing time frames for nuclear diplomacy with Iran, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday, adding that current talks with Tehran may be exhausted within weeks.

“We’re not circling a date on the calendar in public, but I can tell you that behind closed doors we are talking about time frames and they are not long,” he told reporters during a visit to Israel.

Asked to elaborate on the timeline, Sullivan said: “Weeks.”

Israel has long hinted that if it thinks diplomacy, now focused on slow-moving talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal, has hit a dead end, it could resort to pre-emptive strikes against its sworn enemy.

But there have been doubts among security experts whether Israel has the military capability to effectively halt Iran’s program on its own, or if Washington would back its moves.

Sullivan said the United States continues to believe that “diplomacy, deterrence and pressure” remain the best way to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Sullivan said that in his meeting with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem, “we discussed means of ensuring that we are holding the international community together to maintain the pressure on Iran to live up to its obligations and to come back into compliance” with the 2015 pact.

“And in terms of operational matters, I think those are best left for private diplomatic discussions between the United States and Israel,” he added.

Earlier, Sullivan told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that the United States and Israel are at a “critical juncture” for forging a shared security strategy.

In public remarks after his own talks with Sullivan, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz called on world powers not to allow Iran to play for time at the nuclear negotiations, in recess at Iran’s request and expected to resume next week.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, saying it only wants to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Washington has been spearheading efforts to revive the 2015 deal in which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions.

Israel bitterly opposed the deal and former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States in 2018.

Sullivan, sent by President Joe Biden on a 30-hour visit to Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian territories, updated Israel on developments in the Vienna talks and the two sides exchanged views on the way forward, the White House said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said he and Sullivan discussed “the strategy for combating Iran’s nuclear program and the way in which the U.S. and Israel cooperate on this issue.”

Since Trump pulled out of the agreement, Iran has breached the pact with advances in sensitive areas such as uranium enrichment. Sullivan called the U.S. withdrawal “catastrophic.”

(Writing by Dan Williams and Jeffrey Heller; Additional reporting by Stephen Farrell and Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Howard Goller, Alison Williams and Grant McCool)

Launch of NASA’s new space telescope delayed until Christmas Day

By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) -Liftoff of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, designed to peer farther than ever into the universe, has been delayed until Christmas Day at the earliest, due to poor weather at the launch site on South America’s northeastern coast, the space agency said on Tuesday.

The 24-hour weather delay at the Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana follows a two-day postponement from an earlier Dec. 22 targeted launch window caused by electronic communications difficulties between the launch vehicle and its payload, according to NASA.

Encapsulation of the powerful infrared telescope inside the cargo bay of an Ariane 5 rocket was completed on Dec. 17. The rocket is now poised for blastoff between 7:20 a.m. and 7:52 a.m. EST (1220-1253 GMT) on Saturday.

If all goes according to plan, the $9 billion instrument will be released from the rocket after a 26-minute ride into space. It will then take the Webb telescope a month to coast to its destination in solar orbit roughly 1 million miles from Earth – about four times the distance from the moon.

By comparison, Webb’s 30-year-old predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, orbits the Earth itself from 340 miles away.

Named for NASA’s chief during most of the 1960’s, Webb is about 100 times more sensitive than Hubble and is expected to revolutionize astronomers’ understanding of the universe and our place in it.

Webb mainly will view the cosmos in the infrared spectrum, allowing it to gaze through clouds of gas and dust where stars are being born, while Hubble has operated primarily at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths.

The new telescope’s primary mirror – consisting of 18 hexagonal segments of gold-coated beryllium metal – also has a much bigger light-collecting area, enabling it to observe objects at greater distances, thus farther back into time, than Hubble.

That advance, astronomers say, will bring into view a glimpse of the cosmos never previously seen – dating back to just 100 million years after the Big Bang, the theoretical flashpoint that set in motion the expansion of the observable universe an estimated 13.8 billion years ago.

Webb’s instruments also make it ideal to search for potentially life-supporting atmospheres around scores of newly documented exoplanets – celestial bodies orbiting distant stars – and to observe worlds much closer to home, such as Mars and Saturn’s icy moon Titan.

The telescope is an international collaboration led by NASA in partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies. Northrop Grumman Corp was the primary contractor. The Ariane launch vehicle is part of the European contribution.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler)

U.S. aviation, telecom industries report progress over 5G safety talks

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The aviation and telecom industries said Wednesday they were making progress to address air safety concerns about potential interference from the planned Jan. 5 5G wireless deployment.

Wireless trade group CTIA, Airlines for America and Aerospace Industries Association said in a joint statement “after productive discussions we will be working together to share the available data from all parties to identify the specific areas of concern for aviation.”

Last week, airlines said interference from 5G networks could cause 4% of U.S. flights to be diverted, delayed or canceled.

“The best technical experts from across both industries will be working collectively to identify a path forward, in coordination” with the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the statement said.

“By working collaboratively in good faith on a data-driven solution, we can achieve our shared goal of deploying 5G while preserving aviation safety,” the groups added.

AT&T and Verizon Communications are moving forward with plans to deploy C-Band spectrum 5G wireless in about two weeks that they won in an $80 billion auction.

Both the aviation industry and FAA have raised concerns about potential interference of 5G with sensitive aircraft electronics like radio altimeters.

The FAA said it was encouraged that aviation manufacturers and wireless companies “are taking steps to test how dozens of radio altimeters will perform in the high-powered 5G environment envisioned for the United States.”

It added it will work “to make sure the testing provides adequate safety margins and accounts for the variety of safety systems that rely on accurate information from radio altimeters.”

The FAA this month issued airworthiness directives warning 5G interference could result in flight diversions.

Hoping to avoid any deployment issues, the groups have been holding talks to share data on U.S. airports, including base station locations, power levels and antenna positioning, as well altimeter data, that could potentially be impacted.

On Monday, Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun and Airbus Americas CEO Jeffrey Knittel urged the Biden administration to delay the 5G deployment.

Airlines for America has said if the FAA 5G directive had been in effect in 2019, about 345,000 passenger flights and 5,400 cargo flights would have faced delays, diversions or cancellations.

In November, AT&T and Verizon delayed commercial launch of C-band wireless service by a month until Jan. 5 and adopted precautionary measures to limit interference.

Aviation industry groups said that was insufficient. The aviation industry made a counterproposal that would limit cellular transmissions around airports and other critical areas.

Wireless industry group CTIA said 5G is safe and the spectrum is being used in about 40 other countries. It has previously accused the aviation industry of fearmongering and distorting facts.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

California to require COVID-19 booster shots for healthcare workers

(Reuters) – California will require healthcare workers and workers in “high-risk congregate settings” to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster by Feb. 1, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday, as part of the state’s response to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

The mandate follows a Sept. 30 mandate for the state’s healthcare workers to be fully vaccinated. Workers have been able to request an exemption for religious or medical reasons.

State employees who still have not received a booster must undergo testing for COVID-19 twice each week until Feb. 1, Newsom said in a statement.

Newsom, who disclosed the new mandate in a statement, was due to elaborate on the new requirement at a press conference later on Wednesday.

While California, the country’s most populous state, exceeds the national average for full vaccinations with 65.5%, it slightly lags the national average in booster shots at just under 30%, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The governor also announced that all public school students, from Kindergarten to 12th grade, will receive a rapid COVID-19 test as they head back to school from winter break.

The state also will expand operating hours for state-operated testing centers that have reached capacity, Newsom added.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago and Peter Szekely in New York)

U.S. lawmakers demand training for air crews to address violent passengers

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers urged major airlines to back mandatory training for flight crew members to address violent incidents amid a record number of disruptive onboard incidents.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Wednesday it has received a record 5,779 unruly passenger reports this year, including 4,156 incidents related to a requirement passengers wear masks to guard against the coronavirus pandemic.

The FAA, which has pledged a “zero-tolerance” approach, said last month it had referred 37 unruly passengers to the FBI for potential criminal prosecution. The FAA has initiated 1,054 investigations and 325 enforcement actions.

On Wednesday, House of Representatives Homeland Security chair Bennie Thompson and Transportation and Infrastructure chair Peter DeFazio and two key subcommittee chairs sent letters to the CEOs of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines urging them to require crew members to attend the Transportation Security Administration’s Crew Member Self Defense Training Program.

The lawmakers want to ensure “they are equipped with the necessary skills to deter and mitigate dangerous situations as unruly passenger behavior spikes across the country.”

They want airlines to provide crewmembers with paid time, travel and accommodations to participate in the training led by federal air marshals.

TSA resumed offering its free self-defense program in July after pausing the course due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lawmakers noted.

American Airlines said on Wednesday it holds “the safety of our frontline team members as our highest priority, and we appreciate these lawmakers’ commitment to helping protect it. We are reviewing the letter.”

The push comes amid a holiday travel surge. The TSA says it has screened 1.98 million or more passengers in each of the last six days.

The FAA and TSA announced on Tuesday that unruly passengers facing fines may be removed from TSA PreCheck screening eligibility.

Last month, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland directed federal prosecutors to prioritize prosecution of airline passengers committing assaults and other crimes aboard aircraft.

To date, the FAA has issued more than $1.4 million in fines for unruly passengers. Many passengers who refused to wear masks have been hit with $9,000 or higher fines.

On Oct. 8, President Joe Biden instructed the Justice Department to “deal” with the rising number of violent incidents onboard planes.

U.S. prosecutors in Colorado have charged a 20-year-old California man with punching a flight attendant on an Oct. 27 American Airlines flight bound for Santa Ana, California, that forced the plane to land.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Howard Goller)

Biden extends pause on student loan repayment

(Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that his administration was extending the pause on student loan repayment for an additional 90 days, citing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Today my Administration is extending the pause on federal student loan repayments for an additional 90 days – through May 1, 2022 — as we manage the ongoing pandemic and further strengthen our economic recovery”, Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

In August, the Biden administration had extended the pause through Jan. 31, 2022.

“We know that millions of student loan borrowers are still coping with the impacts of the pandemic and need some more time before resuming payments”, Biden said on Wednesday.

The extension of the pause comes as cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus surge around the United States.

Nearly 41 million borrowers benefited from a freeze on interest accruals and about 27 million borrowers have not had to pay their monthly bills since the forbearance began.

Democratic lawmakers including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Elizabeth Warren welcomed Biden’s announcement and continued to call on the administration to cancel up to $50,000 in student debt.

“We continue to call on President Biden to take executive action to cancel $50,000 in student debt, which will help close the racial wealth gap for borrowers and accelerate our economic recovery”, the Democratic lawmakers said in a statement.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

U.S. authorizes certain transactions with Taliban to ease flow of aid to Afghanistan

By Daphne Psaledakis and Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday formally exempted U.S. and U.N. officials doing official business with the Taliban from U.S. sanctions, clearing the way for proposed U.N. payments next year of some $6 million to the Islamists for security.

The U.S. Treasury Department announcement came a day after Reuters exclusively reported a U.N. plan to subsidize the monthly wages of Taliban-run Interior Ministry personnel who guard U.N. facilities and pay them monthly food allowances.

Some experts said the proposal raised questions about whether such payments would violate U.N. and U.S. sanctions on the Taliban and on many of their leaders, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Interior Ministry chief and head of the Haqqani network.

The Treasury Department issued two general licenses allowing U.S. officials and those of certain international organizations, like the United Nations, to engage in transactions involving the Taliban or Haqqani network as long as they are official business.

A third general license gives nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) protection from U.S. sanctions on the Taliban and the Haqqani network for work on certain kinds of projects, including humanitarian programs for “basic human needs,” rule of law and education.

A senior U.S. administration official emphasized that while the United States was issuing the licenses, the Taliban would have to make decisions about how they operate the government to prevent a complete economic collapse.

“What we can attempt to do, what we’re going to work to do, is to mitigate the humanitarian crisis by getting resources to the Afghan people, and these general licenses will allow us to allow organizations that are doing this work to do exactly that,” the official told reporters.

The Treasury, however, warned the new general licenses do not allow financial transfers to the Taliban or the Haqqani network “other than for the purpose of effecting the payment of taxes, fees, or import duties, or the purchase or receipt of permits, licenses, or public utility services.”

The economic crisis in Afghanistan accelerated when the Taliban seized power in August, as the former Western-backed government collapsed and the last U.S. troops withdrew.

The United States and other donors cut financial assistance on which the country became dependent during two decades of war with the Islamist militants, and more than $9 billion in Afghanistan’s hard currency assets were frozen.

The United Nations is warning that nearly 23 million people – about 55% of the population – are facing extreme levels of hunger, with nearly 9 million at risk of famine as winter takes hold in the impoverished landlocked country.

While the U.S. Treasury has provided “comfort letters” assuring banks that they can process humanitarian transactions, concern about U.S. sanctions continues to prevent passage of even basic supplies, including food and medicine.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)