Factbox: UK workers' industrial action as cost of living crisis bites
Reuters


A view of trains on the platform at Waterloo Station as a station worker stands nearby, on the first day of national rail strike in London, Britain, June 21, 2022. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls


Aug 16 (Reuters) - Britain faces months of disruption as workers across the economy struggling with the rising cost of living resort to strike action in disputes over pay and conditions. read more

Below are some of the industries in which trade unions have undertaken or threatened strike action:

RAILWAYS

Large sections of Britain's rail network have been repeatedly brought to a standstill over recent weeks.

Members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) have announced strike action on Aug. 18 and 20, following previous walkouts that have failed to resolve disagreements over pay and conditions.

Unite union said its members at Network Rail - which owns and maintains train infrastructure - would join other rail unions in striking on Aug. 18 and 20.

Train drivers at several British rail companies represented by the ASLEF union also walked out on July 30 and Aug. 13.

London Underground workers represented by the RMT are due to strike on Aug. 19, their fifth 24-hour walkout this year.

COURTS

British lawyers involved in criminal trials have staged several walkouts in a dispute over government funding, refusing to take on new cases or cover cases for colleagues that have overrun. They plan to hold further strike days over the coming weeks.

SCHOOLS

The NASUWT Teachers' Union had previously said it would ballot members for industrial action in November if their pay award falls short of their 12% increase demand.

After the government announced pay rises of between 5% and 8.9% for teachers, the union called on ministers to commit to negotiations.

HOSPITALS

The Royal College of Nursing has said hundreds of thousands of nurses in England and Wales will vote in September on whether to strike after the government announced below-inflation pay rises.

The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents doctors, has said it will ballot junior doctors for possible industrial action because those in England are ineligible for a 4.5% pay increase for some doctors announced by the government.

It has also said other groups of doctors it represents will consider their next steps, warning it is "on a collision course with the government".

AIRPORTS

British Airways' check-in and ground staff at London's Heathrow airport suspended a planned strike that had threatened disruption at one of Europe's busiest aviation hubs after the airline agreed to improve pay.

The Unite union said a strike by refuellers at Britain's busiest airport Heathrow, which was set to begin on July 21, was suspended after the employees received a revised offer.

TELECOMS

More than 40,000 workers for telecoms company BT Group (BT.L) held a national strike over pay on July 29 and Aug. 1, their first such action in 35 years.

The Communication Workers Union has served notice on BT and Openreach that its members will hold a further two-day strike on Aug. 30 and 31.

POSTAL SERVICES

Workers at the Post Office will carry out a fourth round of industrial action on Aug. 26, which coincides with a walkout by some staff at Royal Mail (RMG.L).

More than 115,000 postal workers at Royal Mail have voted to strike on four dates in August and September over pay.

A separate planned strike by 2,400 Royal Mail managers represented by the Unite union, due to take place July 20-22, was suspended after workers voted in favour of returning to negotiations.

PORTS

More than 1,900 workers at Britain's biggest container port, Felixstowe, plan eight days of strikes on Aug 21-29 in a dispute over pay, threatening severe disruption to international maritime trade.

Hundreds of dockworkers at the Port of Liverpool, one of the largest container ports in the country, have also voted in favour of strike action over pay and conditions.

PUBLISHING

Staff working at publisher Reach, whose titles include the Daily Mirror and Daily Express, have voted to stage a four day strike on Aug. 26, Aug. 31, Sep. 15 and Sept. 16, over pay, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said.

Journalists at Reach and a second newspaper group in Scotland have also agreed to strike following separate disputes over redundancies and pay.

BUSES

More than 1,600 London bus drivers are due to walkout on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20 in a dispute over pay that will coincide with a strike on the London Underground and an overground train strike.

Arriva bus workers in various cities around the country have been taking part in strikes in a row over pay, with further staff in other areas also being balloted for industrial action.

EMERGENCY SERVICES

The Fire Brigades Union has rejected a proposed 2% pay increase and said it is preparing for strike action.

BINS

Bin workers in various areas around the country have either already undertaken or threatened strike action, disrupting waste collections.

Compiled by Kylie MacLellan and Farouq Suleiman; editing by David Evans, Nick Macfie and Barbara Lewis

U.S. forgives $3.9 bln in federal loans for ITT Tech students


U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona meets leaders from U.S. colleges and universities to discuss challenges students are facing after the Supreme Court decision to end the nationwide constitutional right to abortion, in the Vice President's ceremonial office at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, U.S., August 8, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Former students of ITT Technical Institute will not have to pay $3.9 billion they still owe in federal student loans to the now-defunct for-profit college, the U.S. Department of Education said on Tuesday.

ITT Educational Services Inc, which ran ITT Technical Institute, closed its roughly 130 campuses and filed for bankruptcy in Sept. 2016, amid growing regulatory scrutiny of for-profit colleges' recruiting and financing practices.

The loan forgiveness will cancel student debt for 208,000 borrowers, the department said in a statement. "It is time for student borrowers to stop shouldering the burden from ITT's years of lies," Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said.

The department also said it had formally notified DeVry University that the for-profit school is required to pay $24 million in approved borrower defense claims. The department said DeVry had misled prospective students about graduates' employment prospects, a charge the school has denied.

Student debt cancellation has become a priority for many liberals and one that could shore up popularity with younger and more highly educated voters, who lean Democratic, before November's midterm congressional elections. read more

Last month, President Joe Biden said the government would cancel $6 billion in student loans for 200,000 borrowers who claimed they were defrauded by their colleges. read more

Portuguese wildfire envelops Madrid skyscrapers in smoke 400 km away
Reuters

August 16, 2022


People watch the smoke surrounding Madrid, Spain, due to strong winds coming from a wildfire 300km away in Portugal on August 16, 2022. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

MADRID, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Smoke from a huge wildfire in central Portugal enveloped skyscrapers known as the "Four Towers" in Madrid 400 km (250 miles) away on Tuesday, and residents of the Spanish capital complained of a strong burning smell.

The fire, which has ravaged Portugal's Serra da Estrela national park, started on Aug. 6 and had been largely put out as of Sunday, but reignited again on Monday, leading to the evacuation of several villages.

More than 1,100 firefighters backed by 13 waterbombing aircraft were tackling the blaze, which has already torched more than 17,000 hectares.

Civil Protection Commander Andre Fernandes said the fire had several fronts, making it difficult to fight amid windy, dry weather.

NASA Worldview satellite images showed the plume of smoke extending from the west of the Iberian peninsula to its eastern half and beyond Madrid, where emergency services had to explain to worried residents that there was no fire nearby.

In eastern Spain, however, hundreds of firefighters were working around the clock to control two wildfires in the Valencia region.

In the Vall d'Ebo area south of Valencia, roads have been closed and about 2,000 people evacuated since Sunday after lightning ignited the wildfire, which has since burned more than 9,500 hectares.

Climate change has left parts of the peninsula at their driest in 1,200 years, according a study published last month in the Nature Geoscience journal.

July was the hottest month recorded in Spain since at least 1961 when Spain's meteorological service began its register.

Wildfires have burned more than 270,000 hectares in Spain so far in 2022, way above the 15-year annual average of 70,000, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

In Portugal, forest fires have ravaged around 85,000 hectares, or nearly 1% of the country's territory, the highest percentage in the European Union.

Analysis: Ben & Jerry's Unilever fight shows risks of ceding control

By Richa Naidu and Ross Kerber
August 16, 2022

Ben & Jerry's, a brand of Unilever, is seen on display in a store in

 Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 24, 2022. 

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo


LONDON/BOSTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ben & Jerry's legal battle with Unilever (ULVR.L) sheds light on an issue affecting a growing number of purpose-led brands: how to maintain their identity after being bought by a major consumer company.

Multinational consumer groups have raced to snap up socially conscious brands in recent years, seeking to tap into a surge in demand among customers for ethical products, usually sold at a premium.

Under Chief Executive Alan Jope, Unilever has added to a portfolio of "purposeful" brands - from Paula's Choice skincare products that shun animal testing to sustainably-made supplements from SmartyPants and Nutrafol.

In 2000, the company scooped up Ben & Jerry's for $326 million with an unusual caveat: the Vermont-based ice cream maker would retain its independent board of directors, responsible for guiding its social and political identity.

Ben & Jerry's now believes that commitment to have been breached, following a furore over its plan to stop selling ice creams in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that eventually led Unilever to strike a deal to sell the brand's Israeli business.

The maker of Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia ice creams sued its parent company on July 5 to try to stop the sale. A ruling is expected in the coming weeks.

"It's a wake-up call for the folks who do deals to be more vigilant and ensure not only do the financials support a deal, but the underlying potential future conflicts are free and clear," said Mark Cohen, a professor at Columbia University Business School.

Unilever declined to comment for this story. Ben & Jerry's had no immediate comment.

Ben & Jerry's, now worth over 1 billion euros ($1 billion), says the Israeli sale is against its values by allowing its products to remain available in the West Bank.

The ice cream brand should have been aware that "Unilever might see fit to put the Ben and Jerry's brand anywhere and everywhere in the world," Cohen said.

On the other hand, Unilever should have understood Ben & Jerry's founders "have taken a political stance on a variety of issues, not the least of which being their objection to the actions of the State of Israel," he added.

Unilever may have already learned the lesson. Home products brand Seventh Generation, which it bought in 2016, created a "social mission" board meant to keep the business focused on causes such as diversity and generating less packaging waste.

But the messaging on the brand's website and Twitter feed covers a narrower range of issues than that of Ben & Jerry's.

"Seventh Generation has a broad mission for environmental, racial and social justice. Ben & Jerry's mission may be broader," said Mindy Lubber, CEO of climate advocacy group Ceres and a member of the Seventh Generation board until this year.

'CONSIDER WHAT YOU'RE GIVING UP'

Organic food company investor Gary Hirshberg, who co-founded yogurt brand Stonyfield, now part of French dairy group Lactalis, said entrepreneurs cannot rely on a publicly-traded buyer to continue a social mission because the new owner's executives will come and go. He called the Ben & Jerry's dispute with Unilever "a classic difference in the cultures."

But he added a good way to protect a brand's mission was to build it around a legal standard like having organic ingredients, hard for a buyer to change.

Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read, who oversees state pension fund investments worth about $100 billion including Unilever shares, said the Ben & Jerry's dispute shows how socially-minded businesses can have contrasting obligations once they become part of a publicly-listed company.

"If you're a founder and you're considering being acquired, you might want to consider what you're giving up," Read said.

Family-owned outdoor apparel and gear maker Patagonia values having oversight over decision making.

"Many of our boldest moves have been enabled by our independence," said Matthijs Visch, its general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"Today, the argument 'We can't do that because we have shareholders' simply doesn't hold water."

Concerns that ethical principles could be compromised after a buyout have held some companies back from agreeing deals.

British beauty brand Lush markets its bath 'bombs' and soaps as vegetarian, cruelty free and handmade. The firm's staff hold 10% of its shares and have a say in how the business is run.

That independence will not be given up, no matter how attractive an offer might be, said ethics director Hilary Jones.

"External capital would not find us an attractive partner, and we would not relish having financial returns being the main goal and restricting our choices, so we have deliberately resisted taking outside investment," she said. "We love what we do and we love to do it our way."

($1 = 0.9823 euros)

Biden admin opens new front in fight against modern-day redlining
By Hassan Kanu


U.S. President Joe Biden talks to reporters while boarding Air Force One,. 

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

(Reuters) - The U.S. government obtained a groundbreaking settlement last month in its lawsuit alleging that a large mortgage company deliberately and systematically avoided providing home loans to Black and Hispanic families in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

The July 27 settlement is the federal government’s first enforcement action against redlining by a nonbank lender and it’s a signal that certain agencies, and even state officials, will scrutinize those entities’ practices a lot closer going forward.

Under the deal, Trident Mortgage Co LP will pay $24.4 million to resolve the lawsuit, which alleged that the company prevented minority families from building wealth through home ownership, and artificially depressed the property values of those who do own their homes. The enforcement action was a joint effort by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Justice and the attorneys general of Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The settlement includes $18.4 million to subsidize loans to minority borrowers in Philadelphia and the surrounding metropolitan area. Trident is also required to establish at least four branch locations within majority-minority neighborhoods in the region, and to pay a $4 million civil fine.

The lawsuit has broader significance because mortgage companies have replaced banks as the dominant players in the U.S. mortgage market. The proportion of mortgages originated by nonbank lenders has been rising steadily since 2013, reaching 77% of all reported mortgages in May 2022, according to the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center.

And, it’s worth noting that Trident is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc, the sixth-largest business conglomerate in the U.S. by market value, Reuters reported in March. (Billionaire Warren Buffet, who runs Berkshire Hathaway, wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing, according to the Reuters report.)

A spokesperson for Trident’s parent, HomeServices of America, said in an emailed statement that the company has “never denied or discouraged access to mortgage loans or other services based on race,” and touted the terms of the settlement agreement as a commitment to closing the racial gap in homeownership.

A Berkshire Hathaway representative didn't respond to a request for comment.

A Justice Department spokesperson told me the agency opened an investigation after receiving a referral from the CFPB. “We have multiple redlining investigation open at this time in cities around the nation,” the spokesperson said.

The lawsuit and settlement demonstrate the Biden administration’s commitment to combating discriminatory lending, and to extending a program to address modern-day redlining that started under former president Barack Obama. Federal authorities have historically been reluctant to take an aggressive approach in enforcing housing discrimination laws, and President Donald Trump took steps to roll back an Obama administration fair housing mandate in 2020.

The agreement doesn’t require Trident to admit to the allegations in the government’s complaint. But, of course, it’s worth considering the factual allegations that three states and two federal agencies asserted in a public lawsuit after investigating Trident, and which the company paid almost $25 million to avoid litigating.

Trident Mortgage courted and extended credit to white customers in Philadelphia and the tri-state area between 2015 and 2019, while studiously avoiding doing business in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, according to the lawsuit.

Nearly all of Trident's loan officers were white – 64 of 68 during the relevant time period, according to the complaint — and 90% of the assistant loan officers were also white.

More than 90% of Trident’s open-house flyers and direct mail ads went to majority-white neighborhoods, and all the people pictured in those mailers – both models and loan agents — appeared to be white, the lawsuit said.

The company didn’t assign loan officers to solicit mortgage applications in majority-minority neighborhoods, according to the complaint.

In fact, just 12% of Trident’s mortgage loan applications came from majority-minority neighborhoods — even though people of color account for at least half of the residents in more than a quarter of neighborhoods in the Philadelphia metropolitan region, according to the government’s investigation.

By contrast, Trident’s competitors generated 21.5% of their applications from those same mostly minority neighborhoods – a “statistically significant” difference “across the five-year period and in every year analyzed.”

Trident favored white folks even on the rare occasions when it did do business in mostly minority neighborhoods. Well more than half of its loans in majority-minority census tracts – 57.7% — were made to white borrowers, according to the lawsuit.

The company received at least six separate fair lending reports that highlighted the problematic racial disparities, but Trident “took no meaningful action in response,” the government alleged.

Those are all indications of systemic racism.

Even more troubling, there were also indications of an openly racist culture. Employees shared messages that included slurs against almost every racial and ethnic minority population in the U.S., and racist jokes about offering “Free Watermelon” to Black customers, according to the government.

The Justice Department has lauded the agreement with Trident as one of the largest discriminatory lending settlements in its history — although that’s mostly because the federal government has largely failed to enforce housing discrimination laws since they began to be enacted in the 1960s (Consider, also, that the Philly metropolitan area has seen some of the steepest drops in housing stock, while the median home price has increased 61% over the past 10 years, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported in March).

Still, the joint investigation and settlement is a welcome development. The aggressive enforcement action is a bold but necessary step to combat a decades-old — and evolving — system of discrimination that has resulted in immeasurable opportunity costs for Black, Latino and other minority Americans.

U.N. can facilitate IAEA power plant visit, but Russia puts conditions

A serviceman with a Russian flag on his uniform stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 4, 2022. 

REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - The United Nations has the logistics and security capacity to support a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, a spokesman said, but a Russia diplomat imposed conditions, saying routing any mission through Ukraine's capital was too dangerous.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric, speaking on Monday, also said: "The U.N. Secretariat has no authority to block or cancel any IAEA activities."

Dujarric was responding to an accusation by Russia that U.N. security had blocked a visit by IAEA inspectors to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which Russia seized in March following its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

He said that "in close contact with the IAEA, the U.N. Secretariat has assessed that it has in Ukraine the logistics and security capacity to be able to support any IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from Kyiv."

But he said both Russia and Ukraine have to agree. Both countries have said they want IAEA inspectors to visit. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he was ready to lead a mission and called on Russia and Ukraine to cooperate.

In Moscow, Russian news agencies quoted a senior diplomat as saying that no such mission could pass through Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, as proposed by the United Nations.

"Imagine what it means to pass through Kyiv -- it means they get to the nuclear plant through the front line," RIA news agency quoted Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy head of the foreign ministry's nuclear proliferation and arms control department, as telling journalists.

"This is a huge risk, given that Ukraine's armed forces are not all made up in the same way," he was quoted as saying.

Russia describes its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operation" and accuses Kyiv's military -- and much of its political structures -- as being beholden to nationalists and "Nazis."

Tass news agency quoted Vishnevetsky as saying that any such mission had no mandate to address the "demilitarization" of the plant as demanded by Kyiv as it could only deal with "fulfillment of IAEA guarantees."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for an end to military activity around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power complex as Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for shelling of the area. read more

Guterres spoke with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday about the conditions for the safe operations of the Zaporizhzhia, the United Nations and Russia said.

Russia: Too dangerous for IAEA to go

through Kyiv to visit Zaporizhzhia 

nuclear plant

Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv

Mon, August 15, 2022

(Reuters) - Any mission undertaken by the U.N.'s nuclear agency to inspect Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia plant cannot pass through the capital Kyiv as it is too dangerous, a senior Russian diplomat was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying on Tuesday.

"Imagine what it means to pass through Kyiv -- it means they get to the nuclear plant through the front line," RIA news agency quoted Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy head of the foreign ministry's nuclear proliferation and arms control department as telling journalists.

"This is a huge risk, given that Ukraine's armed forces are not all made up in the same way."

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday in New York that the U.N. Secretary had assessed that it had the logistics and security capacity to be able to support any IAEA mission to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia plant from Kyiv.

Tass news agency quoted Vishnevetsky as saying that any such mission had no mandate to address the "demilitarisation" of the plant as demanded by Kyiv as it could only deal with "fulfillment of IAEA guarantees".

Australia's PM says predecessor 'undermined democracy' with secret roles

By Kirsty Needham


Australia PM says Morrison 'undermined democracy'

SYDNEY, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his predecessor Scott Morrison had "undermined our democracy" by secretly appointing himself minister for home affairs and treasury during the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the health, finance and resources portfolios previously revealed.

Morrison, who stepped down as leader of the Liberal Party after losing a general election in May, has come under fire from senior members of his own party and its coalition partner, the National Party, who were unaware of the arrangements.

After a review of the matter by the Prime Minister's department, Albanese told reporters Morrison had taken on the health and finance portfolios in March 2020, home affairs and treasury in May 2021, and resources in April 2021.

"Its completely extraordinary that these appointments were kept secret by the Morrison government from the Australian people," he said.

Albanese will receive legal advice on the issue from the solicitor general on Monday, and said he was critical of the Morrison government for allowing a centralisation of power by the prime minister.

Former home affairs minister in Morrison's government, Karen Andrews, said she had no knowledge that Morrison also held the role, and called for Morrison to resign from parliament.

"You can't govern in a veil of secrecy," Andrews, a Liberal Party lawmaker, told ABC radio after Albanese's press conference.

Former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who left politics after losing his seat in the May election, was also unaware Morrison held responsibility for treasury, The Australian newspaper reported.

Liberal Opposition leader Peter Dutton said legal advice from the solicitor general was needed before any decisions on next steps were made.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison attends the third leaders' debate at the Seven Network Studios during the 2022 federal election campaign, in Sydney, Australia May 11, 2022. 

Mick Tsikas/Pool via REUTERS

In a lengthy statement, Morrison, who remains a Liberal backbencher, said he regretted that his actions had caused concern but he had "acted in good faith in a crisis".

Morrison defended taking on extra ministerial roles without his cabinet's knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it was "an unprecedented time" and that the powers served as a safeguard.

"I used such powers on one occasion only. I did not seek to interfere with Ministers in the conduct of their portfolio," he said in the statement.

He added that "in hindsight these arrangements were unnecessary".

Morrison said in a radio interview earlier on Tuesday he didn't make the arrangements public because they were a safeguard only, and it was an "oversight" the ministers weren't informed their roles were duplicated.

"We had to take some extraordinary measures to put safeguards in place," he told radio station 2GB, likening it to having two keys on a nuclear submarine.

The resources minister role he took on in 2021 was different, he said, because he had used the power to stop approval for a gas exploration project off the coast of Australia which was opposed by local communities. The decision is being challenged in court.

"I believe I made the right decision in the national interest. This was the only matter I involved myself directly with in this or any other Department," he said in the statement.

Albanese said it was concerning that two people had responsibility for the resources portfolio and had different positions on matters.

Not tabling in parliament who was responsible for ministerial portfolios was "a very clear breach of the obligations that the prime minister has to the parliament", he told ABC radio earlier on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka will not extend emergency as protests tail off

By Waruna Cudah Nimal Karunatilake

August 16, 2022


Ranil Wickremesinghe who has been elected as the Eighth Executive President under the Constitution speaks to media as he leaves a Buddhist temple, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka July 20, 2022. REUTERS/ Dinuka Liyanawatte

COLOMBO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's state of emergency imposed in the middle of last month will not be extended beyond this week, President Ranil Wickremesinghe's media office said on Tuesday, as protests against the country's economic devastation petered out.

Lawmakers voted Wickremesinghe in as president on July 20 after his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled a popular uprising against months of acute shortages of fuel, food and medicine. read more

Six-time Prime Minister Wickremesinghe imposed the emergency from July 18 when he was acting president, after tens of thousands of people stormed into government buildings, seeking solutions to the country's worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.

Wickremesinghe's office cited the president as saying at an event in the main city of Colombo that the emergency would lapse this week.

He has sought peace and political support to help advance bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund. The country has already defaulted on its sovereign debt.

S&P Global on Monday slashed its rating on Sri Lankan bonds to 'D', representing default, after the country missed interest payments due on June 3, June 28, and July 18, and a principal payment due on July 25.

The country is considering restructuring its local and foreign debt in the hope of securing a $3 billion IMF loan.

S&P pushes Sri Lankan bonds deeper into junk territory with 'default' rating


People walk along the Pettah Market, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo

Mon, August 15, 2022 

(Reuters) - Global ratings agency S&P Global on Monday slashed its rating on Sri Lankan bonds to 'D', representing default, following missed interest and principal payments.

The South Asian nation, which had defaulted on a bond payment earlier this year and has $12 billion in overseas debt with private creditors, has been battling the worst financial crisis in its independent history.

Sri Lanka's external public debt freeze prevents payment of interest and principal obligations due on the government's international sovereign bonds.

S&P said it did not expect the Sri Lankan government, which remains in default on some foreign currency obligations, to make the bond payments within 30 calendar days after their due dates.

The ratings agency affirmed its 'SD' long-term and 'SD' short-term foreign currency sovereign ratings on Sri Lanka, as well as reiterated the outlook for the island nation at 'negative'.

The country is considering a restructuring of local and foreign debt. It is due to restart bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in August in the hope of securing $3 billion in funding.

Chinese military survey ship docks at Sri Lanka port

 

By Uditha Jayasinghe


COLOMBO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The Chinese survey vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked on Tuesday at Sri Lanka's Chinese-built port of Hambantota, a port official said, a move likely to stoke concern in neighbouring India about the growing influence of its bigger and more powerful rival.

The movements of the ship have fuelled contention between India and China, two of Sri Lanka's biggest allies in its current economic crisis, as India fears China could use the port, near the main Asia-Europe shipping route, as a military base.

"The vessel will be berthed for three days," the official, who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters from the southern port.

"The purpose of staying at the port is to stock up on fuel, food and other essentials."

Hours after the ship docked, a Sri Lankan cabinet spokesman said the island nation was working to ensure there was no friction between friendly countries.

"Even before this, there have been ships from the United States, India and other countries coming to Sri Lanka," Media Minister Bandula Gunawardana told reporters.

"We have allowed these ships to come. In the same way, we have allowed the Chinese ship to dock."

Foreign security analysts describe the Yuan Wang 5 as one of China's latest generation space-tracking ships, used to monitor satellite, rocket and intercontinental ballistic missile launches.

The Pentagon says the Yuan Wang ships are operated by the Strategic Support Force of the People's Liberation Army.

On Saturday, Sri Lanka said it had agreed the vessel could dock at Hambantota, despite security concerns raised by India and the United States. read more

India has rejected claims that it has put pressure on Sri Lanka to turn the vessel away.

Solar Giant Hanwha Weighs US Expansion With Massive New Facility



Brian Eckhouse
Mon, August 15, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- Hanwha Q Cells -- one of the few solar-panel makers with US production -- is considering sites for a massive new facility as the country prepares to incentivize cleantech manufacturing.

The company is evaluating sites in Georgia, South Carolina and Texas, according to documents filed in Texas. The potential project in Dallas County, Texas, would feature a suite of manufacturing -- panels, ingots, wafers and cells. Korea-based Hanwha Solutions is the manufacturer’s parent company.

Congress recently approved the Inflation Reduction Act, which is designed to accelerate renewable power and reignite domestic cleantech manufacturing. China has long dominated solar making, especially ingot and wafer production. The landmark climate bill now awaits the signature of President Joe Biden and is expected to spur new domestic investments in solar manufacturing as well as in other sectors including batteries.

Read: Manchin-Schumer deal would boost US cleantech makers

Hanwha is in the due-diligence and exploration phase of potential expansion, according to a spokesman. The company operates a factory in Georgia and is building another facility in the state.

Senate Republican campaign arm cuts ad spending in at least 4 key battleground races


Peter Weber, Senior editor
Mon, August 15, 2022 

Mehmet Oz Michelle Gustafson/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has canceled more than $10 million in ad spending in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada since Aug. 1, in a potential sign of financial troubles heading into the heart of the 2022 campaign season, Politico and The New York Times reported Monday, citing ad-tracking firms. "People are asking, 'What the hell is going on?'" one GOP strategist told Politico. "Why are we cutting in August? I've never seen it like this before."

NSRC spokesman Chris Hartline said the Senate GOP campaign arm is being "creative in how we're spending our money and will continue to make sure that every dollar spent by the NRSC is done in the most efficient and effective way possible," adding, "Nothing has changed about our commitment to winning in all of our target states." A source familiar with the NRSC's deliberations told Politico the committee is being forced to "stretch every dollar we can." The NRSC could buy back some of the ad time or move the funds to a joint committee with the candidates, taking advantage of lower candidate rates.

"While the scale of these cuts is unprecedented, the NRSC is also ahead of its typical schedule on its ad spending, having already spent $36.5 million on television spots this cycle, as opposed to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's $1.9 million to date," Politico reports. A second Republican strategist called the cuts "unreal," especially because the NRSC did not pull ad spending in less-competitive New Hampshire, Washington, or Colorado races.

The NRSC has had to step after the GOP candidate in battleground have failed to raise enough money to run their own ads. At the same time, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) Senate Leadership Fund super PAC is pouring money into ads in Pennsylvania and other states where the NSRC is pulling back. McConnell's group has reserved $150 million in ads for this fall.