PHNOM PENH (XINHUA) – The Cambodian government on Friday approved 23 power investment projects totally worth USD5.79 billion for 2024-2029, aiming at addressing the shortage of energy sources, said a press release.
The approval was made during a weekly Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Hun Manet, said the press release after the meeting.
The planned 23 projects included 12 solar power projects, six wind power projects, one hybrid combined biomass and solar power project, one LNG-gas-fired project, one hydropower project, and two energy storage station projects.
“Of the 23 projects, there are 21 power generation projects with a total capacity of 3,950 megawatts, and two energy storage station projects that are capable of storing the power of 2,000 megawatts,” the press release said. The 23 projects have a total investment capital of USD5.79 billion, it added.
These projects will help strengthen Cambodia’s energy security, increasing the development of domestic energy sources, and promoting the development of clean energy, it said.
The projects will increase Cambodia’s share of clean energy generation capacity to 70 per cent by 2030 from more than 62 per cent at the present, it added.
HANOI (XINHUA) – Vietnam’s wood and timber product exports reached USD12.15 billion in nearly nine months of 2024, up 17.2 per cent year on year, Vietnam News cited the Department of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as reporting on Friday.
Wooden products accounted for the largest share at USD7.84 billion, marking a 20.7 per cent increase.
Raw timber also recorded substantial growth, valued at USD3.53 billion, up 13.1 per cent, while non-timber forest products contributed USD777 million, reflecting a 3.9 per cent increase.
The United States (US), China and the European Union have remained as primary export markets of Vietnamese wood and timber products, said the report.
Vietnam’s forestry sector is forecasted to experience challenges in the remaining months of the year due to the prolonged impacts of Typhoon Yagi’s aftermath.
The sector aims to export USD15.2 billion of wood and timber products this year.
NEW YORK (AP) – United States (US) stocks closed another record-setting week with a muted performance on Friday, as hope built on Wall Street that the US economy can manage the rare feat of suppressing high inflation without causing a recession.
The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1 per cent from its all-time high set the day before, its 42nd of the year so far. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 137 points, or 0.3 per cent, to set its own record, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.4 per cent.
Treasury yields eased in the bond market after a report showed inflation slowed in August by a bit more than economists expected. It echoed similar numbers from earlier in the month about inflation, but Friday’s report has resonance because it’s the measure that officials at the Federal Reserve (Fed) prefer to use.
For more than a year, the Fed had kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the economy enough to drive inflation toward its two per cent target. Now that inflation has eased substantially from its peak two summers ago, the Fed has begun cutting rates to ease conditions for the slowing job market and prevent a recession.
Of course, the risk of a downturn still looms. US employers have slowed their hiring, and the inflation report on Friday also showed growth in US consumer spending in August fell shy of economists’ expectations. That’s important because consumer spending is the main engine of the economy.
Part of the shortfall may have been because incomes for Americans grew less in August than economists expected. As the Fed cuts interest rates, Americans will get lower interest payments on their savings accounts and other similar holdings.
The New York Stock Exchange. PHOTO: AP
The boost that lower interest rates can give to borrowers, meanwhile, can take longer to come to fruition, “so consumption spending will likely get squeezed”, said Chief Economist at Annex Wealth Management Brian Jacobsen.
More encouraging data arrived later in the morning, when a report said sentiment among US consumers is stronger than economists expected.
On Wall Street, Costco Wholesale fell 1.8 per cent after delivering weaker revenue in the latest quarter than analysts expected. That was even though its profit topped expectations.
Another company that depends on people spending money, ski-resort operator Vail Resorts, sank 3.9 per cent after reporting a larger loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Scant snowfalls at its Australian resorts hurt its results, and it gave a forecast for profit in its upcoming fiscal year that fell short of forecasts.
On the winning side of Wall Street, Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 1.6 per cent after receiving US federal approval for its new approach to treat schizophrenia in adults.
Trump Media & Technology Group climbed 5.5 per cent following the first disclosure of a major investor selling its shares now that a restriction for insiders has lifted.
A Florida firm owned by former contestants on The Apprentice dumped nearly all of its 5.5 per cent ownership stake in TMTG, which owns former president Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform, according to a filing made with US regulators on Thursday.
Trump has said he does not plan to sell any of his shares, and he owns more than half of the company, but the stock has been shaky amid speculation about whether he may.
All told, the S&P 500 slipped 7.20 points to 5,738.17, but it still closed out a third straight winning week and its sixth in the last seven. The Dow rose 137.89 to 42,313.00, and the Nasdaq composite lost 70.70 to 18,119.59. Markets overseas made bigger moves, as stocks in Shanghai rallied 2.9 per cent to close their best week since 2008. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 3.6 per cent to cap its best week since 1998.
They soared following a barrage of announcements through the week from China’s central bank and government in hopes of propping up the world’s second-largest economy.
Investors aren’t convinced all the stimulus will ultimately succeed, but they say they’re impressed by the size of it all following earlier piecemeal efforts.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury eased to 3.75 per cent from 3.80 per cent late Thursday.
The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more closely with expectations for what the Fed will do with short-term rates, fell to 3.56 per cent from 3.63 per cent.
Traders are betting on a 55 per cent probability the Fed will cut the federal funds rate by another half of a percentage point at its next meeting in November, according to data from CME Group. It usually moves rates by just a quarter of a percentage point.
Volkswagen cars during a final quality control at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany. PHOTO: AP
FRANKFURT (AFP) – Auto giant Volkswagen (VW) cut its 2024 forecasts on Friday, as it battles a deep crisis that it has warned could prompt the closure of factories in Germany for the first time.
One of Germany’s best-known firms, VW shocked employees at the start of this month when it said that it needed to urgently restructure, including possibly shuttering plants at home and implementing deep job cuts.
The carmaker, which has some 300,000 workers in Germany, has been hit hard by high manufacturing costs, a stuttering switch to electric vehicles and rising competition in key market China.
In the latest sign of its problems, the 10-brand group cut a host of forecasts for this year.
VW said that it now expected revenues to be about EUR320 billion (USD357 billion), after previously forecasting they would grow five per cent from EUR322.3 billion in 2023.
The group – whose brands range from its core VW models to Seat, Skoda and Porsche – also said it expected to deliver nine million vehicles.
Volkswagen cars during a final quality control at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany. PHOTO: AP
Previously it had forecast deliveries would increase up to three per cent this year from the 9.24 million vehicles it delivered in 2023.
VW cited a “challenging market environment and developments that have fallen short of original expectations” as reasons for cutting its forecasts.
It said the problems are affecting all its main divisions making passenger cars, commercial vehicles and components.
In addition, it cut its forecast for operating return on sales to around 5.6 per cent, from a previous forecast of 6.5 to 7.0 per cent.
Also weighing on VW was a “deterioration in the macroeconomic environment”, the carmaker said.
The outlook for Germany’s economy, and the broader eurozone, has darkened in recent times. Meanwhile China – where VW makes around a third of its sales – also continues to struggle.
The forecast cuts come just two days after VW’s bosses began talks with workers’ representatives on a new pay deal following the bombshell announcement that drastic cuts were needed.
Unions have vowed “bitter resistance” to any attempt to close factories in Germany or carry out mass layoffs, while VW’s bosses insist cuts are needed to keep the company competitive.
Graham Barratt and his 13-pound celeriac at the Malvern Autumn Show, United Kingdom.
PHOTO: GRAHAM BARRATT
UPI – A British man set a new Guinness World Record with his massive 13-pound celeriac at the Malvern Autumn Show.
Resident of Gloucester Graham Barratt was officially informed this week that his root vegetable had claimed the title for the heaviest celeriac.
In an interview with BBC Radio, Barratt shared some humour about the world of giant vegetables: “It’s either weight or length for giant veg, but it’s not beauty. Some of them are quite ugly.”
Barratt also brought other impressive vegetables to the show, including a cucumber that came close to earning him another record.
“I weighed it recently, and it was 29 pounds. The world record is 30 pounds,” he said. “That’s just how cruel the business is at times.”
Graham Barratt and his 13-pound celeriac at the Malvern Autumn Show, United Kingdom. PHOTO: GRAHAM BARRATT
UPI – A rare blue lobster found in a supermarket tank was rescued by a New York aquarium after being spotted by a local family. Danielle Morales was shopping at Market 32 in Clifton Park with her sons, Parker, 4, and Zachary, 3, when the boys noticed something unusual in the lobster tank.
“Parker pointed and said, ‘Hey! That one is blue!’ and I thought, wow, that’s odd,” Morales told WRGB-TV. She snapped a picture and immediately contacted the Via Aquarium in Schenectady through Facebook.
After receiving confirmation from the aquarium, Morales approached the store staff and informed them that the aquarium would be calling to arrange for the lobster’s rescue.
The boys initially named the lobster Bluey, after a popular cartoon character, but renamed him Bandit after discovering the lobster was male.
The Via Aquarium collected Bandit, who is now in quarantine and will join the aquarium’s other lobsters in October. According to aquarium officials, Bandit’s unique blue colour may be related to his diet, rather than just a genetic mutation, which is known to cause rare lobster colourations such as blue, orange and white.
“We think it could be his diet,” said Cassidy Livingston from Via Aquarium. “Eating a lot of shrimp can sometimes result in colour changes.”
Rescuers evacuate a resident trapped in a flooded neighborhood in Lalitpur, Nepal. PHOTO: XINHUA
KATHMANDU (AFP) – Floods and landslides triggered by heavy downpours in Nepal killed at least 59 people across the Himalayan country, with rescue teams searching for 44 missing, police said yesterday.
Rain-related disasters are common in South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.
Large swathes of Nepal have been inundated since Friday, prompting disaster authorities to warn of flash floods in multiple rivers.
“So far, there are 59 dead, 36 wounded and 44 missing,” Nepal police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki told AFP.
Karki said more than 200 incidents of flood and landslides have been reported and that the toll was likely to increase further. Rivers around the capital Kathmandu burst their banks, inundating nearby houses.
“It’s scary. I had never seen such kind of devastation in my lifetime before,” said Mahamad Shabuddin, 34, who runs a motorbike workshop in the city near the swollen Bagmati river.
Rescuers evacuate a resident trapped in a flooded neighborhood in Lalitpur, Nepal. PHOTO: XINHUA
Survivors were seen standing on top of buildings or wading through murky waters to get to safety.
“When I went outside in the middle of the night, the water had reached up to my shoulders,” 49-year-old truck driver Hari Mallah told AFP. “My truck is completely under water.”
Spokesman for Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority Basanta Adhikari said authorities were working to rescue and get relief to those impacted by the floods.
More than 3,000 security personnel were deployed to assist rescue efforts with helicopters and motorboats.
Rescue teams were using rafts to pull survivors to safety.
Landslides have blocked several highways, leaving hundreds of travellers stranded.
“We have around eight locations, all of them have been blocked due to landslides in different sections of the road,” said Kathmandu traffic police officer Bishwaraj Khadka.
All domestic flights out of Kathmandu were cancelled from Friday evening, affecting more than 150 departures.
The summer monsoon brings South Asia 70-80 per cent of its annual rainfall.
Monsoon rains from June to September bring widespread death and destruction every year across South Asia, but the numbers of fatal floods and landslides have increased in recent years. Experts said climate change has worsened their frequency and intensity.
A landslide that hit a road in Chitwan district in July pushed two buses with 59 passengers aboard into a river.
Three people were able to escape alive, but authorities managed to recover only 20 bodies from the accident, with raging flood waters impeding the search.
More than 220 people have died in Nepal in rain-related disasters this year.
NEW DELHI (XINHUA) – At least three people, including two women and a child, were charred to death and seven others injured yesterday in an explosion inside an illegally-run firecracker factory in the northern Indian state of Haryana, police said.
The explosion that subsequently triggered a massive fire in the house took place in Ridhau village, Sonipat district of Haryana.
According to officials, the factory was being illegally run from a house in the middle of the residential area of the village. “We received information that a blast took place inside a house in village Ridhau. On the spot, we found the material that is being used in making firecrackers.
A forensic team has been called in.
“Some people told us that the blast was caused due to the bursting of a cooking gas cylinder. So far we have recovered three bodies that are completely charred and seven people in injured condition have been sent to hospital,” a police official said.
“The owner of the house has been rounded up, and we are investigating the matter.”
Following the blast, authorities immediately rushed fire brigade teams to control the blaze and prevent it from spreading in the neighbourhood.
Around 10 people were working in the factory at the time of the blast, reports said.
Accidental explosions are common at Indian firecracker factories and shops, as owners usually ignore safety standards.
Destruction to buildings in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Florida, United States. PHOTO: AP
AP – Hurricane Helene caused dozens of deaths and billions of dollars of destruction across a wide swath of the southeastern United States as it raced through, and more than three million customers went into the weekend without any power and for some a continued threat of floods.
Helene blew ashore in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday packing winds of 225 kilometres per hour and then quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.
Western North Carolina was essentially cut off because or landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. There were hundreds of water rescues, none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from the roof of a hospital that was surrounded by water from a flooded river.
The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, is expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley over the weekend, the National Hurricane Centre said. Several flood and flash flood warnings remained in effect in parts of the southern and central Appalachians, while high wind warnings also covered parts of Tennessee and Ohio.
Among the at least 44 people killed in the storm were three firefighters, a woman and her one-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman whose house was struck by a falling tree. According to an Associated Press tally, the deaths occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
In North Carolina, a lake featured in the movie Dirty Dancing overtopped a dam and surrounding neighbourhoods were evacuated, although there were no immediate concerns it would fail. People also were evacuated from Newport, Tennessee, a city of about 7,000 people, amid concerns about a dam near there, although officials later said the structure had not failed.
Tornadoes hit some areas, including one in Nash County, North Carolina, that critically injured four people. Atlanta received a record 28.24 centimetres of rain in 48 hours, the most the city has seen in a two-day period since record keeping began in 1878, Georgia’s Office of the State Climatologist said on the social platform X. Some neighbourhoods were so badly flooded that only car roofs could be seen poking above the water.
Moody’s Analytics said it expects USD15 billion to USD26 billion in property damage.
Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes in a matter of hours.
Destruction to buildings in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Florida, United States. PHOTO: APA dog wades through floodwaters near collapsed homes. PHOTO: AP
SMYRNA (AP) – Two Georgia police officers were wounded and a man was killed during a shooting inside a suburban Atlanta, United States (US) retailer that calls itself the world’s largest gun store.
Smyrna Police Chief Keith Zgonc said the officers were investigating reports of gunfire and a burglary in progress around midnight when they found the suspect inside Adventure Outdoors, which has more than 18,000 guns in stock.
“When officers arrived they encountered an armed gunman that was inside the store… gunfire erupted between the gunman and officers on the scene,” wounding the two officers and killing the suspect, Zgonc said.
Police have not released the names of the deceased suspect or the officers, who Zgonc said were hospitalised and expected to survive.
“We’re not sure what his reasoning was for breaking into the store,” said Zgonc, noting that police believe he acted alone.
Cobb County police officers also were on the scene and fired at the suspect, but Zgonc did not say which of the officers shot the man or how many shots were fired.
Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer said a large number of his officers arrived to support Smyrna police because of the uncertainty of the situation.
“There are going to be a lot of police officers come when one of their comrades is hurt,” VanHoozer said. “We don’t know what we have, we don’t know how many suspects we have… we do know that they’re in a gun store with lots of weapons.”
