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World Shares Hit Record As Investors Hold To Dovish US Fed Bets

By
Elizabeth Williams
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A global stocks index hit a record high on Tuesday as investors took comfort in growing views the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to delay the start of tapering its asset purchases and maintain its expansive monetary policy for the near-term.

European bourses are expected to dip, however, after gains on Monday, with Euro Stoxx futures down 0.1% and Britain’s FTSE futures trading 0.3% lower.

The world’s shares, measured by MSCI’s gauge of 50 markets tacked on 0.1% to log their eighth consecutive day of gains to record highs.

“Now that the tapering announcement from the Fed in September seems unlikely, we should expect ‘Goldilocks’ markets to continue to at least October or November,” said Masahiko Loo, portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein.

The latest rally, which started after Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish speech at Jackson Hole Symposium last month, received a further boost from a surprisingly soft U.S. payrolls report on Friday.

The U.S. economy created 235,000 jobs in August, the fewest in seven months as hiring in the leisure and hospitality sector stalled, reducing expectations of an early tapering by the Fed. read more

“It’s the service sector that is losing steam and that clearly shows the impact of Delta variant,” said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. “And the Fed has no reason to insist on tapering this year if the Delta variant is having an impact.”

In Asia, Japanese shares extended their bull run on hopes the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will compile additional economic stimulus and easily win an upcoming general election after unpopular Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he would quit. read more

Tokyo’s Nikkei (.N225) rallied 0.9% also helped by an announcement on its reshuffle .

Mainland Chinese shares extended gains, with the Shanghai Composite (.SSEC) rising 0.8% to reach its highest since February, helped by Chinese trade data showing both exports and imports grew much faster than expected in August.

OPEC+ Keen To Keep Oil Prices At $65/$75 A Barrel

By
Elizabeth Williams
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The head of Russia’s No. 2 oil producer Lukoil said that oil prices of $65-$75 were “comfortable” for consumers and that the OPEC+ group of leading oil-producing nations was striving to maintain that price range by regulating output.

In an interview with the Kommersant newspaper published on Tuesday, Vagit Alekperov said curbs on oil output would depend on market conditions.

“Regulation (of output) can be different depending on the situation,” Alekperov said.

“For now September 2022 will mark a milestone when the restrictions should phase out. The company has up to 90,000 barrels a day of idle production, which we hope will be needed by the market.”

Lukoil has said previously that it could reduce its stake in Iraq’s West Qurna-2 oil project. Alekperov said Lukoil remained in talks with the Iraqi government to stay involved in the project.

Alekperov said the Yamama formation at the West Qurna 2 oilfield has proved difficult to tap because it contains high levels of hydrogen sulphide.

US Electric Company Entergy Says Power Restored To Over Half Of Customers After Ida

By
Elizabeth Williams
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US electric company Entergy said power had been restored for more than half of its customers who faced an outage after Hurricane Ida.

“Just eight days after being struck by one of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit the United States, more than half of the 948,000 total customers who lost power have been restored. As of 4 p.m. today, 54%, or 511,000, had been restored,” the company said late on Monday.

Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the US Gulf Coast, hit Louisiana before moving northeast and causing intense flooding that killed dozens in New York and other northeastern states.

Entergy, headquartered in New Orleans, said 100% of its customers’ power was restored in Mississippi as of this afternoon. The company has some 3 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, according to its website.

South Africa’s Eskom Launches Programme To Boost Use Of Green Power

By
Elizabeth Williams
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Eskom has launched the Renewable Energy Tariff pilot Programme, which aims to supply cleanly sourced electricity to the utility’s business customers.

The electricity will be supplied through Eskom’s Sere Wind Farm.

The Programme targets businesses that have corporate renewable energy targets and would like to use renewable power in their facilities or production processes without having to purchase renewable energy assets such as wind turbines or solar panels.

In a statement, Eskom said the Programme will enable businesses to use its renewable energy sources to supply up to 100% of their electricity.

The Programme gives customers a mechanism to achieve their renewable energy commitments to purchase this energy from Eskom, without the initial capital investment of having to own a renewable energy generator or to enter into long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

“This offer allows customers to have a 24-hour blended renewable supply to their facility, and allows them flexibility to relocate premises without needing to move renewable energy assets,” the statement said.

The power utility said depending on usage, customers will be offered declining electricity on a yearly basis.

“The tariff is designed as a declining block tariff. This means that the more green energy a customer purchases as a percentage of total consumption, the lower the rate.”

More details on the tariff pilot are available from the Eskom website.

Deserted Afghan Universities Open As Taliban Impose New Rules

By
Elizabeth Williams
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Students attend their class after private universities were reopened in Kabul on September 6, 2021. - Women attending private Afghan universities must wear an abaya robe and niqab covering most of the face, the Taliban have ordered, and classes must be segregated by sex -- or at least divided by a curtain. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP)

Universities in Kabul were almost empty on the first day of the Afghan school year on Monday, as professors and students wrestled with the Taliban’s restrictive new rules for the classroom.

The Taliban have promised a softer reign than during their first stint in power from 1996-2001, when women’s freedoms in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed and they were banned from higher education.

This time the hardline Islamist group have said women will be allowed to go to private universities under the new regime, but they face tough restrictions on their clothing and movement.

The militant group’s acting higher education minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani said,

Haqqani added mixed-gender classes would be banned, however. He made the comments Sunday at a loya jirga — a council gathering of tribal and faction leaders in Afghanistan.

“The… people of Afghanistan will continue their higher education in the light of Sharia law in safety without being in a mixed male and female environment,” he said to AFP.

He added that the Taliban are looking to “create a reasonable and Islamic curriculum that is in line with our Islamic, national and historical values and, on the other hand, be able to compete with other countries.”

Job Fellowship Application Portal For Graduates Now Open..

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The federal government has opened the application portal for the Nigeria Jubilee fellow programme, a post–NYSC work placement programme for Nigerians.

The portal was opened Monday to interested applicants and the process will run for six weeks, “between September 6 and October 20, 2021.”

President Muhammadu Buhari launched the programme last Tuesday.

The fellowship is a youth empowerment partnership initiative between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The programme seeks to connect talented graduates with local job opportunities that apply their expertise while equipping them with world-class practical knowledge and relevant skills.

“The programme is expected to create new opportunities for 20,000 graduates annually while the beneficiaries will maximise the opportunities presented to them and also aims to equip Nigerians, with practical knowledge and relevant skills for 12 months, with or without job experience, thereby connecting them with local job opportunities,” Buhari had said.

It would also give three options for applicants upon completion of the fellowship, including retained with respective host organisations, entrepreneurship opportunities, and a platform to compete and access future jobs and employment opportunities.

Criteria for application
To be an eligible fellow, the applicant must be a Nigerian citizen and a fresh graduate (Bachelor’s Degree) from any discipline and graduate no earlier than 2017.

Applicants must graduate with at least a Second Class Lower (2.2) and above and must be at most 30 years old.

Applicants must not be currently engaged in any employment and would have completed the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) or have a certificate of exemption.

Other requirements are: applicants must demonstrate interest/commitment in the chosen career field and also demonstrate interest/commitment to contributing to Nigeria’s socio-economic development.

They must also have excellent time management and a professional attitude and have good verbal and written communication skills.

Afghan Filmmakers At Venice Fear Loss Of Identity, Culture

By
Koko Lawrence
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Afghan female filmmakers who fled the Taliban begged the world to not forget the Afghan people and to support its artists, warning that a country without culture will eventually lose its identity.

The Venice Film Festival organized a panel discussion to give a platform to Sahraa Karimi, the first female president of the Afghan Film Organization, and documentary filmmaker Sahra Mani, who is presenting a project at the Venice film market fair.

Karimi choked up while telling reporters about her own escape — in which she had just hours to decide whether to stay or leave — and all that had been lost after the Taliban completed their takeover of the country.

She cited numerous films that were in pre-and-post production, filmmaking workshops that had been organized, insurance policies negotiated for equipment, and said that Afghan directors were increasingly being welcomed at international film festivals. Karimi herself had presented a film at the Venice Film Festival in 2019.

“It was our dream to change the narrative of Afghanistan, because we were tired of those cliches about Afghanistan,” she said. “We wanted to produce films, movies and to tell our stories from different angles, from different perspectives, to show the beauty of our country.”

But she said all of that has been lost, and that the country’s burgeoning filmmaking community had either fled or gone into hiding, with its archives now under Taliban control.

“Imagine a country without artists, a country without filmmakers, how can they defend its identity?” Karimi asked. “Maybe we are not politically ambassadors, but we are ambassadors for our stories, we are ambassadors of our identity.

“We are those people that represent our identity to the world, through our films, through our music, through our creative works. But we are now homeless.”

She said she decided to flee on the morning of Aug. 15, with just a few hours to make “the most difficult decision of your life: stay or leave.”

She said many of Afghanistan’s youngest and brightest left too, but said thousands more promising filmmakers couldn’t get out and are now erasing their social media presence for their own safety and going underground.

Mani said even under the corrupt rule of Afghanistan’s ousted government, she had remained despite the daily security risks and everyday hassles — electricity cuts, internet outages — because she wanted to rebuild the country and restart its cultural life.

IAEA Team In Japan To Help Prepare Fukushima Water Release

By
Angel Gimalo
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福島第一原発／処理済み汚染水の貯蔵タンクが並ぶ福島第一原発＝２０２１年４月１２日、朝日新聞社ヘリから＝福島県大熊町

An International Atomic Energy Agency mission arrived in Japan on Monday to help prepare for a decades-long release into the ocean of treated but still radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, officials said.

The three-member team will meet with officials in Tokyo and travel to the Fukushima Daiichi plant to discuss technical details with experts until Friday, IAEA and Japanese officials said.

The team, headed by Lydie Evrard, head of the IAEA’s Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, is gathering information to prepare a review of the discharge plans.

The Japanese government and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, announced plans in April to start releasing the water in the spring of 2023 so hundreds of storage tanks at the plant can be removed to make room for other facilities needed for its decommissioning.

The idea has been fiercely opposed by fishermen, residents and Japan’s neighbors, including China and South Korea.

The utility plans to send the water through an undersea tunnel and discharge it from a location about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) away from the coastal power plant after further treating and diluting it with large amounts of seawater.

“The Agency is supporting Japan to ensure that the entire operation to discharge the water over the coming decades is conducted in a way that is consistent with international safety standards,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement. He said the team will discuss the timeline for IAEA reviews to ensure the water discharge is conducted “in a safe and transparent manner.”

Japan has requested IAEA’s assistance to ensure the discharge meets international safety standards and to gain the understanding of the international community.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 severely damaged three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, causing contaminated cooling water to leak. The water has been stored in about 1,000 tanks which the operator says will reach their capacity late next year.

Japanese officials say disposal of the water is required for the decommissioning of the plant, and that its release into the ocean is the most realistic option.

Government and TEPCO officials say tritium, which is not harmful in small amounts, cannot be removed from the water, but all other isotopes selected for treatment can be reduced to safe levels. Controlled release of tritium from normal nuclear plants is a routine global practice, officials say.

A separate IAEA taskforce has regularly reviewed and provided technical assistance for the plant’s overall decommissioning.

Industry Group Backs Global Carbon Price For Large Ships

By
Angel Gimalo
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A major maritime industry association on Monday backed plans for a global surcharge on carbon emissions from shipping to help fund the sector’s shift toward climate-friendly fuels.

The International Chamber of Shipping said it’s proposing to the United Nations that all vessels trading globally above a certain size should pay a set amount per metric ton of carbon dioxide they emit.

The group, representing commercial shipowners and operators covering over 80% of the world merchant fleet, didn’t specify what carbon price it would support.

The shipping industry is estimated to account for nearly 3% of the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving global warming and projected to rise significantly in the coming decades.

Environmental campaigners welcomed the ICS submission to the International Maritime Organization, but cautioned that the extent of its ambition remains unclear.

“We will know they are serious about real progress when they embrace a level of ambition consistent with what climate vulnerable island nations have already proposed,” said Aoife O’Leary, director of global transportation at the Environmental Defense Fund.

The Marshall Islands and the Solomon Islands, two nations with large shipping fleets that are severely threatened by climate change, have already proposed a carbon levy starting at $100 per ton.

The ICS said it opposed piecemeal regional measures, such as those proposed by the European Union, and called for the money generated from the levy to go into a climate fund that would subsidize clean alternatives such as hydrogen until they come competitive with conventional fuels.

Typhoon Eastern Philippines Causes Power Outages

By
Angel Gimalo
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A strong typhoon slammed into the eastern Philippines on Tuesday, bringing high winds that caused power outages in several provinces.

Typhoon Conson carried sustained winds of 120 kilometers (74 miles) per hour with gusts of up to 150 kph (93 mph), first making landfall at the coastal town of Hernani in Eastern Samar province before hitting nearby Samar province, the state weather service said.

“We only have minor damage here, thank God,” Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone said in a text message. He said work had been suspended in government offices.

Power systems operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines said some transmission lines were affected. Power outages were reported in Eastern Samar, Samar and Leyte provinces.

Local officials reported some flooding in Tacloban City.

The weather bureau said late Tuesday afternoon that Coson had weakened into a severe tropical storm as it moved west-northwestward over the Sibuyan Sea. Its sustained winds declined to 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour, it said.

The weather bureau warned of destructive winds and heavy rainfall within 18 hours in portions of seven provinces including Quezon, Masbate, Albay and Samar.

The Manila metro region was under a level 1 warning, which means strong winds were expected within the next 36 hours.

About 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippines each year, aside from seasonal monsoon rains. The country also lies in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone nations.

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