Analysts said oil deliveries and other cargo flows were still being disrupted even though Flemish sea pilots have temporarily suspended strike action that began on October 5

International News via Reuters:

Oil deliveries are being disrupted by congestion at the Belgian Port of Antwerp-Bruges after a harbour pilots’ strike, analysts said, with the port authority counting up to 188 vessels still waiting to berth or depart.

Analysts said oil deliveries and other cargo flows were still being disrupted even though Flemish sea pilots, who play a key role in navigating ships through congested or dangerous waters, have temporarily suspended strike action that began on October 5 in a protest against federal pension reforms.

The backlog has forced shipping lines to reroute or delay cargo, straining supply chains.

S&P Global Commodity Insights cited market participants as saying that strikes had slowed arrivals into Europe, with Antwerp a major discharge location for jet fuel and diesel.

As of Wednesday, the logistics chain in Antwerp was running at about 70% of normal capacity, as a national strike the day before caused further disruption, port authorities said.

The pilots’ union on Wednesday agreed to suspend its strike until October 24, but an ongoing go-slow action is hindering traffic resumption, port authorities said, adding that action is expected to continue until Sunday. 

As of Wednesday evening, 128 ships were waiting to enter port, and 60 were still queued for departure. Towage services are fully operational, and all locks and bridges are functioning, but clearing the backlog is expected to take several days, the port said.

Zeebrugge, part of the same port complex, has experienced more limited disruption, with delays expected to be cleared by late afternoon.

Reporting by Alban Kacher; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

The Nikkei share average rose as prospects appeared to brighten for Takaichi to become Japan’s first woman premier, stoking bets on a revival in big spending and loose monetary policy

International News via Reuters:

Sanae Takaichi, the newly-elected head of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, held talks about a possible coalition with leaders of the right-leaning Innovation Party on Thursday, in a bid to clinch a prime ministerial vote expected next week.

The Nikkei share average rose as prospects appeared to brighten for Takaichi to become Japan’s first woman premier, stoking bets on a revival in big spending and loose monetary policy.

Takaichi’s path to succeed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had seemed all but certain until the LDP’s junior partner, Komeito, quit their 26-year coalition last week, setting off a flurry of negotiations with rival parties to select the next premier.

“We’ve made significant progress in aligning our values,” said Fumitake Fujita, co-head of the Innovation Party, following the talks that also included policy chiefs of both parties.

He said the parties would meet again on Friday but cautioned that it was not clear whether they could reach a deal. A final decision would likely be made on Monday, he said.

The LDP’s policy chief, Takayuki Kobayashi, said the sides were aligned on key topics including security and energy policies.

Taken together, the two parties would be just two seats short of a majority in the lower house, which has the deciding vote to choose the prime minister, but the government has yet to agree a date.

The Innovation Party’s plans include designating a second capital in addition to Tokyo, restarting nuclear power plants and setting limits on the number of foreign residents.

On security, it calls for a more robust defence posture and plans to revise Japan’s war-renouncing constitution, aligning with the views of Takaichi, a nationalist from the LDP’s right wing.

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party has also sought to draw the Innovation Party into a three-way tie-up with the Democratic Party for the People (DPFP), and enable a premiership bid by DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki.

However, those talks were inconclusive on Wednesday.

The LDP has proposed October 21 for a parliament vote on parties’ choices for the next premier, but the opposition has pushed back, citing coalition discussions.

Any candidate securing a simple majority in the first round of such a vote will win approval. If not, the two with the most votes go into a run-off.

“Although the situation remains fluid, there is a strong 75% probability that Takaichi will be named Japan’s next premier,” EurAsia Group analysts said in a note, citing the potential tie-up with the Innovation Party.

Reporting by Mariko Katsumura, Chang-Ran Kim and John Geddie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Thomas Derpinghaus.

Odinga, a major figure for decades in Kenyan politics who was once a political prisoner and ran unsuccessfully for president five times, died on Wednesday aged 80 in India

International News via Reuters:

Thousands of mourners briefly stormed Nairobi’s international airport on Thursday, interrupting a ceremony for the body of veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, with crowds also flooding nearby roads and trying to breach parliament.

Odinga, a major figure for decades in Kenyan politics who was once a political prisoner and ran unsuccessfully for president five times, died on Wednesday aged 80 in India where he had been receiving medical treatment.

With Odinga’s supporters taking to the streets in his honour, President William Ruto and other officials went to the airport to receive his body with military honours.

But as the coffin was being removed from the plane’s cargo, mourners waving twigs and flags – some on motorbikes – overran the airside, interrupting part of the ceremony, according to a Reuters reporter and footage.

The crowd later backed away from the plane, but the chaos prompted a two-hour suspension of airport operations.

Elsewhere, some Odinga supporters climbed on the gates of parliament, where the government had scheduled a public viewing of his body. The venue for that was changed to a Nairobi sports stadium, his party said.

Though mainly known as an opposition figure, Odinga did become prime minister in 2008 and also struck a political pact with Ruto last year in a career of shifting alliances.

He commanded passionate devotion among his Luo tribe, based in western Kenya, many of whom believe he was cheated of the presidency by electoral fraud.

Reporting by Monicah Mwangi, Vincent Mumo, Edwin Waita, Humphrey Malalo and George ObulutsaEditing by Ammu Kannampilly and Andrew Cawthorne

In a visit to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, the Catholic pontiff also condemned the use of hunger as a weapon of war

International News via Reuters:

Pope Leo made an urgent plea on Thursday for global leaders to end world hunger, saying in a speech to a United Nations agency that allowing millions to go without food each day represented “an ethical derailment”.

In a visit to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, the Catholic pontiff also condemned the use of hunger as a weapon of war, without naming any specific conflicts or nations.

Leo cited U.N. figures that around 673 million people do not eat enough each day, calling that number “the clear sign of a prevailing insensitivity, of a soulless economy… and of an unjust and unsustainable system of resource distribution”.

“In a time when science has lengthened life expectancy … allowing millions of human beings to live – and die – struck by hunger is a collective failure, an ethical derailment, an historic offence,” said the pope.

Leo, the first U.S. pope, spent much of his career before the papacy as a missionary in Peru and has made caring for the poor an early focus of his five-month tenure. 

He spoke on Thursday to some 125 delegations attending a week-long forum coinciding with FAO’s 80th anniversary.

The pope, speaking mainly in Spanish, said that today’s conflicts “have seen the re-emergence of the use of food as a weapon of war”.

“International humanitarian law, without exception, prohibits attacks on civilians and on goods essential to the survival of populations,” he said.

“This seems forgotten, for, painfully, we witness the continued use of that cruel strategy,” said the pope. “We cannot continue like this, since hunger is not humanity’s destiny but its downfall.”

Reporting by Joshua McElweeEditing by Gareth Jones

Rutte said the EU and NATO had different roles, with NATO providing capabilities on the military side and the EU holding the soft power of the internal market

International News via Reuters:

NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Wednesday before a meeting with defence ministers that the military alliance and the European Union were working together in their efforts to set up a drone wall to protect member countries from drone incursions.

Asked if they were doubling efforts, Rutte said the EU and NATO had different roles, with NATO providing capabilities on the military side and the EU holding the soft power of the internal market and making sure the money is there.

Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Sabine Siebold; Writing by Inti Landauro; Editing by Makini Brice

Qwant took a grievance against Microsoft’s search practices to the French regulator earlier this year

International News via Reuters:

U.S. tech giant Microsoft looks set to avoid a French antitrust investigation into its search operations because regulators are planning to dismiss a complaint by Qwant, the French rival search engine said on Wednesday.

Qwant, which has historically relied on Microsoft’s Bing platform to deliver search and news results, took a grievance against Microsoft’s search practices to the French regulator earlier this year. It said on Wednesday it may challenge the decision to reject its case in court or take it to other authorities.

Qwant had asked the watchdog to take interim action against Microsoft while it decided if there was sufficient grounds for an investigation.

Qwant Chief Executive Olivier Abecassis said the French authority’s investigators at a June closed-door hearing issued a recommendation to reject the company’s request for an injunction and complaint.

“In that case we will be left with no other option but to pursue all available legal avenues to protect our business from Microsoft’s egregious abuse, to defend our rights, and to seek compensation,” he said.

The French regulator declined to comment. It is expected to issue its decision in the next two weeks, though the timing may still change, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Microsoft said the Qwant complaint lacks merit.

“The complaint alleges harm to competition in the market for search, which is dominated by Google,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.

Qwant alleged Microsoft imposes exclusivity restrictions on Qwant in search results and search advertising, hampering the latter’s ability to develop its own search engine, and also alleged it favours itself in allocating search advertising, according to the French company.

Microsoft is a major player in the search-engine syndication sector, where it provides search results to smaller European rivals such as Qwant, Ecosia, DuckDuckGo and Lilo.

Reporting by Foo Yun Chee;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle