Sweden elevates spending on artillery ammunition
Copenhagen — Sweden has signed agreements with Germany’s Rheinmetall and Norway’s Nammo worth over 5-billion kronor ($526.02m) for artillery ammunition deliveries, its defence ministry said on Tuesday.
“With this order, we are strengthening Sweden’s defence capability. It is an important investment in security for Sweden and Nato,” said minister of defence Pal Jonson in a statement.
The deal with Rheinmetall Denel Munition, a subsidiary of the German defence contractor, amounts to more than 4bn kronor and includes artillery shells and propellant charges for Sweden’s Archer artillery system, the ministry said. Reuters
Shein files Hong Kong IPO to pressure UK listing
Bengaluru — China-founded fast-fashion retailer Shein has filed for an IPO (initial public offering) in Hong Kong to accelerate the listing process and pressure Britain’s regulators to approve its planned London debut, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
The company privately filed a draft prospectus last week with Hong Kong’s exchange and sought a regulatory nod from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Shein filed for a Hong Kong listing partly to pressure the UK regulator into easing its risk disclosure rules and to keep alive what could be London’s biggest IPO in years, the FT report added. Reuters
Two crew killed in Yemen merchant vessel attack
Athens/London — Two crew members of the Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C were killed in a drone and speedboat attack off Yemen on Monday evening, Liberia’s shipping delegation told a meeting of the International Maritime Organisation on Tuesday.
The deaths on the vessel, the first involving shipping in the Red Sea since June 2024, bring the total number of seafarers killed in attacks on vessels in the vital shipping corridor to six.
Monday’s attack on Eternity C, 50 nautical miles southwest of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, was the second on merchant vessels in the region since November 2024, according to an official at the EU’s Operation Aspides, assigned to help protect Red Sea shipping.
Hours before the attack, the Iran-aligned Houthi militant group claimed responsibility for a strike on the Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated MV Magic Seas bulk carrier off southwest Yemen on Sunday, saying the ship sank. Reuters
Former UK PM Rishi Sunak returning to Goldman
Bengaluru — Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is returning to Goldman Sachs as a senior adviser, the investment bank said on Tuesday.
“In his role, he will advise our clients globally on a range of important topics, sharing his unique perspectives and insights on the macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape,” Goldman CEO David Solomon said in a statement.
Sunak was the UK’s prime minister between October 2022 and July 2024.
He had previously worked at Goldman as an analyst, between 2001 and 2004. Reuters
Mass deportations from Iran swamping aid system
Geneva — The Red Cross said on Tuesday it is bracing for another 1-million people to be sent back from Iran to Afghanistan amid mass deportations that humanitarians say are placing a heavy strain on the aid system.
More than 1.2-million people have been returned to Afghanistan from Iran since the start of this year, according to data from the UN refugee agency, with the number of returns surging since Iran and Israel launched strikes on each other last month.
Sami Fakhouri, head of delegation for Afghanistan at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said he witnessed busloads of people returning to a border crossing at the Islam Qala border in Herat province in recent days. Reuters
Four dead, 22 hurt in key data centre blaze in Cairo
Cairo — Four workers were killed and at least 22 others were injured in a fire that broke out on Monday at a key data centre in Cairo, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the spokesperson at Egypt’s health ministry, told Reuters on Tuesday.
The blaze at a Telecom Egypt facility, which state TV said was contained on Monday, caused disruptions to communications across the capital.
Egypt’s minister of communications & information technology, Amr Talaat, said in a statement on Tuesday that services will be gradually restored within 24 hours.
In a statement on Tuesday, Telecom Egypt said it mourned the employees that lost their lives and offered support for their families. Reuters
Thatcher loyalist Norman Tebbit dies at 94
London — Former British politician Norman Tebbit, a loyal supporter of Margaret Thatcher who was best known for surviving a 1984 bomb attack on her government in Brighton, has died at the age of 94, local media reported on Tuesday.
Tebbit personified hardline Conservative Party values, criticising the trade unions, urging strict controls on immigration, preaching a return to traditional moral values and telling the unemployed to go out and look for work.
A former airline pilot and cabinet minister, Tebbit helped mastermind the campaign which gave the Conservative party a landslide election victory in 1987, and Thatcher a third term in office.
Tebbit was the most prominent victim of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb attack in Brighton in 1984, which left him lying trapped for hours in the ruins of the Grand Hotel, and his wife Margaret paralysed. The Conservatives had been holding their annual conference there. Reuters
US container imports from China drop 28.3%
Los Angeles — US imports of containerised goods from China tumbled 28.3% year-on-year in June, after higher tariffs on goods from the country’s top ocean trade partner extended a steep drop that began in May, supply chain technology provider Descartes said on Tuesday.
Overall US container imports fell 3.5% from June 2024 levels, coming in at 2.2-million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). China imports totalled 639,300 TEUs last month, according to Descartes’ analysis of bill of lading data from US customs.
The retreat followed an extended run of near-record imports fuelled by importers rushing in goods to beat tariff deadlines. Reuters
Swiss approve Novartis malaria drug for infants
Zurich — Novartis on Tuesday said it had received approval in Switzerland for Coartem Baby, which it said was the first drug to treat malaria in babies and young children.
Eight African countries who participated in the assessment are now expected to issue quick approvals for the treatment, which is also known as Riamet Baby in some countries.
Novartis launched Coartem to treat malaria in 1999, with a new dose strength now designed for small babies.
The treatment is dissolvable, including in breast milk, and has a sweet cherry flavour to make it easier to administer.
Until now, there has been no approved malaria treatment for infants weighing less than 4.5kg, leaving a treatment gap, Novartis said. Reuters
Indian state sues MSC for $1.1bn over fuel spill
New Delhi — India’s southern state of Kerala has sued Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company and sought $1.1bn in compensation after one of its container vessels sank and leaked fuel into the Arabian Sea in May.
The high court in Kerala issued an order late on Monday asking port authorities to effect “the arrest, seizure and detention” of another MSC ship anchored in the Vizhinjam Port in the state until it deposits securities for the claim amount.
MSC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. An Indian government statement in May said the company had appointed a marine services company for oil removal and environmental clean up. Reuters
China car sales up again amid easing demand for EVs
Beijing — China’s car sales rose in June for the fifth straight month, but reports by some major electric vehicle makers of easing demand raised concerns about intensifying competition in the world’s largest auto market.
Sales grew 18.6% in June year-on-year to 2.1-million vehicles from a 13.9% rise in May. First-half sales were up 11.2% to 11.1 million vehicles, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed on Tuesday.
EV and plug-in hybrids sales, making up 52.7% of total car sales, increased a hefty 29.7% in June from a year earlier, up from 28.2% in May.
But local EV giant BYD saw car sales growth slow to 11% from 14.1% in May. Li Auto, which along with BYD are the only two listed Chinese EV makers with full-year profitability, logged a 24.1% sales decline last month, reversing a 16.7% rise in May. Reuters
BP, Shell to assess potential of three Libyan oilfields
Tripoli — Oil majors BP and Shell have made agreements with Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) to conduct studies for hydrocarbon exploration and development at three Libyan oilfields, NOC said on Monday.
Libya, Africa’s second-largest oil producer and a member of Opec, has suffered from disruptions to its oil activities due to disputes between armed rival factions over oil revenues that have often led to oilfield shutdowns.
Foreign investors have been wary of putting money into Libya, which has been in a state of chaos since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. However, oil giants such as Eni, OMV, BP and Repsol resumed exploration activities in Libya last year after halting them for a decade.
BP will reopen its office in the capital, Tripoli, during the last quarter of 2025, NOC said in its statement.
It said it signed a memorandum of understanding with BP to conduct studies to assess the potential for hydrocarbon exploration and production in the Messla and Sarir oilfields, as well as in some surrounding exploration areas. Reuters
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