By Tife Owolabi YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - At least 25 people, including some minors, were killed in an explosion and fire at an illegal oil refinery in Nigeria s Rivers state on Friday, a local leader and a resident told Reuters on Sunday. The casualties involved are very high . we are counting 25 bodies, Ifeanyi Omano, a community leader, told Reuters, adding: We aren t certain of their identities yet, he said, adding that the dead included some minors. Omano and local resident Chikwem Godwin said the explosion took place in the early hours of Friday, adding people from several communities were killed. A local police spokesman previously confirmed the incident but did not disclose the numbers of casualties. Illegal refining is common in the oil-rich Delta region of Nigeria as impoverished locals tap pipelines to make fuel to sell for a profit. The practice, which can be as basic as boiling crude oil in drums to extract fuel, is highly dangerous. Nigeria is Africa s largest oil expo
By Roberto Samora and Gram Slattery SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Gas stations in Minas Gerais, Brazil s second most populous state, are running out of fuel, as truckers calling for tax cuts blockade two major refineries. The dispute underlines a delicate economic situation in Brazil, where the federal budget is already stretched uncomfortably thin. The protesters, principally truckers who deliver fuel, are demanding a decrease in taxes on diesel. Since yesterday, they have blocked roads near the REGAP refinery in Minas Gerais and the REDUC refinery in neighboring Rio de Janeiro state. Truckers here have grown increasingly vocal in recent months as a rise in global crude prices has pushed up the cost of fuel domestically and eaten into margins. Trucker groups have threatened a general strike next week, a move that could prove crippling for Brazil s economy, if widely observed. A truckers strike over high fuel prices in 2018 ground the economy to a halt, and destroyed the remaining political ca
By Issam Abdallah BEIRUT (Reuters) - Taxi drivers blocked roads in Beirut on Thursday in protest at spiralling petrol prices that are compounding misery for Lebanese already suffering the effects of a devastating economic collapse. Gasoline today is about 10 times more expensive at the pump than it was just a few months ago, shooting higher as the central bank has stopped providing dollars at heavily subsidised exchange rates for fuel imports. Several dozen taxi drivers parked their cars in Martyrs Square in the middle of Beirut and blocked a nearby main road in protest at the latest hike - a 25% increase announced on Wednesday. How are we supposed to live? We drive around and can t find passengers on the road, said Hanna Ibrahim, a taxi driver. When passengers can be found, arguments often breakout over the fare, she said. They make us cry and we make them cry. The Lebanese pound has lost around 90% of its value in the last two years, and three quarters of Lebanese are now in poverty.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore authorities have charged two individuals in court for alleged corruption in relation to the trade and supply of marine fuels, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a statement. Afzal Bin Mohamed Ekbar, a bunker trader at KPI Bridge Oil Singapore Pte Ltd at the time, had allegedly obtained at least $191,000 on multiple occasions between 2017 and 2018 from the director of Straits Bunkering Pte Ltd, Shafiq Bin Nezammuddin, as kickbacks for nominating Straits for the supply of bunker fuel to KPI s customers, the CPIB statement said on Tuesday. Afzal had also allegedly obtained a gratification in the form of a S$90,000 (about $67,000) loan from Shafiq as an inducement for the same purpose, the statement said. In addition, Afzal had allegedly given gratifications totalling about $165,000 to other individuals on multiple occasions as inducements or rewards for them to place orders with KPI for the supply of bunker fuel. KPI Bridge Oil and St
By Shadia Nasralla and Susanna Twidale LONDON (Reuters) - More than 190 countries committed in 2015 to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in an effort to stave off the worst effects of climate change such as drought, flooding and loss of species. Scientists say bringing global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to net zero by 2050 is the way to meet the central goal of the Paris Agreement, although it was left to individual states to work out how to achieve what they signed up to. Some such as Britain and France have enshrined a net zero 2050 target into law, while many other countries and countless companies have stated policies aiming for net zero by 2050. On Tuesday the British government published its Net Zero Strategy, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson said would put the country at the vanguard of green economies, forcing competitors such as China and Russia to follow its lead. But what does net zero mean and will it set the world on a path t