Author: omc_admin

Employees stand inside a supermarket without lights in Burgos on April 28, 2025, during a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France.Cesar Manso | Afp | Getty ImagesA catastrophic power outage affecting much of Spain, Portugal and the south of France has thrust the role of renewables and energy security into the spotlight.An abrupt and widespread blackout, one of Europe’s worst in living memory, affected the entire Iberian Peninsula on April 28.The outage, which lasted for several hours, plunged much of the region into darkness, stranded thousands of train passengers and left millions without…

The climate crisis is threatening the future of the world’s most popular fruit, as almost two-thirds of banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean may no longer be suitable for growing the fruit by 2080, new research has found.Rising temperatures, extreme weather and climate-related pests are pummeling banana-growing countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia, reducing yields and devastating rural communities across the region, according to Christian Aid’s new report, Going Bananas: How Climate Change Threatens the World’s Favourite Fruit.Bananas are the world’s most consumed fruit – and the fourth most important food crop globally, after wheat, rice…

Lower oil prices over the first quarter of the year weakened Aramco’s net profit, with the Saudi giant booking a net result of $26 billion, down from $27.3 billion a year earlier. Despite the weaker figures, the company decided to distribute a higher dividend for the quarter.While lower than a year ago, the net result was higher than what analysts expected, which was net earnings of $25.36 billion, per a Reuters poll. Dividend for the first quarter was set at $21.1 billion, up by 4.2% on the year and payable during the second quarter. The amount, however, was unchanged from…

Oil executive Osayande Igiehon grew up in an area of Nigeria intersected with pipelines — part of the extensive infrastructure established by foreign energy companies to tap his country’s rich reserves.Igiehon believes this first-hand knowledge of the country gives Heirs Energies, the company he leads, a distinct advantage as it steps in to fill the gap left by the majors pulling back from Africa’s largest oil producer.Heirs is among the domestic companies at the forefront of a historic shift in ownership of Nigeria’s oil wealth, as the international groups retreat and ambitious local companies step up to replace them.“The previous…

“>The producer of oil and natural gas will be paid a “fair market price prevailing at the time of pre-emption”, the draft rules said.The government will hold pre-emption rights over all oil and natural gas produced in the country in any event of national emergency, according to draft rules being framed under a revamped oilfields legislation. A pre-emption right (or preemptive right) is the legal right of a party – often a government or existing shareholder – to purchase or claim a product, asset, or resource before it is offered to others. The inclusion of such rights over crude oil…

Big Tech companies train their AI models mostly on the work of other people, like scientists, journalists, filmmakers, or artists. Those creators have long objected to the practice. Now, the US Copyright Office appears to have joined their side.The office released on Friday its latest in a series of reports exploring copyright laws and artificial intelligence. The report addresses whether the copyrighted content AI companies use to train their AI models qualifies under the fair use doctrine. AI companies are probably not going to like what they read.AI companies are desperate for data. Most of them believe that the more…

Beijing and Washington have both hailed the progress made at the end of a weekend of closed-door discussions in Switzerland aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by US President Donald Trump’s aggressive worldwide tariff rollout in March and China’s retaliation. Following the talks on Sunday at the Geneva villa of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters: “I’m happy to report that we’ve made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks.” “The talks were productive,” he added. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who also took part in…

Beijing and Washington have both hailed the progress made at the end of a weekend of closed-door discussions in Switzerland aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by US President Donald Trump’s aggressive worldwide tariff rollout in March and China’s retaliation. Following the talks on Sunday at the Geneva villa of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters: “I’m happy to report that we’ve made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks.” “The talks were productive,” he added. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who also took part in…

Follow-up to my article published April 26, 2025 in The Geopolitics: “Wall Street: The Last Force That Can Still Restrain President Donald Trump” Introduction: Wall Street’s Real Compass In my April 26 article in The Geopolitics, I explained how Wall Street had emerged as the final institutional force capable of containing President Donald Trump’s disruptive power. While Trump could override political advisers, dismiss legal obstacles, and defy diplomatic norms, he could not ignore the market — especially when that market sends a clear message: he cannot ‘Make America Great Again’ if his policies provoke a prolonged bear market that drains investor confidence…

The growing prevalence of artificial intelligence across numerous industries has been hard to ignore, even for the Catholic Church.Pope Leo XIV, the first-ever US-born pope, addressed the College of Cardinals on Saturday for the first time since the papal conclave. In his speech, the new pope said artificial intelligence influenced his decision to take the name Leo XIV.”Sensing myself called to continue in this same path, I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’ addressed the social question in the context of the first…