German's LEAG indefinitely postpones green hydrogen project
"We are currently postponing plans for hydrogen production in Boxberg and initially shifting our focus to other technologies for the generation, storage, and flexible provision of electricity," a spokesperson for the company told Reuters, confirming an earlier report by Hydrogen Insight.
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BBC News
20 minutes ago
- BBC News
Classic TT return aims to reverse post-Covid August visitor dip
The return of the Classic TT has been designed reverse a post-pandemic slump in visitors to road racing on the Isle of Man in August, organisers have in 2013, the brand was scrapped by the Manx government after a review in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic but is set to return alongside the 2025 Manx Grand Prix (MGP).A peak of 16,019 people visited the event in 2019 but that had dropped to 14,229 last year after being run solely under the MGP banner since government's head of motorsport Paul Phillips said while the three-year return of the Classic TT would provide a "spectacle", it aimed to boost the economy by growing visitor numbers beyond pre-pandemic levels. Mr Phillips said: "The event exists to boost the economy, it is funded by several million pounds of public money and it exists to generate a benefit to the visitor economy."As part of the reintroduction, the event has been expanded to a 13-day format from its truncated 9-day schedule introduced in said early indications on accommodation and ferry travel showed that bookings "were up" for 2025, but it was too early to say to "what degree".Organisers were "optimistic" that "over a number of years it could return to pre-pandemic levels".It was hoped the figures would "ultimately surpass" the previous peak in order to "ensure the financial sustainability" of the event in future, he the return of the Classic TT late last year, the Department for Enterprise (DfE) said the "strategic intervention" was designed to "encourage additional visitors to the latter part of the event".As there had been a "significant increase in global interest" in the TT the move looked to "leverage this momentum", it added. Wednesday evening sees the start of qualifying for the Classic TT classes, with racing on classic and vintage machinery scheduled for 27 and 29 Phillips said the paddock would become "a home to a whole lot of really interesting bikes and memorabilia" during the event."At TT the machines are kind-of similar, whereas at Classic TT there's a huge range of motorcycles from decades of motorcycling racing," he "great bikes from yesteryear being ridden to their maximum" was a "spectacle" and a "really important" part of the competition, he with the mountain circuit's "unique heritage" and there were also "lots of stories from over 100 years of racing that the Classic TT can tell", such as motorcycle legend Joey Dunlop's final three wins on the island 25 years ago, he feat is set to be showcased in a pop-up exhibition featuring Joey's race leathers, helmets, and trophies at the Mercury Club located near the TT the milestone will be marked again n the final day of the festival when Joey's nephew and all-time TT race win record holder Michael Dunlop will ride a replica of his uncle's 2000 Honda SP1 in a tribute lap."That will be big moment, it will be special," Mr Phillips said. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
We had one chance to sink the Russian economy and we blew it – Putin knew we would
In the weeks following Vladimir Putin 's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Europe 's leaders followed the trail blazed by Boris Johnson to Kyiv to express their undying support for the war effort. Each, in different ways, echoed the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau's mantra that they would give Ukraine 'as much as it takes, for as long as it takes' to resist Putin. Johnson himself assured Volodymyr Zelensky that 'we are with you, and we are on your side' and vowed that Ukraine's right to 'choose its own destiny is a right that the United Kingdom and our allies will always defend'. Three years later, the successors of those leaders crowded into the White House's Oval Office to applaud Donald Trump's opening of direct talks with Putin. Despite the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and billions in military aid to Kyiv, Putin's forces continue to advance beyond the 20 per cent of Ukraine he now controls. His missiles rain nightly death on Ukraine's cities; Moscow's army launched 270 drones and 10 missiles at central Ukraine just hours after President Zelensky concluded peace talks at the White House. Though Putin's economy is floundering, it is by no means crippled. And while Putin has failed to subjugate the whole of Ukraine to his will, he is on course to accomplish many of his war aims, including the 'liberation' of the Russian-speaking region of the country and blocking Kyiv's membership of Nato. The West carries much of the blame for this failure. Oil and gas are the lifeblood of Russia's war machine – yet from the outset of the war, the US prioritised protecting steady world oil supplies over properly punishing Putin. Europe, too, has imposed 18 rounds of sanctions against Russia – yet itself has continued to find ways to import Russian oil, piped and liquefied gas (LNG), and refined oil products. A large proportion of Russia's oil exports are carried in tankers ultimately owned by EU – especially Greek – shipping companies. And the shocking truth is that over the course of the war, Europeans have paid far more into Kremlin coffers in the form of payments for oil and gas than they have given to defend Ukraine. Europe had one chance to sink the Russian economy and blew it. Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has pocketed nearly €1 trillion from oil and gas. After China, the EU has been the second biggest buyer of Putin's gas, handing over €260bn. While the EU has repeatedly pledged to reduce its reliance on Russian gas, it has never actually placed any sanctions or price caps on it. Ironically, it was saboteurs rather than European governments that put the biggest dent in Gazprom 's revenues after three of the four Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines were blown up in September 2022. The culprits, according to arrest warrants issued by German police, were Ukrainians. But even after the Nord Stream sabotage, Europe quickly switched to Russian LNG exported from the Baltic terminals of Ust-Luga and Vysotsk. Over three years of war, European leaders have promised Kyiv their support is absolute, or 'your fight is our fight,' in the words of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. But rather than cut off Putin's core revenues, the thing that could have really inflicted serious damage, Europeans have chosen legal workarounds. The price of crude oil legally exported by Russia was capped at $60 a barrel – an American strategy to keep oil flowing while squeezing Russian profits. In practice, though, millions of tonnes of Russian crude were fraudulently pumped from one tanker to another with 'clean' paperwork off the coasts of Denmark and Greece. At the same time, Lukoil, Russia's largest private oil company, continues to operate refineries in the Netherlands, Romania and Bulgaria, and can with perfect legality sell its own oil to itself at capped prices, but retail the products at normal market prices. Not wanting to make the crucial economic sacrifice that would accompany any real boycott, other European countries have opted for legal fig-leaves to disguise the true source of their energy. Hungary, Slovakia and other central European countries continue to import oil and gas via Russian pipelines – but it's labelled as coming from Kazakhstan. Amazingly, until 1 January 2025, Russian natural gas kept flowing through Ukraine's pipeline network — set up when Ukraine and Russia were both part of the Soviet Union – to Europe, under a five-year agreement. Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom earned money from the gas, and Kyiv collected hundreds of millions in fees for the transit of gas to Europe via pipelines running through Ukrainian territory into Slovakia. Those payments also made Gazprom one of the largest single contributors to Kyiv's state budget. The rest of southern Europe buys billions of piped gas via the Black Sea Turk Stream and Blue Stream pipelines that run from Russia to Turkey, but because it's mixed with gas from Azerbaijan, European customisers can claim they're buying from Baku, not Moscow. Europe now imports more refined Russian oil products than before the war, except that rather than buy directly, much of the petrol, diesel and aviation fuel is refined in India, which has more than doubled its imports of Russian crude and grown rich on the proceeds. Oil and gas are Putin's achilles heel. He needs his economy to survive to keep his war machine running. With the pressure of war, high interest rates and an economic slowdown, another year and he would be in significant problems which would make his negotiating position weaker. But still we cannot sever that vulnerable spot with an arrow because it's our achilles heel too. In Germany, a fateful electoral deal with a now long-departed Green coalition partner led to the closure of the country's nuclear power stations. That left Germany and its neighbours dangerously dependent on cheap Russian gas. Europe's pledges for net zero have also helped rob the continent of the excess energy capacity it would need to 'just say no' to its addiction to Putin's energy. The price for this refusal to countenance economic suffering for the sake of Ukraine has been paid by Ukrainians in blood. When Putin launched his war he was sure that Europe's talk of international law was hypocritical nonsense – not least because he remembered that in the aftermath of his 2014 invasion of Crimea, Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel swore that 'military aggression in Europe cannot go unpunished' and yet little more than a year later signed a €9.5bn deal to build a second Nord Stream pipeline. And though Putin has been undoubtedly surprised by the scale of Europe's military aid to Kyiv, ultimately he has been proved right about the fundamental hypocrisy. 'Ukraine must win this war,' Von Der Leyen boldly told the assembled European elites at the 2022 Davos conference. 'And Putin's aggression must be a strategic failure.' Though Ukraine has not exactly lost the war, it certainly has not won it. And by the same token, while Putin may have failed to dominate Ukraine, he has nonetheless succeeded in snapping up large chunks of it. If a peace deal is struck, it will be on Putin's terms. That outcome could have been very different if the actions of Ukraine's self-declared allies had been as bold as their words.
Reuters
22 minutes ago
- Reuters
Focus: Deutsche Bank chief faces scrutiny about role in risky trades over a decade ago
FRANKFURT, Aug 20 (Reuters) - In 2013, Deutsche Bank ( opens new tab handed Christian Sewing, a rising star, the sensitive assignment of investigating derivatives trades under scrutiny in Italy. More than a decade later, Sewing, now CEO, faces criticism in a lawsuit by a former Deutsche employee over his handling of the task. The suit has prompted Deutsche to review how the bank and Sewing, chief auditor at the time, managed the situation, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Dario Schiraldi, a former banker at Deutsche who was involved in the trades, claims in a 152-million-euro ($178 million) lawsuit seeking damages from the bank that the lender's actions, including the audit overseen by Sewing more than a decade ago, harmed Schiraldi's reputation and earnings, according to court documents seen by Reuters. Deutsche Bank in its review in recent months of its investigation into the trades found no wrongdoing, the person familiar with the matter said. Nonetheless, the lawsuit - due to be heard in a Frankfurt court in December - puts Sewing, CEO since 2018 and credited with cleaning up Deutsche Bank's image, in the spotlight by publicly examining his role at the height of the global financial crisis. Schiraldi, five other former bankers of the German lender, and the bank were acquitted in 2022, after initially being convicted by an Italian court in 2019 for colluding with Italian bank Monte dei Paschi (MPS) to hide losses at MPS by using complex derivatives trades. In Germany, Deutsche's accounting of the transactions was also the focus of regulators. Schiraldi's lawsuit claims the bankers were made to take the blame for trades while Deutsche Bank management - including Sewing as chief auditor - sought to conceal their tacit approval for risky and lucrative deals. Deutsche Bank disclosed Schiraldi's lawsuit in its 2024 annual report released earlier this year, in a list of potentially significant civil litigation and regulatory matters. "The facts of this long-standing matter are well known and have been discussed in detail over the past decade. The Supervisory Board supports the Management Board in defending the bank against this litigation," Chairman Alexander Wynaendts said in a statement earlier this month. Sewing declined to comment for this story via a spokesperson. As CEO, he has slimmed down and returned Deutsche Bank to profit and restored its image after years of management churn, legal turmoil, losses and fines that threatened to topple the bank. He was reappointed in March for a third term as head of Deutsche, which is playing a key role in German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's "Made For Germany" initiative to pump the sagging economy. For this report, Reuters reviewed documents - including previously unreported details from the initial lawsuit, a March filing and email correspondence - and spoke to four people with direct knowledge of the matter on condition of anonymity. Reuters is reporting for the first time fresh details of the case, having reviewed Schiraldi's claim, and how Germany's largest bank is responding. Schiraldi, since leaving the bank, has held other jobs in finance, including leading a Swiss-family investment company, according to his LinkedIn profile. A central plank of Schiraldi's lawyers' argument is that Sewing and the bank scapegoated Schiraldi and a handful of colleagues and later failed to set the record straight. In 2014, Deutsche Bank took the findings of the bank's audit into the MPS trades to its local regulator, the Italian central bank, blaming the "Deal Team" - which included Schiraldi - for "insufficient and selective disclosure" on the trades. The information that was allegedly withheld – how the bank was fetching billions of dollars of bonds that underpinned the deals - allowed Deutsche to book the trades as loans rather than derivatives, the findings from the bank's audit showed. That helped reduce the amount of capital it had to hold to cover risks, making it more profitable. "An appropriate handling ... would have resulted in the transactions either being declined or escalated," Deutsche told the Bank of Italy in 2014, according to slides seen by Reuters. Schiraldi disputes that there was any such cover up of information and that the deals were widely understood. Reuters could not ascertain management's role in signing off on the deals. Deutsche Bank confirmed to Reuters that the "audit identified material failings" but declined to comment on communication with regulators. Schiraldi's lawyers claim Deutsche Bank's audit of the trades had a predetermined outcome and drew on only a fraction of the available documents. In the course of their dispute with the bank, they have successfully obtained the release of several million emails and documents, which they say, in a March 2025 court document seen by Reuters, show flaws in the way the bank handled the case. Reuters could only review a small fraction of the documents. As the bank seeks to quash Schiraldi's claims, one of its management board members has reviewed the case, sifting through emails and documents from the time, according to the person with direct knowledge of the review. Deutsche Bank, in a lengthy response to questions from Reuters, said the allegations were "false", that the audit had been thorough and independent, and that executives involved "discharged their responsibilities appropriately". Sewing had been a credit officer before the audit and approved parts of some other similar deals. "We stand by the audit's core findings," a Deutsche Bank spokesperson said. While the case is due to come before a German court later this year, such disputes may also be settled out of court. In its statement to Reuters, the bank said the claims made in the lawsuit are "based on incorrect allegations", and "an attempt to generate publicity by seeking to cause serious harm to the good reputation of executives.' ($1 = 0.8529 euros)
