Lights return in Madrid after massive power outage
29 Apr 2025 00:49
MADRID (AFP)Lights came back on across Madrid late Monday as Spain's power operator said it was progressively overcoming a massive power outage that plunged the Iberian peninsula into darkness.More than 35 percent of Spain's power demand was being met, the country's REE electricity operator. Portugal's operator said it had also made gains in overcoming the outage.By 8:35 pm (1835 GMT) REE was meeting "35.1 percent of demand", Eduardo Prieto, REE's operations director, told Cadena Ser radio.In Madrid, traffic lights and the storefronts of shops slowly became lit up in different districts.REE said earlier that power was being "progressively" restored across the country.Meanwhile Portugal's REN power operator was aiming for full restoration by Tuesday."I hope we will manage to balance the whole system during the night," REN administrator Joao Faria Conceicao told journalists.Already some 750,000 customers, out of some 6.5 million, were back online Monday evening including the whole of the city of Porto.
REN reiterated there was still no firm cause for the shock mass outage.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
a day ago
- Middle East Eye
US embassy in Iraq prepares for partial evacuation ahead of Iran talks
The US is reducing staff levels at its embassy in Iraq on security concerns, US officials told several media outlets on Wednesday, as Iran threatened US bases if conflict breaks out. "Based on our latest analysis, we decided to reduce the footprint of our mission in Iraq," a US official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, The Financial Times reported that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth authorised the voluntary departure of military dependents throughout the Middle East. The withdrawals come as Iran's defence minister, Aziz Nasirzadeh, said on Wednesday that Tehran would target US military assets in the region in response to any attack 'without hesitation'. "God willing, things won't reach that point, and the talks will succeed," he said, adding that the US side "will suffer more losses" if it came to conflict. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Tehran and Washington have held five rounds of talks since April to negotiate a new nuclear deal to replace the 2015 accord that US President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018. The next round of talks is scheduled for Thursday. 'Ordered departure from US Emb Baghdad could reflect a major threat, but also is impactful as a means of signaling possible near-term military action against Iran. It's a big move, hard to reverse quickly, comes at some cost. So if signaling, you play this card when you mean it,' Daniel Shapiro, the US's former ambassador to Israel, wrote on X. Shapiro added that it doesn't "necessarily" mean military action is imminent but said that the move provides "important leverage in nuclear talks". Trump had previously expressed optimism about the talks, saying during a Gulf tour last month that Washington was "getting close" to securing a deal. But in an interview published on Wednesday, Trump said he was "less confident" the US and Iran could reach a deal, in response to a question on whether he believed he could stop Tehran from enriching uranium. "Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made... Maybe they don't wanna make a deal, what can I say? And maybe they do. There is nothing final." Trump maintained that Washington would not allow Tehran to obtain nuclear weapons, saying that "it would be nicer to do it without warfare, without people dying'. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Monday. Trump says he had been holding back Netanyahu from launching preemptive strikes on Iran. Oil prices jumped almost four percent on Wednesday amid the tensions.
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Gulf Today
Oil prices climb to 2-month high on US, China trade agreement
Oil prices rose 2% on Wednesday, to their highest in more than two months, as President Donald Trump said the US had a trade deal with China, feeding hopes for the outlook for energy demand in the world's two largest economies. Brent crude futures rose $1.32, or 1.97%, to $68.19 a barrel at 11:35 a.m. EDT (1535 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.51, or 2.32%, to $66.49. Both Brent and WTI reached their highest in more than two months. Trump said Beijing would supply magnets and rare earth minerals and the US will allow Chinese students in its colleges and universities. Trump added the deal is subject to final approval by him and President Xi Jinping. The trade-related downside risk in oil has been temporarily removed, although the market reaction has been tepid as it is not clear how economic growth and global oil demand will be affected, PVM analyst Tamas Varga said. Trump said he was less confident that Iran would agree to stop uranium enrichment in a nuclear deal with Washington, according to an interview released on Wednesday. In the US, crude inventories fell by 3.6 million barrels to 432.4 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a draw of 2 million barrels. "It's a bullish report," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho, adding that the demand for motor gasoline began to strengthen. Product supplied for motor gasoline, a proxy for demand, rose by about 907,000 barrels per day last week, to 9.17 million bpd. US consumer prices increased less than expected in May, deepening the conviction in financial markets that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates by September. Lower interest rates can spur economic growth and demand for oil. Wall Street stocks gained and the dollar and US Treasury yields dipped on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said a U.S.-China trade deal was done and a fresh report on US consumer prices in May showed only a marginal increase. A White House official said the agreement with China allows the US to charge a 55% tariff on imported Chinese goods, including a 10% baseline "reciprocal" tariff, a 20% tariff for fentanyl trafficking and a 25% tariff reflecting pre-existing tariffs. China would charge a 10% tariff on US imports, the official said. Trump also said that Beijing would supply magnets and rare earth minerals while the US will allow Chinese students in its colleges and universities. Separately, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.1% in May amid cheaper gasoline after rising 0.2% in April, the US labour Department said on Wednesday, but inflation is expected to accelerate in the coming months on the back of the Trump administration's import tariffs. Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management in Charlotte, said the likely US China trade deal and consumer price data should support markets. "The narrative around tariff-induced inflation should subside," he wrote in an email. "We are still cautious, but many of the risks that were present in early April appear to be receding." The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4%, the S&P 500 advanced 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4%. Tesla shares added about 2% after Elon Musk also said he regretted some of the posts he made last week about Trump, opening the way to a healing of an abrupt rift that has roiled Washington and hurt shares in the electric carmaker. Asian shares were slightly more positive, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.65%, while the STOXX benchmark for major European shares were little changed. AUCTION ANGST: The reaction in currency markets was muted, with the dollar weakening slightly against the Japanese yen to trade at 144.83 . The euro edged up 0.46% to $1.147, nudging the dollar index down 0.24% to 98.72. Ten-year Treasury yields fell 3.4 basis points to 4.44%, but bond investors also waited for an auction of $39 billion in 10-year notes later in the day, anxious to see if foreign buyers turn up. Concerns about huge US budget deficits and debt have combined with unease over the White House's shifting policies to make investors demand a higher term premium for holding Treasuries. Following the consumer pricing data, traders of short-term interest-rate futures priced in a 70% chance of a quarter-point reduction in the Fed policy rate by September, compared with 57% earlier. Policymakers are widely expected to keep rates unchanged next week.. "Another month goes by with little evidence of tariffs, but the longer-term inflation challenge they pose remains," Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, wrote in an email. "Given the Fed likely shares that outlook, no one should be looking for rate cuts in the near future." In commodity markets, gold gained 0.5% to $3,337 an ounce . Oil prices rose to a seven-week high as markets assessed the outcome of the U.S.-China trade talks. US crude rose 2% to $66.30 a barrel and Brent rose to $68.04 per barrel, up 1.75% on the day. Agencies
Al Etihad
a day ago
- Al Etihad
Wall Street climbs on easing US-China tensions, cool US inflation
11 June 2025 20:14 LONDON (AFP)Wall Street stocks mostly rose Wednesday as investors welcomed cooler US inflation data and a China-US agreement aimed at lowering trade two days of talks between US and Chinese negotiators in London, US President Donald Trump said: "Our deal with China is done".The United States and China slashed tit-for-tat tariffs after negotiations in Geneva last month, but tensions flared up again after Trump later accused Beijing of violating the pact reached in positive London talks provided some relief to markets."Constructive talks between the US and China have put markets on a firmer footing, as investors hope that the worst of the tariff turbulence may have passed," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Street's three main indices were higher in late morning trading in New edged higher, supported by the government laying out its spending plans. But Paris and Frankfurt couldn't hold on to early gains and closed modestly stock markets also won a lift on the China-US progress, with Hong Kong among the best well as tariffs, a key issue in the discussions was China's export of rare earths used in smartphones and electric vehicles, while Beijing was keen to see an easing of restrictions on its access to tech said on his Truth Social platform that China would supply rare earth minerals and magnets -- vital elements for US United States, he added, would allow Chinese students to remain in US has infuriated Beijing by vowing to revoke the visas of Chinese students -- a major source of revenue for US said the trade talks made new progress, and vice premier He Lifeng stressed the need for Beijing and Washington to strengthen President Xi Jinping and Trump must approve the framework talks came as World Bank downgraded its 2025 forecast for global economic growth to 2.3 percent -- from the 2.7 percent predicted in January -- citing trade tensions and policy also said the US economy would expand 1.4 percent this year, half of its 2024 data showed little impact of Trump's tariffs on US consumer prices in April and May, the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.1 percent. Analysts had expected it to continue at the 0.2 rate it rose in also rose less than expected in the so-called core reading that excludes volatile food and energy prices."Risk appetite remained firm after the release of weaker-than-expected US inflation data, which boosted speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates sooner than expected - possibly in September instead of October -- and potentially twice before the year is out," said City Index and analyst Fawad the release of the data Trump issued a fresh call for the Fed to lower interest have worried that a tariff-driven surge in inflation could hinder the Federal Reserve from lowering interest rates to counter the slowdown in growth. Investors now see a better than even chance that the Fed, which has not reduced rates since December, will cut rates in September.
