Plane crashes in South Sudan, killing 20, official says
The plane crashed at the Unity oilfield airport on Wednesday morning as it was heading to the capital Juba, Gatwech Bipal, Unity State's information minister, said.
Bipal said the passengers were oil workers of the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) a consortium that includes China National Petroleum Corporation and state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation.
He said among the dead were two Chinese nationals and one Indian.
Bipal gave no more details on the circumstances that led to the crash. Media reports had initially put the death toll at 18 but Bipal told Reuters two survivors had later died. One person survived.
Several air crashes have occurred in war-torn South Sudan in recent years. In September 2018, at least 19 people died when a small aircraft carrying passengers from the capital Juba to the city of Yirol crashed.
In 2015, dozens of people were killed when a Russian-built cargo plane with passengers on board crashed after taking off from the airport in the capital Juba.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Nahar Net
7 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Trump says China deal 'done', Beijing to supply rare earths
by Naharnet Newsdesk 11 June 2025, 15:49 President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the United States will get magnets and rare earth minerals from China under a new trade deal and that tariffs on Chinese goods will rise to 55%. In return, Trump said, the U.S. will provide China "what was agreed to," including allowing Chinese students to attend American colleges and universities. The Republican president had recently begun to clamp down on the presence of Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses. The new 55% tariff rate would mark a meaningful increase from the 30% levy set in Switzerland during talks in May. "OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME.," Trump wrote Wednesday on his social media site. He said full magnets and any necessary rare earths will be supplied up front by China. "WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!" Trump wrote. Senior U.S. and Chinese negotiators announced late Tuesday in London that they had agreed on a framework to get their trade negotiations back on track after a series of disputes that threatened to derail them. The announcement came at the end of two days of talks in the British capital that wrapped up late Tuesday. It came as an international rights group said that several global brands are among dozens of companies at risk of using forced labor through their Chinese supply chains because they use critical minerals or buy minerals-based products sourced from the far-western Xinjiang region of China. The report by the Netherlands-based Global Rights Compliance says companies including Avon, Walmart, Nescafe, Coca-Cola and paint supplier Sherwin-Williams may be linked to titanium sourced from Xinjiang, where rights groups allege the Chinese government runs coercive labor practices targeting predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities. The report found 77 Chinese suppliers in the titanium, lithium, beryllium and magnesium industries operating in Xinjiang. It said the suppliers are at risk of participating in the Chinese government's "labor transfer programs," in which Uyghurs are forced to work in factories as part of a long-standing campaign of assimilation and mass detention. Asked about the report, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that "no one has ever been forcibly transferred in China's Xinjiang under work programs." The named companies didn't immediately comment on the report.
Ya Libnan
8 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
US, China reach deal to ease export curbs, keep tariff truce alive
U.S. and Chinese officials said on Tuesday they had agreed on a framework to get their trade truce back on track and remove China's export restrictions on rare earths while offering little sign of a durable resolution to longstanding trade tensions. At the end of two days of intense negotiations in London, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters the framework deal puts 'meat on the bones' of an agreement reached last month in Geneva to ease bilateral retaliatory tariffs that had reached crushing triple-digit levels. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese vice premier He Lifeng meet in London. United States Treasury/Handout But the Geneva deal had faltered over China's continued curbs on critical minerals exports, prompting the Trump administration to respond with export controls of its own preventing shipments of semiconductor design software, aircraft and other goods to China. Lutnick said the agreement reached in London would remove restrictions on Chinese exports of rare earth minerals and magnets and some of the recent U.S. export restrictions 'in a balanced way', but did not provide details after the talks concluded around midnight London time (2300 GMT). 'We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,' Lutnick said, adding that both sides will now return to present the framework to their respective presidents for approvals. 'And if that is approved, we will then implement the framework,' he said. In a separate briefing, China's Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang also said a trade framework had been reached in principle that would be taken back to U.S. and Chinese leaders. U.S. President Donald Trump's shifting tariff policies have roiled global markets, sparked congestion and confusion in major ports , and cost companies tens of billions of dollars in lost sales and higher costs. The World Bank on Tuesday slashed its global growth forecast for 2025 by four-tenths of a percentage point to 2.3%, saying higher tariffs and heightened uncertainty posed a 'significant headwind' for nearly all economies. The deal may keep the Geneva agreement from unravelling over duelling export controls, but does little to resolve deep differences over Trump's unilateral tariffs and longstanding U.S. complaints about China's state-led, export-driven economic model. The two sides left Geneva with fundamentally different views of the terms of that agreement and needed to be more specific on required actions, said Josh Lipsky, senior director of the Atlantic Council's GeoEconomics Center in Washington. 'They are back to square one but that's much better than square zero,' Lipsky added. The two sides have until August 10 to negotiate a more comprehensive agreement to ease trade tensions, or tariff rates will snap back from about 30% to 145% on the U.S. side and from 10% to 125% on the Chinese side. MARKETS CAUTIOUS Global stocks have recovered their hefty losses after Trump's April 'Liberation Day' tariff announcement and are now near record highs. Investors burned by earlier turmoil offered a cautious response to the deal and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) rose 0.57%. 'The devil will be in the details, but the lack of reaction suggests this outcome was fully expected,' said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone in Melbourne. 'The details matter, especially around the degree of rare earths bound for the U.S., and the subsequent freedom for U.S.-produced chips to head east, but for now as long as the headlines of talks between the two parties remain constructive, risk assets should remain supported.' Signs of the curbs loosening surfaced in China, as several Shenzhen-listed rare earth magnet firms, including JL MAG Rare-Earth ( said they have obtained export licenses from Chinese authorities. China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets, a crucial component in electric vehicle motors, and its decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets upended global supply chains. In May, the U.S. responded by halting shipments of semiconductor design software and chemicals and aviation equipment, revoking export licences that had been previously issued. CHINA EXPORTS PLUNGED A resolution to the trade war may require policy adjustments from all countries to treat financial imbalances or otherwise greatly risk mutual economic damage, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on a rare visit to Beijing on Wednesday. Customs data published on Monday showed that China's overall exports to the U.S. plunged 34.5% in May, the sharpest drop since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. While the impact on U.S. inflation and its jobs market has so far been muted, tariffs have hammered U.S. business and household confidence and the dollar remains under pressure . Beijing-based lawyer Peter Wu, 28, saw the talks as 'a good signal' even if details were not fully negotiated. 'I feel that fighting a trade war in the context of global integration is a lose-lose situation for both sides. I naturally hope that my motherland will be better,' he said. China, Mexico, the European Union, Japan, Canada and many airlines and aerospace companies worldwide urged the Trump administration not to impose new national security tariffs on imported commercial planes and parts, according to documents released Tuesday. Just after the framework deal was announced, a U.S. appeals court allowed Trump's most sweeping tariffs to stay in effect while it reviews a lower court decision blocking them on grounds that they exceeded Trump's legal authority by imposing them. The decision keeps alive a key pressure point on China, Trump's currently suspended 34% 'reciprocal' duties that had prompted swift tariff escalation. (REUTERS)
MTV Lebanon
15 hours ago
- MTV Lebanon
US, China agree on trade 'framework' after high-level talks
Top officials from the United States and China said Tuesday that they had agreed on a "framework" to move forward on trade, following two days of high-level talks in London to resolve tensions. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressed optimism after a full day of negotiations that concerns surrounding rare earth minerals and magnets "will be resolved" eventually, as the deal is implemented. But this framework will first need to be approved by leaders in Washington and Beijing, officials said, at the end of meetings at the British capital's historic Lancaster House. All eyes were on the outcomes of negotiations as both sides tried to overcome an impasse over export restrictions. US officials earlier accused Beijing of slow-walking approvals for shipments of rare earths. The world's two biggest economies were also seeking a longer-lasting truce in their escalating tariffs war, with levies currently only temporarily on hold. "We're moving as quickly as we can," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters. "We would very much like to find an agreement that makes sense for both countries," he added, noting that the relationship was complex. "We feel positive about engaging with the Chinese," he maintained. Speaking separately to reporters, China International Trade Representative Li Chenggang said: "Our communication has been very professional, rational, in-depth and candid." Li expressed hope that progress made in London would help to boost trust on both sides. Productive talks US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier described the closely-watched trade talks as productive, although scheduling conflicts prompted his departure from London with negotiations still ongoing. Bessent, who led the US delegation with Lutnick and Greer, left early to return to Washington for testimony before Congress, a US official told AFP. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng headed his country's team in London, which included Li and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. Both sides do not yet have another gathering scheduled. But Lutnick said Tuesday that US measures imposed when rare earths "were not coming" would likely be relaxed once Beijing moved forward with more license approvals. Global stock markets were on edge, but Wall Street's major indexes climbed on hopes for progress earlier Tuesday. The London negotiations follow talks in Geneva last month, which saw a temporary agreement to lower tariffs. This time, China's exports of rare earth minerals -- used in a range of things including smartphones, electric vehicle batteries and green technology -- were a key issue on the agenda. "In Geneva, we had agreed to lower tariffs on them, and they had agreed to release the magnets and rare earths that we need throughout the economy," US President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, told CNBC on Monday. Even though Beijing was releasing some supplies, "it was going a lot slower than some companies believed was optimal", he added.
