The Portuguese government announced that it has greenlit a series of significant investments by Redes Energetics Nacionais (REN) aimed at extending and developing the National Transmission Network (RNT).

The approval, announced in a statement by Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho on Friday, underscores the country’s commitment to enhancing its energy infrastructure and promoting sustainability, Xinhua news agency reported.

The specific investment plan by REN includes the creation of grid connection capacity in the high-demand area of Sines and reinforcements to integrate a photovoltaic plant into the grid.

Additionally, the development of the RNT in the northeast of the country will focus on integrating renewable energy sources and supplying new very high-voltage grid infrastructure.

The minister emphasised the strategic importance of these investments, noting that they serve as a “sign of encouragement” to both domestic and international companies looking to invest in Portugal.

“We want to encourage companies, both domestic and foreign, to invest in our country and contribute to building a more sustainable future,” she stated.

The move aligns with Portugal’s broader energy strategy to foster renewable energy integration and infrastructure development, positioning the country as a leader in sustainable energy solutions in Europe. AGENCIES

In a fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make India a global semiconductor manufacturing hub, Tata Electronics on Saturday held the ground-breaking ceremony of its chip assembly and testing unit at Jagiroad in Morigaon district, Assam.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and N. Chandrasekaran, Tata Sons’ Chairman.

Touted as Northeast India’s largest investment project, the Rs 27,000 crore Tata semiconductor plant is likely to generate over 27,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region.

The first phase of the plant is set to be operational by mid-2025.

In March this year, PM Modi virtually laid the foundation stone of a state-of-the-art semiconductor fab in Dholera, Gujarat and a Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facility in Jagiroad.

The Rs 91,000 crore chip fabrication plant at Dholera will generate over 20,000 skilled jobs in the region.

The Centre in February approved three semiconductor plants – two in Gujarat and one in Assam – for about Rs 1.26 lakh crore. AGENCIES

Indian equity indices witnessed a loss in the last week due to fear of recession in the global market.

On Friday, Sensex ended at 80,981, down 855 points or 1.08 per cent and Nifty closed at 24,717, down 293 points or 1.17 per cent. With this frontline indices snapped an eight-week rally.

On a weekly basis, Sensex and Nifty both posted losses of 0.43 per cent and 0.37 per cent respectively. This is the first time in the last eight weeks that both benchmarks posted a loss.

On a weekly basis, Eicher Motors (5.7 per cent), LTIMindtree (4.8 per cent), Grasim Industries (4.8 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra (4.8 per cent), Wipro (4.3 per cent) and Hero MotoCorp (3.7 per cent) were the top losers in the Nifty. NTPC (5.9 per cent), BPCL (5.6 per cent), Asian Paints (5.3 per cent), Divis Laboratories (4.2 per cent), Power Grid Corporation (4.1 per cent) were the top gainers.

Market experts said: “The domestic market saw a broad-based sell-off, indicating that it may have reached an exhaustion point due to a lack of new triggers for further upward movement. Q1FY25 earnings have been lacklustre so far, while broader market valuations remain significantly high.”

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Realty (3.76 per cent), Nifty IT (3.04 per cent), Nifty Auto (2.04 per cent), Nifty FMCG (1.57 per cent) and Nifty (1.16 per cent) were the biggest losers. On the other hand, Nifty Energy (2.53 per cent), Nifty Pharma (1.39 per cent) and Nifty Media (1.19 per cent) were the top gainers in the last week.

“Additionally, weak earnings from the US IT sector, a potential rise in unemployment, the possibility of further rate hikes by the BOJ, and a slowdown in China’s growth are all dampening market sentiment,” they said. AGENCIES

The American Rock band Aerosmith is officially hanging its touring boots up after Steven Tyler suffered a vocal injury, and is unable to fully recover.

The ‘Walk This Way’ band made the heartbreaking announcement nearly one year after Tyler, 76, fractured his larynx during a September 2023 show, reports ‘People’ magazine.

The band released a statement, which read, “As you know, Steven’s voice is an instrument like no other. He has spent months tirelessly working on getting his voice to where it was before his injury. We’ve seen him struggling despite having the best medical team by his side. Sadly, it is clear, that a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible”.

It further stated, “We have made a heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision – as a band of brothers – to retire from the touring stage. We are grateful beyond words for everyone who was pumped to get on the road with us one last time.” As per ‘People’, the band also thanked their fan base for their constant support.

“Thanks to you, our Blue Army, that spark caught flame and has been burning for over five decades”, the statement continued.

“Some of you have been with us since the beginning and all of you are the reason we made Rock ‘n’ Roll history. It has been the honour of our lives to have our music become part of yours. In every club, on every massive tour and at moments grand and private you have given us a place in the soundtrack of your lives”, the statement added.

Back in February, Tyler’s daughter Mia told ‘People’ that her famous father was doing “much better” but not quite following the doctor’s orders.

She said, “He’s not supposed to be talking sometimes, so I have to literally yell at him and be like, ‘You can’t be on the phone with me right now, let’s just text'”. AGENCIES

The death toll from the partial collapse of a residential building in the Russian city of Nizhny Tagil has risen to 10, said the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The Ministry said on Friday that rescuers have found 10 bodies and 15 people have been rescued from under the rubble, Xinhua news agency reported.

Five people are reportedly in critical condition at a hospital.

Local authorities have declared August 3 as a mourning day for the victims of the tragedy.

According to the Ministry, search and rescue operations are ongoing.

The tragedy occurred on Thursday when two entrances of a five-storey gas-powered building in Nizhny Tagil, a city located in Russia’s Sverdlovsk Oblast, caved in due to an explosion of a gas-air mixture, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. AGENCIES

Hawaii Governor Josh Green announced a settlement totalling over $4 billion to resolve hundreds of lawsuits filed after last year’s deadly wildfires which claimed over 100 lives on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

“Less than a year after devastating wildfires on Maui, the seven defendants — state of Hawaii, County of Maui, Hawaiian Electric, Kamehameha Schools, West Maui Land Co., Hawaiian Telcom and Spectrum/Charter Communications — undertook significant efforts to find a resolution that addresses the needs and ensures the well-being of plaintiffs, all affected individuals, and their families,” said Green in a statement.

Under the proposed terms of the global settlement agreement, which remains subject to final documentation and court approval, the seven defendants will pay 4.037 billion dollars to provide compensation to all those who have brought claims for compensation arising from the August 8, 2023 windstorms and wildfires on Maui, including the approximately 2,200 affected parties who filed lawsuits, according to the statement.

The settlement agreement, reached after more than four months of mediation between the defendants and attorneys, resolves the approximately 450 lawsuits filed by individuals, businesses, and insurance companies in state and federal courts for fires in Lahaina and Upcountry Maui.

Once a final settlement agreement is signed, it will take effect following judicial review and approval. The contribution to the settlement from the state of Hawaii must be approved by the Hawaii State Legislature, the statement added.

The statement pointed out that the payments would begin after such approval and are expected to start by mid-2025.

The wildfires, which broke out on August 8 last year, had a catastrophic impact, claiming 102 lives, and injuring numerous people. The fires destroyed more than 2,200 buildings and caused about 5.5 billion dollars in damages, according to data released by the US government. AGENCIES

A fierce exchange of fire broke out between Hezbollah and the Israeli army along the border area between Lebanon and Israel, involving heavy machine gun fire, artillery and missile shelling, as well as airstrikes, Lebanese military sources told the media.

According to the anonymous sources, there are no reports of casualties yet, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.

Israeli drones and warplanes launched nine raids on seven towns and villages in southern Lebanon and three raids on areas in Hermel, Al-Qasr, and the Matraba crossing on the Lebanese-Syrian border in the east of the country, said the sources.

“The Lebanese army positions monitored the launch of about 50 surface-to-surface missiles from the Lebanese side to Israel in three separate batches, and the Israeli Iron Dome missiles intercepted some of them,” the sources added.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced on Friday the targeting of Israeli positions in the Western Galilee with Katyusha missiles and the positions of Al-Raheb, Al-Marj, Bayad Blida, and Al-Samaqa.

The party said it fired an air defence missile at an Israeli warplane flying in the airspace of the western region of the south, causing the plane to redirect towards the airspace of occupied Palestine.

A state of anticipation and caution prevails in Lebanon following Israel’s attack on Dahieh in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday, killing a Hezbollah senior military commander, Fouad Shokor, and seven civilians.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has threatened a definite and painful response to the Israeli raid at the appropriate time and place. AGENCIES

After the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, there are reports that the Israel intelligence agency, Mossad, used the services of its Iranian agents.

As per reports in Hebrew media, the members of the elite Ansar al-Mahdi unit of the Iranian army, Islamic Red Guards Corp (IRGC), were hired by Mossad to execute Haniyeh.

According to reports, the original plan of Mossad was to kill Haniyeh during his visit for the funeral of the then-Iranian President Ebrahim Rasi in May this year. However, it was called off due to certain difficulties.

Meanwhile, sources in Israel’s Defense Minister’s office told IANS that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were prepared for any counter-attack from Iran and its proxies against the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

The sources said that IDF has strengthened the Israel borders in both south and north of the country to prevent any probable attempts from Hamas, Hezbollah or Houthis.

Arab media outlets quoted that the murder of Haniyeh, allegedly by hired agents of the country’s elite members, has shocked the Iranian regime. According to information available, Iran’s intelligence agency has already commenced a crack down on those who were used by Mossad to execute the high profile Hamas leader. AGENCIES

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has condemned South Korean media outlets for “fabricating” the scale of damage caused by recent floods in his country, the state media reported on Saturday, in his first public reaction to the South over the downpours.

In a sharp-tongued message, Kim called South Korea an “unchangeable enemy” but made no response to Seoul’s latest offer of humanitarian aid over the flood damage.

The North’s border city of Sinuiju and Uiju County in North Phyongan Province were recently pummeled by heavy rains. South Korean media outlets have reported that the number of those who died or went missing could exceed about 1,000, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

Kim accused South Korea of having a “wicked” purpose to tarnish North Korea’s image and staging a slanderous propaganda campaign against his country, Yonhap news agency reported, quoting KCNA.

“The enemy’s garbage media speculated that casualties in the affected areas would exceed 1,000 or 1,500 and has been spreading fabricated news reports that several helicopters on a rescue mission appear to have fallen,” Kim was quoted as saying by the report. “The enemy is an unchangeable enemy.”

His message came as Kim visited a helicopter unit engaged in a rescue operation on Friday to encourage troops.

Kim’s hostile stance against Seoul raised the possibility that Pyongyang is unlikely to accept South Korea’s proposal for aid. On Thursday, the government proposed humanitarian aid to North Korea over the flood damage, saying that it expects North Korea’s swift reaction.

North Korea has not responded through an inter-Korean liaison communication channel since then.

Kim guided an operation Sunday to rescue around 5,000 isolated residents in the flood-hit areas of Sinuiju and Uiju County. North Korea has said the downpours left more than 4,100 houses and nearly 3,000 hectares of farmlands submerged. But it did not disclose details about casualties.

North Korea convened an emergency politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea earlier this week to discuss ways to cope with the flood damage.

At a year-end party meeting last year, Kim defined inter-Korean ties as those “between two states hostile to each other” and said there is no point in seeking reconciliation and unification with South Korea. AGENCIES

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati cautioned that the regional situation may face escalation and potentially lead to spillover risks.

Mikati made the remarks during his visit to the Lebanese army headquarters to mark the 79th Army Day, which falls on August 1 each year, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to a statement issued by his office, Mikati pointed to the “worrying regional developments that signal an increase in the level of danger and its expansion from one region to another” during the visit.

“Our people in the south, the Bekaa, and in the southern suburb of Beirut, are still facing Israeli attacks that have left hundreds of martyrs and wounded, citizens, soldiers and resistance fighters, and displaced families who lost their homes and their properties were burned,” said the prime minister.

“We affirm our right to defend our land, sovereignty, and dignity by all available means, and there is no hesitation in this option, no matter how great the sacrifices are,” he added.

Mikati noted that “we have informed our sister and friendly countries that we are advocates of peace and not war, and we seek permanent stability by recovering the occupied parts of our dear south.”

Tensions escalated along the border region between Israel and Lebanon as an Israeli drone fired on Tuesday evening three missiles at a position near the Shura Council of Hezbollah in Dahieh in Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing Fouad Shokor, Hezbollah’s top military commander, and seven civilians.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has threatened a definite and painful response to the Israeli raid at the appropriate time and place. AGENCIES