NewsBytes
US, Saudi sign $142 billion defense sales agreement, other deals
The United States and Saudi Arabia signed a nearly $142 billion defence sales agreement that provides Riyadh with state of the art equipment and services from US firms, the White House said. The defence deal is part of a $600 billion Saudi investment commitment for the US, the White House said in a factsheet. The agreement also includes exports of GE gas turbines and energy solutions totaling $14.2 billion, and Boeing 737-8 passenger aircraft totaling $4.8 billion. The agreements were signed during a visit to Saudi Arabia by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Nepal aims to draw world attention on climate issues through mountain dialogue
Delegates and subject experts from 12 countries, including from India and China, are expected to attend a summit to discuss and raise awareness about climate change and its impacts on mountain countries here next week. 'Sagarmatha Sambad', or the Mountain Dialogue, with a central theme 'Climate Change, Mountains and the Future of Humanity' will take place here from May 16 to 18 and is expected to attract around 300 participants, with 50 per cent foreign delegates. Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, is known as Sagarmatha in Nepalese. One of the major objectives of the upcoming event is to provide a suitable platform for multi-stakeholder, inter-regional global dialogue in Nepal on pressing contemporary issues facing the world, according to Lok Bahadur Paudel Chettri, joint secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Albania's Rama wins historic fourth term, opposition say vote stolen
Albania's prime minister Edi Rama has secured an unprecedented fourth term in power after his Socialist Party sailed to victory in Sunday's election, official results showed, although the opposition claim the vote was stolen. With 96% of ballots counted, the Socialist Party (PS) had 52% of the votes, ahead of the second-placed Democratic Party (PD) on 34%, figures from the election commission showed. As it stands, PS wins 82 seats in the 140-seat parliament while PD gets 52. If confirmed, the result would extend PS's four-seat majority and give Rama a comfortable margin to form a government. It would also enable him to continue working to honour his pledge to bring Albania into the European Union by 2030, although many experts say that timeline is optimistic given the reforms required, especially in eradicating corruption.
World's first commercial-scale e-methanol plant opens in Denmark
The world's first commercial-scale e-methanol plant began operations in Denmark, with shipping giant Maersk set to buy part of the production as a low-emission fuel for its fleet of container ships. The shipping sector is under pressure to find new sources of fuel after a majority of countries gave their backing to measures to help meet the International Maritime Organisation's targets towards eliminating carbon emissions by 2050. So far zero-emission shipping fuels, such as green ammonia and e-methanol, which are produced using renewable energy, have tended to be more expensive than conventional fuel largely because they are not produced at scale. Located in Kasso in southern Denmark, the new plant, which has cost an estimated 150 million euros ($167 million), will produce 42,000 metric tonnes, or 53 million litres, of e-methanol per year, its joint owners Denmark's European Energy and Japan's Mitsui said. Maersk will be a major customer of the Kasso plant. It operates 13 dual-fuel methanol container vessels that can be powered with fuel oil and with e-methanol and has ordered another 13 of the vessels.
