JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to return tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern border areas to their homes, amid mounting tensions with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

In a brief video statement, Netanyahu made no mention of the operation that remotely detonated thousands of pagers and hand-held radio devices used by operatives of Hezbollah, which has blamed the attack on Israel.

“I have said it before, we will return to the citizens of the north to their homes in security and that’s exactly what we are going to do,” he said in a brief video statement, giving no further details.

In separate remarks, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said more forces were being sent to the northern border, where Israel has been exchanging daily fire with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah for months, as the war moved into a new phase.

“The ‘centre of gravity’ is moving north, meaning that we are allocating forces, resources and energy for the northern arena,” he said in remarks released by his office. (Reuters)…[+]

GUYANA  – Former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan is of the firm view that a fiasco, 10 times grander than the US$200M Skeldon project, is playing out before the eyes of Guyanese with the Gas-to-Energy GTE initiative, which carries a price tag of about US$2B.

In a recent public broadcast, the former minister and Member of Parliament MP pointed out that the cost of the project is constantly ballooning even as a single agreement pertaining to the project is still to be laid in the National Assembly. The government said that the pipeline was expected to cost Guyana an estimated US$1B, but the project developer, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited EMGL never announced a Final Investment Decision FID casting further doubt on the price of the infrastructure. As documents for the project remain sealed to the bosom of the Irfaan Ali-led administration, Jordan argued, “There is no agreement that has been put in Parliament about the laying of this pipeline much less the whole project.” In addition to the 12-inch diameter pipeline being laid by ExxonMobil to transport gas from the Liza Fields in the Stabroek Block to the Wales Development Zone, West Bank Demerara, the government of Guyana is undertaking a 300 megawatt power plant and a Natural Gas Liquids NGL facility.

The former minister in raising concerns over the project said last week the Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo during a press conference informed the nation that Exxon would not have advanced the money for the project if the company did not believe it was profitable. To this end, Jordan explained, “So Exxon has advanced us the money which is a loan. If this is a loan, why doesn’t it appear in the debt profile of the country He added, “How much is the loan? Do we know how much is the loan? We don’t know. What are the terms of this loan, we don’t know. We have not seen an agreement for this loan. Who owns the pipeline

The former minister was keen to note that the External Loans Act requires the government to table all loan agreements that have been concluded as soon as possible thereafter. He however argued that the agreement with Exxon is so long overdue to the extent that the company is now preparing to complete the project and pump nitrogen into the structure to preserve it until it is operational. Moreover, he noted that arrangements have been made to repay the company for the pipeline Exxon previously said it expects the pipeline to be completed by the end of 2024. While another section of the media reported that President of Exxon Guyana, Alistair Routledge said that repayment will commence only after the project starts up, auditors who examined the company’s 2018-2020 expenditure observed that costs for the pipeline were added to the cost bank. (Kaieteur News)…[+]

WASHINGTON DC – Nippon Steel is expected to re-file its application for a national security review by American regulators of its USD 15 billion takeover bid of US Steel, sources familiar with the matter told CNN on Tuesday, buying Japan’s largest steelmaker an additional 90 days to close its acquisition of an American rival after political opposition emerged in an election year. The surprise development allows the steelmakers to reset the clock, potentially keeping the controversial deal alive. However, there is still significant political pushback. President Joe Biden, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris have all voiced opposition to the deal.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States CFIUS a team of Cabinet-level appointees that reviews all deals of a certain size involving US entities, has been studying the takeover of Pittsburgh-based US Steel for several months on the grounds of national security. With the White House signaling it would block the deal, and CFIUS officials wanting to operate outside the pressure of political calendars, an extension of the timeline seemed the best outcome, according to two separate sources.

A spokesperson for the Tokyo-based company declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Pittsburgh-based US Steel did not respond to a request for comment. The proposed takeover has become a political hot potato. Multiple Rust Belt Democrats are also against the deal, including Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. The United Steelworkers union, which has endorsed Harris for president, has also been a leading opponent of the acquisition. Earlier this month, US Steel said it would be forced to lay off workers and shutter mills without Nippon’s backing. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters during a White House visit in April that the legal reviews would determine the deal’s outcome. Several business groups sent a letter last week to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, warning of the risks of politicizing a process that was created to study national security risks on their merits. US Steel put itself up for sale in 2023 after receiving an unsolicited USD 7 billion takeover offer from Ohio-based Cleveland Cliffs. The USD 14.9 billion deal with Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, resulted from that sale process.  (CNN)…[+]