Category: International News

BP is expected to announce it will slash its renewable energy investments and instead focus on increasing oil and gas production. The energy giant will outline its strategy later following pressure from some investors unhappy its profits and share price have been much lower than its rivals. Shell and Norwegian company Equinor have already scaled back their plans to invest in green energy. Meanwhile US President Donald Trump’s “drill baby drill” comments have encouraged investment in fossil fuels and a move away from low carbon projects.

Some shareholders and environmental groups have voiced concerns over any potential ramping up on production of fossil fuels. Five years ago, BP set some of the most ambitious targets among large oil companies to cut production of oil and gas by 40% by 2030, while significantly ramping up investment in renewables.

In 2023, the company lowered this oil and gas reduction target to 25%.

It is now expected to abandon it altogether while confirming it is cutting investments in renewable energy by more than half in what chief executive Murray Auchincloss called a “fundamental reset”.

In 2024, BP’s net income fell to $8.9bn (£7.2bn) down from $13.8bn the previous year. Mr Auchincloss is under pressure to boost profits from some shareholders including the influential activist group Elliot Management, which took a near £4 billion stake in the £70 billion company to push for more investment in oil and gas.

Since 2020 when former chief executive Bernard Looney first unveiled his strategy, shareholders have received total returns including dividends of 36% over the last five years. In contrast, shareholders in rivals Shell and Exxon have seen returns of 82% and 160% respectively.

BP’s under performance has prompted speculation that it may be a takeover target or may consider moving its main stock market listing to the US where oil and gas companies command higher valuations.

Not all shareholders want the company to change course so radically.

Last week, a group of 48 investors called on the company to allow them a vote on any potential plans to move away from its previous commitments to renewables.

A spokesperson for one of the signatories, Royal London Asset Management, said: “As long-term shareholders, we recognise BP’s past efforts toward energy transition but remain concerned about the company’s continued investment in fossil fuel expansion.”

The environmental group Greenpeace UK has warned BP could expect “pushback and challenge at every turn if it doubles down on fossil fuels – not just from green campaigners but from its own shareholders”.

Senior climate adviser Charlie Kronick said: “Government policies will also need to prioritise renewable power, and as extreme weather puts pressure on insurance models – policymakers will be looking to fossil fuel profits as a way to fund extreme weather recovery. BP might want to seriously put the brakes on this U-turn.”

AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould said this was one of the most significant moments for BP in the last four or five years.

“Other energy companies have been clearer about their intentions thus far than BP,” he said.

“They need to prove to people that after a difficult operational and share price performance compared to their peers, that they’re looking to do something about it, not just let things drift along, he added.

BP has already placed its offshore wind business in a joint venture with Japanese company Jera and is looking to find a partner to do the same with its solar business.

The refocus on oil and gas could also see sales of other businesses in order to get “non-core stuff off the books” as insiders describe it.

It is over 20 years since former chief executive Lord John Browne said BP could stand for “Beyond Petroleum” as he launched the company’s first tentative moves away from oil and gas.

Today’s strategy shift could be dubbed “Back to Petroleum” – to the delight of some shareholders and to the dismay of others.

Both BP and Elliott management declined to comment.

Mali’s military government says it is investigating allegations that soldiers “coldly executed” at least 24 civilians in the north of the country on Monday. That claim was made by a separatist Tuareg rebel alliance, called Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), which is battling the Malian government in the same region. The FLA accuse Malian forces and Wagner mercenaries of intercepting two passenger vehicles travelling to Algeria from the Malian city of Gao and killing the civilians on board, including women and children.

In a statement, army chief Gen Oumar Diarra said the allegations “relayed by terrorist networks, allies and sponsors” follow other “unfounded” claims against state forces.

For many years, the Malian government has been struggling against both Tuareg rebels seeking a breakaway state in the north and jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. The military which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021 hired Russian mercenaries from the paramilitary group Wagner to help improve security in the country.

Both government forces and the Russians have often been accused by rights groups of committing gross human rights abuses against civilians, which they deny. Last month, Mali was one of three countries under military rule to leave the West African regional bloc Ecowas, after refusing its demands to restore civilian rule.

The withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger dealt a huge blow to Ecowas, which at 50 years old is considered Africa’s most important regional group.

Mali’s military leaders also ended ties with former colonial power France, whose troops left the country in 2022 after more than a decade fighting Islamist insurgents.

The following year, all 12,000 UN peacekeepers left Mali on the junta’s instructions.

A dispute over a cigarette turned violent when a sex worker stabbed her colleague at a taxi rank in Verulam CBD, South Africa, on Saturday, February 22, 2025.

The altercation occurred while the women were waiting for customers.

Members of Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) responded to a distress call at approximately 10:29 PM and arrived to find a woman lying on the ground with a stab wound to her neck.

The victim, who identified herself as a sex worker in the area, said the suspect—also in the same line of work—had approached her for a cigarette.

When she refused, an argument ensued, leading to the suspect pulling a knife and stabbing her before fleeing the scene.

Emergency responders provided medical assistance, and the victim survived the attack. Authorities have since launched an investigation to track down the suspect.

South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, has restored eight units at power plants after implementing its highest stage of controlled power cuts early Sunday due to multiple failures at Majuba and Camden power stations over the weekend. On Saturday, Eskom applied Stage 3 power cuts, locally known as load-shedding, reducing 3,000 megawatts from the national grid.

“Of the 10 units that we lost overnight, we have essentially returned six units,” Eskom group CEO Dan Marokane told reporters on Sunday.

He added that five to six more units were expected to become operational during the day, boosting the 3,200 MW of capacity recovered overnight.

“We anticipate getting out of this stage by the end of the week,” he said, noting that, given the pace of recovery, Eskom would consider reducing power cuts by Monday.

Early Monday morning, Eskom announced that outages would be scaled down to Stage 4 until further notice.

Regular breakdowns at Eskom’s fleet of ageing coal-fired plants, which provide the bulk of electricity in Africa’s most industrialized economy, often cause load-shedding. The system follows an incremental approach, with Stage 1 cutting 1,000 MW and Stage 6 being the highest implemented to date.

Delta Air Lines is offering $30,000 (£23,792) to each person on board a plane that crash-landed in Toronto on Monday – all of whom survived. As it landed in the Canadian city, the plane skidded along the runway in flames before flipping over and coming to a halt upside down. Passengers described their amazement as most of them walked away without injuries. It remains unclear what caused the incident, which is under investigation. There were 76 passengers and four crew on the flight, which had travelled from the US city of Minneapolis before making its crash-landing in Canada. A spokesperson for Delta said the money offer had no strings attached and did not affect customers’ rights.

Toronto law firm Rochon Genova says it has been retained by certain passengers and their families over the crash-landing.

Lawyer Vincent Genova said the group expected a “timely and fair resolution”, highlighting that his clients “suffered personal injuries of a serious nature that required hospital attention”. In an email to the BBC, Mr. Genova said the $30,000 compensation is an “advance” payment meant to assist plane crash victims with short-term financial challenges, and the airline will seek to deduct it from any later settled claims. There is precedent to these types of payments, like in 2013, when Asiana Airlines offered passengers of a San Francisco plane crash $10,000 in initial compensation.

Last year, Alaska Airlines offered a $1,500 cash payment to passengers after mid-air door-plug blowout on a flight from Portland.

Following this week’s incident in Toronto, the plane crew and emergency responders were praised for their quick work in removing people from the wrecked vehicle. The plane’s various safety features have also been credited for ensuring no loss of life.

All of the 21 passengers who were taken to hospital had been released by Thursday morning, the airline said. Delta’s chief told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that the flight crew were experienced and trained for any condition. The airline’s head Ed Bastian told CBS the plane crew had “performed heroically, but also as expected”, given that “safety is embedded into our system”. He said Delta was continuing to support those affected. Several theories about what caused the crash have been suggested to the BBC by experts who reviewed footage, including that harsh winter weather and a rapid rate of descent played a role.

One passenger recalled “a very forceful event”, and the sound of “concrete and metal” at the moment of impact. Another said passengers were left hanging upside down in their seats “like bats”.

The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been recovered from the wreckage. The investigation is being led by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB), supported by US officials.

On Wednesday evening, the wreckage was removed from the airport runway.

The accident was the fourth major air incident in North America in a space of three weeks – and was followed on Wednesday by a crash in Arizona in which two people lost their lives when their small planes collided.

Experts continue to insist that air travel is overwhelmingly safe – more so than other forms of transport, in fact.

That message was emphasized by US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who told CBS on Wednesday there was no pattern behind the incidents, each of which he said was “very unique”.

A Scottish businessman who disappeared in Kenya has been found dead.

Campbell Scott, from Fife, was attending a conference at the JW Marriott Hotel in Nairobi when he was last seen by colleagues on 16 February.

The 58-year-old was a senior director at credit scoring firm Fico. His employer confirmed to the BBC on Monday that local police had identified his body.

A spokeswoman for the firm said staff were “devastated” by the news.

She added: “Campbell was a leader in our international Scores business.

“He joined FICO in 2014 and was instrumental in introducing Scores to new markets and growing our business with existing partnerships. We mourn his passing and will miss his humour and kindness.

“Our thoughts are with Campbell’s family and friends. We ask that the media respect their privacy.”

Mr Scott studied at Woodmill High School in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy Technical College, going on to work for a number of companies before joining Fico. The JW Marriott hotel is located in the Nairobi’s Westlands district, an affluent business area.

Police launched a search following his disappearance and were assisted by Interpol, according to newspaper reports.

The UK Foreign Office has been approached for comment.

Indian authorities have banned two highly addictive opioids in response to a BBC investigation which found they were fueling a public health crisis in parts of West Africa. In a letter seen by the BBC from India’s Drugs Controller General, Dr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi said permission to manufacture and export the drugs had been withdrawn. BBC Eye found one pharmaceutical company, Aveo, had been illegally exporting a harmful mix of tapentadol and carisoprodol in countries like Ghana, Nigeria, and Cote d’Ivoire. India’s Food and Drug Administration said the company’s factory in Mumbai had since been raided and its entire stock seized.

The circular from Dr Raghuvanshi, dated to Friday, cited the BBC investigation in his decision to ban all combinations of tapentadol and carisoprodol, which was to be implemented with immediate effect. He said this also came after officials had looked into “the potential of drug abuse and its harmful impact on population”. Tapentadol is a powerful opioid, and carisoprodol is a muscle relaxant so addictive it is banned in Europe. Carisoprodol is approved for use in the US, but only for short periods of up to three weeks. Withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, insomnia and hallucinations.

The combination of the two drugs is not licensed for use anywhere in the world as they can cause breathing difficulties and seizures, and an overdose can kill. Despite the risks, these opioids are popular street drugs in many West African countries, because they are so cheap and widely available. Publicly available export data show that Aveo Pharmaceuticals, along with a sister company called Westfin International, has shipped millions of these tablets to Ghana and other West African countries.

The BBC World Service also found packets of these pills with the Aveo logo for sale on the streets of Nigeria, and in Ivoirian towns and cities.

Nigeria, with a population of 225 million people, provides the biggest market for these pills. It has been estimated that about four million Nigerians abuse some form of opioid, according to the nation’s National Bureau of Statistics. As part of the investigation, the BBC also sent an undercover operative – posing as an African businessman looking to supply opioids to Nigeria – inside one of Aveo’s factories in India, where they filmed one of Aveo’s directors, Vinod Sharma, showing off the same dangerous products the BBC found for sale across West Africa. In the secretly recorded footage, the operative tells Sharma that his plan is to sell the pills to teenagers in Nigeria “who all love this product”.

Sharma in response replies “OK,” before explaining that if users take two or three pills at once, they can “relax” and agrees they can get “high”.

Towards the end of the meeting, Sharma says: “This is very harmful for the health,” adding that “nowadays, this is business”.

Sharma and Aveo Pharmaceuticals did not respond to a request for comment when the BBC’s initial investigation was published.

India’s Food and Drug Administration said a sting operation saw Aveo’s entire stock seized and further production halted in a statement on Friday. Further legal action will be taken against the company, it added.

The agency said it was “fully prepared” to take action against anyone involved in “illegal activities that tarnish the reputation of the country”.

The FDA has been instructed to carry out further inspections to prevent the supply of the drugs, it said.

An Australian couple have spoken of the “traumatic” moment the body of a dead passenger was placed next to them on a Qatar Airways flight. Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin, who were travelling to Venice for a dream holiday, told Australia’s Channel 9 that a woman had died in the aisle beside them during the flight from Melbourne to Doha. The couple say the cabin crew placed her corpse, covered in blankets, next to Mr. Ring for the remaining four hours of the flight without offering to move him, despite there being empty seats. Qatar Airways said it apologized for “any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused”, adding that it was in the process of contacting passengers.

The couple said they had not been contacted or offered support by Qatar Airways or Qantas, the airline through which they booked the flight. They said there should be a protocol to ensure passengers onboard were looked after in such situations. ‘Duty of care’ Mr. Ring told Channel Nine’s Current Affair programmed that staff had responded “in no time” when the woman collapsed, but that “unfortunately the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heart-breaking to watch”.

He said the cabin crew had tried to move her body towards business class “but she was quite a large lady, and they couldn’t get her through the aisle”. Mr. Ring said the crew had seen seats were available beside him.

“They said, ‘Can you move over please?’ and I just said, ‘Yes no problem’.

“Then they placed the lady in the chair I was in.”

While Ms. Colin was able to move to an empty seat nearby, Mr. Ring said he had not been given the option to do so by cabin crew – even though there were vacant seats. When the plane landed four hours later, he said passengers were asked to stay put while medical staff and police came on board. He said ambulance officers had then started pulling blankets off the woman and he had seen her face.

The couple said there needed to be a “duty of care” for customers and staff.

“We should be contacted to make sure, do you need some support, do you need some counselling?”

Ms Colin called the experience “traumatic” and said: “We totally understand that we can’t hold the airline responsible for the poor lady’s death, but there has to be a protocol to look after the customers on board.”

In a statement, Qatar Airways said: “First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the passenger who sadly passed away on board our flight.

“We apologise for any inconvenience or distress this incident may have caused, and are in the process of contacting passengers in line with our policies and procedures.”

A Qantas spokesperson said: “The process for handling incidents onboard an aircraft like this is managed by the operating airline, which in this case is Qatar Airways.”