Equinix faces challenge to Cape Town data centres over environmental concerns

By Sharon Kimathi

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - A plan by U.S.-listed Equinix to build two data centres in Cape Town should not be approved without full disclosure of its water, ‌power and environmental impact, a formal objection lodged with city planners and seen by ‌Reuters showed.

The Housing Assembly (HA), a social movement representing more than 20 communities in the Western Cape of South Africa, and UK ​non-profit Foxglove say the application cannot be approved without the key information needed for officials to assess the project.

As technology firms race to scale up computing power across the globe, they face local opposition from communities worried about issues such as rising power bills, water stress, noise and pollution.

"There is simply not enough ‌information for a decision on a ⁠project of this scale, with no substantive detail on water use, emissions, electricity demand, diesel generators, air pollution, noise or even the buildings themselves,” said Rosa Curling, ⁠co-executive director at Foxglove.

The project includes two large data centres in Cape Town with a combined projected power usage of up to 160 megawatts, according to the document but questions remain on issues such as what ​sort ​of back-up power generation the site will have.

The water ​demands of the site are also particularly ‌important given Cape Town's historic problems with water scarcity, Curling said.

Advertisement

Cape Town suffered from a severe drought in 2017-2018, which is also known as the ‘Day Zero’ crisis, when the city shut off most household taps because its water reservoirs had fallen dangerously low.

“There seems to be this rush to develop data centres without people properly thinking through what the impact will be,” added Saadiyah Kwada, an attorney at ‌the non-profit, Legal Resources Centre in Cape Town.

Equinix - which already ​operates a site in Johannesburg with 100% renewable energy coverage, ​according to its website - declined to comment ​on the objection lodged by the HA and Foxglove.

King David Golf Club, the ‌owner of King Air Industrial, the development site ​on which the data ​centres are due to be built, and Equinix have 30 days to offer a response, after which the City has 180 days to make a decision.

KAI declined to comment. The City ​of Cape Town did not respond ‌to requests for comment.

South Africa’s government on Wednesday pledged to boost investment in digital ​infrastructure, including data centres, through tax incentives and policy reforms aimed at expanding connectivity ​while addressing regulatory barriers.

(Editing by Simon Jessop, Kirsten Donovan)

byCristiano Ronaldo

in

May 18, 2026

Equinix faces challenge to Cape Town data centres over environmental concerns

By Sharon Kimathi LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - A plan by U.S.-listed Equinix to build two data centres in Cape Town should not be a...

Read More

Italy tells EU it may pull out of SAFE defence scheme without budget leeway on energy

By Giuseppe Fonte

ROME, May 18 (Reuters) - Italy could drop plans to tap the European Union's SAFE financing scheme on defence without more lenient budget rules on energy-related spending, ‌Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a letter to EU Commission President Ursula von ‌der Leyen.

The Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument is a joint borrowing scheme backed by the EU budget to boost the bloc's ​defence capabilities and help member states meet more ambitious NATO spending targets.

In a diplomatic escalation with the EU, Meloni stepped up her calls for the Commission to grant member states the same budget leeway to ease surging energy costs as is currently allowed for defence spending.

"Italy considers it necessary to temporarily ‌extend the scope of the National ⁠Escape Clause (from budget rules), which already applies to defence spending, to include investments and extraordinary measures needed to address the ongoing energy crisis," Meloni wrote in ⁠a letter sent late on Sunday and seen by Reuters.

"Without this necessary political consistency, it would be very difficult for the Italian government to explain to the public why it might resort to the SAFE programme."

Under ​the "escape ​clause", the European Union allows countries to exceed the ​bloc's deficit limits either to increase their ‌defence spending, or to tackle exceptionally averse economic circumstances.

Advertisement

In the case of defence spending, the budget flexibility would be available for four years starting from 2025, with an increase in the deficit through 2028 that must not exceed 1.5% of national output per year.

Extending the clause to energy-related spending would potentially allow Italy to fund costly aid measures for firms and families worth more than 30 ‌billion euros ($34.90 billion).

This would entail Rome dropping its current plans ​to bring its budget deficit below the EU's 3% ​of GDP ceiling this year.

The EU has ​so far said the energy crisis does not justify deviation from budget rules.

Italy ‌warned last month that it might not ​be able to honour its ​commitments to boost defence spending due to the need to counter surging energy prices.

"We cannot justify to our citizens that the EU allows financial flexibility for security and defence in ​the strictest sense, but not to ‌protect families, workers, and businesses from a new energy crisis that threatens to deal ​a severe blow to the real economy," Meloni wrote to von der Leyen.

($1 = 0.8596 ​euros)

(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, editing by Gavin Jones)

byCristiano Ronaldo

in

May 18, 2026

Italy tells EU it may pull out of SAFE defence scheme without budget leeway on energy

By Giuseppe Fonte ROME, May 18 (Reuters) - Italy could drop plans to tap the European Union's SAFE financing scheme on defenc...

Read More

Syria to join G7 finance talks in Paris in sign of growing status

By Timour Azhari

RIYADH, May 18 (Reuters) - Syria will take part in a closed-door session with G7 finance ministers and ‌central bank governors in Paris on Monday, a person familiar ‌with the matter said, in a sign of its growing status less than ​two years after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh is expected to attend the meeting, the person said, adding that the discussions will focus on Syria's sustainable recovery and reintegration into ‌the global financial system.

The two-day ⁠G7 finance chiefs' meeting is dominated by global economic imbalances, trade tensions and the fallout from conflicts ⁠in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Advertisement

Syria's economy remains deeply damaged by years of war and isolation. While most sanctions have been eased or ​lifted since ​former president Assad's removal, recovery ​has been slow, with investors ‌and banks still wary of compliance risks and the practical difficulty of reconnecting Syria to the global financial system.

Syria and Ukraine are expected to be present in parts of the discussions, underscoring the G7's emphasis on stabilising countries seen as central to regional and ‌global security.

The person familiar with the matter ​said Syria's participation was part of ​preparations for the G7 ​leaders' summit in June and reflected a push to ‌bring the administration of President Ahmed ​al-Sharaa closer to ​leading economies.

For Damascus, participation in the G7 finance track marks another step in efforts to return to the international system, ​attract support for ‌reconstruction and show that it has become a pivotal state ​in the changes reshaping the region.

(Reporting by Timour Azhari ​in Riyadh; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

byCristiano Ronaldo

in

May 18, 2026

Syria to join G7 finance talks in Paris in sign of growing status

By Timour Azhari RIYADH, May 18 (Reuters) - Syria will take part in a closed-door session with G7 finance ministers and ‌central ...

Read More

Taiwan open to direct talks between Trump and Lai amid concerns after Beijing summit

TAIPEI, May 18 (Reuters) - Taiwan would welcome a direct call between President Donald Trump and President Lai Ching-te, ‌a senior Taiwanese diplomat said on Monday, as Taipei ‌sought to ease concerns over Trump's remarks following his summit with Chinese leader ​Xi Jinping.

Trump and Xi discussed Chinese-claimed Taiwan at their Beijing summit last week, with Xi warning of conflict if the issue was not properly handled.

Trump made a range of different pronouncements about ‌Taiwan, including that he ⁠was undecided on new arms sales, suggesting he might speak to Lai, and that the U.S. was "not ⁠looking to have somebody say, 'Let's go independent'".

A direct conversation between a sitting U.S. president and Taiwan's leader has not occurred since ​Washington shifted ​diplomatic recognition to Beijing from ​Taipei in 1979.

Taiwan Deputy Foreign ‌Minister Chen Ming-chi told reporters that Trump's remarks had "caused some unnecessary concern" in Taiwan even if the government believed that "nothing has changed."

Advertisement

Chen said that if Trump wants to speak with Lai then Taiwan would welcome it, if that is indeed what he ‌meant.

"Of course, we would also ask: ​based on what you have said, ​does that mean you ​want to speak with our president? If he ‌says yes, then should we ​make the relevant ​arrangements? We very much hope to have such an opportunity," Chen added.

Washington is traditionally Taiwan's most important international backer ​and arms supplier.

Taiwan's government ‌rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only the island's people ​can decide their future.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by ​Christian Schmollinger and Edwina Gibbs)

byCristiano Ronaldo

in

May 18, 2026

Taiwan open to direct talks between Trump and Lai amid concerns after Beijing summit

TAIPEI, May 18 (Reuters) - Taiwan would welcome a direct call between President Donald Trump and President Lai Ching-te, ‌a senior Taiw...

Read More

What on earth was John Travolta thinking with this dreadful vanity project?

It is normal to be bored by dreadful films, or even annoyed by them. But I don’t believe I have ever felt as sorry for one as I doJohn Travolta’s directorial debut, the viewing of which is like watching a toddler walk into a lamp post.

Travolta has adapted his 1997 children’s novel which recounts one of the actor’s formative experiences: an overnight multi-stop flight he took with his mother from New York to Los Angeles in December 1962, and from which his lifelong love of aviation presumably sprung. From the awful title font on,Propeller One-Way Night Coachis extraordinarily bad – though the making of it also clearly means a lot to Travolta, who gets to relive and share this happy passage of his childhood with the world at large. Is it a film for children? Families? Vintage plane-spotters? One suspects it is in fact a film made for the amusement of one person only, who also happens to be the person making it.

Clark Shotwell plays the youngTravolta, here called Jeff, and Kelly Eviston-Quinnett his mother Helen: meanwhile Travolta himself performs the narration, in which an older Jeff recalls the trip in often punishing detail. At best, the voice-over is wistful if meandering; at worst it keeps zig-zagging off into gibberish. Memorable passages include Jeff referring to the Holocaust (which, astoundingly, comes up twice) as “The Nazi event”, as well as the following reaction to seeing a toy aeroplane in the Trans World Airlines souvenir shop: “Life at this moment was so good that it was just hard to recover from.”

Advertisement

There are would-be-comic asides about smoking and the cockpit door being left unlocked, encounters with some eccentric fellow passengers, as well as lots of lingering shots of lavish in-flight catering, including glistening inch-thick slices of chateaubriand carved on the trolley, and an odd running joke about chicken cordon bleu. The young Jeff is of course also bewitched by the air hostesses – one of whom, Doris, is played by Ella Bleu Travolta, the director’s daughter.

Another (Olga Hoffman) takes such a shine to the little tyke and his mother that she upgrades them both to first class, gratis, before having them transferred onto an even more glamorous Boeing 707 jet for the last leg of the trip. This is the sort of exhilarating dramaPropeller One-Way Night Coachkeeps throwing at you: someone is lovely to young Jeff, and then the old Jeff rambles for a bit about how great it was. We keep hearing that life simply can’t get any better, then Doris lets him lie down in one of the first class beds for a bit and lo, a new existential pinnacle is somehow reached.

The film’s heavy-handedly naive tone does create some interesting effects: there is a jolt of surrealist horror towards the end when Travolta makes a twinkling on-screen cameo as the 707’s pilot, only to start talking in exactly the same voice – tone, tempo and all – as eight-year-old Jeff’s internal monologue. Then after 60 minutes it’s suddenly over, at which point you’re just grateful the two didn’t book a return ticket.

Screening at Cannes Film Festival. On Apple TV from May 29

byCristiano Ronaldo

in

May 17, 2026

What on earth was John Travolta thinking with this dreadful vanity project?

It is normal to be bored by dreadful films, or even annoyed by them. But I don’t believe I have ever felt as sorry for one as I doJohn ...

Read More