MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin on Thursday held out the possibility that Russia could resume nuclear testing for the first time in over three decades, withdrawing its ratification of a landmark test ban treaty.

How many nuclear weapons tests have there been, why were they stopped – and why would anyone start them again?

NUCLEAR AGE

The United States opened the nuclear era in July 1945 with the test of a 20-kiloton atomic bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico, in July 1945, and then dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 to end World War Two.

The Soviet Union shocked the West by detonating its first nuclear bomb just four years later, in August 1949.

In the five decades between 1945 and the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), over 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out, 1,032 of them by the United States and 715 of them by the Soviet Union, according to the United Nations.

Britain carried out 45 tests, France 210 and China 45.

Since the CTBT, 10 nuclear tests have taken place. India conducted two in 1998, Pakistan also two in 1998, and North Korea conducted tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016 (twice) and 2017, according to the United Nations.

The United States last tested in 1992, China and France in 1996 and the Soviet Union in 1990. Russia, which inherited most of the Soviet nuclear arsenal, has never done so.

ENDING TESTING

Concern mounted about the impact of the tests – above ground, underground and underwater – on human health and the environment.

By limiting the Cold War bonanza of nuclear testing, advocates said, tensions could be reduced.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty bans  nuclear explosions  by everyone, everywhere. It was signed by Russia in 1996 and ratified in 2000. The United States signed the treaty in 1996 but has not ratified it.

WHY WOULD YOU TEST AGAIN?

To gather information – or to send a signal.

Tests provide evidence of what any new nuclear weapon will do – and whether older weapons still work.

In 2020, the Washington Post reported that the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump had discussed whether or not to conduct a nuclear test.

Apart from providing technical data, such a test would be seen in Russia and China as a deliberate assertion of U.S. strategic power.

Putin said in February 2023, a year after ordering an invasion of neighbour Ukraine, that if the United States resumed nuclear testing, Russia would too as the two powers had their biggest confrontation in decades.

On Thursday, Putin made a point that unlike Russia, the U.S. had not ratified the CTBT.

And he said that the Russian parliament, which is completely loyal to him, might want to withdraw ratification too:

“I am not ready to say whether we really need to conduct tests or not, but it is possible theoretically to behave in the same way as the United States.”

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Grant McCool)

By Chibuike Oguh and Abhirup Roy

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Shares of Rivian Automotive Inc fell by more than 20% on Thursday, and were on course for their biggest daily percentage decline since May last year, after the electric vehicle maker unveiled plans to issue $1.5 billion worth of convertible green bonds.

Irvine, California-based Rivian expects the bonds, which will mature in October 2030 and can be converted to either cash or its shares, will help it to “de-risk” the launch of its R2 sports utility vehicle in Georgia, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday.

It is the second time in less than a year that Rivian is issuing such a green bond, which raises capital from investors seeking to back climate-focused projects. The company had issued a $1.3 billion convertible green bond in March to support the launch of its smaller R2 vehicle family.

Rivian’s stock fell 20.5% to as low as $18.83 on the session, and is now up about 4% year-to-date. It was last down 19.5%.

“The raise came earlier than expected,” said Elliot Johnson, chief investment officer at Evolve ETFs, which manages over $5.2 billion in assets, including investments in EV startups such as Rivian.

“So, shipping the same number of cars, earnings are in line, they’re raising cash earlier than people thought and the cash flow could be dilutive – I think that’s a concern because it’s still seen as a speculative business,” Johnson added.

Rivian, which is backed by e-commerce giant Amazon, has been burning through cash to ramp up production and keep up with market leader Tesla (TSLA.O), which has slashed prices. The company beat estimates in the third quarter by producing 16,304 vehicles and delivering 15,564 vehicles to customers. It is on track to deliver 52,000 vehicles this year.

Rivian said it expects revenue to reach up to $1.33 billion, more than double from a year earlier and in line with analyst estimates, according to LSEG data.

As of Sept. 30, Rivian had about $9.1 billion in cash on its balance sheet, down from $10.2 billion in June. In August, Rivian Chief Executive Robert Scaringe said it had enough money to last it through 2025 as it keeps a lid on costs.

(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Lance Tupper, Alexandra Hudson and Diane Craft)

(Reuters) – Shares in Clorox were down 8.1% on Thursday, after hitting their lowest level since May 2018, after the cleaning supplies company’s warned that an August cyber attack would push it into a quarterly loss and slash up to 28% off its revenue.

Shares in Clorox last traded at $121.16 after earlier hitting a low of $119.56 and were eying their biggest one-day percentage loss since Feb. 2022.

Late Wednesday, Clorox forecast a loss per share between $0.35 and $0.75 for its fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30, versus a year-ago profit of $0.68. It said net sales would fall year-over-year by 23% to 28%.

After this, Evercore ISI slashed its Clorox price target to $120 from $160 and Raymond James downgraded it to ‘market perform’ from ‘outperform’. Bank of America cut its price target to $120 from $145 while Deutsche Bank dropped its target to $136 from $155.

BoFA analyst Anna Lizzul, who rates Clorox ‘underperform’, said its warning of a first-quarter gross margin decline is “particularly notable” as she had expected it to be “the largest quarter for gross margin expansion” in its fiscal year 2024.

Along with the attack and a challenging consumer environment, Lizzul said rising shipment costs from higher oil prices may also push Clorox to reduce promotalsol activity in fiscal year 2024 to protect margins.

And Lizzul saw “little potential to raise prices,” since it had made four rounds of price increases in the last 2 years.

On Aug 14 Clorox said it took some systems offline after unauthorized activity disrupted operations. Then on Sept. 18 it said first-quarter results could see a “material impact.”

On Sept 29 it said all its manufacturing facilities resumed operations and that it was ramping up production to restock inventories after the attack.

But, Evercore ISI analyst Javier Escalante who rates Clorox ‘underperform,’ voiced concerns about how long the company took to work out the financial impact. He also pointed to its warning about “ongoing, but lessening operational impacts in the second quarter.”

Escalante described this as a “disconcerting” disconnect between operations, financial planning and reporting in his research note.

(Reporting By Sinéad Carew; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

By Phuong Nguyen and Chavi Mehta

(Reuters) -Vietnamese electric car maker VinFast said on Thursday its third-quarter revenue more than doubled with the largest share of its sales going to an affiliate company owned by its founder.

About 60% of VinFast’s deliveries, or more than 6,000 vehicles, went to Green SM (GSM), a Vietnam-based taxi operator and leasing provider 95% owned by VinFast’s founder, Pham Nhat Vuong, executives said on a call with analysts.

VinFast had not provided that breakdown in its published earnings.

For the past two quarters GSM has accounted for about two-thirds of VinFast’s sales.

VinFast recorded $343 million in revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30, up 159% on the year. Its net loss widened 33.7% to $623 million.

The company has a target of hitting break even within two years and running its factory in Vietnam at full capacity by then. The factory in Haiphong has the capacity to produce 250,000 electric vehicles (EVs) per year but has been running far short of that.

GSM launched Vietnam’s first pure EV taxi service earlier this year with a target of starting with 600 VinFast EVs. It also operates a ride service with VinFast electric scooters, executives said.

It was not immediately clear how many of the 13,000 vehicles GSM has bought from VinFast over the past two quarters would go into its fleet or how many it would hold to lease to customers.

VinFast Chief Executive Le Thi Thu Thuy said VinFast planned to expand its partnership with GSM to include Indonesia and India, where it is setting up smaller-scale factories that will assemble vehicles shipped in parts from Vietnam.

“For VinFast, GSM is a very good partner,” she told analysts. “There have been an overwhelming number of questions over GSM.”

Executives said VinFast expected to have its first U.S. franchise dealership open by the end of the year and was considering proposals from 27 dealers to sell its vehicles, including a second model, the VF 9, it expects to launch this year.

VinFast, which was formed in 2017 and began making EVs in 2021, plans to set up kit assembly plants in both India and Indonesia to take advantage of EV incentives on offer in those markets, Thuy said.

VinFast has entered the market at a time when EV prices are under pressure, led by cuts at market leader Tesla and a range of Chinese companies.

VinFast, backed by Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, listed on the Nasdaq in August after a merger with a blank-check company.

Shares in VinFast were up 4.5% at $8.4 each by 1410 GMT.

The company, which ended the quarter with $130 million in cash, said it expected to receive around $1.2 billion in grants from its parent company, its founder Vuong, and two key shareholders in the next six months.

(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi and Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Mark Potter and Kevin Krolicki)

By Joseph White and David Shepardson

DETROIT (Reuters) – Negotiators for the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor have narrowed their differences on pay increases after a new offer from the automaker amid “really active” talks, people familiar with the bargaining among the Detroit Three automakers and the union said on Wednesday.

UAW President Shawn Fain plans to update the union’s 150,000 members at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler parent Stellantis on Friday, a person briefed on the union’s plans said. It is not clear whether Fain will order a fresh round of walkouts, or declare sufficient progress has been made to delay strikes at additional plants.

In addition to Ford, talks with Chrysler parent Stellantis and other automakers and the UAW have been active in recent days, sources said. Stellantis declined to comment.

Ford said on Tuesday it had made a “comprehensive” new offer that included a “more than 20% general wage increase, not compounded” with a double-digit increase in the first year. Ford did not elaborate. That proposal, however, when combined with cost-of-living adjustments previously offered by the automaker, could bring the total wage increase offer close to 30% over the life of the contract, people familiar with the situation said.

However, the UAW and Ford have not announced agreements on other, significant issues including pay and union representation at future battery plants, and the union’s push for a return to retirement plans that assure a defined level of benefits.

Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said Friday the automaker’s retirement offer would assure UAW workers could retire with $1 million in savings.

But in a sign the Detroit automakers are still bracing for a lengthy struggle, General Motors on Wednesday secured a new $6 billion line of credit and estimated the cost of the United Auto Workers strike was $200 million during the third quarter, a company spokesman said.

The targeted strike against the Detroit Three automakers began on Sept. 15 and is now in its 20th day.

GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson told CNBC the line of credit was “prudent” given statements from some UAW officials “that they intend to drag this on for months.” He said GM has made a record contract offer and said it needs a deal that puts it “on par with our competitors.”

The union has struck two GM assembly plants and 20 parts distribution centers.

The strike cost at GM reflects 16 days in which production was stopped at one assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri, for midsized pickup trucks and vans. It also reflects the strike at GM parts facilities and knock-on impacts including a production halt at a GM car plant in Kansas due to a lack of parts.

The indicated average cost of $12.5 million a day for General Motors from its filing Wednesday could rise sharply if the UAW shuts down more vehicle production in the weeks ahead.

Against that backdrop, GM said in a securities filing it has locked in the new, $6 billion line of credit through October 2024. JP Morgan and Citibank are listed as joint lead arrangers for the deal.

Ford secured a $4 billion line of credit in August, ahead of the Sept. 14 UAW contract expiration.

GM’s new line of credit will bolster its balance sheet against a protracted strike that could widen to cut off production of its most profitable vehicles: large Chevrolet and GMC pickup trucks and large SUVs such as the GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade. GM shares ended down about 1% on Wednesday afternoon.

The additional funds will require GM to maintain at least $4 billion in global liquidity and $2 billion in U.S. liquidity. The terms of the credit agreement also restrict GM from mergers or sales of assets and limits on other, new debt.

The UAW said on Monday it presented a new contract offer to GM. GM, in turn, said despite the offer, “significant gaps remain.” The automaker has been forced to lay off 2,100 workers at five plants in four states.

Ford said Wednesday it was laying off another 400 workers in Michigan starting Thursday because of the strike after previously furloughing 930 workers, and Stellantis 370 workers in Ohio and Indiana because of the strike.

Meanwhile, nearly 30% of auto parts makers surveyed by an industry trade group said they have laid off some workers due to the UAW strikes. Another 60% expect more layoffs by mid-October if the walkouts continue, the Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association said.

(Reporting by Joe White in Detroit; Writing by David Shepardson; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Anna Driver and Chris Reese)

By Joseph White and David Shepardson

DETROIT (Reuters) -Negotiators for the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor have narrowed their differences on pay increases after a new offer from the automaker amid “really active” talks, people familiar with the bargaining among the Detroit Three automakers and the union said on Wednesday.

UAW President Shawn Fain plans to update the union’s 150,000 members at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler parent Stellantis on Friday, a person briefed on the union’s plans said. It is not clear whether Fain will order a fresh round of walkouts, or declare that sufficient progress has been made to delay strikes at additional plants.

In addition to Ford, talks with Chrysler parent Stellantis and other automakers and the UAW have been active in recent days, sources said. Stellantis declined to comment.

Ford said on Tuesday it had made a “comprehensive” new offer that included a “more than 20% general wage increase, not compounded” with a double-digit increase in the first year. Ford did not elaborate. That proposal, however, when combined with cost-of-living adjustments previously offered by the automaker, could bring the total wage increase offer close to 30% over the life of the contract, people familiar with the situation said.

However, the UAW and Ford have not announced agreements on other, significant issues including pay and union representation at future battery plants, and the union’s push for a return to retirement plans that assure a defined level of benefits.

Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said Friday the automaker’s retirement offer would assure UAW workers could retire with $1 million in savings.

But in a sign that the Detroit automakers are still bracing for a lengthy struggle, General Motors on Wednesday secured a new $6 billion line of credit and estimated that the cost of the United Auto Workers strike was $200 million during the third quarter, a company spokesman said.

The targeted strike against the Detroit Three automakers began on Sept. 15 and is now in its 20th day.

GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson told CNBC the line of credit was “prudent” given statements from some UAW officials “that they intend to drag this on for months.” He said GM has made a record contract offer and said it needs a deal that puts it “on par with our competitors.”

The union has struck two GM assembly plants and 20 parts distribution centers.

The strike cost at GM reflects 16 days in which production was stopped at one assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri, for midsized pickup trucks and vans. It also reflects the strike at GM parts facilities and knock-on impacts including a production halt at a GM car plant in Kansas due to a lack of parts.

The indicated average cost of $12.5 million a day for General Motors from its filing Wednesday could rise sharply if the UAW shuts down more vehicle production in the weeks ahead.

Against that backdrop, GM said in a securities filing that it has locked in the new, $6 billion line of credit through October 2024. JP Morgan and Citibank are listed as joint lead arrangers for the deal.

Rival Ford Motor secured a $4 billion line of credit in August, ahead of the Sept. 14 UAW contract expiration.

GM’s new line of credit will bolster its balance sheet against a protracted strike that could widen to cut off production of its most profitable vehicles: large Chevrolet and GMC pickup trucks and large SUVs such as the GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade. GM shares ended down about 1% on Wednesday afternoon.

The additional funds will require GM to maintain at least $4 billion in global liquidity and $2 billion in U.S. liquidity. The terms of the credit agreement also restrict GM from mergers or sales of assets and limits on other, new debt.

The UAW said on Monday it presented a new contract offer to GM. GM, in turn, said that despite the offer, “significant gaps remain.” The automaker has been forced to lay off 2,100 workers at five plants in four states.

Ford has laid off about 930 workers and Stellantis 370 workers in Ohio and Indiana because of the strike.

Meanwhile, nearly 30% of auto parts makers surveyed by an industry trade group said they have laid off some workers due to the UAW strikes. Another 60% expect more layoffs by mid-October if the walkouts continue, the Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association said.

(Reporting by Joe White in DetroitWriting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter, Nick Zieminski, Matthew Lewis and Anna Driver)

By Shivansh Tiwary and Paul Lienert

(Reuters) -Toyota Motor and LG Energy Solution signed a supply agreement for lithium-ion batteries for use in the Japanese automaker’s U.S.-built electric vehicles starting in 2025, the companies said on Wednesday.

LGES will invest $3 billion in its Michigan battery facility to supply Toyota exclusively.

LGES also is a partner with General Motors in the Ultium battery joint venture, which is building a separate $2.1 billion plant in Lansing, Michigan to supply GM’s electric vehicles.

The agreement with Toyota means LGES now will supply batteries to five top automakers, including Stellantis, Hyundai and Honda, from its jointly operated and wholly owned North American plants.

Toyota said in August 2022 that it planned to triple its investment to $3.8 billion in a new North Carolina battery plant it will operate with longtime partner Panasonic through the companies’ Prime Planet Energy & Solutions (PPES) joint venture. The plant is slated to open in 2025.

LGES will supply Toyota with 20 gigawatt-hours of high-nickel NCMA battery modules annually from the South Korean company’s Michigan facility.

The battery maker will establish new production lines in Michigan for pouch-type battery cells and modules for Toyota.

(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Cynthia Osterman)

By Laura Sanicola

(Reuters) -Oil prices settled down more than $5 on Wednesday as fuel demand destruction and a bleaker macroeconomic picture took centre stage in the day’s trade.

Brent crude oil futures settled down 5.11, or 5.6%, to $85.81 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell $5.01, or 5.6%, to $84.22.

At their session lows, both benchmarks were down by more than $5, and heating oil and gasoline futures also fell by more than 5%. Crude oil prices have fallen by about $10 since last week’s settlement.

Finished motor gasoline supplied, a proxy for demand, fell last week to about 8 million bpd, its lowest since the start of this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Wednesday.

Some of that demand destruction could be due to torrential rains which brought flooding to New York last Friday and post-tropical storm Ophelia, which doused the Northeast with torrential downpours in late September, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.

Seasonally, U.S. gasoline consumption is at the lowest level in 22 years, according to commodity analysts at JP Morgan.

A 30% spike in fuel prices in the third quarter of this year depressed demand, resulting in a counter seasonal plunge of 223,000 barrels per day, the analysts wrote in a Wednesday note.

Gasoline stocks rose by 6.5 million barrels, far exceeding expectations of a 200,000-barrel rise.

U.S. nationwide crude stocks fell by 2.2 million barrels to 414.1 million barrels in the week to Sept. 29, but stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma, the WTI delivery hub, rose for the first time in eight weeks.

Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry confirmed it will continue its voluntary 1 million barrel per day (bpd) crude supply cut until year end, while Russia said it will continue its 300,000 bpd crude export cuts, and in November will review its voluntary 500,000 bpd output cut set in April.

But crack spreads, a proxy for refining margins, fell below $20 a barrel on Wednesday to the lowest level in about 1.5 years.

This margin “freefall” indicates high prices and interest rates are curtailing crude inventory purchases and increasing odds of a recession, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois.

“This could force further demand weakness that the Saudis and Russia may be unable to counter via additional production cuts,” Ritterbusch said.

Economic news also pressured oil prices. Growth in the U.S. services sector slowed in September, data showed.

The daily Kommersant reported that Russia could be ready to ease its diesel ban in coming days, citing unidentified sources.

The OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) online meeting kept the group’s output policy unchanged.

Oil markets are heading in the “right direction” by balancing supply and demand, Kuwait’s oil minister Saad Al Barrak said, according to state media agency KUNA.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the Saudi and Russian cuts have helped to balance oil markets, and said the domestic market benefited from the Kremlin’s diesel and gasoline export ban.

(Reporting by Robert Harvey, Laura Sanicola and Muyu Xu; Editing by Mark Potter, Louise Heavens, Nick Macfie and David Gregorio)

(Reuters) -Apple released an update to its iOS 17 software on Wednesday to resolve an overheating issue related to its latest iPhones.

The iPhone 15 series, encased in a titanium shell, was launched last month with its custom A17 pro chip powering the Pro and Pro Max phones. The hardware on the Pro line makes the devices suitable for high-end mobile gaming.

Shortly after the iPhone 15 models were launched, consumers complained about bad battery life and overheating.

The latest update to the iOS 17 software includes “important bug fixes, security updates, and addresses an issue that may cause the iPhone to run warmer than expected,” an Apple spokesperson said on Wednesday.

After complaints that the new phones are getting very warm, Apple had said earlier this week that the device may feel warmer in the first few days “after setting up or restoring the device because of increased background activity.”

Recent updates to some third-party apps including Meta’s Instagram and Uber were overloading the system, the company said, adding that the Pro models do not suffer from overheating due to the design, rather the new titanium shells result in improved heat dissipation.

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

(Reuters) – Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook made $41.5 million after taxes in his biggest share sale in two years, a U.S. securities filing showed.

Cook sold 511,000 shares, which were worth about $87.8 million before accounting for taxes, according to the filing dated Tuesday. He made $355 million from a stock sale in August 2021.

The Apple chief owns about 3.3 million shares, valued at about $565 million, following the sale, the filing showed.

The company’s shares have fallen 13% from their record high of $198.23 in July as investors fret about a slower-than-expected recovery in smartphone demand.

Apple launched its new iPhone 15 lineup last month, without raising prices, a move that some industry watchers said was in response to a global smartphone slump.

Shares of the Cupertino, California-based company were down 0.6% in trading before the bell.

Analysts at KeyBanc downgraded the stock to “sector-weight” from “overweight” on Wednesday on worries that sales growth in the United States – Apple’s largest geographical segment – was likely to slow again in the fourth quarter.

The brokerage noted that fewer phone users in the United States were likely to upgrade their devices as they grappled with high inflation.

A report from research firm Canalys showed North American smartphone shipments were expected to fall 12% in 2023.

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)