Aurelia Butler

(Reuters) -U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak and Texas Central Partners said on Wednesday they are seeking federal grants for proposed high-speed rail service between Dallas and Houston.The proposed 240-mile (380km) route would mean a less than 90-minute trip between two of the top five major U.S. metropolitan areas. Texas Central and Amtrak have submitted applications to several federal programs for study and design work for the potential Dallas to Houston segment. Congress approved $66 billion for rail as part of the 2021 massive infrastructure bill, with Amtrak receiving $22 billion. The law also sets aside $36 billion for competitive grants.The fastest U.S. passenger train, the Amtrak Acela on the northeast corridor, travels up to 150 miles per hour (240kmh) but aging infrastructure prevents that top speed along much of the route. New trains will eventually allow speeds in places to hit 160 mph.Amtrak in June said it had applied for $8 billion in government grants to modernize bridges, tunnels and other aging infrastructure that will help it boost rail speeds.The U.S. High Speed Rail Coalition praised the Amtrak Texas Central announcement saying “the future of transportation in the U.S. is with high-speed rail.” The U.S. lags Europe and Asia in high-speed rail services, but several more are planned.Brightline West is seeking $3.75 billion in federal funding for a $12 billion 218-mile (350km) Las Vegas to Southern California high-speed rail project that aims to be completed before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. California plans to eventually connect San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin with trains traveling at over 200 mph (322 kph) in under three hours.California aims to begin operations in 2030 and complete much of it by 2033. The cost was initially estimated at $80 billion in 2020 but in March the authority said costs could ultimately reach $127.9 billion. More

LONDON (Reuters) – British house prices saw the most widespread falls since 2009 last month as interest rates hit a 15-year high, while rents surged by the most since 1999 as more landlords sold up, a survey showed on Thursday.The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said its house price balance, which measures the difference between the percentage of surveyors reporting price rises and falls, dropped to -53 in July from a downwardly revised -48 for June.This was the lowest reading since April 2009, during the depths of the global financial crisis, and below economists’ forecasts in a Reuters poll for a drop to -50.Interest rates for the commonest type of new mortgage in Britain – a two-year fixed rate – rose to their highest since 2008 at 6.86% in July, on expectations of further rate rises by the Bank of England as it battles high inflation.Property sales fell in July at the fastest pace since April 2020 when the market was largely shut by the COVID-19 pandemic, and demand from prospective buyers also sank, according to RICS.”The continued weak reading for the new buyer enquiries metric is indicative of the challenges facing prospective purchasers against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, rising interest rates and a tougher credit environment,” RICS Chief Economist Simon Rubinsohn said.Mortgage lender Nationwide reported last week that average house prices in July were 3.8% lower than a year earlier, the biggest annual fall since 2009, while earlier this week rival Halifax reported a 2.4% year-on-year decline.Prices remain more than 20% higher than before the pandemic, however.Conditions for renters were no easier, as some landlords sold up in the face of higher mortgage costs and increased regulation for the sector to require better energy efficiency and make it harder to evict tenants.RICS’ gauge of rents in the three months to July saw surveyors report the broadest increases since the series began in 1999. Demand from tenants rose at the fastest pace since early 2022, while the number of properties being offered by landlords fell by the most since the early in the pandemic.Britain’s Office for National Statistics reported that private-sector rents in England rose 5.1% in the year to June, the most since records began in 2006. More

(Reuters) – The White House on Wednesday moved to start prohibiting some U.S. investments in certain sensitive technologies in China, and requiring government notification of other investments, but said it would take time before the moves take effect.President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order directing the U.S. Treasury Department to regulate certain U.S. investments in semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.Following are some key details:’COUNTRIES OF CONCERN’The order lays out plans to regulate investments in certain “countries of concern,” with a separate annex naming China, Hong Kong and Macau as initial targets. Further countries could be added later, a senior administration official told Reuters.The outbound investment program would require notification of many investments while prohibiting only a few. Officials said the goal is to avert the “most acute” national security risks by regulating investments in Chinese companies and entities in areas that could give China military and intelligence advantages.The rules will not be retroactive, applying only to future investments, an administration official said.The United States already bans or restricts the export to China of many technologies and products under consideration for the new program, but restricting investment would prevent U.S. funds from helping China cement its own domestic capabilities, which could undermine existing export controls and inbound investment screening programs.RULEMAKING PROCESSAlong with Biden’s order, Treasury issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, which will allow companies and investors time to comment before it moves forward with a formal notice of proposed regulation. That would allow for further public comment, before Treasury can finalize the new regulations.Experts said the whole process could take many months, pushing enactment of the new regulations well into 2024 – a presidential election year.Treasury would have the authority to investigate potential violations and pursue available penalties, officials said, adding that it could also unwind future investments.INTANGIBLE BENEFITSTreasury said the program was expected to focus on U.S. persons engaged in transactions that could convey “intangible benefits” to Chinese entities, including equity interests, greenfield investments and joint ventures.It is considering creating an exception for investments in publicly traded securities, index funds, mutual funds and other instruments that were less likely to result in intangible benefits.PROHIBITIONS AND NOTIFICATIONSTreasury said it was considering banning U.S. investments in Chinese development of electronic design automation software or semiconductor manufacturing equipment; the design, fabrication, or packaging of advanced integrated circuits; and the installation or sale of supercomputers.It was considering requiring notification for investments in firms working on the design, fabrication, and packaging of less advanced integrated circuits.U.S. investments in Chinese production of quantum computers, development of certain quantum sensors, and quantum networking and communication systems could also be banned.In the AI sector, Treasury said it is considering notification requirements for U.S. investments in Chinese entities working on software that incorporates an AI system and could have military or intelligence applications.It is also asking stakeholders how to shape a prohibition on U.S. investments in Chinese activities related to software that incorporates an AI system and is designed for uses that could have national security implications, to ensure any measures are “appropriately tailored” in the final rules.CONSULTATION WITH ALLIESOfficials said the moves had been carefully discussed with allies and partners, and that U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, had repeatedly and clearly told Beijing that Washington would narrowly limit the restrictions.No coordinated action by allies was expected on Wednesday, although Britain and the European Union have already signaled their intention to move along similar lines, and the Group of Seven advanced economies agreed in June that restrictions on outbound investments should be part of the overall toolkit. More

The Biden administration will ban some US investment into Chinese quantum computing, advanced chips and artificial intelligence sectors, as it boosts efforts to stop China’s military from accessing American technology and capital.The new executive order unveiled by President Joe Biden on Wednesday will come into force next year and will also require companies to notify the government of other investments in the three Chinese sectors. The action will largely impact private equity and venture capital firms as well as US investors in joint ventures with Chinese groups. A senior US official said it would create a “very targeted” programme that would focus on the three sectors that the administration has also marked out in a series of other technology-related measures aimed at China. “We want to provide bright-line guidance on what is prohibited and separately what is notified,” the official said.Biden said technological progress in the sectors posed “significant national security risks” because computers could advance in ways that would help develop sophisticated weapons and break cryptographic codes used by spy agencies to protect data.The order is the latest in a series of actions designed to limit Chinese access to advanced technology in what US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has called a “small yard, high fence” strategy.Beijing has countered that the US actions are designed to crimp its technological progress. China’s commerce ministry on Thursday expressed “serious concern” about the order, saying that it “deviates from the principles of fair competition and the market economy that the US consistently advocates” and that Beijing retained the right to take counter measures.A second US official said the order would protect American security in a “narrowly targeted manner, while maintaining our longstanding commitment to open investment”.The move threatens to hurt efforts to resurrect top-level engagement that stalled after a suspected spy balloon flew over the US earlier this year. Biden and President Xi Jinping agreed at the G20 in Bali in October to try to stabilise relations and make sure competition did not veer info conflict.The US has been working with its allies to forge as much consensus as possible about the need to restrict investment in China. But the effort has been complicated because other countries are worried that the US move goes too far and, in some cases, because of domestic legal constraints.US officials have expressed hope that some countries will act once Washington has led the way. But even some close allies appear to be balking. Japanese officials have privately made clear that Tokyo does not intend to revise legislation governing outbound China investments.

However, US officials said the UK and Germany, and also the European Commission, had expressed interest in developing similar outbound investment regimes.Republicans criticised the order for not being broader. Nikki Haley, one of the GOP presidential contenders, said it was “not even a half measure”.“To stop funding China’s military, we have to stop all US investment in China’s critical technology and military companies, period,” she said.The first official said the administration wanted to focus on the sectors that were most relevant to slowing China’s military modernisation and intelligence capabilities. Another US official said the administration was targeting private equity and venture capital because they could introduce Chinese groups to other technology companies and experts. “What we are trying to get at here is the intangible benefits,” the official said. “Ultimately China doesn’t need our money.”Emily Kilcrease, a technology expert at the CNAS think-tank, said it was a “good first step to de-risking” from China but would “leave many camps unhappy”. She said some would criticise it for not being broader, but that the period needed to create a final rule from the order left scope for changes.“There will be continued efforts to lobby against hard prohibitions and to water down the scope of technologies covered,” Kilcrease said. Additional reporting by Will Langley in Hong Kong More