Asia

Officials said that Russian forces had pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the days before a new round of peace talks, killing three workers and leaving tens thousands without heat or electricity. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, President of Ukraine, condemned the overnight attacks on 12 Ukrainian regions. The strikes occurred hours before scheduled trilateral talks in Geneva between Kyiv and Moscow. Zelenskiy, writing on?X and calling for "justice" and "strength", said that the combined strike was calculated to cause as much harm as possible to our sector of energy. This winter, Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian energy facilities, knocking out heating and power....

An Iraqi-Emirati consortium is planning a $700 ?million subsea-and-terrestrial data cable linking the United Arab Emirates to ?Turkey via Iraq, one of the project's backers said, just over a ?week after the announcement of ?a Saudi-backed fibre-optic project in ?Syria. Gulf neighbours Saudi Arabia and UAE each try to tap into the demand for connectivity in this region and become hubs of AI infrastructure including data centers amid a wider economic and geopolitical rivalry across the region. WorldLink is the name of the project between Iraq and the UAE. It will consist of an undersea fiber optic cable that would...

An Iraqi-Emirati consortium plans a $700 million subsea-and-terrestrial ?data cable linking the United Arab Emirates to ?Turkey via Iraq, one of the backers said, just ?over a week after ?announcement of a ?Saudi-backed fibre-optic project ?in Syria. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, two Gulf neighbours, are competing to meet the growing demand for connectivity and data centres in the region. Ali El Ekabi of Tech 964, one of three consortium members, said that the Iraqi-UAE WorldLink project would consist of an undersea fiber optic cable running from Fujairah, UAE, to Iraq's Faw Peninsula on the Gulf, which will then 'then...

The disaster management office announced on Monday that at least 59 people were killed by Cyclone Gezani, which struck Madagascar in the last week. It is assessing the impact of the second tropical storm to strike the Indian Ocean island nation. According to the National Bureau of Risk and Disaster Management, (BNGRC), the cyclone caused 16,428 people to be displaced, while 15 remain missing. 804 people were injured, and 423,986 others were affected. Gezani swept through the country only 10 days after Tropical Cyclone Fytia, which killed 14 people and caused 31,000 to be displaced. Gezani's peak winds were 185...

Each year, hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel across the country during Lunar New Year to visit their families or for sightseeing. This is the largest annual human migration in history. The Lunar New Year travel rush or "Chunyun", as it is called in?Chinese can be seen as an indicator of the health of the economy and a test for its vast transportation system. How long is it? The Lunar New Year travel season began on February 2 and will last for 40 days. The Spring Festival, or the New Year celebrations, is known as an official public holiday...

The governor of Russia's Krasnodar Region said that a Ukrainian drone had 'damaged' the 'Black Sea port' of Taman in Russia, which handles oil, grain, and coal, among other commodities. Veniamin kondratyev, in a Telegram post, said that two people were injured when an oil storage tank and warehouse, as well as terminals, suffered damage?in Volna Village, which is the site of Taman Port. Kondratyev stated that more than 100 people worked to extinguish several fires in the port. Separate attacks on the resort city of Sochi and the village of Yurovka near the seaside town Anapa had caused less...

British International Investment, the UK's development investment agency, welcomed DP World’s new chief executive on?Friday and said it would resume investments with the Dubai-based port operator. A spokesperson for BII stated, "We are pleased with today's DP 'World decision and look forward to advancing our 'partnership' to develop key African trading 'ports in order to unlock the 'continent's global 'trading potential." BII stopped new investments with DP World earlier this week due to alleged ties between Jeffrey Epstein and former Chief Executive Sultan bin Sulayem. La Caisse, Canada's second largest pension fund which halted new investments with DP World due...

The country's disaster-management office reported that?Fierce winds? left a?trail?of destruction on Madagascar after?Tropical? Cyclone Gezani struck the island. At least 31 people were killed and another four are still missing. In an updated report, the BNGRC (National Bureau for Risk and Disaster Management) reported that 29 of the deaths occurred in Toamasina - the island nation's second largest city and the most impoverished in the Indian Ocean. Two other deaths occurred in a nearby district. Residents of Toamasina and the surrounding area described scenes as chaos when the cyclone hit land late Tuesday. "I've never felt winds like this before......

Bombardier Canada announced on Wednesday that Dubai's Vista Global, a?private jet provider based in Dubai, has placed an order for 40 Challenger 3500 business jets worth $1.18 billion. Bombardier stated that the order includes a?option for an additional 120 aircraft, which would bring a total value of 160 planes to approximately $4.72 billion. The deal is part of a sustained 'demand for private flying', which has swollen the?order books of business jet manufacturers. The Challenger 3500, an upscaled version of Bombardier's Challenger 350 Business Jet that seats up to ten passengers, is a variant of the Challenger 350. Bombardier is...

A court in India has sentenced an Indian journalist to a year's imprisonment for his posts on social media about the Adani Group. The court said that the posts were?unverified, defamatory, and painted the group in a negative light. Adani Enterprises led by billionaire Gautam Adani filed a case against India journalist Ravi Nair at a Gujarat district court in 2021, accusing him for making statements that suggested "political.. patronage... financial irregularities and unethical.. conduct", according to an order.. seen on Tuesday. The court's order stated that "no documentary material, official records, or verified data have been produced" to support...

The Chinese captain of an?Hong Kong registered cargo ship pleaded 'not guilty'?on a charge?of criminal damage on Wednesday, after allegations that his vessel had?damaged underwater cables in the Baltic Sea. According to a Hong Kong chargesheet reviewed by the. The charge sheet said that?Wan was "reckless", and had "damaged property belonging to others without lawful excuse". Investigators in Finland said that the container vessel had pulled its anchor so as to cut off the Balticconnector pipeline. The Finnish police retrieved an anchor that had broken from the seabed, near the Balticconnector gas pipeline. An attorney for Wan, Jerry Chung said...

Dubai International Airport (DXB), which is the world's busiest travel hub and is expected to?handle close to 100 millions passengers this year, according to its operator. This will build?upon a record-breaking performance in 2025. Dubai Airports said that it expects to have 99.5 million passengers by 2026 as the demand grows across major markets. DXB handled 95,2?million passengers in 2018, up 3.1% compared to 2024. India, Saudi Arabia, and Britain were its top three markets. Egypt, Italy, and China all experienced double-digit growth. Dubai is the Middle East’s largest tourism and trade hub. It's home to the tallest tower in...

Three sources who are directly familiar with the matter have confirmed that CME Group will approve Taiwan and Hong Kong to be warehouse locations for aluminum. This is as the U.S. commodity exchange intensifies its competition against the London Metal Exchange (LME) Asia. The new locations planned would be a major expansion for CME, as the region accounted last year for two thirds of the global production of metals used in packaging and transportation. CME's Asian warehouse footprint is currently limited to Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. C. Steinweg and Pacorini Global Services, warehouse operators in Taiwan's port of Kaohsiung...

Data from the London Metal Exchange showed that in January, the share of China-made metal in available London Metal Exchange stock fell as metals from other Asian nations, South America, and?Africa flooded in. Available copper inventories The?LME?is at its highest level since late February 2025, as it has become the preferred place for traders to store metals in the U.S.A. and Asia. Data showed that the percentage of copper stocks of Chinese origin in LME's warehouses - those on warrant or available - was 70% at the end last month. This is down from 79% in December. A LME warrant...

The head of Bertelsmann's investment division said that the German media and service group has acquired a majority stake in Lets Transport. It hopes to leverage its position in India as an?important market for growth. In an interview published Tuesday, Carsten Coesfeld, CEO of Bertelsmann Investments said: "We have now achieved 80%." Bertelsmann owns the publisher Penguin Random House, is active in education and services, and has a stake in Lets Transport. This ownership began in late 2018. The logistics company, founded in 2015, connects truckers with corporate clients across India. Coesfeld stated that the market for Lets Transportation is...

Available copper inventories The London Metal Exchange has seen its trading volume increase by 11 months, as traders from the U.S.A. and Asia have increasingly turned to the exchange for metal storage. After more than 20,000 tonnes of copper were delivered to New Orleans and Baltimore over the last three weeks as well as similar inflows into South Korea and Taiwan, the amount of copper available in LME warehouses reached 160,625 tons on Wednesday. This is the highest since late February of last year. Copper was shipped in large volumes to the United States before possible import tariffs. Higher?prices at...

Analysts said that the near 9% decline in copper prices over the past two days is a return to "reality" for a market, whose recent surge of record highs was 'ahead of?the fundamentals. More losses are likely. They say that weak demand, increasing stockpiles and the possibility of increased supplies made it clear that copper's record-breaking rally last Thursday to $14,527.50 per metric ton was not sustainable. Alice Fox, Macquarie's analyst, said that prices had risen far beyond the fundamentals. "Investors were rushing into the market and pushing up prices", she added. "We believe the market was in a global...

Trafigura has won its London case against Indian businessman Prateek?Gupta regarding fake nickel cargoes on Friday. The High Court of London ruled in favor of the commodities 'trader. Trafigura, a Geneva-based company, claimed that Gupta and his companies were the masterminds of a fraudulent Ponzi scheme??in which they agreed to deliver high-quality nickel 99.8% but instead delivered low-value materials or even worthless ones. Gupta acknowledged he didn't deliver high-grade Nickel cargoes, but claims Trafigura staff designed the scheme. Former Trafigura head nickel trader Sokratis Oikonomou had denied this in his testimony given in November. Judge Pushpinder Saini ruled Trafigura had...

Zelostech, a Chinese robovan company, announced on Thursday that Alibaba's logistics division, Cainiao will take a stake. The Wall Street Journal reported on the deal first. A spokesperson for the robovan developer said, "Cainiao won't become a controlling shareholder of Zelostech." A robovan, or fully autonomous electric vehicle designed for freight, is an example of this. Zelostech Z10 can carry a load up to 1.5 tonnes. Zelostech's email stated that "Zelostech has entered into a deep integration with Cainiao’s autonomous-driving division, and are jointly building a RoboVan Super Carrier for the unmanned cargo sector." The company stated that Cainiao will...

United Parcel Service, the largest package delivery company in the world, announced on Tuesday that it will close 24 additional facilities and eliminate up to 30,000 positions by 2026. This is due to its ongoing shift towards a'more profitable business. In midday trading, shares of the company rose 4%. The company also announced fourth quarter results that exceeded Wall Street expectations and forecasted a surprise increase in annual revenue. FedEx shares gained 2.6%. Carol Tome, CEO of the company, said in a conference with analysts that the company plans to reduce Amazon deliveries. "We are now in the last six...

Data from the London Metal Exchange showed that the share of China-made Copper among the available London Metal Exchange stock fell in December. This was due to the outflows?of the inventory in the LME registered?warehouses?in Asia. The percentage of copper stocks that are available - or those on warrant The data revealed that 79% of the - in LME's warehouses were of Chinese origin at the end last month. This was down from 85%?in November. A LME warrant is an ownership document. The absolute number of Chinese copper stock on the LME dropped to 87,475 tons by the end last...

PlusAI, the self-driving vehicle startup, announced on Monday that it would launch Southern Europe's very first program to test heavy-duty autonomous vehicles. It will also expand its partnership with Iveco Group and brand IVECO. Two IVECO S-Way truck equipped with PlusAI’s Level 4 autonomous driving.system will be tested on a 300-km route between.Madrid.and Zaragoza in 2026. A safety operator will also be onboard. Trials will be conducted with Spanish logistics operator Sese, and the regional government of Aragon. PlusAI in Silicon Valley, with offices in Europe and America, has been working with Iveco on joint research and tests for many...

Ziad El Chaar, CEO of Saudi real estate developer Dar Global, announced on Sunday that two Trump-branded luxury projects will be launched in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and Jeddah (Jordan). Chaar said that the projects include the Trump National Golf Course in Riyadh and the Trump International Hotel at Diriyah. This is a massive project located on the western edge of the Saudi capital. Chaar said that a mixed-use development called Trump Plaza is planned for Jeddah. Chaar stated that the projects were in line with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, which aims to diversify its economy and move away from oil....

Senalia, a grain export terminal operator, expects volumes to double in 2025/26 compared to last year due to a rebound in French harvest production and a brisk barley demand. Rouen, on the Seine River in Normandy, is France's main grain export hub. Rain-stricken 2024 reduced its export surplus, and port terminals were idle for part the season. Senalia, the cooperative-owned cereal exporter, has forecast that Senalia will load 3.8 millions metric tons in the current July-June period, up from just 1.8 million in 2020/25. This is exactly what it did two years ago. He said that 1.7 million tonnes of...