Asia

Indonesia has reopened the airports that were closed due to volcanic ash, including the main airport in Jakarta, but eight people are still missing, including five journalists who had reported on the volcano. Officials said that further?eruptions Tuesday could also cause additional disruption. Since its first eruption on Friday night, ash from Anak Krakatau has covered Jakarta and certain surrounding areas. Eight airports were closed for safety, which affected more than 340,000 passengers. In a press release, Dudy Purwagandhi, the Transport Minister, said that Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta resumed its operations on Tuesday, after the wind cleared away all of...

Indonesia's Finance Minister said that the sovereign wealth fund INA or an agency within his ministry would take control next week of the company operating a $7.3 billion high-speed rail funded by China. Indonesia's first bullet train, covering 142 km (88 miles) from Jakarta to the city of Bandung in 2023. This was eight years after the contract was awarded jointly by Indonesian and Chinese companies. The Belt and Road Initiative, also known as "Whoosh", has faced a number of?problems including ballooning costs. Indonesia and China began talks in 2025 to restructure?project debt. Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, the Finance Minister of...

Executives and analysts expect Indian steel prices to increase 'further' in the upcoming?weeks due to a pickup in demand for infrastructure?and?automotives following the monsoon. Meanwhile, higher coking coal prices will raise production costs at mills. While higher prices may help mills recover from margins squeezed due to rising coking coal costs but input costs for infrastructure, construction, and auto companies are increasing as demand increases. Government data revealed that mills in India, which is the second largest producer of crude steel after China, reduced prices for products like hot-rolled coils (HRCs) by 280 rupees per metric ton. According to commodities...

North Korea and Russia opened their first bridge on Monday in a well-choreographed show of friendship. The structure spans the Tumen River and was hailed by both sides as a milestone for their growing strategic partnership. First trucks with flags trundled over the bridge's 1 km (0.6 miles) of two-lanes as Russian Premier Mikhail Mishustin, and North Korea's premier Pak Thae Song watched via video link. They addressed workers and officials from both nations. The construction of the new bridge began in April 2018 after it was decided to build the bridge during the visit by Vladimir Putin in North...

APK-Inform, a consultancy, reported on Monday that Ukraine's weekly wheat, barley, and corn exports increased by 80% between August 27 and September 2. This equates to?433,700?metric tons. The volume of corn exports increased by 212%, to 184.100 tons. Exports of wheat also increased by 40%, to 243,000 tonnes. Since late July, Ukrainian grain exports have dropped sharply after Russian missiles and drones attacked Ukrainian Black Sea ports near Odesa. APK-Inform data showed that in early July, when ports operated as usual, Ukraine exported approximately 760,000 tons per week. Ukraine redirected grain shipments after the closure of its seaports to ports...

North Korea and Russia officially opened their 'first road bridge' on Monday. According to the Russian state news agency TASS, this'structure spans a river called Tumen. Both sides hailed it as a milestone in their strategic relationship. The bridge is near the "Friendship Bridge", an existing rail bridge that was built in 1959, after the Korean War. Direct rail and air links already exist between Moscow and Pyongyang. The Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, said that the bridge would spur development in various spheres between the two nations - including tourism and new jobs. Mishustin was quoted by TASS as...

Air 'Tanzania announced on Friday that it will re-start flights between?Dar es salaam, and Moscow on the 7th of September. This comes after announcing a suspension for a limited time starting on September 4. The airline announced on Facebook that the decision was made after a 'routine risk assessment of the operating conditions along the route.' It did not provide any?details as to why the decision was taken to resume flights. Flightradar24's data shows that Moscow airports were among the most disrupted in recent weeks due to drone attacks. On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned insurance companies and airlines...

?Ukraine has urged ICAO to ask its member countries to ban all operations in russian airspace. This comes a day after the President Volodymyr?Zelenskiy?warned he it was "becoming totally unsafe". Top Ukrainian officials announced on Tuesday that the country will intensify its retaliation for Russia's increased strikes against Kyiv. The city has been on continuous alert since seven days, and it has also suffered attacks on civilian infrastructure. Ukraine will only target Russian military installations and not threaten civil aircraft,?Zelenskiy said, but he stressed that "the growing number of Ukrainian drones" in Russian skies should be taken into consideration. Mykola...

Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury secretary, said on Wednesday that digital assets and the maritime industry as well as airlines could be targets of the Trump administration's plan to squeeze Iran’s economy. Bessent warned that "everyone" should not support Tehran when asked about Russian support of Iran during a Fox News interview following the G20 gathering in North Carolina. "My message to everyone is to'stay away. We 'all want this war to end. The fastest way to make it end is to have no one?support this regime", he said to "Fox & Friends", one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin threw...

Germany is facing a'second sabotage attack on its electricity grid. Local police said on Wednesday that they are investigating a 'attack on a substation near the city of Bergheim in western Germany. The police are investigating an act that was premeditated on the technical infrastructure on Tuesday at 4:00 pm (1800 GMT), but they added that the power supply in the region has not been affected. The spokesperson refused to specify the damage. On Tuesday, conductive devices damaged power lines in Brandenburg's eastern state. Amprion, the electricity grid operator in Germany, said that it was most likely an external interference...

Two industry sources have told? that disruptions in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk are continuing to reduce shipments. Sources said that loadings at Novorossiysk will remain under pressure, after they collapsed in August due to repeated Ukrainian drone strikes, which increased the shortage of tankers available and increased loading delays. The Black Sea region has become a strategic chokepoint in international trade, with a sharp increase in attacks against vessels, ports, and export terminals. This has impacted the global oil supply chain and limited Moscow's options for export. Sources said that oil exports to western Russian ports will fall...

Saudi Arabian state oil producer Saudi Aramco raised the official selling price of liquefied petroleum gas by between 1% and 3% in September, traders reported on Tuesday. This was due to a higher demand for the product on global markets. Algeria's Sonatrach raised LPG prices between 4%-7% for September, according to traders. Saudi Aramco’s September OSPs have increased by $5 per metric tonne to $625. For propane, the price has been reduced by $20 per ton up to $660. Butane is a good alternative. LPG comes in two types: Propane (also known as butane) and propane. Both have different boiling...

The Ukrainian agriculture ministry announced on Wednesday that it would conduct a survey among?farmers to determine their plans for winter?crops sowing for the harvest of 2027 and their capacity for storing?crops?for 2026. The Russian attack on Ukrainian Black Sea port has effectively stopped maritime exports. This leaves farmers unable sell their grain or prepare for and carry out a sowing campaign, primarily for winter Wheat. The?ministry announced that the survey was designed to collect up-to date information about the areas that farmers plan to sow in the fall, the progress made on the final stages of the harvest campaign for...

On Wednesday, the Kremlin said that European countries were paying a high price for avoiding Russian gas due to rising energy prices and could instead be purchasing cheaper supplies from Moscow. The war in Iran has caused European gas prices to soar. They reached their highest level since the end of 2022 when the Ukraine conflict forced Europe to cut imports?of Russian pipe gas. Last week, the benchmark European gas price climbed to EUR75 a megawatt-hour. This is more than double what it was a year earlier. Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, said that Europe hurt itself by purchasing expensive?gas at...

Aliko Dangote, a billionaire, has set his sights on replicating the project that launched Africa's largest oil refinery, in Nigeria, less than three years ago. But the construction of his company's planned new 700,000-barrel-per-day Lamu refinery in Kenya promises to bring a whole new set ?of issues -- not least where to secure crude supply in ?a country that, unlike oil-rich Nigeria, currently has no commercial output. Plans are changing rapidly. Discussions about Dangote's East African Refinery centered on Tanzania until April. Dangote said to the Financial Times that he would prefer the refinery be located in Mombasa in Kenya....

The Beetaloo Basin developers in Australia are bringing U.S. equipment and money to the project. They also hope that U.S. scale and efficiency will help reduce costs and make it economically viable. Beetaloo, which produced its first gas in this month, has been compared to the Marcellus Shale in the U.S. However, its remoteness in the Northern Territory will require billions of dollars in order to build pipelines. If the development is successful, it could provide a new supply of LNG to Asia. But first well costs need to be reduced by up 60% in a part of the world...

Africa50, an infrastructure investment fund based in Morocco, wants to "more than double" the value of projects it backs over the next 5 years to $20 billion, according to its chief operating officer. The fund was established by African leaders in 2015. It has invested in 36 projects in the power, transportation, logistics, and other sectors. These projects have a total value of $9 billion. In an interview conducted on Monday, Tshepidi Mostmong, the COO of the Casablanca fund, stated that they were "looking to at least double or triple this number in terms of value." Moremong said that Africa50...

The 'developers' of Australia's Beetaloo Basin have brought in U.S. money, equipment, expertise, and, they hope, U.S. scale and efficiency to'reduce costs' and make Australia's first shale-gas project economically viable. It is often compared to the Marcellus Shale in the U.S. because of its abundance, but the fact that it is located in the Northern Territory, means that billions of dollars are needed to build the pipelines. If the development is successful, it could provide a new supply of LNG to Asia. But first, well costs need to be reduced by up 60% in a part of the world that...

According to?customs data?released?on?Tuesday, China's crude?imports were?down?23.4% from the same period a year earlier. Data showed that oil imports for August were 37.93 metric tons or 8.93 million barrels a day. China's crude oil imports from January to August?fell by 14.6%, reaching 320.9 million metric tonnes. China's?natural gas imports in August, including LNG, were 10.33 million tonnes, down 12.9% compared to a year ago. Natural gas imports in the first eight-month period were 78.23 millions tons, a 4.4% drop on an annual basis. Exports of China's refined oil products, such as gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and kerosene, reached 6.01 million tonnes...

According to the police, an attempt was made to short circuit a transformer in the electricity grid south of Duesseldorf, west 'Germany. The newspaper Bild reported this on Friday. This comes after two suspected sabotage efforts 'this week. The police received a letter from a person claiming responsibility for both the Dormagen incident and vandalism of a Bergheim substation that shut down 4,200 megawatts on Tuesday. This week, Europe's fears about critical infrastructure in Germany have been at the forefront. After Germany accused Moscow of a drone strike on the Leipzig/Halle Airport in August, allies came together to support Germany....

According to the police, an attempt was made to short circuit an electricity grid transformer south of Duesseldorf, in western Germany. The newspaper Bild reported this on Friday. This comes after two suspected sabotage attempts during the week. The police received a letter claiming responsibility for both the Dormagen incident and vandalism of a Bergheim substation that shut down 4,200 megawatts on Tuesday. This week, Europe has focused on Germany as the focal point of its fears regarding the vulnerability of critical infrastructure. After Germany accused Moscow of a drone strike in August on the Leipzig/Halle Airport, allies rallied around?after?....

The newspaper Bild reported that German police responded to two new alleged attempts against Germany's electricity grid. This comes after Berlin blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack on Leipzig Airport. Bild reported that local police had confirmed an attempt to short circuit a power grid in Dormagen, which is a city located in the western state North Rhine-Westphalia. According to the report, police have received a claim of responsibility. Separately in Ganderkesee, the police cordoned off an electrical transformer station on Friday, citing suspicious circumstances. Unidentified police spokeswoman told NDR, the public broadcaster, that police officers made a discovery...

Four traders reported that the premiums for Russia’s Far East ESPO blend crude for delivery in November to China have risen to record levels as Chinese refiners increase their purchases amid shrinking Middle East and Iranian supplies. ESPO cargoes due to be delivered at the end October and November trade at a premium of over $7 a barr to ICE Brent. According to traders, offers have been heard up to a record-breaking plus $10 a barron on a shipped basis to China. Trading firms said that Sinopec, the state-owned Chinese refiner, was at the forefront of this buying spree, which...

According to a government website, Iran has added new ships that it considers non-compliant and subject to fines or confiscation if they try to sail through Strait of Hormuz. Tehran announced on August 24 that it had blacklisted 45 tankers for violating its rules to navigate the Strait of Hormuz and that any vessel transferring cargo would be subjected to action. This comes six months after the U.S.-Israeli war began. Updated on the website of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a body created by Iran to'manage the strait', eleven more ships have been added. The total number of blacklisted vessels...