Asia

Malaysia's Securities Commission (SSC)?plans on asking companies to reveal how they're preparing for El Nino, amid fears that the country's business sector may not be prepared for the fallout of the 'weather phenomenon'. Chairman Mohammad Faiz Azmi?told reporters. Forecasters warn that a super 'El Nino' could bring heat and drought to Southeast Asia. Conditions that are hotter and drier can affect crop yields, straining water supplies. This poses a risk to Malaysia's palm oil industry. "We are going to write to all major companies and ask: What is your El Nino Plan?" Mohammad Faiz said in an interview during an...

Air China has been criticized by a group of major US airlines for its plans to schedule additional flights between Beijing and New York, Washington, as part of the President Xi Jinping meeting with Donald Trump. Airlines for America, which represents American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, opposed the request. US carriers are effectively prohibited from flying to China from the US eastcoast because they can't access Russian airspace. Chinese carriers, however, have the ability to fly some US flights. US Airlines said that adding two flights to the schedule would allow Chinese carriers to request additional regular...

According to a recent advisory, London's marine insurers have widened their high-risk area for the Black Sea as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia escalates. The Black Sea is an important route for the shipment of grain, crude oils and refined products. Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Georgia and Romania all share its waters. In the last two months, Russia and Ukraine have intensified their attacks on each others' commercial shipping, escalating their five-year war. The Joint 'War Committee' (JWC), which is made up of syndicate members in the Lloyd's Market Association, and representatives from the London Insurance Company market, provides guidance...

Malaysia's Securities Commission will ask companies how they are preparing for El Nino, as it is concerned that businesses in the country may not be prepared for its effects. Forecasters warn of a super El Nino that could bring heat and drought to Southeast Asia. Conditions that are hotter and drier can affect crop yields, straining water supplies. This poses a risk to Malaysia's palm oil industry. "We are going to write to all major companies and ask: What is your El Nino Plan?" Mohammad Faiz said in an interview during an investor roadshow held in the UK. "And we'll...

Fuel and borrowing costs are now the top concern of jet financiers. This is a significant shift from years of disruption caused by supply. Recent market turmoil has confirmed the shift in mood. This includes?airBaltic?s bankruptcy, an increase in oil prices tied to the advances of?Yemen?s Houthis?in the Middle East War, and a rise in U.S. Treasury Yields. I feel that the market is changing. Thomas Baker, CEO of Aviation Capital Group and host of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading's (ISTAT) event, said that he believes winter will be more cold (financially speaking) than people anticipate. Analysts have...

These are the most popular?stories from the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy. - An independent security research team that specializes in bug hunting used Anthropic’s Claude software to access the ChatGPT account of an OpenAI employee. Lockheed Martin has received the first shipment of critical components from General Motors. This is less than a month after they signed a manufacturing agreement. The Pentagon wants to speed up the production of weapons. Jana Partners, an activist hedge fund, wants Cooper contact lenses to replace their chief executive. They...

Officials said on Friday that Indonesia had begun an operation to right the ship which capsized and sank last weekend in the Java Sea. Authorities continued their air and surface search for the 129 people who are still missing. The Virgo Transport '8 was carrying 243 passengers?on a?20-hour journey from Surabaya, East Java, to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. It capsized early Sunday morning in bad weather. The search for survivors and bodies was not successful until the fifth day due to the strong currents. Authorities then decided to turn the ship around to facilitate rescue operations. Authorities said that the ship,...

AirAsia's co-founder, Tony Fernandes, said that the challenges the low-cost airline faced due to soaring jet fuel costs were "far" less severe than the ones it faced during COVID-19. At a press briefing, he said that the strong demand for air travel continued to support his business. Two days earlier, sources reported that Malaysia Airlines and Batik Air had been asked by the government to absorb AirAsia’s domestic market share. Sources said that it was part of what authorities described as scenario planning, while they monitor the financial health and performance of Southeast Asia's biggest low-cost airline. Fernandes said to...

Indonesian rescuers will try to right the passenger ship which capsized in the Java Sea at the weekend. Strong?currents, big waves and persistent?currents prevent them from doing an underwater search of the overturned vessel for the 129 missing people. The 'Virgo -Transport 8' was carrying 243 passengers on a 20 hour voyage from Surabaya, East Java, to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. It capsized early Sunday morning due to bad weather. Six people were killed and 108 survived, a number that has not changed since the Sunday incident. Mohammad Syafii, chief of the national rescue agency, told a late-night press conference that...

Robert Isom, CEO of American Airlines, said that high fuel prices may force the airline to reduce capacity despite the fact that strong demand and increased revenue have offset the cost. Isom, speaking at a Morgan Stanley Conference, said that he was "really happy" with American's forecasted revenue growth of between 16% and 19% for the third quarter. He also predicted that the majority of recent revenue gains would be durable. Comments from the airline industry highlight the pressure that is being placed on them as another increase in fuel prices will test how much the increased cost can be...

Flydubai, the airline of Dubai, expects to return to full capacity before the end of the year. This is as airlines 'across the region' recover from the impact of the Iran War. Ghaith al Ghaith, CEO of Arabian Travel Market, said to the media that by the end of the year, "we will go back to 100 percent, and maybe even more, because we'll be getting more planes." Ghaith said that Flydubai, Emirates sister airline, operates at 85% of its current network capacity. Its load factor (which measures how well a?airline fills available seats) is "good". Flights in the Middle...

According to two documents and officials, a number of agreements are expected to be announced by U.S. and Vietnamese corporations next week, involving energy, technology, aviation, and financial firms, as?Vietnam leader To Lam visits New York. Vietnam has been negotiating commercial agreements for months, most of which will be non-binding. This is part of its strategy to appease Washington, as the Trump administration threatens new tariffs against the Southeast Asian nation that relies heavily on exports. A note of internal planning lists 29 agreements which could be announced in New York on 23 September at a conference attended by To...

Sinograin, China's state-owned stockpiler, announced its second large auction of imported soybeans for September just days ahead _of a Washington summit between US President Donald Trump & Chinese President Xi Jinping. National Grain Trade Centre announced in a notice that the auction will take place at 1:30 pm CST (0530 GMT), next Monday. It will include?514,000 tons of soybeans grown between 2022 and?2024. Mysteel, a consultancy, said that Sinograin sold 62.4% (543,000 tons) of the imported soybeans offered at an auction held on Tuesday. This was its first large-scale sales since late August. Sinograin held five auctions between July and...

According to traders, Russia increased its diesel exports in Central Asia countries by a significant amount during August, despite the ban on most foreign markets. Russia has repeatedly curtailed gasoline and diesel exports in order to curb rising fuel prices, and address shortages caused by Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries. Moscow extended its ban on diesel exports to the end of September, while still allowing supplies for countries like former Soviet republics or Mongolia under intergovernmental agreements. The Financial Times reported that a shortage of diesel and an increase in fuel costs prompted US President Donald Trump's call to...

According to storage market indicators and industry participants, the global diesel shortage caused by wars in Iran, Ukraine, and other countries is not expected to subside before next year. This will extend a rise in fuel prices that is weighing down economies around the world. The wars in the Middle East have caused a severe disruption of diesel supplies. Millions?of?barrels?a day are stranded, and inventories are at historic lows. Prices also hit record highs. Diesel fuels heavy transport, agriculture and manufacturing. The shortage is a major drag on the economy. Retail diesel prices in the United States have topped $6...

The Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi announced on Friday that the Ukrainian agriculture ministry had agreed to a proposal from farming groups, which called for prioritising transport capacity when export routes are constrained. Vysotskyi did not specify when the measure would take effect. He noted that a mechanism was still being developed. Ukraine's seaports are effectively blocked by the war in Russia. It can only export a little over half its total volume through smaller Danube ports or rail routes to Eastern Europe. Oleh Kohmenko, the head of UCAB's?farming lobby, said that given the?current logistics cost, it was more economical for...

Taras Vysotskyi, the Ukrainian agriculture minister, said that about?30% Ukrainian farmland has moisture shortages. This is preventing the winter sowing season from starting. Ukraine traditionally sows winter wheat in autumn, for harvesting the following summer. The Agriculture Ministry and weather forecasters stated this week that the conditions for winter wheat planting in September were unfavourable. However, some farmers began planting despite the drought. According to the ministry, farmers had sown approximately 145.300 hectares (or 3.2%) of the expected winter wheat area as of 16 September. Ukraine planted 248,000 hectares in winter wheat by the same date 2025. Ukraine has often...

Sinograin, China's state stockpiler, resumed large-scale??auctions? of imported soybeans? after a pause??? of???month?, ahead???of an???expected summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese Leader Xi Jinping? in Washington next?week? National Grain Trade Centre announced that the auction will take place at 1:30 pm CST (0530 GMT), next Tuesday. It will include 543,00 metric tons (?543,000 t) of soybeans grown between 2023 and?2025. Sinograin has held five auctions for more than 200,000 tonnes of?imported soya beans since July. Traders say this was done to free up storage space in anticipation of U.S. arrivals. China has reached the half-way point of its...

The U.N. humanitarian coordination in Ukraine announced 'on Tuesday that his organization is considering moving aid supplies underground, to avoid Russian strikes. These 'attacks have hit 10 of its warehousing facilities this year, destroying supplies worth millions of dollars. Matthias Schmale, U.N. Humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, said that Matthias Schmale: In Geneva. After briefing the states on the needs in 'Ukraine five years after Russia's full scale invasion, he stated: "These deliberate attacks against warehousing capacity (...) are a new trend of the last couple of months." He said that they are considering moving aid into underground bunkers, and delaying...

BYD, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, plans to launch its first heavy-duty trucks in Europe next year. It will eventually manufacture trucks locally. A senior executive said this at the 'IAA trade show in Hanover. Stella Li is BYD's executive Vice President and Head of International Business. She said: "We will be producing everything that we sell in Europe locally for the long-term." She said that the company wanted to offer fleet operators an entire package of services including financing, solar-powered charger infrastructure, and a network of workshops supported by mobile roadside support. BYD would be able to avoid import...

Gregor Stuart Hunter gives us a look at what the future holds for European and global markets. The summer is officially over. Buckle up! Carry trades are starting to fail as the markets expect a path of rate increases from the Bank of Japan. The?Japanese?currency?traded as much as 1 percent firmer at 152.89. This is its highest since February. Just weeks after it hit a four-decade low, the U.S. government and Japanese authorities intervened to stabilize the currency. The yen was also boosted by data released on Wednesday showing that Japan's economy expanded faster than originally estimated from the previous...

Shiprocket, an Indian logistics company backed by Temasek, reported a smaller first-quarter loss on Monday. This was boosted by its core shipping business. The company's earnings are its first quarterly results since August, when it raised $170 million in an initial public offering. Shiprocket is a logistics platform that offers shipping, fulfillment, payment and other services to online merchants. It competes with Delhivery, Blue Dart Express and others. The company reported a consolidated profit of?137.1 millions rupees ($1.45million) for the three months ended June 30. This is down from a loss of 180.3 millions rupees one year ago. The company...

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...

The Nikkei reported that GLP - Japan has raised 600 billion dollars ($3.76 billion) to create a fund for building logistics centers. This is a result of an influx in overseas capital. GLP Japan is a Japanese subsidiary of Singapore-based logistics firm GLP. The?Tokyo GLP Japan fund's investments, including borrowings, will total 1.7 trillion yen. This makes it the largest real estate fund in the country, according to?Nikkei. The report stated that the majority of investors are from outside Japan. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board allocated 150 billion yen. The funds raised are expected to be used for the...