President Trump just tweeted there's now an " immediate energy ceasefire " between Moscow and Kyiv, after yet another Putin phone call over the weekend saw Trump ease US sanctions to allow Russian diesel back out into world markets, all in hopes of curbing pump prices.
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SAUDI ARABIA
The latest Houthi strikes left another 13 dead and 300 injured at Riyadh’s international airport over the weekend, with the Iran-aligned, Yemen-based group now warning passengers against using Saudi airports. (BBC)
GREECE
The White House is reportedly weighing whether to fire the US ambassador to Greece, aka Trump Jr’s former fiancé, Kimberly Guilfoyle, amid reports of misconduct like “selling” access to top Trump officials. (WSJ $)
PAKISTAN
President Zardari has declared a state of emergency — and suspended the regional government — in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, citing the ruling PTI party’s inability to crack down on Islamist groups. (DW)Comment: In case your spidey senses just went off, they’re right: the opposition PTI has been organising a march on the Pakistani capital to call for the release of party leader, former PM, and cricket star Imran Khan. So this looks a lot like pre-emptive machinations to sideline the PTI.
CHINA
Beijing has agreed to voluntarily cap its own surging hybrid auto exports to the EU, accepting a new four-year tariff-rate quota framework from December. (Bloomberg $)Comment: It’s an olive branch aimed at heading off a broader trade war with Europe, whose own auto-industry is getting hammered by China’s increasingly high-quality, low-cost output (after decades of industrial support). It comes after China’s hybrid exports to Europe exploded 13-fold through a loophole in the EU’s 2024 tariffs on EVs. Likewise, there’s now a risk this new deal won’t simply reduce China’s exports into Europe, so much as just shift the final assembly into the BYD, Chery, and Great Wall plants now getting built across Europe. Or to put it another way, there’s a chance the competitive pressure on Europe’s automakers won’t go away, but just move inside the fence. Still, even this deal will have surprised most onlookers expecting the more divided EU would (again) blink first.
INDONESIA
Indonesia is mulling a freeze on new smelters producing semi-finished nickel, in hopes of curbing overproduction and safeguarding prices. (Antara)
PANAMA
Authorities have declared a state of emergency after a 7.7 earthquake and 200 aftershocks hit southern Panama. Initial reports suggest that while the quake has damaged hundreds of homes, schools, and historic sites, there’ve been no lives lost. (AP)
SOUTH AFRICA
President Ramaphosa has hailed 85-year-old jurist Navi Pillay’s Nobel Peace Prize win, commending her “belief that the world can and should be a better place.” The US — long a critic of her UN inquiry accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza — has responded by levelling further sanctions against her former employer, the International Criminal Court. (CNN)
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