Asian shares mixed and oil prices stay high over Iran-Israel crisis
Asian shares were mixed and oil prices remained high on Wednesday as investors closely tracked the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
US benchmark crude oil was down around 0.43% at $74.52 per barrel in the afternoon in Asia — or the morning in Europe. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped around 0.43% at $76.12, although both WTI and Brent remain historically high on the month.
Crude prices rose more than 4% on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump left a Group of Seven summit in Canada early and warned that people in Iran's capital should evacuate immediately.
Within about eight hours, Trump went from suggesting a nuclear deal with Iran remained 'achievable' to urging Tehran's 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives. Iran and Israel continued to exchange air strikes on Wednesday.
The fighting has driven prices for crude oil and gasoline higher because Iran is a major oil exporter and it sits on the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world's crude passes. Past conflicts in the area have caused spikes in oil prices, though they've historically proven brief after showing that they did not disrupt the flow of oil.
Japan, meanwhile, reported that its exports fell in May as the auto industry was hit by Trump's higher tariffs, with exports to the US falling more than 11%. But Tokyo's Nikkei 225 jumped 0.78% to 38,837.48.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.17% to 23,698.65 while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3% to 3,388.77.
The Kospi in Seoul gained 0.54% to 2,966.20 while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.1% to 8,533.10.
On Tuesday, US stocks slumped under the weight of higher oil prices and weaker than expected retail sales in May.
Trump raised the temperature on Israel's fight with Iran by calling for 'Unconditional surrender!' on his social media platform and saying, 'We are not going to' kill Iran's leader, 'at least for now'.
The S&P 500 fell 0.8% to 5,982.72 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7% to 42,215.80. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.9% to 19,521.09.
On early Wednesday morning in the US, S&P futures rose 0.11% to 5,991.50, Dow Jones futures increased less than 1% to 42,245.00, while Nasdaq futures advanced by 0.13% to 21,759.00.
The markets will be looking to the Federal Reserve as it makes a decision on its interest rates today. The nearly unanimous expectation among traders and economists is that the Fed will make no move.
In currency trading early Wednesday, the US dollar fell 0.2% to 144.94 Japanese yen. The euro edged 0.18% higher, to $1.1502.
With its strategic location between Europe and East Asia, Kazakhstan plans to triple its aviation sector within a decade.
A master plan with the International Civil Aviation Organization will guide development through 2050. International investors are pouring billions into major airports, transforming them into multimodal hubs.
Public confidence is growing too—Air Astana, listed on three exchanges including London, has been named the region's best airline by SKYTRAX for 14 consecutive years.
Vice‑Minister Talgat Lastayev confirms multimodal expansion in Almaty and Aktau, with air taxis expected within five years, strengthening Kazakhstan's role in regional transit.
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Euronews
26 minutes ago
- Euronews
Why was the US TikTok ban extended again?
The pending ban on the popular social media app TikTok will likely be extended on Thursday. US President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he would 'probably' extend the TikTok ban for a third time but he would need approval from China's President Xi Jinping to do so. The Supreme Court uphelda decision in January that forces ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok, to either sell the app to an American buyer or face a nationwide ban. June 19th was the new date that the ban was supposed to take effect. Euronews Next takes a look at what could be next for the app and evaluates whether the extension is a sign that the national security concerns around TikTok have changed AND if it is a geopolitical move by Trump It's not a surprise that Trump is likely to extend the TikTok ban because he believes it's being used in further negotiations with China, said Darío García de Viedma, fellow of technical and digital policy at the think tank the Elcano Royal Institute in Spain. 'I don't see a scenario in which both [Xi and Trump's] interests are met with a purchase or a ban,' García de Viedma told Euronews Next. 'It would have to be part of a broader negotiation, where one concedes TikTok and the other concedes something else, like tariffs or export control'. Last week, Trump claimed the US and China agreed to a new trade relationship where the US would receive magnets and rare earth minerals in exchange for allowing Chinese students to enrol in American colleges and universities. The deal also brought their respective tariffs down to 55 per cent imposed by the US on Chinese products and 10 per cent imposed by China on American products. Despite their relationship appearing to have calmed, it still isn't the right time to force a TikTok sale, said García de Viedma. It also wouldn't be the first time that a TikTok ban is be used to gain political leverage over China, he added. Indian President Narendra Modi banned TikTok along with 58 Chinese apps in 2020 after border skirmishes with China. The app was gone overnight but accounts and old videos are still online, the BBC reported. García de Viedma said Indian policy experts he has spoken to, the move is 'populist' to show that '[Modi] is taking care of the conflict with China and that this is a very big move towards Indian sovereignty'. 'President Trump is doing the opposite,' García de Viedma said.. 'His discourse right now is, I'm going to save TikTok. [Trump] is saying the opposite to Modi, but it's actually the same trend, using it as a sovereignty discourse.' Jan Penfrat, senior policy advisor with European Digital Rights, said he wouldn't be surprised if a movement to ban all Chinese apps like Modi comes up later. 'I wouldn't be surprised if later in the administration, [there is] an idea to basically just say 'hey let's just ban all Chinese things that are kind of in competition with [what] America offers,' Penfrat said. The main argument from the Republican Party that passed the bill to divest TikTok is that ByteDance could be compelled to send US data to the Chinese government if they requested it. This is largely a 'theoretical concern' because there are opposing views from officials about whether there have been TikTok data transfers to the Chinese government, García de Viedma said. But data privacy concerns haven't resonated with TikTok creators, who have stayed on the platform despite conflicting stories from officials, he added. The US also has a similar data transfer law to China called the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD). Passed during Trump's first mandate, the US government can subpoena American technology companies for data stored on any server in the world to help them investigate serious crimes. Penfrat and García de Viedma argue that TikTok has just as many security risks as other social media apps due to how they share and store data. 'All of these social media apps are a security risk if you work in a sensitive area because they all do massive data collection through the device that they're installed on,' Penfrat said. 'And this has nothing to do with the fact that TikTok comes from China and everything to do with the business model that the company has'. This business model involves collecting personal data and selling it to advertisers to feed it into recommender systems, Penfrat said, referring to algorithms. 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If the US only buys the operations and not the algorithms, it could change what content is seen or recommended for users in Europe, said García de Viedma. This could then lead to the possible 'implosion' of the so-called 'TikTok economy' that is moving money mostly from the United States. 'In a matter of days, the big TikTok community could move to another platform and this would have a big impact on all the intellectual movements and culture and politics that is created on TikTok,' he said. But that could be what Trump wants by creating this uncertainty about the ban, García de Viedma said, by forcing creators to move to other platforms like Instagram to keep their income streams alive. By doing this, Trump could be using a 'midterm strategy to just kill TikTok from its user base and to reduce its impact and the price,' he said. The European Commission has notified Chinese online marketplace AliExpress that it is in breach of the bloc's online platform rules for not taking enough measures to counter illegal products. Preliminary results of its investigation into the platform's alleged breaches the Digital Services Act (DSA) – EU rules that oblige online platforms to counter illegal content and products online – were sent to AliExpress on Tuesday. The Commission's began an investigation in March 2024 focussing on several areas including risk mitigation, content moderation and the internal complaint handling mechanism, as well as transparency of advertising and recommender systems. The Commission's preliminary findings suggest that AliExpress devotes limited resources to moderation systems designed to avoid the dissemination of illegal products, underplaying risks. 'The company also fails to appropriately enforce its penalty policy concerning traders that repeatedly post illegal content, and its content moderation systems show systemic failures, making the systems less effective and allowing manipulation by malicious traders,' the Commission's statement said. The platform now has time to react to the findings before the Commission decides on next steps. If the EU executive confirms the breach in a final decision, it could impose a fine of up to 6% of the company's global turnover. At the same time, the Commission accepted voluntary commitments made by the platform on some of the other grievances of the probe and made them binding. The commitments related to the notice and action mechanism, transparency of advertising and data access for researchers as well as the platform's systems to monitor and detect illegal products, such as medicines, food supplements and others which could affect users' health and minors' well-being. By making the commitments binding, the Commission closed these parts of the investigation. The AliExpress case is the second most advanced DSA probe since the platform rules entered into force late 2023. The Commission also sent preliminary findings to X related to risk management, content moderation and dark patterns. It has further investigations pending into platforms including Facebook and Instagram. Under the DSA, companies with more than 45 million users are considered Very Large Online Platforms (VLOP) meaning that they face stricter rules to fight illegal and harmful content and counterfeit products on their platforms.
AFP
an hour ago
- AFP
Old video from Kenya misrepresented as crackdown on LA immigration protests
Following several days of anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles and other major US cities in June 2025, President Donald Trump deployed security forces to crack down on the demonstrations, resulting in clashes between police and protestors. A video clip was shared on Facebook, purportedly showing authorities in LA using water cannons and tear gas on demonstrators. However, this is false; the video shows protests that took place in Kenya in June 2024. AFP Fact Check debunked the same video earlier this year. A post published on Facebook on June 8, 2025, reads: 'Trump deploys National Guard to LA immigration 'riots' after claiming state officials 'can't do their jobs'.' 'California Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed that the Trump administration is deploying '2,000 soldiers' to Los Angeles after local police used tear gas, stun guns, and riot shields to push back immigration protesters on Saturday,' the caption adds. The post was shared more than 1,300 times. Image Screenshot of false Facebook post, taken June 13, 2025 The video features three clips: two showing water cannons being used to disperse protesters, one coloured with pink dye, and a third of tear gas being used on a busy street. Shouting can be heard in the background as demonstrators run for cover. Similar posts containing the video were also shared on X, with captions written in Arabic here and here. 'This is the freedom of expression that America boasts about ... and is using it against the demonstrators in Los Angeles,' reads one of the X posts. The claims followed protests that began on June 6, 2025, in the US city of Los Angeles, against recent immigration raids (archived here). In response, Trump deployed over 2,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 members of the US Marines, a force primarily trained for foreign wars (archived here and here). However, posts claiming to depict how the LA protesters were dispersed with water cannons are false. Video from Kenya A reverse image search using keyframes generated by the InVID-WeVerify verification tool revealed that the same video, containing the three clips, was previously posted on June 28, 2024, by another Facebook user, who captioned the post 'Kenya' (archived here). A keyword search on X for protests in Kenya led to other posts showing similar scenes taking place in what appears to be the same location. One such post included a reposted TikTok video with a text overlay reading 'Nairobi Kenyatta Avenue' (archived here). NAIROBI, KENYA: If this isn't a revolution by a sufficiently fed-up population, tell me what is. From imposing Bill Gates' GMOs on them to banning the dissemination of healthy organic seeds to now the so called #FinanceBilll. The people have had enough. And that's how you show an… — J. C. Okechukwu (@jcokechukwu) June 22, 2024 A Google Earth search pinpointed the location of the video to Koinange Street, which intersects with Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi's Central Business District. A comparison of the Facebook video with Google Earth street view imagery reveals that the video clips were flipped. When the street view image is also flipped for accurate comparison, distinctive features, including the blue building and a bend on the road match the first clip of the Facebook video's location. Image Screenshots comparing the first video clip from the false post (left) and flipped Google Earth street view (right) In the last clip from the Facebook video, the same billboard placement can be seen on a tall building, which we identified as Telposta Towers. Additionally, the red structure visible in the clip, confirmed to be a public smoking zone via Google Street View, can be seen along the same street. Image Screenshots comparing the third video clip from the false post (left) and flipped Google Earth street view (right) Additionally, an AFP photograph taken on June 25, 2024, shows Kenyan police using water cannons with pink dye on protesters. Image Protesters run for cover as a Kenya Police water cannon truck fires coloured water at them (AFP / Luis TATO) Protests erupted in Kenya in June 2024, occasioned by the finance bill, which proposed tax hikes. The bill triggered weeks of demonstrations that spiralled into violent and deadly clashes with police (archived here). AFP Fact Check has previously debunked another claim about the same video in a similar context here.
LeMonde
an hour ago
- LeMonde
International law and the lessons of history
The world slowly emerging from the ruins of the old international order established by the United States after World War II is showing no regard for principles and the rule of law. Only strength matters now, and those who wield it without restraint set the tone. On June 13, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, confident in his military's strength, made that choice against Iran. There is no longer any doubt that his objective is not only to halt Tehran's threatening nuclear program but to trigger the fall of the regime itself, an outcome he sees as inseparable from that project. This is not to defend the Iranian regime, which now survives solely by repressing its own people. For too long, it played a destructive role in the Middle East, establishing through Hezbollah a state within the state in Lebanon and actively supporting Syria's brutal regime throughout a civil war, right up to the collapse of the Assad dynasty. However, with the law of the strongest increasingly prevailing, it is more necessary than ever to reaffirm the importance of international law. The much-abused framework states that preventive war is no more legal than regime change unilaterally imposed by an external power. Trump, a pawn of Netanyahu and Putin's belligerence The US was the first to trample on this principle in 2003, when it invaded Iraq on the pretense of weapons of mass destruction – a state-sponsored lie. Vladimir Putin then seized this opportunity, first in Georgia and later in Ukraine. It's not just a question of defending the need for common rules to avoid a return to a world divided into spheres of influence, within which peoples are enslaved to a hegemonic power, without this preventing the peripheries from being the object of confrontations between great powers. Recent history has shown that regime change imposed from the outside leads to chaos. The goals of foreign powers rarely align with those of the people affected. Furthermore, when security structures collapse in such destabilized regimes, the result is regularly insurrections or even civil wars. Iraq and Libya have demonstrated this, in contrast to Syria, where the regime change was initiated by Syrians themselves and the ongoing transition has, so far, defied the darkest predictions. Donald Trump could play a central role in the Iranian case, given his long-proclaimed aversion to military ventures – a stance that has largely set him apart within the Republican Party. Instead of taking the initiative, the president of the world's leading military power now appears to be a pawn of Benjamin Netanyahu's belligerence, just as he has been in Putin's conflict in Ukraine. During his inauguration speech on January 20, Trump said his success would be measured "by the wars that we end – and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into." By aligning himself with the Israeli prime minister, however, he risks being associated with another deadly US quagmire in the Middle East.
