Thailand's Zero Tariff Pledge to Trump Still Limits US Imports
The restrictions — specifically on pork and corn — will be hammered out in final negotiations with the US, said Pongsarun Assawachaisophon, who was involved in the talks and serves as deputy secretary-general to the prime minister.
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Mirantis Partners with Pico Public Cloud to Launch First Sovereign Public Cloud in Bangladesh
Based on Mirantis technology, Pico Public Cloud advances Bangladesh digital infrastructure with secure, low-latency, locally-managed computing resources CAMPBELL, Calif., August 07, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mirantis, the Kubernetes-native AI infrastructure company enabling enterprises to build and operate scalable, secure, and sovereign AI infrastructure across any environment, today announced that it has partnered with Pico Public Cloud, an affiliate of Fiber@Home, to build the first sovereign public cloud service in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, cloud services are primarily available from offshore hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, which can cause challenges for their users, including foreign currency restrictions, limited data residency options, latency concerns, lack of localized support, and high operating costs. Now, by comparison, Pico Public Cloud offers a cutting-edge horizontal, multi-site public cloud service provider (CSP) in Bangladesh. The collaboration between Mirantis and Pico Public Cloud focuses on data localization, residency, and a robust anything-as-a-service (XaaS) suite, enhancing digital capabilities for telecom and network providers. As a multi-site public cloud provider, Pico Public Cloud addresses the limitations of offshore hyperscalers by offering an alternative based on open-source software with full data residency, native language support, and payment in local currency. "Data sovereignty is increasingly critical as nations seek greater control over their digital infrastructure," said Srinivas Tadigadapa, strategic account director, Mirantis. "We're partnering with Pico Public Cloud to deliver a cloud platform that is tailored to the specific needs of Bangladesh customers, enabling compliance, local control, and economic efficiency. Together, we are developing a high-performing, scalable public cloud service that advances national innovation and better serves local enterprises and consumers." Businesses in finance, telecommunications, healthcare, and other industries can meet local compliance requirements while safeguarding sensitive data by using Pico Public Cloud, which guarantees that all data is processed and stored inside national borders. Pico Public Cloud facilitates local currency payments, delivers low-latency, and is supported locally. As Bangladesh advances its digital economy, Pico is able to lower cloud service costs dramatically, increasing access to digital resources in Bangladesh, and assisting in closing the digital divide between urban and rural areas by utilizing a fully open-source stack. "Pico Public Cloud is a milestone for Bangladesh," said Azad Chowdhury, CEO, Pico Public Cloud. "This collaboration combines Mirantis' scalable and secure infrastructure-as-a-service platform with our operational experience in data centers and nationwide fiber-optic infrastructure. We are using Mirantis to deliver powerful computing resources that guarantee data remains within national borders." Serving a population of more than 170 million, Pico Public Cloud brings the power of ultra-low latency infrastructure, achieving response times of just 3 to 4 milliseconds, to organizations and individuals throughout Bangladesh. Strategic partnerships, such as its collaboration with Banglalink (the country's leading telecom operator) to deliver bCloud services as a cloud reseller, further extend Pico's mission to make next-generation computing, storage, backup, and cybersecurity accessible at scale. Built on Mirantis OpenStack for Kubernetes (MOSK), the platform combines the scalability of Kubernetes with the proven virtualization capabilities of OpenStack, enabling telecom-grade multi-tenant infrastructure services. With built-in support for secure networking, software-defined storage, and lifecycle automation, MOSK empowers service providers like Pico Public Cloud to deploy reliable, secure, and cost-effective public cloud services tailored to regional needs. "This partnership enables the offering of cost-effective, secure cloud solutions to government and corporate users across all industries," said Moynul H. Siddiqui, chairman of Fiber@Home. "It is powered by Mirantis and hosted within Felicity IDC's data centers (another affiliated company of Fiber@Home), the only Tier-III certified data center facility in Bangladesh in multiple locations. With high availability, 99.98% uptime offering full redundancy and concurrent maintainability, Pico Public Cloud ensures seamless, low-latency communication while meeting stringent data residency and security requirements." Fiber@Home will host an open house on August 9–10, 2025, featuring live demonstrations of the Pico Public Cloud platform and interactive Q&A sessions designed to showcase its capabilities and foster stakeholder engagement. To learn more about Pico Public Cloud, visit About Fiber@Home Fiber@Home, along with its affiliated companies, operates as a distinguished conglomerate in Bangladesh, engaging in nationwide initiatives that foster a comprehensive telecommunications ecosystem. Its services span internet bandwidth, data centers, and cloud solutions, all driven by a commitment to leading the digital transformation with exceptional service for stakeholders. As part of its innovative ventures, Pico Public Cloud enhances Fiber@Home's portfolio, serving as a strategic addition to accelerate digital progress in Bangladesh. For further details, visit: and About Mirantis Mirantis is the Kubernetes-native AI infrastructure company, enabling organizations to build and operate scalable, secure, and sovereign infrastructure for modern AI, machine learning, and data-intensive applications. By combining open source innovation with deep expertise in Kubernetes orchestration, Mirantis empowers platform engineering teams to deliver composable, production-ready developer platforms across any environment – on-premises, in the cloud, at the edge, or in data centers. As enterprises navigate the growing complexity of AI-driven workloads, Mirantis delivers the automation, GPU orchestration, and policy-driven control needed to cost-effectively manage infrastructure with confidence and agility. Committed to open standards and freedom from lock-in, Mirantis ensures that customers retain full control of their infrastructure strategy. Mirantis serves many of the world's leading enterprises, including Adobe, Ericsson, Inmarsat, PayPal, and Societe Generale. Learn more at View source version on Contacts Joseph Eckert for Mirantisjeckert@
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
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Fact check: Bank has held rates four out of nine times since Labour took power
Fact check: Bank has held rates four out of nine times since Labour took power The Labour Party has claimed that since it was elected to Government, the Bank of England has cut interest rates 'five times in a row'. The party said: 'Interest rates have now been cut five times in a row since Labour came into power.' The message was also shared in a social media graphic which read: 'Interest rates have been cut five times in a row with Labour.' Evaluation The Bank of England has cut rates five times since Labour got into power. But these cuts were not at consecutive meetings of the Bank's rate setters. At four meetings – every other meeting since July 2024 – the Bank has actually decided to hold rates unchanged. The facts Interest rates in the UK are not set by the Government, but by an independent nine-person committee run by the Bank of England. This group is called the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and it meets eight times a year. Since Labour got into power in early July 2024, the MPC has made nine separate decisions on rates. The committee has cut rates on every other occasion it has met since the election – starting on August 1 2024 – with the most recent cut being confirmed on August 7 2025. That has produced five cuts in total. But at the other four meetings the MPC decided to hold rates unchanged. By saying 'in a row' it is possible that Labour means that there have not been any interest rate hikes in between the cuts. However, this ignores all the times that the MPC has actively voted to leave rates unchanged. At the time of publication Labour had not responded to an email asking it to clarify how the five cuts are considered to be 'in a row'. Links Post on Instagram (archived) Bank of England – Monetary policy (archived) House of Commons Library – General election 2024 results (archived) Bank of England – Minutes sitemap (archived) Bank of England – Bank Rate reduced to 5%, August 2024 (archived) Bank of England – Bank Rate reduced to 4%, August 2025 (archived)
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Oil Traders Race Against Time to Solve Global Diesel Crunch
(Bloomberg) -- The oil market is pulling all the levers it can to ease a global diesel crunch, but the window is narrowing to replenish stockpiles of the world's workhorse fuel before hurricanes and refinery maintenance curtail output. All Hail the Humble Speed Hump Mayor Asked to Explain $1.4 Billion of Wasted Johannesburg Funds Three Deaths Reported as NYC Legionnaires' Outbreak Spreads Major Istanbul Projects Are Stalling as City Leaders Sit in Jail PATH Train Service Resumes After Fire at Jersey City Station From the US Gulf Coast to Rotterdam and Singapore, storage tanks have only recently started rising from dramatically low levels, and traders say it's going to be a tight race to refill them. With price spikes during the Israel-Iran conflict fresh in the memory, most say it's hard to see a major easing, echoing warnings from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and energy giant TotalEnergies SE. The fate of the fuel has wide-reaching ramifications for the global economy. Higher prices can ripple through inflation readings and dent consumer and business confidence at a time when US President Donald Trump's tariff wars also raise costs. American farmers will need large volumes of diesel to power their tractors and grain dryers during harvesting season in the fall, and drivers are already paying the most at the pump in about a year. Meanwhile, Trump's push to punish India for processing Russian crude into much needed global diesel supplies leaves Europe particularly vulnerable. The continent has become more dependent on fuel from further afield after direct imports from nearby Russia were banned. 'We're bullish for the end of the year,' said Rami Ramadan, co-head of global middle distillates at commodity trader BB Energy. 'We are going to be in for some shocks for sure because of how Europe has been disconnected from its closest sources of supply.' US stockpiles of diesel's family of fuels — used in everything from locomotives and trucks to power generation and heating — plunged to their lowest summer levels this century. While inventories should normally build over the summer, longer-term factors have made things more acute in the last few years. A slew of plant closures in the US and Europe since the Covid-driven oil market crash has tightened supplies in key hubs. Even as high margins lead refiners like Phillips 66 and Valero Energy to maximize diesel output, US inventories have only in recent weeks inched past the critical lows seen in the summer of 2022, just after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. In Europe buyers await tankers from the Middle East and Asia. In northwest Europe, stockpiles are forecast to be 3 million barrels lower in the fourth-quarter than a year earlier. After touching the equivalent of $110 a barrel following Israel's air strikes on Iran, prices have retreated closer to $90. Diesel's strength over the summer helped support crude prices while OPEC+ restored production faster than initially planned. Before the war in Ukraine, European diesel seldom traded $15 a barrel above Brent crude. Ever since, it has rarely traded at less than that. The spread, known in market parlance as a crack, is currently above $20 in Europe and around $30 in the US. Goldman Sachs expects both spreads to stay near current levels into 2026 'on continuing structural tightness in refining capacity,' and TotalEnergies said stronger diesel prices will become a 'persistent feature' of the global oil market. 'Heading into hurricane season, if we have some type of supply disruption, I think you'll see a pretty significant market reaction with inventories as low as they are,' Gary Simmons, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Valero, said on an earnings call. 'We expect diesel cracks to remain strong.' Diesel is part of a group of refined products known as middle distillates, which includes jet fuel and heating oil. High demand from the aviation sector has also tightened the balance of supplies, and a cold winter could do the same. 'Over the next three to four months, we're quite constructive on diesel cracks being sustained at levels similar to where they're at today,' Marathon Petroleum Corp.'s Chief Commercial Officer Rick Hessling said on an earnings call, adding that trucking and agriculture demand is 'very healthy.' Hedge funds have rushed into bullish oil and diesel bets in recent weeks as Trump threatened additional levies on buyers of Russian crude. Money managers' net long position in US diesel futures was at the highest in almost four years, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released in the first week of August. Those bets so far haven't paid off, with diesel and crude futures dropping this week after OPEC+ announced a supply increase over the weekend and traders wait to see how Trump's approach to Russia pans out. Not all traders are bullish, though, as there has been some relief in the past few weeks. As well as stockpiles showing signs of recovering, more diesel and jet fuel cargoes left Asia and the Middle East for Europe in July than any time in the last 11 months, according to Kpler data. One diesel-laden supertanker of 2 million barrels is currently sailing to Europe, and another has been booked, according to a person involved in the flows, adding momentum to the resupply. 'One of the things we're doing is watching the Mideast and India, where the global net-distillate length exists for potential imports into Europe,' Brian Mandell, executive vice president of marketing and commercial at Phillips 66, said on an earnings call. Mandell said that prices are likely to eventually ease as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners add extra supplies of heavy crude that's better for making diesel. But it takes time for the group to go from targets to actual production, and then for the barrels to be shipped, processed into diesel and finally reach the fuel's buyers. 'We would think that distillate margins will remain strong through the year, eventually coming off some when you get these extra barrels — heavy crude barrels — back onto the market,' he said. --With assistance from Devika Krishna Kumar, Jack Wittels, Rachel Graham, Archie Hunter and Prejula Prem. (Updates with hedge fund positioning in 14th paragraph.) 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