Live Explosions reported in Iran as Israel strikes nuclear sites
Oil prices soar after Israel strikes Iran
Crude oil prices soared following Israel's strikes against Iran, raising fears of fresh confrontations in a region that accounts for a third of global crude production.
Global benchmark Brent surged 9.1 per cent to US$75.65 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate spiked 9.3 per cent to US$74.36.
A sustained gain in energy costs may fan global inflation, complicating the tasks facing central bankers as they navigate the fallout from the US-led trade war.
READ MORE: Oil prices soar over 9%, Asia stocks drop while gold rallies after Israel strikes Iran
PHOTO: REUTERS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
29 minutes ago
- Straits Times
While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, June 14, 2025
Fire and smoke rising from a building in central Tel Aviv, after it was reportedly hit by a missile fired from Iran, on June 13. PHOTO: AFP While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, June 14, 2025 Iran fires back at Israel after targeting of nuclear facilities Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel in a counter-strike on June 13, after an unprecedented onslaught hammered the Islamic republic's top military brass and targeted its nuclear facilities and bases. Iran said it had activated its air-defence system on the night of June 13 and explosions could be heard on the night of June 13 across Tehran, AFP reporters said. Air raids sirens and explosions rang out across Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the airwaves to warn he expected 'several waves of Iranian attacks' in response. Smoke could later be seen billowing above the skyscrapers in downtown Tel Aviv, an AFP journalist reported, as Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it had attacked dozens of targets in Israel. READ MORE HERE Israel used long-planned subterfuge in Iran attack Israel sent Mossad commandos deep into Iran to destroy Iranian weapons systems during Israel's attack on nuclear and military targets, an Israeli security source said, while another official said Israel used a ploy to suggest the strike was not imminent. The Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the clandestine nature of the operations, described secret and lengthy preparations that went into an attack that sent oil prices sharply higher on fears of regional escalation. Iranian officials who spoke to Reuters shortly before the attack had been dismissive about any imminent action and repeatedly said talk of strikes was just 'psychological pressure' to influence US-Iranian nuclear negotiations that were due on June 15. READ MORE HERE War, trade, Air India crash cast cloud over Paris Air Show War, tariffs and the Air India crash will cast a shadow over the Paris Air Show as the aerospace industry's biggest annual gathering opens on June 16. More than 2,400 companies from 48 countries are showing off their hardware at the week-long event at Le Bourget airfield on the outskirts of Paris. The sales rivalry between Airbus and Boeing usually drives the headlines as the world's top civilian planemakers announce many of their biggest orders at the air show. READ MORE HERE Two men jailed for stealing $7m, 18-carat gold toilet Two men were jailed on June 13 for stealing an 18-carat golden toilet that had been on display as an artwork in an exhibition at Sir Winston Churchill's birthplace. The fully functioning toilet - a work titled America, by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan - was stolen from the Churchill family seat of Blenheim Palace in southern England, a major tourist attraction and Unesco World Heritage Site. Prosecutor Julian Christopher told jurors at the start of the trial at Oxford Crown Court in February that a group of five men had driven two stolen vehicles through locked wooden gates into the palace grounds before dawn on Sept 14, 2019. READ MORE HERE Zheng beats Raducanu at Queen's after change of shoes Top seed Zheng Qinwen beat home favourite Emma Raducanu 6-2 6-4 to move into the semi-finals at the Queen's Club Championships on June 13, while 37-year-old Tatjana Maria upset 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina to reach the last four. In an entertaining battle at the Andy Murray Arena, Zheng showed she could be a worthy contender heading into Wimbledon as she marched into her first semi-final on grass when she converted her fourth match point. Zheng has won singles titles on clay and hardcourts but she is still adapting to grass, with the 22-year-old showing a marked improvement in her match with Raducanu after she changed her shoes midway through a game when the Briton was serving. READ MORE HERE Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Meta's US$14.8 billion Scale AI deal latest test of AI partnerships
[NEW YORK] Facebook owner Meta's US$14.8 billion investment in Scale AI and hiring of the data-labeling startup's chief executive offiecer will test how the Trump administration views so-called acquihire deals, which some have criticized as an attempt to evade regulatory scrutiny. The deal, announced on Thursday (Jun 12), was Meta's second-largest investment to date. It gives the owner of Facebook a 49 per cent nonvoting stake in Scale AI, which uses gig workers to manually label data and includes among its customers Meta competitors Microsoft and ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Unlike an acquisition or a transaction that would give Meta a controlling stake, the deal does not require a review by US antitrust regulators. However, they could probe the deal if they believe it was structured to avoid those requirements or harm competition. The deal appeared to be structured to avoid potential pitfalls, such as cutting off competitors' access to Scale's services or giving Meta an inside view into rivals' operations – though Reuters exclusively reported on Friday that Alphabet's Google has decided to sever ties with Scale in light of Meta's stake, and other customers are looking at taking a step back. In a statement, a Scale AI spokesperson said its business, which spans work with major companies and governments, remains strong, as it is committed to protecting customer data. The company declined to comment on specifics with Google. Alexandr Wang, Scale's 28-year-old CEO who is coming to Meta as part of the deal, will remain on Scale's board but will have appropriate restrictions placed around his access to information, two sources familiar with the move confirmed. Large tech companies likely perceive the regulatory environment for AI partnerships as easier to navigate under President Donald Trump than under former President Joe Biden, said William Kovacic, director of the competition law center at George Washington University. Trump's antitrust enforcers have said they do not want to regulate how AI develops, but have also displayed a suspicion of large tech platforms, he added. 'That would lead me to think they will keep looking carefully at what the firms do. It does not necessarily dictate that they will intervene in a way that would discourage the relationships,' Kovacic said. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Federal Trade Commission probes into past 'aquihire' deals appear to be at a standstill. Under the Biden administration, the FTC opened inquiries into Amazon's deal to hire top executives and researchers from AI startup Adept, and Microsoft's US$650 million deal with Inflection AI. The latter allowed Microsoft to use Inflection's models and hire most of the startup's staff, including its co-founders. Amazon's deal closed without further action from the regulator, a source familiar with the matter confirmed. And, more than a year after its initial inquiry, the FTC has so far taken no enforcement action against Microsoft over Inflection, though a larger probe over practices at the software giant is ongoing. A spokesperson for the FTC declined to comment on Friday. David Olson, a professor who teaches antitrust law at Boston College Law School, said it was smart of Meta to take a minority nonvoting stake. 'I think that does give them a lot of protection if someone comes after them,' he said, adding that it was still possible that the FTC would want to review the agreement. The Meta deal has its skeptics. US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who is probing AI partnerships involving Microsoft and Google, said Meta's investment should be scrutinised. 'Meta can call this deal whatever it wants – but if it violates federal law because it unlawfully squashes competition or makes it easier for Meta to illegally dominate, antitrust enforcers should investigate and block it,' she said in a statement on Friday. While Meta faces its own monopoly lawsuit by the FTC, it remains to be seen whether the agency will have any questions about its Scale investment. The US Department of Justice's antitrust division, led by former JD Vance adviser Gail Slater, recently started looking into whether Google's partnership with chatbot creator was designed to evade antitrust review, Bloomberg News reported. The DOJ is separately seeking to make Google give it advance notice of new AI investments as part of a proposal to curb the company's dominance in online search. REUTERS
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
White House reviews SpaceX contracts as Trump-Musk feud simmers, sources say
A view of the SpaceX Starbase facility in Starbase, Texas, U.S., June 5, 2025, as a feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk escalates. REUTERS/Gabriel V. Cardenas WASHINGTON - The White House earlier this month directed the Defense Department and NASA to gather details on billions of dollars in SpaceX contracts following the public blowout between President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, four people familiar with the order told Reuters. Sparking an ongoing review, the administration ordered the agencies to scrutinize Musk's contracts to ready possible retaliation against the businessman and his companies, these people said. As Reuters reported on Thursday, Pentagon officials are simultaneously considering whether to reduce the role that SpaceX, Musk's space and satellite company, may win in an ambitious new U.S. missile defense system. Reuters couldn't determine whether the White House intends to cancel any of the approximately $22 billion in federal contracts SpaceX now has. But the review shows the administration is following through on a threat by Trump during his spat with Musk last week to possibly terminate business and subsidies for Musk ventures. 'We'll take a look at everything,' the president said, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on June 6. In an email to Reuters, a White House spokesperson didn't answer questions about Musk's business, saying the 'Trump administration is committed to a rigorous review process for all bids and contracts.' In a separate statement, a spokesperson at NASA said the agency 'will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the president's objectives in space are met.' Neither SpaceX nor officials at the Defense Department responded to requests for comment. The people familiar with the order said the contract scrutiny is intended to give the administration the ability to move fast if Trump decides to act against Musk, who until recently was a senior advisor to the president and the head of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The review is 'for political ammunition,' one of the people said. Whether the U.S. government could legally, or practically, cancel existing contracts is unclear. But the possibility underscores concerns among governance experts that politics and personal pique could improperly influence matters affecting government coffers, national security and the public interest. 'There's an irony here that Musk's contracts could be under the same type of subjective political scrutiny that he and his DOGE team have put on thousands of other contracts,' said Scott Amey, a contracting expert and general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group based in Washington. 'Any decision shouldn't be based on the egos of two men but on the best interests of the public and national security.' Musk's SpaceX in recent years has become a crucial partner of the U.S. government in much of its aerospace and defense work – launching satellites and other space cargo and potentially managing a crucial element of the 'Golden Dome' missile shield planned by Trump. Although Musk in recent days has sought to walk back some of his critiques of the president – such as calling for Trump's impeachment last week and linking him to a convicted sex offender – his outbursts nonetheless highlighted the government's reliance on SpaceX. Before reversing course, Musk threatened to decommission the company's Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft, as part of a roughly $5 billion contract with NASA, is the only U.S. vessel currently capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX is also building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with the National Reconnaissance Office, a U.S. intelligence agency. The contract was a pivotal transaction for SpaceX, deepening its ties with U.S. defense and intelligence services. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
