Ukraine remains uncertain about the US position on Russian oil, even after Washington let its waiver for purchases of Russian crude expire. “Well, I don’t know what can we expect from the United States — it’s just seeing the situation,” Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko told reporters on Monday. A surge in global oil prices has made Russia a beneficiary of the Middle East war, which has left refin...
Ukraine remains uncertain about the US position on Russian oil, even after Washington let its waiver for purchases of Russian crude expire. “Well, I don’t know what can we expect from the United States — it’s just seeing the situation,” Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko told reporters on Monday. A surge in global oil prices has made Russia a beneficiary of the Middle East war, which has left refiners scrambling to replace lost barrels. Last week, the Trump administration allowed a waiver that encouraged more Russian crude sales to lapse . The expiration effectively ends for now a brief period where the administration eased sanctions on some Russian oil, enabling purchases that would otherwise be barred. The Trump administration issued an initial waiver in March and a second after the first expired in April — both applying only to a subset of Russian oil that had already been loaded onto tankers. “We need to continue to pressure Russia, to put additional sanctions on Russia,” said Marchenko, speaking in Paris, where he’s a guest at the meeting of Group of 7 finance ministers. “From our side, we do our best to destroy Russia’s economy, specifically coal refinery and others.” One Hedge Fund Holds the Keys to Ukraine’s Wartime Industries Black Rain in Russia’s Ryazan as Ukraine Hits Major Refinery US Allows Russia Oil Sales Waiver to Expire Despite Tight Market Kyiv Looks Past Summer Offensive to Crucial Wartime Winter Speaking ahead of the G-7 meeting, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said that ensuring renewed attention on the war in Ukraine is a priority. “We must not lose sight of Russia’s brutal war of aggression,” Klingbeil, who also serves as vice chancellor, said in a statment. He is signing a double-taxation agreement between Germany and Ukraine in Paris alongside Marchenko.
Hong Kong authorities have allocated HK$5 billion (US$638 million) in funding for efforts to safeguard national security, bringing the total amount earmarked for this purpose to HK$18 billion over the past five years, an official document has revealed. The South China Morning Post’s check on the government’s general revenue expenditure accounts for the financial year ending in March 2026, showed a...
Hong Kong authorities have allocated HK$5 billion (US$638 million) in funding for efforts to safeguard national security, bringing the total amount earmarked for this purpose to HK$18 billion over the past five years, an official document has revealed. The South China Morning Post’s check on the government’s general revenue expenditure accounts for the financial year ending in March 2026, showed a non-recurrent expenditure of HK$5 billion earmarked for a “special fund to meet the expenditure for...
Baidu Inc. posted a better-than-feared 1% slide in revenue after growth in nascent AI businesses offset a steady decline in traditional internet revenue, buying the search leader time to catch rivals such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in the post-ChatGPT era. Sales for the three months ended March slipped to 32.1 billion yuan ($4.7 billion), extending revenue declines into a fourth consecutive qua...
Baidu Inc. posted a better-than-feared 1% slide in revenue after growth in nascent AI businesses offset a steady decline in traditional internet revenue, buying the search leader time to catch rivals such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in the post-ChatGPT era. Sales for the three months ended March slipped to 32.1 billion yuan ($4.7 billion), extending revenue declines into a fourth consecutive quarter. But Baidu’s core business, excluding Netflix -like streaming platform iQiyi Inc. , returned to growth, driven by a surge in its AI-powered cloud unit. Its shares rose more than 3% in pre-market US trading. Baidu, also a major player in self-driving robotaxis and chipmaking, led rivals in China’s post-ChatGPT development boom before Alibaba and ByteDance Ltd. surpassed its text and video models on industry leaderboards. Billionaire founder Robin Li is now betting on a reset: that the rise of automated agents like OpenClaw could spawn a new ecosystem where Baidu has another chance to capture market share in both applications and cloud hosting. “We should focus on how many agents are actually performing tasks for humans and delivering results,” Li said at Baidu’s annual developer conference last week. “This is closer to real value and the core of the industry than fruitless token consumption.” Autonomous driving has been a rare bright spot for the 26-year-old company, but it’s hitting regulatory hurdles there. Beijing regulators suspended the issuance of new licenses for self-driving vehicles after Baidu’s robotaxis stalled on Wuhan city streets in March. The company has paused its operations there while the fault is being investigated. Baidu is now looking to expand its Apollo Go fleet beyond China to Europe and the Middle East. Its chip arm, Kunlunxin, is planning a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong, as investor appetite for homegrown Nvidia alternatives grow during geopolitical tensions. Jefferies analysts led by Thomas Chong expect the Hong Kong listing to happe...
U.S. stock movements | Micron Technology rose more than 3% in pre-market trading after being increased by Bridgewater Associates by 586,000 shares in Q1. 富途牛牛
U.S. stock movements | Micron Technology rose more than 3% in pre-market trading after being increased by Bridgewater Associates by 586,000 shares in Q1. 富途牛牛
Mineral Resources Ltd. will restart its Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia after an 18-month hiatus, betting that a rebound in prices of the battery material will support renewed production. A ramp-up in activity at the site will begin in late May, with crushing and mining operations to start in June and first production of spodumene concentrate from July, according to a filing to Austral...
Mineral Resources Ltd. will restart its Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia after an 18-month hiatus, betting that a rebound in prices of the battery material will support renewed production. A ramp-up in activity at the site will begin in late May, with crushing and mining operations to start in June and first production of spodumene concentrate from July, according to a filing to Australian Securities Exchange on Monday. The restart comes after a recovery in lithium prices as the industry grapples with supply uncertainty from major producers including China and Zimbabwe. Spot prices for battery-grade lithium carbonate have surged more than 50% so far this year. “With strong and sustained demand for spodumene concentrate driving a significant recovery in prices, the time is right to restart operations at Bald Hill,” Managing Director Chris Ellison said in the statement. The Bald Hill mine, located near Kambalda in the state’s Goldfields region, was placed on care and maintenance in November 2024 as lithium prices slumped from record highs. It has a capacity of about 165,000 tons per year of spodumene concentrate, according to the filing.
Photo: VCG Stellantis NV and Dongfeng Motor Group Co. Ltd. have agreed to revive their struggling Chinese joint venture with a plan to locally produce new Peugeot and Jeep models for global markets. The strategic cooperation agreement, announced on Friday, includes a major capital injection to rescue Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Co. Ltd. (DPCA). Three state-owned enterprises will invest mor...
Photo: VCG Stellantis NV and Dongfeng Motor Group Co. Ltd. have agreed to revive their struggling Chinese joint venture with a plan to locally produce new Peugeot and Jeep models for global markets. The strategic cooperation agreement, announced on Friday, includes a major capital injection to rescue Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Co. Ltd. (DPCA). Three state-owned enterprises will invest more than 8 billion yuan ($1.1 billion), while Stellantis will contribute about 1.03 billion yuan.