AFP Asia Business

Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other key members of the OPEC+ alliance are likely to agree to raise crude output when they meet virtually on Sunday, with analysts divided over the size of the expected hike.The meeting by the group of eight oil-producing countries known as the “Voluntary Eight” (V8) comes as oil prices head for weekly losses and rumours of a possible output increase of up to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) swirl.Angered by what it dismissed as “wholly inaccurate and misleading” media reports, the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) urged news outlets in a statement on Tuesday to “exercise accuracy… in order to avoid fuelling” market speculation.Experts had initially expected a production hike of 137,000 bpd from November, which would mirror the October increase.But Commerzbank analyst Barbara Lambrecht cautioned that uncertainty remained, as “the group has frequently surprised markets with swift production hikes in the recent past”.Since April, the V8 group — comprising Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman — has boosted production by 2.5 million bpd (mbpd) in total.The group has sped up output increases at a pace very few had predicted at the beginning of the year, following a long period of producers seeking to combat price erosion by implementing production cuts to make oil scarcer.  – Prices in decline -But in recent months, OPEC+ has shifted its strategy in a bid to regain market share in the face of competition from other countries, and “with output from the United States, Brazil, Canada, Guyana and Argentina at or near all-time highs”, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its latest monthly oil report.But the IEA stressed that global demand outlook for crude “remains largely unchanged”, with growth of around 700,000 bpd expected for both 2025 and 2026.The OPEC cartel was more optimistic in its latest projections for oil demand worldwide, forecasting increases of 1.3 mbpd in 2025 and 1.4 mbpd in 2026.According to Tamas Varga of PVM, signs of a “long-awaited glut” are now “loudly knocking on the doors of our market”.Against this backdrop, the possibility of a larger increase in the grouping’s quotas has sent the price of Brent crude — the global benchmark for crude oil — plummeting below $65 a barrel, a loss of around eight percent in a week.- Russia in uncomfortable position -Russia, the second-largest producer in OPEC+ behind Saudi Arabia, could oppose a sizeable increase in quotas from next month, amid fears it could cause crude oil prices to fall further.Following last month’s decision, Rystad Energy analyst Jorge Leon explained that “Russia depends on high prices to fund its war machine” and unlike Riyadh, the Kremlin has limited potential to increase production due to Western sanctions.Russia, which currently produces around 9.25 mbpd, has a “maximum production capacity of 9.45 mbpd” compared to around 10 mbpd before the war, Homayoun Falakshahi at Kpler told AFP.Moreover, Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries have intensified since August, translating into “rising crude exports from Russia, as the oil cannot be used domestically”, and making Moscow even more dependent on selling its crude abroad, said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen of Global Risk Management.

UK pro-Palestinian protests went ahead Saturday despite a plea from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, two days after a deadly car-ramming and knife attack on a synagogue.Four people — two men and two  women — remained in custody on suspicion of terrorism-linked offences following Thursday’s attack.An 18-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man who had been held earlier were released and would face no further action, police said.Two people were killed and three others seriously wounded in the assault in the northwestern city of Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.Police shot dead assailant Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old UK citizen of Syrian descent, within minutes of the alarm being raised.The attack has heightened fear among Britain’s Jewish community.Police said they were patrolling places of worship across the city “with a particular focus on providing a high-visibility presence within our Jewish communities”.The attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in north Manchester was one of the worst antisemitic incidents in Europe since the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel led by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 66,288 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures in the occupied territory that the United Nations considers reliable.The conflict has inflamed passions in Britain, with frequent pro-Palestinian rallies in cities that some critics allege have stoked antisemitism.Around 1,000 people on Saturday gathered in Trafalgar Square in central London to show their support for the banned Palestine Action group, organisers Defend Our Juries said.A spokesperson said the group “stood in solidarity” with the Jewish community over the attack, adding that “cancelling peaceful protests lets terror win”.A smaller demonstration organised by Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine attracted about 100 people in the city.- Accidental shooting -Ahead of the demonstrations, Starmer urged protesters not to join the rallies.”I urge anyone thinking about protesting this weekend to recognise and respect the grief of British Jews. This is a moment of mourning. It is not a time to stoke tension and cause further pain,” he said on X.Police said the total number of people arrested  at the London protest “for supporting a proscribed organisation” stood at 488.The oldest person arrested was 89, the Met said.Four people had been arrested for other offences.Some 297 remained in custody while the rest had been bailed, the force added.Since the government banned the group in early July, supporting it has become a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 and hundreds of people have been arrested at multiple protests.”I’m ready to be arrested,” a 21-year-old student, who did not want to be named, told AFP.”The ban of Palestine Action is undemocratic. It shouldn’t be a terrorist group, they haven’t killed anybody,” he said.David Cannon, 73, chair of the Jewish Network for Palestine said the demonstration was “totally separate” from what had happened in Manchester.”There’s nothing Jewish about genocide, about apartheid, about ethnic cleansing,” he said.The UK police watchdog, meanwhile, said it would probe the police shooting of attacker Shamie.The investigation would also examine the shooting dead, most likely by police, of one of the incident’s two victims who suffered a fatal gunshot as well as a third person who was shot but survived.The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said there was no evidence anyone other than police used firearms at the scene, meaning both were accidentally shot by armed officers as they tackled Shamie.”Our independent investigation will look at circumstances surrounding the fatal police shooting of Jihad Al-Shamie,” it said in a statement.”A post mortem has today (Friday) concluded another man who died at the scene suffered a fatal gunshot wound.”

Huge numbers turned out at pro-Palestinian rallies in Europe on Saturday, calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the release of activists on board a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the territory.The police in Rome said some 250,000 turned out for a fourth day of protests, after Israel intercepted the 45-strong flotilla seeking to reach Gaza earlier this week.Some 70,000 people took to the streets in Barcelona, according to the police, while the government in Madrid said nearly 92,000 marched in the Spanish capital.Elsewhere, several thousand people marched through the centre of the Irish capital, Dublin, to mark what organisers said was “two years of genocide” in Gaza.With Ireland, Spain is one of the fiercest European critics of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas militants’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.But in Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government has been criticised for its inaction on the siege of the Palestinian territory.On Saturday, Meloni accused demonstrators of defacing a statue of Pope John Paul II with graffiti in front of Rome’s main train station, calling it a “shameful act”. “They claim to take to the streets for peace, but they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace,” she said in a statement.Protesters in the Italian capital, including families with children, shouted, “We are all Palestinians”, “Free Palestine” and “Stop the genocide”, with many carrying Palestinian flags and wearing black-and-white chequered keffiyehs.”Usually, I don’t appreciate large-scale demonstrations, but today, I couldn’t bring myself to stay home,” Donato Colucci, a 44-year-old scout leader accompanying 150 youths from a secular association, told AFP. “I think countries like Italy, France, and Spain have developed a culture of resistance and democratic values more than others because they experienced dictatorship and violence.”In Barcelona, Marta Carranza, a 65-year-old pensioner demonstrating with a Palestinian flag on her back, said Israel’s policy “has been wrong for many years and we have to take to the streets”.- Solidarity -The Global Sumud flotilla, which was intercepted on Wednesday, left Barcelona in early September and had been seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, where the United Nations says famine has taken hold.Around 50 Spaniards on the flotilla have been detained by Israel, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told public television in an interview aired on Saturday. The flotilla organisers say Israel’s actions were “illegal” since they intercepted the vessels while they were traversing international waters. In Paris, where some 10,000 people gathered, a spokesperson for the French contingent of Global Sumud, Helene Coron, told the crowd: “We’ll never stop. “This flotilla didn’t get to Gaza. But we’ll send another, then another until Palestine and Gaza are free.”Jordi Bas, a 40-year-old primary school teacher waving a Palestinian flag in Barcelona, said he was not surprised by the huge turn-out. “People are beginning to wake up a bit,” he added, saying “the whole world is mobilising in solidarity”.On September 14, around 100,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators forced the halt of the final stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race in the Spanish capital, where an Israeli team was competing.Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Israel should be barred from international sport over the Gaza war, just as Russia was penalised over its invasion of Ukraine.In September, Spain said it would ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which have been described by UN rights chief Volker Turk as a war crime.In Ireland, speakers called for sanctions on Israel and an immediate end to the conflict — and Palestinian involvement in the ceasefire plan.In London, police said they made at least 442 arrests at a gathering in support of the proscribed Palestine Action group. Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged protesters to stay home this weekend, after a deadly synagogue attack on Thursday.burs-phz/gv

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that he hoped to bring home the hostages being held by Hamas in a matter of days, as negotiators headed to Cairo for talks aimed at putting an end to nearly two years of war in Gaza.US President Donald Trump warned he would “not tolerate delay” from the Palestinian militant group, after it responded positively to his roadmap for freeing the captives and administering post-war Gaza.While Trump had called on Israel to halt its bombardment of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’s announcement, the strikes continued on Saturday, with at least 57 people killed since dawn, according to the territory’s civil defence agency.Netanyahu credited “military and diplomatic pressure” with compelling Hamas to agree to release the captives in a televised statement on Saturday.”I hope that in the coming days we will be able to bring back all our hostages… during the Sukkot holidays,” Netanyahu said, referring to the Jewish festival that begins on Monday and runs for one week.The premier added he had ordered negotiators to Egypt “to finalise the technical details”, with Cairo confirming it would also be hosting a delegation from Hamas for talks on “the ground conditions and details of the exchange of all Israeli detainees and Palestinian prisoners” as per Trump’s proposal.Trump also dispatched two envoys to Egypt on Saturday, according to the White House — his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his main Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff.On Friday night, Hamas announced “its approval for the release of all hostages — living and remains — according to the exchange formula included in President Trump’s proposal”.Trump immediately hailed the statement as evidence the group was “ready for a lasting PEACE”, calling on Israel to stop its bombing.On Saturday, he warned the group to “move quickly” towards a deal “or else all bets will be off”.Netanyahu, meanwhile, insisted in his remarks Saturday that “Hamas will be disarmed… either diplomatically via Trump’s plan or militarily by us”.As of Saturday evening, a crowd of thousands was gathering in Tel Aviv urging Trump to ensure a deal was struck.- ‘Same intensity’ -Despite Trump’s call for a pause in operations, Israel carried out deadly strikes across Gaza on Saturday.”The death toll from the ongoing Israeli bombardment since dawn today stands at 57, including 40 in Gaza City alone,” said Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the civil defence agency, a rescue organisation that operates under Hamas authority.Israeli forces have carried out a sweeping air and ground assault in recent weeks around the city.”The Israeli bombardment on Gaza continues with the same intensity and pattern — air strikes, artillery shelling and quadcopter drone fire are ongoing,” said Mohammed al-Mughayyir, also of the civil defence agency.Mahmud Al-Ghazi, 39, a resident of Al-Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza City, said “Israel has actually escalated its attacks” since Trump’s call for a pause.”Who will stop Israel now? We need the negotiations to move faster to stop this genocide and the ongoing bloodshed,” he added.The Israeli military said it was still operating in Gaza City and warned residents not to return there, adding that doing so would be “extremely dangerous”.Israeli media reported that the military had shifted to a defensive posture in Gaza following Trump’s call, though the military did not confirm this to AFP.- No role for Hamas -A Hamas official said Egypt, a mediator in the truce talks, would host a conference for Palestinian factions to decide on post-war plans for Gaza.In its response to the Trump plan, Hamas had insisted it should have a say in the territory’s future.The plan stipulates that Hamas and other factions “not have any role in the governance of Gaza”, while also calling for a halt to hostilities, the release of hostages within 72 hours, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’s disarmament.Under it, administration of the territory would be taken up by a technocratic body overseen by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.Jamila al-Sayyid, 24, a resident of Gaza City’s Al-Zeitoun neighbourhood, said he “was happy when Trump announced a ceasefire, but the warplanes did not stop”.An AFP journalist in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi reported hearing celebratory cries of “Allahu akbar!” (God is greatest) from tents housing Palestinians as news of Hamas’s statement spread.”The best thing is that President Trump himself announced a ceasefire, and Netanyahu will not be able to escape this time… (Trump) is the only one who can force Israel to comply and stop the war,” said Sami Adas, 50, who lives in a tent in Gaza City with his family.The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 67,074 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.Their data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.burs-jd/smw/dcp

Conservative Sanae Takaichi hailed a “new era” Saturday after becoming head of Japan’s ruling party, putting her on course to become the country’s first woman prime minister.The 64-year-old, whose hero is Margaret Thatcher, said that a “mountain of work” lay ahead to restore the fortunes of her ailing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).The LDP has governed …

Conservative Takaichi set to be Japan’s first woman PM Read More »

Stock markets struck fresh records Friday, driven by investor optimism over artificial intelligence and hopes of US interest rate cuts, which overshadowed concerns about an ongoing government shutdown.Wall Street’s main indices were mixed at the end of the day, although the Dow and S&P 500 notched fresh records.”That’s a stock market that continues to be …

Stocks rise on AI optimism, US rate-cut hopes Read More »

The Carrefour name has disappeared from storefronts in some Arab countries, with pro-Palestinian shoppers and activists hailing the shift as a victory for their boycott of brands perceived as being linked to Israel.The French multinational has long been in the crosshairs of Palestinian supporters, who accuse it of selling products from Israeli settlements and partnering with …

Carrefour name disappears from Arab stores as Israel boycotters claim victory Read More »