Ata mārie and welcome to your daily morning dose of international business and political news.
We start again in the Middle East, where Israel and Iran continue to strike each other as the conflict enters another deadly day.
In developing news, Al Jazeera reported that Israel bombed Iran’s state television in the latest wave of missile attacks on Tehran.
Multiple explosions were heard and new evacuation orders were put in place, warning of imminent attacks. Iran also warned Israeli residents in Tel Aviv to evacuate.
Bloomberg reported on comments from US President Donald Trump. He said Iran wanted to talk about de-escalating the conflict with Israel. “They’d like to talk, but they should have done that before.
“It’s painful for both parties, but I would say that Iran is not winning this war,” Trump said.
US President Donald Trump.
Wall Street stocks bounced higher on Monday local time in the hope that the Middle East conflict was largely contained, CNBC reported.
Oil prices initially surged following Israel’s attack, while gold prices also rallied.
Meanwhile, CNN quoted White House and Israeli officials in one of its updates. The officials said Israel’s military operation against Iran could take “weeks, not days”.
Israel claimed it had "full aerial control over Tehran", but the BBC said it could not verify that claim. Other reports suggested Trump told Israel not to kill Iran’s supreme leader.
Iran said it would not negotiate a ceasefire while under constant attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated that the main issue was stopping Iran from developing its nuclear capability.
In China, retail sales expanded in May at the fastest rate since late 2023, as government subsidies helped boost consumption, CNBC reported.
Retail sales rose 6.4% from a year earlier, beating analysts’ estimates of 5% growth in a Reuters poll.
As well as the subsidies, online shopping rose ahead of a major e-commerce event, while there were more tourists as the country expanded its visa-free entry list.
Meanwhile, China’s industrial output growth slowed in May, compared with the previous month.
In business news, Mitsubishi Corporation is reportedly in advanced talks to buy the assets of Aethon Energy Management for about US$8 billion, according to sources, Bloomberg reported.
The large deal could be announced in the coming months. Both companies declined to comment.
Aethon’s portfolio included natural gas production operations. Mitsubishi is a key supplier of liquefied natural gas and has a stake in a US export facility in Louisiana, Bloomberg noted.
To infrastructure, and a project to build the UK's largest road tunnel has been granted £590 million by the government, the BBC reported.
The Lower Thames Crossing, linking Essex and Kent, could cost about £10b. Plans for the 23-kilometre route were approved in March after a 16-year process.
Construction was expected to begin next year and be opened by 2032.
Over the Ditch, Australia's largest betting company Tabcorp has been fined more than A$4m for breaches of spam laws, the ABC reported.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority found Tabcorp sent more than 5700 unlawful marketing messages to customers of its VIP programme last year.
Under the Spam Act 2003, businesses must gain consent before sending marketing messages.
ACMA authority member Samantha Yorke said the breaches involved non-compliance by a large and established gambling provider.
“This is the first time the ACMA has investigated and found spam breaches in a gambling VIP programme.”
