Happy Friday and welcome to your morning wrap of the key business and political headlines from around the world.
First up, US President Donald Trump has hit Russia’s two biggest oil companies with sanctions over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, prompting global oil prices to rise by 5%, Reuters reported.
The sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, which together account for more than 5% of global oil output, marked a dramatic reversal by Trump, who last week was calling for a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to try to end the war.
Putin called the sanctions an “unfriendly act”, saying they would not significantly affect the Russian economy and warned a sharp drop in supply would push up prices for other countries, including the US.
"This is, of course, an attempt to put pressure on Russia," Putin said. "But no self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decides anything under pressure."
The US sanctions have already prompted Chinese state oil majors to suspend Russian oil purchases in the short term, whereas refineries in India – the largest buyer of Russian oil – are set to sharply cut their crude imports.
Vladimir Putin.
Moving to the United States, where NBA coach Chauncey Billups and NBA player Terry Rozier are among more than 30 people arrested as part of a wide-ranging investigation related to illegal sports betting and rigged poker games backed by the Mafia, ESPN reported.
Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups.
The arrests were the result of a years-long investigation by the FBI covering 11 states and involving tens of millions of dollars.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the multiple charges involve four Mafia families, organised crime networks and “mind-boggling” amounts of fraud.
According to the indictment, Rozier, who plays for the Miami Heat, had access to material information known by NBA players or coaches that was provided to other co-conspirators in exchange for either a flat fee or a share of betting profits.
Meanwhile, Billups, coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, is facing separate charges related to rigged poker games backed by Mafia families.
Both Billups and Rozier face money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges and have been placed on leave by their respective teams.
To Gaza now, where the hunger crisis remains “catastrophic” despite the ceasefire taking effect two weeks ago, the UN’s health agency said in an article from Al Jazeera.
Supplies entering the enclave are not meeting the nutritional needs of the people living there, aid groups announced overnight.
“The situation still remains catastrophic because what’s entering is not enough,” World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, adding that “there is no dent in hunger because there is not enough food”.
The UN warned that at least a quarter of Gaza’s population, including 11,500 pregnant women, is starving and the effects of malnutrition will be “generational”.
In China, the Central Committee of the country’s ruling Communist Party has replaced 11 members at a key meeting amid an ongoing military purge, the ABC reported.
The change represents the highest turnover of officials since 2017.
Veteran general Zhang Shengmin, 67, was promoted to second-ranked vice-chair of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), replacing He Weidong, who was expelled from the party last week on corruption charges.
Weidong’s removal was the first of a sitting general on the commission since the Cultural Revolution. Eight other People’s Liberation Army generals were also ousted last week.
"By purging these officers before the plenum. altogether and all at once, Xi is sending a clear shot across the bow to the military high command ahead and asserting his dominance," Jon Czin, a People's Liberation Army expert at the Brookings Institution, told Reuters.
In business news, US President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering while head of the cryptocurrency exchange, CNBC reported.
The pardon of CZ comes two months after the Wall Street Journal revealed that the Trump family’s own crypto venture, which has generated US$4.5 billion since 2024, has been helped by a partnership administered by Binance.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump used his constitutional authority to pardon Zhao, who was “prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency ... In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” Leavitt said.
Zhao wrote on social media that he was “deeply grateful” for the pardon, while Senator Elizabeth Warren called it an example of “corruption”.
“First, Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge. Then he boosted one of Donald Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon,” she said.
Changpeng Zhao.
Finally, David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is seen as the front-runner to buy Warner Bros Discovery, Reuters reported.
Analysts and experts believe the tech scion’s access to deep pockets and Washington connections will give him the edge in what could be the biggest media industry merger in years.
His US$60b approach was rejected by Warner Bros earlier in the week, with the company reportedly attracting interest from Comcast, Netflix and Apple.
Some analysts think the company could fetch up to US$74b in a takeover, which some believe is within reach for Ellison, given his father, Larry Ellison, is the world’s second-richest person.
