Good morning and welcome to your Tuesday recap of global business and political news.
First up, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the next round of China talks could include its purchase of Russian and Iranian oil, Bloomberg reported.
“Trade is in a good place,” Bessent told CNBC, regarding ongoing trade negotiations with China.
“The Chinese, unfortunately, are very large purchasers of sanctioned Iranian oil, sanctioned Russian oil.
“Any country which buys sanctioned Russian oil is going to be subject to up to 100% secondary tariffs. President [Donald] Trump has changed the conversation here and I would urge our European allies, who have talked a big game, to follow us if we implement these secondary tariffs.”
Trump last week threatened severe tariffs if there was no deal after 50 days to end the conflict in Ukraine.
On the ground, Russia launched drones and missiles at Ukraine killing at least one person and causing multiple fires in Kyiv, the ABC reported.
Earlier, the Kremlin said Russia was interested in fresh peace talks with Ukraine. It said there was a lot of work to be done before an agreement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said talks were scheduled for tomorrow local time.
Gaza conflict.
In the Middle East, Israel rejected a statement by 25 countries calling for an end to the war in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.
Israel said it was a move “disconnected from reality” and sent the wrong message to Hamas. “There is a concrete proposal for a ceasefire deal, and Israel has repeatedly said yes to this proposal, while Hamas stubbornly refuses to accept it. The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognise Hamas’s role and responsibility for the situation,” the Foreign Ministry said.
“At these sensitive moments in the ongoing negotiations, it is better to avoid statements of this kind.”
Hamas said the statement by 25 countries represented “international recognition of the extent of the violations committed by the fascist occupation government”.
“The international statement’s condemnation of the killing of more than 800 civilians near US-Israeli aid points confirms the brutality of this mechanism,” Hamas said.
In other news, Microsoft issued an alert about “active attacks” on server software used by US government agencies and businesses and recommended immediate security updates, CNN reported.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was aware of the attacks. The Washington Post said the hack targeted a previously unknown vulnerability and tens of thousands of servers were at risk.
French shipping tycoon Rodolphe Saade agreed to sponsor the country’s biggest cycling team to raise the profile of his billionaire family’s transport and media empire, Bloomberg reported.
The Saade family’s CMA CGM planned to contribute about €15 million to an annual €40m budget for the team.
CMA CGM has expanded in shipping and logistics, while also moving into media after buying newspapers and the BFM television and radio group.
The Saade family is worth about US$34 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In the UK, a new water regulator will replace the powers of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, and the Environment Agency to reset the sector after sewage spills and financial mismanagement, the Guardian reported.
Environment secretary Steve Reed said the UK government would remove Ofwat and bring water functions from four different regulators into one.
“A single, powerful regulator responsible for the entire water sector will stand firmly on the side of customers, investors, and the environment and prevent the abuses of the past,” he said.
Elon Musk.
Finally, billionaire Elon Musk's social media company X accused French prosecutors of a politically motivated criminal investigation that threatened free speech.
It denied all allegations against it and would not cooperate with the probe, Reuters reported. Prosecutors earlier started a probe for suspected algorithm bias and data extraction.
"Based on what we know so far, X believes that this investigation is distorting French law in order to serve a political agenda and, ultimately, restrict free speech," X said.
"For these reasons, X has not acceded to the French authorities' demands, as we have a legal right to do."
