Heavy rain is expected to persist through Tuesday, with extreme downpours in some areas, authorities said as Bavi draws vast amounts of tropical moisture northward, creating a sustained flow of humid air into northern China

International News via Reuters:

The most powerful storm to strike mainland China this year forced more than 260,000 people to evacuate their homes in northeastern Liaoning province, as Typhoon Bavi brought intense flooding. 

Heavy rain is expected to persist through Tuesday, with extreme downpours in some areas, authorities said as Bavi draws vast amounts of tropical moisture northward, creating a sustained flow of humid air into northern China.

In Shenyang, Liaoning’s provincial capital, a lighthouse severed its high-voltage power line and began drifting through floodwaters along main roads and crossing under a bridge, according to videos posted on Chinese social media.

All schools and training institutions have been ordered to suspend classes, while transport services have been largely disrupted in northeastern cities including in Shenyang and Jilin.

Bavi, ​covering an area the ⁠size of France, formed in the Pacific Ocean 13 days ago. Its structure remained largely intact on Monday even after making landfall in eastern China on Saturday night, making it the longest-lasting tropical cyclone in the Asia-Pacific region this year.

Its longevity is largely due to its unusually well-preserved warm core, Chinese meteorologists ⁠say, allowing ​Bavi to retain much of its moisture as it churns north towards the Korean peninsula. ​Intense rainfall is expected when Bavi, currently classified as a tropical storm, slows further and starts to release all the moisture that it has been holding. 

Reporting by the Beijing newsroom; writing by Farah Master; Editing by Stephen Coates

The ECB has been working on the digital euro for years, partly to wean the bloc off U.S.-based payment providers, and hopes for first issuance in 2029

International News via Reuters:

The European Central Bank has picked 36 payment service providers, including some of the euro zone’s biggest financial firms, to join the pilot programme for its digital euro project, it said on Tuesday.

The ECB has been working on the digital euro for years, partly to wean the bloc off U.S.-based payment providers, and hopes for first issuance in 2029, provided that long-delayed legislation is put in place by the end of this year.

The pilot, due to start in the second half of 2027, will last for 12 months and will test the digital euro’s technical functionality and operational processes, and will also be used to refine user experience, the ECB said in a statement.

More than 50 companies applied to participate in the pilot and the 36 selected firms include such top names as Deutsche Bank and UniCredit as well as fast-growing digital banks such as Revolut.

The pilot will take place at the ECB and 19 of the euro zone’s 21 central banks, with absences from Bulgaria and Malta.

“The pilot will involve staff from the ECB and participating national central banks, as well as e-commerce merchants, and merchants offering everyday services on their premises,” the ECB said.

“Staff at participating central banks will have the opportunity to make beta digital euro payments from person to person and from person to business,” the ECB added.

The pilot will use a beta version of the digital euro. It will be functionally and technically close to the digital euro but will not have legal tender status, the ECB added.

Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; editing by Barbara Lewis and Louise Heavens

Brent crude futures were up $4.06, or 5.34%, to $80.07 at 12:44 p.m. EDT (1644 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $3.74, or 5.24%, to $75.15 a barrel

International News via Reuters:

Oil prices jumped more than 5% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States was reinstating a naval blockade on Iran, reigniting concerns over energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude futures were up $4.06, or 5.34%, to $80.07 at 12:44 p.m. EDT (1644 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $3.74, or 5.24%, to $75.15 a barrel. 

Oil gained after Trump said the U.S. was reinstating the blockade and that the United States would be reimbursed 20% on all cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, following renewed military exchanges with Iran.

“President Trump’s reinstatement of restrictions on Iranian maritime traffic, alongside retaliatory attacks and sharply reduced vessel flows through the strait has intensified concerns over near-term supply availability,” said Gelber & Associates analysts in a note.  

Iran’s top joint military command had earlier said it would not allow Washington to intervene in the management of the strait and any attempt by the U.S. to transit without its authorization would be confronted.

The UN’s shipping agency pushed back against Trump’s proposal, saying it opposes any fees for straits used in international navigation and stressing that there is no legal basis for introducing mandatory tolls on strait transits.

Before the conflict began in late February, the Strait of Hormuz handled about one-fifth of global daily oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

Traffic had begun to increase during a fragile ceasefire agreed in June, but had slowed as tensions rose. 

“The focus will remain on the number of inbound tankers as a lower number could impact production, so currently we see a risk premium and a disruption risk supporting prices,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

As the prospect of long-term disruption looms, analysts expect countries to work on ways to permanently bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Goldman Sachs estimated that expanding pipeline capacity in the Middle East could shield more than 60% of pre-war Gulf oil exports from any future Hormuz disruptions by end-2028.

The bank’s base-case forecast assumes pipeline capacity bypassing Hormuz will rise by 3.8 million bpd by end-2027 and 7.3 million bpd cumulatively by end-2028, taking total effective bypass capacity to more than 14 million bpd by end-2028.

During the interim peace deal, Tehran increased exports, which has led to an increase in Iranian oil supplies held at sea.

Sales have been slow, however, as China’s independent refiners have turned to cheaper crude from Iraq, the UAE and Qatar.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company set the August official selling price of its benchhmark Murban crude at $80.01 a barrel, it said on Monday, down from $101.48 a barrel the month before.

Russian energy supplies have also been disrupted as Ukraine seeks to cut off funding for Moscow’s war effort.

Ukraine’s Security Service said it struck an oil depot in Russia’s Stavropol region overnight, as well as three storage tanks at an oil-loading site in the port of Kavkaz in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar.

Meanwhile, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which accounts for 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports, cut supplies by 7% last month from May as a result of maintenance at the country’s largest oilfield, Tengiz, as well as lower Russian flows, two industry sources said on Monday.

Elsewhere, stocks of crude oil in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by about 3 million barrels to 316.5 million barrels last week, the lowest level since April 1983, according to data from the Department of Energy.

The drawdowns are a part of a U.S. agreement to release 172 million barrels from the facility.

Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston, Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru, Florence Tan, Helen Clark. Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Mark Potter, Barbara Lewis and Nick Zieminski

A video of the incident posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed thick smoke billowing out of the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao pub, before an intense horizontal plume of fire burst out of a doorway

International News via Reuters:

An explosive fire at a pub in Thailand’s capital Bangkok killed 27 people and injured dozens, officials said on Monday, with police investigating possible negligence including obstructed emergency exits as people scrambled to flee the burning venue.

A video of the incident posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed thick smoke billowing out of the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao pub, before an intense horizontal plume of fire burst out of a doorway, as screaming customers fled.

“Most of the victims ran to the back of the building, into the bathroom, and there was no clear sign of a fire exit,” said Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who visited the site.

The city’s medical department said 73 people were injured, 25 of those critically, in the incident that took place close to midnight on Sunday. Thirty-two people have been treated and returned home.

The pub is located in a busy intersection in northern Bangkok, connected by its urban rail systems and adjacent to two shopping malls, within walking distance of cinemas, large parks and the Chatuchak weekend market that is popular in the daytime with foreign tourists.

The area has a number of bars with live music that are usually crowded on weekend nights.

Bangkok’s disaster administration said its initial assessment was that an electrical short circuit in a ceiling air conditioner might have caused the fire, while police said they were investigating the possibility that some exits were obstructed, doors were locked and flammable materials were used in stage decorations and soundproofing to improve audio.

The business owner was among those in an intensive care unit and police were seeking to interview staff.

“At this time, police have established negligence as the primary theory guiding their investigation,” National Police chief Kittiratt Phanphet told reporters.

‘SMOKE WAS EVERYWHERE’

Firefighter Chakrit Khongkom said he arrived on the first fire truck and saw the pub alight with many patrons trapped inside, several trying to escape from the back of the venue. The few people coming through the front of the building were burnt.

“Smoke was everywhere,” he said. “Most of the survivors were choking on smoke.”

Body-camera footage from an emergency worker seen by Reuters showed firefighters in oxygen masks moving through the darkened remains of the pub with torches as they searched for survivors and victims.

Several victims could be seen lying prone on the floor near the pub’s toilets while rescue workers carried in stretchers.

“We sent in a rescue and search squad and found that a lot of people were inside the toilet. Most of them were trying to escape to the back because they saw that the flame was at the front,” said Chakrit.

In the early hours of the morning, numbered bodies lay in two rows awaiting removal as forensics teams inspected the site. Firefighters stood near the pub’s entrance, its facade scorched and blackened by the blaze.

In the hours after the fire, Sukanya Wongwongwai waited outside the pub, looking for a missing friend. Survivors had told her about the chaos inside.

“My friend, who was singing on stage, said at first they noticed the smell of something burning, then a little after they saw the ceiling was on fire,” said Sukanya, 32.

“Some people were injured because of the (debris) from the ceiling because it seems that the ceiling was made out of foam material to absorb sound.”

RECORD OF FIRES

Entertainment venues have suffered several fires in recent years in Thailand, where fire safety inspections are conducted but proprietors do not always consistently follow protocols.

At least 13 people were killed in a nightclub fire in Chonburi in 2022, while 65 people died in a blaze during a New Year party at a packed Bangkok club in 2009, where an investigation determined corruption and safety breaches were key factors.

City authorities said Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao was licensed as a restaurant and live music venue and had been inspected in April this year, when fire exits, emergency signs and fire extinguishers were in place.

The governor’s office said the pub’s ceiling materials, decorations and indoor equipment would be examined, as well as the possibility that tables and other items may have been blocking exits.

In a video shared by Anutin’s office during an inspection of the scene, the premier was told a door that was once an exit was bolted, with the proprietor afraid that customers would slip out without paying their bills.

The door had a sign that said “staff only” and could be opened to the outside, but an official told Anutin customers would not have been aware.

“If they had run this way, it would have been fine,” Anutin responded.

Based on survivor accounts, officials said the fire may have started at the front stage section and spread rapidly, forcing many to run towards the kitchen and toilets at the back. Most of the bodies found were near the bathrooms, according to police.

“There are two fire exits, one is near the kitchen. There were beer crates in the way,” Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said.

Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Chalinee Thirasupa, Napat Wesshasartar, Chayut Setboonsarng, Orathai Sriring and Kitiphong Thaichareon in Bangkok and Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Lucy Craymer; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Nia Williams, Andrea Ricci, Lincoln Feast and Kate Mayberry