​ Oil price jumps despite deal to release record amount of reserves. 15 minutes ago. Osmond ChiaBusiness reporter. AFP via Getty Images. Global oil prices have risen again after three more cargo vessels were hit in the Gulf, with markets rattled about strikes on shipping and energy infrastructure.. Brent crude rose by over 9% in Asian trading to top $100 ($74.79) a barrel before the price eased to stand at about $97.50.. The jump came despite the International Energy Agency (IEA) saying on Wednesday that it will release a record 400 million barrels of oil in an attempt to curb the economic impact of the US-Israel war with Iran.. The Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for energy shipments, remains effectively closed over concerns that ships could be attacked.. An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesperson said on Wednesday that any vessel linked to the US, Israel or their allies would be targeted.. “You will not be able to artificially lower the price of oil. Expect oil at $200 per barrel,” they added.. “The price of oil depends on regional security, and you are the main source of insecurity in the region.”. The rise in the oil price hit stock markets. In Japan, the Nikkei share index fell 1% while London’s FTSE 100 opened down 0.6%.. Follow the latest on the Iran war. The narrow shipping route is crucial to the global economy as about a fifth of the world’s energy supplies usually passes through it.. IEA members represent around two thirds of global energy production and consumption.. The release of reserves is more than double the previous IEA record, which came after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.. The IEA’s decision is “historically significant” but is only a “temporary buffer”, said Martin Ma from the Singapore Institute of Technology.. Oil prices will stay high as long as there is a risk to supplies and latest jump suggests that traders are still expecting a “prolonged” disruption, he added.. Reuters. Global oil markets have been extremely volatile since the US and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on 28 February, with Brent crude reaching almost $120 a barrel earlier this week.. That has pushed up fuel prices have around world.. In the US, the average price of petrol rose above $3.50 a gallon on Tuesday, according to the American Automobile Association.. Many countries in Asia, which are heavily reliant on energy from the Middle East, have been hit particularly hard.. Long queues were seen at petrol stations in the Philippines,Thailand and Vietnam this week as people raced to fill up with fuel.. Thai authorities have called for staff at most government agencies to work from home to conserve energy. Officials are also being discouraged from non-essential overseas travel.. The Philippines has also started a four-day work week for its government to help cut down on energy use.. You can also get in touch by following this link. Bowen: Trump has called for an Iran uprising but the lessons from Iraq in 1991 loom large. Inside  

​ China’s biggest political meeting is ending – what have we learned?. 7 hours ago. AFP via Getty Images. China’s biggest political gathering – the National People’s Congress or NPC – is due to end on Thursday.. Its extensive authority includes making laws, amending the constitution and approving state budgets. But it effectively functions as a rubber-stamp parliament, approving decisions made behind closed doors by the top echelons of the Chinese Communist Party.. Still, the meetings of the NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – also known as the “two sessions” – are watched closely as they signal the priorities of the world’s second-largest economy.. Our correspondents give us their biggest takeaways.. China wants to show it is a beacon of stability. By Laura Bicker, China correspondent. China’s push to be the world’s leading superpower depends largely on one key thing – President Xi Jinping’s ability to manage his economy.. To achieve this, Xi appears to be seeking more certainty as he tries to balance the books in a very uncertain world dominated by an unpredictable US president and a war in the Middle East.. His policies to try to encourage Chinese people to spend more money are aimed at stabilising a stuttering domestic economy.. His push for technological supremacy is a bid to win the future and get others to come to China’s door for the latest factory robots or AI models.. His continuing push toward increasing China’s production of renewable energy will allow the country to be more self-reliant. It no longer needs as much oil and gas from other countries including Iran.. And then of course there is the choreography of such a major political event, from the practised pitch of the band, to the diligence of delegates who sit and listen to speeches and even turn pages in perfect unison.. The quiet, heavily controlled and carefully scripted statecraft in the Great Hall of the People stands in contrast to a fiery White House which has rattled allies and shaken markets with its strikes on Iran.. The Chinese Communist Party is trying to show that it is a beacon of stability that is in the business of fixing its economy and future.. Xi will feel China is already in a strong position after fighting back against US tariffs in a trade war that ultimately ended in a truce. China’s trade dominance is also attracting back former wary customers including the UK and Canada.. The geopolitical landscape is shifting, and Xi may see an opportunity for China to rise, as his rival in Washington is distracted.. But he will also know much depends on how his country navigates its own economic challenges in the years to come.. Getty Images. China sees technology as key to its future. By Suranjana Tewari, Asia Business correspondent. Beijing is betting big on technology and innovation to drive China’s next phase of economic growth.. The country’s 15th Five-Year Plan sets out a roadmap to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and embed a  

​ Noma head chef resigns from restaurant amid abuse allegations. 34 minutes ago. Nardine SaadLos Angeles. Getty Images. The head chef of Noma, one of the highest-rated restaurants in the world, has resigned amid allegations of abuse.. René Redzepi announced his exit on social media, saying: “After more than two decades of building and leading this restaurant, I’ve decided to step away and allow our extraordinary leaders to now guide the restaurant into its next chapter.”. Former employees had accused the chef of creating a toxic work environment, including verbal and physical abuse, according to media reports.. The fine-dining establishment, which is based in Denmark, has been preparing for a Los Angeles residency, but corporate sponsors pulled out after the abuse claims and protests outside his pop-up location.. In a statement posted on Instagram, Redzepi said: “An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions.. “For anyone wondering what this means for the restaurant, let me say it clearly: the Noma team today is the strongest and most inspiring it has ever been,” he added.. “We’ve been open for 23 years, and I’m incredibly proud of our people, our creativity, and the direction Noma is heading.”. He said the team would continue their work at the Los Angeles location without him.. Redzepi also resigned from the board of MAD, a non-profit organisation that he founded in 2011, which states on its website that it focuses on helping those who are new to the restaurant industry.. A recent report in the New York Times said dozens of former employees had accused the chef of creating an abusive culture in the kitchen and a toxic work environment, which included verbal threats and physical mistreatment at the eatery he founded in 2003.. “To be honest with you, I think the repercussions of staying silent are worse than me speaking up and standing with my peers against violence,” said Jason Ignacio White, former Noma employee.. White said he witnessed widespread abuse during the years he worked for the celebrity chef.. Days later Redzepi responded to the allegations on social media, saying: “To those who have suffered under my leadership, my bad judgement, or my anger I am deeply sorry and I have worked to change.”. He said he had “shouted and pushed people, acting in ways that are unacceptable” and shared that he had gone to therapy and found better ways to manage his anger.. But protests took place outside the Noma pop-up location in the neighbourhood of Silver Lake, with some wage-rights groups calling for Redzepi’s resignation.. “Who wants to eat in an environment of abuse,” Saru Jayaraman, a member of One Fair Wage, told the BBC’s US media partner CBS News. “Who wants to eat food that comes from the tears and sweat of people who are suffering?”. Several corporate sponsors, including American Express, withdrew from the 16-week dinner series.. Reservations for the pop-up in Los Angeles cost $1,500 (£1,120) per person and sold out in ju  

​ Bodies of two Chinese backpackers found in Australian floodwaters. 2 hours ago. Helen Livingstone. ABC Sunshine Coast: Jessica Ross. The bodies of two Chinese backpackers who went missing in floodwaters in Queensland have been recovered, Australian police have said.. The 26-year-old man and 23-year-old woman, who were driving from Brisbane to the North Burnett region, were reported missing on Tuesday when they failed to reach their destination.. Police said they had found their silver Subaru Forester near the town of Kilkivan near Gympie on Wednesday afternoon, after a largescale search by officers, the State Emergency Service and helicopters.. On Thursday they said two bodies had been found inside the vehicle, which was submerged in floodwaters. Next of kin had been notified and police were working with the Chinese consulate.. Gympie mayor Glen Hartwig said the two deaths were an “absolute tragedy”.. “These people have come to Australia to see our beautiful country… and tragically they’ve ended up losing their lives,” he told the ABC.. There have been major flood warnings in place across Queensland and parts of the Northern Territory (NT) over the past several days, with some river levels still increasing due to heavy rain.. Hundreds of homes have been flooded in towns including the Queensland coastal town of Bundaberg, and Katherine in the NT. Crocodiles have been spotted in some floodwaters with residents warned to stay out of them.. In Darwin, people have been asked to reduce water consumption and boil drinking water after the pump station at the dam that supplies most of the city’s water was flooded and stopped working.. Floods. China. Australia  

​ Epstein used modelling agent to recruit girls, Brazilian women tell BBC. 4 hours ago. Luiz Fernando ToledoBBC News Brasil. BBC / Anselmo Cunha. Warning: This story contains graphic sexual descriptions.. “If I had disobeyed my mother and gone to New York, what might have happened to me?” asks Gláucia Fekete.. In 2004, as a 16-year-old living in the Brazilian countryside, she was taking her first steps in the modelling world.. She says French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel visited her family home, to persuade her mother to let her go to a modelling contest in Ecuador. He later killed himself in prison, accused of rape, sexual assault and recruiting girls for the late US financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.. Back then, they didn’t know who Brunel was; they had been introduced by a famous Brazilian scout.. A BBC News Brasil investigation has found evidence that Brunel used modelling agencies linked to him at the time to actively seek out young women and girls from South America for Epstein, and to arrange visas for them to travel to the US.. Another Brazilian woman, who says she had a relationship with Epstein, showed the BBC her US visa. It named one of Brunel’s agencies as her sponsor, even though she says she never did any modelling work for him and the travel documents were arranged solely so that she could visit Epstein.. US Department of Justice. Gláucia’s mother was suspicious of Brunel, but he seemed “very charming” and eventually she agreed her daughter could go to Ecuador without her. The teenager travelled with Brunel’s team to Guayaquil for the Models New Generation competition. At the time, local newspapers reported that the participants were between 15 and 19 years old.. Gláucia says the competition passed without any major problems, although she grew suspicious when she was not allowed to contact her family.. Another contestant, from Western Europe, who was 16 at the time, remembers how Brunel’s behaviour struck her as odd. She asked not to be named, so we are referring to her as Laura.. “It was weird how he behaved and was always hanging out with the young Brazilian girls… He was behaving like a clown and only hanging out with quite young girls,” she says.. Laura believes that while the competition was “legit” and well organised, “he knew exactly which girls were vulnerable”.. “He seemed to control their finances,” she says. “The girls from Brazil and East European countries seemed to be the prime target.”. Gláucia says that towards the end of the trip, Brunel offered to fly her to New York “to take part in shows” with all expenses paid. At that point they had to contact her mother, Barbara, for permission.. Fekete family archive /BBC / Anselmo Cunha. Barbara’s response: “No. Not a chance.. “They were only looking for children, minors,” Barbara says. “Unfortunately they found my daughter.”. She forbade Gláucia from any more involvement in modelling and cut ties with Brunel’s network.. “It really was a narrow escape,” sa