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April 24 is Arbor Day, when Americans will gather to plant trees on city streets, in parks, and within other open spaces. But this year, as wildfires, drought and flooding threaten communities from California to
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Victoria Richards, The IndependentMeghan Markle doesn’t exactly make it easy to like her, does she? She’s currently on a... shall we say, self-promotional tour of Australia (others would call it a “grift”), where she’s trumpeting
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Charlotte Cripps, The IndependentAs Zendaya, wearing a stylish black halterneck, and Sydney Sweeney, in a white mini-dress with flamboyant cape sleeves, attended the LA premiere of Euphoria’s third season this week, things looked far from
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In the sad passing away of Asha Bhosle, India’s famed singer and nightingale, we have lost a melodious voice and icon. Though she became a household name for her later songs, in the 1980s and
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This refers to the NDA Government’s aim to pass amendments to “Nari Shakti Vandan Abhiniyam.” With due respect to our womenfolk, we do endorse the views of Congress leaders that increasing Lok Sabha seats, based
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Foreign investors are selling Thai assets as an energy shock from the US-Israeli war on Iran threatens to snuff out hopes for an economic revival under Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and exposes the policy paralysis that is gripping Bangkok. The conflict has sent global oil prices up to near $100 a barrel, sharpening the focus on Asia’s reliance on energy supplies from the Gulf. Thailand is among the most exposed, with the Middle East supplying nearly half of its oil and gas, according to Krungsri Research. With public debt on the brink of eclipsing the government’s self-imposed 70% ceiling and an economy that was already in deflation before the war, Bangkok’s challenge is far more acute than most of its neighbours. The setback came just as the stars seemed to be aligning for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, with investors rushing into Thailand again for the first time in years. Foreigners bought $1.7bn worth of Thai stocks in February, LSEG data showed. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s resounding victory in February ushered in hopes of political stability and long-awaited economic reforms in a country that had lurched through years of turmoil and uncertainty. But when the Iran war broke out at the end of February, foreign investors pulled back sharply, with an $823mn net selloff in equities in March, while bond outflows hit $705mn, the largest combined outflow since October 2024. A two-week ceasefire this month has spurred hopes of a resolution and led to a sharp rally in Thai stocks and the baht, but investors are cautious about the country’s vulnerability if oil prices remain elevated. “The risk remains (that) markets remain complacent about the long-term impact from energy shock and that higher fuel costs hit consumption and disrupt exports and tourism, two key drivers of the Thai economy,” said Daniel Tan, a portfolio manager at Grasshopper Asset Management. Khoi Vu, an Asean equity strategist at JPMorgan, said his bank is still cautious on Thai equities, noting that while political stability had begun to brighten the outlook before the Middle East conflict, the energy shock is a near-term headwind. “As the energy shock has yet to fully materialise, we believe the market has yet to price in significant growth impact,” he said. With the fragile ceasefire in mind, analysts and investors warn Thailand faces another difficult year. Unlike many of its peers in the region, Thailand’s exposure runs deeper than just fuel costs as over half of annual power output comes from gas, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports are accounting for an increasing share of generation. Thailand’s conundrum is that its economy has struggled to gain traction, growing just 2.4% last year and lagging peers, while inflation dropped for 12 straight months, triggering a rate cut from the central bank in February before the war. “There’s a broad consensus among investors that Thailand is in a policy bind,” said Gary Tan, a Singapore-based portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments. “The central bank has limited room to hike without derailing the recovery, but little urgency or space to ease, which leaves policy restrictive by default,” said Tan, who is underweight on Thailand. Every one baht rise in fuel prices cuts economic growth by 2 basis points, according to state planning agency estimates, underlining why Bangkok is reluctant to increase subsidies. “Higher oil prices could weigh on consumption, the current account and the baht, while also complicating the disinflation path and potentially limiting how much further rates can fall,” said Nattanont Arunyakananda, investment manager of Thai equities at Aberdeen Investments. The war has upended Thailand’s inflation picture, with average inflation projected to rise as much as 3.5% this year depending on how the conflict unfolds, a stark turnaround from a 0.54% contraction in the first quarter. Thailand has limited ammunition to address its economic problems, Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said. The currency has emerged as the pressure valve, with the Thai baht sliding about 2.8% since the war broke out, though it has clawed back some of the losses since the ceasefire was announced last week.
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As the United States embarks on clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz, it could draw on an arsenal of drones, explosive-laden robots and helicopters to reduce risks, though de-mining crews could still be vulnerable to Iranian attacks. The US is trying to secure the strait from mines as part of efforts to end Iran’s disruption of shipping, which has severely curbed global energy supplies since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran at the end of February. But while the US can draw on modernised technology to remotely check for and remove mines, clearing a strategic waterway such as the Strait of Hormuz will still be a slow, multi-step process, former naval officers and industry specialists say. The US military said over the weekend it had started the mine-clearing operation, sending two warships through the strait, but offered few details about the equipment involved. It said that additional forces, including underwater drones, would join the effort in the coming days. Iran had recently deployed about a dozen mines in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported last month, citing sources familiar with the matter. It is not publicly known where mines may have been laid. US President Donald Trump said over the weekend that all of Iran’s minelaying ships had been sunk. But there is a risk Tehran could deploy additional devices, some specialists said. Mine warfare is effective because the devices are cheap, are costly to clear and “even the threat of a minefield is enough to stop ships, especially commercial ships,” said Jon Pentreath, a retired British navy rear admiral who is now a consultant. MODERNIZING MINESWEEPINGTraditionally, the US Navy relied on manned minesweeping ships that physically entered minefields, using sonars to locate the devices and mechanical gear dragged behind the vessel to clear explosives, sometimes supported by human divers. Much of that aging fleet has been retired. They are being replaced by lighter vessels known as littoral combat ships, which carry modern mine-hunting equipment such as semi-autonomous surface and underwater drones as well as remote-controlled robots that enable crews to distance themselves from the minefield. The navy has three of these in deployment. Two of those ships were undergoing maintenance in Singapore, a senior US official told Reuters in late March. At the time, the US minesweeping capacity in the Middle East included unmanned undersea vehicles, four of the traditional Avenger-class vessels, helicopters and divers, according to the official. The US Navy did not respond to a comment request on the mine-clearing capability it currently has in the Middle East. US Central Command declined to provide further details. Tehran is believed to possess several types of maritime mines, former naval officials and other specialists say. These include bottom mines that rest on the seabed and detonate when ships pass above, tethered mines that are anchored but float closer to the surface, drifting mines that move freely on the water, and limpet mines that attach directly to a ship’s hull. The US operation will likely involve searching for mines using unmanned surface and underwater vehicles equipped with sensors. Once a mine-like object is detected, the data is typically transferred to crews operating outside the minefield, who identify the device. They then determine how it should be neutralised. The Navy’s search capability now includes sonar-mounted unmanned surface and undersea vehicles, as well as helicopters that are used to spot mines near the surface, former naval officials say. To destroy mines, the Navy can deploy systems such as the torpedo-shaped Archerfish, a remotely operated device about 2m long that carries an explosive charge and transmits video back to operators via cable, according to its manufacturer, BAE Systems. Designed to be expendable, it costs tens of thousands of dollars. The US could also use unmanned boats towing mine-sweeping sleds that trigger detonations or gather mines, said Bryan Clark, a retired US naval officer and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Human divers are also sometimes used, including for intelligence gathering, specialists say. SLOW PROCESSClearing the strait could take two or three weeks, Clark said, and Iranian attacks on mine-clearing crews could slow the process and raise risks. As a result, he said, the US military may deploy defensive measures like ships and airborne drones to defend crews and equipment. “Finding and destroying mines is very time consuming,” US Admiral Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, said in March. That leaves mine-clearing capability “vulnerable,” he added. New technologies are being developed to speed up mine clearance, particularly through advances in sensors used for detection, specialists say. French technology and defence group Thales says its latest sonar can scan a suspected mine from three different angles in one pass, a process that typically requires multiple sweeps. Advances in artificial intelligence are also enabling more data analysis to be carried out onboard unmanned vessels. Longer term, the ambition is to deploy groups of unmanned systems that can search for, identify and destroy mines, rather than it being a multi-step process. “That doesn’t exist today,” said Mark Bock, a retired US Navy captain who is now vice president of business development at Thales’ US Navy business. “But it is what all nations are trying to achieve now.”
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Spain’s Pedro Sanchez hosts a summit of world progressives this week with greater global clout as turbulent relations with US President Donald Trump bolster his image as a left-wing hero. Clashes with Trump, virulent criticism
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In a grassy valley in rural southern Bulgaria, farmer Nikolay Vasiliev is desperate for change. For years, he said, corrupt local officials have blocked plans to expand his cattle-raising business. Revolving governments in the capital
