Shipping

Thailand’s main international airport has become a reluctant hub in a sprawling illegal trade funneling wild animals to India, where social media “petfluencers” and exotic cafes are fueling a boom in demand for rare creatures.

Russia has emerged as Syria’s dominant oil supplier, with shipments rising about 75 percent to roughly 60,000 barrels per day this year despite Damascus’s pivot toward the West and lingering public anger over Moscow’s military backing of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.

China’s two-decade effort to build an international financial system anchored by its currency, the renminbi, is gaining traction as wars and Western sanctions push U.S. adversaries to seek alternatives to the dollar.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday sanctioned a major Chinese independent oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping firms and vessels tied to what it called Iran’s “shadow fleet,” in the latest action under a campaign Treasury has dubbed “Economic Fury.”

The European Union on Thursday formally adopted its much delayed 20th package of restrictive measures against Russia and the bloc’s biggest package of designations in two years. Here’s what’s in it.

Canada’s financial intelligence agency has issued a bulletin warning banks and other institutions to be on alert for money laundering linked to an escalating extortion campaign targeting South Asian diaspora communities, particularly in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario.

Proposed European anti-money-laundering (AML) standards could place a “significant operational burden” on banks by potentially requiring customer due diligence checks on counterparties that are not traditional bank clients, a trade finance industry body has warned.

European Union member states have agreed a new sanctions package against Russia after Hungary lifted its veto, clearing the way for measures targeting Russian oil transport, banks, crypto platforms, and trade in restricted goods.

China has rolled out tough new rules aimed at countering foreign sanctions, explicitly linking the measures to U.S. threats of secondary sanctions on Chinese banks over Iranian oil purchases and warning that further retaliation tools are likely to follow.

The Trump administration has extended for about a month a sanctions exemption covering some Russian oil already at sea, reversing course just two days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States would not renew the waiver.