Oil Crisis Sends Supertanker Prices To Record Highs

The cost of hiring an oil supertanker passed $1.2mn a day on routes between the Middle East and Asia, adding to pressure on global energy markets triggered by the Iran war.

The conflict has caused a severe shortage of some of the world’s largest tankers, known as Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), because ships are having to redraw their routes and travel much longer distances.

Rates between the Middle East and China have more than doubled since late August for the class of carrier, which holds about two million barrels, according to shipbroker Braemar. Other routes have seen similar jumps, with the cost of transporting oil from Brazil to China surging by a third over the past week, according to the FT.

“Super” El Niño Could Kill Half A Million People By February

Extreme heat caused by this year’s “Super” El Niño could result in as many as 451,000 excess deaths across the ​globe in the six months through February 2027, ‌climate scientists are warning.

According to researchers at the University of Chicago's Climate Impact Lab, the toll would run from June through the end of February 2027, measured against the number of heat-related deaths expected in a normal year.

Nigeria, Indonesia, Sudan, India, and Brazil are expected to bear the brunt of the crisis, as tropical regions face the greatest exposure to the extreme temperatures.

What makes this El Niño especially alarming is its strength – it's already the most powerful on record, and it hasn't even peaked yet. On September 21, global temperatures measured 3.08°C above average, edging past the previous record of 3.02°C set back in 2015.

France Prepares For Pope Leo XIV Historic Visit

Pope Leo XIV will embark on a historic four-day apostolic journey to France, marking the country’s first official papal state visit in nearly 20 years.

Catholic leaders hope the trip will repair the Church’s standing after a crushing 2021 report on child abuse by priests sparked nationwide shock.

Leo, who will meet abuse survivors during the visit, is also expected to draw large crowds for an outdoor Mass in central Paris and will address French, UN and European leaders in separate events on his whirlwind, three-city tour.

Leo’s agenda in Paris includes speeches to President Emmanuel Macron and other French leaders at the Élysée Palace and to staff at the headquarters of the United Nations culture and education body, UNESCO.

He will also lead a prayer service in Paris at the restored Notre-Dame cathedral, in the first visit by a pope since a devastating fire nearly destroyed the Gothic masterpiece in 2019.

Beyond Paris, the pope’s tour includes a stop at the famous Catholic shrine at Lourdes, in southwestern France. It will culminate in Metz, a town near the German border that was home to the late Robert Schuman, one of the founders of the European Union, for a speech on “the roots of Europe for peace and unity”.