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Oil prices settled higher on Friday but fell week-on-week after health authorities in China eased some of the country’s heavy COVID-19 curbs, raising hopes for improved economic activity and demand in the world’s top crude importer. Brent crude futures settled up $2.32 at $95.99 a barrel, extending a 1.1% rise from the previous session but falling 2.6% on the week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled up $2.49, or 2.9%, at $88.96 a barrel, after climbing 0.8% in the previous session but down nearly 4% on the week. The easing curbs include shortening quarantine times for close contacts of cases and inbound travellers by two days, as well as eliminating a penalty on airlines for bringing in infected passengers. The benchmark oil contracts fell during the week due to rising U.S. oil inventories, and lingering fears over capped fuel demand in China, but late-week gains limited the losses. “China’s changing response to stubbornly high COVID-19 cases has added to the oi...

Oil prices settled around $3 lower on Monday, dragged down by a firmer U.S. dollar while surging coronavirus cases in China dashed hopes of a swift reopening of the economy for the world’s biggest crude importer. Brent crude futures settled down $2.85, or 3%, at $93.14 a barrel after gaining 1.1% on Friday. WTI crude futures settled down $3.09, or 3.47%, to $85.87 after advancing 2.9% on Friday. On Friday, commodities prices rallied after China’s National Health Commission adjusted its COVID-19 prevention and control measures to shorten quarantine times for close contacts of cases and inbound travellers. But COVID-19 cases climbed in China over the weekend, with Beijing and other big cities on Monday reporting record infections. “The surge in COVID cases will only lead to more lockdowns in the near term … for now China is not a source of bullish support for the petroleum complex,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. The U.S. dollar also rose against the euro ...

A fisherman on a boat as a power plant emits smoke in the background in Jakarta, Indonesia. Irwin Fedriansyah/The Associated Press Indonesia signed deals with international lenders and major nations on Tuesday that will bring billions of dollars in funding to help the country increase its use of renewable energy and reduce its reliance on coal. The $20-billion agreement was announced on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. Called a Just Energy Transition Partnership, or JETP, it is meant to help developing countries reduce their reliance on fossil fuels such as coal and gas that cause carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. It’s an important step for Indonesia, a major exporter of coal that has abundant potential for developing cleaner energy. “In today’s world, climate change is a global emergency,” said Luhut Binsar Pandajaitan, Indonesia’s co-ordinating minister of maritime and investment affairs. “Indonesia has an important role to play in avoid...

Last Friday, Nov. 11, 2022, a watermelon made an appearance at the Ukrainian pavilion at COP27 in Egypt. Handout There is no Russian pavilion at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt. There is a Ukrainian one and it has been a hit, not just because of the environmental message it delivers but for its powerful anti-war message, too. Last Friday, an unusual guest made an appearance at the pavilion: a watermelon. It was brought in to celebrate the liberation of Kherson from Russian occupation and was placed on a chair draped with the Ukrainian flag. The fruit became a symbol of Ukraine’s victory last week when a video of a Ukrainian soldier entering the city while holding up a watermelon, as crowds cheered, went viral. “Ukraine is very good at procuring howitzers and HIMARS missiles – also watermelons in Egypt,” Oleksiy Ryabchin, Ukraine’s chief climate negotiator and former deputy minister of energy and environment, told Tausi Insider. Finding the watermelon was not easy, since they ar...

Construction workers take a break to watch World Cup soccer action between Italy and Paraguay on a public video screen in Toronto on June 14, 2010. Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press Back in 2011, when Bell Media beat out CBC/Radio-Canada for the broadcasting rights to the FIFA World Cup, the odds of a Canadian team qualifying for the 2022 edition of soccer’s premier tournament were not so strong. After all, Canada had not participated in a men’s World Cup since 1986. But surging interest in soccer here persuaded BCE Inc.’s media unit that it was worth outbidding the public broadcaster, which had held the rights to FIFA events for several years. That turns out to have been a smart move. Soccer madness has skyrocketed in the country since then. And with revved-up Canadian fans salivating at the prospect of finally watching a homegrown team vie for the cup, Bell Media’s pricey bet now appears set to pay off – big time. The fickle fan’s guide to Qatar 2022 Seven of the world’s best soc...

A woman walks past a COP27 sign at the UN climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Nov. 16. Peter Dejong/The Associated Press UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world governments to “stand and deliver” a strong climate deal at the COP27 summit in Egypt on Thursday as negotiators remained far apart on key issues a day before the agreement’s deadline. The two-week conference at the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh is a test of global resolve to combat global warming as governments around the world are buffeted by crises ranging from a land war in Europe to sky-high consumer costs. “Global emissions are at their highest level in history – and rising. Climate impacts are decimating economies and societies – and growing. We know what we need to do – and we have the tools and resources to get it done,” Guterres told the conference. “I am here to appeal to all parties to rise to this moment and to the greatest challenge facing humanity. The world is watching and has a si...

Ottawa Senators left wing Brady Tkachuk watches as his shot on Buffalo Sabres goaltender Eric Comrie crosses the goal line and into the net. The Canadian Press Sal Galatioto took the stage at an investor conference in Manhattan this summer, on a day when stocks were in free fall. The host of the panel opened the session by asking Mr. Galatioto, the founder of boutique investment bank Galatioto Sports Partners (GSP), for his take on the state of the investing world, considering the bleak backdrop of soaring interest rates and recession fears. “I’ve never seen the markets hotter than this,” Mr. Galatioto said. “I have never been busier.” The host, a Baker McKenzie lawyer named Karl Paulson-Egbert, stopped Mr. Galatioto mid-sentence and asked him to explain what he does, and how he could be so upbeat. The banker explained that he has spent the past four decades advising some of the world’s richest people on buying and selling professional sports franchises. In those lofty economic circl...

Sam Bankman-Fried speaks at the Crypto Bahamas conference in Nassau on April 27. ERIKA P. RODRIGUEZ /The New York Times News Service Chris Clearfield is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Clearfield Group. Andras Tilcsik is a professor with the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. They are the authors of Meltdown: What Plane Crashes, Oil Spills, and Dumb Business Decisions Can Teach Us About How to Succeed at Work and at Home . The bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange displays the classic elements of the failure of what is known as a “complex” system. It’s like the remake of a famous movie franchise: a story with the same plot and basic characters, only played by different actors. The same factors that underlie the collapse of FTX are at the root of the financial crisis, the Enron bankruptcy, and frauds such as Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and Elizabeth Holmes’s Theranos. These factors are also at the root of plane crashes, ...

Epidemic control workers move a barrier fence in an area under lockdown in Beijing, on Nov. 24. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images China reported record high COVID-19 infections on Thursday, with cities nationwide imposing localized lockdowns, mass testing and other curbs that are fuelling frustration and darkening the outlook for the world’s second largest economy. The resurgence of infections, nearly three years after the pandemic emerged in the central city of Wuhan, casts doubt on investor hopes for China to ease its rigid zero-COVID policy soon, despite recent more targeted measures. The curbs are taking a toll on locked-down residents as well as output at factories, including the world’s biggest iPhone plant, which has been rocked by clashes between workers and security personnel in a rare show of dissent. “How many people have the savings to support them if things continually stay halted?” asked a 40-year-old Beijing man surnamed Wang who is a manager at a foreign firm. “And even if yo...

Jordan Bitove during a panel discussion in Toronto on Nov. 17. Cole Burston/Tausi Insider Jordan Bitove will take complete ownership of Torstar Corp., the parent company of the Toronto Star and Metroland Media Group, as part of a settlement agreement after a bitter falling out with business partner Paul Rivett, according to a statement from the company. “Paul Rivett and I went into our partnership with the best of intentions, united in our desire to build a more resilient and competitive Torstar,” Mr. Bitove said in the statement. “Areas of disagreement emerged which we were not able to resolve.” Mr. Rivett will be departing Torstar. “It was my absolute pleasure to have been involved, even briefly, with the storied Star and Metroland organizations,” he said in the statement. The two businessmen purchased Torstar in 2020 for $60-million through their company NordStar Capital. Owing to their equal partnership, they became deadlocked over business decisions earlier this year and, starti...

An epidemic control worker disinfects an area behind a barricade outside a community under lockdown in Beijing, on Nov. 25. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images Frustration simmered on Friday among residents and business groups in China navigating stricter COVID-19 control curbs as the country reported another record high of daily infections just weeks after hopes had been raised of easing measures. The resurgence of COVID cases in China, with 32,695 new local infections recorded for Thursday as numerous cities report outbreaks, has prompted widespread lockdowns and other curbs on movement and business, as well as pushback. China’s COVID response is taking a mounting toll on the world’s second-largest economy, and on Friday its central bank made a widely-anticipated move of support, cutting the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves. This releases 500 billion yuan ($69.8-billion) in long-term liquidity. The French Chamber of Commerce in China urged authorities to properly implement COV...

Sacco di Roma 455. Painted in the 19th century. Handout Like Alaric when he’d sacked Rome, Elon Musk, the outsider who’d long wanted in, has now taken over the eternal city of Twitter. Mr. Musk’s first order of business – or the most prominent one, at least – has been to change one of the most curious aspects of the Internet: the little blue check marks next to users names’ that show them as “verified.” (It’s actually a white check mark on a blue badge, but who cares any more these days?) The debate around this issue has been intense and even obsessive at times. But it has danced around the elephant in the room – our own vanity that has caused us to attach value to that checkmark. Intentionally or not, Mr. Musk, whose day job is chief executive of Tesla Inc. TSLA-Q, has launched a grand social experiment. What that reveals is unexpected but straightforward: If purely digital milestones can have such real and tangible power over us, then perhaps the metaverse and Web3 are worth our in...