BEIJING — China is willing to work with the United States to promote communication at all levels while upholding its “red lines” and principles, a spokesperson for its parliament said on Wednesday.

The comments come ahead of the opening of the National People’s Congress annual session on Thursday and as both countries look to stabilize ties ahead of an expected summit of leaders Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Beijing at the end of March.

Bilateral relations, already bruised due to trade tensions, have been further strained by the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a Caracas raid in January and the US-Israeli war against Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. China counts both countries as long-time major oil suppliers and close partners.

Spokesman Lou Qinjian repeated China’s call for an immediate ceasefire and urged respect for Iran’s sovereignty.

“No country has the right to control international affairs, dictate the fate of other nations, or monopolize development advantages, still less to act as it pleases on the world stage,” he told a press conference.

China and the United States should respect each other and coexist peacefully, he said, calling on the US Congress to view China “objectively” and do more to benefit ties.

But he added: “China has its own principles and red lines, and as always, will resolutely defend its sovereignty, security, and development interests.”

A White House official has said Mr. Trump will travel to China from March 31 to April 2, although Beijing has made no official announcement.

Top trade negotiators from both sides are expected to meet in Paris next week to discuss potential business deals linked to the highly anticipated meet, Bloomberg News said on Tuesday. — Reuters

SINGAPORE — Asian markets skidded on Wednesday, with investors cutting crowded positions in gold and chipmakers on worries a wider Mideast war could deliver an energy shock that raises inflation and delays rate cuts.

Shares in Seoul dived 4% to take two-day losses beyond 11% as fast-money and foreigners bailed out of a market that had soared on memory chipmakers’ vast AI-driven profits.

The selloff dragged the won to a 17-year low.

Japan’s Nikkei slid 2.5% in a third straight session of losses. Japan and South Korea are major energy importers.

Benchmark Brent crude oil futures are up more than 12% for the week at $81.40 a barrel, though they came off highs after US President Donald Trump ordered an insurance guarantee on Gulf shipping and said the navy may escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary.

US and Israeli forces have pounded Iran for four days and Iranian drones and missiles have struck Gulf oil refineries and also US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

“It does look like conflict is going to go a little bit longer than what people thought initially. And there’s been escalation, because the war is now broadening out to include allies of the US,” said Damien Boey, portfolio strategist at Wilson Asset Management in Sydney.

“Oil infrastructure seems to be under attack … so people are having to think about what is the duration of all of that.”

Gold fell about 4.5% overnight and the Aussie dollar slid 0.8% as traders were cashing out of winning bets to cover losses elsewhere in a volatile week. Early in the Asia session gold steadied at $5,128 an ounce, while US and European futures also tried to stabilize, with S&P 500 futures flat and European futures up 0.8%.

On Wall Street, indexes pared heavier losses but the S&P 500 closed 0.8% lower on fear over potentially prolonged higher oil prices.

“The biggest issue that (investors) are trying to weigh gets back to the intertwining of inflation and interest rates,” said Chuck Carlson, CEO at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana.

“Are energy prices going to remain elevated for a longer period of time than people thought yesterday, and then does that pass through?”

The euro has slid below $1.16 as investors expect Europe will be hit hard by higher energy costs. Benchmark European gas prices have jumped about 65% in two days. — Reuters

NEW YORK — A US judge granted preliminary approval on Tuesday to an agreement for Jeffrey Epstein’s estate to pay as much as $35 million to resolve a class action lawsuit that accused two of the disgraced financier’s advisers of aiding and abetting his sex trafficking of young women and teenage girls.

Boies Schiller Flexner, a law firm representing Epstein victims, announced the settlement on February 19. On Tuesday, Manhattan-based US District Judge Arun Subramanian said the agreement appeared fair. The judge scheduled a hearing for September 16 to consider granting final approval.

The deal would bring an end to a 2024 lawsuit filed against Mr. Epstein’s former personal lawyer Darren Indyke and former accountant Richard Kahn, who are co-executors of Mr. Epstein’s estate.

Mr. Epstein’s estate previously set up a restitution fund that paid out $121 million to victims. The estate also paid $49 million in additional settlements to victims.

Daniel Weiner, a lawyer for Mr. Indyke and Mr. Kahn, said neither man admitted wrongdoing or conceded misconduct as part of the settlement.

“Because they did nothing wrong, the co-executors were prepared to fight the claims against them through to trial, but agreed to mediate and settle this lawsuit in order to achieve finality as to any potential claims against the Epstein Estate,” Mr. Weiner said in a statement.

Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer who brought the case, said in a statement, “We are pleased we could take another step forward on that long road for the survivors and provide some sort of justice.”

Mr. Epstein died in a New York jail in August 2019. His death was ruled a suicide.

Millions of documents released this year by the Justice Department from its investigation into Mr. Epstein have shed light on his social ties to wealthy and powerful people around the world.

In the 2024 lawsuit, lawyers at Boies Schiller Flexner said Mr. Indyke and Mr. Kahn helped Mr. Epstein create a complex web of corporations and bank accounts that let him hide his abuses and pay victims and recruiters. Mr. Indyke and Mr. Kahn were “richly compensated” for their work, the lawsuit said.

The Boies law firm previously helped obtain $365 million of settlements with JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank after accusing them of missing red flags about Mr. Epstein, once a lucrative client. — Reuters

SYDNEY – Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said on Wednesday that he was surprised at the “benign” reaction in financial markets over the conflict in the Middle East, and it may take a “couple of weeks” for investors to more fully digest the impacts.

“I look at the market reaction, and I’m actually surprised that the market reaction has been more benign given the magnitude of this as you might think,” Mr. Solomon said in a speech at a business summit in Sydney.

Mr. Solomon said markets tend to react in a muted way to geopolitical events unless they have a direct impact on economic growth.

“There’s a cumulative effect of everything that’s happening and a much harsher reaction. Up to this point, we haven’t seen that cumulative effect,” he said. “But it’s very hard to speculate because there is so much that is unknown at this point.”

“I think it’s gonna take a couple of weeks for markets to really digest the implications of what has happened both in the short term and medium term, and I can’t speculate as to how that would play out,” he said.

Oil prices have spiked as the widening conflict stoked supply worries, exacerbating investor concerns about inflation.

Global stock indexes have slumped while the US dollar has strengthened as investors sold riskier assets and flocked to traditional safe havens.

However, Wall Street losses have been relatively mild, with the S&P 500 down less than 1% this week after paring early losses into the close on both trading days.

Mr. Solomon said a combination of factors, including an easing monetary cycle and a significant relaxation of regulatory practices, had helped keep the US economy in solid shape.

“Let us put aside what’s going on in the Middle East at the moment,” he said. “We have a confluence of strong macro tailwinds that make the economic growth trajectory of the United States, I think, quite compelling.” — Reuters

LONDON/CHICAGO/SYDNEY —- The airline and tourism industries scrambled to deal with the fallout from the escalating US and Israeli air war against Iran, while governments rushed to bring stranded travelers home from the Middle East following the cancellation of more than 20,000 flights in recent days.

Major Gulf hubs including Dubai, the world’s busiest international airport, remained closed or severely restricted for a fourth day, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded. According to Flightradar24, some 21,300 flights have been canceled at seven major airports including Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi since the strikes started.

The attacks have upended travel across a growing region with several thriving business hubs that are trying to diversify away from oil-dominated economies. The turmoil also narrows an already-slim flight corridor for long-haul flights between Europe and Asia, complicating operations for global air carriers.

Stranded travelers across the Gulf rushed to secure seats on a limited number of repatriation flights as governments moved to bring passengers home even as explosions tore through Tehran and Beirut. Emirates, flydubai and Etihad have been operating a limited number of flights since Monday, mostly to repatriate stranded passengers.

“It’s pretty well the biggest shutdown we’ve seen certainly since the COVID pandemic,” said Paul Charles, CEO of luxury travel consultancy PC Agency, adding that beyond passenger disruption the cargo impact would run to “billions of dollars.”

Many passenger airlines also move cargo in their aircraft bellies, resulting in disruptions to air freight. Cargo specialist FedEx said by email it was using “contingency measures” it did not describe in the Middle East, after saying earlier in the day that it had resumed pickup and delivery services in the region where possible.

EMERGENCY EVACUATIONS
The United Arab Emirates government said 60 flights had taken off, operating in dedicated emergency air corridors. The next phase will be operating more than 80 flights.

The United States is securing military and charter flights to evacuate Americans from the Middle East, a US State Department official said on X on Tuesday, adding that it was in contact with nearly 3,000 US citizens. The department was under fire from US lawmakers who said the Trump administration should have advised people to leave before the attacks started.

Delta Air Lines said on Tuesday it paused New York-Tel Aviv flights through March 22 because of the conflict and was offering rebooking options and a travel waiver for affected customers through March 31.

Demand for alternatives to Gulf airlines has surged, with bookings and ticket prices jumping on routes like Hong Kong-London, Reuters’ checks showed on Tuesday. Should the conflict drag on, it could cost the Middle East billions in tourism dollars, analysts estimate.

“We can’t get home, we can’t go back to work, we can’t get the kids back to school,” said Tatiana Leclerc, a French tourist stuck in Thailand, whose flight had been set to go via the Middle East hubs that are a key link between Asia and Europe.

In an early sign of a thaw, Virgin Atlantic said on Tuesday it would resume services as scheduled between London’s Heathrow Airport and Dubai or Riyadh.

AIRLINE STOCKS SLIP
Shares of air carriers worldwide fell on Tuesday. The operational and financial effect varies significantly among airlines, said Karen Li, JP Morgan’s head of Asia infrastructure, industrials and transport research.

“There are important differences across carriers in terms of hedging strategy, air cargo exposure, and network rerouting capabilities that will shape the actual impact from the Middle East situation,” Li said.

Oil prices have surged amid the widening conflict. Benchmark crude is up roughly 30% so far this year, threatening to lift jet fuel costs and squeeze airline profits. Most US airlines long ago gave up on hedging fuel purchases, their second-largest operating cost behind labour.

In its latest annual filing, Delta said every one-cent increase in the price of jet fuel per gallon added about $40 million to its yearly fuel bill. A 10% increase would add $1 billion to Delta’s 2026 fuel bill, Third Bridge analyst Peter McNally said.

Shares of most US carriers ended lower, with Southwest down about 1% and Alaska Air off roughly 2%.

In Europe, shares of Wizz Air, British Airways owner IAG, Lufthansa, and Air France KLM ended down 5% to 8%.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary told Reuters the airline was hedged for the next 12 months at about $67 a barrel and that the recent fluctuations would not impact the business. Its stock fell 2.2% on Tuesday.

Qantas Airways CEO Vanessa Hudson said the airline has “pretty good” fuel hedging but the spike in oil prices was significant for the industry. The Australian airline’s shares fell 1.8%.

Shares of Japan Airlines closed down 6.4%, while Korean Air Lines dropped 10.3%, its biggest fall since March 2020, as it resumed trading after a public holiday on Monday.

Shares of major Chinese carriers including Air China and China Southern Airlines lost between 2% and 4% in Hong Kong and Shanghai. — Reuters