SEOUL — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Monday for a summit aimed at expanding cooperation in fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) and nuclear energy, during a state visit to the city-state.

At a joint press conference, Mr. Lee and Mr. Wong announced the start of negotiations to upgrade the countries’ existing free trade agreement, which took effect in 2006.

The countries also signed five memoranda of understanding for cooperation in fields such as small modular reactors for nuclear power generation, AI and other scientific fields such as quantum and space satellites, South Korea’s Blue House said.

Other partnerships will include cooperation on investment between Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek and its asset management unit Seviora Group with state-run Korea Development Bank, Mr. Lee told the press conference.

“Singapore is a meaningful place where the historic US-North Korea summit was held in 2018,” Mr. Lee said. “I trust that you will continue to play a constructive role for peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.”

Mr. Wong and Mr. Lee exchanged views on the impact of the situation in the Middle East, including global security, energy, and supply chains, and agreed on their hope that stability and peace would be restored, Mr. Lee said. — Reuters

LONDON/SYDNEY/HONG KONG — Travel shares fell sharply on Monday as escalating conflict between the US, Israel and Iran disrupted flights around the globe, forced the closure of key Middle Eastern hubs and sent oil prices surging.

Middle Eastern airports including Dubai, the world’s busiest international hub, and Doha closed for a third day, stranding tens of thousands of passengers in one of the sharpest aviation shocks in recent years.

Oil prices jumped 7% to their highest in months as Iran and Israel stepped up attacks, damaging tankers and disrupting shipments from the key producing region.

Shares in TUI, Europe’s largest travel company, dropped 7% in early trade, while British Airways-owner IAG  was down 9%, and Lufthansa and Air France-KLM down 7%. Hotelier Accor, and cruise company Carnival also fell sharply.

Analysts cited rising fuel costs, cancellations, and rerouting expenses as the main pressure points for airlines, despite most having hedged their fuel.

“We believe that an active war zone, along with the resulting flight disruptions (due to closure of airspace and airports), is likely to curb travel appetite in the region,” said B Riley Securities in a note.

Asian airlines were also hit. Japan’s ANA Holdings, Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Malaysia’s AirAsia X  and Taiwan’s China Airlines and EVA Airways all fell at least 4%.

Cathay Pacific, which fell as much as 7% before trimming losses to 2.9%, canceled all flights to the Middle East, including passenger services to Dubai and Riyadh, until further notice. “We are waiving rebooking and rerouting charges for the affected customers,” it said.

Singapore Airlines canceled flights to and from Dubai through March 7, while Japan Airlines suspended Tokyo-Doha flights.

“For (East) Asian carriers, the number of flights they have to the airports that have been shut are rather limited,” said Singapore-based independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie. “But of course you have the potential impact of higher oil prices and the overall political/economic instability globally.”

He added that Indian carriers were particularly exposed due to heavy Middle Eastern schedules serving migrant workers and a ban on using Pakistan’s airspace on flights to and from Europe.

Air India canceled flights on Monday between India and Zurich, Copenhagen and Birmingham, as well as to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Qatar. It said flights to New York and Newark would refuel in Rome.

Data provider VariFlight said mainland Chinese airlines had cancelled 26.5% of flights to and from the Middle East from March 2 to March 8. The pattern pointed to “sharp near-term disruption but relatively limited revisions further out in the week, suggesting carriers are still holding back from broader schedule resets while monitoring developments,” it said.

PASSENGERS SCRAMBLE TO CHANGE FLIGHTS
The ripple effects have hit travelers worldwide. Dubai was the world’s busiest international airport in 2024 with 92 million passengers, according to Airports Council International, ahead of London’s Heathrow by 13 million. Doha ranked tenth.

Virgin Australia, which leases planes operated by partner Qatar Airways for flights to Doha, canceled eight flights on Monday and offered free booking changes.

Qatar Airways passengers in Sydney told Reuters they scrambled to rearrange travel with little information from the airline.

Ascanio Giorgetti, 16, and his mother Alessandra Giorgetti, from Italy, arrived to find their Qatar Airways flight to Milan via Doha cancelled. They secured an alternate route home via Los Angeles on another airline.

“We have no information at all, no answer on the phone from Qatar (Airways),” she said, adding the tickets had cost 4,000 euros ($4,708).

Jenni and Doug Stewart, both 78, were flying from Sydney to Scotland via Doha when their flight turned back halfway to Doha.

“We were told the airspace had closed and we were going back to Sydney,” Jenni said. “Suddenly we veered towards Perth and we didn’t know why, and then it changed again and went to Melbourne.”

They then flew back to Sydney. “It was chaotic in Melbourne, hundreds of people looking for even the vaguest of information,” Doug said. ($1 = 0.8495 euros) — Reuters

NEW DELHI — India’s economic growth slowed in the October-December quarter as government spending and private investment eased, but the South Asian nation remained the world’s fastest growing major economy, helped by strong consumption.

The economy grew 7.8% in October-December from a year earlier under a new data series, slowing from 8.4% expansion in the previous quarter.

The Indian government’s projections under the new data series marginally boosted growth for financial year ending March 31. The economy is estimated to grow by 7.6% in 2025/26, the National Statistics Office said on Friday. It had been forecast to grow by 7.4% under the old data series.

For financial year 2026/27, the country’s projected economic growth has been revised to 7%-7.4% under the new series, said Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran after the data was released. In his annual report released last month, the economy was projected to grow at 6.8%-7.2% for 2026/27.

The South Asian nation will comfortably cross the $4 trillion mark in the next financial year, Mr. Nageswaran said.

INDIA ATTEMPTS TO OVERCOME TARIFF CHALLENGES
For much of the current financial year, India’s economy has contended with uncertainty from tariffs, which have weighed on exports.

In response, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration accelerated domestic reforms, including cutting consumer taxes on hundreds of items and pushing ahead with long-delayed labour reforms.

Earlier this month, New Delhi reached an interim agreement with Washington that reduces effective tariffs to 18%, easing trade tensions, although the deal has yet to be formally signed.

The US Supreme Court’s order striking down President Donald Trump’s global tariffs may improve India’s trade position in its upcoming interim negotiations. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has announced a temporary 10% duty on all nations, including India, and promised to raise it to 15%.

PRIVATE CONSUMPTION REMAINS STRONG
Despite those pressures, private consumption remained strong, expanding by 8.7% year-on-year in the October-December period compared with an 8% expansion in the previous quarter.

Government spending rose 4.7% year-on-year in October-December, down from a 6.6% increase the previous quarter while private investment grew 7.8%, lower than the 8.4% growth a quarter ago.

Manufacturing grew by 13.3% in the third quarter, compared with 13.2% a quarter ago. Financial services and hospitality sectors held strong.

Growth in farm output, a sector which employs more than 40% of the workforce, slowed to 1.4% in the third quarter of the current fiscal year from 2.3% a quarter ago.

“Service sector performance signals a strong lift, besides double-digit growth in manufacturing,” said Radhika Rao, economist at Singapore-headquartered DBS Bank.

“The October-December quarter also benefited from indirect tax rationalisation and festive demand, in addition to a better faring rural farm sector,” Ms. Rao said.

As India’s growth has remained strong, rating agency ICRA expects the central bank to keep rates on hold, with inflation likely to rise temporarily, its chief economist Aditi Nayar said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept its key repo rate unchanged earlier this month.

STATISTICAL OVERHAUL
India has overhauled its statistical framework this year, first updating the consumer price index and now revising the GDP series to better reflect structural changes in the economy.

As part of the changes, the government has widened its data sources to include Goods and Services Tax (GST) filings, corporate financial returns and digital platform data to improve coverage of economic activity.

At the core of the GDP overhaul is the shift to adopting more granular price deflation to improve accuracy. Until now, it largely deflated only input prices, with heavy reliance on the wholesale price index.

The changes are expected to address concerns raised by the International Monetary Fund last year over India’s national accounts methodology, including the outdated 2011/12 base year and reliance on wholesale prices, for which it gave the framework a “C” rating. — Reuters

SINGAPORE — Oil prices surged 9% on Monday after shipping in the crucial Strait of Hormuz was disrupted by retaliatory Iranian attacks following initial bombing by Israel and the United States that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Brent crude futures rose as much as 13% to $82.37 a barrel, the highest since January 2025, before retreating to trade up $6.91, or 9.5%, at $79.78 a barrel by 0748 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed to an intraday high of $75.33, up over 12% and the highest since June, though it later pared gains and was up $5.88, or 8.8%, at $72.90 per barrel.

Both benchmarks jumped as a sustained exchange of counterattacks damaged tankers and sharply disrupted shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway between Iran and Oman that connects the Gulf to the Arabian Sea.

On a typical day, ships carrying oil equal to about one-fifth of global demand from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait sail through the Strait along with tankers hauling diesel and jet fuel and gasoline and other products from their refineries to major Asian markets including China and India.

A longer closure of the Strait would push oil prices higher and cause supply shortages, analysts say.

“A prolonged chokehold on oil flows risks alienating China – a key importer of Gulf crude and one of Tehran’s few major partners – while also curtailing Iran’s own export revenues. This may temper the duration of any disruption,” Sentosa Shipbrokers said on Monday.

More than 200 vessels including oil and liquefied gas tankers have dropped anchor outside the Strait, shipping data showed on Sunday. Three tankers were damaged and one seafarer was killed in attacks on Sunday in Gulf waters.

Asian economies are assessing oil stockpile availability and ways to secure alternative supply. South Korea will offer petroleum from its stockpiles to local industries if supply disruptions are prolonged, while India is exploring alternative shipping routes.

PRICES PARE GAINS
Still, prices pared gains after the steep surge in early Asian trade, which analysts attributed to buyers already factoring a risk premium into prices in anticipation of the conflict.

Brent had risen over 19% this year until Friday’s close, while WTI was trading about 17% higher.

“Markets are acknowledging the seriousness of the conflict, but are also signaling that, for now, this is a geopolitical shock, not a systemic crisis,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior analyst at Phillip Nova.

Amid the conflict, OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to a modest oil output boost of 206,000 barrels per day for April. Every OPEC+ producer is essentially producing at capacity except for Saudi Arabia, RBC Capital analyst Helima Croft said.

The International Energy Agency is in touch with major producers in the Middle East, director Fatih Birol said on Sunday. The energy watchdog coordinates the release of strategic petroleum reserves from developed countries during emergencies.

Globally, visible oil inventories stood at 7.827 million barrels, enough for 74 days of demand, which is near a historical median, Goldman Sachs wrote in a note.

Citi analysts expect Brent to trade between $80 and $90 a barrel this week amid the ongoing conflict.

“Our baseline view is that the Iranian leadership changes, or that the regime changes sufficiently as to stop the war within 1-2 weeks, or the US decides to de-escalate having seen a change in leadership and set back Iran’s missiles and nuclear program over the same time frame,” Citi analysts led by Max Layton wrote.

Analysts are also warning retail gasoline prices in the US, the world’s biggest fuel consumer, may break above $3 a gallon because of the conflict, a potentially risky result for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party ahead of midterm elections this November.

US gasoline futures surged by as much as 9.1% to $2.496 a gallon, their highest since July 2024, and were last at $2.408 a gallon, up 5.4%. — Reuters

DAMAK, Nepal – Everybody wants a photograph with Balendra Shah.

The rapper-turned-politician – better known as Balen – dominating Nepal’s electoral race was surrounded by supporters in the country’s east last week, ahead of a March 5 election that could be pivotal in the mountainous nation locked between China and India.

“I am here to see Balen, even though I have a fever,” a seven-year-old girl said, at her first sighting of the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party’s prime ministerial candidate.

Next to her, a middle-aged woman admitted she left a heart check-up midway for a photo with Mr. Shah, a former mayor of the capital Kathmandu who was catapulted into national politics last September after historic youth-led protests swept the country.

The “Gen Z” demonstrations, fuelled by popular anger against Nepal’s ruling class over rampant corruption and unemployment, left 77 people dead and forced then Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to resign.

Mr. Shah is now taking on the four-time prime minister on the latter’s home turf, the Jhapa district from where 74-year-old Mr. Oli has won six times during his long political career.

If Mr. Shah and the RSP are able to take power, it could upend the politics of the Himalayan nation, which has been long roiled by instability wrought by established parties led by Mr. Oli and his generation of veterans.

Across wide swathes of Nepal, analysts say public sentiment is one of disenchanment with established political parties that have been given multiple opportunities to govern but failed to deliver.

These include Mr. Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist or UML), the Nepali Communist Party comprising former Maoist rebels and the centrist Nepali Congress, which have shared power between them for decades.

Still, these groups retain some influence in parts of the country, including in hill districts such as Kavrepalanchok, where 38-year-old Raju Rasaili will cast his vote.

“In my village, there are loyal supporters of both the Maoists and the CPN-UML. I don’t think people easily let go of that kind of political loyalty,” he said.

But back in Jhapa’s Damak town, Bipana Oli, who like millions of Nepalis earns a living in the Middle East, made her choice even before flying back home from Kuwait to vote in Thursday’s election.

“How long I continue working in Kuwait as a migrant worker will depend on Balen’s victory, and the policies and job opportunities he creates,” said the 25-year-old, who is unrelated to the former prime minister.

10 SECONDS EACH
Around her, the crowd of supporters swirled, each getting about 10 seconds with Mr. Shah, dressed in a trademark dark blazer and sunglasses.

Most stayed only for the photo. Some shook his hand or engaged in a brief conversation, till Mr. Shah’s official photographer firmly instructed: “Step aside, next in line.”

Since quitting as Kathmandu’s mayor and joining the RSP in January, Mr. Shah has canvassed aggressively across Nepal, covering almost 50 of the country’s 77 districts.

His campaign, however, is anything but conventional.

Often, he prefers to drive himself, pulling over spontaneously and stepping out of the car to greet shopkeepers, farmers, students, or others, taking most by surprise, according to two aides.

During one drive through Jhapa’s Kamal town, Mr. Shah abruptly stopped the car and walked into a wedding ceremony uninvited, greeting guests before moving on, said campaign team member Surendra Bajgain.

“It’s spontaneous, his actions are instinctive and not strategic,” he said, of Mr. Shah.

In another break from standard practice, Mr. Shah has largely shunned the mainstream press, instead heavily relying on social media – where he has millions of followers – to amplify his message.

“Campaigning is easy,” Mr. Shah told Reuters during a fleeting conversation.

“It was more challenging when I ran for mayor because I was alone and I did everything on my own. Now, I have a party and a team supporting me throughout.”

That team also comprises a small group that carries laptops to campaign events to document public grievances, including noting projects that previous leaders failed to complete and those that voters want the most.

These concerns are then investigated and distilled into manifesto-like “Promise Letters” that Mr. Shah’s team distributes on the campaign trail, said Subhas Basnet, one of the note-takers.

‘NEVER SAW YOU AGAIN’
But not all voters in Jhapa are entirely convinced by Mr. Shah’s strategy.

Mahesh Rai, 35, did not mince his words when suggesting to the RSP politician he follow his rival Mr. Oli’s playbook of face-to-face campaigning.

“I think you earn votes when you visit people at their home,” he told Shah, who quietly listened and nodded, before replying with a terse: “Okay.”

On the campaign trail, clouds of dust kicked up by a convoy of more than 20 cars, some fitted with flashing emergency lights, announce the arrival of Mr. Oli, a fixture in Nepali politics since the 1990s.

In Jhapa’s rural Gauriganj, a plastic table and chair are set in advance in a village square for Mr. Oli to take a seat soon after stepping out from the car. He folds his hands in salutation, a faint smile fixed on his face.

Despite being elected from his district for decades, for many voters this is the first opportunity to see Mr. Oli up close, as the former premier changes tack to keep his political career afloat after the hit from September’s revolt.

“In previous elections, I did not always have the time to meet local residents personally,” Mr. Oli told Reuters.

“This time, we have structured the campaign in a way that allows me to stay here and interact directly with people.”

Singheswar Prasad Rajbanshi, 85, is blunt in expressing his dissatisfaction with Mr. Oli, who rose from a teenage revolutionary imprisoned for 14 years to holding key ministerial roles before becoming premier.

“Many years ago, you came here seeking my vote while I was resting on my daybed. I supported you,” Mr. Rajbanshi told the former prime minister.

“But after that, I never saw you again until now.” — Reuters