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News

The US Navy has declined repeated requests from the shipping industry to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of the war with Iran, saying it is too dangerous to traverse.

The IEA agreed on March 11 to release a record 400mn barrels from emergency oil reserves, dwarfing its 2022 Ukraine-linked release, as Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure drive prices higher.

Russian commentator Dmitry Guberniev called on March 11 for Russia to replace Iran at the 2026 World Cup after Tehran confirmed its withdrawal, but FIFA has given no indication it will lift Russia's ban imposed following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Eurasianet China-Central Asia Monitor: Feb. 27- March 5, 2026.

A cargo vessel was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on March 11, sparking a fire and crew evacuation, as UKMTO recorded its 17th incident report since the Iran conflict began on February 28.

Tech

Hacker group Handala claimed on March 11 it breached Stryker Corporation's systems, saying it extracted 50 terabytes of data and forced office closures in 79 countries in retaliation for attacks on Iranian infrastructure.

If completed, the complex would become Estonia’s largest electricity consumer and is expected to create more than 150 new jobs.

Existing international investors VR Capital, Tencent and FinSight Ventures also participated in the funding.

Iran dumped reliance on the US GPS satellite network to guide drones and missiles and switched to China’s BeiDou satellite navigation system to neutralise Israel’s electronic warfare defences.

The rollout of 5G technology remains far from bridging the global digital divide. Quite the contrary, the connectivity gap between high-income and low-income regions has widened in recent years, Statista reports.

Opinion

Armenia is navigating one of its most consequential geopolitical transitions since independence in 1991, says a report published by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute.

Hungary’s decision to block a €90bn EU loan to Ukraine has exposed deepening tensions between Budapest and Kyiv, as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban escalates a confrontation that analysts say is increasingly tied to domestic politics.

A week after launching the largest U.S. military operation in two decades, President Donald Trump has yet to explain why he decided to go to war with Iran. Instead, he seems to be testing a variety of rationales and constant changing his mind.

Indonesia is heading towards the end of Ramadan, and Eid this year, under a massive cloud of economic stress.

Large unexplained flows in Kyrgyzstan’s balance of payments continue to fuel concerns about sanctions circumvention linked to Russia, according to a report by GlobalSource Partners.

Data

Ministry of Finance Chief Economist Dr Shmuel Abramson reduced Israel's 2026 GDP growth forecast from 5.2% to 4.7%.

Around 1.9mn people last year came to the country for leisure and recreational tourism. Figure rose by around 740,000 year on year.

EBRD projects Montenegro’s GDP to expand by 3.2% in 2026, up by 0.5 percentage points from the estimate issued in September.

Annual inflation fell from the 3.2% recorded in January.

Arms imports by European countries more than tripled over the past five years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Features

Asian governments are working out how to tackle a sharp rise in energy prices and growing concerns about energy security across the continent, in the process prompting a range of policy responses.

An inflation shock similar to that caused by the ten-fold rise in energy prices in 2022 is on the way. As the war in Iran enters day eleven it's still too early to be measurable, but central banks around the world are already issuing warnings.

Industry participants are already hurting by way of feedstock markets, particularly naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas, which combine to underpin much of Asia’s plastics production.

India’s retail industry is witnessing a major change as quick commerce — the ultra-fast delivery of daily household items through digital platforms — impacts how consumers shop.

Trump launched the “Shield of the Americas” with 12 Latin American leaders in Miami, proposing military action against drug cartels while signalling a broader effort to reassert US influence in the region and counter China.

Blogs

Caracas stands to gain from surging crude prices triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, but Washington's control over its oil income means the bonanza may consolidate authoritarian rule rather than rebuild a broken state.

Life in wartime Tehran has shifted to a neighbourhood-centric pattern as residents stay put, unable to afford evacuation. Field reporting reveals how economic pressure, not defiance, keeps millions in a city under sustained air strikes.

The Kremlin is looking on with concern as Operation Epic Fury unfolds in the Middle East. The US has gone in with its standard “shock and awe” strategy of attacking with overwhelming force. But Putin probably sees this as another Libya.

Albanian PM Edi Rama has emerged as one of Europe’s most outspoken backers of the US-Israeli military action against "murderers in Tehran".

Asian economies, heavily dependent on energy imports, stand to gain the most as Iran holds the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves in the Khuzestan region, and is the second-largest in terms of natural gas deposits.

bneGREEN

The number of days where extreme heat makes it too dangerously hot to go outside or engage in ordinary activities has doubled over the past 75 years, according to according to a paper published in the journal Environmental Research: Health.

South Korea has taken a formal step towards supporting the Philippines’ return to nuclear energy, with three major institutions signing an agreement to cooperate on future atomic power projects.

Global temperatures in 2025 ranked as the third-highest on record, according to analyses released by three major climate monitoring agencies, highlighting the continued acceleration of human-driven warming despite cooling influences from La Nina.

Missile strikes on fuel storage facilities in and around Tehran on March 8 triggered massive fires and sent toxic smoke across the Iranian capital, raising health concerns for millions of residents, as the cloud drifts towards Central Asia.

Officials struggle to convince inhabitants that the science shows Israeli bomb strikes on Iranian oil depots cannot lead to such a nightmare.

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