Oman says it's mediated a ceasefire between the U.S. and Houthis
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Have the shipping waters been calmed in the Red Sea? Hello, you're listening to the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. I'm Leanna Byrne. Good morning.

So for this story, we need to go back to October 2023 when Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza following attacks from Hamas in Israel. In Yemen, Iran-backed Houthi rebels got involved in support of Hamas and have been firing missiles and drones at Israeli and merchant ships in the Red Sea over the last 18 months. And that's caused a lot of disruption to global trade.

You see, that waterway is a global choke point. Roughly 15% of world maritime trade moves through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. It's the fastest sea lane between Asia and Europe. To protect shipping, the US and its allies have been striking Houthi targets. President Trump has said this would now stop as the Houthis have agreed to stand down. The Gulf state Oman says it has negotiated a ceasefire in return for the safe passage of

of commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Omani Foreign Minister, Syed Badir bin Hamad al-Busaydi, announced the deal in a post on X. We have voiced part of his statement. Efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides.

In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping.

But the arrangement doesn't include Israel itself, as the BBC's Hugo Pacheco explains from Jerusalem. This was a surprise announcement that was made by the president. And there has been confirmation of what he announced by Oman, saying that he had acted as mediator in these talks between the Americans and the Houthis. So the Houthis would...

stop its attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and in return the US would halt its attacks on Houthi positions in Yemen. But what is very important here is that there has been no mention of Israel

Hugo Pacheco there. Now, let's do the numbers.

Pakistan's stock index is down 2% after India launched a series of strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The obesity drug maker Novo Nordisk has cut its sales forecast for the first time since its launch at waste-loss drug Wegovi four years ago. But that didn't stop its share price jumping by about 6%.

And the German automaker BMW posted pre-tax earnings down 25% and warned that tariffs will have a notable second quarter impact on its business.

China and the US are set to hold trade talks in Switzerland on Friday. It'll be their first since President Trump brought in sweeping tariffs. The BBC's Laura Bicker reports from Beijing. This meeting will be the first high-level interaction between the two superpowers since the Chinese Vice President Han Zhong attended Mr Trump's inauguration in January. The US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said he looked forward to

to rebalancing the international economic system to better serve the interests of the U.S.,

Chinese state media reported that Beijing had decided to engage with the US after fully considering global expectations, the country's interests and appeals from American businesses. Laura Bicker reporting. Meanwhile, Colombia plans to sign up to join China's global infrastructure finance project, the Belt and Road Initiative, this week. Analysts say the move is bound to damage Bogota's already frayed relations with Washington, which is its key trading partner.

Now, the former US President Joe Biden has sat down with the BBC for an exclusive interview, his first since leaving the White House. In it, he discussed a wide range of topics, including defence, fears for the future US-Europe relationship, and he defended his record on the economy. Let me tell you, when I left office, we had created more jobs than any president in the history of the United States in one term.

Our economy was roaring. We were moving in a direction where the stock market was way up. We were in a situation where we were expanding our influence around the world in a positive way, increasing trade. We were in a situation where there was growth, opportunity, and growth.

And we, for example, they told me we, you know, remember Trump had this plan. He was going to, you know, rebuild America, increase our infrastructure. We had infrastructure weak for four years and none of it was built. I was able to convince the Congress and the American people to accept $1.3 trillion in economic growth. So he says his 100 days is a triumph. What does President Biden say about that?

Trump's first 100 days. I'll let history judge that. I don't see anything that was triumphant. And you can watch that full interview on the BBC News website.

So remember there was a massive power cut across Spain and Portugal last week. Well, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has been delivering an update and he says there's no evidence so far that it was caused by an excess of renewable energy or a lack of nuclear power. Mr Sanchez also praised the population's response. His words are voiced by a translator.

in the street, the good behavior of the police and the municipal authorities and the drivers and everybody all allowed us to manage the lack of energy supply without major incidents. On that very day, what

What we found is that there were actually 24% fewer accidents than there had been the week before. Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez. And finally, regular listeners might remember this unusual story of ant smugglers in Kenya. Now a court in Nairobi has ordered four men to each pay nearly $8,000...

...or faced 12 months in jail... ...for trying to smuggle thousands of rare ants... ...out of the country allegedly... ...for trade in Europe and Asia. Kenya's wildlife service accused the group of biopiracy... ...saying they were planning to sell the ants... ...to collectors in Europe and Asia... ...where exotic insects can fetch big money. The men admitted to having the ants... ...which are native to East Africa...

but insisted they weren't trying to traffic them. And that's it from the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. I'm Leanna Byrne. Have a great day. Thanks for listening.

So they came up with a plan. I was like, look, your leave's coming up like two weeks. Like, I'll put in my two weeks. Wow. And like, we'll just start it. We'll just do it. I was just like, let's do it. We're getting you out of this situation. We're getting me out of this situation. You tell me how much your rate is and I will pay it every week.

I'm Rima Grace, and this week on This Is Uncomfortable, how Hannah and Briar went from colleagues to best friends to lifelines. Listen to This Is Uncomfortable wherever you get your podcasts.