Crude prices rallied Wednesday following a report that U.S. intelligence suggested Israel was planning a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, which would send geopolitical tensions into overdrive and fuel regional conflict fears.

While safe haven gold pushed almost two percent higher, the news from CNN appeared to be having little detrimental effect on Asian equities, with most extending the previous day's rally.

The EU on Tuesday said it is preparing to impose a two-euro ($2.25) flat fee on low-value packages from outside the bloc, the majority of which come from China.

EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic told the European Parliament e-commerce platforms would be expected to pay the fee, which aims to help the bloc tackle the challenges from a massive influx of cheap mailed items.

Tesla chief Elon Musk said Tuesday the electric vehicle company's sales are "doing well" following a slump after the world's richest person drew backlash for helping U.S. President Donald Trump slash the federal workforce.

"We're strong everywhere else. So sales are... doing well at this point," Musk told the 2025 Qatar Economic Forum. "We're now back over a trillion dollars in market cap, so clearly, the market is aware of the situation, so it's already turned around."

The British government says it is suspending free trade negotiations with Israel and has leveled new sanctions targeting West Bank settlements as it criticizes Israel's military actions in Gaza.

Tuesday's actions came a day after the U.K, France and Canada condemned Israel's handling of the war in Gaza and its actions in the occupied West Bank.

Australia's central bank on Tuesday reduced its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage for a second time this year, to 3.85% after inflation fell within a target range.

The Reserve Bank of Australia reduced its cash rate from 4.1%. The reduction from 4.35% at its February board meeting was Australia's first rate cut since October 2020.

The Taiwanese president said Tuesday that trade tensions between the United States and Taiwan are just "frictions between friends" in a show of optimism as tariff negotiations are underway with Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 32% tariffs on all imports from Taiwan as part of sweeping duties levied against all U.S. trading partners last month.

The EU on Tuesday formally adopted a new round of sanctions on Russia targeting its "shadow fleet" of oil tankers and threatened more punishment for Moscow not agreeing a Ukraine truce.

"The EU has approved its 17th sanctions package against Russia, targeting nearly 200 shadow fleet ships," European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X.

EU countries on Tuesday gave a green light to lifting all economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to help the war-torn country recover after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said.

Ambassadors from the EU's 27 member states struck a preliminary agreement for the move, which should be formally unveiled by foreign ministers meeting in Brussels later in the day, diplomats said.

Spain has ordered Airbnb to block more than 65,000 holiday listings on its platform for having violated rules, the Consumer Rights Ministry said Monday.

The ministry said that many of the 65,935 Airbnb listings it had ordered to be withdrawn did not include their license number or specify whether the owner was an individual or a company. Others listed numbers that didn't match what authorities had.

For months, American consumers and businesses have been hearing that President Trump's massive import taxes – tariffs – would drive up prices and hurt the U.S. economy. But the latest economic reports don't match the doom and gloom: Inflation actually eased last month, and hiring was solid in April.

For now, the disconnect has businesses and consumers struggling to reconcile what they were told to expect, what the numbers say and what they are seeing on the ground. Trump and his supporters are quick to point out that the trade wars of his first term didn't translate into higher overall inflation across the economy.