Oil prices are approaching five-month highs as Hurricane Laura poses the biggest storm threat to US oil output in 15 years. Producers have shut down most of their offshore output along the Texas-Louisiana coast.. slashing 1.5 million barrels of daily crude output. Laura is expected to make landfall by Thursday, in an area that accounts for almost half of America's petroleum refining capacity and nearly 20 percent of its oil production. Mobin Nasir reports. For more on this, we spoke to Ellen Wald in Jacksonville, Florida. She's president of Transversal Consulting and an expert on international oil markets.

#HurricaneLaura #USoil #OilPrice

As the coronavirus pandemic forces people to spend more time at home, demand for delivery services is skyrocketing. In Colombia, some are hoping this could also create new opportunities for people in wheelchairs. Manuel Rueda has more from Medellin.

#Colombia #ElectricWheelchair #coronavirus

Childcare systems form a vital part of any functioning economy. New York City’s 3,000 daycare centres are now reopening after coronavirus shutdowns, but with capacity limits many providers don’t know how they’ll fund additional safety measures long-term. As Katie Gregory reports, they’re also struggling as parents worry about sending their children back.

#NewYork #USchildcare #COVID19

Europe's move to reopen borders in hopes to salvage the summer season has backfired. Spain, France and Germany have all reported a record spike in virus cases since they emerged from lockdown. Experts say one main reason is the restart of intra-European travel, with nearly half of recent German cases being contracted abroad. As Sibel Karkus reports, this means a fresh blow for the European travel industry. We spoke to Ulrich Leuchtmann in Frankfurt. He's head of FX Research at Commerzbank.

#EUTravel #ClosedBorders #Coronavirus

Top US and Chinese trade officials say a phase one deal they agreed this year, is still intact. After being delayed for more than a month, talks between US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He have been finally held over the phone. As Mobin Nasir reports, both sides stuck to the commitments they made in the agreement, even as the rift between Washington and Beijing has been widening since they signed it. For more on this, Josef Gregory Mahoney joined us from Memphis. He's professor of Politics at East China Normal University.

#USChinaTradeWar #TradeDeal #USSanctions

The Indian government is planning to amend its environmental laws to try and fast track projects. The draft legislation has faced criticism from opposition parties and environmentalists, with close to 2 million people writing to the government in protest, as Ishan Russel reports.

#India #EnvironmentalLaws #ClimateCrisis

Social media upstart ByteDance says it's suing the US government over the Trump administration's efforts to sanction the firm. The White House has argued that its app TikTok is a security risk an accusation the popular platform has repeatedly denied. For more, we were joined by Jonathan Broughton. He's the managing director of Workshire Consulting in London.

#TikTok #ByteDance #SecurityRisk

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey has discovered vast reserves of natural gas in the western Black Sea. He says this resource will begin contributing to the national power grid within the next three years.

Seismological surveys estimate the recoverable reserves at 320 billion cubic metres of natural gas, significantly higher than neighbouring Romania's 200 billion cubic metres of offshore reserves. For more on this, we spoke to Mehmet Akif Kirecci from Ankara. He's professor of international relations at the Ankara University of Social Sciences.

#Naturalgas #RecepTayyipErdogan #NationalPowerGrid

Indoor soft play centres are now allowed to re-open in England, but after months of lockdown the sector is on its knees. Matt Gooderick finds out what’s being done to support these businesses as they welcome kids back into the ball pit.

#UKplaycentres #Coronavirus #Recreation

The coronavirus pandemic has severely hit economies across the world. While many have started to recover, others are facing hurdles that seem impossible to overcome. A study published by risk consultancy, Verisk Maplecroft, shows India, Brazil and South Africa are among the G20 countries whose economic recovery is set to take much longer than their counterparts. As Sibel Karkus explains, while natural disasters are adding to their hardships, man-made problems are making things even worse. And Ryan Connelly joined us from Washington. He's the practice leader for Global Economics and Scenarios at research and consulting firm DuckerFrontier

#DevelopingEconomies #Coronavirus #EconomicRecoveries