🇺🇸🇪🇺🇯🇵🇨🇦🇬🇧 G7 finance ministers to meet amid warning of economic consequences of prolonged Strait of Hormuz closure
Ahead of a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven developed economies in Paris on Monday, a senior European official says the situation in the Middle East has highlighted how exposed the interconnected global economy is to external shocks.
“Opening the Strait of Hormuz and bringing the conflict to a lasting end are of the utmost importance in mitigating the impact on the economy,” Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis said in a statement.
The Eurogroup is a body that brings together ministers from the euro area and is being represented at the G7 meeting by Pierrakakis, who is also the Greek finance minister. The G7′s core members are the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
“The European economy has proven resilient in the face of this energy crisis. Yet, the global economy will feel the pressure – even if the conflict is resolved swiftly,” Pierrakakis said.
Long-term borrowing costs in several G7 economies have surged in recent weeks, as investors worry about rising inflation caused by tight energy supplies while the Iran war chokes off oil and gas supplies through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Treasury yields spiked on Friday following a week of messy inflation data and as traders looked to price interest rate policy under new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh.
The yield on the 30-year bond jumped nearly 11 basis points to yield 5.121%, the highest since May 22, 2025, and nearing the highest since October 2023.
In the U.K., the yield on 30-year government bonds, known as gilts, are trading at their highest since the late 1990s due to a mix of political instability and concerns over rising inflation.
Japan, which is particularly sensitive to inflationary pressure linked to the Iran war, given its status as a major energy importer, has also seen bond yields rise drastically in recent days.
Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions, with traders often commanding higher yields on debt investments when confidence in the government issuing the bonds is shaken.
🔗 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/17/opening-strait-of-hormuz-is-of-utmost-importance-eurogroup-head.html
Police in Winona Minnesota are stunned after every single one of their Flock cameras were suddenly removed in a single night.
According to the police department, all 8 of the town's cameras were cut down and hauled away.
Police are asking for the public's help to identify the individual, but the public has been responding with comments such as:
"The Flock cameras tore themselves down"
"Whoever did it, was fishing with me"
"Whoever it was, was at Bible study with me"
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Nearly 20,000 people are publicly vouching for a man accused of cutting down Flock cameras in a small West Virginia town.
People commented:
"He was saving my neighbor's dog from a fire all day, couldn't be him."
"This man is innocent. I saw him serving at a soup kitchen."
-"Couldn't be him. He was helping me replace the roof on a homeless shelter."
The man, Wesley Jackson, has pleaded Not Guilty.
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US diesel crack surpasses $100 a barrel for the first time on supply disruptions
... and the supply of refined fuels is already nearly exhausted. A hard landing is visible ahead, for farmers, for trucking, and ... well, for everything that requires food (people) and energy (the entire economy).
These are very likely the final days of relative normalcy during which to prepare. Get ready.
🌾 🌍 🚜 JPMorgan warns a massive global food supply crisis could begin next year as fertilizer shortages tighten agricultural supply.
JPMorgan is the latest institutional research desk to warn that the next global food crisis may already be taking shape, driven by what its analysts describe as the "Five Ws": War, Weather, Warehousing, Water, and Waste.
In a new report titled Food Security Is National Security: A Compounding Storm, a team led by London-based senior global economist Nora Szentivanyi warned that disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz and the emergence of a potentially historic El Niño could weaken crop yields, constrain agricultural production, and keep food inflation elevated through the first half of 2027.
"Successive shocks since COVID have compounded, eroding food production capacity and keeping food price pressures elevated into 2027," Szentivanyi said, warning that "this is not a short-lived shock; it has reduced the likelihood of near-term disinflation, and the food ...