As the war in the Middle East stretches into its fourth week, energy supply chains around the world are starting to buckle under the pressure. Iran is reportedly not interested in discussing reopening the Strait of Hormuz, one of the globe’s most important passageways for oil and liquefied natural gas, and world leaders are running out of options to shield consumers from skyrocketing energy prices.

On land

For now, countries in Southeast Asia are taking the brunt of looming potential shortages. The region imports almost 80% of its crude oil from the Persian Gulf, and roughly 25% of the region’s liquefied natural gas must pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand are particularly sensitive to supply chain disruptions because of their low-to-nonexistent reserves. The region is starting to feel the impact:

• Around 40% of gas stations in Laos and about a third in Cambodia have closed because of fuel shortages.
• The Philippines has instituted four-day workweeks to reduce energy use. Sri Lanka also rolled out a four-day workweek for state institutions and schools.
• Pakistan has closed schools for two weeks to conserve energy.

In the skies

Airplane juice is expensive and difficult to store, so jet fuel stockpiles are usually much lower than those for other fuels like gasoline or diesel. Drastic prices for jet fuel, which have jumped as high as $200 per barrel compared to their prewar price of $85–$90, are often the first sign that oil supply is in trouble.

Airlines have canceled flights and warned of price increases to offset the costs. American Airlines said earlier this week that it expects its expenses this quarter to surge by $400 million due to fuel prices.

And what about the US? Economists have waved away fears of a recession, saying that the US economy is pretty much immune to oil price shocks. Unfortunately, US consumers aren’t as protected: US gas prices, one of the most politically charged markers for the economy, have increased by a dollar on average to almost $4 per gallon since the war began.—MM

Bari Weiss begins CBS News overhaul with dozens of layoffs. The editor-in-chief, along with president Tom Cibrowski, announced that the company was eliminating its entire CBS News Radio division as part of an overall culling of ~6% of the staff, representing between 60 and 70 employees. The executives said in a memo that ending CBS News Radio’s 99-year run was a “necessary” decision as the network attempts to attract a younger, digitally savvy audience. It’s the second round of layoffs at CBS News since David Ellison’s Skydance took over its parent company, Paramount, last summer. Paramount, meanwhile, is currently seeking regulatory approval to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the owners of CNN.—DL

Legendary action hero Chuck Norris dies at 86. The star of Walker, Texas Ranger who gave the decisive thumbs-up in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Norris was a karate champion who caught his big movie break in Bruce Lee’s The Way of the Dragon in 1972. He developed his own style of karate called Chun Kuk Do, or the Chuck Norris System. Later in life, he became meme fodder with “facts” about his toughness (e.g., the flu gets a Chuck Norris shot every year). Norris was hospitalized in Hawaii earlier in the week, and his family released a statement saying they wished to keep the circumstances of his death private.—DL

🛒 Unilever is in talks to sell food business to McCormick. Unilever’s food business—which includes Hellmann’s mayo among its brands and is worth ~$33 billion, per Bloomberg Intelligence—could get a lot spicier if the takeover deal goes through. Spinning off the food business would be a major change for the nearly 100-year-old Unilever, putting its focus entirely on household and personal care products. McCormick, whose market value stands at around $14.8 billion, is a much smaller entity (Unilever is worth about $140 billion), but if a deal is struck and finalized, it would become a Big Food player.—AR

Turns out, there’s a worse kind of chip-smuggling than sneaking your own snacks into the movie theater. This week, the US charged Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, the co-founder of servermaker Super Micro, with illegally routing servers containing Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to China. The US restricts chip exports to the country to give American AI labs an edge.

Liaw, who resigned from the California-based Super Micro’s board yesterday, was named as a defendant alongside a general manager and a contractor. Though Super Micro wasn’t charged in the case, its stock plummeted 33% yesterday.

Sticky trickery

The three defendants allegedly orchestrated purchases of the servers by a company in Southeast Asia, which then repackaged them for shipment to China:

• Prosecutors say Super Micro made $2.5 billion in server sales to this company since 2024.
• Last spring, $510 million worth of those servers with restricted chips were sent to China.

The scheme allegedly involved tricking Super Micro auditors and a US government inspector into believing the company had bought the hardware for itself. Prosecutors say that at one point, a hair dryer was used to transfer serial-number stickers from the real servers to “dummy” servers shown to inspectors.

Despite the chip-smuggling crackdown…the Trump administration recently loosened export restrictions on some of Nvidia’s advanced chips involved in the case.—SK

Brew Crossword: Here’s a sample clue from our biggest puzzle of the week: “He once said in an ad, ‘The only thing bolder than Fuze Iced Tea is ME!’” Sate your curiosity. Play the Crossword here.

Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that benefits from natural light. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Today’s home is in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. You could say that we cherry-pick these listings, but you’ll be the one doing the picking if you buy this place. Amenities include:

• 3 beds, 3 baths, and 2.69 acres
• An orchard with cherry, peach, pear, plum, and fig trees
• Private water access

How much for this fruitful paradise in the Gem State?