That company is the saudio oil giant saudi aramco, and its feeling the effects of lower oil prices, lower than expected demand from china, and thinner Profit Margins for refining oil. Between april and june, the company made a Profit Ofjust over 30 billion, lot of money by anyone s metric, but significantly down from more than the 48 billion it made in the same period a year ago. The main reason is, as you can see here, that oil prices during the period were at the lowest point in the last year, as the boost they got from russias invasion of ukraine wore off. And last week, in an effort to keep them that way, saudi arabia said it would only produce nine Million Barrels a day. That extended Production Cuts by the 0pec group of big oil producers, who profit more from a higher price. When it comes to saudi aramco, those higher prices mean higher Dividend Payments for shareholders, and its boosted those to nearly 30 billion in the current period. So i put it to our middle east Business Cor
in maras, and we ll have the latest on the aid efforts in neighbouring syria. also on the programme cheering and applause. at westminster, president zelensky of ukraine addresses both houses of parliament and appeals for more military support to fight the russians. the writing on the helmet reads, we have freedom, give us wings to protect it . applause 12 days after nicola bulley disappeared while walking her dog near the river wyre, lancashire police say they are still fully open minded. coming up on the bbc news channel, lebronjames adds a newjewel to his crown. he becomes the nba s all time leading scorer, passing kareem abdul jabbar s 39year old record. the spin good evening. president erdogan of turkey has been to visit one of the areas worst affected, by the earthquake which struck on monday, and he s been defending his government s response to the disaster. more than 11,000 people are now confirmed dead, across southern turkey and northern syria, as rescue workers
the russian ministry of defence says its troops have left the strategic town of lyman in eastern ukraine. a ministry spokesman said the withdrawal was carried out because of a threat of encirclement. earlier, the ukrainian military said its troops were inside the town. lyman was a key strategic target, used by russia as a major logistics hub and sits in the donetsk region which the government in moscow has just declared to be a part of russia. video footage shared online shows ukrainian soldiers waving their national flag on the outskirts of lyman. this report is from our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse its territory, russia officially celebrated as its own only yesterday. despite this recent show of own only yesterday. despite this recent show of patriotism, it is another embarrassing retreat for vladimir putin. as ever, his generals have tried to put a positive spin on russia s latest setback. translation: in russia s latest setback. translation: . ., translation:
hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. a large fire has broken out on the only bridge linking russia with the crimea peninsula. images widely shared on social media show a train on the kerch rail bridge engulfed in flames; the cause of the damage is unclear. the adviser to the head of the office of president of ukraine tweeted crimea, the bridge, the beginning . all this comes as ukraine says two mass burial sites have been found in the eastern town of lyman which has been recently liberated from russia. danjohnson has the latest. dawn this morning revelaed a major blow for russia and its main connection to crimea. this is a ley road road and railway bridge linking the peninsula. officials confirmed fuel tanks caught fire, apparently part of a freight train crossing the bridge, but it s not clear what caused this. sections of the road have also collapsed into the sea. this is an important connection strategically for getting supplies to crimea,