Geopolitical tensions sent oil prices climbing and weighed on equities as investors also continued to worry about prospects for interest rate cuts amid stubbornly-high inflation. "Heightened tensions between Ukraine and Russia have brought a halt to the rally in equity markets seen last week," said Russ Mould, investment director at...

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to punish those behind a "barbaric terrorist attack" on a Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133, saying Russia had arrested four gunmen who were trying to flee to Ukraine. Kyiv has denied any connection, and Putin made no reference to the Islamic State...

Meanwhile, the fire at a Moscow concert hall has been "mostly eliminated", the Russian capital's governor said on Saturday. "There are still some pockets of fire, but the fire has been mostly eliminated. Rescuers were able to enter the auditorium," Moscow Governor Andrey Vorobyov said on Telegram.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA – Russia's central bank held interest rates unchanged on Friday as Moscow's military offensive on Ukraine has led to stubbornly high inflation and labor shortages. The central bank raised rates to 16 percent in a series of hikes last year to cool the pace of price rises. Analysts are...

Israel's hopes of reaching the European Championships for the first time against the background of bloody conflict at home were shattered by a 4-1 defeat to Iceland on Thursday while war-torn Ukraine stayed on course for the finals with a last-gasp comeback. Due to the ongoing conflict with Hamas, Israel's...

Brussels, Belgium - A group of EU countries including Germany on Tuesday pushed for a green light to start membership negotiations with Bosnia, but others such as France seemed reluctant to proceed. The EU's 27 leaders will debate at a summit on Thursday a proposal from the bloc's executive to launch...

If he completes another full Kremlin term, Putin will have stayed in power longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century. Allies of the late Alexei Navalny - Putin's most prominent rival, who died in an Arctic prison last month - had tried to spoil...

Last month French president refused to rule out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine, which prompted a stern response from Berlin and other European partners. But the French president has not recanted from his position, but stressed that Western allies would not take the initiative.

Washington, US - G7 countries warned Iran on Friday that they will impose "significant" new sanctions if Tehran transfers ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine. "We reiterate our call on third parties to immediately cease providing material support to Russia's illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine or...

Stockholm, Sweden - Swedish gaming group Embracer, which owns the Borderlands franchise and the Tomb Raider license, announced on Thursday that it was ceasing all Russian operations through the sale of subsidiary Saber Interactive. Beacon Interactive, which is controlled by Saber Interactive co-founder Matthew Karch, will pay $247 million for the...

Ballots will also be cast in the four Ukrainian regions Moscow claimed to have annexed in 2022, as well as the Crimean peninsula, seized in 2014. Moscow is no longer worried about trying to present the vote as a legitimate democratic exercise to the West, or even Russian society.

The oil giant posted a 24.7% fall in net profit to US$121.25bn.

NATO member Turkey has sought to maintain good relations with Moscow and Kyiv throughout the two-year war, with Erdogan pitching himself as a key go-between and possible peace-maker.

New Delhi, India - India's embassy in Moscow has confirmed the death of a citizen recruited by the Russian army, days after a relative told AFP he had been sent to fight in Ukraine. Two years after Russia's invasion began, tens of thousands of its soldiers have been killed in Ukraine...

Pointedly declining to endorse the man she has portrayed as chaotic and mentally incompetent, former UN ambassador Haley said Trump would have to earn the support of moderates who backed her longshot campaign. Her withdrawal leaves America facing a battle for the White House between two elderly men that many...

Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told a news conference in Sao Paulo that it was "impossible" to reach a final joint statement. The minister said the impasse was over the ongoing conflicts without explicitly mentioning Russia's invasion of Ukraine or Israel's ongoing military campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Despite being the world's third largest oil producer, Russia has suffered sporadic fuel shortages since last summer amid high demand and repair works on refineries. Wholesale gasoline prices have risen since the start of the year, a problem exacerbated by repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries.

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his accompanying delegation arrived here on Tuesday. The Ukrainian President was on a visit to Saudi Arabia. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who is also the prime minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, received President Zelenskyy...

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told the RTL broadcaster that there was "no consensus" on any "official" deployment of ground troops. "But no dynamic can be ruled out. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war," he said, using the same words as Macron...

New Delhi, India - India's foreign ministry confirmed on Friday that some of the country's citizens had signed up for "support jobs" with the Russian army and said it was working with Moscow to secure their discharge. The Hindu newspaper reported on Wednesday that around 18 Indians were stranded in...

LONDON, UK – The price of natural gas in Europe fell again on Friday, taking it to its lowest in almost three years as mild winter weather continues and European stockpiles hold up. Mid-morning on Friday, the benchmark Dutch TTF futures contract was down 3.2 percent at US$24.3 (22.45 euros) a...

The company said lower energy prices cut into its profits.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia triggered a massive shift by European nations away from Russian natural gas delivered by pipelines, with prices for LNG soaring as they competed on international markets for limited supplies. With a limited number of import terminals, European nations were also forced to undertake measures...

"We as South Africans sense, see, hear and feel to our core the inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was institutionalized against black people in my country," said Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa's ambassador to the Netherlands, where...

"The immense loss suffered by Palestinian journalists in this war will have long-term impacts for journalism not just in the Palestinian territories but for the region and beyond. Every journalist killed is a further blow to our understanding of the world." CPJ has previously attacked what it calls "persecution" of...

Brussels, Belgium - The European Commission on Tuesday officially extended an exemption from contested rules to leave a share of agricultural lands fallow, which had become a flashpoint for protesting farmers across the bloc. First lifted in 2023 in response to market disruptions caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the rules...

"The current military-security situation heralds what is likely to be a more dangerous decade, characterized by the brazen application by some of military power to pursue claims," the report said.

During a two-hour long interview with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Russia's President Vladimir Putin defended his decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022. The president said the West now realizes that Russia will not be defeated, despite US, European and NATO help to Ukraine.

Republicans in the House of Representatives scheduled the vote after the Democratic-led Senate released a bipartisan bill Sunday pairing billions of dollars for Israel and Ukraine with some of the strictest immigration curbs in decades. But support for that $118bn package has dwindled, with Donald Trump pressuring Republicans to avoid handing President Joe...

Its earnings were US$36.2bn, half of what is was in 2022.

ABU DHABI, UAE - President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke by telephone to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to discuss bilateral relations and opportunities to further strengthen UAE-Russia ties. During the telephonic conversation on Monday, Putin expressed his gratitude to Sheikh Mohamed for the UAE’s successful...

The United States approved a $4 billion sale of state-of-the-art drones to India, offering a new edge to the growing US partner. The sale marks a milestone in Indian purchases of American weapons after New Delhi's reliance on weapons from Russia, which have been increasingly controversial due to sanctions over...

Its revenue dived almost a fifth percent to US$316.6 billion.

With inflation up at 35 percent, and amid a severe foreign currency crunch, the Egyptian pound is plunging and the US dollar has become hard to come by. The country's highly import-reliant economy, dominated by military-linked enterprises and with a fondness for infrastructure mega-projects, has been hit hard by a...

Kyiv had accused Moscow of being a "terrorist state" whose support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was a harbinger of the full-fledged 2022 invasion. It wanted Russia to compensate all civilians caught up in the conflict, as well as victims from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down...

Geneva, Switzerland - The World Health Organization said on Monday that nearly half the world's population was now covered by solid rules limiting trans fat in foods and urged lagging countries to catch up. The WHO appealed in 2018 for industrially produced fatty acids in foods to be eliminated worldwide by...

Cairo, Egypt-- Egypt has enough reserves of wheat to last it for many months, according to Dr. Ali Al-Moselhi, the Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade. The minister said the country's reserves of wheat are sufficient for 4.2 months, oil for 5.3 months, and sugar for 5.4 months. He...

The Western military alliance has said some 90,000 troops will take part in the months-long Steadfast Defender 24 exercise designed to test its defenses in the face of Russia's war on Ukraine. "The alliance will demonstrate its ability to reinforce the Euro-Atlantic area via trans-Atlantic movement of forces from North...

The European Union unveiled plans to strengthen the bloc's economic security including measures to protect sensitive technology from falling into the hands of geopolitical rivals like China. Brussels has bolstered its armoury of trade restrictions to tackle what it deems to be risks to European economic security, following Russia’s invasion...

The latest deals -- signed with French firm Nexter and Germany's Junghans Microtec -- are estimated by officials to cover around 220,000 shells and deliveries to NATO members will start at the end of 2025.

Prime Minister Li Qiang, who will make a special address on Tuesday, will be the most senior Chinese official to attend Davos since President Xi Jinping in 2017. The Prime Minister will be joined by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, the governor of the People's Bank of China and high-ranking...

"Remember Ukraine?" UN aid chief Martin Griffiths asked as he launched the plan in Geneva. "Please do not forget Ukraine while there are many other places in the world which grab our attention." "As we go into 2024, the competition for funding is going to be more," he acknowledged, citing...

Paris, France - The world's political and business elites will convene in Davos next week, with wars in Gaza and Ukraine set to dominate the annual gabfest in the Swiss Alps. Russia's nearly two-year-old assault on Ukraine has taken center stage at previous editions of the World Economic Forum (WEF), with...

GAZA, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Bombed-out neighborhoods, mass graves dug in the sand, spreading hunger and disease -- as the bloodiest ever Gaza war nears 100 days, besieged Palestinians have endured ever new horrors. More than three months of relentless Israeli bombardment since the October 7 Hamas attack have taken a...

Indian refiners bought 1.45 million barrels per day of Russian oil last month, their lowest amount since last January and down nearly 16 percent from November, according to global energy trade intelligence platform Kpler.

Paris, France - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Middle East leaders will attend a World Economic Forum in Davos next week dominated by the war in Gaza, the WEF said Tuesday. Argentina's libertarian new president, Javier Milei, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese Premier Li...

The data supports comments by European Central Bank (ECB) chief Christine Lagarde, who has warned that Europe should remain on guard despite falling inflation.

World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said. The FAO's cereals price index fell 15.4 percent last year, "reflecting well supplied global markets" compared to 2022, when prices soared after Russia's invasion of Ukraine,...

The corridor was created in August to link Ukraine's ports to the Bosphorus Straits, several weeks after Moscow refused to agree on a new accord to allow cereal exports through the contested Black Sea. The now-defunct accord had allowed Ukraine to export nearly 33 million tons of cereals and other...

The Belgorod attack came a day after Ukraine said a barrage of Russian missile strikes on several cities killed at least 40 people, wounding dozens more. Fresh strikes Saturday caused more casualties in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said. Belgorod lies about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the...