Turkey, Iran leaders at Cairo summit urge action to address Gaza, Syria crises
Cairo, Egypt -- The leaders of Turkey and Iran were in Egypt on Thursday for a summit of eight Muslim-majority countries,...
Geostrategy
TikTok under fire: Espionage claims, election influence campaigns and controversies
The platform faces accusations of espionage in the United States, while the European Union has launched an investigation into claims...
Geostrategy
Divided G20 fails to agree on climate action, Ukraine war escalation dominates Rio summit talks
G20 leaders in Rio failed to resolve UN climate talks deadlock, merely stating funding for developing countries battling global warming...
- Ahead of the meeting, the UN had implored the leaders of the world's richest economies to rescue stalled climate talks in Azerbaijan by boosting funding for developing countries
- G20 members, who are divided on who should pay, did not make such commitments, saying only that the trillions of dollars needed would come "from all sources."
Geostrategy
UN climate chief at deadlocked COP29: ‘Cut the theatrics’
As the UN climate talks limp into a second week in Azerbaijan, the world is no closer to a finance...
- Nations have until Friday to break the impasse over how to raise $1 trillion a year for developing countries to cope with global warming.
- Climate-vulnerable countries want developed nations to commit to substantially raising their existing pledge of $100 billion a year.
G20 leaders to grapple with climate, taxes, Trump comeback
G20 leaders gather in Brazil on Monday to discuss fighting poverty, boosting climate financing and other multilateral initiatives that could...
- The main star of the show is expected to be Chinese President Xi Jinping
- Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East would be kept off the summit agenda to focus on the poor.
Economy
Egypt’s middle class cuts costs as IMF-backed reforms take hold
Cairo, Egypt -- Egypt's economy has been in crisis for years, but as the latest round of International Monetary Fund-backed reforms...
- The world lender has long backed measures in Egypt including a liberal currency exchange market and weaning the public away from subsidies.
- Foreign debt quadrupled since 2015 to register $160.6 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Much of the debt is the result of financing for large-scale projects.
Arts & Culture
Magritte’s ‘Empire of Light’ to fetch nearly $100m at New York auction
New York, United States -- With a Magritte painting estimated to sell for nearly $100 million, drawings by pop artist Keith...
- The seminal 1954 work is one of a series of paintings from the Surrealist master depicting the interplay of shadow and light.
- Its estimated price is $95 million, which would easily shatter the previous record for a Magritte, $79 million in 2022.
Israel escalates bombing in Lebanon as Hezbollah fires projectiles; UN warns of Gaza famine
Israel escalated strikes on Hezbollah in Beirut and Tyre, targeting strongholds, while Hezbollah launched retaliatory attacks on Haifa, hitting a...
- Israel has escalated its bombing of Lebanon since September 23 and has since sent in ground troops, following almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire
- Israel's military chief Hezbollah had already "paid a big price" but Israel will keep fighting until thousands of its residents displaced from the north can return safely
Geostrategy
With Trump’s presidency, expect pro-Israel policies to replace Biden’s nuanced approach in Middle East relations
Trump’s return could shift US policy on Israel, with his Republican Party's pro-Israel stance and his preference for "America First"...
- Trump, unlike every other recent president, has never committed to a fully sovereign, independent Palestinian state
- He leads a Republican Party so pro-Israel that some local offices handed out Israeli flags alongside Trump yard-signs
Xi, Biden in Peru for APEC summit, pre-Trump face-to-face
uncertainty over Trump's next moves now clouds the APEC agenda -- as it does for the COP29 climate talks underway...
- President Vladimir Putin of APEC member Russia will not be present
- Trump has threatened tariffs of up to 60 percent on imports of Chinese goods
Business
TikTok makes AI driven ad tool available globally
San Francisco, United States - TikTok on Thursday began letting all marketers on its platform use an artificial intelligence-powered tool for...
- The news came with word that Getty Images will make its stockpile of pictures and video available to TikTok's AI‑powered video generation tool called Symphony Creative Studio
- Brands will be able to use Getty's licensed images and videos to create AI-generated ads, including marketing messages featuring characters resembling real people
Geostrategy
Lebanon economic losses top $5 billion in year of clashes: World Bank
Beirut, Lebanon -- More than a year of clashes that recently escalated into war have cost Lebanon more than $5 billion...
- The losses are "largely concentrated in the commerce and tourism and hospitality sectors... as well as in the agriculture sector", the Bank said in a report.
- "The final cost of damage and losses for Lebanon associated with the conflict is expected to significantly exceed those presented in this assessment," the report said.
Turkey, Iran leaders at Cairo summit urge action to address Gaza, Syria crises
Cairo, Egypt -- The leaders of Turkey and Iran were in Egypt on Thursday for a summit of eight Muslim-majority countries,...
Geostrategy
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ECB to cut rates again amid bleak eurozone outlook
The European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates again this week amid a darkening outlook, with political turbulence...
Assad’s fall reshapes Middle East politics, redefining power dynamics across the region
The Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels shocked the world by swiftly seizing Aleppo and Damascus, overshadowing global focus on the...
UK Prime Minister to talk trade, Middle East during Gulf visit
London, United Kingdom -- Britain's leader Keir Starmer makes his first trip to the Gulf as prime minister from Sunday, seeking...
Geostrategy
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Geostrategy
Celebrations erupt across Syria to mark end of 50 years of Baath party rule
Bashar al-Assad's whereabouts not clear, but his key backer Russia said he had resigned from the presidency and left Syria....
- Protests spread like wildfire in neighbouring provinces, with anti-government demonstrators toppling statues of late president Hafez al-Assad in the Jaramana suburb of Damascus
- The Israeli army said Saturday that its troops were assisting UN peacekeeping forces in the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan Heights in repelling an attack "by armed individuals
Syria: Assad faces stunning setbacks as rebels seize Daraa, Hama, and Aleppo in quick succession
While Aleppo and Hama, the two other main cities taken from government control in recent days, fell to an Islamist-led...
- Since a rebel alliance led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched its offensive on November 27, the government has lost Aleppo and subsequently Hama in central Syria
- Syria's civil war, which began with Assad's crackdown on democracy protests, has killed more than 500,000 people and forced more than half the population to flee their homes
Geostrategy
Turkey confirms Syria talks with Russia and Iran
A meeting was expected on the forum's sidelines between Turkey, and Damascus allies Iran and Russia.
- Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan "will meet with the Russian and Iranian ministers"
- The so-called Astana process involving the three countries was launched by Kazakhstan in 2017