Trump says Afghan man shot two soldiers near White House
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that an Afghan man who fled the Taliban was the suspect in the shooting of...
Geostrategy
How China leveraged its rare earths dominance over the US in tariff war
China's stranglehold on the rare earths industry -- from natural reserves and mining through processing and innovation -- is the...
Economy
Economy
Maysa Sabreen made first woman chief of Syrian central bank
Damascus, Syria -- Syrian authorities have appointed Maysa Sabreen as interim central bank governor, a bank official told AFP on Tuesday,...
- Sabreen, a Syrian banking expert, held the position of first deputy governor since 2018. She has also served on the central bank's management committee.
- Mohammed Issam Hazime, who headed the central bank before her, was appointed in 2021 under the rule of Bashar al-Assad.
South Korea’s Yoon: from star prosecutor to president facing arrest
Yoon is under investigation for his martial law declaration and faces criminal charges of insurrection, which could result in life...
- Investigators sought an arrest warrant against Yoon which a court issued on Tuesday.
- If arrested, Yoon would become the first S.Korean president detained before impeachment procedures
Geostrategy
UN experts demand Israel face consequences for alleged Gaza war crimes and genocide claims
The experts called for urgent, independent and thorough investigations into alleged serious violations of international law, saying Israel's continued impunity...
- Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 45,500 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians
- The experts highlighted alleged crimes against humanity committed by Israel "including murder, torture, sexual violence.'
Business
Cambridge study warns of perils in AI-driven ‘intention economy’
London, United Kingdom -- Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) tools may soon "covertly influence" users' decision making in a new commercial frontier...
- The marketplace emerging for "digital signals of intent" could, in the near future, influence everything from buying movie tickets to voting for political candidates.
- Our increasing familiarity with chatbots, digital tutors and other so-called "anthropomorphic" AI agents is helping enable this new array of "persuasive technologies".
Asia stocks mostly down after Wall St. losses
The "Santa Claus rally" got off to a good start but US stocks then fell across the board on Friday,...
- S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both dropped more than one percent
- Jeju Air shares tumbled more than eight percent after one of its planes crashed in South Korea
Former US president Jimmy Carter dies aged 100
Carter had been in hospice care since mid-February 2023 at his home in Plains, Georgia -- the same small town...
- Carter died "peacefully" at his home in Plains, "surrounded by his family," the Carter Center said in a statement
- Carter was the longest-lived US president -- an outcome that seemed unlikely back in 2015 when the Southern Democrat revealed he had brain cancer
Economy
Indian workers replace Palestinians in Israel’s construction sector amid post-war labour void
Indians, long employed in Israel as caregivers, diamond traders, and IT professionals, are now increasingly recruited for the construction sector...
- Israeli researchers believe the number of Indians working in construction still does not match the number of Palestinians who did so before the war
- Before the Hamas attack, around 80,000 Palestinians were employed in construction, along with some 26,000 foreigners, Eyal Argov of the central Bank of Israel said
Geostrategy
20-day-old baby Jumaa al-Batran dies from ‘severe cold’ in Gaza
Marwan al-Hamas, head of field hospitals in Gaza, confirmed the death. He said it brought to five the total number...
- Jumaa's twin brother remains in the intensive care unit at a local hospital, the health ministry in territory said.
- "There is no electricity. The water is cold and there is no gas, heating or food," said Yahya al-Batran, the father of the child.
Business
Egypt tests Suez Canal extension aimed at boosting vessel capacity
Cairo, Egypt -- Egypt has tested a new 10-kilometre (6.2-mile) extension to the Suez Canal as it tries to minimize the...
- Vessels navigating the waterway have at times run aground, mostly because of strong winds and sandstorms.
- The new extension is set to boost the canal's capacity by six to eight vessels a day, Rabie said, and it will open after new navigational maps are issued.
Geostrategy
Israeli raid puts last major Gaza health facility out of service: WHO
The World Health Organization said the operation had put the "last major health facility in north Gaza out of service"....
- The WHO said 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including some on ventilators, reportedly remained in Kamal Adwan Hospital.
- Patients in less severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed, non-functioning Indonesian Hospital, the UN health agency said.
Trump says Afghan man shot two soldiers near White House
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that an Afghan man who fled the Taliban was the suspect in the shooting of...
Geostrategy
Company News
Aramco signs $11bn deal
Business
Latest News
Market value of camels at Crown Prince Festival reaches $66 million
Taif, Saudi Arabia -- The market value of the camels competing in the final rounds of the 2025 Crown Prince...
Business
China urges ‘dialogue’ with US over TikTok: ministry
Beijing, China -- China urged the United States on Friday to address their TikTok dispute through dialogue, as top leaders...
Geostrategy
UN General Assembly votes for Hamas-free Palestinian state
The text was adopted by 142 votes in favor, 10 against -- including Israel and key ally the United States...
Geostrategy

Most Read
Geostrategy
Iran says enriched nuclear material ‘under rubble’ of facilities hit during Israel war
Tehran, Iran - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday that enriched nuclear material remained "under the rubble" of facilities...
- "All of our material is... under the rubble of the bombed facilities," said Araghchi in an interview, adding that Iran's Atomic Energy Organization was assessing the condition
- The remarks came after Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agreed a new cooperation framework on Tuesday
Economy
Turkey cuts interest rate again as inflation eases
Turkey's central bank on Thursday cut its policy interest rate for a second meeting in a row as the country's...
- Turkey's central bank had raised its key interest rate to 46 percent in April after protests over the jailing of Istanbul's powerful opposition mayor
- The bank decided to reduce it again on Thursday to 40.5 percent -- a bigger cut than the two-percentage-point reduction expected by analysts
Geostrategy
UN Security Council to meet over drone raid in Poland blamed on Russia
The UN Security Council announced it would hold an emergency meeting Friday to discuss discuss violations of Poland's airspace, a...
- Poland said the incident was not accidental, branding it an "unprecedented" attack on Poland, NATO and the European Union
- Stray Russian drones and missiles have entered the airspace of NATO members including Poland several times since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022

