Kazakhstan to join Abraham Accords as Trump pushes Mideast peace
Washington, United States - Kazakhstan said Thursday it will join the Abraham Accords between Israel and mainly Muslim nations, in...
Geostrategy
Business
IEA sees ‘major’ oil supply surplus emerging by 2030
Paris, France -- The world is likely to have a "major surplus" of oil by 2030 as production is ramped up...
- Global demand is expected to "level off" at 106 million barrels per day (bpd) toward the end of this decade while overall supply capacity could reach 114 million bpd.
- The forecast comes days after the OPEC+ group of major crude producers signaled they would start to unwind output cuts this autumn.
Geostrategy
Blinken heads to key mediator Qatar after Hamas seeks tweaks to truce deal
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was heading on Wednesday to talks in key mediator Qatar after Hamas gave a...
- Hamas proposed an amended ceasefire timeline and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops
- Blinken said in Israel on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has committed himself to the plan
Oil and gas industry hops on generative AI bandwagon
In recent years the downstream industry, which includes refineries that process crude oil into gasoline, has increasingly relied on so-called...
- Long before the current craze surrounding generative AI, the energy sector employed traditional artificial intelligence through its use of data to identify oil and gas deposits
- The new AI programs can also be employed broadly in the workforce instead of being limited to programmers and data analysts, as has been the case with traditional AI
Geostrategy
Erdogan visits opposition party headquarters first time in 18 years
Istanbul, Turkey - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the opposition CHP party headquarters on Tuesday, the first time in 18...
- The one-and-a-half-hour meeting between Erdogan and CHP leader Ozgur Ozel in the capital Ankara comes more than a month after their first encounter in May
- Erdogan has signalled "softening" in politics after the March vote observers called his worst defeat since his Islamic-rooted AKP party took power in 2002
Geostrategy
Blinken in Israel to push ceasefire plan for Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks with key Israeli opposition figures on Tuesday, a day after he...
- On Monday, the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution supporting a six-week ceasefire plan,
- Four Israeli soldiers had been killed in fighting in southern Gaza yesterday
Business
Intel suspends expansion of factory plan in Israel
New York, United States - Intel is halting the expansion of a major factory project in Israel, which was going to...
- The chip giant in December said it was going to expand an ongoing $10 billion plan at the Kiryat Gat site, in the south of the country, currently under construction
- Solicited by AFP, Intel on Monday gave no reason for the pause for the next phase and made no link to the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza
Geostrategy
Israeli forces kill 4 Palestinians in West Bank
The Israeli military said it shot at a group of four people who attempted to flee in a vehicle and...
- A general strike was called in Ramallah by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in response to the killings, along with a pre-planned rally for Palestinians jailed by Israel
- Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 war and hundreds of thousands of settlers have since moved to the Palestinian territory, in breach of international law
Business
Virgin Galactic completes final spaceflight before two-year pause
Washington, United States -- Virgin Galactic on Saturday successfully completed its last spaceflight before heading into a two-year pause on commercial...
- One of the private astronauts was Tuva Atasever, a Turkish space agency astronaut whose seat was contracted through another space company, Axiom.
- During the flight, Atasever wore custom headgear with brain activity monitoring sensors to collect physiological data.
Geostrategy
UN Security Council to vote on US Gaza ceasefire resolution
The text of the resolution "welcomes" the truce and hostage release proposal announced on May 31 by President Joe Biden,...
- The United States, a staunch ally of Israel, has been widely criticized for having blocked several UN draft resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
- Under the proposal, Israel would withdraw from Gaza population centers and Hamas would free hostages. The ceasefire would last an initial six weeks.
Business
EU targets UAE telecoms firm in new anti-subsidy probe
Telecoms group e&, whose majority stakeholder is the UAE government, signed a $2.3-billion agreement in August 2023 to purchase Czech...
- The alleged subsidies "notably take the form of an unlimited guarantee from the UAE and a loan from UAE-controlled banks directly facilitating the transaction", it added.
- The commission said it will investigate whether the subsidies lead to "actual or potential negative effects" on the bid's process or the EU's internal market.
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Kazakhstan to join Abraham Accords as Trump pushes Mideast peace
Washington, United States - Kazakhstan said Thursday it will join the Abraham Accords between Israel and mainly Muslim nations, in...
Geostrategy
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TSMC’s H1 revenue up 40 percent
Business
Bitcoin hits record high above $124,000 before retreating
Tokyo, Japan - Bitcoin hit a record high on Thursday during early Asian trading, surpassing $124,000, driven by favourable US...
Economy
‘Putin has only one chance:’ Trump warns of make-or-break chance with Russian leader
Putin and Trump will meet Friday at an air base in the far-northern US state, the first time the Russian...
Geostrategy
Plastic pollution treaty talks in disarray as dozens of countries reject draft text
Geneva, Switzerland - Attempts to finalise a landmark treaty combating plastic pollution descended into disarray on the penultimate day on...
Economy
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Geostrategy
Israel military says approved plan for new Gaza offensive
The approval for the expanded offensive comes days after Israel's security cabinet called for the seizure of Gaza's largest city,...
- Ismail Al-Thawabta, director general of the Hamas government media office in Gaza, told AFP on Wednesday that "the Israeli forces continue to carry out aggressive incursions."
- AFP footage from Gaza City on Tuesday showed Palestinians fleeing Israeli strikes on the Zeitoun and Asqoola using overladen carts, vans and bikes.
Business
Musk clashes with Altman after accusing App Store of favoring OpenAI
San Francisco, United States -- Elon Musk has accused Apple of unfairly favoring ChatGPT on its App Store and threatened...
- OpenAI and xAI both released new versions of their AI assistants, ChatGPT and Grok, in the past week.
- App Store rankings listed ChatGPT as the top free iPhone app on Tuesday, with Grok in fifth place.
Business
Perplexity AI offers Google $34.5 bn for Chrome browser
San Francisco, United States -- Perplexity AI offered Google on Tuesday $34.5 billion for its popular Chrome web browser, which...
- The sum proposed in a letter of intent by Perplexity is nearly double the value of the startup, which was reportedly $18 billion in a recent funding round.
- Google is awaiting a US District Court judge's decision on how to address its illegal monopoly in online search.