Hamas team heads to Cairo for new truce talks
Palestinian Territories - A Hamas delegation was expected to fly to Cairo on Saturday for talks on a truce in...
Geostrategy
Energy-related global CO2 emissions hit record levels in 2023, says IEA
PARIS, FRANCE – Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose to a record level in 2023, but the growth slowed from previous years...
Science
Geostrategy
Russia may cut gas supplies to Finland over Ruble payment refusal
Russia may cut gas supplies to Finland soon over the Nordic country's refusal to pay Gazprom in rubles, Finnish state-owned...
- On Sunday, Russia suspended electricity supplies to Finland overnight after its energy firm RAO Nordic claimed payment arrears.
- Moscow has repeatedly warned Finland that any NATO membership application would be "a grave mistake far reaching consequences".
Business
McDonald’s to exit Russian market
The company will sell its business in the increasingly isolated country.
- McDonald's in March closed all of its 850 restaurants in the country, where it employs 62,000 people.
- The company directly manages more than 80 percent of the restaurants bearing its name in Russia.
Geostrategy
Somali MPs vote in prez election as famine threat looms
Somali lawmakers gathered in Mogadishu Sunday to vote in the country's long-overdue presidential election, with 35 candidates vying for the...
- The poll has been dogged by claims of irregularities and is well over a year behind schedule
- The vote is expected to draw a line under a political crisis that has lasted well over a year
Business
G7 criticizes India for its decision to ban wheat export
India, the world's second-largest wheat producer, said that factors including lower wheat production and sharply higher global prices because of...
- India on Saturday banned wheat exports without prior government approval after recent scorching temperatures hit production
- However, exports could also take place if New Delhi approved a request by other governments "to meet their food security needs"
Geostrategy
Finnish President speaks with Putin on NATO membership
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday regarding the Nordic country's application for NATO...
- The Finnish president and Prime Minister had said on Thursday that they wanted the country to join NATO "without delay"
- Neighboring Sweden, like Finland traditionally neutral, is also expected to announce its own membership bid in coming days
Economy
Russian embargo won’t result in global oil dearth : IEA
The IEA said "steadily rising" output from the United States and Middle Eastern members of the OPEC+ oil cartel will...
- The IEA had previously warned that Moscow's invasion of Ukraine could spark a global supply "shock".
- World oil demand growth, meanwhile, is forecast to slow to 1.9 million barrels per day in the second quarter.
Arts & Culture
Iran archeologists stand against antiquities trade bill
46 out of 290 MPs in Iran proposed the draft law earlier this week, dubbed the "optimal utilization of ancient...
- Iranian lawmakers said they hope to turn Iran into a "regional center" for antiquities trade
- Local media regularly report arrests of individuals accused of smuggling artefacts out of the country
Geostrategy
Iran says EU nuclear coordinator will visit this week
Enrique Mora has played a key role as an intermediary between the United States and Iran during a year of...
- The deal was agreed between Iran and the five permanent UNSC members — China, Russia, the United States, United Kingdom and France — alongside Germany
- But the US unilaterally withdrew in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed economic sanctions, prompting Iran to roll back its own commitments
Geostrategy
French President says Ukraine could join EU after decades
Russia invaded Ukraine in February, in part to thwart Kyiv's tilt towards integration with the EU and NATO.
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, tweeted that EU executive would give its "opinion" on Ukraine's membership bid in June.
- "It is our historic obligation ... to create what I would describe before you today as a European political community," Macron said.
Geostrategy
Putin vows to repeat Russia’s World War II victory in Ukraine
Our sacred duty is to hold back the ideological successors of those who were defeated" in World War II, which...
- Putin insists Ukraine is in the grip of fascism and a threat to Russia and the Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine's east
- Moscow will officially commemorate victory over Nazi Germany with a giant military parade on Monday
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Hamas team heads to Cairo for new truce talks
Palestinian Territories - A Hamas delegation was expected to fly to Cairo on Saturday for talks on a truce in...
Geostrategy
Company News
Latest News
DUBAL, Oriental Copper ink MoU
Business
Trio wins physics Nobel for illuminating electrons
France's Pierre Agostini, Hungarian-Austrian Ferenc Krausz and Franco-Swede Anne L'Huillier won the Nobel prize in physics for research using ultra...
Science
Markets slump as US jobs data says labor market buoyant
The focus has been on US Treasury bond yields that have surged to levels not seen in over a decade,...
Market Report
Qatar begins construction on North Field gas expansion
RAS LAFFAN, QATAR - Qatar's state-owned energy giant began construction on Tuesday on a project to expand production from the world's...
Geostrategy
Most Read
Geostrategy
Oil industry is an integral part of climate solutions, says COP28 head
President of the upcoming COP28 climate talks Sultan Al Jaber, also the head of UAE state-owned oil firm ADNOC, told...
- The president of the upcoming COP28 urged oil industry leaders to curb emissions associated with energy production.
- He also encouraged them to embrace "low carbon solutions" like carbon capture and storage,
Science
mRNA COVID vaccine experts awarded Nobel Medicine Prize
Kariko, 68, and Weissman, 64, longstanding colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania in the US, have won a slew of...
- While the prizewinning research dates back to 2005, the first vaccines to use the mRNA technology were those made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna against Covid-19.
- The mRNA vaccines, together with other COVID vaccines "have saved millions of lives and prevented severe disease in many more," the jury said
Geostrategy
UN conference adopts plan to reduce harmful chemicals
PARIS, FRANCE - A new roadmap to reduce the environmental risks from chemicals and waste was adopted at a United Nations...
- The plan sets out 28 concrete targets and guidelines for key sectors across the entire lifecycle of chemicals, from production to waste.
- It calls for a transition to more sustainable chemical alternatives, responsible management of chemicals in industry, agriculture and healthcare.