US Fed will likely cut again despite economic murkiness from shutdown
The central bank's second-to-last rate meeting of the year is taking place against the backdrop of a weeks-long standoff between...Economy Geostrategy
Oil prices surge as Trump hits Russian crude with sanctions
The international benchmark contract, Brent North Sea crude, jumped 4.8 percent while West Texas Intermediate was up 5.1 percent. Trump on Wednesday announced...Economy Geostrategy
OpenAI releases ChatGPT-5 as AI race accelerates
San Francisco, United States -- OpenAI released a keenly awaited new generation of its hallmark ChatGPT on Thursday, touting "significant" advancements...ChatGPT-5 is rolling out free to all users of the AI tool, which is used by nearly 700 million people weekly, OpenAI said in a briefing with journalists.
Co-founder and chief executive Sam Altman touted this latest iteration as "clearly a model that is generally intelligent."
Average US tariffs now highest since 1910s: WTO and IMF
The figure, calculated by the two organizations, stands in contrast with the 2.4 percent rate in force at the time...A trade "truce" brought down sky-high tariff levels that the United States and China had imposed upon one another, but that is set to expire next week.
The new figure by the WTO and IMF takes into account the trade deals the US negotiated with the EU, Japan, South Korea and other nations that have now come into force.
Trump announces 100% chip tariff, pressuring Asian producers
The US president unveiled the levy at the White House on Wednesday ahead of the imposition of sweeping tariffs on...shares in Taiwan's TSMC -- world's largest contract maker of chips -- soared nearly 5% after the government said the company will not be affected.
Trump has previously accused Taiwan of having stolen the US chip industry, and earlier this year, TSMC unveiled a plan to invest an extra $100 billion in the United States.
Syria inks infrastructure and real-estate deals worth $14 billion
Since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria's new authorities have worked to attract investment for the...The plans include a $4 billion investment project for Damascus airport and $2bn in investment for a Damascus metro, as well as more than $2bn for a mall and two towers development
Last month, Saudi Arabia signed major investment and partnership deals with Syria, valued at $6.4 billion.
Trump says to raise tariff on India over Russia oil purchases
President Donald Trump threatened Monday to "substantially" hike US tariffs on goods from India over its purchases of Russian oil...Trump's heightened pressure on India comes after he signaled fresh sanctions on Moscow if it did not make progress by Friday towards a peace deal with Kyiv
Moscow is anticipating talks with the US leader's special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin this week
Jordan sees decrease in number of tourists over Gaza war
Amman, Jordan -- Jordan has seen a decrease in the number of tourists visiting its famed ancient city of Petra...According to figures from the Petra tourism authority carried by official media, 32 hotels have had to shut down and nearly 700 people have lost their jobs.
Petra, famous for its stunning temples hewn from rose-pink cliff faces, is a UN World Heritage site.
AI search pushing an already weakened media ecosystem to the brink
New York, United States - Generative artificial intelligence assistants like ChatGPT are cutting into traditional online search traffic, depriving news...A recent Pew Research Center study reveals that AI-generated summaries now appearing regularly in Google searches discourage users from clicking through to source articles
This represents a devastating loss of visitors for online media sites that depend on traffic for both advertising revenue and subscription conversions
Qatar to expand scheme to boost Syria power supply
Qatar is to expand its scheme to boost the power supply in Syria by paying for deliveries of Azerbaijani gas...The deliveries, aimed at alleviating chronic power outages in Syria, will increase the Qatari scheme's generating capacity to 800 megawatts per day
A first phase of the Qatari scheme to fund gas supplies for power generation rolled out in March via Jordan and provided 400 megawatts of electricity per day
World economies reel from Trump’s tariffs
The tariffs are a demonstration of raw economic power that Trump sees putting US exporters in a stronger position while...But the muscular approach has raised fears of inflation and other economic fallout in the world's biggest economy.
Stock markets in Hong Kong and London slumped as they digested the turmoil.
Trump’s global trade policy faces test, hours from tariff deadline
The last-gasp scramble to strike bilateral accords came as an appeals court in Washington considered the legality behind Trump's strategy...Trump doubled down on the wide-ranging levies, posting on Truth Social: "Tariffs are making America GREAT & RICH Again."
So far, Washington has announced pacts with Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and the European Union.
