China’s exports beat forecast in March despite trade war woes
China said Monday that exports soared 12.4 percent year-on-year last month, beating expectations as Beijing navigated mounting trade headwinds sparked...Geostrategy
Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa makes first visit to UAE
Damascus, Syria -- Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose war-devastated country seeks Gulf financial support, traveled to the United Arab...Geostrategy
PwC culls a raft of senior execs after Australian tax scandal
PwC Australia has been mired in controversy since January this year, when it emerged that staff had leaked information from...Accounting giant PwC named eight partners who had "enabled poor behaviours to persist with no accountability" -- including former Australian chief executive Tom Seymour
Australian police have been investigating the leak since late May, while the parliament's powerful finance committee is gearing up to grill executives at a series of public hearing
Yellen to visit China, raising need to ‘responsibly manage’ ties
In Beijing, Yellen will discuss how the United States views its economic relationship with China, a senior Treasury official said...Yellen is expected to discuss with her counterparts the importance for both countries to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern
Yellen's planned July 6-9 trip comes just weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met China's top leader President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing
British lawmakers call for ‘fresh approaches” to seek Egyptian dissident’s release
London, United Kingdom--Over 100 British lawmakers on Monday expressed concern at the lack of progress in the case of a jailed...Alaa Abdel Fattah, the rights campaigner, is serving a five-year prison sentence for "spreading false news" by sharing a Facebook post about police brutality
The lawmakers call for fresh "approaches" as in their opinion private lobbying of the Egyptian government even at the higest levels is yet to deliver results
Israeli army kills one Palestinian in West Bank: Palestinian health ministry
The city of Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp are a regular site of confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian...Israeli army said its forces had struck a joint operations center, which it claimed served as a command post for the "Jenin Brigade", a local militant group
The army said the early Monday operation had targeted an "observation and reconnaissance" site, as well as a weapons storage facility
Dubai Customs, Japan seize drugs worth $310m from Tokyo port
DUBAI, UAE- Dubai Customs has assisted Japanese customs authorities in intercepting a significant quantity of illicit drugs. Up to 700...Up to 700 kilograms of "methamphetamine" powder, worth $310 million, were concealed within a cargo ship.
The successful operation led to the apprehension of both the cargo ship and the illegal drugs at Tokyo Port.
Hamas let Gaza residents pose with weapons at open exhibition
Exhibitions are also scheduled to take place on Saturday in the north and center of the Gaza Strip, where people...Members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades mingled with young men and women at the exhibition in Gaza City's Unknown Soldier's Square
Among the Hamas weapons on display in Gaza City on Friday were a range of locally manufactured missiles, "Shihab" drones
Israel okays deal with Lockheed Martin to buy F-35 fighter jets
Israel has approved buying a third squadron of advanced F-35 fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin in a $3-billion deal,...In May 2018, Israel's military said it had become the first country to use F-35s in combat.
The deal to purchase 25 F-35 jets- expected to be signed in coming months - will expand the country's fleet of the aircraft to 75.
OIC calls for measures to prevent Quran burning incidents
The Saudi Arabia-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation called for collective measures to avoid future Quran burnings, days after a copy...The OIC urged member states to "take unified and collective measures to prevent the recurrence of incidents of desecration of copies of the" Quran.
The burning of the holy book coincided with the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday and the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Hundreds more arrested in fifth night of French rioting
Protesters, mostly minors, have torched cars, damaged infrastructure and clashed with police in an outpouring of rage since an officer...The interior ministry said police had made 719 arrests overnight -- still a provisional tally -- after around 1,300 the previous night.
Some 45,000 police had been deployed across France, the same number as the night before, and backup was dispatched to the previous days' flashpoints, including Lyon,
Iran exhorts France ‘to end violent treatment’ of protesters
France has been rocked by a major wave of violent street protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a...Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani on Twitter also urged Iranian citizens to "refrain from making unnecessary trips to France"
The unrest in France has made headlines in newspapers in the Islamic republic, which was hit last year by nationwide protests
