Moscow, Russia -- Moscow is maintaining close contact with officials from the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Russia’s upcoming presidential election, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Tuesday.Bogdanov, who serves as Russian special presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa, told TASS, "We...

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told the RTL broadcaster that there was "no consensus" on any "official" deployment of ground troops. "But no dynamic can be ruled out. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war," he said, using the same words as Macron...

In a statement after the meeting, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also attended, the leaders vowed to "raise the cost" of Russia's war on Ukraine. The G7 leaders didn't make any public statement about further military aid to Ukraine, but urged "the approval of additional support to close Ukraine's remaining...

New Delhi, India - India's foreign ministry confirmed on Friday that some of the country's citizens had signed up for "support jobs" with the Russian army and said it was working with Moscow to secure their discharge.The Hindu newspaper reported on Wednesday that around 18 Indians were stranded in various...

LONDON, UK – The price of natural gas in Europe fell again on Friday, taking it to its lowest in almost three years as mild winter weather continues and European stockpiles hold up.Mid-morning on Friday, the benchmark Dutch TTF futures contract was down 3.2 percent at US$24.3 (22.45 euros) a megawatt-hour...

The company said lower energy prices cut into its profits.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia triggered a massive shift by European nations away from Russian natural gas delivered by pipelines, with prices for LNG soaring as they competed on international markets for limited supplies. With a limited number of import terminals, European nations were also forced to undertake measures...

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS -  A Dutch court quashed an appeal by Russia in a record $50-billion case on Tuesday, paving the way for a payment to former shareholders of dismantled oil giant Yukos.The decision is the latest in a legal tug-of-war over Yukos which broke up in the early 2000s after...

"We as South Africans sense, see, hear and feel to our core the inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was institutionalized against black people in my country," said Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa's ambassador to the Netherlands, where...

Western governments immediately attacked the Kremlin over the death of the most outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin. Navalny lost consciousness after a walk and could not be revived by medics, the prison service said. "Navalny felt bad after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness. Medical staff arrived immediately and...

Asked by a journalist who Russia would like to see win in the likely contest between the Democratic incumbent and Republican frontrunner Trump, Putin said: "Biden, he's more experienced. He's predictable, he's an old-school politician."

Brussels, Belgium - The European Commission on Tuesday officially extended an exemption from contested rules to leave a share of agricultural lands fallow, which had become a flashpoint for protesting farmers across the bloc.First lifted in 2023 in response to market disruptions caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the rules will...

"The current military-security situation heralds what is likely to be a more dangerous decade, characterized by the brazen application by some of military power to pursue claims," the report said.

Ahead of a key meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels and the second anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war, Jens Stoltenberg insisted that "we need to reconstitute and expand our industrial base faster, to increase deliveries to Ukraine and refill our own stocks." "This means shifting from slow peacetime to...

During a two-hour long interview with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Russia's President Vladimir Putin defended his decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022. The president said the West now realizes that Russia will not be defeated, despite US, European and NATO help to Ukraine.

Its earnings were US$36.2bn, half of what is was in 2022.

Net profit came in at $21.4 bn, an increase of 4% over 2022.

ABU DHABI, UAE - President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke by telephone to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to discuss bilateral relations and opportunities to further strengthen UAE-Russia ties.During the telephonic conversation on Monday, Putin expressed his gratitude to Sheikh Mohamed for the UAE’s successful mediation...

It will deliver US$1.75bn in buybacks for Q4 of last year.

The US forces targeted many positions in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for a drone attack on a base in Jordan that killed three US soldiers. The strikes, which targeted elite Iranian units and pro-Iranian militant groups, have led to fears that the ongoing war in Gaza could spiral into...

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in the 13th Middle East Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club to be held on February 13-14, the club told TASS.“About 50 foreign and Russian experts and current political figures from 16 countries, including Algeria, the UK, Egypt, India,...

Moscow, Russia -- China, India, Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia will become prior countries for Russia in development of inbound tourism in 2024, according to the concept for promoting Russia’s tourism potential on foreign markets presented by Director General of the Center for Strategic Research Pavel...

For EU leaders, it is their way or the highway as the wealthy, powerful bloc seeks to tame opposition and browbeat defiant countries and individuals into submission.

Tokyo, Japan - After a brief awakening, Japan's Moon lander is out of action again but will resume its mission if it survives the two-week lunar night, the space agency said Thursday.The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down last month at a wonky angle that left its solar...

The United States approved a $4 billion sale of state-of-the-art drones to India, offering a new edge to the growing US partner. The sale marks a milestone in Indian purchases of American weapons after New Delhi's reliance on weapons from Russia, which have been increasingly controversial due to sanctions over...

In an effort to shore up prices, the OPEC+ oil alliance of 23 nations has implemented supply cuts of more than five million barrels per day (bpd) since the end of 2022. Oil prices were up slightly on Thursday and hovering around $80 per barrel.

With inflation up at 35 percent, and amid a severe foreign currency crunch, the Egyptian pound is plunging and the US dollar has become hard to come by. The country's highly import-reliant economy, dominated by military-linked enterprises and with a fondness for infrastructure mega-projects, has been hit hard by a...

Kyiv had accused Moscow of being a "terrorist state" whose support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was a harbinger of the full-fledged 2022 invasion. It wanted Russia to compensate all civilians caught up in the conflict, as well as victims from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down...

Cairo, Egypt-- Egypt has enough reserves of wheat to last it for many months, according to Dr. Ali Al-Moselhi, the Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade.The minister said the country's reserves of wheat are sufficient for 4.2 months, oil for 5.3 months, and sugar for 5.4 months.He noted that...

The Western military alliance has said some 90,000 troops will take part in the months-long Steadfast Defender 24 exercise designed to test its defenses in the face of Russia's war on Ukraine. "The alliance will demonstrate its ability to reinforce the Euro-Atlantic area via trans-Atlantic movement of forces from North...

The European Union unveiled plans to strengthen the bloc's economic security including measures to protect sensitive technology from falling into the hands of geopolitical rivals like China. Brussels has bolstered its armoury of trade restrictions to tackle what it deems to be risks to European economic security, following Russia’s invasion...

The latest deals -- signed with French firm Nexter and Germany's Junghans Microtec -- are estimated by officials to cover around 220,000 shells and deliveries to NATO members will start at the end of 2025.

Tata Steel employs about 8,000 staff in the United Kingdom.

Prime Minister Li Qiang, who will make a special address on Tuesday, will be the most senior Chinese official to attend Davos since President Xi Jinping in 2017. The Prime Minister will be joined by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, the governor of the People's Bank of China and high-ranking...

"Remember Ukraine?" UN aid chief Martin Griffiths asked as he launched the plan in Geneva. "Please do not forget Ukraine while there are many other places in the world which grab our attention." "As we go into 2024, the competition for funding is going to be more," he acknowledged, citing...

Beijing, China - Trade between China and Russia hit a record high in 2023, official data from Beijing showed on Friday, as commerce with the United States fell for the first time in four years on the back of geopolitical tensions.China-Russia trade reached more than $240 billion, customs figures showed, overshooting...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has signed four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Morocco, and Russia.One of the aims of these MoUs is to foster international cooperation in minerals between Saudi Arabia and these countries.According to the...

Indian refiners bought 1.45 million barrels per day of Russian oil last month, their lowest amount since last January and down nearly 16 percent from November, according to global energy trade intelligence platform Kpler.

Paris, France - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Middle East leaders will attend a World Economic Forum in Davos next week dominated by the war in Gaza, the WEF said Tuesday.Argentina's libertarian new president, Javier Milei, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese Premier Li Qiang...

The data supports comments by European Central Bank (ECB) chief Christine Lagarde, who has warned that Europe should remain on guard despite falling inflation.

World food prices fell in 2023, with considerable declines for grains and oils as supply concerns eased, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said. The FAO's cereals price index fell 15.4 percent last year, "reflecting well supplied global markets" compared to 2022, when prices soared after Russia's invasion of Ukraine,...

The corridor was created in August to link Ukraine's ports to the Bosphorus Straits, several weeks after Moscow refused to agree on a new accord to allow cereal exports through the contested Black Sea. The now-defunct accord had allowed Ukraine to export nearly 33 million tons of cereals and other...

A massive air attack targeted schools, a maternity hospital, shopping arcades, blocks of flats, and many other sites, according to Ukrainian officials. The assault triggered international condemnation and fresh promises of military support to Ukraine, which has been fighting off invading Russian troops since late February 2022.

Moscow, Russia - The aggregate GDP of the BRICS countries after the accession of its new members in 2024 will significantly exceed that of the Group of Seven (G7) countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Russian news...

After President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries hit Russia with a slew of sanctions including a European Union embargo on its seaborne oil deliveries. As it was losing much of its market share in Europe, Moscow pivoted to other buyers including China.

"On December 25 at 10:00 pm (0700 GMT) Russian warplanes targeted civilian houses" on the outskirts of the town of Armanaz, in Idlib province, said Abdel Halim Shehab of the White Helmets voluntary search-and-rescue group. Members of the White Helmets, which operates in rebel-held zones of northern Syria, pulled the...

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - The Russian government has extended the ban on the entry of trucks from the European Union, the UK, Norway and Ukraine to the country. “The restriction will remain in effect until the circumstances that served as the basis for its introduction are eliminated,” the Cabinet noted on...

Previously, to be eligible for a loan from Moscow, a country could not be categorized in the sixth or lower credit risk groups according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standards.

Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said the Su-34 jets were downed around noon on Friday. In his announcement he noted a message found on a downed Russian drone which read "Die, bitches". "Great idea! Here is our response!" he said on Telegram.

Despite slashing oil production for months on end and announcing new cuts in late November, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its ten allies have struggled to boost flagging prices. Moreover, the wider OPEC+ group faces pressure on multiple fronts, as rising US crude production, a looming transition...