German economy grew more than estimated in third quarter
Gross domestic product grew "despite difficult general conditions in the global economy such as the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, delivery bottlenecks, continuing price rises and the war in Ukraine," it said. A separate survey on Friday showed that German consumer confidence has edged up again following a long period of decline,...
Fate of nuclear plant remains uncertain as Ukraine war rages on
The Russian-held Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine, which is at the center of international concern amid mutual accusations of shelling by Moscow and Kyiv, is Europe's biggest nuclear plant.
Arrival of first ship in Lebanon with Ukraine grain put off
The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni was cleared for passage through the Bosphorus Strait by a team that included Russian and Ukrainian inspectors on Wednesday, and a Ukraine embassy spokesperson had later said it was expected to dock in Lebanon's port of Tripoli at 10 am (0700 GMT) on Sunday.Three more grain ships leave Ukraine: Turkey
Moscow and Kyiv agreed in Istanbul last month to resume shipments of wheat and other grain from Ukrainian ports for the first time since Russia invaded its neighbor in February.Syrian ship accused of carrying stolen Ukranian grain leaves Lebanon
The Laodicea, which was docked in the northern port of Tripoli, was cleared to leave after investigations failed to prove it carried stolen goods, officials said. It set sail at 8:00 am (0500 GMT), according to Lebanese state media, and was later reported by authorities in Damascus to have arrived...
Russia to launch Iran satellite into orbit next week
News of the launch follows Putin's visit to Iran on July 19, when he met President Ebrahim Raisi and Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Oil prices tumble on demand worries as global stocks mostly rise
The drop in oil prices came despite a move by the OPEC+ oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, to undertake just a small increase in production. The OPEC+ decision to raise production by 100,000 barrels per day for September is likely to disappoint US President Joe Biden, who...Inflation-fighting BoE poised to unleash big rate hike
The BoE is tipped to lift its main rate by 0.50 percentage points the biggest amount in more than a quarter of a century. British inflation jumped to a four-decade high of 9.4 percent in June, worsening a cost-of-living crisis as workers' wages fail to keep pace. With inflation spiking...
BP sees its profit triple to $9.3bn on back of high energy prices
British oil giant BP returned to profit in the second quarter on the back of soaring energy prices, following a big loss due to its exit from Russia over the war in Ukraine, company results showed Tuesday.
Lebanese struggle to find bread due to shortage of wheat
In bankrupt Lebanon, Khalil Mansour has to queue for hours every day just to buy bread for his family and some days he can't afford any.
Germany’s economic model wobbles amid energy crisis
Germany's second-quarter growth figures to be published on Friday are expected to be meek as the outlook for Europe's largest economy is clouded by the fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine. A recession in the months to come has a growing sense of inevitability about it, observers say. And it...
US Fed looks to hike interest rate to douse runaway inflation
US central bankers face an increasingly difficult balancing act as they struggle to douse scorching inflation while still keeping the economy growing, though they have made it clear they are willing to risk a recession.
Egypt banks on small farms to overcome wheat shortage
Egyptian smallholders grow nearly half of the country's crops, a lifeline role increasingly important after grain imports were stalled by war in Ukraine but they are struggling to survive.Putin, Saudi crown prince discuss oil as global energy market gets volatile
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke about the oil market in a telephone conversation on Thursday, the Kremlin said. The call comes less than a week after the Saudi Crown Prince met visiting US President Joe Biden.
Global electricity demand slowing sharply: IEA
The agency said renewable sources of energy were growing faster than demand and replacing fossil fuels.
IMF says talks continue on aid program for Tunisia
The North African country has seen its economy crippled by a crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which has sent public debt soaring.Iran hosts Putin, Erdogan for talks overshadowed by Ukraine war
Iran's president will host his Russian and Turkish counterparts on Tuesday for talks on the Syrian war in a three-way summit overshadowed by fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The summit is the first hosted by Iran's ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi since he took office last year, and the...H&M to wind down operations in Russia to protest Ukraine invasion
H&M, which has operated in Russia since 2009, said it would reopen stores in Russia "for a limited period of time to sell remaining inventory" as part of the exit process.ECB goes on offensive as inflation pressure mounts
The European Central Bank will raise its interest rates on Thursday for the first time in over a decade, but the bank is already under pressure to do more amid record inflation.EU to discuss imposing harsher sanctions against Russia
The European Union will discuss tightening sanctions against Russia on Monday, as Moscow is accused of using the continent's largest nuclear power plant to store weapons and launch missiles on the surrounding regions of southern Ukraine.
Biden vows to defend KSA, halt Iran’s nuclear bid
A joint communiqué, issued after US president's meetings with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, outlines the strategic alliance between the two countries.
EU braces for migrants spurred by food crisis
The EU must brace for new waves of migrants forced to uproot because of the food crisis aggravated by the war in Ukraine, the bloc's border agency chief warned Monday. While Ukrainian refugees were being handled well, "we have to prepare also for refugees coming from other areas because of...TotalEnergies of France pulls out of Russian oil project
Russian oil firm Zarubezhneft will take over its remaining 20 percent stake in the Kharyaga project in the Arctic pending approval by Russian authorities.Tunisia struggles to grow more wheat to prevent food shortage
Tunisian farmer Mondher Mathali surveys a sea of swaying golden wheat and revs his combine harvester, a rumbling beast from 1976 that he fears could break down at any moment. Since the Ukraine war sent global cereal prices soaring, import-dependent Tunisia has announced a push to grow all its own...Ukraine asks Turkey to detain Russian cargo ship
Ukraine on Friday asked Turkey to detain a Russian-flagged cargo ship that Kyiv alleged had set off from a Kremlin-occupied port. Marine traffic websites showed the Zhibek Zholy anchored about a kilometer (half a mile) off Turkey's Black Sea port of Karasu. They also showed the ship only switching on...
Turkey supplies combat drones to Ukrainian army
Turkish drone-manufacturer Baykar, which has President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law as one of its directors, offered three of its drones to the Ukrainian army on Monday.
Ukraine may take 10 years to build infrastructure to skirt blockade
It would take Ukraine a decade to build infrastructure to replace its Black Sea ports, whose blockade by Russia is preventing grain exports around the world, Ukraine's deputy agriculture minister said Friday.
G7 summit to inflict more pain on Russia over Ukraine invasion
Leaders at the upcoming G7 summit in Germany will announce new measures aimed at pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, a senior US official said Wednesday.
US president faces historic leadership task in Europe
Leader of the free world sounds like a superhero character, but the Joe Biden heading this week to twin European summits is in reality a politically fragile president tasked, somehow, with resolving an unenviable string of diplomatic problems. Biden arrives Saturday in Germany for the G7 summit of major Western...UN chief calls on Security Council to extend Syria cross-border aid
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for the Security Council to extend its authorization of cross-border aid into northwest Syria by a year a policy that veto-holding Russia has criticized.
China’s import of oil from Russia jumps 55% in May
The world's second-biggest economy imported around 8.42 million tons of oil from Russia last month.EU terms blockade of Ukraine grain by Russia ‘real war crime’
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday that Russia should be held "accountable" if it keeps blocking the export of vitally needed grain from Ukraine.US Federal Reserve hints at another interest rate hike
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Saturday threw his support behind another large interest rate increase next month. The Fed on Wednesday announced the biggest hike in nearly 30 years, raising the benchmark borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage points to rein in scorching inflation.Turkey to host meeting with UN, Russia, Ukraine for export of grains
Turkey is ready to host a four-way meeting with the United Nations, Russia, and Ukraine to organize the export of grain through the Black Sea, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.
Aid groups appeal UN to renew Syria cross-border aid resolution
Dozens of aid groups Tuesday urged the United Nations Security Council to renew a resolution allowing aid deliveries to millions in war-torn Syria via Turkey, ahead of its expiry next month. The Bab al-Hawa crossing on the border between northern Syria and southern Turkey is the only one through which UN...Turkey constructs Black Sea pipeline to pump natural gas
Turkey's president hailed on Monday the start of the construction of an underwater pipeline to tap a Black Sea natural gas field that the government hopes will help wean the country off its dependence on energy imports. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan watched via video link as the first pipeline section was...UN urges WTO to not restrict food export for humanitarian purposes
The United Nations on Monday begged world trade ministers meeting at the WTO not to impose export restrictions on food for humanitarian purposes, amid a food security crisis. The UN's human rights chief Michelle Bachelet and its trade and development head Rebeca Grynspan said Russia's war in Ukraine was increasing the...
TotalEnergies warns consumers to ‘turn down heating’ to ease crisis
TotalEnergies chief Patrick Pouyanne hailed a deal to expand production in the world's biggest natural gas field in Qatar but told AFP on Sunday that more projects are needed and consumers will still have to "turn down the heating" to ease the growing price crisis.
European sanctions will wipe out Russia’s 15 years of economic gains
Sanctions imposed on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine are rolling back more than a decade of economic progress and three decades of integration with the West, according to an analysis Wednesday. But economists at the Institute for International Finance caution that the impact is a "moving target" since more...Climate talks in Bonn to reignite momentum to tackle warming
Negotiators from almost 200 countries will meet in Bonn Monday for climate talks tasked with reigniting momentum on tackling global warming, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine overshadows the threat from rising emissions.Bosphorus sea trade remains undaunted by Ukraine war
At the gates of the Black Sea, trade is in full swing as freighters and oil tankers sail from the heart of Istanbul to Russian and Ukrainian ports.
Russians prepare for hardships as sanctions begin to hit
With billions of dollars in financial reserves and money still coming in from oil and gas exports, Russia has yet to feel the full impact of the barrage of Western sanctions imposed over its offensive in Ukraine.
EU leaders ban most Russian oil, as Moscow advances in Donbas
European Union leaders have agreed to ban more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports, tightening economic screws on the country even as Moscow's forces press their offensive in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. The compromise deal reached late Monday, meant to punish Russia for its invasion three months ago, cuts "a...After Russian invasion, NATO has right to deploy in eastern Europe: deputy chief
NATO is no longer bound by past commitments to hold back from deploying its forces in eastern Europe, the US-led alliance's deputy secretary-general said Sunday. Moscow itself has "voided of any content" of the NATO-Russia Founding Act, by attacking Ukraine and halting dialogue with the alliance, Mircea Geoana told AFP....
Iran says crews of two seized Greek oil tankers ‘in good health’
Iran said Saturday the crews of two Greek oil tankers it has seized in the Gulf are in "good health" and not under arrest.Iran Revolutionary Guards say seized two Greek tankers in Gulf
Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized two Greek oil tankers in the Gulf Friday, days after Athens confirmed it would deliver to Washington the Iranian oil it had seized from a Russian tanker. "The IRGC naval forces today (Friday) seized two Greek oil tankers in the Persian Gulf due to violations that...
Greece will send Iranian oil from seized ship to US: police
Greece will send Iranian oil from a seized Russian-flagged tanker to the United States at the request of the US judiciary, Greek port police said Wednesday, a decision that angered Tehran. Last month the Greek authorities seized the Pegas, which was said to have been heading to the Marmara terminal...
More than 100 million people forcibly displaced: UN
Russia's war in Ukraine has pushed the number of forcibly displaced people around the world above 100 million for the first time ever, the United Nations said Monday. The "alarming" figure must shake the world into ending the conflicts forcing record numbers to flee their own homes, the UNHCR said...France sees no EU entry for Ukraine before ’15 or 20 years’
A bid by Ukraine to join the European Union would not be finalized for "15 or 20 years," France's Europe minister said Sunday, pouring cold water on Kyiv's hopes for quick entry in the wake of Russia's invasion. "We have to be honest. If you say Ukraine is going to...Russian army says Mariupol steelworks ‘totally liberated’
Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed president Putin of "the end of the operation and the complete liberation of the (Azovstal) industrial complex and the city of Mariupol".Nearly 60 mn people internally displaced worldwide in 2021
Last year, new internal displacements from conflict surged to 14.4 million marking a 50-percent jump from 2020 and more than doubling since 2012, the report showed.
