The mandate -- under which the Pentagon says more than 8,000 military personnel have been discharged for refusal to comply -- was scrapped over the objections of US President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a victory for Republicans who sought to end it. While various other US...

Emmanuel Macron said France had been pushing the idea for more than four years. The global minimum tax is only one part, known as Pillar Two, of the OECD agreement. The first pillar, which provides for the taxation of companies where they make their profits to limit tax evasion, primarily...

Global stocks sank as central banks hiked interest rates again and signaled they needed to go higher to tame inflation. Meanwhile, downbeat economic data out of China and the United States fanned recession fears. Both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank mirrored the Fed's half-point hike on...

Industrial production in the US slumped in November with "broad based" decreases, the Federal Reserve said, as output for bigger-ticket consumer products and manufacturing fell. While tangled supply chains and surging costs which weighed on businesses are easing, in a boost to production, firms are now contending with weakening demand...

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands arrested in the street violence over Mahsa Amini's d, leading to international condemnation and Iran's removal Wednesday from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).

The EU summit was to also examine the situation, and consequences in Europe, of Russia's war in Ukraine, which European Council President Charles Michel said was at "the heart of our concerns".

The consumer price index, a key gauge of inflation, logged its smallest annual increase in nearly a year, fueling optimism that the Fed could soon moderate its efforts. Households have been squeezed by red-hot prices, with conditions worsened by surging food and energy costs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and...

Beijing, China—China has filed a dispute with the World Trade Organization over US restrictions on chip exports, Beijing's commerce ministry said in a statement late Monday, accusing Washington of threatening global supply chains. The United States in October announced new export controls aimed at restricting China's ability to buy and manufacture...

Nearly a month after the downfall of FTX, its founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the US. He is scheduled to appear before a US Congress hearing in which he is to testify under oath about the crypto exchange's sudden fall.

The US biopharma firm will pay US$28 billion for the deal.

As part of its monetary policy tightening, the ECB will on Thursday outline the next steps in its efforts to slim down the bank's massive balance sheet. It has already made changes to the terms of an ultra-cheap bank loan scheme, aimed at keeping credit flowing during the pandemic, in...

But the half-point jump analysts expect to see in the Fed's benchmark lending rate will still be a steep rise, as it struggles to cool demand in the United States to bring consumer costs down. Households in the world's biggest economy have been contending with red-hot prices.

A month after Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden agreed to repair frayed relations, the US is sending its first high-level delegation to China, consisting of Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Kritenbrink and National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Laura Rosenberger.

Geneva, Switzerland— Washington condemned the World Trade Organization's verdict Friday on the punitive US tariffs imposed on national security grounds on steel imports from China and other countries. Former US president Donald Trump's administration introduced the tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from China, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey and his successor,...

Washington, US— The US has commended the decision to hold next year’s 28th UN climate change conference in the UAE. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said that fossil fuel economies should be encouraged to lead the transition to clean energy. “It’s very exciting that the UAE, an OPEC...

Washington, United States— Oil giants have "greenwashed" their public image while locking in fossil fuel production for years to come, potentially foiling moves to prevent climate change, said a US House committee memo released Friday. The document follows an investigation on allegations that the fossil fuel industry has been misleading Americans...

Global stocks rose on China's slowing inflation and economic reopening, alongside hopes of less aggressive interest rate hikes next week. Sentiment brightened on China's decision to shift away from its nearly three-year zero-Covid strategy of lockdowns and mass testing that slammed the economy. After protests across the country, leaders have...

The mediation efforts were led by the Emirati president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia  Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Analysts note that conditions in the oil market have loosened compared with earlier in the year, adding to oversupply worries at a time when more economists are warning of recession. The pullback in oil prices also comes amid trader disappointment at a recent decision by OPEC oil exporters not to...

The legal salvo came as problems are mounting for TikTok in the United States, with multiple accusations that the extremely popular app is a national security threat and a conduit for spying by China.

Riot police confronted the crowd in the central Habboubi Square with "brutal" force and "fired live ammunition", said demonstrator Mohammed al-Iraqi, who spoke to AFP at a morgue where dozens of relatives and friends of the two fatalities gathered. Hussein Riyad, a spokesman for the Dhi Qar provincial health ministry,...

Pentagon announced Wednesday it has awarded $9 billion in cloud computing contracts to Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle.

Russian forces have missed most of their key military goals since February, raising fears that the battlefield stalemate could see Russia resort to its nuclear arsenal to achieve a breakthrough.

Artificial Intelligence promoters reckon it is revolutionizing human experience, but critics stress that the technology risks putting machines in charge of life-changing decisions. Its promoters reckon it is revolutionizing human experience, but critics stress that the technology risks putting machines in charge of life-changing decisions. Regulators in Europe and North...

The external debt of developing economies has more than doubled from a decade ago to US$9 trillion in 2021, the World Bank said. The pandemic has forced many countries to take on more borrowing and World Bank President David Malpass earlier warned that the world is facing a fifth wave...

Monday's was the last major maneuver of the mission, which began when NASA's mega Moon rocket SLS blasted off from Florida on November 16. From start to finish, the journey should last 25 and a half days. Orion will now make only slight course corrections until it splashes down in...

World oil prices rallied after more easing of Covid containment measures in China and as a price cap on Russian crude agreed by the EU, G7 and Australia came into force. Brent North Sea crude and WTI advanced over 2.5 percent, also after OPEC and its Russia-led allies decided to...

Washington, United States— US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed Sunday to oppose Israeli settlements or annexation in the West Bank, but promised to judge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's incoming government by actions and not personalities. Netanyahu is expected to return to power after sealing a coalition deal with the extreme-right...

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc must act to address "distortions" created by Washington's $430-billion plan to spur climate-friendly technologies in the United States. The European Union must "take action to rebalance the playing field where the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) or other measures create distortions", von...

With talks suspended over a nuclear deal between Iran and the Western countries, Islamic Republic has begun the construction of a new nuclear plant in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. Estimated to cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, the plant will take seven years to complete.

The $60 oil price cap will come into effect on Monday or soon after, alongside an EU embargo on maritime deliveries of Russian crude oil.

PALMDALE, UNITED STATES - The United States on Friday unveiled the B-21 Raider, a high-tech stealth bomber that can carry nuclear and conventional weapons and is designed to be able to fly without a crew on board. The slickly choreographed ceremony at B-21 manufacturer Northrop Grumman's facility in Palmdale, California...

Washington, United States—The US Commerce Department on Friday accused several solar companies of evading American tariffs on imports of China-made components, findings that could add to tensions between Beijing and Washington. The department has been investigating claims that certain manufacturers of solar cells and modules went around antidumping and countervailing duties...

While acknowledging Ankara's security concerns in northeast Syria, the US has warned Turkey not to create impediments in its operations against jihadists in Syria. Turkey says it is taking military action in response to a terrorist attack in Istanbul that it blames on Kurdish groups.

Traders are growing confident that the Federal Reserve will slow its pace of rate hikes after Fed boss Jerome Powell this week indicated that the days of jumbo 0.75-percentage-point increases were over.

French President Emmanuel Macron repeated his frustration with US subsidies, saying they were hurting European companies by providing an unfair advantage to their American competitors. International trade has bubbled into a point of contention this week as Macron becomes the first foreign leader hosted by President Joe Biden during an...

Washington, United States—US economic activity eased in recent weeks, while uncertainty and "increased pessimism" clouded the country's outlook amid high prices and rising interest rates, a report published by the Federal Reserve said Wednesday. The Fed's latest "beige book" survey of economic conditions comes as the US central bank pushes on...

The US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said Hashimi had been killed in an operation carried out by rebels of the Free Syrian Army in Daraa province in southern Syria in mid-October.

The US economy grew more than initially reported in the third quarter this year, with government data released Wednesday reflecting upward revisions to retail spending and some forms of investment. GDP growth in the July to September period came in at 2.9 percent, annualized, better than the 2.6 percent figure...

The US space agency wants to develop the lunar economy in the coming years by building a space station in orbit around the Moon and a base on the surface. It has awarded contracts to several companies to develop landers to transport scientific experiments to the surface.

Dubai, UAE— The UAE’s moon rover launch has been delayed by one day in order to run more pre-flight checks, according to a statement released by SpaceX. Rashid Rover, the Arab world’s first lunar mission, is now scheduled to launch at 8:37 a.m. (GMT) on Thursday, Dec.1, from Cape Canaveral...

Washington, United States— The US government on Tuesday announced the approval of a $1 billion sale of FS-LIDS counter-drone systems and other equipment to Qatar. "The proposed sale will improve Qatar's capability to meet current and future threats by providing electronic and kinetic defeat capabilities against Unmanned Aircraft Systems," the US...

Doha, Qatar—The United States and Iran meet in a politically charged winner-takes-all World Cup clash on Tuesday as England aim to reach the last 16 as group winners with victory over Wales. Ever since the draw for the tournament was made in April, the Group B game between the US...

Hawaii's Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano in the world, has erupted for the first time in nearly 40 years, US authorities said, spewing lava and ash as emergency crews went on alert. Flows of lava remained mostly contained within the summit's massive caldera, but the eruption could pose a...

Iran has seen more than two months of demonstrations sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini. She had been arrested for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women. "In an unprofessional act, the Instagram page of the US football federation removed...

The United States will provide Jordan with over US$845 million in annual financial support, officials in Amman said as the country remains heavily dependent on foreign aid. Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh was present at the signing ceremony for the allocation of annual financial support of $845.1 million, a Jordanian government...

Tehran, Iran---An Iranian rapper who expressed support for anti-regime protests is charged with "corruption on earth" and could face the death penalty, judicial authorities confirmed on Sunday. A US-based rights group had tweeted on Saturday that Toomaj Salehi's trial had begun "without a lawyer of his choice", and his family...

National Geographic's "Retrograde" follows an Afghan general who tried in vain to hold back the Taliban advance in summer 2021, while Netflix's "In Her Hands" tells the story of the country's youngest female mayor, who had to flee as the Talib took over.

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that negotiating with the United States would not put an end to the "troubles" that have rocked the Islamic republic over the past two months. Iran has seen weeks of demonstrations sparked by the September 16 death in custody...

US authorities announced a ban on the import or sale of communications equipment deemed "an unacceptable risk to national security" - including gear from Chinese giants Huawei Technologies and ZTE. Both firms have been on a roster of companies listed as a threat by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).