Category: World

Gold rose more than 1 per cent on Monday as hopes of a possible US-Iran agreement pushed oil prices lower, weakened the dollar and reshaped inflation expectations across commodity and currency markets.Spot bullion climbed to about $4,559 an ounce, while US gold futures traded near $4,560, extending gains as investors assessed signals that Washington and Tehran had moved closer to a framework that could ease pressure on Gulf energy flows. Brent crude fell below $100 a barrel during Asian and

California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Orange County after an overheating chemical storage tank at a Garden Grove aerospace facility raised fears of an explosion, toxic release or hazardous spill affecting tens of thousands of residents.The emergency proclamation covers a GKN Aerospace site where a tank holding roughly 5,000 to 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate began heating and emitting fumes on May 21. The volatile, highly flammable liquid is widely used in plastics, resins and

President Donald Trump said a proposed agreement with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz has been “largely negotiated”, raising hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough after months of conflict disrupted one of the world’s most important energy routes. Final terms are still being discussed among Washington, Tehran and regional governments, with an announcement expected once the remaining points are settled.Trump said the framework followed calls with leaders and representatives from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan

Cannes handed its top prize to Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, giving the Romanian film-maker his second Palme d’Or for a stark Norway-set drama that turns family conflict into a wider examination of political polarisation, migration, parenting, faith and the limits of cultural tolerance.The award, announced at the closing ceremony of the 79th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, places Mungiu among a select group of directors to have won the Palme d’Or twice. His first victory came in 2007 with 4 Months,

British Columbia fusion developer General Fusion is weighing a Toronto Stock Exchange listing alongside its planned Nasdaq debut, a move that would give Canadian investors a direct public-market route into one of the most closely watched private energy technologies.Vancouver-headquartered General Fusion, backed over the years by investors linked to Jeff Bezos and Shopify founder Tobias Lütke, is preparing to go public through a business combination with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III. The transaction values the combined company at about US$1

Bangladesh Bank has launched a 600 billion-taka support package to revive closed factories, expand credit to small businesses and lift growth after a prolonged slowdown in production, exports and private investment.Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman announced the programme at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka, setting out a refinancing and support structure aimed at restoring industrial capacity, creating jobs and easing pressure on businesses hit by high borrowing costs, weak demand and foreign exchange volatility. The fund, worth about $5 billion,

K RaveendranCockroach Janta Party may have begun as satire, but its popularity has exposed something far more serious than a passing joke on the internet. The response it has drawn from government functionaries suggests that the ruling establishment is less disturbed by the humour itself than by the possibility that the satire has found a willing audience. That audience is not laughing merely because the idea is absurd. It is laughing because the absurdity feels familiar.The Modi government’s apparent discomfort with the satirical rise of Cockroach Janta

Seychelles and Bangladesh have moved to accelerate bilateral cooperation, with pending agreements and memoranda of understanding now expected to take clearer shape this year after talks in Victoria between Bangladesh High Commissioner Dr Zokey Ahad and Seychelles Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Minister Barry Faure.The meeting, held on 21 May at Maison Quéau de Quinssy, centred on formalising cooperation frameworks that have been under discussion since Dr Ahad’s accreditation as Bangladesh’s non-resident envoy to Seychelles in July 2025. Both sides reviewed

Singapore business leader Teo Siong Seng has been accused by US prosecutors of taking part in a multi-year conspiracy to restrict output and fix prices of standard dry shipping containers, a case that places one of the city-state’s most prominent maritime figures at the centre of a major antitrust action.The indictment names four container manufacturing companies and seven executives in an alleged scheme that prosecutors say covered nearly all of the world’s standard unrefrigerated containers from as early as November

Britain’s jobs market weakened in April as employers cut back on permanent recruitment while turning to temporary staff to manage uncertainty, rising business costs and disruption linked to the Iran conflict.Permanent staff placements fell at the sharpest pace since January, reversing part of the improvement seen earlier in the year. The permanent placements index dropped to 47.5 in April from 49.2 in March, staying below the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction. Temporary hiring moved in the opposite direction,

France will add €710 million in targeted aid to help households and businesses absorb higher energy costs, as the war in Iran keeps fuel prices elevated and tests the government’s fiscal restraint.Budget Minister David Amiel said the new measures would lift total support for consumers and affected sectors to nearly €1.2 billion, while the government seeks to avoid broad tax cuts that would deepen pressure on public finances. The package is designed to cushion lower-income households, fuel-dependent workers and exposed

Washington is testing rival artificial intelligence models across a small group of Defence Department power users as it seeks a workable replacement for Anthropic’s Claude, deepening a high-stakes contest over military AI, supplier risk and control of advanced software inside classified US systems.The review involves 25 heavy users of AI tools inside the Pentagon, with officials comparing how competing models respond to identical tasks and how results change when prompts are tailored to each system. Early findings show wide variation

Mexico’s sovereign credit rating has been cut to the last rung of investment grade, placing fresh pressure on President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration as investors weigh rising debt, sluggish growth and the continuing fiscal burden of Petróleos Mexicanos.Moody’s Ratings lowered Mexico’s long-term local and foreign-currency issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Baa3 from Baa2, while changing the outlook to stable from negative. The move leaves Latin America’s second-largest economy just one notch above speculative grade, a position that could raise borrowing

Caracas has become an unlikely stop for financiers, oil executives and restructuring advisers as Venezuela’s attempt to reopen its economy turns a once-quiet luxury hotel into a meeting point for dealmaking.The Cayena, a boutique property in the capital’s La Castellana district where rooms start at about $400 a night, spent much of its 13 years operating in a market cut off by sanctions, political conflict and economic collapse. Its occupancy rate stood at just 21 per cent last year, a

Afreximbank’s partnership with Plot Enterprise Ghana is placing cocoa processing, rural employment and African creative exports at the centre of a wider push to keep more value from the continent’s resources within local economies.The collaboration, highlighted through the bank’s impact programming, links Ghana’s cocoa belt to global markets at a time when volatile cocoa prices, climate shocks and financing strains are reshaping one of West Africa’s most important agricultural sectors. Plot Enterprise, based in Takoradi in Ghana’s Western Region, processes

President Donald Trump has put a planned attack on Iran on hold after Gulf leaders urged Washington to allow negotiations more time, while warning that the US military remains ready for a “full, large scale assault” if no acceptable deal is reached.The decision marks a critical pause in a confrontation that has drawn the US, Iran, Israel and Gulf states into one of the most volatile security crises in the region this year. Trump said the strike had been scheduled

Washington announced a $1.776 billion compensation fund for people who claim they were unfairly investigated or prosecuted, opening a politically charged new phase in President Donald Trump’s campaign against what his administration calls government “weaponisation”.The Justice Department said the Anti-Weaponization Fund would be created as part of a deal resolving Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the unauthorised leak of his tax records. Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization

A chance photograph taken on a remote Queensland property has returned Ptilotus senarius to scientific view after 58 years without a confirmed record, turning a plant long treated as presumed extinct into a live test case for smartphone-powered biodiversity discovery.The small, slender shrub, a member of the Amaranthaceae family, had not been collected since 1967 and was known only from preserved herbarium specimens before horticulturalist and bird bander Aaron Bean photographed an unusual plant in June 2025 while working on

Mineral Resources will restart operations at its wholly owned Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia, moving to bring back production after an 18-month shutdown as stronger prices revive confidence across parts of the battery metals sector.The Perth-based diversified miner said site activity will begin ramping up in late May, with crushing and mining operations scheduled to start in June and first spodumene concentrate production expected from July. The first shipment from the Port of Esperance is expected in the

Elon Musk has signalled that SpaceX is moving towards a public listing “pretty soon”, setting the stage for what could become the largest stock market debut on record and a defining test of investor appetite for space, satellite internet and artificial intelligence businesses.Musk said he was back in Texas working on plans for the initial public offering as SpaceX prepares to open itself to public market investors after more than two decades as a closely held company. The move comes

Washington’s defence establishment is confronting a sharper supply-chain warning after President Donald Trump left Beijing claiming major trade progress, while China kept key controls on materials vital to US weapons, aircraft, satellites and advanced electronics.Trump ended his two-day visit by declaring that he had reached “fantastic trade deals” with President Xi Jinping, saying the understandings would benefit both economies. The commercial package pointed to tariff discussions, agricultural market access, aviation purchases and new bilateral boards for trade and investment. Yet